Chapter 420

“Why is he sparring now after he told us to rest?!”

Martha furrowed her brow while watching Raon and Mustan go down to the snow field.

“Moreover, why is he fighting someone he’s already destroyed?”

She clicked her tongue, murmuring that it was pointless.

“That child soul must’ve made a mistake.”

Burren narrowed his eyes while looking at Mustan.

“Child soul? Didn’t you mean old soul?”

“He’s acting like a child despite being older than us.”

“Oh, you are so right. He seems exactly like a whining kid.”

Martha snickered, saying that it was unsightly how childish he was.

“Ugh.”

Runaan was pouting with her arms stretched on the castle walls. She didn’t seem interested in the spar at all.

“There’s no ice cream shop…”

“You idiot! This place is a winter battlefield all year long. There’s no way they would sell any ice cream!”

“Martha is Miss Rakshasa.”

Her teasing was completely unrelated to the situation, but veins bulged on Martha’s forehead.

“You sleepyhead!”

“Martha, weak. Always collapses while crying.”

“Alright, I’ll kill you if that’s what you want!”

Martha leaped like a frog and assaulted Runaan.

“Ooh!”

“The first team leader is fighting against the second team leader!”

“This match also looks interesting!”

The Light Wind members waved their fists while watching Runaan and Martha push each other.

Even though the spar between Raon and Mustan was about to start, they didn’t look nervous at all. It was proof of their complete trust in their vice squad leader.

Raon was standing on the snow field with the Light Wind squad’s unconditional trust.

Mustan was rolling his murderous eyes while walking towards him from the opposite side.

‘If unrelated people saw this, they would think that I’m in the wrong.’

It was ridiculous how he was glaring despite picking a fight. Raon knew about his excessive jealousy, but he didn’t expect him to be so unreasonable.

‘I was going to put up with him but he crossed the line.’

He intended to overlook the aggressive behavior because the Sword Demon had helped him a lot, but he couldn’t be patient anymore after he insulted Rimmer.

“You are right about that. Our squad leader is indeed an idiot.”

A distant smile appeared on Raon’s face as he placed his hand on Heavenly Drive’s scabbard.

“However, the Light Wind squad is the only one that can say such a thing. Even if he deserves to be criticized, we are the ones doing it. You have no right to say that.”

An extremely cold atmosphere was emerging from his lighthearted smile.

“I’ll teach you to stop running your mouth since Sir Rector failed to do so.”

“I already told you to stop saying my master’s name!”

Mustan barked and drew his sword. Intense pressure was emerging from the blade pointed at Raon.

“Alright, we don’t need any warm-up.”

Wrath suddenly popped out from the bracelet when Raon twisted his lips and drew Heavenly Drive.

He’s slightly dangerous.

Wrath briefly licked his lips while glancing over Mustan.

‘Why is he dangerous?’

The emotion of envy engulfing him has intensified to a dangerous extent.

‘Dangerous extent?’

Emotions like wrath, sloth, and envy are related to the primitive power of demons, and the extent of his emotion is about to reach that primitive part.

Wrath shook his head, saying that there must’ve been something wrong with Mustan’s head to begin with.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Raon rolled his lips into a smile while pointing Heavenly Drive at Mustan.

‘Because he will be fixed once he gets beaten up.’

What?

‘There’s a saying that if something betrays your expectations, it might be because you need another beating.’

Was there a saying like that?

Wrath tilted his head like an idiot, and Mustan took preemptive action.

Thud!

Mustan kicked the ground violently without even shouting. His footwork was extremely fast. He was under Raon’s nose in no time and raised his sword.

‘He’s fast. However… speed is all he’s got.’

Mustan’s sword didn’t have any power because he was too focused on speed.

Raon raised Heavenly Drive towards Mustan’s sword, which was falling like lightning. He didn’t even need to swing it.

Just leaving it there with the principles of the heavy sword turned it into an impenetrable wall.

Claang!

