NOVGO.NET Chapter 757
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 757: Voyage (4)
A long rifle and two alien hounds.
And an armory with no telling what else might pop out of it next.
A truly unique enemy indeed.
‘Wait, didn't they say guns were weapons used by petty criminals? That guy is someone on the Great Path.’
Which meant he must be a top-tier powerhouse even on a universal scale.
Of course, looking at what he was doing right now, he didn't seem strong at all.
Click!
The challenger, who in the meantime was capturing the appearance of the planetary shipmaster holding the Bastard on camera again.
At this, Yeongwoo looked at the hounds crouching on the left and right of their master and asked.
“Are those... living creatures too? I'm asking if they are your pets.”
Then, the challenger looked back and forth at the terrifying-looking hounds and answered.
-Pets? These are my comrades-in-arms. Lipo and Kati. We have fought together for nearly two hundred years.
“...Two hundred years?”
Didn't that mean those bizarre-looking hounds were at least two hundred years old?
And if that was the case...
‘Just how old is that bastard?’
Also, thinking about it carefully, it would also mean the opponent hadn't suffered a crushing defeat in the past two hundred years.
Wasn't the fact that Lipo and Kati were still perfectly alive the proof of that?
× What the, that bastard... We should be a little careful.
Obstruction of Justice, who was having the same thought as Yeongwoo, also wiggled its fingers and revealed its wariness.
“Hey, anyway, what's your name?”
Eventually, Yeongwoo asked for the opponent's name first.
This was also a highly unusual occurrence.
Because those who had fought Yeongwoo so far had generally revealed their names first.
However, perhaps this opponent was not from a prestigious family nor had great fame, as he hadn't revealed his name until Yeongwoo asked first.
Then, finally.
-Ah, you mean my name.
The challenger in brass armor stroked his chin.
-I am Nema Jintorio.
And then he closed his mouth without any further remarks.
“...Is that it? Usually, all sorts of elaborations follow. Like whose son you are or the one who smashed what. Or at the very least, you should reveal your planet's name.”
At that, unable to hold back in that brief moment, Nema took another picture of one side of Gwangjin-gu with his camera, then nodded.
-I forgot about that. I am a First-Class Hunter from the planet Paho.
“A First-Class Hunter? Should I consider you the strongest in that place called Paho?”
-Strong enough to challenge you, at least.
“Anyway, that means I just have to hand over your corpse to your family in Paho. I hope it's not too far from here.”
As Yeongwoo said this, a hint of fear appeared on Nema's face, which had been calm all along.
-If such a moment comes, I will entrust the aftermath to your honor.
“Honor? Well, I don't know. It seems like you've been gravely mistaken about something for a while now.”
Yeongwoo scratched his forehead and looked at the morning sunlight brightly illuminating the arena.
“It doesn't feel good to see blood from such an early hour, but since you say you have no intention of giving up the challenge, it can't be helped.”
Step.
As Yeongwoo stepped forward, firmly armed with Aratubank and the Bastard, Lipo and Kati, sensing his movement, twitched the antennae on their heads and growled.
These guys had also intuited that the fight was about to begin.
“Now, do you really have no intention of leaving behind a will or something?”
-I have said all I needed to say.
At this, Yeongwoo shook his head and muttered briefly.
“If it were me, I would have begged for my life. Are you really planning to make your children orphans?”
-They wouldn't want me to be a coward, either!
An immense aura could be felt from Nema's voice.
Therefore, Yeongwoo could tell that the showdown had begun.
In fact, the guy was already tilting his long rifle and aiming in this direction anyway.
Then, finally.
Baaang!
The moment Nema's long rifle spat fire, heat surged from Yeongwoo's entire body, and Blazeflow's new rules of engagement appeared.
『Evade arrows forward.』
Arrows.
It was likely a collective term for all projectile-type attacks.
‘Dodge forward, not to the side?’
It was a command that shattered common sense, but Yeongwoo's legs were already heading forward.
After all, if he couldn't internalize the movements of the First Sword Strike, perfectly mastering Blazeflow would never happen.
Dash!
Eventually, as Yeongwoo dashed in the direction the bullet was flying from, Nema's eyes widened at the sight of this movement.
