Chapter 20

Chapter 20. Golden Fang (3)

Balun was startled. Morris had blocked his attack far too well.

Even if he had not used Enhancement Art, he had still swung with all his strength, yet Morris did not look as though he had been pushed back in the slightest.

‘Damn it, is the aura really this broken?’

Balun grumbled inwardly. What kind of ridiculous technique was this, to let someone withstand such a heavy blow?

If Morris had simply been strong, Balun would not have complained. But Morris was not strong at all. Balun knew that from watching him over the past two weeks.

To begin with, the man was lean. That was why it was so baffling.

“That is cheating! No aura allowed!”

Balun shouted in indignation. He had not even been able to learn aura and had ended up learning some technique that merely made him stronger, while this bastard got to make a fancy haze rise from his sword. How could Balun not feel wronged?

“You are spouting nonsense.”

“It is a cheating technique!”

“Die quietly.”

Morris twisted the angle of his sword to deflect the axe, then immediately slashed upward. Balun hurriedly ducked. The sword wrapped in shimmering haze cut through the empty space where Balun’s neck had been.

Not giving him any chance to recover, Morris brought the sword straight down. Balun swiftly rolled backward twice. Torn canvas wrapped around his body.

After quickly shaking off the ripped tent cloth, Balun quietly steadied his breathing. His heart was pounding like mad.

‘He is strong. He is nothing like the riffraff I have dealt with before.’

The fear that had been buried beneath his rage began to crawl back up. The terror that he might die started seeping into his mind.

‘I will not die. I can do this. I am a strong warrior. I am strong as hell.’

Clang! Clang!

As he parried Morris’s continuing sword strikes, Balun repeated those words to himself on purpose. It was a kind of self-hypnosis he used whenever fear began to creep in.

‘Like hell I can.’

The self-hypnosis failed spectacularly.

It always did.

‘That bastard is insanely strong!’

Balun whined inwardly. It was not just the aura. Morris himself was a seasoned swordsman. He had said he had held a sword for twenty years, and it seemed he had not become the captain of a mercenary company for nothing.

“You are nimble for someone your size.”

“Of course. Balun is agile. Almost Usain Bolt.”

“What?”

“Balun is faster than Morris!”

Clang!

Still, one fortunate thing was that Balun was a master at hiding his expression.

Inside, he was shaking like fragile glass, but outwardly, he looked like an unbreakable fortress. At least, that was how Morris saw him.

Even after being battered by attack after attack mixed with aura, Balun did not seem to budge at all.

“You are a monster. I did not know you were this strong.”

Morris clicked his tongue and continued.

“If I had become a Master, I would have cut you down long ago.”

“What?”

“It does not matter. In the end, you still cannot beat me. Hah!”

Morris brought his sword down vertically. Balun crossed his two hand axes to block it.

Clang!

Balun flinched. A chip had broken off one of the axe blades.

‘Damn it, of all times for this to happen.’

Balun knew by instinct. With these axes, he would not last even ten exchanges.

And Morris sensed the exact same thing.

“Well now. It seems your weapon is failing you at the worst possible moment.”

“…….”

“It will not hold much longer.”

Morris smiled darkly.

‘I should have bought a better one!’

Should he have used the two-handed axe from the beginning? If he had, this might have been manageable.

No. That had been impossible. The place where they had first fought was inside the tent. It had been far too cramped to swing a two-handed axe.

Balun shook his head. There was no point regretting what he could not change. Instead, he would do what he still could.

“Haaah!”

Balun pretended to charge, then suddenly hurled both hand axes. They flew in graceful arcs, and Morris recoiled in alarm, raising the flat of his blade to block one while twisting his body to avoid the other.

He threw his weapons? Was he insane? What did he plan to do after that?

Bang!

One axe hit the flat of the sword and tumbled to the ground. Morris forced himself to endure the stinging pain that shot through his fingertips. His posture wavered for a moment, and Balun did not miss that opening.

Balun poured all his strength into both arms. The mana sleeping in his muscles came alive, and his forearms swelled grotesquely.

