WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 52: Anomaly Hunt (1)

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I pushed my lightness technique to its limit. As I lightened my body with it, I also used a movement technique to keep from losing my balance and falling.

Finally, I added footwork for more efficient steps. If I had not traveled from Purification Rite to Purification Rite and reworked the forms of these martial arts in my own way, I would surely have been too late.

The punitive expedition moved with me at the forefront. Among the group, I was the only one who could smell Paoxiao.

At first, Murong Sung's guest retainers had seemed doubtful, wondering how I could possibly track Paoxiao. Yet as we drew closer, they gradually began to understand.

"I can see fallen trees! The tracks resemble its hooves!"

The gamey stench grew even thicker.

"This way!"

The scent of human blood rose from beneath that tree. Someone had apparently died after fleeing Paoxiao and being crushed beneath a tree it knocked down.

Kieeeoooh-

The sound slowly drew closer. It was a strange cry, like the call of a water deer and a bird at once. This must have been Paoxiao's true roar, not the power it used to imitate human voices.

Human screams mingled with it.

By now, everyone else could track Paoxiao's trail as well.

Human blood remained on the ground, marking the direction the Iron-Steel Stronghold bandits had fled.

Heavy thuds shook the forest.

"Judging by the rhythm of the vibrations, it isn't running. The bandits seem to have scattered in different directions here. Paoxiao is likely trying to find where they are hiding and hunt them."

But I added, "We're within its range now as well. It may target us in the open before the bandits hiding away. Remember what I said earlier. 'Murong.'"

Everyone nodded. We stood beside one another and formed a circle, watching every direction.

"Aaaagh!"

A bandit's scream ripped through the night's silence.

"Murong! Break formation. Let's head for the source of that sound!"

We ran.

* * *

"Daecheol!"

Iron-Headed Fire Axe cried out. Before him lay a bandit crushed by Paoxiao. Rather than killing the terrified bandit first, Paoxiao seemed intent on eating the snack already in its hand.

Without needing to be told, we drew our swords.

Kieeeek!

That water deer-like scream rang out again. My sword, striking from behind Paoxiao, grazed its shoulder.

But...

'Damn it, I couldn't pierce its eye!'

"Murong! Get back now!"

With its hide scratched, Paoxiao twisted what, in a human, would be its upper body and thrashed wildly. It flung the human corpse in its right hand about like children waving skewers.

Its hand swung and slammed down without restraint. The bandit's corpse quickly bent and broke, spraying fountains of blood.

Like a painter creating an abstract painting, it scattered red paint in every direction. At a single touch of that brush, a tree trunk snapped and the earth caved in.

"Murong! Go for its hind legs!"

My eye technique-enhanced vision found a safe opening amid its frenzy. Because it had reared up its upper body and thrashed around, it could not properly move its hind legs. They had to serve as supports.

The guest retainers charged in with perfect coordination.

Then the Coordinated Attack Formation unfolded. It had not originally been made to fight Anomalies, but martial artists could be as dangerous as monsters, perhaps even more so.

The Coordinated Attack Formation, carefully constructed to confront superior martial artists, now unfolded to target the Anomaly's weak points.

Realizing that something had slipped between its legs, Paoxiao raised its right leg as if to use a stamping technique. That was exactly what the guest retainers wanted.

At some point, two guest retainers had spread out to either side. Using their footwork at top speed, they ran with Paoxiao's left leg between them.

Slice!

Something flashed. A thin, fine, sharp thread, too slight for even my sharpened vision to clearly catch.

The two each held an end of it. Was it celestial silkworm thread?

It was an attack aimed at what would have been a human's Achilles tendon. Once it raised one foot, they crippled its left foot, its sole remaining support.

Unable to bear its own weight, Paoxiao began to topple. The Peak realm master leading the guest retainers shouted.

"Murong! Spread out!"

Paoxiao's body was falling forward. The Peak realm master leaped onto its back, gripped a sword, and plunged it through the creature's filthy wool.

Murong Sung and I understood the intent and climbed onto Paoxiao's back as well. After driving our own swords in, we ran along its back.

Its back was between one and two zhang long. Far too short a distance for martial artists to sprint at full speed.

Yet that was also enough distance to pour all our strength into.

Even blades infused with internal energy struggled to cut its insanely tough wool.

I squeezed out my internal energy and severed the strands as we ran. Blood flowed along the tracks the three of us carved, staining the wool even more.

Paoxiao shrieked from the pain of its body being sliced apart. When it looked ready to prop itself up with its forelegs and move, we did not continue our charge. Each of us leaped aside.

Paoxiao used its own body as a weapon. It rolled itself forward with its forelegs, charging like a battering ram.

Like the Lazy Donkey Roll, the movement was rather ridiculous, but its overwhelming strength and vicious momentum turned that absurd motion into a weapon of destruction.

