.
This was the place I had come to not long ago to treat Jang Seohyeok’s Demonic Deviation and obtain 「Clear Mirror, Still Heart」.
At the time, no one had been around, so I had been able to pick the lock and enter without much trouble. Now, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.
The air felt sharp, heavy, and cold, as though a blade were hanging within it.
BANG! BANG!
I pounded the door with my fist.
“This is the Righteous Sword Sect.”
“Who are you?”
Two men in blue martial uniforms opened the door and questioned me.
I still could not get used to the way these people spoke like characters from historical dramas.
“The Sect Leader is here, right? There is something I would like to discuss.”
“The Sect Leader is not so idle that he meets every unknown outsider.”
“If you wish to meet the Sect Leader, state your identity first and arrange an appointment.”
I still did not understand why two identical-looking men had to take turns speaking one sentence each.
They were not even that close, and honestly, I did not care enough to ask.
The important thing was that, as they said, arranging an appointment and meeting Jang Seohyeok would take at least three months.
But I had not the slightest intention of waiting three months.
“Then, if I beat you two in a duel wager, will you let me in?”
“A Duel Wager!”
“How foolish!”
A Duel Wager was ultimately just a procedure where the loser granted the winner’s wish.
Did they really need to express it in such an elaborate Sino-Korean term?
“We are A-Rank and B-Rank Hunters, respectively!”
“No matter how we look at you, you appear to be E-Rank at best, or D-Rank if we are being generous! We cannot cross swords with you!”
They were rigid men, but not evil ones.
Their words were long-winded, but they simply meant that the gap in Rank was too great for them to fight me.
But unfortunately for them—
Being that kind made them easier to deal with.
“Ah, so...”
“Hmm?”
“What are you trying to say?!”
I smiled brightly and pointed at them with my index finger.
“Scared?”
“...”
“...”
BANG!
They threw the doors wide open.
“Come in!”
“We accept your Duel Wager!”
Ha. Easy.
***
“The method is simple.”
“Do not kill your opponent or inflict permanent injury.”
“In other words, you may not sever limbs or blind the other person.”
“You win if your opponent faints, declares surrender, or if you land such a clean attack that it would have killed them in a real battle.”
As I put on the black martial uniform they had given me, I only half listened to the twins explaining the rules.
I had heard it so many times that I was sick of it.
“Is there anything wrong with the sword we provided?”
“If there is, tell us immediately!”
“No. It is fine.”
There was one choice to make in a Duel Wager.
“Then!”
“Which one of us will you face?”
That was choosing the opponent.
One was A-Rank and the other B-Rank, but when fighting together, the two of them were known to demonstrate strength comparable to an S-Rank Hunter.
Most challengers chose the B-Rank older brother without hesitation. So even before I answered, the older brother had gripped his sword while the younger brother stood with his arms crossed.
“Me? Then, both of you.”
But I had not come here merely to enter the Righteous Sword Sect through a Duel Wager.
One of my goals was to leave a strong impression on these two.
I pointed at both twins.
Their brows furrowed deeply, as though their pride had been wounded.
“You must find our twinhood quite easy to look down upon.”
“Excessive confidence will become poison.”
“I know. But...”
A little flattery was called for here.
“If I can witness even a few exchanges from the joint attack of the two people known to possess the finest coordination in the Righteous Sword Sect, would that not be better than defeating only one opponent?”
The twins’ eyes widened severalfold.
“Excellent, excellent!”
“Your desire to keep learning is truly the mark of a genius!”
Their annoyance vanished, leaving behind only competitive spirit.
The two raised wooden swords and faced me. With one hand formed into a fist and the other opened into a palm, they lightly lowered their heads.
“Jeong Ji-ho of the Righteous Sword Sect, B-Rank Hunter.”
“Jeong Ui-ho of the Righteous Sword Sect, A-Rank Hunter.”
I took a similar stance.
“Kang Seon, unaffiliated D-Rank Hunter.”
“Remember that name!”
“Then let us fight fairly!”
The instant they finished speaking, the two released their momentum.
[Jeong Ji-ho has used the Skill 「Established Path」(B+).]
[Jeong Ui-ho has used the Skill 「Illuminated Path」(A).]
Each was a Skill that imposed a particular Restriction upon the user in exchange for greatly enhancing physical abilities in proportion to the Restriction’s difficulty.
The fact that they used their Skills and waited for me meant they were telling me to make the first move.
“Then I will learn a thing or two.”
[The Skill 「Mimicry-Illuminated Path」(C) is activated.]
“Restriction. ‘I will not kill a human in this battle.’”
[Restriction confirmed. Physical abilities have increased.]
I felt a certain amount of strength enter my body.
Because I had simply copied the Skill as I saw it, the output was not even half of the original’s. Still, this was enough.
“That Skill...!”
“How are you using my Skill?!”
“Your Skills are much stronger, so do not get angry.”
With my enhanced body, I kicked off the ground.
I closed a distance of roughly ten meters in a single step and swung my sword, but the twins immediately retreated and avoided it.
In a way, it was only natural.
My body had been enhanced, but they had originally possessed much stronger bodies and received the original enhancement rather than a copied version.
“Your wit is good, but!”
