The Second Coming of Gluttony (WN KR)
chapter-72

The expression of the village head didn’t change much as he read the document. Seol Ji-Hu got the next phase of the conversation started.

“Up until now, the subjugation efforts never failed. Always, without a doubt.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

He kept his voice level and continued on.

“Of course, the kingdom voluntarily sent subjugation forces twice before. However, their action is understandable if you consider the fact that they wanted to improve the stability of Haramark region by beating back the frequent appearances of the variants.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

The village head listened quietly until then but began displaying hints of not following the youth now.

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me here, young man.”

“You said that you always issue the request.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Yes, I did.”

“The team that received the mission three months ago consisted of four Level 2s, one Level 3, and one Level 4. And the average Level found in Carpe Diem is 3.75. Although he didn’t come today, it indeed is a big difference that we feature a high-ranker in our team line up.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“The reason why I sent the request to Carpe Diem is not just because you’re famous, but I heard the rumour that you also take on smaller work, as well.”

The village head lightly shook his head and handed the document back to Seol Ji-Hu. The old man wasn’t wrong about that. After all, he did go along with Cho Hong as a courier or worked as a guard several times already.

“….I may sound presumptuous here, but,” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu slid the document back into his inner pocket and cautiously opened his mouth.

“But, I’d like to know how you could issue requests this accurately all the time, village head.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

The village head’s brow arched up ever so slightly.

“There weren’t any detailed information on the variants, but you always issued these missions to the teams that can easily handle them.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“……”

“Fine. You could have been interested in how the Earthlings operate. And as the head of a village with a population of several hundred people, you’d be burdened with the responsibility of their safety, as well. I’m not trying to criticise you. No, I believe that you made the right choices.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“……….”

“However, I heard that, because the remains of the variants quickly wither away into nothing after their deaths, it’s practically impossible to perform any form of research on them. And, it isn’t as if there is someone giving you information, either.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu took his time and quietly continued on.

“But then, you have always sent out requests to those teams capable of solving the situations as if you could see what would happen next. And it wasn’t just once or twice, but over twenty times in a row.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

The village head quietly closed his eyes. He then let a long sigh escape from his lips and spoke up.

“In the end, you’re suspecting me of something, aren’t you?”

“Not at all. Regardless of what you were doing, I believe that you were trying to protect this village in the end. I respect your effort in doing so.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Respect, is it….”

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The village head grinned brightly.

“What a strange thing this is. You could have simply glossed over it. And, for an Earthling to hold this much interest, too. What was the term again? The Quest NPC? There was this one Earthling that called me that in the past. Well, I certainly feel better than that time, that’s for sure.”

“A Quest NPC…..” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Treating a real person as an NPC…. Seol Ji-Hu could only form a wry smile at realising there really were people like that out here.

“I see what you’re curious about now. Since you say you don’t suspect me of wrongdoings, I will say that you’re quite correct on that one. I shall take it as you being purely curious and nothing else.”

“Does that mean….?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“However, it’s not as grand as you make it out to be.”

The village head closed his eyes.

“Seven years passed by since the variants made their very first appearance.”

He slowly built up some suspense as he continued on.

“At first, we didn’t even need to issue requests. The security force of the village was enough to deal with them, after all.”

“I see.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“However, I realised that, as time passed and new variants kept appearing, their strengths began increasing bit by bit. In the end, we even suffered a casualty. It was my oversight that we underestimated the threat, and I fully accepted the responsibility. After that, I began issuing requests.”

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“I get what you’re saying. However….” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Let me finish.”

The village head opened his eyes.

“I’m well aware of what kind of beings you are. I hear that you become stronger through the grace of the gods. What an enviable thing that is. However, that doesn’t mean we’re powerless civilians waiting around like fools for aid to come.”

His aged eyes gleamed as if white flames were burning inside.

