Sure Enough, The Pervert Is…

“I didn’t expect you to react to all of that. No wonder the Gang Leaders went down so easily, Sect Master Dokgo.”

I answered sincerely.

“You flatter me. You’re making me blush.”
“…….”

Suddenly, I heard a Fwoosh-, followed by a funny smell wafting through the air.

What the hell was that smell? Had my clothes caught fire and started cooking me?

I turned my head and saw that the flames from the fire arrows had spread from one place to another, turning the main hall into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.

The sight of the Gang Leaders’ corpses and all that spilled blood had already been gruesome enough. With crimson flames now raging everywhere, the place looked like the Scorching Hell itself.

I let out a deep breath and, for some reason, became acutely aware of how hot my body felt. Was I heating up because I was angry, or was it simply getting hot because the place was on fire?

Was the fire making me angry, or had the flames inside my head somehow spread into the main hall? Was that too much bullshit even for me?

Perhaps the spreading fire had damaged the mechanisms, because all the hidden weapons that had been pouring in like a storm had stopped.

I stopped for a moment and looked at the Black Serpent Gate Master. His own place was burning down around him, yet the bastard was still grinning as though he were having the time of his life.

“Black Serpent Gate Master. What are you going to do now? All those traps you prepared are burning up, and your subordinates are off to meet the King of Hell. Wouldn’t things have been so much nicer if you’d stopped scheming and fought me one-on-one from the start? Don’t you think?”

The Black Serpent Gate Master gave an utterly arrogant laugh.

“I can simply find new Gang Leaders, and I can simply rebuild this place. I won’t miss a single thing, so come at me. Let’s see one of us die tonight.”
“Stop smiling. Your face already looks devious enough. Smiling only makes you look even more like a pervert, so keep those corners of your mouth under control.”

I gripped the Nameless Sword firmly.

“All right, I’m using my finishing move now. Prepare yourself. I’ll count exactly five seconds. If you can’t take my head before time runs out, we’re both going down. Five…….”

As I raised the internal energy flowing into the Nameless Sword another level, a gale-like current gathered around me, and the sword force coating the blade deepened to a darker shade of gray.

As I gripped my sword with deadly seriousness and put on one hell of a badass act, the Black Serpent Gate Master’s robe fluttered a little too dramatically, and his chain sickle and meteor hammer, ugly as a beggar’s footwrap, came charging at me in a frenzy.

Chwarrrrrrk!

Ignoring them, I stubbornly continued counting.

“Four…….”

And at last, the moment the two chains drew close.

“One.”

Kwaaaaaaang!

I spun around with reflexive speed and unleashed a lightning-fast blast of sword qi straight at the wall.

I wasn’t afraid of the Black Serpent Gate Master, but I was a little afraid of burning to death, so what else could I do? I was an honest man like that.

I might have counted a little wrong, but that wasn’t my problem.

The iron plate struck by my sword qi split apart beautifully, and the instant I felt the cold wind blowing in from outside, I used my lightness art and raced into the endless darkness.

After being trapped in an enclosed space filled with nothing but the stench of blood and burning, breathing in the fresh air……made my chest feel wonderfully clear.

“Ah……that’s nice.”

So this was why people enjoyed nighttime walks. But my satisfaction lasted only a moment. A sound like a gale whipping up came from behind me, and the not-particularly-welcome chain sickle and meteor hammer rushed forward as though trying to coil around me.

“This isn’t nice.”

Shwaaaaaaaaang!

With a single leap, I crossed a considerable distance, then turned and unleashed a vertical streak of sword qi.

The two chains that had been advancing like snakes trying to swallow their prey instantly recoiled, and the Black Serpent Gate Master, wearing that devious smile on his face, closed the distance in a single burst.

From time to time, the Black Serpent Gate Master used his chains to snatch up small stones from the ground and hurl them at me, or wrapped the chain sickle around pillars and yanked himself through the air. The bastard was pulling all kinds of crazy shit.

Seeing him like this, it was clear that the Black Serpent Gate Master had learned a fairly advanced chain martial art.

