WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 44

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The world was already dark when we emerged from the secret passage.

Beyond the hill, torchlight spilled over the ridge and into the darkness.

The faint screams echoing in the distance could not have been my imagination.

We had arrived at the Song-eum Sect on my recommendation, and the enemy had attacked before even a day had passed.

Many people would die.

I knew that.

But if I wanted to survive, there was no helping it.

I suddenly missed Korea.

It was a divided country, but I had lived through peaceful times without war. I was not accustomed to people dying.

Of course, that was now a thing of the past.

Still, a thought followed.

Even if I returned someday, could I live an ordinary life like before?

Would I be unable to endure even a minor provocation without drawing a killing move?

I had changed too much.

I felt strange looking at the person I had become.

"Brother."

So-ok called to me.

Sweat beaded her face from carrying Na Hye-rin on her back.

When I turned, the Song-eum Sect siblings were already walking far ahead.

"Let's go."

I did not take over for So-ok.

Rather than simply admitting that I did not like Na Hye-rin, it was a better excuse to say that I could respond more quickly if something happened.

We followed after the Song-eum Sect siblings.

Huff. Huff.

The only sound was So-ok's labored breathing as she carried Na Hye-rin ahead of me.

Whether the events in Na-jeon County had reached this far, not even insects could be heard nearby.

...No. Something was wrong.

I quickly circulated my internal energy, lowered my stance slightly, and looked around.

Baa-aah!

A cry rang out nearby.

It sounded like a goat or sheep. Everyone stopped and looked around.

Tension settled deep within us.

Thud-thud-thud! Baa!

A yokai suddenly appeared beside the Song-eum Sect youth.

It had the face of a mountain goat with four enormous horns.

It stood on two legs like a human.

I immediately recognized it.

A Tulu, a Yo beast.

And as an upright Yo beast, it possessed Goe-grade strength.

Baa-aah!

With a roar-like cry, the Tulu charged at the youth.

Clang!

The youth had already drawn his sword and blocked one horn, but another horn still raked his body.

A First Rate martial artist could contend with a Goe beast.

That did not mean they would always win.

In truth, they were evenly matched.

Yet humans had martial arts.

Yokai could only follow their instincts, so humans with martial arts clearly held an advantage against equally matched opponents.

But that only applied when one had sufficient experience.

The youth kept retreating as he swung his sword.

He could not respond properly.

His lack of experience and the pack he had yet to discard seemed to be hindering him.

"Brother!"

At that moment, his younger sister drew her sword and rushed at the upright Tulu.

Seeing that she had thrown aside her luggage, she was better than her brother.

She darted forward with light movements, then drove her sword heavily into the yokai's waist.

Baa!

The Tulu's spine snapped in a single blow, and it collapsed.

A sword immediately pierced between its eyes, bringing it a futile death.

Even amid that flustering situation, she had calmly thrust in her sword.

She had considerable talent.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Are you all right?"

Sniffle. "I'm fine."

The siblings comforted each other with gentle words.

But we did not have time to watch.

"We must move immediately."

The Tulu's cry and the sound of the youth's sword striking its horns would surely draw any nearby yokai here.

The siblings glanced at me, then quickly set off without a word.

At least they had been properly trained.

There were idiots who would protest even in a situation like this, asking why I was picking a fight.

Jingle, jingle.

Rustle! Crash!

The surroundings grew noisy.

"Run!"

We sprinted forward.

We had to get away from here.

A chilling sensation ran through me. I ducked and rolled forward.

An upright yokai resembling a black leopard appeared where I had stood moments ago.

Its original form was Mengji, considered one of the most troublesome Yo beasts.

It took position behind me and charged.

Its movements were like a cross between a human and a wild beast.

But the greatest reason it was troublesome was its skill at hiding and ambushing.

Facing it while it openly charged was easier.

I moved slightly to the side and deflected its claws.

Scrape!

Then I immediately drove my straight saber into its throat.

Grrr...

The yokai fell backward with a sound like air escaping.

There was not even time to extract its Yodan.

I ran quickly toward the people ahead, who had continued on without noticing me.

Jingle, jingle.

The eerie ringing made my skin crawl, and the presence of the yokai pursuing us grew louder.

Our path forward had already been blocked.

The Song-eum Sect siblings ahead were each facing two upright Yo beasts, while I was also locked in a bloody battle against two of them.

Slash!

Roar!

With Flowing Water Line, I wounded an upright yokai's shoulder.

I had aimed for its neck, but another upright yokai attacked from the side, forcing me to change course.

Eek!

An upright yokai based on Ongrak, the red monkey yokai, sneered as it swung the club in its hand.

Clang!

I deflected the blow and sent it flying into the Gersu's head.

Eek, eek, eek!

I feinted a thrust at the startled, enraged Ongrak. It leaped backward.

I immediately slashed sideways, severing the head of the Gersu, which had yet to regain its senses.

The qi-infused straight saber cut halfway through the yokai's tough scales before emerging.

Thud!

The Gersu collapsed.

I had killed one upright yokai, but I could not be pleased.

The situation was not good.

Our goal was flight.

We were not here to fight yokai.

But there was not much choice.

A temptation rose in my heart.

Should I abandon them and run?