And then.
Swish!
Right after seeing Yeongwoo lower his upper body to dodge the bullet by a hair's breadth, his jaw even dropped.
-Truly different indeed!
Furthermore, because of this evasive maneuver, the distance between the two sides had greatly decreased, leaving Nema with no more leeway.
Not to mention, the opponent Yeongwoo had the Anti-Government Pistol, didn't he?
× Let's see what kind of tricks that bastard has!
As Obstruction of Justice let out a battle cry and spat fire from its index finger, Nema, who had been holding his ground all along, had no choice but to move.
Baaang!
He dodged Obstruction of Justice's bullet by moving to the side, while simultaneously making a signal sound through his teeth.
Click!
This was the sound of clicking his tongue inside his mouth, and as soon as this sound rang out, the hounds crouching at Nema's feet began to move.
One to the left, and the other to the right.
At the same time, Nema threw his body backward and aimed his long rifle at Yeongwoo once again.
-Your glory will soon become mine!
“What are you talking about? Do you think you can catch me with just a gun like that?”
The moment Yeongwoo said this and thought of closing the distance with another forward evasion, fire spewed from Nema's muzzle.
Baaang!
However, what shot out this time wasn't a bullet.
× What is it? The density is too high.
No sooner had Obstruction of Justice expressed its puzzlement than the object Nema had fired suddenly spread out in all directions and created a massive net.
“...Ugh!”
At this, Yeongwoo reflexively swung the Bastard and tore through the net, but there was nothing he could do about the left and right sides of the net covering everything around him.
And.
-Kireuk!
He also couldn't stop the hounds, who had taken their positions on both sides early on, from flowing electric currents into the net with their antennae.
Crackle!
Along with a horrifying sound, a powerful electric current—strong enough to make one wonder if it could knock out even a dragon—traveled through the net and transferred to Yeongwoo.
“Kuwaaaargh!”
For a moment, it felt like his vision was turning white.
In reality, Yeongwoo ended up dropping Aratubank from his hand, barely managing to hold onto only the Bastard gripped in his right hand.
Therefore.
Baaang!
He was able to block the subsequent shot fired from Nema's long rifle.
Using the blade of the Bastard, at that.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
-How is your reaction speed still being maintained? This trap... is designed so that it cannot be withstood through sheer willpower.
Nema's words made Yeongwoo, the person in question, curious as well, but he soon came to know the reason firsthand.
Flash!
It was because he saw a lightning-shaped buff icon appear in the corner of his vision.
‘Ah.’
This was one of the special effects of the legendary spear that Leumu had handed over as a wedding gift.
【Lightning Rod】
|When taking lightning damage, attack power is amplified by 15%.
‘So this shock effect was based on lightning damage.’
Accordingly, Yeongwoo's lightning resistance, which had been raised to 75% due to 'Osmosis', had kicked in.
‘Then did a mere 25% of the effect deliver this much shock...? Most average guys would have lost consciousness the moment they touched the net.’
This must also be the reason why Nema was so shocked to see him block the bullet.
Most of the opponents he had met so far had either fallen asleep immediately from the net attack or, even if they hadn't, their minds had become too dizzy to perfectly block a bullet.
“I guess the Great Path isn't much of a big deal, either. Seeing how a guy who uses this kind of petty trick gets selected as a challenger.”
Of course, it wasn't that the shock net wasn't threatening at all, so Yeongwoo had already swiftly escaped the net and was running forward.
Dash!
At that, Nema leaped backward and clicked his tongue again.
Click!
At this, his two hounds, 'Lipo' and 'Kati,' chased after Yeongwoo while holding the halved net with their antennae, and in the meantime, Nema reached his hand out toward the armory.
Whoosh!
He was trying to face Yeongwoo with a different weapon this time.
Clank!
In fact, a sound like a lock being released was already ringing from inside the armory, and hearing this, the Anti-Government Pistol moved its index finger in that direction and spoke in a low voice.
× Aim only for that guy. I'll make sure he fails to swap weapons.
“What? How?”
Even as Yeongwoo asked this, he was already thrusting the Bastard toward Nema.
