Emotionless Swordsmanship Genius

Chapter 47: Variables (2)

About 15 minutes earlier.

“Hah… Hah…”

Shong, pushing through the underbrush of the mountain slope toward the east, was breathing heavily and had no choice but to come to a halt.

A woman was standing leisurely before him, boldly flaunting her voluptuous figure.

Her fox-like face had slightly slanted eyes and a sharp jawline, a style Shong liked.

‘No, that’s not important right now.’

Shong pulled his thoughts together.

“You’re not blocking my way because you’re interested in me, right?”

Catching his breath, Shong forced a playful smile as he spoke. Meanwhile, his mind was racing, trying to figure out a way to escape.

The fact that Karon had missed one person meant someone was already engaging him.

That meant it would take time for Karon to return.

Shong just had to hold out until then.

“That’s right! I’m interested.”

“Really?”

“In that cloak, not you.”

Shong, who had briefly hoped otherwise, grumbled in disappointment. He had lost count of how many times this had happened.

“Ah, this? Life sure is tough. I keep losing to a cloak every time.”

“Will you just hand it over quietly?”

Clang!

She drew two daggers from the sheaths strapped to her thighs as she continued speaking. If not for the weapons, her movements might have been quite seductive.

“Or should I kill you and take it?”

“Hmm, I’d prefer if you just undressed me. No killing, please.”

Shong pretended to contemplate for a moment before speaking playfully.

His goal was to drag out the conversation as much as possible, buying himself time. But it didn’t seem like she was interested in prolonging things.

“Hmph! Let’s see how long that mouth of yours stays alive.”

“I think it’ll last as long as I’m alive.”

The moment he replied, her body slid toward him like a blur.

At the same time, the two sharp daggers aimed simultaneously at his face and chest.

“Yikes!”

Startled, Shong threw himself backward in a hurry.

“Ah!”

Losing his balance, his foot slipped, and he ended up rolling helplessly down the slope, landing in a pitiful heap.

“Hah!”

Watching the scene, 11 scoffed in disbelief and glared at Shong with contempt.

“How in the world does someone like you possess that cloak?”

She spat the words at him with disdain.

“Someone like me? That’s a bit harsh.”

Shong, having picked himself up, brushed the dirt off his cloak and raised his hand with a cheeky expression.

In his hand was a small pendant glinting with a yellowish light.

“This looks like something valuable.”

Shong tilted his head, gazing at the pendant.

In that instant, her fox-like eyes widened, and she instinctively reached for her neck. Something was missing.

“You little thief!”

Her face twisted in rage, and she let out a sharp, venomous shout.

Shong quickly raised the pendant to his mouth and yelled desperately.

“Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll eat this!”

“Hmph! Try eating it if you can!”

Ignoring his threat, she charged at him. The pendant was small, but not easy to swallow.

Even if he did swallow it, she could always kill him and cut it out of his stomach.

Though the process would be unpleasant, she was sure that killing him would bring her satisfaction.

Shong, seemingly resolved, tore the pendant from the chain around his neck and shoved it into his mouth.

“You crazy fool! Die!”

Frustrated by the worst-case scenario unfolding before her, 11 thrust her dagger toward Shong’s throat.

She aimed to pierce his windpipe to prevent him from swallowing the pendant.

Thunk!

Shong barely managed to grab her wrist with both hands. The tip of the dagger hovered perilously close to his throat.

The force of the impact sent Shong tumbling backward.

She naturally ended up on top of him, lifting the dagger in her other hand to stab Shong in the face.

With no way to block it, Shong could only stare helplessly at the descending dagger.

‘Please, someone help me!’

He cried out for help in his mind.

Thunk!

At that moment, the end of his cloak moved on its own and blocked her dagger.

“Huh?”

“What the…?”

Startled by something obstructing her strike, Shong turned his head to the side. His cloak had puffed up on its own.

She, too, stared at the cloak in surprise. Was it just a coincidence? She raised her dagger again and stabbed.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Each time she thrust, the cloak perfectly blocked her attack, as if it were a living thing.

“This is insane!”

Feeling mocked, she raised both hands, intending to strike again.

She must have thought that the cloak couldn’t block two strikes at once.

However, her movements were too large. Taking advantage of the opening, the cloak spread out like a net and wrapped itself around her neck.

Shong naturally followed suit, twisting his legs around her body to immobilize her.

“Gah!”

The cloak tightened around her neck, and Shong quickly wrapped his legs around her, preventing her from moving.

At that moment—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

An explosion echoed through the forest. Shong realized that yet another mineral storage facility had caught fire.

“Ugh… let go…!”

She threw her daggers aside and tried to tear the cloak from her neck, but it was as solid as iron, completely immovable.

Rumble…

The ground’s tremors grew stronger, and animals darted past Shong and the woman, racing down the slope.

Realizing that a landslide was imminent, Shong knew the situation had become critical.

But he couldn’t release the cloak. The woman was still resisting, gripping it tightly. Of course, the cloak wasn’t entirely under his control either.

“Please! Just pass out! Please!”

“Ugh…!”

The woman, clinging to the cloak with all her strength, slowly began to weaken. Her eyes rolled back, and foam formed at the corners of her mouth—she had fainted.