Since Mustan’s sword didn’t have any power, it was blocked by Heavenly Drive and was unable to advance any further.

“Hmph!”

He seemed to have expected that his strike would be blocked, as he immediately pulled his sword back and changed the trajectory to swing upwards from below. His blue astral energy quivered from his blade and created a huge wave.

‘So this must be the swordsmanship that he learned previously.’

Judging from the powerful light radiating from his blade, it must’ve been the Crimson Radiance Sword Art that was one of the Sword Demon’s advanced sword techniques.

The blade of light he swung incorporated the principles of the technical sword, powerful sword, swift sword, and severing sword.

Thud!

Raon stomped the ground with his left foot and murmured the principles of the Fangs of Insanity.

He thrust Heavenly Drive with the explosive strength rising from his femoral muscles and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat dashing through his mana circuits.

Claang!

Heavenly Drive easily fended off Mustan’s blow with the heavy strength dwelling in it. Mustan’s wrist tilted like a sailboat in a turbulent ocean.

Raon narrowed his eyes while watching Mustan drop his jaw.

‘He’s weaker than expected. No, I must’ve gotten stronger.’

A huge gap that was incomparable from before must’ve formed because he’d reached the highest level of Master and increased his sword’s proficiency thanks to the Sword Demon’s advice.

“I-impossible!”

Mustan strained his trembling wrist while violently grinding his teeth. He forcefully stopped the trembling and sent a barrage of strikes that were engulfed in thick astral energies.

‘I’ll sever his technique this time.’

Raon unleashed Glacier while taking a step toward Mustan. He unleashed the frozen aura rising from his fingertip through the wind.

Claang!

The principles of the severing sword inside the Blizzard Sword Art shattered the trajectory of Mustan’s blade and created a huge shockwave.

“Argh!”

Mustan’s eyes widened as he looked at his sword that bounced back, and Raon smacked his abdomen with his left fist.

Smaack!

With a thundering noise that sounded like a bursting drum, Mustan was sent flying violently and rolled on the ground.

‘He has a fast reaction at least.’

He managed to create a wall of aura in front of his abdomen to defend himself the moment his fist reached him. He was indeed the Sword Demon’s disciple, after all.

“Ack!”

However, the impact must’ve been powerful, because Mustan was grinding his teeth while trying to hide his pain despite his trembling shoulders.

“H-how…?”

“What are you even asking? You are simply too weak.”

Raon carelessly shook his left fist and walked up to Mustan.

“Stop exaggerating and stand up. I haven’t even gotten started yet.”

Raon pushed the land with his right foot. He advanced elegantly through the Supreme Harmony Steps. The moment the ground was caved in, Raon could see Mustan’s panicking eyes.

Cring!

Raon added the principles of the Fangs of Insanity on Heavenly Drive’s blade as it fell violently. The fangs of the savage beast were sharpened even further and revealed their ferocious bloodlust.

“Kuh!”

Mustan hurriedly stepped back and thrust his sword. He was still attacking properly despite his panic.

However, ‘proper’ was only in his standard.

Raon engulfed the Fangs of Insanity with the principles of the swift sword. The crimson blade accelerated and violently pushed back Mustan’s sword.

Whaam!

Even though it was a clash of powers, the result was far too obvious.

Crack!

Mustan’s strike bounced back as if it had hit a wall and fell apart. Heavenly Drive’s advance was unhindered.

Smaack!

The moment Heavenly Drive was about to cut through Mustan’s neck, he turned the blade and smacked his shoulder with the side of the blade.

Whaam!

Mustan was sent flying like a rubber ball and got slammed on the ground. A huge crater was created on the ground, and the snow covering the land fluttered into the air.

Swoosh!

Mustan couldn’t return to his senses, and Raon pulled Mustan’s head as if he were pulling out a radish.

“Kuh…”

“Don’t tell me you are already done.”

Raon threw Mustan away as if he were a pebble, and he stood back up while faltering.

“O-of course not!”

