MTLNOVEL Ch. 5
On the way to the bandits’ hideout, I asked briefly, “Any advice?”
The Heavenly Demon answered, Forget everything you’ve done out of habit.
I asked again, “Forget, as in…?”
I mean your inefficient strikes. Your useless footwork. Your overly aggressive stance. The excessive tightening and relaxing of your muscles. Your unsteady weight distribution. Throw it all away.
“And then?”
Just let your body move on its own. Your eyes will open naturally.
I grinned and tightened my grip on the sword’s hilt. “Perfect.”
Shhhkkk!
A crimson arc of sword energy slashed sideways, cutting into the backs of the fools who’d been staring only outward.
“Aaagh!”
“Gyaaah!”
“Why’s the attack coming from behind?!”
Before they could even recover, I swept in like a storm, blade flashing.
The ambush was perfect, but there were still plenty of them left. I spread my sword energy wide to maximize damage, but I hadn’t cut down everyone.
Thunk! Slice! Shhhk!
I’d dropped about three when—
Clang!
My sword was blocked.
“He’s wearing different clothes!”
“Those blood-red eyes! It’s him!”
They quickly grasped the situation and launched a counterattack.
“You bastard!”
“Do you know where you are?!”
Blades came at me from every direction.
Normally, dealing with attacks coming from multiple angles is extremely difficult—
One: you can’t read every strike.
Two: even if you do, your body can’t always react fast enough.
But this time… it was different.
It wasn’t that hard.
The air parted by their strikes felt like an extension of my skin. My senses read every trajectory instinctively, and the qi flowing through me let my body respond instantly, like lightning.
Just as the Heavenly Demon said—
I let go of everything.
And I moved as my body willed it. As the Heavenly Demon’s talent within me commanded.
I dodged, blocked, and countered. Each time I found an opening, my sword found flesh.
“Aaagh!”
“Khuk!”
Screams and sprays of blood followed wherever I moved.
Realizing how serious this was, more men poured out of the building—clearly higher-ranked.
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Where’d you come from?!”
“Have you never heard the name Double-Blade Alex?!”
Their attacks came faster and with more variety, but I could see the lines their blades traced, like a spiderweb glittering in the sun.
I avoided ruining that picture, slipping my sword neatly through the gaping holes in their guard.
“Huuhk!”
“Gaaah!”
Screams and blood erupted without fail.
It was a world I’d never seen before.
“Haha…”
Laughter bubbled up. I couldn’t help it.
So this is the world you lived in, while I was floundering in the mud?
“Hahahaha…”
So this is how it felt for you…
No wonder you looked down on me, struggling to master my clumsy swordplay.
To all those geniuses who mocked my effort—
I understand now.
“Hehahaha…”
I danced in a shower of blood.
The Heavenly Demon had warned me—not to overuse aura yet. My internal energy wasn’t deep enough to sustain it for long, and the opening wave of attacks had already drained a fair amount.
Pouring sword energy in a wide arc burned through much more qi than simply wrapping the blade with it. And against enemies who couldn’t even use aura, there was no point wasting it now.
From the look of it, even these “officers” couldn’t use aura. The one who’d attacked the cabin yesterday must’ve been a lieutenant at most.
I was having the time of my life when—
Bang!
The door slammed open.
I turned instinctively.
One glance told me—
That was the boss.
So this was the infamous “Savage” Gustav.
A huge man, built like a bear, slammed a massive greatsword down into the ground and glared at me, “Who the hell are you?”
I flicked the blood from my blade and answered calmly, “Just a passing traveler.”
His expression twisted, “Crazy bastard. Do you have any idea where you are?”
“Of course. A gathering place for trash. The stench is unbearable.”
His eyes narrowed at the sword in my hand, “…Did you kill Cooper?”
“Cooper? Who the hell is Cooper?”
Then I smacked my forehead, “Oh, you mean that guy who screamed for his mommy like a little girl before I killed him?”
His eyes went wide, and murderous intent rolled off him in waves, “You… are dead.”
His massive greatsword flared with a faint aura—stronger than that Cooper guy’s, but not by much.
Before he could charge, I rushed him first, crimson sword energy blooming along my blade.
“What the—?!”
His eyes went even wider, “Pretty, isn’t it?”
He hastily raised his sword.
“I know.”
I swung.
Kaaang!
The impact smashed him back through the doorway into the building. I stepped inside after him and kicked the door shut, locking it behind me.
Big swords like his are a pain to deal with in open space. Better to fight in tight quarters.
I grinned, “Let’s do this properly—no interruptions.”
His face twisted into a snarl.
To make sure he didn’t try running back outside before we got started, I pulled a dagger from my pocket and dangled it for him to see, “See this?”
The man’s eyes went wide, “That’s…! The Dagger of Oposis!”
“It’s not a dagger. It’s a key, you idiot.”
Greed flashed in his gaze, “Hand it over.”