“Right now, I am a head of a small, insignificant village. But, once upon a time, I was a loyal soldier of the Empire. I even fought against the abominable Parasite horde as well. The experiences and insights I gained wouldn’t suddenly fly away because I’ve grown old.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“You believe that is all? This is a very poor village that can’t pay the kind of rewards that Earthlings would be interested in. But, what do you think will happen if I issue a request to the first team I find and they get annihilated instead? Have you thought about what kind of a ramification such a story would have on this village in the mid to long term?”

Seol Ji-Hu closed his mouth shut.

“If I was mistaken about something, then I have no excuses to offer you. However, I believed that teams not caring much about the reward money would take on this village’s requests. And that is why I continued to issue requests. Those are my reasons.”

Seol Ji-Hu didn’t accept those words, but now that the village head was coming out like this, he didn’t know what else to say. Also, the old man had shut his mouth now, as if to indicate that he said all he wanted to say on this matter.

4-5 seconds of silence later, the village head opened his mouth again.

“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”

His tone of voice was now far closer to ‘Get out’ than before, but Seol Ji-Hu endured on patiently and asked another question.

“You said that you were a part of the Empire’s army.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“You’re still asking me about that? Didn’t I say it earlier? I was….”

“By any chance, have you heard of the secret research the Empire conducted after the Parasite’s invasion and during the subsequent war?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

The eyes of the village head went extra-round from surprise. His reaction was above Seol Ji-Hu’s expectations.

“And where have you heard about that?”

“I found it in the historical records. It said, ‘A report on the experiments the Empire conducted during the war had been recovered. The research was about mass-producing special types of soldiers to combat against the Parasites. Although there were a couple of minor successes, in the end, it was deemed a failure, and the total shutdown of all research centres had been swiftly ordered. There had been strong resistance to this decision, but the research was eventually shut down’.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“I see that the history book’s version is rather short and concise.”

The village head smiled ruefully.

“Was that wrong?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

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“Well, only by a little bit. It was sort of an open secret, after all.”

“Can you tell me more?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Hmm, I wonder. Even I don’t know all that much.”

The village head haltingly stroked his beard.

“The top brass of the Empire felt threatened by the parasitic ability of the Parasite horde and began the research, that part is correct. But, from what I can remember, they just announced the failure of the project one day and started shutting down the research facilities around the countryside.”

“Seeing that there was fierce resistance to that decision, there must’ve been some potential in the project.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“I wouldn’t know about that. I was only a foot soldier, so what were you expecting from me?”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“No need to apologise for that. However, unless we’re talking about the request itself…. Talking for a while like this is tiring me out, you see.”

The village head roughly breathed out. Seol Ji-Hu quietly stared at the old man’s fatigue-laden visage and slowly got up. He still had his ‘Nine Eyes’ active all this time.

“….Very well. Thank you for taking your time out to talk to me.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“I don’t know why you brought up that story, but well….”

When the youth turned around to leave, a hushed, aged voice came from behind him and stopped his movements.

“That’s the part of history with no relations to the village of Ramman whatsoever. If you wish to learn more of that topic, perhaps it’ll be better to seek out any survivors from the Duchy of Delphinion.”

“Duchy of Delphinion?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu turned his head halfway.

“It was a dukedom cooperating with the Empire on that research. I believe that the main research centre was in their territory as well. Well, they were destroyed eventually and their land belongs to the Parasites now, though.”

The village head let a long sigh escape from his lips.

“But… I heard a rumour that a certain wizard from Delphinion couldn’t accept the decision to abandon the research, and….. And, he couldn’t give up on the research, stole the data and important equipment, and hid somewhere, apparently. If he wasn’t killed in the ensuing years, then I’m sure he’s still alive somewhere.”

“Is that so….” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“That’s as far as I know. I pray that my ramblings have been of some help to you.”

Seol Ji-Hu performed a bow as he left the house.

When he finally made his way back to where the rest of the team was, Cho Hong immediately became angry at him.

“Where have you been all this time? You know how late you are? I was really worried that you bailed out on us or something!” (Cho Hong)

“What’s the matter? Did something happen?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“……No, not really.” (Cho Hong)

She averted her gaze with an unhappy face. Meanwhile, Maria must’ve recovered in full as her complexion was noticeably better now.

