NOVEL WEB Chapter 17 - Martial Artist
Lee Dojin arrived at Iroaz Academy alone by taxi.
Night had finally deepened. It had been quite a long day. The second day at the academy.
Despite using his body quite a bit since dawn, he didn’t feel that tired.
Rather, he felt refreshed.
Swinging his sword. And swinging it again. Constantly aiming swords at opponents.
Endless exchanges of swordplay.
It was a day that reminded him of the time when he handled swords all year round with his master, Sword Emperor Dan Cheonwoo.
Lee Dojin entered the forest on the path leading to Iroaz Academy.
The lush green foliage came into view. The official name was the Grand Park in front of the Academy, but the Academy chose to leave the forest in its natural state.
[Detected numerous killing intents directed at the master.]
It was the voice of Mistilteinn in Advice Ego state, which he hadn’t heard in a very long time.
Lee Dojin slowly nodded.
‘Don’t worry.’
Because he had already felt that killing intent.
The numerous killing intents that poured out the moment he entered the forest.
Ring-
The smartphone in his coat rang. Lee Dojin answered the call. It was an unsaved number, but he could guess who it might be.
And as he expected, that voice came through.
-Lee Dojin. It’s me, So Yueun.
“Oh, it’s been a while.”
-Father has made his move. He’s very angry. He even mobilized the 1st Attack Team. So… let’s be together again. If you come along quietly, there won’t be any problems.
“You’re there.”
His own words that he had just spoken echoed once more over the smartphone. It meant that So Yueun was nearby.
He saw So Yueun sitting demurely under a large tree, her sky-blue hair fluttering.
Unchanged sky-blue hair. Lee Dojin approached So Yueun.
“Why didn’t you just talk to me directly?”
So Yueun smiled at Lee Dojin’s words.
“…You’re right. It’s been so long since I’ve talked to you, I felt a bit awkward.”
Lee Dojin slowly scanned his surroundings.
“How many people did the Sword Emperor send for me?”
So Yueun narrowed her eyes.
“Fifteen people. And they’re from the 1st Attack Team active on the front lines. So, come along quietly. You know what kind of person Father is.”
“I thought the Sword Emperor might misunderstand. He must have spent quite a lot of money on me.”
When Lee Dojin was attending
So Daecheol, who was terribly disappointed in his youngest daughter So Yueun’s combat talent, still quite trusted her ‘eye’ for recognizing raw talent.
“But I didn’t solve my mana inability thanks to the techniques provided by Changcheon.”
Mistilteinn.
It was thanks to that one existence alone.
“I’ll definitely repay the money spent on attempting to treat me. But I have no intention of giving anything more to Changcheon. And even less intention of complying with this forced confrontation.”
So Yueun furrowed her fine brow at Lee Dojin’s firm answer.
“…That shining talent of yours. I don’t want to suppress that talent and forcibly take you away. Dojin. Let’s be together.”
Faint tears welled up in So Yueun’s round eyes.
“Our fate that should have been realized back then, at Athena. It’s just now properly connecting. Right? We liked each other. We watched cherry blossoms together. Went to the amusement park. Made photo cards.”
So Yueun brainwashed herself. That it wasn’t just because of the combat talent Lee Dojin showed in the first year of Athena that she had pursued him, but that they had truly liked each other and shared a connection.
That she had loved him to the bone, but had to give up that love with a heavy heart because of Lee Dojin’s mana inability disease.
She had thoroughly brainwashed herself to feel this as truth. Hiding her own wickedness. To make this talented man before her eyes her own.
However, Lee Dojin had never felt such a connection even once during his first year at Athena.
At that time in the first year, he was very grateful to So Yueun for acknowledging him and trusting him enough to provide financial support without hesitation.
It was a very unstable time emotionally, with his father having passed away.
At such a time, having someone provide dedicated support was naturally something to be thankful for.
It was only because it was a request from this grateful existence that he went along to places she wanted to go together.
“Dojin. With your level of ability and talent, Father might even give you the position of Guild Master, passing over my older brothers.”
So Yueun, who had completely brainwashed herself into believing she was a girl who had to give up her first love inevitably,
Flushed red in the face as she faced Lee Dojin.
“…If you marry me.”
In stark contrast to So Yueun’s clean and beautiful face that anyone would find heart-fluttering,
Lee Dojin thought it was a confession tinged with very dirty desire, and smiled bitterly.
“That won’t happen, Yueun.”
Lee Dojin, holding the wooden sword slung on his back, continued speaking.
“What I’m looking at isn’t something like Changcheon.”
Changcheon Guild.
The position of master of such a guild wasn’t even in his consideration.
It wasn’t just So Yueun, who was staring blankly with her mouth open, who reacted to Lee Dojin’s arrogant words.
A fierce aura of killing intent flowed out from behind the large tree by the bench.
A hoarse voice echoed eerily.
“We can’t let this young brat further insult Changcheon and the Sword Emperor. Young miss.”
The man in the black coat shot his aura at Lee Dojin.
Lee Dojin grinned.
He emitted his aura in response.
Saaaa….
The dense trees all swayed at once as if a typhoon was blowing.
“Is it okay to make such a commotion at the academy’s main gate?”
“Did you think the great Changcheon would care about such things? Junior.”
Fourteen men slowly appeared behind the man.
The man stuck something into the ground.
It was a gray rod. A transparent curtain emitted from the gray rod enveloped So Yueun, Lee Dojin, and the fifteen men.