Things had already come to this.

Wouldn't it be better to face Haomun's pursuit later than die here?

I thought I could escape alone.

After all, there was plenty of prey behind me.

That was when it happened.

Jingle.

"Huh? I came because I thought there were some little rats around. Hahaha. But now that I see it, the target was here."

A man walked toward me with two upright yokai leading the way.

He wore ordinary clothes and had an ordinary face.

In his hand was a rattle bell with a small bell attached.

Yes. I knew that rattle bell.

The Dark Sheep Sect Leader had carried the same one before.

"Who are you?"

But I did not let it show.

Instead, I asked who he was to make him lower his guard.

"Me? Ah, I can't tell you who I am. But you already know, don't you?"

"Haomun."

"Hm? Ah, that's right. But... you don't know exactly, do you?"

The man gave a sinister smile.

The realm I could directly sense was only second-rate.

Yet he also carried an eerie feeling.

I did not know what that feeling was, but it was probably something that allowed him to control upright yokai.

Even the First Rate Dark Sheep Sect Leader had controlled only two upright yokai.

"If I kill you and bring back your heads, then perhaps I can gain even more..."

I rushed forward at that moment.

I deflected the Ongrak's instinctive club swing and used my footwork to slip past it.

The man looked slightly startled but did not move.

He seemed to trust the two upright yokai before him.

I charged at full speed, and the upright yokai attacked.

Before their attacks could reach me, I bent deeply at the waist.

Then I rolled forward.

"Ah!"

As I passed between the upright yokai's legs, I heard the man's startled cry.

But it was already too late.

At his feet, I swept my straight saber upward with the greatest speed I possessed.

Though I could not yet fully execute it, I imbued it with the essence of the Fourth Form, Rain-Linked Flash, which contained the principle of speed.

Shhk!

The blade of my straight saber shot upward fast enough to leave an afterimage.

The man stood blankly within its range.

Riiip!

With a grotesque sound, his body split in two from the groin.

Splat!

His divided body fell to the ground.

At the same time, the upright yokai that had been threatening us lowered their heads and stopped.

Screeech!

They threw back their heads and let out scream-like cries before attacking one another.

Just like that, the battle ended.

The chirping of insects in the grass reassured me that there were, at least, no other living creatures around us.

We could not lower our guard, but it seemed we had escaped the encirclement.

Relief rose in my heart.

I had survived at the cost of countless lives, yet knowing that I had survived made me feel better.

What a selfish person I was.

Or perhaps humans were selfish by nature.

I did not know, but I had no intention of denying my feelings.

We walked through the night and arrived at a village.

It was a fairly sizable village.

It was not large enough to be called a county, but neither was it small enough to be called a mere hamlet.

The nearby yokai had probably gathered around the disturbance in Na-jeon County. Fortunately, although we had walked through the night, we did not encounter any more yokai.

Our condition, however, was not good.

The Song-eum Sect siblings looked utterly exhausted, perhaps because this was their first journey like this. So-ok, who had carried Na Hye-rin all the way here, also looked ready to collapse.

"Wait here."

I quickly searched a house on the village outskirts.

It looked unmaintained, as though no one lived there, but I still had to search it just in case.

After searching the house and confirming it was empty, I brought everyone inside.

The Song-eum Sect siblings and So-ok split up between the two rooms.

After setting Na Hye-rin down, So-ok immediately sprawled out.

To be honest, I was tired as well, but I still had some strength left.

That did not mean I wanted to act as these people's babysitter, but I had no choice if we were to reach the Martial Alliance.

Only then would this tiresome flight finally end.

There was almost nothing left in the abandoned house, but I barely managed to find a bamboo hat.

Of course, it was damaged all over and did not seem usable for blocking the sun or rain, but it could at least hide my face.

I put on the bamboo hat and headed down to the village.

The clothes I wore were already covered in dirt and sweat, matching the ruined bamboo hat well enough.

Of course, I did not know whether this would be enough to avoid Haomun.

But if their attention was focused on Na-jeon County, perhaps we could avoid suspicion.

Besides, we had walked all night.

More than twelve hours, by my estimate.

It was already well after dawn.

I hoped Haomun would not expect us to appear in a village that seemed quite far from Na-jeon County.

Honestly, I felt somewhat afraid of those pursuing us.

It was not because they controlled yokai.

It was their intelligence network.

The fact that they had surrounded the Song-eum Sect in only half a day and mobilized that many upright yokai meant they had already prepared and been waiting nearby.

That meant they had predicted our direction and movements far earlier.

They had accomplished something difficult even in the modern world, here where science had not advanced.

That fact frightened me a little.

People were already moving about the village's small market, busily beginning their day.

I stopped by a clothing stall and bought a bundle of worn clothes sold in heaps, then packed food from street stalls.

I also bought dried provisions such as jerky, dry rations, and dried fruit.

The vendors were a little curt toward someone dressed as though he had no money, but almost no one seemed to find me suspicious.

As expected of a village of this size, there seemed to be no shortage of people coming and going.

After buying various things and walking around, I tried to determine where we were.

I did not ask anyone. I merely inferred it from what I overheard.

And I learned one thing.

We were now at the border of Henan Province, where the Martial Alliance was located.

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