Then he charged like a raging bull.

“Haaah!”

Morris’s eyes narrowed. What the hell was that? His muscles had suddenly bulged. They looked like the arms of an orc.

“That is a strange trick. It is not magic, and it is not aura. What is it? Some kind of barbarian shamanism?”

Morris lifted his sword with a dark smile. Charging barehanded at a man holding a sword was no different from suicide.

That fool had to know that. Which meant there could only be one reason for this.

“So you are trying to take me down even if it kills you too.”

Morris’s smile grew even darker. A seasoned warrior was difficult to handle, but a wild beast that simply rushed in trusting its own strength was not difficult at all.

That was exactly what Balun looked like now. A mindless beast that had lost its reason and was charging forward relying only on brute force.

‘I have won.’

Certain of victory, Morris swung his sword. He cut. He had definitely cut—

Grab!

“Got you.”

“……!”

Morris’s eyes widened as far as they could go. Balun had caught his sword with his bare hand.

What kind of absurdity was this? Catching a swinging sword barehanded?

And not just any sword strike, but one wrapped in aura.

The thought that such a thing was even possible had never crossed his mind.

“What the— Let go! Let go, you— Ngh!”

Morris’s face turned bright red. Even with all his strength, he could not move it at all.

What kind of monster had this much strength?

Mana was invigorating his entire body, yet it made no difference.

Balun grinned and tightened both hands. Blood dripped from his palms, and with a hideous noise, the sword began to bend.

Creeeak!

In the next moment, the sword folded completely in half.

“Go to sleep first.”

Balun slammed his fist into Morris’s jaw with all his strength. Teeth scattered from his mouth, and Morris lost consciousness on the spot.

“Huff, huff.”

Balun panted for breath. He had really almost died.

His grip was screaming in pain. Naturally, it would, after catching a sword with his bare hand.

Blood was dripping steadily, but he did not even think about stopping it.

There were still too many enemies left.

“Mm.”

Only then did Balun finally take in the scene around him, and his eyes narrowed.

The campsite had turned into a massacre. Corpses lay scattered everywhere. Whose bodies were all these?

Men holding swords were chasing the merchants, and the merchants were running around screaming. Two cargo wagons had overturned, spilling their goods, and the horses that had been pulling them were nowhere to be seen, likely already fled.

“Captain!”

“This crazy bastard! Captain Morris…!”

“That monster is really that strong?”

He could feel several pairs of eyes darting between Morris’s fallen body and himself.

The men stopped chasing the merchants and turned back, leveling their swords at Balun. In an instant, he found himself surrounded.

‘These damned bastards.’

Balun’s face twisted. He had been happy after killing one, only to realize there was another mountain still left to climb.

‘It is fine. They are much weaker than Morris. These are small fry.’

Balun’s tiny little confidence began to bubble back up.

He picked up the two-handed axe lying on the ground and shouted,

“Prepare yourselves! Balun will kill you all!”

Balun glared fiercely, snorting through his nose. The enemies had surrounded him, but none dared approach. They hesitated.

“If you come, you die! Even if Balun gets hurt, Balun will split at least one head open! Balun will take one along!”

He poured all his strength into his legs. Enhancement Art strengthened his leg muscles. Feeling that surge of power, he kicked off the ground with all his might. It was not a conscious decision, but something done by instinct.

Boom!

The nearby ground trembled in fine vibrations as though an earthquake had struck. The enemies staggered.

“Wh-what?”

“What was that?!”

‘Huh? How did Balun do that?’

He shoved the sudden question to the back of his mind and charged like an enraged bull. Rushing straight in, he swung his axe at the man in front.

Slash!

The mercenary’s head flew into the air, spraying blood. The terror frozen on that face snapped the other mercenaries back to their senses.

“Damn it!”

“Crazy barbarian!”

“Kill him!”

The enemies came charging in. Balun rampaged among them like a wolf. The surviving merchants watched him with expressions of awe.

