Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Chapter 22. My Mom Was Crossing the Line (2)

With just one swing of the sword.

Everyone fell silent.

Not only Billy's subordinates but also Red's men, who were on Patrick's side, all went quiet.

‘What is that monster?’

‘I heard he was the helper the Master brought…’

‘That little kid?’

‘Isn't he not a kid? Just now... what was that just now…’

The large man Patrick had just cut down was, despite his appearance, a swordsman who ranked within the top ten in the Thieves' Guild.

Such a person had died without being able to do anything, without even knowing how he died.

A flustered Billy spoke.

“Ki... No, who are you?”

“Me? Patrick.”

“Who is that?”

“You don't know? You don't know me? Really?”

To Patrick’s question, Billy answered irritably.

“Dammit, how am I supposed to know a forward little brat like you?”

“Hmm. I see. So that's how it is.”

Patrick nodded and glanced back at Red.

When that guy with the pretty face heard his name, he had figured out everything, from what he had done since entering the city to where he came from.

It meant he was faithfully carrying out his role as an informant.

Compared to him, this bald man who looked like a snake couldn't even get a clue who he was, even after being told his name.

He didn't know who the person who had recently moved a large sum of money in the city he lived in was.

“You're lazy.”

“What did you say?”

“Were you always lazy? Or did you become lazy as your belly filled with grease?”

“What... What did you say? This little brat...”

“In any case, you're disqualified. I guess he's better after all.”

What Patrick needed was someone who could quickly and accurately obtain external information and deliver it to him.

He had briefly weighed Red and Billy on a scale, but the scale tipped overwhelmingly in Red's favor.

Therefore….

“You die.”

The moment he said that, Patrick's body vanished.

“Huk!”

Billy was startled.

The kid who had suddenly disappeared from before his eyes had reappeared right in front of him.

And it was to strike his neck.

“Farewell.”

Patrick's sword swung towards Billy's neck, and Billy couldn't react at all.

However….

Kaaang!

“Huh?”

Patrick was taken aback.

For the first time since being born in this world, someone had blocked his attack.

Of course, the one who did it was not the small fry named Billy.

The person who blocked Patrick's strike was one of the five mercenaries who had been waiting behind Billy.

One of them had held out a round shield and blocked Patrick's attack.

Moreover, that wasn't the end of it.

Shiiik!

The broadsword held in his other hand thrust at Patrick's face with quite a sharp momentum.

Patrick lightly moved his head to dodge the attack and was about to swing the sword in his other hand, but before he could, his opponent forcefully pushed him with the shield.

“Haaat!”

Patrick didn't resist the heavy pushing force and instead smoothly received it, flying backward.

After landing lightly, he looked on with slightly surprised eyes.

‘Hooo, not bad, are you?’

He blocked his attack and even counterattacked.

And the motion of pushing him with the shield wasn't just a haphazard move; it had its own form and discipline.

“Brother! Are you okay?”

“Be careful. He's no ordinary kid.”

“Yes, brother!”

“Form a tight formation, shields forward!”

“Yes!”

The mercenary who blocked Patrick's attack took a stance towards Patrick with a tense expression.

And following his command, his subordinates lined up on his left and right.

As the five mercenaries formed a tight blockade in the narrow second-floor hallway, a human barrier was instantly created.

“Ah, I see. So that's why.”

Patrick looked at the mercenaries' formation and nodded as if he understood something.

The heavy iron plate armor, despite only covering vital spots, and the shield that warriors of Jianghu found too cumbersome to use.

He had wondered how they fought armed with such things, but seeing them line up to form a wall made him understand.

They stood close together to eliminate any openings on the sides and used their shields at the forefront to deal with frontal attacks.

‘It’s a reasonably rational method. Looked at this way, a shield isn't so bad.’

In truth, Patrick had never seen a truly skilled person since coming to this world.

Brian, the 2-star knight who swaggered around the fiefdom, was just a scrub.

Red, the master of the Thieves' Guild, was decent, but by Patrick's standards, he was just a kid.

Crucially, they hadn't really faced each other as enemies either.

But now.

Before Patrick's eyes were enemies holding their ground with a stance as heavy as a rock.