“So, what do you want to do? The sun’s still up.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Let’s get going. I mean, wouldn’t dealing with the variants first make it easier to solve the mystery?” (Veronika)

Veronika, assigned the role of the header, voiced her opinion. The rest of the team displayed hints of agreeing with her, so Seol Ji-Hu also nodded his head.

*

Having decided to get rid of the variants before the end of the day, the team quickly departed from the village of Ramman.

They walked on without the aid of carriages; Maria and the porters were obviously positioned within the centre of the formation, while Gierszal and Cho Hong stood on either side of them. At the front, it was Veronika as the header and Mikhail acting as her escort. Seol Ji-Hu took on the rearguard position. He couldn’t help but feel odd at finding himself in the position once occupied by Dylan.

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Thanks to their rapid advancement, the team was able to arrive at their destination about one and a half hour later.

This place was referred to as the ‘night fog zone’ because an unknown fog would cover the area as evening approached.

When they got there, they were greeted by a completely contrasting scenery from Ramman. Never mind the picturesque mother nature, they could only see a dry, stripped-bare rough patch of ground covering up a hilly region.

Seol Ji-Hu cautiously studied the layout of the land. He could spot three, four interesting things about this place. First of all, the inclines were rather steep, and there were hundreds of tall points within the scope of his vision. The heights of the hills also were all over the place, so there were many areas that he couldn’t immediately see.

The soil itself seemed strange, as well. The greenery had dried up into yellow husks, and there were many strange-looking mysterious holes on the ground too.

And finally….

‘….It’s yellow colour.’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu sucked in his breath after scanning the landscape with his ‘Nine Eyes’ active. The entirety of the night fog zone was glowing in the colour of ‘Attention Required’.

“Veronika! Can you see anything? It doesn’t matter what it is.” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“There isn’t any. If there’s one thing that’s really troublesome about these variants, then that would be them not leaving behind any traces of themselves.” (Veronika)

“Yup, it’s a famous story, that one about a really amazing ‘Pathfinder’, a high ranker among the Archers, having to give up on pursuing the variants. And this whole thing became a mystery afterwards.” (Mikhail)

Mikhail grinned and added something as well. Seol Ji-Hu fell into deep contemplation.

His calculations were off. He thought that, once he got to the location, he’d activate ‘Nine Eyes’ and search for anything suspicious. However, if the entire area was in this colour…..

‘For now, I should stay alert and keep an eye out for anything weird.’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

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Seol Ji-Hu grasped his spear tightly and scanned his vicinity. He feared missing out on a single thing, so he paid extra careful attention.

Suddenly, Veronika’s steps came to an abrupt halt.

“What’s….” (Mikhail)

Mikhail was about to finish saying …the matter, but immediately unsheathed his sword the moment Veronika got down low and sent out a quick hand signal. Gierszal also raised his spear and shield up, and Cho Hong also got ready, glaring all around her. Only Maria yawned grandly until her jaw almost fell off, and then she nonchalantly clicked her tongue.

Five minutes passed by after they came to a halt. Veronika slowly raised her body up again.

“That’s strange. I swear I heard….” (Veronika)

Just as she tilted her head and looked to her side, something fell and pounced on top of her crown.

Seol Ji-Hu reflexively crouched into position, but then, heard the lengthy “Uwaahhhk!”

He immediately regained his wits and lowered his gaze to find an ash-coloured object coiling around Veronika’s head and torso.

“Ahhhk! Ahahahk!”

She flailed about and struggled. Mikhail next to her hurriedly sliced at the object with his sword. The cut itself was deep, but he couldn’t manage to break it off from her.

“God d*mn it!!” (Mikhail)

Mikhail swore out and raised his blade up high, but then, Cho Hong flew in like a bullet and with unnerving accuracy, kicked the object like a soccer ball. Riiiip!! The sound of flesh being torn resounded out, and the clay-like clump of grey matter sprayed out ‘blood’ as it flew far away.

“Euuhk!”

Veronika grimaced as her neck and chest were now coated in blood.

