WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Max-Level Swordsman of Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 15
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At the same time.
At the entrance to the shopping arcade passage leading to the underground parking garage.
Cheongmyeong Guild’s Special Combat Team 5 waited in front of the closed fire door.
Twenty minutes had passed since Team 4 followed Kang Doseok inside.
One member of Team 5 spoke, leaning against the wall.
“They should be almost done by now. Knowing Team 4’s leader, the fight won’t last long.”
“Yeah. Killing people is second nature to that one. Never lost a one-on-one fight, either. I saw it myself. The thing that made Park famous.”
Team 4’s leader was one of the fighters Cheongmyeong Guild had trained after settling in Netron City.
The name was Park Jinwoo.
A player who specialized in close combat with a plasma sword.
Park also possessed a high-level Skill Star.
The name Park Jinwoo had become known among players after an incident called Bio Rampage.
Mutants being experimented on in a megacorporation’s underground laboratory had gone berserk en masse and poured out onto the surface.
The district housing the laboratory had been devastated in just a few hours. The corporation’s security team had collapsed, and even the players sent in had retreated before the mutant horde.
That was when Park Jinwoo had stayed behind alone in an underground waterway. Blocking the narrow passage, he had cut down the incoming mutants with a plasma sword. Not a single one had reached the surface before reinforcements established a defensive line.
One skilled swordsman and the tactical advantage of a narrow passage.
The incident had shown Netron City exactly how even hundreds of monsters could be rendered helpless by that combination.
“Oh, you mean Bio Rampage. How many people died back then?”
“I don’t know the exact number. It was the third year, so there were still plenty of players alive.”
Team 5’s leader looked at the fire door through which Team 4’s leader had entered the underground parking garage.
“Bio Rampage dropped a hell of a lot of stars. Just about everyone worth anything jumped in... Maybe three thousand died.”
“That many?”
“Some got bitten to death by mutants. Others killed each other over stars. It was a complete shitshow. A whole truckload of them burned to death when the laboratory exploded, too.”
Team 5’s leader chuckled.
“Park Jinwoo didn’t just survive that mess. He held an entire battlefront alone until the end. So don’t worry.”
“But Kang Doseok’s famous too, isn’t he?”
“Sure. He’s got the skills to back it up.”
Team 5’s leader shrugged, unconcerned.
“So what? He works alone.”
A swordsman’s strength varied greatly depending on where and whom they fought. In open spaces, they were vulnerable to being surrounded, and there were limits to how many ranged attacks they could block.
Team 4 had been formed to exploit those weaknesses.
Park Jinwoo handled close combat. A mage controlled shadows. A marksman attacked openings from a distance. A scout handled thermal detection and tracking.
They had sent down a team made up entirely of reliable counters to take down Kang Doseok.
“The deputy guild leader planned this fight personally. Four people, with a perfect team composition.”
Team 5’s leader whistled.
“We’re the backup team, so we’ll get a share of the bonus. Let’s not go in there trying to steal their credit. Just stay put and do our job.”
The leader leaned back against the wall and folded their arms.
There was still no sound from beyond the closed fire door.
* * *
Boom!
Park Jinwoo slammed into the parking garage wall. The concrete caved in, and cracks spread in every direction.
“Team Leader!”
The shadow mage reached out.
The shadows beneath the vehicles stirred all at once. Black masses rose like snakes and curled toward Kang Doseok’s arms and legs.
At the same time, the marksman pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four bullets flew toward Kang Doseok’s head and heart in quick succession.
Kang Doseok swung his sword.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Two deflected bullets struck the ceiling and floor. The other two changed direction along his blade.
“Look out!”
The marksman ducked.
Crash!
A returning bullet shattered the window of the vehicle behind him.
Meanwhile, a black shadow wound around Kang Doseok’s ankle.
The mage clenched their hand.
“Got him!”
At that moment, Kang Doseok turned and threw his sword. The longsword shot through the air like lightning.
Whoooosh!
Thrown with plenty of force behind it, the blade buried itself right between the shadow mage’s eyes.
Thuck!
“Ghrk!”
The mage’s head snapped back. The black energy gathered at their fingertips scattered, and the shadows holding Kang Doseok fell away.
At the same time, his body blended into the surrounding scenery.
The outlines of his coat and limbs blurred. In an instant, he vanished from the parking garage.
The marksman swung his gun around in a panic.
“Where did he...?”
