Chapter 95
Chapter 95: The Good Word?
William grinned back at me.
Then he turned his head towards Kashir again.
Kashir’s face was flushed, and the temple beneath his skin was writhing.
His entire body shook with rage.
He was the murderer who dealt death to countless souls, a figure so terrifying that even hearing his name would make children weep.
Where had he ever felt such humiliation before?
As Kashir trembled with fury, his form suddenly shifted.
He dashed like a shot towards the exit of the Gate.
He was trying to sneak away unexpectedly.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
However, William’s massive frame had already anticipated such a movement and was right there, towering over Kashir.
With a wave of energy, he swung his colossal greatsword horizontally.
If that connected, it would split Kashir in two.
Instead of blocking with the Death Scythe, Kashir chose to leap off the ground.
He judged that blocking was impossible.
“That’s right, you’ll jump.”
But even that movement seemed to be within William’s expectations, as he charged in with overwhelming force.
Kashir’s eyes widened in shock.
He could read William’s movements, yet they were much faster than he anticipated.
He tried to counterattack with the Death Scythe, but it was already too late.
With a “thud!”, William’s body slammed into Kashir.
Boom!
“Kugh!”
Kashir was sent flying as if he had been hit by a massive truck.
He felt the bitter taste of blood in his mouth as crimson dripped from his lip.
“You, Human Butcher, will not leave here alive.”
William declared, as if pronouncing a death sentence.
He approached Kashir with a commanding stride, ready to execute his sentence.
“Ugh… Damn it, this guy and that guy!”
Kashir shouted, blood pouring from his mouth.
He had given up the thought of returning alive.
“Do you really think I, Kashir, will just die like this?”
Fueled by boiling rage, he unleashed the Awakening Technique.
Instead of pulling all his strength in that moment, it was a technique that was bound to lead to death.
In essence, it was a method of mutual destruction.
His insane determination to take at least one of them with him shone in his crazed eyes.
“Sword Master! I’ll show you just how strong I am!”
With the potential for survival gone after unleashing his Awakening, Kashir saw nothing but fury.
His fear of the Sword Master stemmed from the worry of losing his life.
Now that he had transcended that fear, nothing held him back as he lunged at Si-hyun.
“That guy!”
William, caught off guard by the sudden direction of his movement, reacted a beat too late.
‘He’s really coming this way.’
Si-hyun’s eyes widened.
From the moment Kashir had roared in fury, he sensed something was amiss, keeping a keen eye on his movements while ready to unleash the Acureruts.
Had he let his guard down for even a second, he might have lost his life before he had time to react.
The moment he sensed Kashir charging, Si-hyun shouted the magic activation phrase etched in his mind.
There was no time to waste.
The enemy possessed unimaginable speed.
“Hellfire.”
Whoosh!
A massive pillar of flame, fierce enough to consume everything, erupted forth.
Just as Kashir almost reached Si-hyun to swing the Death Scythe—
If there had been a bit more distance, he might have evaded it.
But at such a close range, the sudden eruption of hellish flames was impossible for even a mastered superhuman to slip away from.
Facing the imminent danger of being reduced to ash, Kashir desperately unleashed a Strong Barrier.
Having awakened, an incredibly thick barrier spread out before him.
But due to the proximity to the Hellfire, he took the full brunt of that dreadful flame.
Boom!
The clash between the hellish flames and the Strong Barrier caused a massive explosion.
Kashir was flung backward with tremendous force, crashing violently against the wall.
The barrier, which he had summoned with all his might, shattered upon impact.
Thud!
His back slammed hard against the stone wall as Kashir fell, writhing.
Cough, cough…
Bright red blood flowed down from his mouth.
After unleashing his Awakening, his insides were in shambles, and the brutal impact left him in a state more akin to a corpse.
“Sword Master, you are far too cruel. Ugh…”
Kashir vomited blood.
Then, in a completely dazed state, he burst into laughter.
“Heh heh heh, do you think I’m not worth wielding a sword against? I will definitely watch how your precious sword breaks. Cough… Heh, we’ll… meet in the afterlife…”
As Kashir struggled to continue speaking, his head lolled to the side.
He had finally succumbed to death.
“….”
Si-hyun stood frozen, his face as stiff as stone.
A mere second of delay could have determined life or death.
Had he delayed the casting of Hellfire by even 0.1 seconds, he would have been the one to lose his head and become a lifeless body sprawled on the ground.
Even with Cold-bloodedness activated, his sword-wielding fingers trembled slightly.
He had just barely survived once again.
“Truly, Duke Kaiel.”
William gazed at Si-hyun with eyes filled with wonder.
Duke Kaiel.
Sword Master Delagardi.
Who would have thought he would encounter such renowned figures in a place like this?
When Kashir had mentioned the Sword Master, Si-hyun had been skeptical, but Acureruts and Hellfire confirmed it.
Si-hyun nodded in silence.
Having acted the part, he was resolved to see it through to the end.
His gaze shifted to Bayan, who was trembling, lost in despair.
“Yikes!”
Bayan stumbled backward and screamed when Si-hyun looked at him with cold eyes.
Si-hyun approached Bayan slowly.
He had changed quite a bit during this time.
The one who once terrified him was no longer frightening at all.
