80. The Executioner Im Jaebaek (2)

Countless emotions surfaced and vanished in Im Jaebaek’s eyes.

Bewilderment. Suspicion. Hope.

A storm of feelings no single word could capture, feelings that even contradicted one another, raged through him.

Barely holding together the composure he’d scarcely gathered, he steeled himself and parted his lips.

“You didn’t come all the way out to this backwater just to exchange pleasantries.”
“That’s true. This isn’t a place for a proper sit-down chat. Shall we move somewhere else?”
“I don’t know who you are or why you’ve come here, but it won’t be possible.”

Im Jaebaek let out a low sigh and pointed a finger toward the sea.

The surging waves rolled in toward the shore and burst apart into spray, swooosh, scattering to pieces.

“This island itself is the prison. There’s no way off it.”
“Because of the Genocide Salmon?”

Hardly any time had passed since they’d traded names, and already Yujin was slipping into casual speech. Feeling no real need to call it out, Im Jaebaek let it slide and went on.

“You know your stuff. To dodge the Genocide Salmon’s attacks, you need a smell those things hate.”
“Onion.”
“…How do you know that? It took me two whole years of suffering to scrape that fact together.”
“My trivia runs as wide as the great ocean.”

The Genocide Salmon is a fish native to the world called the demon realm, or the dark realm. Belligerent by nature, it boasts combat power so superb that underwater, just two or three of them can run down even a 5th-Rank monster.

‘There’s something even those things are afraid of.’

Their natural enemy is the Fel Bear. The Genocide Salmon return from the sea to their home rivers at fixed intervals, and every time they do, the Fel Bear is there to fall upon them. A fear learned at the level of the entire species.

So why bring up its natural enemy in the middle of a conversation about onions?

‘Because the Fel Bear’s bodily scent is close to an onion’s.’

At this point in history, almost no intel on the dark realm should be in open circulation, and yet a mere outfit like the Seagulls somehow knew this much. He could guess the reason. Behind the Seagulls stood the Rakshasa Guild, and behind them lurked the Arahan Guild.

Wee-woo-woo-woo—!

A siren’s wail set the whole island shuddering. In broad daylight, out in the open, a man in a suit was trading blades with an undead. It would have been stranger for them not to notice.

Im Jaebaek spoke urgently.

“Where’s the onion you brought along?”
“I’ve got no such thing.”

He hadn’t even known their destination was an erosion zone. And even if he had known they were heading into Genocide Salmon territory, would the Seagulls have politely let him pack one along? They’d let him bring nothing but the Ring of Black Darkness, so how was he supposed to have brought onions?

“You. Don’t tell me you’ve kicked off this whole mess without any plan at all?”
“I said I’ve got no onion. I’ve got a plan.”
“That’s… Aaargh!”

Yujin’s shamelessness jammed the words in Im Jaebaek’s throat. He loosed a pointless shout, then drew a deep breath and settled the anger that had boiled up.

“Let’s at least hear your plan for getting off the island.”
“Well, seeing is believing, as they say. Showing you directly will be faster.”

Yujin stroked the Ring of Black Darkness. The erosion phenomenon had thrown up only a small island, and fighting out in the open sea was an enormous variable, but one he could manage well enough.

Even after reaching 3rd Rank, he’d left this field of knowledge untouched for a long while. Without hesitation, Yujin chose the Darkness field.

The pain was dramatically reduced. Only after reaching 3rd Rank could one survive receiving a spell from the Library of Knowledge; had the agony still been as severe and the mental drain as heavy as before, he’d never have dreamed of inheriting one in a situation this pressing.

‘The higher the Stellar Rank climbs, the wider the options spread.’

Kuhuhuhu.

From among the Darkness field’s spells, Yujin picked out the two he needed for the moment.

The penalty was the same as with alchemy. The Darkness field belongs to dark mages and the class groups that handle [dark-mana]; a Necromancer can tap that power only because the source of his spirit-power is the mana of the negative dimension. As for alchemy, the ring’s properties let him use it. A penalty this size, he’d simply have to swallow.

‘You always have to keep your trump card in hand.’

‘Bone Spear can’t be used without bone.’

Playing the part of a debtor, a role not even written into his fate, he’d shed all his gear. Genocide Salmon bones lay strewn here and there across the island, but those catalysts were already spoken for.

“Answer my call.”

Spirit-power seeped into the rotting body of a Genocide Salmon. A moment later it thrashed violently, like a living fish, looking ready to fling itself into the sea at any second.

