Chapter 594: Joseon (1)

The enemy soldiers, who had cowered before a single ship for a brief moment, came to their senses and advanced.

—Not from the nation of Hyun. Really.

The crooked words painted on the ship declared that they were the King of Stories’ army, and naturally, no one believed them.

What kind of wordplay is this...?

It was true that the King of Stories had brought them here.

But the one they could now challenge was neither Musashi nor Hyunsoo.

It was the King of Stories.

[The King of Stories has become the lord of Verd Territory.]

Several dozen people moved toward an army of one hundred thousand.

At their head stood the King of Stories, Yi Sun-sin.

His existence was not well known on this continent.

That was why the hundred thousand soldiers had only flinched for a moment.

How can he hold a great blade like that without looking uncomfortable?

His build went far beyond ordinary standards.

He stood nearly 190 centimeters tall, and his sturdy frame made it look perfectly natural for him to let a great-blade-shaped Twin Dragon Sword hang from one hand.

Then—

SWISH—

He drew another great blade from within his robes and let it hang at his side.

Two?!

Dual blades?

One was Hyun’s. The other was the Twin Dragon Sword Yi Sun-sin had once possessed, newly remade for him by Hyun.

This was also why Hyunsoo had allowed him to wield the Twin Dragon Sword.

[The Twin Dragon Sword has found its true master.]

[All skills of the Twin Dragon Sword will change to suit its true master the moment he takes it in hand.]

[All Twin Dragon Sword skill levels have increased by +3.]

[The Twin Dragon Sword’s attack power has increased by 400.]

Hyunsoo knew Yi Sun-sin would grow stronger when he held his own Twin Dragon Sword.

“It’s all for show!”

“Two? There’s no way he can swing two great blades!”

The soldiers shouted as they charged.

But—

SHNK!

A simple thrust pierced one soldier straight through, killing him instantly.

“...?”

Even a powerful fighter would struggle to kill an elite Parion Empire soldier in one blow.

Then Yi Sun-sin cut down someone approaching from the side.

SLASH!!

Once again, the soldier was cleaved in two and collapsed in a spray of blood.

Yi Sun-sin began to walk forward, one step at a time.

SLASH!

STAB!

SLASH, SLASH!

Soldiers fell in heaps wherever he passed.

Every time he took a step, at least five or six soldiers were swept away. The sight itself was terror.

By the time he had taken twenty steps, the Parion Empire soldiers were trembling as they watched him.

During those twenty steps, the number of allies he had killed had already climbed into the hundreds.

*****

Knights Rock, Ard, and Pin.

They were the core figures of the Parion Empire’s 9th Knight Order.

They had won hundreds of battles and cut down countless knight order commanders, becoming key contributors to the Parion Empire placing many nations beneath its feet.

They too had grown up hearing the name of one man.

The pinnacle of knights.

The most loyal knight.

A man who had never been defeated.

“Luxiu...!”

Yet they could not understand why such a figure was living in a place as insignificant as the nation of Hyun.

Had he come to the Great Parion Empire, he might have become the man who led the 1st Knight Order.

Had he seized °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the position of commander of the 1st Knight Order now, he might have gained honor, fame, everything.

Unable to understand him, the three knights blocked his path.

“Unbeaten Knight Luxiu!”

Luxiu answered.

“Left State Councilor.”

“...?”

TWITCH. TWITCH.

The strange movement at the corners of his mouth told them everything.

Does he actually like being called the Left State Councilor?

As though he truly were the King of Stories’ Left State Councilor?

Why?

Luxiu had seen and encountered the King of Stories countless times.

He was a hero worthy of respect.

To become the Left State Councilor of such a hero was a sacred honor.

“I’ll make you regret going to the nation of Hyun!”

“It’s Left State Councilor.”

The three knights intended to make one thing clear.

“Kneel before His Majesty even now!”

“Then we’ll put in a good word for you before His Majesty.”

They would show him how foolish it was to serve Hyun.