***

The fierce but quiet bloodshed of dawn came to an end.

The campsite had become a sea of blood, but thanks to Balun’s efforts, many of the merchants, including Marco, had survived. It could at least be called fortunate amid misfortune.

While the merchants worked to clean up the chaos, Balun interrogated the still-living Morris.

‘This damned bastard. Balun will not let him die until he spits everything out.’

Balun ground his teeth. He was going to make him talk, one way or another.

“Why did Morris do this?”

“Th-that is……”

“Balun will not ask again. If Morris does not answer, a finger comes off. Why did Morris do this?”

“Uh, well……”

The moment Morris hesitated, Balun swung the axe without warning. Morris’s index finger was severed cleanly.

“Aaaaargh!”

Fear filled Morris’s eyes. He had finally realized that this barbarian had no mercy.

“Balun asks again. Why did Morris do this?”

“Money! I did it for money! Aaargh!”

“Did the Magic Tower pay Morris? Is that why Morris attacked Balun?”

“The Magic Tower? What are you talking about……”

“Do not play dumb. Balun knows everything. Morris is a servant of the Magic Tower. Morris was sent for revenge.”

“That is nonsense! I have nothing to do with the Magic Tower—”

Thwack!

“Aaaaargh!”

“Lies do not work. If not that, why target Balun?”

“Marco Merchant Company’s goods! I wanted to steal them! This shipment was expensive!”

“What?”

“It is true! Please believe me! I do not know what misunderstanding you have, but how could someone like me have any connection to the Magic Tower?! Nghhh!”

Morris wailed. Balun was baffled. It was not the Magic Tower?

“I have debts! Huge gambling debts! I had to pay them off! So I made the plan! It is true! Nghhh!”

Balun only blinked.

‘So Balun was mistaken?’

The conversations he had overheard came back to him. Comparing them with what he had just heard, the pieces fit together with startling ease.

‘It was not because of me.’

Balun awkwardly scratched his head. How could anyone be this embarrassed?

‘Ah, this is humiliating.’

Now that he thought about it, it did seem like an absurd amount of self-consciousness. This was not modern society. How would they have learned so quickly that someone had died and then immediately planned revenge?

Besides, Malik’s grand talk might have been exaggerated. He had said he was from the Magic Tower, not that he belonged to it.

Balun lowered his head. There were too many eyes on him. He honestly wanted to crawl into a hole.

‘No one noticed, right?’

Balun quickly glanced sideways, then relaxed. Everyone was too busy being furious to pay him any attention.

People all around were hurling stones at Morris. Morris writhed in pain.

“Marco. Did Marco hear everything?”

“I did.”

Marco approached and nodded weakly. Then he came closer to Balun and dropped to his knees.

“Thank you. Truly, truly thank you. You saved all of us. You are our savior.”

Marco bowed his head deeply.

“I am a fool. A complete fool. I failed to trust the person I should have trusted, and trusted the one I never should have.”

“Marco trusted Morris?”

“Morris?”

“Yes.”

“I did. Morris and I have been friends for twenty years. He was my closest friend.”

“I see.”

Tears dripped from Marco’s eyes. Self-loathing filled his chest.

He had been betrayed by a friend of twenty years. Their friendship had been destroyed over nothing more than money. That wound was digging into his heart.

Balun almost tried to offer words of comfort, but held himself back. What could he possibly say to comfort him? It was better to stay silent.

“I truly do not know how I can ever repay this debt…… Ngh!”

“A debt of gratitude. Many ways to repay it.”

As Balun said that, he nodded to himself. Even in the middle of all this embarrassment, hearing the words debt of gratitude caught his attention. The slave of shame vanished, and the slave of capitalism abruptly raised his head instead.

“If Marco repays the debt, Balun will not refuse.”

Balun’s eyes gleamed. He did not care in the slightest about Marco’s twenty-year friendship or the betrayal or any of that.

He had nearly died. Was that not the more important issue? And if it had not even been because of him, then naturally he should be compensated twice over.