Mustan lowered his posture and unleashed his aura to the maximum output.

Rumble!

The raging wave of astral energy melted the snow on the field, and the current of air was distorted.

‘He has an amazing amount of aura at least.’

As expected of the disciple of Sword Demon, a tremendous amount of energy could be felt from him. He must’ve consumed elixirs like water.

“But I never told you I’d sit here and wait until you finish gathering your power.”

Raon used the Supreme Harmony’s Second Step to instantly pierce into Mustan’s space.

“That’s so underhanded!”

“Your head is going to roll if you are planning to shout it’s underhanded during a real battle.”

Raon twisted his upper body to evade Mustan’s strike before smacking his forehead with Heavenly Drive’s side.

“Cough!”

Mustan collapsed on the spot like a marionette that had lost its string. Red blood was gushing from his mouth, showing how powerful the impact was.

Creak.

Raon walked up to Mustan on the ground. His steps were making holes in the ground, which looked like skin where the flesh had been ripped off.

“Once spoken, words can’t be retrieved.”

Raon clenched his fist while looking down at Mustan.

“I’ll beat you up exactly a hundred times as a price for running your mouth.”

“Wh-why a hundred…?”

“It’s my arbitrary decision.”

Mustan tried to argue against him, but Raon smacked the center of his face with his fist holding the sword.

Smaack!

Raon raised his index finger while looking at Mustan, who slammed onto the ground.

“That was the first hit.”

“Kuah!”

Mustan was covering his face and his whole body trembled.

“Y-you already hit me four times though…”

“I’m pretty bad at math.”

A frightening light sparked from his eyes as Raon raised his chin.

“You can count each time you get hit if you don’t want to die.” 

* * * 

Milland looked outside the window while clinking whiskey glasses with the Sword Demon.

“The two boys seem to be fighting.”

Milland smiled faintly after he took a sip from the whiskey.

“Haa…”

The Sword Demon quietly sighed while putting down his glass.

“I did expect this to happen, but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth now that it actually happened.”

“It’s always been a difficult task to raise a disciple. I understand you.”

Milland nodded, saying that he’d gone through various hardships while raising Terian, who was his son and successor at the same time.

“Is it supposed to be difficult?”

Rimmer tilted his head while digging into a whole chicken that was presented as a side dish.

“But our little Raon did everything on his own. He got stronger on his own and gained achievements on his own. Hahaha!”

He smiled like an idiot, saying that he thought disciples grew on their own.

“Th-this guy…”

Milland’s hand holding the glass was trembling in frustration, but he couldn’t deny it.

After all, he’d also seen how Raon acted and grew up without anyone’s help in Habun Castle.

“I don’t understand how a punk like him gained such a nice disciple. The world is so unfair, don’t you think?”

Milland looked at the Sword Demon with a frown, but he looked happy, a faint smile on his face for some reason.

“Sir Rector?”

“Ah, my bad.”

The Sword Demon slowly nodded.

“Raon is indeed an amazing boy, but I like my disciple the most.”

He said that Mustan was just narrow-minded and wasn’t exactly a bad person.

“By the way, I wonder who is going to win the fight.”

Rimmer danced with his shoulders while eating a yellow apple. Everyone could tell from the wily look in his eyes that he was asking the question despite knowing the answer.

“Are you really asking that when you already know the answer? You have a bad personality, unlike your disciple. Raon is obviously going to win.”

The Sword Demon asserted and guzzled down his whiskey.

“They would’ve been an equal match back at House Arianne, but there’s a huge difference between them now. Mustan can’t win against Raon in his current state.”

He briefly sighed and shook his head.

“Are you planning to leave them alone despite knowing that fact?”

“My disciple needs to experience a proper defeat.”

“That’s true. He needs to learn his lesson now in order to avoid getting slain later on.”

Rimmer nodded while giggling.

“Does that mean that you trust Raon?”

“Indeed. Considering his personality, I believe he won’t leave any aftereffects despite how violent he might be.”