As her body went limp, the cloak loosened its grip, allowing Shong to quickly push her away and wrap the cloak tightly around himself.

“Damn it!”

It was too late to escape. All he could do was trust the cloak.

Crash!

In an instant, the landslide swept down, burying both of them under a torrent of earth.

* * *

How much time had passed?

The mountainside, now covered in a thick layer of earth, was eerily quiet.

Chirp, chirp—

Occasionally, small birds flitted about, picking at worms emerging from the soil, but there was no other sign of life or movement.

Rustle, rustle—

After a while, the dirt began to stir, and something pushed through the soil. Slowly, a large rock was wrapped and lifted by a heavy force.

“Cough! Cough!”

As the cloak spread open, none other than Shong emerged, coughing and gasping for air.

He knelt on the mound of dirt, hacking away, his body covered in scratches but without any severe injuries.

Catching his breath, Shong looked down at his cloak with affectionate eyes.

“Thank you, cloak. You’re the only one I can count on. But if you could move on your own, why didn’t you help me sooner?”

The cloak remained still, offering no response.

‘Just like a certain someone,’ he thought, reminded of Karon.

Realizing he had lost track of time, Shong stood up, stretched his body, and scanned his surroundings.

All he could see was a vast expanse of earth covering the sloped mountainside. The scattered branches and roots of large trees were the only remnants of what had once been a forest.

“Don’t tell me… Karon got swept away? How am I supposed to find him in all this?”

Just as Shong was scratching his head in frustration, something strange caught his eye—a faint, shimmering light.

‘What’s that?’

Shaking his head vigorously and blinking, he focused his gaze. The yellow light was still there, glimmering faintly.

Rubbing his eyes and even closing them for a moment, the light remained when he opened them again.

‘Did I hit my head too hard?’

Then he remembered the pendant he had stolen from the woman.

He distinctly recalled putting it in his mouth, but with everything happening so fast, he couldn’t remember whether he had swallowed it or spat it out.

‘Did I swallow it? Could this weird light be happening because of that pendant?’

Carefully stepping over the mounds of earth, Shong followed the direction of the yellow light, climbing up the slope.

The light flickered in two different spots.

At the first location, the light disappeared as soon as he arrived. There, buried halfway in the soil, was the black orb that Karon had been carrying.

Shong quickly grabbed the orb, but as soon as he touched it—

Crack! Crackle!

Cracks spread across the orb, and within seconds, it crumbled into dust, carried away by the wind.

“Hah!”

A gasp escaped Shong’s lips.

The yellow stone in the pendant he had swallowed was actually a secondary component of the demonic orb, designed to track its energy.

It was something he had accidentally created recently, and it was proving to be incredibly effective in locating demonic energy.

That same stone was now deeply lodged within Shong’s body.

If the Blue Wolf Elite Squad ever found out about this, they would hunt Shong to the ends of the continent.

“Karon!”

Shong, now holding the remnants of the black orb, rushed toward the other spot where the yellow light shimmered.

Since he had already found the black orb, he was confident this would be where the black blade was.

But upon reaching the spot, he found that the mound of earth was much thicker than elsewhere.

“Ugh!”

Shong, straining to lift a rock as large as his body, realized that it could take days at this rate.

His mind raced, and then he remembered the vigilante group he was supposed to meet at the rendezvous point.

“Karon! Hang on! I’m going to get help!”

Shong quickly raced down the slope, hurrying to find the others.

* * *

Meanwhile,

10, who had been heading south through the Mekler mountain range, turned back upon hearing the explosion to the north and began climbing quickly up the path.

He had descended quite a distance, so it took him time to ascend again, but despite his size, his speed was impressive.

As he neared the fork in the path, another explosion erupted from the mountainside, followed by a massive landslide.

“What in the world is happening…?”

10 stared up at the mountainside in shock. Just as he began to worry about the two who had gone ahead—

He emerged from the underbrush and saw 6 collapse onto the path in front of him.

“6!”

Rushing over to him, 10 quickly assessed his condition.

His clothes were already soaked in blood. Inspecting his torso, 10 found a deep gash running from his chest to his abdomen.

It was clearly a sword wound.

“Damn… that bastard….”

6, pale and trembling, tried to speak as he grabbed 10’s arm, but soon lost consciousness.

Without hesitation, 10 tore off his shirt and wrapped it tightly around 6’s chest to staunch the bleeding.

Then, hoisting him onto his back, 10 sprinted toward the nearest village, leaving his concern for 11 behind for now.

* * *

“Dig over there!”

“Watch out! The dirt’s collapsing!”

The vigilante group, led by Shong, was hard at work excavating the slope where Karon had been buried.

Shong was at the front, directing them to the exact location, while the others followed, digging through the dirt and hauling away debris.

After about an hour of digging, the yellow light suddenly vanished. That meant they were close.

Shong jumped down into the trench and began digging with his own hands.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, he stopped.

With a blank, devastated expression, Shong stared down at the scene before him.

There, half-buried in the dirt, was Karon’s black blade—alone.

“Kaaaaron!!”

Shong’s voice echoed through the mountains, a desperate cry of anguish.

Soon after, as night fell and darkness enveloped the land, rain began to drizzle softly from the sky.

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