To them, who had formed a solid formation and were glaring at him, Patrick spoke.

“Not bad. What's your name?”

At that question, the opponent bared his teeth and growled fiercely.

“You're an ill-mannered brat. I am Jorj, the Survivor of Andemion.”

“What? You are?”

Patrick put on a greatly surprised expression.

Then, the opponent who had revealed his name was about to speak to Patrick with a sneer, but….

“But what is that?”

“Pfft!”

“Kuk….”

A laugh unsuited for this tense situation burst out.

Jorj gritted his teeth and said.

“Didn't you know?”

“Of course I don't.”

“Then why did you pretend to know?”

“Guys like you seem to like it when I do that. Didn't you feel a sense of pride, like, ‘Ah, I'm this famous. Even a kid that young knows me.’? Be honest.”

“……”

Jorj's face turned beet red.

He had probably been hit where it hurt.

He ground his teeth and said.

“You arrogant little brat.”

“You arrogant adult brat.”

“You won't lose a single word.”

“You get beaten with every single word.”

He couldn't win with words.

He definitely couldn't win.

Jorj gritted his teeth and gripped his sword and shield tightly.

“I'll catch you alive and skin you.”

“Oh, how scary. A grown adult getting sulky…”

Patrick smirked and got into a battle stance.

Unlike the composed Patrick, Red, who was watching the situation, bit his lip hard.

‘Survivor of Andemion, that means that bastard is the real deal. How did Billy hire someone like that?’

The place called Andemion was the capital of the recently fallen Kreutz Kingdom.

Or should I say, the place that was the capital?

The capital of the Kreutz Kingdom, whose fate had run out due to war, was besieged, and its king held a defensive siege, leaning against the capital's walls until the very end.

That period lasted for a whopping ten years.

In other words, they had held a defensive siege for ten years with only the capital remaining.

They held on desperately, but in the end, the final moment arrived.

Left with not a single arrow or grain of wheat, they eventually set the capital on fire, and the remaining soldiers went out to fight the enemy and meet their end.

The symbol of the most desperate and miserable war on the continent recently.

That was Andemion.

To have survived that place meant that the mercenary named Jorj was a true veteran, a cut above the riffraff.

Red knew that Patrick was a monster.

He knew, but….

‘His opponent is no pushover either.’

Red watched the duel with tense eyes.

* * *

“You're pretty good. If I threw you into the Jianghu, you'd be treated as a pretty decent wanderer.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Oh, just talking to myself. More importantly, are you ready?”

“Come at me if you dare.”

Patrick smirked at the enemy who shouted gallantly.

Then, he tapped the floor with the balls of his feet and said.

“I'm coming for real this time.”

“Come on.”

“I'm going. For real. I'm going in.”

“...Stop your wordplay... Keuk!”

“Kuaaak!”

“Keoheok….”

Jjeo-eong!

It was just for a moment.

Simultaneously with Patrick's disappearance, a streak of light crashed into the wall formed by the five sturdy mercenaries.

Twin Dragons Eight Sword Forms Third Form

Flashing Dragon Strike

It was the technique Patrick had most enjoyed using since his previous life.

It was an attack that charged straight ahead, converting that speed itself into destructive power to obliterate the enemy in front of him.

No matter how solid a defense, there were only a handful of defenses in his past life that he couldn't break with this.

‘It's been a while since I used it, but…’

Patrick frowned.

Jorj, who had blocked the Flashing Dragon Strike head-on, was sent flying backward as his shield shattered into pieces.

And his subordinates also collapsed from the impact.

But that was all.

No one died; they were all alive.

If it had been the Flashing Dragon Strike used by the Radiant Dragon Great Master Jin Cheon of his previous life, it would be questionable if the corpses of these brats would even remain intact, let alone discuss their life or death.

‘I'm still a long way off. It's a long road ahead.’

Patrick realized that he was still a long way from regaining the martial prowess of his past life.

“Eu…euuu…. Euk….”

The fallen Jorj belatedly came to his senses.

He tried to get up and assume his stance again.

If he was alive, he had to fight.

That was the way of a mercenary….

“Ugh…”

As he tried to get up by pushing off the floor, he rolled on the floor again from the intense pain that shot through his arm.