The Sword Demon said that he obviously trusted Raon because he had a gentle and cheerful personality.

“My boy isn’t that gentle, though?”

Rimmer’s chin trembled as he rubbed the area around his eyes that was previously bruised because of Raon’s beating.

“He even beats up his own teacher…”

* * *

Mustan’s hands holding his sword were trembling as he bit his lip. Raon was slowly walking towards him, and he looked like a death god from the netherworld.

‘What’s going on? Why is it impossible to block his attacks?!’

While his own strikes were destroyed like pieces of paper, Raon’s strikes pierced into his astral energy like a sharpened awl.

He couldn’t understand why there was such a huge difference between them. They were definitely around the same realm.

‘Damn it…’

His body was in tatters because he had already been beaten more than thirty times. He wouldn’t even be able to swing his sword anymore if he were damaged any further.

‘I don’t understand. Why am I losing even though I’ve made sure to memorize his techniques?’

He’d memorized Raon’s flows and trajectories while watching his practice alongside his master, yet he was still losing. He was unable to comprehend it.

“You look like you can’t understand.”

Raon raised his sword while walking towards him.

“Keep feeling with your body if you don’t understand.”

His sword suddenly dropped as he spoke. He was using the intuition sword called the Fangs of Insanity. Mustan had already analyzed its techniques and flow of aura.

‘I can block it.’

He was planning to fend it off with the severing sword and soft sword because Raon’s attack was a mixture of speed, power, and heaviness.

Clang!

He should’ve been able to stop or deflect it midway, but Raon’s technique kept rushing like a boar.

Even though the flow and form were the same, the nature of his martial art itself had changed.

“No way…”

Mustan’s eyes trembled like butterfly wings under the rain.

“Did you manage to improve one step further beyond my master’s advice?”

It looked like Raon managed to improve his swordsmanship even further by using his master’s advice as a foundation.

That was the only way to explain the situation.

“You finally noticed.”

Raon casually nodded.

“Sir Rector told you that the intuition sword can use various principles depending on the situation. I’ve only been using the principles that can target your weakness so far.”

“Ah…”

Mustan bit his lip. Raon’s words vaguely reminded him of his master’s advice.

“You ended up like that because you were only focused on my sword instead of your master. You didn’t even listen to your master’s advice despite warning me to stop approaching your master.”

“Shut up!”

He kicked the ground with a violent outburst of his boiling rage.

‘I need to finish him off right now!’

He mustered all of his aura and unleashed the special technique of the Crimson Radiance Sword Art, Soul Stealing Radiance.

Whaam!

Soul Stealing Radiance was a stabbing technique that moved at the speed of light. It was an extremely advanced strike with great precision.

Spark.

Raon’s eyes sparked as the Soul Stealing Radiance approached him.

‘This one is rather decent.’

It was the most powerful technique from Mustan so far.

If Raon were still an advanced Master, he would’ve had difficulty defending against it.

‘However… that’s not the case anymore.’

Raon thrust Heavenly Drive while advancing towards the glimmering blue light of the tip of Mustan’s sword.

Whap!

The fire dragon’s breath burst from his blade to engulf the sharp blue light.

Crack!

The brilliant astral energy of Mustan’s sword melted down, and his thin blade snapped in half like a branch.

“Ah…”

“It’s not over yet.”

Mustan was bewildered, and Raon raised his knee to smack his chin.

Smaack!

Mustan couldn’t regain his balance and violently fell to the ground.

“Aaack!”

He screamed while covering his mouth, and Raon raised his index and middle fingers while looking down at him.

“So this is the second hit. We have ninety-eight more hits to go.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?! You’ve already hit me more than thirty tim—someone, someone—”

“I clearly told you to count it. You should’ve told me how many times it was every time you got beaten.”

Raon twirled Heavenly Drive with a frightening smile on his face.

“Clench your teeth unless you want to eat nothing but soup for the rest of your life.”

‘You will still lose your teeth, though.’

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]