WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 54: Anomaly Hunt (3)

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Paoxiao could no longer use its right arm. The eye embedded in its right shoulder was blind as well.

Yet it still had two legs and one arm. The guest retainers' silver thread had burrowed into its lower body, leaving it unable to move freely, but it had not given up trying to move.

Perhaps the shock of losing its right arm had badly shaken its body. After repeatedly trying to rise, only to slam its head into the ground each time, the creature stretched out its remaining left arm.

It gripped the ground with that arm and dragged itself forward. Its twitching hind legs made it look as though it were crawling.

It kept advancing. If it ate Iron-Headed Fire Axe, if it consumed the flesh of a Peak-realm master, a prize it had never devoured before, it clearly believed it could escape this situation.

I leapt.

For once, the forest shadows were not on Paoxiao's side. I darted through the dim shade and slipped diagonally toward its right. With only the eye on its left, it could not follow my movements in time.

I stepped on Paoxiao's back. The monster writhed in pain and shrieked like a water deer. Using its back as a foothold, I vaulted over its log-like body and landed on its left.

Blink.

Its enormous, grotesque eye blinked as though it had yet to understand what was happening. There was something vaguely human about it, making it all the more alien.

Without hesitation, I drove my blade in.

The creature twisted its entire body. Now completely blind, it thrashed in every direction, writhing and coiling like a pinwheel.

Each time it twisted, blood sprayed like rain.

The force snapped the blade embedded in it. It did not matter. Both its eyes were already blind.

All I had to do was survive its frenzy until Murong Sung arrived. I lifted Iron-Headed Fire Axe, who lay sprawled on the ground, covered in blood.

The moment I touched Iron-Headed Fire Axe, a rasping breath escaped, making the bandit seem close to death. Even so, handing a martial artist's corpse over to an Anomaly was dangerous.

Just as I tried to drag Iron-Headed Fire Axe away from the battlefield, all strength suddenly left my body.

My internal energy had run dry. The body I had pushed too hard tonight had reached its limit and was threatening to go on strike.

Only a pitiful scrap of internal energy was barely keeping my legs moving.

“Y-you damned Martial Alliance bastard. Has your back given out...?”

Blood had crusted over Iron-Headed Fire Axe's eyes, leaving the bandit unable to open them properly. Hearing the voice, I clenched my teeth.

“Fuck... Leave me behind. I’m dying soon anyway... I got one good hit in on the bastard who killed Daecheol. That’s enough.”

“I’d like to leave you behind too. But if it eats you, that thing we barely managed to half-kill might recover.”

Hoo.

Forcing myself to stay conscious, I looked back.

Paoxiao was still thrashing only a hundred paces away, and in a few breaths, my internal energy would be completely gone.

The dust Paoxiao had kicked up while chasing Iron-Headed Fire Axe had caused Murong Sung's group to lose sight of us for a moment. They were running this way, but they were still some distance away.

Could we stay beyond Paoxiao's grasp until they arrived?

‘If I had that kind of damned luck, I wouldn’t have fallen into this world.’

A final move came to mind.

“Right. I should leave you behind.”

I removed my hand from beneath Iron-Headed Fire Axe. In a voice that sounded as though the bandit were on the last breath, Iron-Headed Fire Axe urged me to hurry and get lost, saying that in the martial world, each person had to look after their own life.

I meant to get lost.

Toward Paoxiao.

I squeezed out the last of my internal energy and used my footwork, rushing into the heart of its blood-spraying frenzy.

I latched both palms onto the severed end of Paoxiao's right arm.

For the last time, I circulated the formula of the Star-Absorbing Great Method, no, the Demon-Breaking Vajra Art!

The flow of blood falling toward the ground twisted. The blood spray gathered in my hands, then lost its color, turned transparent, and fell away.

The blood qi contained within the Anomaly seeped into my acupoints. The transparent blood was nothing but an empty husk, stripped of its essence.

Paoxiao realized its essence was being stolen and tried desperately to seize me.

I clung to its right arm, shifting my position again and again. I poured the blood qi I absorbed into myself in place of my exhausted internal energy, avoiding its grasp.

To read its attacks, I used my eye technique. Perhaps because I had poured unrefined blood qi directly into my eyes, my vision darkened and took on a reddish tint.

In the shadowed scenery, I saw a strange point of light.

Ghostfire burned inside Paoxiao, where a human heart would have been.

It grew smaller every time I stole its blood qi. It was clearly the creature's own life force.

Not much remained!

I drove both arms in with enough force for my fingers to sink into Paoxiao's muscle fibers.

The flame burning from its heart finally went out, and at the same time, I lost consciousness.

* * *

“Can you hear me? Can you hear me, Research Officer Yeok!”

A piercing voice woke me.

My stomach felt strangely nauseous, but my body was light. Ignoring the headache that felt as though something were scraping the inside of my skull, I opened my mouth.