Swaaaaaaash!
-Urgh!
Witnessing the thrust of incredible speed, Nema let out a groan and widened the distance further backward.
And in the meantime, the armory set up over there opened and shot out a pitch-black sphere the size of a head, but it ended up smashing into the ground before it could even fly 10 meters.
Baaang!
Obstruction of Justice, who had been waiting solely for the armory to activate, immediately shot it down.
And then soon.
Booooom!
The sphere stuck in the ground caused a huge explosion, spreading a pitch-black smokescreen in all directions.
He hadn't summoned a bomb to inflict damage on the opponent, but a smokescreen grenade to temporarily block their vision.
× He's a guy who really has quite a few cheap tricks up his sleeve.
While Obstruction of Justice wagged its finger as if surprised, Yeongwoo, who had finally closed the distance with the opponent completely, swung the Bastard at an immense speed.
Swisssssh!
According to Blazeflow's adjustments, he should have performed a diagonal slash between the neck and the upper body so that the opponent would have no way to dodge, but in a split second, Yeongwoo put strength into his arm and changed the direction.
He had decided to sever one of the opponent's arms instead of his neck.
-……!
At that, Nema, intuiting that there was not enough distance to dodge this attack, let out a sound close to a scream.
-Jeong Yeongwoo! Keep your promise with me! You must ensure my death...!
And then, his left arm was sliced off before he could even finish his line.
Slice!
-Urk!
As if it were his first time experiencing a part of his body being cut off, Nema looked at his left arm with wide eyes.
His arm, fully detached from his shoulder and spinning alone in the air, that is.
Then.
Thwaaack!
He was hit by Yeongwoo's fist flying in right from under his chin, and his head was knocked completely backward.
-Keok!
Along with an unsightly shriek, the white sunlight of Earth poured down over his forehead.
After that, what Nema ended up hearing was the threatening mechanical voice of the Anti-Government Pistol.
× Hey, don't move an inch from there. Unless you want me to make a hole in your friend's head.
The pistol, aiming at Nema's head with its index finger, was threatening Lipo and Kati who were running from over there.
At that, the two hounds soon dropped the shock net they were holding with their antennae to the ground, and seeing this, Yeongwoo slowly lifted the Bastard and brought it near Nema's neck.
“It seems the match has been decided. No matter what you do here, you won't be able to stop me from slashing your neck.”
-Then hurry and cut my neck.
At this, Yeongwoo sneaked a glance at the faces of Lipo and Kati, making it hard to even guess where on earth their eyeballs were located.
He then turned his head again and stared at Nema.
“Why did the Great Path send you to me? It must have known there was a severe gap in our combat power.”
-...What?
“There can only be one reason. In your next fight, you definitely would have died. With this level of combat power, you couldn't even beat a Kaujo trainee.”
Swish!
Subsequently, as Yeongwoo sheathed his sword, Nema fumbled with the long rifle he was holding in his right hand.
However, he didn't mount a meaningless counterattack.
“Return to your hometown with your comrades. Go and do the hunting you've been doing all along. You don't fit the Great Path. You've only kept breathing so far because you haven't met a proper opponent.”
Then finally, the duel with a 'proper opponent' arranged by the Great Path.
And the result was not a gruesome death.
Wasn't the opponent Jeong Yeongwoo, the master of the Hypocrisy Catalog and the incarnation of unpredictability?
“Maybe the Typesetter was trying to save you. Anyway, I don't really want to go out of my way to kill a guy who was busy taking pictures to send to his family.”
As Yeongwoo finished saying this and looked at the opponent's armory and airship that would become the spoils of this battle, Nema stammered and opened his mouth.
-But I... am already standing on the Great Path. So if I don't die in this duel, there is no glory for me.
At this, Yeongwoo withdrew the Bastard and wrinkled his brow.
“Isn't surviving a duel with the Master of the Earth Ship an honor in itself?”
-…….
“Go back and boast that you fought against a Marvel of the Universe. I'll even take a picture crossing swords with you if you want. In exchange, hand over everything inside that armory before you go.”
-No, I don't need such a fabricated record.
“Anyway, your armory is mine. I'm curious what other items might be in it.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]