Several trees in Paoxiao's path splintered and fell with loud cracks. Trees crashed down onto it, and Paoxiao screamed again.

It was an unpleasant sound, but I felt elated.

'It worked!'

The advantage had shifted to our side. Every one of its attacks was heavy, and it possessed enough monstrous strength to crush a person in one hand.

But weren't martial artists the same?

If we continued attacking in coordination, and if one more Peak realm master joined us to receive its attacks head-on, we could cut off that thing's throat!

I met Murong Sung's eyes. A brief, silent exchange passed between us.

He had fought in coordination with his guest retainers more often, so he would leave bringing Iron-Headed Fire Axe to me.

While Murong Sung and the guest retainer Peak realm master kept their swords trained on Paoxiao as it tried to rise, I ran to Iron-Headed Fire Axe.

"Goddamn it! Iron-Headed Fire Axe! Get a hold of yourself!"

I grabbed him by the collar and slapped him across the face.

"Guhh!"

"You fucking bastard! Pick up your weapon! Pick it up and fight!"

At first, I had meant to snap him out of it with kinder words, but rage rose in me when I saw that terrified face.

If that bastard hadn't run away, we could have held Paoxiao back there!

Only after being slapped by someone much younger did Iron-Headed Fire Axe's eyes regain focus.

"W-What? What is this...?"

The supernatural terror no longer seemed to be suffocating him, but he still did not seem fully clear-headed.

"Pick up your axe if you don't want to die! Then fight!"

Iron-Headed Fire Axe looked puzzled at Murong Sung and the guest retainer standing guard as though protecting him. At last, his gaze found Paoxiao.

"T-That thing!"

The moment Iron-Headed Fire Axe gripped his axe...

[Brother! Save me! Brother!]

"Daecheol!"

"Fuck! Don't go! It's a trap!"

The guest retainer Peak realm master shouted the moment Iron-Headed Fire Axe rushed out with his axe.

"Murong! Stop that iron-headed idiot!"

One of the scattered guest retainers charged at Iron-Headed Fire Axe. Running straight ahead without paying attention to his surroundings, he was sent flying before he could react to the shoulder slamming into him.

"Good-"

But Iron-Headed Fire Axe was not the only one who charged.

Paoxiao, which had been crouching, kicked off the ground with all four legs and lunged forward.

The guest retainer standing where Iron-Headed Fire Axe had been only moments ago let out a short scream.

"Captain!"

A crunch sounded inside Paoxiao's mouth. Blood stopped flowing from Paoxiao's back. The movement of its limping hind leg became noticeably more natural.

The Captain's eyes widened. With bloodshot eyes and trembling all over, they spoke.

"Research Officer, what do we do?"

Expecting anything more from that Iron-Headed Fire Axe bastard might only get more people killed.

"Let's cut off its throat right now!"

The best situation would have been for two Peak realm masters to take the front while the other two wore Paoxiao down from behind, but we had no choice.

I shouted.

"Murong! We'll draw its attention over here, so attack it!"

The moment the three Peak realm masters charged Paoxiao...

Paoxiao made an utterly unexpected move.

It began to flee.

"What?"

"Daecheol! Daecheol!"

Watching Paoxiao's retreating figure, Iron-Headed Fire Axe shouted the name of the bandit who was already dead. Paoxiao's escape brought an unexpected lull.

As the punitive expedition gathered again, Murong Sung strode up to Iron-Headed Fire Axe and seized him by the collar.

"What a waste of an epithet, you bastard...!"

"W-What are you talking about?!"

"That monster grows stronger every time it eats someone! You! You fed it your own men and made it stronger! Even one of my subordinates!"

Murong Sung berated him without even the manners expected of a young master. Then he released his collar and shoved him away. As Iron-Headed Fire Axe fell onto the ground, Murong Sung spoke coldly.

"Just run away. With you involved, more people will only die."

Murong Sung turned to me, his cold anger still burning.

"Let's go, Research Officer Yeok. That thing has already drunk blood too precious to lose even a single person."

I nodded. Paoxiao might hide beneath the trees' shadows, but I would not lose its scent of blood.

Just as the pursuit party reformed its formation and prepared to enter the forest, an unpleasant voice spoke.

"W-Wait!"

I turned my head.

"What is it?"

Iron-Headed Fire Axe clutched his axe as though it weighed heavily in his hands.

"I have a... a right too."

"What right?"

You, who ran without fighting and made the greatest contribution to this disaster?

"Revenge! Daecheol... Daecheol was my sworn brother. I have the right to fight!"

I was about to cut him off, but the single word "right" stuck with me.

Did the rulebook not speak of the right every martial artist could use at the very end?

Murong Sung and the guest retainer Peak realm master, whom the others called the Captain, both looked only at me.

After meeting their eyes, I nodded.

"...Fine. Exercise a martial artist's right."

Footnotes:

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