“W-what was that?! What happened?” (Mikhail)

“F-from the top of the hill…??” (Veronika)

“B-but!” (Mikhail)

“It’s, it’s like assimilation. That thing was waiting to ambush us, assimilating into the hill itself….” (Veronika)

Veronika stuttered out in great difficulty.

Seol Ji-Hu stared forward and ended up doing a double take, instead. The large object split in half began wriggling around before connecting back into one, and it slowly rose back up. It eventually reached just below two metres tall, and then….

‘….A man??’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

….And then, it began assuming the shape of a man made out of clay. If there was something different about it, then rather than arms, the tips of the limbs were pointy like the ends of a lance, instead. However, that wasn’t the end.

Wuuoooo….

Wuuuooooooo…..

Eerie cries began rumbling out from all over the hill.

“God d*mn it! It’s the variants!!” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong shouted out.

“That’s impossible! These things didn’t have a power like assimilation before!” (Mikhail)

“Stop your yammering! Twelve o’clock!” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong roared out in anger. Mikhail followed his instinct and shifted his gaze back to his front, and he began freaking out.

The variants that began to pop up weren’t just one or two anymore. Thirty? Forty? Every single one of them carried all sorts of ‘weapons’ where their arms should have been. In the blink of an eye, the path up ahead had become enveloped in the colour of grey.

Swish-! Swish!

Veronika managed to force herself up and fired a volley of arrows. Both of them accurately struck the variant that tried to ambush her, but the d*mn thing didn’t even care in the least and began running back towards the team. She became pale from the surprise.

If those things were allowed to come any closer, the whole team would be surrounded in no time.

“God d*mn it! Mikhail! After me!” (Cho Hong)

“W-wait…!” (Mikhail)

Cho Hong rushed forward with her hand tightly gripping onto the mace. Mikhail could no longer hesitate and hurriedly chased after her, his teeth busy biting down on his lower lip.

Her lengthy black hair danced as she slammed the mace down.

POW!!

The head of the variant exploded like mud and it teetered about unsteadily. She brushed past this one and began rampaging around like a berserk rhinoceros.

She brought down five, six creatures in no time at all, but then, suddenly sensed that it felt rather empty behind her.

“God d*mn it!!” (Cho Hong)

She spun around immediately and raised her left arm up.

Boom!!

A circular barrier shot out from her raised forearm and blocked the sneaky attack of the variant taking aim at her back. She quickly blew away the head of the offending monster and began gnashing her teeth.

“Hey, you dipsh*t! You’re supposed to watch my ba…..?!” (Cho Hong)

A shock of disbelief quickly filled Cho Hong’s face. Those variants she thought she had put down for good were back up again in full health and were surrounding Mikhail.

He was freaking out and swinging his longsword every way he could, but all the sliced parts of the variants simply reverted back to how they were in the blink of an eye. Even worse, the one with its head blown off by her mace began regenerating rapidly as bubbles formed around its wounds.

“Ability to regenerate?!” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong groaned out and ran like a lightning bolt to resume smashing apart the variants surrounding her colleague. She somehow made it in time to rescue Mikhail, but he had already suffered a deep wound and was faltering about by the time she did.

Cho Hong gritted her teeth. Veronika was still shooting her arrows but none of that proved to be helpful in the least. She remembered hearing that the new variants would be tougher to deal with, but she definitely didn’t expect the gap would be this great.

“Still f*cking around like idiots, I see.” (Maria)

Maria quietly watched on and sneered. She extended the hand holding the crucifix forward and spoke up.

“Luxu, Lu, Luxuria.” (Maria)

Slam!

Quite unlike her disinterested voice, a semi-transparent barrier enveloped the two at the frontline with a loud, energetic thud. It was sturdy enough to withstand these variants busy pounding on the surface.

“Well, I’ve bought them enough time, but….” (Maria)

Maria sneaked a glance to her side.

“If the rumours weren’t exaggerated, then I hope you can at least create an escape route for those two morons.” (Maria)

Seol Ji-Hu wordlessly grasped his spear tightly. Veronika could only provide support with her arrows, while Gierszal’s job was a keeper, a guardian. Meaning he was the only true Warrior remaining.