The arm that had been holding the shield was broken and dangling.

“...A monster.”

Only then did he realize.

The word ‘strong’ was not enough to describe him.

He was a being of a different class.

It was just a single blow, but he could clearly feel the existence of despair.

Jorj stared blankly at his broken arm, and Patrick spoke to him as if he were pathetic.

“What are you doing?”

“……”

“You have to get up again.”

A chill ran down his spine, and goosebumps erupted all over his body.

There was no chance of winning.

Now that he realized that fact, there was only one option left.

He hurriedly shouted to his subordinates.

“Everyone, scatter and run…”

Slice! Slice!

The moment the word ‘run’ left his mouth, several streaks of light cut through his fallen subordinates.

And after the flashes passed, his subordinates' heads were slowly severed and fell to the floor.

Blood spurted from their fallen bodies, and before he knew it, Patrick was standing right in front of him.

Patrick looked at the terrified man with an indifferent expression and said.

“You little brat.”

“Eu…euk…”

“You're unlucky.”

“Uwaaaaaah!”

A broadsword swung out as if in a desperate struggle.

But Patrick's sword lopped off his neck first.

* * *

“Huk…huk…huk….”

Billy ran.

Without looking back, he just ran and ran.

‘I have to get out. I have to run far away. Otherwise, I’ll die.’

He knew this feeling.

A long, long time ago.

Back when he was a small-time thug, he had once been caught trying to pickpocket a big shot.

[You're insane. How dare you aim for my wallet.]

[P-p-…please... Please spare me. I didn't dare to recognize you, Young Master….]

That was a real big shot.

Power, wealth, and even personal martial might.

A person who was overwhelming in every aspect.

Just by meeting that person's eyes, Billy had found it hard to breathe.

I'm going to die. I'm really going to die. This is the end.

Billy had felt death more intensely than at any other time in his life.

But back then….

[Orabeoni, please let him go. He's pitiful.]

[If you say so…. Get lost.]

Billy had bowed his head in thanks and begged and begged again before leaving.

He had barely managed to keep his life thanks to someone's pity.

But Billy would never forget those few dozen seconds he had spent kowtowing to that man and begging for his life.

That feeling of being judged by an overwhelmingly powerful person.

That feeling of being crushed like an insect.

That feeling from back then….

‘I never thought I'd feel it again.’

Jorj and his men, whom he had hired for a large sum of money, were all dead.

And at the hands of a little brat who still had baby fat on his cheeks.

No, should he even be called a little brat?

That was a monster.

It was the bud of a great figure whose name and face everyone on this continent might one day know.

“Why did a bastard like that have to appear in front of me!?”

Billy shouted as he ran and ran.

I have to leave the city like this, go somewhere else, establish a foothold, and somehow make a comeback….

“Yo, you run pretty well.”

“Uwaaaaaah!”

Billy shrieked in terror at the voice that came from right beside him.

His feet got tangled, and he fell, scraping his face all over the floor.

Patrick smirked at Billy and said.

“Guys like you may be dumb, but you're quick-witted. But what can I do? I don't let quick-witted bad guys go.”

Patrick held a sword in each hand and slowly approached the fallen Billy.

Seeing this, Billy's teeth chattered, and his whole body trembled.

“Eu…euuu….”

Patrick approached Billy and spoke coldly.

“Want to leave any last words?”

“S-…s-…spare me.”

“Nope. Can't do that.”

“Euuu….”

“Nothing more to say? Then let's die now.”

Patrick raised the sword held in his right hand.

The slow movement of the rising sword felt as terrifying to Billy as the Grim Reaper raising his scythe.

He threw away all his pride and prostrated himself, begging profusely.

“Please spare me. If you just spare me, I'll live a good life. I'll live by giving to others.”

“I told you to leave your last words, and you're spouting such bullshit…”

“I beg you. If you spare my life, I'll give you all my fortune. Please, spare me.”

Billy knew it too.

To big shots like this, money wasn't that important.

Still, it was something he blurted out while saying anything to stay alive.

There was no way that monster would spare him just because he offered money….

“Huh? Really? You'll give me all your fortune?”

“……”

Is it working?