Chapter 774

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Chapter 774: Inheritance Trial (4)

The Commandments left behind by the Great One, Yugui Moga, to guard his legacy.

They were unmistakably powerful, and since their purpose was to test valor, they themselves would naturally be valorous.

Thus, could he but claim ownership of them, there was no doubt they would someday prove to be a tremendous asset.

Had they not even stated that in the event of Yeongwoo’s death, they would not disband, but instead protect Yeongwoo’s legacy?

While the exact definition of “legacy” remained ambiguous, the probability was high that it meant the Earth Ship or Yeongwoo’s descendants.

“You’re saying if I defeat ten out of twenty, I earn the loyalty of the remaining ten? That’s a fairly good offer, but…”

Scratching his chin, Yeongwoo soon rolled his eyes slyly.

“Can’t I just have all twenty of you? Having come all this way, a half-measure Precept is just… not quite right.”

At that, the Commandments spoke in resolute succession.

「To command the loyalty of all Commandments is a feat possible only for the Great Yugui Moga.」

「To test the valor of the inheritor, ten among us must fall without fail.」

「And the remaining ten, as witnesses to the inheritor’s valor, shall forge a new covenant.」

At this, Yeongwoo waved his hand as if exasperated.

“Understood. You lot are stubbornly set in your ways. You refuse to pass down the inheritance intact as your original master made it—is that it?”

「…….」

“By the way, what if I fail to take down ten of you? What happens then?”

To Yeongwoo’s question, the Commandments offered a chilling reply.

「The price for feigning valor is death.」

“…You guys are completely out of your minds.”

Then again, the one who created them in the first place, Yugui Moga, was a bandit who went around piloting a self-destruct ship, wasn't he?

“So that’s why you give the inheritor a choice. Either quietly take the legacy and leave, or stake one’s life to aim for these tin soldiers as well.”

Naturally, Yeongwoo’s answer had long been decided.

“Are you even strong enough to dare kill me? Well, I suppose you’d need to be that strong for it to be worthwhile recruiting you bastards.”

As Yeongwoo spoke and gradually raised his fighting spirit, the Commandments extended one final courtesy to the inheritor.

「Inheritor, deliberate. The trial shall never be halted. Not until ten of us have fallen, or you meet your death.」

It was quite an eerie warning, but Yeongwoo was already holding Bastard in his right hand and Aratubank in his left.

“Cut the chatter and let’s get started.”

「Be valorous until the final moment!」

Coinciding with a shout that sounded almost like a battle cry, the irises of every Precept shifted to violet.

Pii-aat!

Without warning, the Precept closest to Yeongwoo swung its greatsword straight at him.

Hwaeeeeeeek!

“Not holding back in the slightest, are you?”

When Yeongwoo thrust forward Aratubank to block, intending to gauge the Commandments’ physical strength, an astonishing thing occurred.

Teo-eo-eooong!

No sooner had the blade struck the surface of Aratubank than Yeongwoo’s feet sank about three centimeters into the floor.

“……?”

This implied that the brute strength of a single Precept might far surpass Yeongwoo's, and soon the remaining Commandments broke formation and began scattering to the left and right.

× They’re forming an encirclement. These bastards really intend to kill you.

“I know. Those guys just said so with their own mouths.”

Though Yeongwoo answered calmly, in truth he was considerably tense.

Now possessing a fair amount of combat experience, he had gleaned a vast amount of information from that single blow he had just deflected.

And the most critical piece of that information was simply this:

‘…I’m screwed.’

The fact that he had stirred up a hornets’ nest.

A brute strength exceeding his estimates was a problem in itself, but an even greater issue was having to face twenty such entities all at once.

Clack, clank!

As the Commandments completed a semicircular net in the meantime, Yeongwoo unleashed a power he would rather not have used if possible.

“Can’t be helped. I’ve got no choice but to use my real power.”

Yeongwoo’s irises instantly dyed gold, radiating an ocular glare.

Hwaaaaat!

He had scattered his Prestige in all directions, a force capable of compelling courtesy from those beneath him.

A golden wave swept across the dark armor-clad Commandments, and seeing this, Obstruction of Justice pointed here and there with its index finger and spoke.

× There's no way Prestige will work on them.

“What?”

× Those things are neither machines nor living beings. They’re just a sort of magic that follows what was contracted.

“Then the only way is to break them with pure force?”

× That’s about it. Still, they value their own rules more than life itself, so you just need to break ten of them.

Magic statues unaffected by Prestige, possessing brute strength a tier above his own.

For all he knew, they wouldn’t be affected by morale, nor would they know fear.

‘For some reason, they look even bulkier than before.’

Yet thinking about it in reverse, it meant that if he could just survive here, he could recruit ten of these monstrous magic statues.

Of course, that was entirely contingent on an "if."

「Commencing the trial.」

The moment an emotionless voice drifted out, the twenty Commandments surrounding him on three sides lunged forward simultaneously.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

It looked like a colossal tsunami bearing down, and Yeongwoo could not deny feeling terrified even while sheltering his body behind the mythic shield.

Because from that very first clash, he had become certain that Aratubank would not be able to protect him to the very end.

Besides, earlier he had taken only a single strike, but from now on, twenty would be attacking concurrently, wouldn’t they?

‘Now what do I do? Still, Bastard’s attacks should work. It’s not like each of those things possesses a myth-grade status.’

While Yeongwoo was vaguely turning over such thoughts, another legacy left behind by the Great One—just like the Commandments—began to move.

『Where the foot cannot tread, neither can the sword reach.』

Blazeflow, the swordsmanship left behind by the master of the blade, Dorta Muo, had activated.

‘Where the foot… what?’