He frowned, staring into empty space. The thermal sensor installed in his eye switched on automatically.
There was something they all knew.
Not long ago, Cheongmyeong had hired an unaffiliated player named Kim Hanrim.
A sniper known to possess a Skill Star for a concealment skill called Camouflage.
And Kim Hanrim was dead. Most likely killed by Kang Doseok.
That meant Kim Hanrim’s Camouflage might have passed to Kang Doseok as well.
They had prepared thermal detection equipment for that possibility.
The marksman’s right eye flashed red. Vehicle engines, ceiling pipes, and hot water pipes beneath the floor appeared as colorful heat sources.
But Kang Doseok was nowhere to be seen.
“Where are you, Kang Doseok?”
Then the air rippled in front of the shadow mage’s corpse.
A hand appeared out of empty space.
Kang Doseok gripped the hilt of the sword buried between the mage’s eyes.
Shhk!
The blade came free of the head, spraying a long trail of blood.
The marksman’s eyes widened.
“How?”
That spot had been right in his field of vision. He had been scanning every inch of it with his thermal sensor.
Yet he hadn’t picked up even the faintest trace of heat.
“The thermal sensor...”
Kang Doseok began blending into the scenery again.
“It doesn’t work on him...”
Before the marksman could finish, Kang Doseok vanished completely.
Thump.
His heart pounded at the sight.
Swallowing, he swept his gun from side to side, keeping the stock against his shoulder.
“Where are you? Where?”
The ceiling lights flickered.
Nothing moved between the rows of parked vehicles. All he could hear was the ventilation fan and blood dripping onto the floor.
Thump.
His heart beat again.
Scrape.
A faint sound came from behind him.
The marksman immediately spun around and aimed.
A small piece of stone rolled into a vehicle’s tire and stopped.
‘...A stone?’
The instant he blinked, he felt a burning sensation at the back of his neck.
Shhhk!
His vision spun several times.
He saw the ceiling, then a car, then the blood-soaked floor flashing past his eyes.
The last thing he saw was his own body.
His headless body staggered, dropping its gun. The sturdy adult male body that had once been his soon collapsed onto the floor.
Thud.
Rrrroll...
Crunch!
Kang Doseok stamped on the head as it rolled toward him.
The skull burst, splashing thick blood across the floor.
“Cough, khh...”
A cough came from the broken wall. Kang Doseok turned his head.
Park Jinwoo was pushing aside chunks of concrete and getting up. Blood ran from his mouth and down his neck, but the plasma sword in his hand still shone blue.
He looked over his teammates’ bodies scattered across the floor.
Three had died in that brief span.
Only Park remained.
Spitting out blood, Park Jinwoo spoke.
“Impressive, Kang Doseok. I didn’t think you’d kill my entire team so quickly.”
Kang Doseok flicked the blood off his blade.
“You’ll be joining them soon.”
“Ha.”
Park Jinwoo wiped his mouth with the back of a hand.
“You think you’ll win?”
“Four of you couldn’t kill me. What do you think you can do alone?”
Kang Doseok raised the tip of his sword toward Park Jinwoo.
“When I kill you, I’ll finally get another sword Skill Star. It’s been a while.”
Park Jinwoo’s face twisted.
“Try it if you can, you fucking bastard.”
He kicked off the floor.
Whoosh!
The blue plasma sword swept toward Kang Doseok’s neck.
Claaang!
Kang Doseok raised his sword to block. The two blades collided, scattering blue sparks in every direction.
His blade slid along Park Jinwoo’s sword. Its tip curled upward like a snake, aiming for the gap between wrist and neck.
Park leaned back to avoid it.
Taking a step back, he immediately thrust the plasma sword straight forward.
Clang!
Kang Doseok caught the thrust with the flat of his blade.
Park Jinwoo pressed in at once.
Whoosh!
A horizontal slash aimed at the waist.
Then a diagonal cut toward the shoulder, followed by a thrust at the neck.
Kang Doseok stepped backward, knocking aside every attack.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blue light flashed each time the plasma sword struck his blade. The dark underground garage lit up at short intervals, then sank back into darkness.
Whooosh!
Kang Doseok’s sword shot toward Park Jinwoo’s chest.
Park angled the plasma sword to deflect the tip.
Claaang!
Even so, he couldn’t absorb all of Kang Doseok’s strength. The impact forced him backward, both feet scraping long black marks across the floor.
“Ghk.”