“It’s a device that creates a circular dome for 15 minutes, blocking sight and sound.”
A transparent circular dome appeared in the park next to the academy’s main gate.
It was a device meticulously created by an S-rank alchemist, with a visual distortion effect applied to make it look like an empty grand park from the outside.
Blocking entry into the dome was, of course, the main effect.
“I prepared this for the junior’s dignity. If videos of you becoming a bloody mess with twisted limbs circulate on the internet, people won’t easily believe you’re a promising talent who even became the new student representative.”
Lee Dojin smirked.
The man continued speaking.
“I, standing in front of you junior, am S-rank hunter Kim Donghyuk. And all 14 of my subordinates are A-ranks close to S-rank. So even if you’re subdued without being able to do anything, it’s not that embarrassing. Junior.”
“Your tongue is quite long, senior.”
Kim Donghyuk gripped a red spear in his hand. He twisted the corners of his mouth at Lee Dojin’s sarcasm. Looking directly at the 14 people beside him, he said.
“Arms, legs. Cutting off one should subdue him. If we reattach it cleanly with holy power within half a day, there won’t be any problem.”
“Understood, captain.”
“This young brat doesn’t know the terror of martial artists at all.”
Martial artist (武人).
Lee Dojin found it funny that the word ‘martial artist’ came out of their mouths.
So he questioned back.
“Do you seniors know? The terror of martial artists?”
Kim Donghyuk thrust his spear forward. All 14 people drew out their respective weapons.
Lee Dojin readjusted his grip on the wooden sword.
“A wooden sword… This bastard, a first-year freshman, is thoroughly insulting us.”
“We should make sure he never sets foot in the hunter world again with such a toy.”
The A-rank hunters who saw the wooden sword all became furious to the tips of their hair. Arrogance without a trace of seriousness.
How lightly must he view the hunter world to act like this?
The hunters’ eyes glinted with malice.
They really intended to cut off one of Lee Dojin’s arms or legs.
“I’ll show you now, junior, what the terror of martial artists is. No hard feelings.”
Kim Donghyuk gestured with his chin. All 14 people kicked off the ground simultaneously.
And Lee Dojin’s form disappeared for an instant.
Form Shifting (移形換位)
And appeared again.
“Aaaargh!”
A scream burst out. A hand holding a sword was floating in the air. The right arm had been severed.
The hunter whose arm was cut off collapsed to the ground screaming, and the remaining 14 stared blankly at Lee Dojin.
Lee Dojin grinned.
“I have no hard feelings either.”
The smell of blood spread inside the dome. The hunters felt endless rage rising along with adrenaline.
Kim Donghyuk, whose eyes had rolled back after just one sword strike, thrust his spear.
“Y-you son of a bitch!”
Swish!
Swords, knives, spears, axes.
Numerous weapons drew arcs, their sharp blades gleaming.
Each was filled with various types of mana.
“This is fun.”
Lee Dojin moved his feet. Sometimes deflecting swords like a ghost.
Thud!
Sometimes charging forward as fast as light.
You ask if I know the terror of martial artists?
Of course I know.
I engraved that terror in my mind while dying a thousand times to Sword Emperor Dan Cheonwoo’s sword.
And I did my best to recreate that with my own hands someday.
But these people didn’t seem to know. The terror of martial artists.
How cruel the nature of a martial artist becomes when facing humans, not monsters.
The mindset of those who learned martial arts to face monsters, no matter how powerful, and Lee Dojin, who inherited the Reverse Heaven Sword originally created to slaughter and annihilate people, was fundamentally different from the root.
The same was true for Lee Dojin’s talent.
The sword paths that had slaughtered numerous monsters were disrupted by a single strike from Lee Dojin.
The gap between knowing how to break the opponent’s sword strike and merely knowing how to avoid it was enormous.
Slash!
Wrists were cut off. Tendons were severed. Hunters with deeply cut ankles rendering them powerless rolled on the ground.
Crack!
“Uuuaargh!”
A hunter whose right arm was grotesquely crushed by the shockwave of colliding with Lee Dojin’s wooden sword let out a groan.
Fourteen people were crawling on the ground, incapacitated.
Now only Kim Donghyuk remained.
“…What on earth are you?”
Kim Donghyuk’s tone was trembling violently.
Lee Dojin smiled faintly.
“Weren’t we all martial artists, senior?”
Kim Donghyuk’s face already had a sword mark engraved from being grazed by the wooden sword. Kim Donghyuk wiped the blood with the back of his hand, his face hardened.
And he stomped the ground hard.
“Haaah!”
The 32-hit spear technique that had violated numerous monsters was unleashed from his right hand.
Twelve blue beams of light filled Lee Dojin’s vision.
Lee Dojin slowly swung his wooden sword while standing still.
Bang!
The consecutive strikes he had prided as swift were destroyed one by one.
Bang!
Clang!
Boom!
Blue light energy scattered in all directions like shards of broken glass.
It crumbles.
The path of the spear he had walked until now.
To a mere first-year freshman.
“With just a wooden sword…”
With a mere wooden sword.
He incapacitated all 15 members of
Kim Donghyuk collapsed.
Because Lee Dojin’s sword energy had deeply cut his ankle without giving him time to notice.
Another scream echoed.
“…”
Lee Dojin bent one knee to meet the eyes of So Yueun, who was sitting blankly.
“Tell your father.”
So Yueun’s pupils shook violently.
“If he’s not going to come in person, tell him to wait quietly.”
His heart beat fiercely.
“I’ll visit him soon.”