No matter how often he was called the Unbeaten Knight, that was merely a name from the past.

There were three of them.

And Luxiu was only a figure of the past.

Each of them was stronger than the records from his era.

That was the noble grace of the Great Parion Empire.

Had they not been born citizens of the Parion Empire, they would never have grown this powerful.

They intended to prove that the Parion Empire was filled with warriors like them.

“Sword Emperor’s Swordsmanship.”

Sword energy surged wildly through their three blades.

WHOOOOM!

Three colossal currents rolled forward, raging like mad wolves.

“Massacrer.”

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!

More than twenty arcs of sword energy flew from each blade.

Over sixty in total.

At the moment they imagined Luxiu being torn to pieces—

“Left State Councilor’s Swordsmanship.”

“...??”

“...??”

Luxiu, utterly immersed in his role as Left State Councilor, pulled his sword back.

Of course, it was not merely because he was immersed in it.

Strictly speaking, he had joined this battle not as a citizen of the nation of Hyun, but as a citizen of the King of Stories.

“Rowing.”

He changed the skill’s name however he pleased and shouted something utterly absurd.

Yet a massive strand of sword energy shot forth and swept away all sixty-plus attacks at once.

BOOOOM!

Sword energy scattered in every direction.

Having completed Rowing, Luxiu charged forward.

BANG! BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!

He knocked aside the remaining fragments of sword energy still flying toward him.

Then one of them struck him head-on.

The knights expected him to cough up blood and be split in half.

But they soon froze.

A faint line appeared.

The damage left on his armor was no more than that.

As Luxiu’s sword swung toward him, Knight Rock remembered that Luxiu had remained unscathed even after taking sword energy directly.

Rock thrust out his chest.

“A sword like this won’t leave so much as a scratch on me either!”

The moment he was cut, he regretted it.

SHNK!

FSSSHHH!

Blood spurted up like a fountain.

“It hurts?”

Then—

FSSSHHHH!!!

The blood rose even higher, announcing massive blood loss. Soon blood burst from his mouth as well.

“PFFFT!”

Rock had strutted around trying to imitate Luxiu’s earlier performance, only to vomit blood from his mouth.

Luxiu looked at him with an expression that said, “What kind of fucking idiot is this?”

“Why... can’t I...?”

The reason for his defeat was simple.

He had bared his chest and tried to imitate Luxiu.

Blood continued to gush from his chest, which had not merely been cut but split open, driving him into massive blood loss.

Knight Rock could not understand why.

Had Luxiu’s movements surpassed his own?

No.

Luxiu’s movements were only slightly better.

And weren’t movement, physical defense, and attack power supposed to be proportional?

Then what was different?

“It is His Majesty Hyunsoo’s grace.”

“...?”

Only then did Rock understand.

Neither Luxiu’s sword nor his armor was ordinary.

They were artifacts he could never possess, no matter how badly he wanted them.

But was it only one?

No.

Luxiu’s entire body was covered in artifacts that even the Parion Empire could not produce.

“Ghk...”

Having realized that, Rock died from massive blood loss.

The other two knights refused to accept it.

Could artifacts truly unleash such power?

WHOOOOSH!

Dozens of sword paths converged as they cut at Luxiu.

But—

SCRAPE! SCRAPE! SCRAPE!

Only shallow sword marks appeared on his armor, as though they were cutting through thick steel bars.

And then—

What did infinite durability mean?

Infinite durability did not mean that durability never decreased.

It meant that it restored itself.

“...!!!”

The armor, which had cracked under their relentless assault and was about to shatter, repaired itself.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

As Luxiu’s sword collided with theirs, both sides’ blades were nicked and dulled.

But Luxiu’s sword possessed infinite durability.

Its edge restored itself, returning to its original sharpness.

“...!!”

It was something Emperor Bolond of the Parion Empire could not accomplish.

Only Hyun could.

Only the king of the nation of Hyun could do such a thing.

At last—

Ard and Pin’s swords were severed by a single blade.