‘In that case.’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

Without a single shred of hesitation, Seol Ji-Hu dashed forward with his blue spear aiming forward. He had already roused his Magic Power to its maximum by then.

“Heeey!” (Cho Hong)

Just as his brain registered Cho Hong’s worried shout, he slashed his spear at the head of the variant turning around to meet him.

Riiiip!

‘Hmm?’

Only after he sliced up the enemy all the way down to its groin did Seol Ji-Hu belatedly get shocked by the spear’s incredible cutting power. The satisfying sensation of slicing into hardened clay was transmitted into his hands.

‘Hey, this feels pretty good in my hands, doesn’t it?’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

It wasn’t the only good thing to happen, too.

“W-what’s that?” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong leaked out a surprised gasp while watching the developing situation from inside the barrier. It was the same story for Seol Ji-Hu, too. He knew that these things possessed the capability to regenerate, so he was prepared to attack for the second time, but then….

Crack, crrrackle!

Pale-blue ice suddenly formed and spread out from the wound of the variant. The creature tried to reattach itself several times, but in the end, it couldn’t achieve its goal and melted down to nothing as if it got sucked back into the ground.

‘Freezing!’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu’s eyes gleamed in understanding as he took a deeper look at the blade of the spear, still emitting that bone-chilling air. Cho Hong was watching on in a bit of daze before she too realised what was going on here and began murmuring a chant under her breath. He didn’t have enough time to see her mace getting progressively wrapped up in light, as he was too busy colliding against the grey-coloured flood heading his way.

Slice!

After he sliced off the left leg of another variant, Seol Ji-Hu was completely assured of his findings now. He stabbed down at the forehead of the collapsed variant and controlled his Magic Power again.

Pow!

He shot forward with the aid of the Festina’s Earring, and the horde of the variants began to separate as if he was Moses performing a miracle. More than that, he felt the spear getting lighter in his hands the more he poured in his Magic Power. For the first time in a long, long while, he got to continuously execute ‘Thrust’, ‘Strike’, and ‘Cut’ to his heart’s content.

And so, he instantly pulverised ten, eleven variants into the ground, but then….

“….!!”

The variants suddenly threw away all regards to their own lives and jumped on him, their arms spread out wide. He managed to strike down those coming in from the front, but the creatures still surrounded him and clung onto him from left, right, and even at his back and on his legs.

‘D*mn it!!’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

He quickly defeated those clinging onto his sides, but by then, his back and the ankles were already in the grips of the variants.

“Keuk!!” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Out of the blue, he felt white-hot searing pain shoot up from his back. Seol Ji-Hu gritted his teeth, his brows arching up high. Unable to move now, he could only helplessly watch as a variant and its lance-shaped arm aimed at his chest dashed towards him!

“Luxu, Lu, Luxuira!” (Maria)

Suddenly, his body became free once more. Seol Ji-Hu quickly confirmed that the variants holding onto him, as well as the one dashing towards him, stop what they were doing and slowly topple over. And, Maria was pointing her crucifix in his general direction with a proud expression on her face.

“Thank you!” (Seol Ji-Hu)

Seol Ji-Hu lightly shouted out and proceeded to slice off the necks of the collapsed variants. Once finished, he quickly spun around. He alone managed to massacre over ten of the enemy’s forces, but there were still over thirty remaining. And well, every single one of them had turned to face him, obviously losing their interest in the barrier now. He didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that their new target was him.

‘This sucks….’ (Seol Ji-Hu)

If it were around ten or so, he wouldn’t have minded taking them all on, but this….

Just as Seol Ji-Hu bit down on his lower lip…

“Let’s go!” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong jumped out from the barrier. She then proceeded to bulldoze through the variants hastily turning around and pressed her back tightly against Seol Ji-Hu’s.

“Is it fine for you to come out so soon?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“Well, I know what’s what now. Thanks to you.” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong grinned and pointed at the variant that lost its head just now with her mace, now glowing white-hot. The ash grey colour immediately burned up into charcoal.