Barely regaining his balance, Park Jinwoo smiled.
“Heh. You really do know how to fight.”
He raised the plasma sword again.
“They said nobody could match your swordsmanship. Guess it wasn’t just a rumor.”
“Then stick your neck out and hold still.”
Kang Doseok lowered the tip of his sword.
“I’ll make it painless.”
“...So confident. Arrogant, even. But listen, Kang Doseok.”
Park Jinwoo raised his left hand and slowly ran it along the plasma blade.
Bzzzzzt!
Blue sparks flew wherever his fingers passed.
“A fight between players isn’t decided by swordsmanship alone.”
Park Jinwoo closed his eyes.
The smile disappeared from his face. A large bead of sweat ran down his forehead.
Then it happened.
Rooooar!
The plasma sword erupted with light.
Blue beams poured wildly from the blade.
“Know this before you die. My name is Park Jinwoo.”
He raised the plasma sword into a high guard. The blue light flowing from its blade lit up his blood-covered face.
“I hunted down and killed the head of Integral Corporation on my own. During Bio Rampage, I held off three hundred mutants alone. I beat out all the hotshots in Cheongmyeong, a first-generation guild, and rose to become a combat team leader.”
The light surrounding the blade grew more intense.
Blue flames spilled around Park Jinwoo’s feet, scorching the floor.
“No one who stood in my way has ever survived.”
He leveled the plasma sword at Kang Doseok.
“You won’t, either.”
Kang Doseok watched for a moment.
Slowly relaxing his grip on his sword, he spoke.
“Kang Doseok.”
As he answered, he slowly slid his blade into its sheath.
“I kill people for money.”
“...I see.”
A flicker of confusion crossed Park Jinwoo’s eyes, but he stayed focused and held his stance.
Just as he was about to unleash a strike, Kang Doseok had put his sword away instead.
It made no sense. But there was no need to understand it.
No one who had seen his skill had lived.
Park Jinwoo tensed his legs.
“Then, Kang Doseok.”
Kicking off the ground, he swung the plasma sword.
“Die by my hand!”
Whoooooosh!
An instant later, the single blue blade split into six.
The six became twelve, then twenty-four.
The sword skill, Phantom Sword Dance.
Dozens of blue blades filled the space ahead. Above and below, left and right, and straight ahead. The blue sword strikes shot directly toward Kang Doseok, leaving him nowhere to dodge.
At the same time, Kang Doseok’s fully sheathed sword began to move.
Click!
Shzzzz!
The blade slowly emerged, scraping against the inside of the sheath.
Boom!
Kang Doseok’s right foot pressed hard against the floor.
Force rose from his toes, through his leg and waist. Muscles throughout his body moved together, gathering that force through his wrist and into his fingertips.
A sword skill.
Formless Sword Art, Sword Draw.
The next instant, Kang Doseok’s sword hand became a streak of light.
Whoooooosh!
A cold flash of sword light split the space in two.
* * *
Booooom!
The roar from underground shook the entire shopping arcade passage.
The ceiling lights swung wildly. Cracks spread across the walls, and the closed fire door shook in its frame.
“Wh-what was that?”
The man leaning against the wall straightened up. He looked from the underground garage to his team leader and back.
Every trace of the leader’s earlier ease had vanished.
“Follow me! Now!”
Shouting, the team leader kicked the fire door.
Bang!
The door flew open.
The leader and the man raced down the stairs. The farther they went, the thicker the acrid smoke and burning smell became.
“Team 4 Leader!”
There was no answer.
They jumped over the last steps and entered the underground parking garage.
Their mouths slowly fell open at the sight before them.
“...”
The entire underground parking garage had been split apart.
Hundreds of vehicles parked in rows had been sliced through in the same direction. Bodywork, glass, and even engines lay scattered across the floor, their cut surfaces perfectly smooth.
Even the thick concrete pillars had been cut more than halfway through.
Stone dust rained from the ceiling. Unable to bear the building’s weight, the severed pillars creaked eerily.
The entire garage looked ready to collapse at any moment.
The team leader took a step back.
“What... is this...?”
Rrrroll.
Something rolled across the floor, bumped against the leader’s toes, and stopped.
It was Park Jinwoo’s head.
The neck had been cleanly severed. Both eyes were wide open, as though Park still couldn’t believe the last thing he had seen.
“...Fucking... hell.”
Horror spread across the team leader’s face.
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