It was an utterly difficult phrase to understand, yet facing the spectacle before his eyes, he understood it instinctively.

This was an admonition to secure space.

No matter how great Blazeflow was, it could not exert its power in a situation where all four sides were entirely walled off.

‘…The rear. Securing the rear should be the right move, right?’

As Yeongwoo muttered this internally and glanced sideways toward the back, a surge of heat instantly rose to his head, and his neck was wrenched sideways.

Toward the flank of the Commandments’ encirclement, which seemed on the verge of snapping shut.

“…Break through over there?”

The moment Yeongwoo questioned it in bewilderment, the Anti-Government Handgun fired a round in the direction Yeongwoo was looking and shouted:

× Wake up! The bastards are right under your nose!

The Commandments on the flank effortlessly deflected the bullet with their blades and closed the distance even further; then, the moment they swung their swords and spears in wide arcs—

Hwaaat!

Flames momentarily sparked across Yeongwoo’s entire body.

“……!”

At that moment, in Yeongwoo’s vision, the gap between their flared arms and armpits as they swung their blades appeared highlighted in red.

In other words, the instruction had come to slip his body through that very gap.

“Ridiculous.”

Yet at an even more ridiculous speed, all manner of bladed weapons were flying in from the other three directions, and Yeongwoo was forced to dive in the direction Blazeflow indicated.

Taaat!

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Since a blade was already swinging from that side as well, Yeongwoo had to bend his upper body nearly all the way backward while extending his legs far forward into a slide.

Chwaaaaak!

Not an attack, but a forward maneuver purely for the sake of survival.

Naturally, amidst all this, Blazeflow was demanding an attack.

『Every posture is meant to prepare an attack.』

‘What? An attack again in this situation?’

Yet Yeongwoo’s right arm was already blazing red-hot, raising Bastard upward.

While sliding beneath the blade swung by the hulking Precept, he raised Bastard upward, cleaving the opponent's armpit.

Seu-aaaaak!

Just as Yeongwoo had anticipated, the Precept did not possess a mythic status, and its pitch-black armor could be seen cleanly parting like a sheet of paper.

“Ah……!”

Seeing this, Yeongwoo felt his heart thud loudly.

The thought struck him that, if he played his cards right, he might actually be able to butcher every single one of these bastards.

Chwat!

Slipping outside the encirclement in an instant, Yeongwoo immediately spun back around and swung Bastard with all his might.

It was to swiftly finish off even the fellow whose armpit had just been cleaved open.

Ssweeeeeek!

However, what happened next vastly exceeded Yeongwoo’s expectations.

Peo-eok!

As if anticipating Yeongwoo’s follow-up strike, another Precept kicked the one with the severed armpit, knocking him down.

Consequently, Bastard’s blade naturally sliced through empty air, and soon the pitch-black ring of encirclement tightened around Yeongwoo once more.

“These crazy bastards.”

What had just transpired implied three things.

First, that within that brief instant, the Commandments had discerned the traits of Bastard.

Second, that these Commandments possessed not only brute strength, but also extremely fast reaction speeds.

And third.

× These guys… they’re coordinating with each other?

As the Anti-Government Handgun sprayed bullets in all directions, revealing its distress, a sound emerged from within Aratubank for the first time in a very long while.

∴ What on earth are you doing?

“……?”

Wearing a blank expression for a moment, Yeongwoo stared at Aratubank, which was vibrating with a low thrum.

“Maternal Uncle?”

∴ Where the foot cannot tread, neither can the sword reach.

“What?”

∴ Doesn't that apply to their side as well? So let me out. I shall ensure those bastards have no space to swing their swords.

“……!”

At that, Yeongwoo acted before thinking.

Because in that brief moment, the Commandments had already closed in right before his nose once more.

“Come forth, Song Jeongho……!”

As Yeongwoo called out his maternal uncle’s name and opened Aratubank, the coffin lid burst open, and a crimson wave poured out toward the front.

Kwaaaat!

Then, in an instant, it swallowed a portion of this massive underground chamber, soon molding a 250-meter-long mass of blue scales.

∴ Kii-yaaaaaaa!

Emerging outside the coffin after a long time, the Thunder Dragon Song Jeongho unleashed a prolonged roar.

At the same time, he swept away the pitch-black Commandments with his ponderous tail.

Peo-beo-beo-beok!

Of course, Yeongwoo was included among the targets of this sweep as well.

“Aaargh!”

As Yeongwoo, caught in the pale-blue trajectory, was flung into the air along with the Commandments, Song Jeongho bared his massive molars and muttered in a low voice.

∴ Now the encirclement issue is resolved.

Then he promptly knitted his brow and let out a groan.

∴ Kwek?

It was because some of the Commandments who hadn’t been swept away by the tail-swipe had pierced Song Jeongho’s scales and driven their weapons in.

As beings capable of threatening a planetary ship captain, they could effortlessly pierce Song Jeongho’s scales as well.

∴ H-Hurry up. These bastards are carving off my flesh!

Subsequently, when Song Jeongho tried to swing his foreleg, a long spear was thrust straight into his elbow.

Kwak!

∴ Eugggh!

And seeing this, Yeongwoo couldn't help but look on with excited eyes.

‘These bastards, I absolutely must have them.’

These Commandments knew no fear, and because they were unaffected by Prestige, they did not care who their opponent was.

In other words, even if ordered to go beat up a Great One, they wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest.

∴ Hurry! Kill at least one while I buy time!

Presently, as Song Jeongho twisted his body while crying out in a terrified voice, Yeongwoo swiftly brought the whistle hanging from his neck to his lips.

And then.

Peeeeeeeeeee-ik!

Unlike those of Yugui Moga, he summoned the biological Commandments—ones who knew fear all too well.

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