Chapter 592

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Chapter 592: Quagmire (9)

—Uh…!

Caught off guard by an attack he never expected, the royal seal pursuer let out a startled sound.

Even so, he barely managed to lift his arms and block at the last moment.

TAAANG!

A strike that sounded almost like a gunshot.

But Yeongwoo was never the kind of man to throw just one punch and stop.

“You’re fast, huh…?”

The moment he said this, Yeongwoo was already bringing Bastard down in a vertical slash.

SWEEEAAAK!

The crimson trail left by the mythical magic sword Bastard was ominous to anyone who saw it—and to someone who had seen plenty of high-tier gear like the seal pursuer, it looked even more fearsome.

—This guy… what the hell…?

Sensing instinctively that the opponent’s weapon was mythical, the seal pursuer hurriedly rolled backward to evade.

FWEEEAT!

Thanks to that, Yeongwoo’s descending slash only split the ground of the trading hall instead of the pursuer.

Naturally, Yeongwoo followed up immediately.

“Surrender? If so, hand over everything you’ve got…!”

Knowing now that victory was within reach, Yeongwoo charged in with a greedy expression.

The pursuer crossed his two crescent blades to guard.

FWASH!

In that instant, the crescent blades flashed pure white.

And as Yeongwoo struck down with Bastard, he realized—it was a type of equipment-based phase enhancement.

KAAANG!

‘He blocked it?’

The pursuer’s weapons were clearly not mythical, yet his strike had been stopped.

But perhaps the ability could not be used indefinitely—because the seal pursuer quickly retreated and began preparing something again.

TATAT!

He stepped back swiftly to Yeongwoo’s side-rear and, as though drawing inscriptions in the air, began swinging his blades around in peculiar patterns.

“You’re doing weird shit again?”

Yeongwoo moved in, thrusting Bastard forward to give him no room—

when suddenly the hologram guide urged a lateral evasive maneuver.

‘W–what?’

In situations he hadn’t seen before, the guide was usually correct.

So Yeongwoo rolled sideways—

and a sharp blue blade of energy swept through the space he had just occupied.

“This bastard uses magic now.”

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Yeongwoo blinked rapidly.

No matter how he looked at it, the source of those bizarre abilities seemed to be the soldiers performing some ritual behind the pursuer.

After sweeping his eyes over the widely spread soldiers, the seal pursuer once again fired sword energy.

‘So that’s your game—trying to divert my attention.’

The hologram guide issued another urgent warning.

Yeongwoo dodged to the side again and unleashed Sword Mountain toward the soldiers behind.

KWAAAAAA—K!

As the sky split open, the soldiers looked up—

only to see one group shredded into pieces by over 170 blades of flying steel.

They frantically scattered to save themselves.

And the light surrounding the pursuer’s crescent blades vanished at that moment as well.

SWIP!

—Damn.

The timing of the sword-energy barrage being interrupted was no coincidence.

“Kardal’s specialty is magic circles, right? Isn’t that so?”

Yeongwoo threw a sharp question, but the pursuer did not reply.

Instead—

—Why would someone like you protect a petty thief like him?

He pointed at Kejen, clearly unable to understand.

Of course, Yeongwoo was already swinging his sword by then.

“Losing your strength really makes you chatty!”

SWEEEAAAK!

Yeongwoo slashed Bastard—extended nearly eight meters—diagonally.

The pursuer desperately retreated, widening the distance.

Somehow, he knew his own weapons could not withstand Yeongwoo’s blows.

Still, his basic martial skill wasn’t lacking, and he managed to narrowly dodge every strike.

Had they both possessed mythical weapons, the fight’s outcome wouldn’t have been guaranteed.

—To attack me is to challenge the royal house of Kardal! Do you not fear the consequences?

Yeongwoo immediately swung again.

“You clashed blades with me. You should know who I am, right?”

—…

The pursuer shut his mouth.

He had seen it—the “Prestige System” message that appeared the moment he crossed blades with Yeongwoo.

“You really saw it, huh? Then why haven’t you paid up?”

—…What?

“The Prestige-set fee, you thief!”

During that brief confusion, Yeongwoo instantly closed the distance.

He had finally used the movement skill he’d been saving—Lightning Step.

KWAJIZIIT!

—Wha…!

The pursuer tried to raise his blades, shocked that Yeongwoo reached him in the blink of an eye.

But almost simultaneously—

Bastard phased through the crescent blade and sliced off the pursuer’s left arm.

SSEUGOK!

A clean, crisp severing sound echoed through the dome.

Kardal soldiers, who had been spreading out to reorganize, all flinched simultaneously.

It was their first time seeing the seal pursuer suffer such a major injury.

THUD!

The armored arm fell to the ground.

A moment of silence swept the hall.