CLANG!

The two stared in shock at their swords, snapped in half and buried in the ground.

STAB!!!

“I told you.”

Ard’s armor around his heart was already a wreck.

Even so, a sword was not supposed to pierce through it this easily.

It meant that the sword forged by Hyun was absurdly sharp.

The blade pierced straight through Ard.

SPLURT!

This time, Luxiu slashed diagonally through Pin, who was flailing after losing his sword.

SPLURT!

Pin, too, fell to the ground after being cut down in a single move.

“You should have served His Majesty Hyunsoo.”

As the two men died, they regretted, for the first time, serving Bolond of the Parion Empire.

*****

“1,731st.”

“1,732nd.”

“1,733rd.”

Right State Councilor.

That was the title by which the woman’s voice was now addressed.

Pedro doubted his own ears.

She killed 1,700 people? Bullshit!

But his doubt vanished in an instant.

SLASH!

The knight who had cut down the soldier before Pedro in a flash passed by him.

Her silver hair fluttered behind her, and the movements of the dignified knight made it clear that it was no empty boast.

“1,734th.”

She met Pedro’s eyes, yet merely muttered the number she had killed and moved on.

She ignored me?

Pedro was fighting someone who commanded dragons as well.

He was cutting down dragons at a rapid pace, and the woman could easily have helped him.

Then another voice rang out from elsewhere.

“3,231st.”

THUNK!

“3,232nd.”

THUNK!

“3,233rd.”

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The woman holding an enormous black greatbow stood in place and did nothing but draw her bowstring.

No matter how fast the silver-haired knight was, she could not match arrows fired more than five times per second.

THUNK!

Every arrow struck precisely between the brows.

The soldier beside Pedro died instantly.

Yet—

The woman with the greatbow aimed at Pedro, then struck another soldier elsewhere.

“Tch...!”

Surrounded by dragons, Pedro sped up the rate at which he hunted the sixty or so beasts.

Then he felt a crushing pressure and looked elsewhere.

“...?”

Pedro froze.

Five thousand soldiers rose into the air.

How is something like this possible?

As though three-hundred-kilogram weights had been tied to the tips of their feet—

KABOOOM!!!

“5,000th.”

The man who had annihilated five thousand soldiers at once looked toward Pedro.

He was a telekinesis user.

If Pedro were caught by that power, every bone in his body might twist, and his organs might explode.

Yet once again, the man passed right by Pedro.

Soon, Pedro saw another figure.

A giant of a man.

The new master of Verd Territory.

A man wielding two enormous greatswords, one in each hand.

“23,136th.”

“....”

Goosebumps rose over Pedro’s body, making it difficult for him to move.

Pedro had felt immense pressure the first time that man appeared as well.

His bearing rivaled the feeling Pedro had experienced upon meeting Sword Emperor Bolond.

Pedro gripped his sword with all his strength.

Yes. It’s you.

The person he had to kill.

The King of Stories.

But—

THUNK.

“23,139th.”

THUNK.

“23,140th.”

He, too, passed Pedro by.

Pedro could not understand it.

Why?

Only then did Pedro see what he had failed to notice.

“Rock. Ard. Pin.”

The knights who had been loyal to the Empire were nowhere to be seen.

Neither were the soldiers who had talked about finishing the conquest of Verd Territory and returning home to share black ale.

Not one of their counts had been exaggerated.

They were all true.

Then, through the thick trees barely one hundred meters away—

SHNK!

“AAARGH!”

“...312th.”

STAB!

“...313th.”

CRACK!

“...314th.”

A man came walking forward after cutting through several soldiers in an instant.

Because of the wound Pedro had inflicted across his eye, he had lost vision in one eye.

Yet he easily cut down another soldier charging in from the side.

SHNK!

Pedro gave a hollow laugh as he watched the man split in half.

...Is he only at 314 because I messed up one of his eyes?

The man left the scattered soldiers behind him and spoke.

“108,315th.”