It wasn’t the sort of martial art anyone should have learned from a third-rate Black Path sect that was little better than a band of mountain bandits…….

The Gang Leaders had been the same. Where had these bastards learned martial arts so far above their station?

Even as he chased me, his chains lashed out in every direction, smashing the training ground, wrecking buildings, and cutting through tree branches. The bastard was the Sect Master, yet he was destroying practically everything his own sect owned.

The Black Serpent Gate Master’s rampage was getting more ridiculous by the moment.

The chains whipping around like lashes became increasingly spectacular and vicious, both in speed and range.

Even as I continuously opened the distance and retreated, I turned my head to check my surroundings.

‘There aren’t going to be any more hidden weapons flying at me, are there?’

Fortunately, there weren’t. Of course, something else happened instead.

There were no hidden weapons, but instead I found the Black Serpent Gate disciples staring blankly at the fierce battle between their Sect Master and me.

Just in case one of these idiots decided to summon up some unnecessary courage, I warned them in advance.

“You lot over there. Just so we’re clear, don’t interfere. Your Sect Master challenged me to a one-on-one life-and-death duel. Anyone who gets in the way…….”

Shwaaaaaak!

Of course. I had been about to say that anyone who interfered would die, when some lunatic suddenly hurled a saber at me.

But not a chance. I snatched the saber out of the air and hurled it straight back at the bastard who had thrown it.

The saber returned at an even fiercer speed than it had arrived and punched straight through his skull.

“……Trying to ambush me, are you? Rotten bastard.”

That took care of the problem of one foolish Black Serpent Gate disciple trying to interfere. The remaining problem was the Black Serpent Gate Master.

The Black Serpent Gate Master was still grinning as he swung his chains around.

Was he smiling because he still thought he had the upper hand, or was he simply the kind of bastard who enjoyed fighting? Come to think of it, both were true of the Black Serpent Gate Master.

But there was one thing he’d overlooked.

He had dismissed my claim back in the main hall that all my running away was strategic as nothing more than empty boasting.

I did tend to talk a lot of nonsense, but when I said that choosing to run had been a strategic judgment, decision, and operation, there hadn’t been a shred of a lie in it.

Now the environment was perfectly suited for fighting, and the chance of hidden weapons or surprise attacks coming at me had dropped considerably.

There was no longer any reason to hold back.

I continued retreating and knocking the chains aside until, at last, the chain sickle stretched out in a straight line…….

Chwarrrrk!

I twisted my body slightly, caught the chain of the chain sickle with my left hand, and gave it a powerful yank as though we were playing tug-of-war.

“Come here, you snake bastard.”

In an instant, the distance along the chain shrank dramatically, and the Black Serpent Gate Master holding the chain sickle was suddenly much closer.

With the distance closed in an instant, I could clearly see the Black Serpent Gate Master’s expression.

I might not have had any special talent for reading people’s emotions, but even I could tell that the bastard looked startled.

I gave the Black Serpent Gate Master no time to react. The instant he entered my range, I thrust out my left palm and unleashed palm force, then executed One Flash horizontally and released gray sword qi.

The startled Black Serpent Gate Master hurriedly swung his chains to counter the palm force, but unfortunately for him, sword qi was waiting right behind it.

“……!”

As his stance broke while he tried to evade the sword qi, I unleashed a merciless barrage of attacks.

I struck aside the chains wrapped around him for defense, shoved them away, hammered them down, and continued attacking without pause.

In a single exchange, offense and defense had completely reversed.

I abandoned defense entirely and did nothing but advance and attack. Lightning-fast sword qi poured down like a storm, steadily disrupting the Black Serpent Gate Master’s breathing as he belatedly tried to defend and retreat.

In the middle of all this, I recalled the swordsmanship I’d used in my previous life and fell into thought.

I had never used any particular fixed sword art. I had never learned one in the first place.

I simply read and understood my opponent’s movements through instinct, then moved in whatever way best suited the situation.

When I fought opponents who were large but slow, my movements became a swift sword. Against assassins who had never learned how to defend themselves, they became a forceful sword. Against swordsmen trained in orthodox sword arts, they became an illusory sword that severed their necks.