“How long are you going to hide in there?!” (Maria)

Maria unhappily shouted out. Mikhail was sweating profusely as he concentrated, hard. His injuries had been healed by healing magic even before Seol Ji-Hu had the time to notice it. Only after bluish aura covered his blade did Mikhail shout back to her.

“I’m done! You can take the barrier away!!” (Mikhail)

And with that, the barrier was indeed taken away.

“You stinking sons of b*tches. You dare to injure me?” (Mikhail)

Mikhail growled menacingly and swung his blue aura-covered sword in anger to re-enter the fray.

“Hey.” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong, her back still pressed to Seol Ji-Hu, quietly spoke.

“How about we shoot some cool movie together here?” (Cho Hong)

Seol Ji-Hu smirked after hearing her suggestion.

A short while later, two of them pounced forward in opposite directions.

He manipulated his spear to slice off the variant’s arm angrily swung at his way, and he immediately shifted into ‘Thrust’ to stab into its neck. As the creature fell while grabbing its neck with ice rapidly spreading all around it, he used it as his stepping stone to jump slightly forward and swung his spear in a large arc.

Now that he had comrades watching his blind spots, and with Maria providing timely support – Seol Ji-Hu became completely enthralled by the performance of his new spear and focused all his being on the battle, eventually performing a dizzying dance where he became one with his weapon. He even forgot to breathe.

By the time he regained his bearings from the bout of wanton slaughter, the surroundings were now filled with the fallen variants, busy melting into a puddle of nothingness.

“You know, I think you gotta stop by at a temple when this mission is over.” (Cho Hong)

Cho Hong turned the light of her mace ‘off’ and giggled.

“These things should be at least somewhere around Level 3, or even 4. Won’t your level rise up again at this rate?” (Cho Hong)

Seol Ji-Hu regulated his rough breathing and lowered his spear. Mikhail had been staring at him as if he was a freak or something, but when their gazes met, he quickly gathered his hands together and lowered his head.

“Sorry. Really, man, it’s my bad! I really didn’t know these things could assimilate and regenerate like this.” (Mikhail)

“Nah, it’s okay. By the way, what was that ability just now?” (Seol Ji-Hu)

“What ability? Ah, you mean that blue light thing?” (Mikhail)

“Yes. Was that the famed sword soul?” (Seol Ji-Hu) (TL note at the end)

“What do you mean, ‘sword soul’? I wish it was. Only a Level 7 ‘Sword Master’ can use that. No, just think of it as a sort of aura, dude.” (Mikhail)

Mikhail waved his hands about in a jovial dismissal, before his expressions became more serious.

“But, besides all that. You sure you’re only a Level 2?” (Mikhail)

Seol Ji-Hu was already familiar with facing such a misunderstanding, so he was able to smoothly gloss over that question.

The slightly injured combatants recovered from their wounds by drinking healing potions, while Maria stuck close to Veronika who had suffered far heavier wounds than others.

With this, their first battle was over. They were initially thrown into confusion from the stronger-than-expected abilities of the variants, but now that they knew how to deal with these things, it should become easier than expected moving forward. More importantly, the battle was indeed a lot easier because their Priest provided timely support whenever they found themselves in tight spots.

Witnessing Maria heal Veronika to full health with just one spell, Seol Ji-Hu began nodding his head like a sage.

‘Yup, it was the right call, bringing her along.’

< 72. Taboo (2) > Fin.

(TL: This “Sword Soul” thing was something I had to come up with on the fly because the original raw text used was “검기” which have been translated as “sword aura” by pretty much all Korean novels I’ve read. I was also going to use that, but then, in the following line, Mikhail says his skill wasn’t a sword aura but sort of one, which I thought might lead to readers’ confusion, because the raw text makes it sound like they are two quite different things. The author used the actual word “aura” to describe Mikhail’s ability, you see. I thought that this won’t get mentioned again, at least not for a long while, so I figured it’s not going to be a big problem to just gloss over it like this for now.)