“Your body cannot keep up!”
The two thrust their wooden swords at me simultaneously.
One aimed for my head, the other for my back.
Whichever I avoided, the other would strike a position where the damage would be significant.
But a regressor did not enter a battle they intended to lose.
[Communicating with the Skill 「Akashic Chimera」(C).]
[The Ability 「Rapid Reading」(D) is activated.]
[Reading the ‘attack trajectories’ of the ‘twins.’]
【You really are a crafty owner. Duck in one second.】
I passed the attack trajectories I had read with Rapid Reading to Flappy, and Flappy gave me the most ‘dangerous’ escape route from afar.
Rapid Reading could identify the perfect evasive route. But when facing a coordinated attack that my Physical Rank could never avoid perfectly, Flappy’s assistance was much more useful than Rapid Reading.
When I ducked beneath the sword flying toward my head, the sword aimed at my back naturally flew toward my neck instead.
More precisely, toward the vital point of my body: my cervical vertebrae.
“...!”
Even if he held back, getting hit there would cause permanent damage.
Sensing that, the younger brother, Jeong Ui-ho, quickly twisted his swinging sword.
Because he had abruptly changed it from a motion that would strike my neck to one that pierced empty air, his stance faltered. Jeong Ui-ho’s opening was left completely exposed.
I swiftly extended my wooden sword and lightly tapped Jeong Ui-ho’s neck.
“You are dead.”
“Huh...!”
Then I seized Jeong Ui-ho by the shoulder and threw myself forward.
Jeong Ji-ho, who had been about to attack me, froze when he saw his younger brother being used as a shield.
I smiled pleasantly at Jeong Ji-ho.
“Sorry. When you are weak, you resort to petty tricks.”
CRASH!
Jeong Ji-ho’s eyes instinctively turned behind him.
The wooden display rack holding weapons had toppled over, and Flappy stood before it with his head cocked innocently.
【I told you I never wanted to put on such a stupid act again.】
‘Let it go. You know this works best.’
Thud.
The sword I threw touched Jeong Ji-ho’s throat.
“That means you are dead too.”
The two stood dumbfounded for a moment before bursting into hearty laughter.
“Ha ha ha! Incredible!”
“It seems we only looked at your Rank and failed to recognize your true ability!”
Neither of them looked resentful or frustrated.
The twins had always been like this. They were rigid and bothersome, but equally straightforward. They learned what needed to be learned and acknowledged what needed to be acknowledged.
Even though they knew this was a fight I could never win in a real battle, no matter what I did, they seemed simply fascinated by my strategy.
“We shall guide you to the Sect Leader immediately!”
“Come along, Kang Seon!”
The two actually lifted me up and started running.
Everything else was fine, but if they were going to carry me like this, they could at least ask for my consent.
***
“...It has been a while.”
“Hey, Jang Seohyeok.”
Jang Seohyeok was looking at me with profound pity.
After the twins carried me like luggage, I had repeatedly struck my head against pillars because of their absurd height.
The results were blood dripping from my head and a large bump.
“Train those bastards...”
“...I can see the need.”
Although I insulted them right in front of their faces, the twins only looked delighted. They unceremoniously lowered me before Jang Seohyeok and laughed.
“Sect Leader! We have brought the guest who won the Duel Wager!”
“He subdued both of us at once!”
A glint entered Jang Seohyeok’s eyes.
“Is that so? You two may leave now. He is someone I know, so do not worry.”
The twins bowed to Jang Seohyeok and left the room.
By the time Flappy climbed onto my head as I lay where I had been dropped, Jang Seohyeok spoke.
“If you wished to meet me, you could have simply said that we already knew each other.”
“I could have. But I needed to leave a strong impression on those two.”
I raised myself up.
“Did you have the strength to subdue them?”
“That is an exaggeration. I simply prepared a trick to win the Duel Wager. In a real battle, my body would have been cut into five pieces long ago.”
Jang Seohyeok offered me a cup of tea.
His eyes turned cold.
“So why did you come to find me after going so far? I heard that you acted alongside the ‘Empress’ and the ‘Dollmaker’ in the ninth Gate.”
“Right. More precisely, Sa Ujin joined us later.”
It had been easy to infer from the sharp reaction he had shown toward Hwa Yejin before.
Jang Seohyeok disliked Hwa Yejin and Sa Ujin intensely.
Sa Ujin was a psychopath, needless to say. As for Hwa Yejin, it was because of her past.
“Previously, as repayment for curing my Demonic Deviation, I used 「Clear Mirror, Still Heart」 without asking you anything. This time, I have no choice but to ask.”
The instant Jang Seohyeok gripped his sword, the air around us became heavy.
“Kang Seon. Are you a subordinate of those two?”
Under a gaze that seemed as though it could pierce my very existence, I forced a smile and opened my mouth.
“What nonsense.”
Me, a subordinate of those lunatics?
“I am nobody’s subordinate, Jang Seohyeok. The reason I came here is...”
Clasp.
I placed my hand over Jang Seohyeok’s hand gripping the sword. I felt sharp sword aura and coldness that seemed to scorch my hand, but the more I felt them, the more force I put into my grip.
“I need your help in the Heavenly Demon Realm. Help me.”