“What happened to Paoxiao?”

“That monster is dead. But it collapsed on top of you, Research Officer, so we only just pulled you out.”

My vision gradually cleared. I looked around.

Paoxiao's corpse had been cut apart. They must have done it to pull me free.

A short distance away, Iron-Headed Fire Axe lay on a stretcher.

“Dead?”

The question came without context, but Murong Sung understood. He nodded.

“Nearly. It seems Iron-Headed Fire Axe forced out latent potential to sever Paoxiao's arm. The acupoints were crushed, and the external martial arts were broken. At most, half a double-hour remains.”

“Is that so...?”

It was a strange feeling. I had first encountered Iron-Headed Fire Axe in a rulebook, as a foe I might become entangled with while investigating Anomalies.

When I met Iron-Headed Fire Axe in person, that damned foolish action had been the cause of the Anomaly's appearance.

Until moments ago, Iron-Headed Fire Axe had been the one who, in fear, killed subordinates and our comrades.

And now, Iron-Headed Fire Axe was someone who had fought back-to-back with us.

Murong Sung seemed to have complicated feelings as well. He did not add anything more. The two of us rose and approached Iron-Headed Fire Axe.

“State your last words.”

At my words, Iron-Headed Fire Axe gave a weak chuckle and spoke.

“I wondered when you’d ask. I’ll be drawing my last breath soon.”

The Captain of the guest retainers whispered to Murong Sung that about a quarter-hour remained. Whether Iron-Headed Fire Axe heard it or not, the bandit continued.

“Give my men a chance to surrender.”

Iron-Headed Fire Axe and two sworn brothers had originally founded Iron-Steel Stronghold.

One brother had already been killed by Paoxiao. Yet one remained at the stronghold. The final request was that we urge the last brother to surrender, so the brother could have martial arts abolished and live on, even as a slave.

The final words, rather than the final request, were these.

“What I did was because I was trying to make a better life...”

Iron-Headed Fire Axe could not finish. The bandit breathed the last.

* * *

We rejoined the scattered scouting force and returned to the camp below Iron-Steel Mountain.

We could not take Paoxiao's corpse. The moment sunlight touched it, it evaporated faster than snow could melt.

“What in the world?”

Murong Sung blinked and asked, but I had no answer either. The rulebook had not said anything about this.

There was no human corpse where Paoxiao had vanished. It seemed the monster had already digested it.

The only proof of our fierce battle the previous night was Iron-Headed Fire Axe's remains.

The scouts gathered at the designated spot saw Iron-Headed Fire Axe's corpse and praised us, saying things like, “What a scheme worthy of the Murong Clan,” and, “The Martial Alliance headquarters is truly formidable.” Yet none of us felt like boasting about our military merit.

The camp we returned to, carrying feelings too difficult to describe, was in a festive mood.

“What happened, Senior Steel-Severing Leg?”

Steel-Severing Leg, whose mouth was stretched into a broad grin, spoke happily.

“Young Master Murong and Junior Yeok have accomplished something tremendous!”

Steel-Severing Leg told us that Iron-Steel Stronghold had collapsed from internal conflict the previous night.

Iron-Headed Fire Axe had taken the most capable subordinates to ambush Murong Sung. One of them fled back to the stronghold in a panic, saying they were all as good as dead and that each person needed to find their own way to survive.

We had assumed all the bandits from that night had been wiped out, but it seemed some who fled in a different direction from Iron-Headed Fire Axe had survived.

Steel-Severing Leg bowed deeply to Murong Sung and flattered him.

“They said, speaking in a daze, that their Stronghold Chief had been taken down by some monster. It turns out they were simply terrified by Young Master Murong's skill!”

Only the officers had learned that the detachment Iron-Headed Fire Axe led had been annihilated. But they began doubting the surviving bandit's testimony.

“How did you alone return alive instead of the Stronghold Chief? Is this not a trap, arranged with that Murong bastard to wipe us all out?”

The surviving bandit, who had insisted they had to flee, grew furious and shouted news of the detachment's annihilation throughout the stronghold.

Iron-Steel Stronghold was already divided, since everyone knew the battle was going badly. The survivor's words pushed the stronghold into complete ruin.

The deputy stronghold chief, who controlled Iron-Steel Stronghold in Iron-Headed Fire Axe's absence, intended to wait for Iron-Headed Fire Axe. But the bandits who wanted to flee killed the deputy, and civil war began.

Naturally, that deputy stronghold chief had been Iron-Headed Fire Axe's sworn younger brother.

Neither Murong Sung, the guest retainers, nor I could say anything.

The martial world was merciless and did not wait for anyone.

The martial world determined life and death in an instant.

The martial world was anomalous.

Author's Note

The final lines were inspired by the novel title Merciless Martial World and by the famous line, “What is love, that it determines life and death?”

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