I had never learned a sword art even once, yet after fighting and fighting until I was the one left alive, every movement I made had become swordsmanship in its own right.

In essence, I had been a sword from the very beginning.

The same was true now. After facing him directly, the thought that an opponent like the Black Serpent Gate Master, whose martial arts focused on rapid attacks, needed to be answered with a heavy sword style naturally translated into action.

Fortunately, my judgment had been perfectly accurate.

Our fight, which had begun in the main hall, had already crossed the training ground and reached the outer wall.

I advanced while swinging my sword like some lunatic executioner drunk on the blade, while the Black Serpent Gate Master, cowed by my momentum, kept retreating.

Perhaps he had finally imagined himself losing, because for some reason the Black Serpent Gate Master’s face was gradually turning pale.

Meanwhile, I still had plenty of internal energy, wasn’t particularly tired, and had absolutely no intention of going easy on him. Other than being sleepy and hungry, I was in excellent condition, so I opened my mouth and kept swinging my sword.

“Black Serpent Gate Master, what’s with that face? Where’d all that confidence go when you were hiding behind your traps and running your mouth?”
“…….”
“Now that you’re about to die, are you scared? You pathetic pervert. Loser. Idiot. Even calling you someone of the Black Path is a waste. You’re just trash. Vermin. Garbage. You’re like a goddamn pile of bird shit in the Kangho…….”
“Shut up!”

With my sword strikes crashing down like lightning and my insults raging like a storm, the Black Serpent Gate Master finally reached the limits of his patience and showed genuine anger for the first time.

From my perspective, making a bastard I intended to kill angry was only a good thing.

This was why I had such a rotten personality. Why was it so much fun when someone got angry over my nonsense?

At this point, was I the pervert rather than the Black Serpent Gate Master?

Apparently not. The pervert was the Black Serpent Gate Master after all.

Every time his long-sleeved robe fluttered, another glimpse of the Black Serpent Gate Master’s indecently exposed skin entered my vision. It wasn’t just mentally damaging, it was pissing me off too.

Here I was, without even having eaten, staring at another man’s bare skin……all I could do was sigh.

Either way, if I wanted to escape this shitty situation, I had to finish this bastard off.

I increased the speed and power of my attacks even further. Sparks flew whenever chain met sword, and whenever our vicious exchanges collided head-on, the qi wrapped around our weapons crashed together and kicked up gusts of wind.

The Black Serpent Gate Master seemed to be reaching his limit as well. Even at a glance, it looked like he was scraping the bottom of his internal energy reserves.

Of course, to me he looked like a snake caught by a beast, thrashing desperately with everything it had just to survive.

I swung the Nameless Sword, wrapped in gray sword qi, horizontally, then kicked off the ground and chased down the retreating Black Serpent Gate Master before raining sword strikes on him without restraint.

Cha-kang! Kang! Kang!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out again and again.

The Black Serpent Gate Master’s fingertips had begun to tremble uncontrollably.

Just as I was about to open my mouth again, the Black Serpent Gate Master, having retreated back near the training ground, blocked my sword and shouted.

“Attack him!”

I wondered what kind of bullshit that was, only to realize, amazingly enough, that he was repeating the exact same words the Heavy Serpent Gang Leader had once shouted.

But no one came at me. The corpse of the man who had acted up first and gotten his head pierced by his own thrown saber was still lying there as an example.

The Black Serpent Gate Master screamed out another command, his voice almost a shriek.

“You bastards!”

At that moment, the Black Serpent Gate Master released a burst of energy and forced me back, then brought the chain sickle and meteor hammer down vertically with tremendous force. Black energy now coated the chains.

Apparently, he had decided this would be his final strike and poured all his strength and internal energy into it.

I waited until the chains drew close……then, in that fleeting instant, unleashed One Flash straight ahead.

Puaaaaaak!

The sword qi, far larger than before, first scattered the black energy, then cleanly severed the hardened chains before surging forward at tremendous speed and finally striking the Black Serpent Gate Master’s body.

The Black Serpent Gate Master was sent flying into the distance, blood spraying from his body before he even had time to scream. Watching him go, I smiled to myself.