“No.”
“If you give me that dagger—no, that key—I’ll spare your life.”
“I killed that Cooper guy or whatever his name was. Weren’t you two close? All ‘brother this, brother that’?”
“I’ll pretend it never happened.”
I let out a short laugh.
Figures. Bandit trash are all the same.
With a smirk, I shot back, “This is a dagger, you dumb bastard.”
Crick.
A vein popped on his forehead.
“How the hell is that a key? Are your eyes just decoration?”
“I’ll kill you!”
He charged, swinging his greatsword in both hands.
Crash!
It tore through every piece of furniture in its path.
I saw no reason to meet that head-on. Without aura wrapped around my sword, it wouldn’t survive more than a few exchanges before ending up in splinters like those chairs. And even if I did wrap it, the strain on my already low reserves would be too much.
So I quickly stowed the dagger away, ducked low, and sidestepped him.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!”
He roared behind me, but I ignored him, slipping into another room.
The kitchen.
My eyes landed on the knives hanging from the wall.
“…Hmmm.”
A good idea struck me.
Throwing sword energy directly wastes a lot of internal energy.
But what if I used another object as the medium?
“Come here! I’ll tear you in half!”
His heavy footsteps pounded closer.
I grabbed one of the kitchen knives, channeled a thin layer of aura into it, and hurled it the moment he appeared in the doorway.
Whoosh!
“What—!”
Clang!
He barely deflected it.
More agile than he looked.
“Oh-ho.”
But his reaction told me something: it worked.
A little aura, minimal energy drain, and the impact was still good.
Seeing the result, I started hurling every knife on the wall.
“Heeheehee!”
“Grrr!”
Clang! Clang!
The big sword was too heavy to guard every angle, and he was forced to focus on protecting vital spots. His arms, legs, and shoulders soon started to bloom with bloody slashes.
When I ran out of knives, I threw whatever else I could get my hands on—
Trays, spoons, forks, even a pot of leftover soup.
Crash! Ting! Clang!
“Arghhh! You son of a—!”
He was doing fine until the soup dumped all over his head. That finally snapped something. He charged like a lunatic, ignoring the incoming projectiles.
“Oh, shit.”
I threw a fork straight at his eyes and darted aside.
A split second later, the counter where I’d been standing was obliterated.
Smash!
“Arghhh! You bastard!”
The fork stuck in his forehead.
I bolted from the kitchen, and he came barreling out after me, wrecking everything in his path, a fork jutting from his skull like an enraged bull.
I kept dodging, letting him chase me around the cramped building until his breathing grew ragged and the swing of his sword slowed. That was when I moved in.
Clang!
He barely blocked my strike, gasping for air. But by then, the fight was already mine.
“Game over, you brainless oaf.”
Everything had gone exactly as I planned—
Dragging him inside the building, provoking him with the dagger, forcing him to waste stamina maneuvering that big sword around furniture, wearing him down with hit-and-run harassment.
This is how someone without talent survives in the gutter.
Now that he was exhausted, all I needed to do was finish it.
Even rationing my aura, I only had a few uses left.
But that was enough to take down a tired bull.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
I knocked his sword far from his reach and sliced across his arm.
Sssk!
Then I planted a kick square in his chest.
Crash!
His massive body punched straight through the wall and tumbled outside.
Gasps erupted from the men outside.
Sunlight poured through the gaping hole.
I stepped through it after him with a pleasant smile, “Man… what a beautiful day.”
“Haha…”
I basked in the warm sun and crisp morning breeze as I walked toward Gustav, who was kneeling before me.
He’d lost his sword, lost the arm that swung it, and now he’d lost the fight. At least he had the grit not to scream despite the pain, glaring up at me with sharp eyes.
I smiled warmly as I closed the distance— Then drove my boot into his face.
Thud!
“How dare you touch my Zoe!”
I stomped his face several more times before letting him go.
He spat out blood and a broken tooth, still glaring. “You damn lunatic. Do you have any idea who’s behind me?”
“Should I care?” I shrugged, “I came down from that cliff. I couldn’t care less how your world works.”
He snorted, “You mean the Mist Cliff? Don’t make me laugh.”
I raised my sword toward the men trying to slip away. “Anyone who moves dies. You saw my sword aura, right? Want a taste?”
They froze on the spot.
“Take one step, and I’ll drown you in sword energy.”
Of course, I had no energy left to spare.
But they didn’t need to know that.
The bluff worked—they swallowed hard and stayed put.
“Sit down on your knees and watch your pathetic boss’s last moments.”
I tapped my blade on Gustav’s shoulder, “Any last words?”
A bloody smile stretched across his face. “I’ll be waiting for you in hell.”
I smiled back. “You’ll be waiting a long time. I just got rejected from there.”
Slash—Thud!
His heavy head rolled onto the dirt.
The morning sun was dazzlingly clear.
(End of Chapter)