Bayan’s gaze, once dismissive like that of a bug, now bore the weight of fear.
So this is what it felt like to be looked at by the strong.
It was a curious sensation.
Close to a feeling that was bitter yet refreshing at the same time.
“…D-Don’t come any closer! Ugh…!”
Bayan, continuing to retreat, found his back against the wall.
Realizing there was no more room to back away, dread filled his expression.
Si-hyun drew closer.
“Ahh!”
Screaming, Bayan threw himself to his knees.
He began pleading for mercy.
“Pl-Please let me live! I’ll do anything you want. I can… do everything! Please, please!”
“….”
Si-hyun gazed at the pleading Bayan coldly, without a word.
The human who once ruthlessly took lives now begged for his own.
Before the strong, he exhibited an utterly pitiful display.
It made him feel filthy.
Had he charged at the end like Kashir, he wouldn’t have felt this dirty.
“…You’re Chinese, aren’t you?”
Si-hyun asked in a chilling voice.
“Y-Yes! I’m Chinese! China is a strong, powerful country. We can offer a lot. Especially my father is a member of the Communist Party and a Hunter…”
Hearing Si-hyun mention China, Bayan sensed a glimmer of hope and hurriedly replied.
Yet, his response was cut short by Si-hyun’s next words.
“What a truly insane country.”
“Wha-what?”
“Monsters like you, Human Butchers, and Face-avoidance Technicians walking around freely—it’s beyond madness, isn’t it? Shouldn’t scum like you be rotting in a cell for life instead of hunting down the innocent in other countries?”
No matter how powerful the Awakened, they couldn’t exist above the law.
If one committed a crime, they had to be punished.
The Ganghwa Island Special Detention Center existed precisely to punish those Awakened who had committed crimes.
And yet, China could only be described as insane.
Letting murderers roam freely outside, regardless of how many lives they’d taken.
From how things seemed, they appeared to have national support.
Utilizing the worst of the worst as part of their state while giving them privileges.
Is this what I call my country?
Si-hyun’s anger surged.
No matter how important the strength of the Awakened was, there were still lines that should not be crossed.
“Answer me. Is it the mark of a normal country to behave like this, like a pack of rabid dogs?”
“….”
Bayan’s face was filled with fear as he looked for a way to respond, glancing nervously at Si-hyun.
“You’re just going back to kill more innocent people anyway. I’ll execute you here so you can’t harm anyone else.”
Si-hyun wasn’t acting purely out of a sense of justice.
If that had been the case, he wouldn’t have kept quiet regarding the Black Cross incident.
He had known what kind of person Cheonbyeon was and that he would hurt many in the future, yet he stayed silent.
Because he was weak.
Because he needed to survive.
He was an ordinary person, not a hero who risked his life for justice.
Yet now, he was sure that this choice was the right one.
They had come to a foreign land to carve out their own lives, looking to kill him and those around him.
The seven Black Tiger Guild members, including the guild leader, had met a pitiful end.
Si-hyun himself had nearly perished.
To even contemplate returning such a monster simply because he worried about the future was unacceptable.
“Ah… Ahhh! Please! Please let me live! Please!”
After being brutally beaten, Bayan had lost all sense of resistance, now reducing himself to begging for his life.
“Go to hell.”
“Sa-sal… Karrgh!”
Swish!
The sharp blade of Acureruts pierced through Bayan’s neck, blood spraying like a fountain.
The lifeless Bayan crumpled like a pile of rotten straw.
At last, Si-hyun severed the wretched connection with his own hands.
“Well done. The bad ones must die.”
William’s face radiated satisfaction.
Although things had gone differently than he had originally planned, he had nonetheless achieved his goal.
“And you are?”
Si-hyun asked, looking at William.
“Haha, now that you mention it, it’s the first time we’ve met, Kaiel. I am William, the Fourth Sword of Iriya.”
“I see. How did you know to come here?”
Even if William hadn’t arrived, Si-hyun would have still managed to survive thanks to his successful act.
However, William’s presence had allowed him to eliminate two murderers.
Had William not intervened, Kashir may have unleashed his Awakening, and Si-hyun would never have achieved the miracle of slaying an S-Class with a one-time use of Hellfire.
While Si-hyun thought Kashir had died to Hellfire, in truth, he had opened the Strong Barrier, so he hadn’t taken the full force of the flames.
Ultimately, his demise had been due to the severe aftereffects following the activation of his Awakening.
“I came thanks to the help of the Sage of Blood Flow.”
“The Sage?”
Upon hearing the word ‘Sage,’ a thought briefly crossed his mind.
Po-ahim had mentioned one of the individuals he sought out was the Great Sage with dual eyes.
“That’s right. Would you like to meet him?”
“I would like to, but that’s not what’s important right now.”
Si-hyun bit his lip as he surveyed the gruesome remains scattered about.
The hands of the Human Butcher had been terribly cruel, leaving no body intact.
Blood was everywhere, soaking the ground, with dismembered limbs and entrails lying grotesquely around.
It would be a daunting task to clean up.
“Hmm… It is clear that this is far from over.”
William nodded in agreement, observing the same horrific scene as Si-hyun.
Si-hyun’s gaze eventually landed on Eun-hye and Min-jun.
“Could you please wait a moment? I need to speak with my comrades.”