“Wait a moment.”

Yujin approached the revived Genocide Salmon.

A man and an undead clashed on the shore. Kim Jonguk, the Hunter in charge of the strong-moss supply, steadied his faintly trembling arm.

‘The nature of it is different from my mana, but that’s definitely aura.’

The undead’s power was a dark fighting-aura grounded in spirit-power. After a few exchanges, the sense settled over Kim Jonguk that this was no easy opponent.

Kim Jonguk feigned composure and edged back, opening distance between himself and Song Myeongseok.

“You bag of bones. Where the hell did you pop out from?”

— You aren’t qualified to hear that. Mediocrity.

“For an undead that didn’t even finish dying, your mouth runs awfully cheeky.”

— I’ll watch and see whether you can keep prattling after you’re dead, too.

“How about this? The experience of dying twice!”

Vivid blue light bloomed from both hands, up over the wrists and on to the elbows. Still backpedaling, Kim Jonguk loosed the aura he’d secretly gathered at full force.

— Not bad, for the technique of a mediocrity!

— Ratatatat.

Mana loaded with intent crashed against mana. In the span of a single second, dozens of exchanges flew back and forth, each one hunting for an opening in the other.

— Crack. Crack.

The unspent blue currents piled dull impacts onto Song Myeongseok’s body, one after another. The armor forged from the [Lump of Iron Steeped in Obsession] crumpled. His joints creaked.

Song Myeongseok had awakened his Dark Fighting-Aura only on being raised to a Skeleton Knight. Kim Jonguk, by contrast, was a veteran who’d reached 4th Rank and wielded aura for years.

— Good! Very good!

The blue ghost-fire deepened further. From the moment of his revival, Song Myeongseok had maxed out his stats and sparred with the Scraps to grow into his new body.

And then…

‘His aura’s getting even sharper?!’

Trading aura blows with Kim Jonguk, a 4th-Rank Hunter, Song Myeongseok was growing more and more at home in the Dark Fighting-Aura himself.

This was the power of the [Heavenly Bone] trait, the one the Arahan Guild had backed so heavily they’d even secured an S-grade skill book for it. Song Myeongseok’s exceptional talent was shining through.

— Slash.

A bead of blood welled on the back of his hand, a laceration opening across the very spot where he’d just parried the blade.

‘At this rate, I’ll lose.’

Kim Jonguk’s eyes flicked behind him. Dying here was out of the question. Pride and all the rest could wait; none of it meant a thing unless he kept breathing first.

‘I’ve already sent the signal, so once the boat arrives, the rest of these bastards…’

Near the strong-moss labor camp, a mid-sized vessel bristling with mana cannons sat at anchor, the boat that ran the Seagulls’ core operations: smuggling, strong-moss sales, and labor-camp administration. The island was small, too, so once that firepower came to bear there’d be nowhere left to run.

— You can’t even concentrate, with me right in front of you?

The psychic projection came laced with displeasure. As the killing intent in Song Myeongseok’s voice deepened a notch, a chill ran down Kim Jonguk’s spine.

“You think the same attack will work on me?”

— I never said any such thing.

Red currents surged in from the left and the right at once. At the Dark Fighting-Aura erupting from both blades, Kim Jonguk’s mouth fell open.

‘Even with dual swords, the main hand’s supposed to be fixed!’

Even Kim Jonguk, long settled at 4th Rank, had to concentrate to pour aura into both hands at full strength. He’d retreated a moment ago precisely because he, too, needed time to ramp up his output.

But.

Even though Yujin’s procedure had ‘pulled’ Song Myeongseok up to a high realm, he’d caught the knack of working the Dark Fighting-Aura with astonishing speed. His command of it outstripped anything a Hunter’s common sense allowed for.

‘If it’s the same force as before, I’ve got no choice but to give up an arm.’

His judgment was swift. To parry both attacks at once, his total aura simply fell short. Given a moment to catch his breath he might have managed it, but he had no strength to spare for blows already bearing down on him.

Kim Jonguk poured mana into his right arm.

‘After I parry the attack, if I just slip past that half-dead thing and make for the sea…!’

— Shk.

Huh?

The sound of something being severed. The mana he’d forced into his arm at full strength wouldn’t travel below the elbow, as if it had lost its way.

A beat late, Kim Jonguk grasped the truth.

‘It wasn’t parried — it was cut off?’

The power of the Dark Fighting-Aura had grown vastly stronger than at the first clash.

