Chapter 18

As soon as Sword Saint Zerel's Thundersword was blocked, Martial Monk Jin rushed to the man's flank and took up a stance.

<Eight Thousand Blows>

A martial art practiced in the harmony of yin and yang through the use of qi, the special energy that the monk family can manipulate. An ultra-fast striker said to pack a thousand blows into a single strike.

The man's barrier shattered like glass with a loud crack as the blows rained down.

As the shattered barrier turned to energy particles, and a vortex of qi blocked his vision in the aftermath of the endless blows, he could see a way forward so he moved forward.

The energy condensed from the blows raced along the path in front of him.

<Destruction Pole> was the best, largest, and strongest strike that monk Jin could unleash at this moment as a swirling vortex of explosive qi descended on the leader of the Black Snake!

The unmistakable feeling of a strike etched along Monk Jin palm. The hot sensation was soft, ecstatic, and lovely, like stroking the flesh of a woman he'd never seen before in his life.

The neurotransmitters of all sorts of pleasures poured through Monk Jin's brain like a flood.

And now, he was swimming naked on a flood of pleasure.

Even Jin, who had been a monk all his life, could tell. This was the ultimate pleasure, unrivaled by any other copulation in the world.

"Kirk!"

As he savored the afterglow he waited for the man's blood and agonized moans.

He realized that the moans coming out were very familiar.

With that, the swirl of golden qi around him subsided and after it subsided, he realized.

"Mr. Jin...why are you...?"

The hooded mage he was supposed to be fighting alongside was on his knees, his abdomen pierced by Jin's fist.

His entire abdomen was pierced and burned like a cannonball had hit him square in the gut, and there was nothing left to spill. There was literally nothing there.

His companion, who had been with him since he joined the Knights Order, looked at Jin in disbelief.

"Oh, no, no, no...."

Those eyes were trying to communicate, trying to say something, but the answer never came.

"I, I."

Again, there was an endless void.

"Kahahahaha!"

The girl burst into laughter, holding her stomach like a child.

"Oooh, you're having so much fun, Alice wants to play too!"

"Be patient, Alice."

He could hear their conversation from beyond the ring of blue light.

A little girl was whining about wanting to play, and a woman's voice soothing her.

He couldn't help but laugh at the conversation.

Never before had the heightened physical senses he had honed as a monk seemed so damning.

To them, this was mere play, he could feel it in the pitch and poise of their voices, in their breathing and demeanor.

The fact that they were being played by the man in front of them was proof of that.

This fight, this battle they were fighting with death-defying determination and resolve, was nothing more than a game to them, not even worth taking seriously.

"It's my fault...."

"Get a grip, Jin!"

"I, I didn't...do anything wrong...."

That is why they are trampled.

He realized now that his life is not worthless, but the determination and pride to lay it down is nothing more or less than "fun and games" in their eyes-.

"Jin, Jin!"

The distant voices of Sword Saint and Sword Lady are desperately calling out to him but as they drifted away, Jin thought.

'What was the point of this, of being reduced to their ridiculous plaything, of being trampled?'

This was not the noble and worthy sacrifice he had hoped for.

It's just a dog's death, as the man says.

'I don't want to die.'

At least, he didn't want to die like that.

'Not like this, I don't want to die. I don't want to die.'

He didn't want to be like his comrade who had died at his hands. He didn't want to end his life as the plaything of a villain.

Once again, the horror and fear of death welled up in Jin's heart and he fled.

He turned his back, moved his qi, drew up the defensive art of Denial Dust, and tried to break through the ring of ice flames to escape.

"Aah, running away! Idiot!"

Alice snickered at the sight. The Black Sword Lady also coldly mocked.

In front of the Martial Monk who was about to break through the ice flames, she looked on as if it were no one else's business, not even bothering to restrain or interfere.

"Alas, what an ugly and foolish display to the end."

She can only mock his foolishness.

Similarly, the voices of Sword Saint and Sword Lady could be heard, but they did not reach Jin's ears.

He ran with the single-minded determination that he could not die like this.

Clad in the defensive arts of Denial Dust, Jin launched himself beyond the cold burning flames of contradiction.

What unfolded there was not a contradiction, but the result of common sense: a cinder of ashes was trapped in the ice.

"Two."

The man said blandly. Without so much as a glance at the burned and frozen corpse, he pulled the next cigarette from his arm and popped it into his mouth.

The crystalline, fractal barrier he'd believed to be broken had somehow self-repaired its own recursive structure, enveloping the man's entire body.

Like a custom-made suit of armor, it had taken on the form of a sheath along his flesh, scattering a blue glow.

Soon, a circle of blades and a veil of icy flames were orbiting around him. Even that would be a tiny fraction of the power the man could unleash.

"...."

Nothing will change.

Zerel, who bears the name of the Sword Saint, silently fixes the hilt of his blade. So does Alina, the Sword Lady.

Together, they fix their swords and hold them together, their resolve solidified.

""<Holy Sword Open>.""

*

"We're the only ones left."

"Yeah."

"I, I got everyone involved."

The two swordsmen leaned back and spoke.

"It's not your fault."

Sword Lady Alina shook her head.

"You were just trying to do the right thing. You have nothing to blame yourself for and nothing to be ashamed of."

"You don't regret what happened?"

"No, I don't regret it. Nothing."

She replied.

"I have no regrets."

"─Thank you."

That was the last she said.

The backs of the two people facing each other fell, and at the same time, the blood and internal organs spread out at their feet.

There was no one left to mock their defeat or to honor and respect their final moments.

─until a man in military uniform appeared.

*

" Breaking news!"

A boy in a newsboy cap shouted as he ran down the street, arms full of packages.

"Breaking news, the platinum-ranked adventurer party, the Knights Order, has been wiped out by the "Black Snake", and the party's redoubtable leader, the "Sword Saint", is unaccounted for-"

The news echoed across the plaza, causing quite a stir.

"So it is, see, I told you, the Knights Order is no match for the Snake!"

"That's right, they can only fight the Black Snake if they're at least ──"

"Hehe, how can a party of adventurers be an opponent in the first place? At the very least, they should be the Red Coats of the Breton Empire!"

"Right now in the Imperial Capital, people from the Ministry of Intelligence are dying at the hands of the 'Snakes'!"

At each successive name of the mighty, the pompous people who loved to talk and compare raised their voices.

"By the way, the Knights Order can barely keep their platinum status."

"They're so blinded by their track record that they've probably killed themselves without even knowing who they were facing, don't you think?"

"… …What do you mean?"

I raised my head when I heard a voice asking me.

"The Knights Order who got their asses handed to them by the Black Snake – I knew it would happen to them!"

Then, a gentleman who looked small and fat, like a stocky guy, continued talking, spitting freely. The story did not end easily. It seemed like it would never end.

"Well," I replied moderately, and rose to my feet, just in time to board the streetcar, which was coming to an end of its stop.

Sometime later.

"What's the big deal with all you adventurers?"

The pudgy boy cursed and spat in the direction of the tram.

After he spat, he grabbed at his throat to see if there was anything stuck, and then, without warning, he grabbed his chest and fell to his knees.

After that, he began to struggle like a drowning man in water.

While the people around him were perplexed by the sight and did not know what to do, keeping their distance neither too far nor too close, the man sank into silence.