“……My victory.”

Maybe it was because I was hungry, or maybe I was running a little low on strength, but I didn’t bother adding that I was the strongest.

It didn’t particularly matter. Everyone was already staring at me with looks of awe even without me saying it.

Leaving the Black Serpent Gate Master where he’d been sent flying, I looked over the black-clad men gathered around the training ground. There were quite a few of them.

It seemed that most of them had probably undergone brutal physical conditioning, because their bodies were far sturdier than those of the martial artists from the Righteous Sword Gate or Sword Hero Gate.

I addressed the men, who were frozen in awkward poses from sheer bewilderment.

“……How many of you are there in total?”

I had no idea who ranked immediately below the Black Serpent Gate Master, so I simply threw the question out there. A brown-haired middle-aged man who looked somewhat older than the others answered.

“……Forty-five. No, forty-four.”
“Right. Your Sect Master just went to the next world, so forty-four it is.”
“…….”

There were all sorts of things I should probably say, but maybe because I was hungry and tired, I couldn’t muster the energy for a long explanation. So I raised a finger and asked a short question instead.

“Anyone want to fight?”
“…….”
“If you’re going to fight, do it now. Don’t screw around pretending to ambush me like that idiot lying over there and end up in the next world. Of course, I’ll kill you even if you challenge me properly.”
“…….”

I slid the Nameless Sword back into its sheath as I spoke.

“If not, start by getting on your knees.”

The middle-aged man swept his gaze over the others, and every one of them immediately dropped to their knees.

As all those black-clad men suddenly knelt, they looked like a black wave rippling across the ground. I looked down at the middle-aged man, who had been the last to kneel.

“……Are you the one ranked directly beneath the Black Serpent Gate Master?”
“Yes. I am the Young Sect Master Sect Master.”
“The Young Sect Master Sect Master is older than the Sect Master? That’s strange. Anyway, Young Sect Master Sect Master. I’m giving you an order from now on.”
“Yes.”

I jerked my chin toward the blood and corpses scattered everywhere.

“From now on, take your men, clear away the bodies, wipe up the blood, and just clean the place up. The main hall’s burning, so dispose of the corpses there.”
“……You want us to clean? Right now?”
“You expect me to do it?”
“No. We’ll get started immediately.”

I nodded once and turned away without hesitation. Hiring these fierce Black Path men as cleaners gave me quite a thrill.

Of course, I was their employer now. I wasn’t even planning to pay them. That was how terrible an employer I was. But I was a lousy bastard to begin with, so it didn’t particularly bother me.

Leaving the Black Path cleaners behind, I walked slowly in the direction the Black Serpent Gate Master had gone flying.

Sure enough, the Black Serpent Gate Master lay collapsed against a wall not far away.

A massive straight wound across his upper body was gushing blood, and blood was pouring from his mouth as well.

It seemed he’d overstrained his internal energy and suffered internal injuries as well.

I lifted the chin of the Black Serpent Gate Master, whose head was hanging low. He was still breathing, if only faintly.

I looked into the Black Serpent Gate Master’s narrow, half-lidded eyes and asked in an indifferent tone.

“……Sect Master, I have a question.”

The Black Serpent Gate Master barely managed to meet my eyes before answering in a strained voice.

“……Ask.”
“Who taught you your martial arts? That’s not something you could have learned on your own. Do you have martial brothers or a master?”
“If I tell you, are you planning to kill them?”

I stared quietly up at the night sky.

“……If they’re bastards like you, then I should.”

The Black Serpent Gate Master stared into my eyes for a long while before lowering his head again.

“……You’re not ready yet. Train more. As for the subordinates I have left, kill them or spare them. Do whatever you want.”

With those words, the Black Serpent Gate Master breathed his last.

I stood there silently, turning the Black Serpent Gate Master’s final words over in my mind……then looked toward his subordinates as they cleared away the corpses.

I answered quietly.

“……You think I’m like you, you goddamn bastard?”

The conversation went no further because the bastard who might have answered was already dead. After all, the dead had never been particularly talkative.