The very instant indignation drove the resentful words surging up Kim Jonguk’s throat…

— The polite speech. It puts me in a foul mood.

The blade steeped in Dark Fighting-Aura grazed across his neck, and before he could spit out even his last word, he toppled to the ground.

The Seagulls members who’d stayed behind on the island were swiftly subdued. Aside from Kim Jonguk, the lone practitioner who’d crossed the wall, the rest were on par with the debtors put to labor. Unlike the debtors they were armed, but…

“You bastards! Being so cheap with the food, were you?”
“You lot try wearing a diving suit too. You ought to know how hard it is!”

They were short on numbers, and shorter still on any will to fight.

While the debtors were busy subduing the island, the Seagulls vessel caught the siren, weighed anchor, and bore down on the shore.

“Shall I kill a few to make an example?”
“Hey, can’t you see Brother Jonguk’s neck got slit? Kill them all.”

Among the members aboard, not one Hunter outmatched Kim Jonguk. In diving suits they’d be weaker than on land, but they could still secure a fair degree of mobility.

Wipe them all out before the debtors could close in. That was the only option the Seagulls members had left.

“Wha…?”

— Boom!

The hull lurched. A few of the members up on deck staggered at the unexpected impact, and some even tumbled into the sea.

“What’s going on?”
“It-it’s the Genocide Salmon.”
“Bullshit! We spread the onions out. How would those things get close!”
“See for yourself!”

The captain, not believing a word from the ashen-faced member, came out onto the deck. The skin around his eyes twitched.

“Sh-shit. What the hell is that?”

Ocean monsters had ringed the boat. They looked much like the Genocide Salmon, the natives of the erosion zone, but a closer look turned up the differences. Their entrails dragged behind them, spilling out from between the flesh of their bellies. They swam the water calmly despite the traces of rot scattered across their bodies. And stranger still, they wore bone over themselves like armor.

“It’s the Genocide Salmon laid out on the island.”
“You’re saying the ones that croaked came back to life?”
“There’s no other answer. They’re possessed by a grudge!!”
“It’s ghosts! We’re all dead men!!”

Steeped in terror, the member had unwittingly hit on the right answer.

While Song Myeongseok had been trading blades with Kim Jonguk, Yujin had been reviving the Genocide Salmon corpses strewn across the island as Returners.

‘Returners alone won’t cut it.’

There was the boat’s firepower, and the defensive magic circles set up all across the hull. If those had been laid in anticipation of a Genocide Salmon attack, the strength of mere Returners would never run the boat aground.

The corpses too far gone, he dismantled without hesitation. Sixteen bodies remained.

It was enough.

With the blood and flesh of the Genocide Salmon stripped clean by Flesh Control, he rebuilt the Returners’ bodies, and the bone he fitted over them as heavy armor, like a knight’s.

The blood had already dried, or rotted away. But even so, Yujin imbued what little lingered in the Genocide Salmon corpses with dark-mana, then engraved Reinforcement Circuits into them.

‘If I link dark-mana and spirit-power…!’

The Genocide Salmon is a resident of the dark realm, and the dark-mana roused the potential latent in its body. More precisely, it drew up the concept of ‘Bakunawa,’ the Genocide Salmon’s distant ancestor and a mighty demon-beast.¹ By devouring the bone and flesh of its already-dead kin, it reproduced even a sliver of the glory carried in its ancestors’ blood, reborn now as an undead that surpassed its original Stellar Rank.

‘I learned Black Spear just in case, but it looks like I won’t need it.’

The Scylla was a 4th-Rank ocean undead. It couldn’t wield Dark Fighting-Aura the way a Revenant could, lacking both the intellect and the standing for it.

But in exchange.

“Kaoooo!!!!”

Drawing its origin up through Dark Blood, it held power to rival an Ogre’s, and in the sea no less. Tremendous brute force came pouring out of its ten-meter frame!

— Kwaaang!

The vessel pitched hard with every ram of the Scyllas. The members clinging to the mana cannons fled belowdecks, shaking with fear.

“You idiots! If we don’t fire, we’re the ones who die!!”
“It won’t kill them even if we fire!”
“The cannons that turn a Genocide Salmon to pulp don’t work?”
“Then try it yourself!”

The boat had been armed on the assumption that the onions would keep the threat neutralized. Against the Scyllas, it was no match.

A moment later.

— Gushhh.

Seawater came pouring in through the gap that had opened. Part of the hull, crumpled by the violent impacts, tore like wet paper. And the trump card the Seagulls had so carefully prepared sank into the deep.