Then—

PUUUK!

Yeongwoo kicked the pursuer in the torso, knocking him over, then thrust Bastard down toward his head.

SWEEEAT!

The blade stopped right in front of the helmet’s forehead plate.

—…!

KWAT!

The tip of the blade even slightly dented the helmet—

making it impossible for the pursuer to dodge without risking having his forehead split open.

“Now this is a position where we can talk properly.”

Yeongwoo kept the blade poised dangerously close as he grinned wickedly.

The pursuer’s exposed jaw twitched beneath his helmet.

—Criminals these days keep getting stronger, it seems.

“It’s not that criminals are strong. You just had the bad luck of meeting someone strong today.”

Yeongwoo then pointed at the royal seal lying on the floor.

“I’ve got no lasting grudge against House Kardal. So I’ll return the royal seal. I promised, remember?”

The pursuer looked startled and turned to glance at the seal.

—Truly?

“But you can’t take the thief.”

—But…

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“Oh? Planning to die here? You wanna drag your subordinates into the grave too?”

Yeongwoo made a show of summoning another Sword Mountain.

The pursuer exhaled sharply.

—Killing us here might actually be the wiser choice for you.

“You don’t get to look cool now. That kind of speech should’ve come before the fight ended.”

TUMP!

Yeongwoo smacked the pursuer’s forehead with the flat of the blade, then looked at the fallen arm.

“You were a strong enough expert to cut off your own arm. Just say you met a lunatic you couldn’t handle, and barely managed to safeguard the seal.”

He even provided the pursuer with a report scenario.

Then he shot a glare toward the soldiers still holding Kejen.

Despite receiving no order, the soldiers immediately released Kejen.

CLACK!

“Looks like your subordinates want to live.”

With that, Yeongwoo finally withdrew his sword.

The pursuer slowly lifted his upper body.

—I will never forget this day. What is your name?

“Oh, me? I’m Jeong Yeongwoo 07, head of the Renaissance family.”

—…Renaissance…

The pursuer repeated the clan name under his breath.

Meanwhile, Kejen hurriedly ducked behind Yeongwoo for safety.

—You… you almost fooled me. I knew you weren't a completely bad guy! Right?

“What? I saved you because you still owe me, remember.”

—Owe…?

“You said you’d give me the most valuable thing in your stash, didn’t you?”

Kejen’s tiny mouth dropped open.

—You seriously intend to take that?!

“If you don’t like it, go join those guys. Honestly, I already felt bad about betraying you after taking your ransom.”

Yeongwoo stepped aside; Kejen immediately clung to him again.

—F-fine! I prepared my life-saving money anyway.

Better to be broke than dead, after all.

And the same logic applied to the Kardal pursuer.

CLANG.

Yeongwoo picked up one of the dropped crescent blades.

The pursuer quickly grabbed the other and stood up.

—What are you doing?

“Paying the Prestige-set fee.”

Yeongwoo then held out his hand.

“Hand it over. Or the seal gets re-confiscated.”

—You madman…

But with the battle already lost, Kardal could do nothing.

If the seal were taken again, they had no means of stopping it.

“You should’ve sent someone stronger—or at least brought more men.”

Yeongwoo forcibly pulled the remaining blade from the pursuer’s grasp.

TUG!

“In this universe, if you lack strength, this is what happens. Got it?”

As Yeongwoo barked at the Kardal special envoy, Kejen pinched his fingertip desperately—begging him not to cross the final line.

Kardal’s military power was no joke on a universal scale.

—L-let’s just go! We’ve stayed too long!

Kejen frantically tugged Yeongwoo’s arm toward the exit.

Jeonggu, Amana, and the gold goblin also moved quickly.

Meanwhile, the now-one-armed pursuer growled from inside his helmet:

—Kejen Gialto! And Jeong Yeongwoo 07! Your names will be written in Kardal’s ledger!

“He’s pretty pissed.”

As Yeongwoo ran toward the exit, he glanced back.

Kardal soldiers were awkwardly picking up the royal seal and the severed arm.

“But what’s Kardal’s ledger? Like an assassination target list?”

Kejen, running ahead frantically, nodded hard.

—Yes! A list of people scheduled for elimination!

“A royal kill-list, huh… That actually sounds kinda cool.”

—What part of that is cool?! You just made an entire battle-crazed empire your enemy!

Reaching the exit first, Kejen dove into the portal without looking back.

Then, in Yeongwoo’s view—

A message he had been eagerly waiting for finally appeared.

PIIIING!

「Hypocrisy triggered!」

[Rescue of Kejen Gialto]

| Rating : C

Ah, finally.

Then—

A notification he had never seen before materialized.

「The first collection reward of the Hypocrite Catalog is now unlocked.」

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