The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld-Chapter 271
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
Chapter 271: The Myth of the Four Heavenly Kings Ends Now
“Uwaagh!”
“Wh-Who's there?!”
“Krrrk.”
Having infiltrated the castle under the cover of darkness, Ghir and Drak were tearing through the stronghold, slaughtering anyone in their path—commanders, mercenary leaders, underworld elites, and even guests of the clan.
“Who's there?!”
Occasionally, someone would faintly sense their presence—
“Oh, it’s me.”
“You bastard! An assassin?!”
“As you can see. More importantly, you might want to watch your back.”
Slash!
“Your back was wide open.”
Drak, who had suddenly appeared from behind and slit the enemy’s throat, casually wiped his dagger.
“Complacent. There’s no guarantee there’s only one assassin lurking around.”
“Heh heh, nicely done.”
Ghir snickered, proud of getting results without even lifting a finger.
“But for someone to notice my presence… I guess bathing in blood dampens my stealth a little.”
Drak frowned at that.
“That’s because you’re slaughtering everyone in sight. What kind of assassin walks around drenched in blood?”
“It’s war. No need to stay neat and tidy. Besides, even when I’m like this, barely anyone notices me.”
“That’s exactly why people say your stealth skills are inferior to mine. If you had just a bit more caution—”
“You can hide all you want, but if you're weak, you're still dead. If you’re gonna wait hidden just to kill, might as well just use poison, no?”
While the brothers bickered and pushed their own philosophies, they both suddenly swung their daggers behind them.
Clang!
Two assassins who had crept up silently became corpses in an instant.
“You cocky bastards. Who do you think you’re sneaking up on?”
Ghir, looking down at the corpse with disbelief in his eyes, grinned like he was enjoying himself.
“Ah, delightful. Slaughter really is fun.”
Even though his cultivation had made him more composed, once his bloodlust was triggered, Ghir struggled to keep it in check.
“Hey, focus. Our target is Marquis Belorok.”
“Oh? Right, right.”
“Sigh…”
Drak shook his head in exasperation—then suddenly sensed something.
“Hmm? What’s that?”
He poked his head out the window, furrowing his brow.
“Those guys... they look like they're from the Black Society.”
“…Oh? Is that so?”
Ghir’s lips curled into a long grin.
“Drak, you go take care of the marquis. I’m gonna stab those guys in the back.”
“What? Hold on, wait—”
But Ghir vanished before Drak could even finish his sentence.
“Goddamn lunatic…”
Veins popped on Drak’s forehead as he let out a deep sigh.
“He’s older than me, so I can’t even beat the crap out of him. What a pain in the ass…”
Still, taking the marquis's head wasn’t all that difficult, so—
“I’ll finish this quickly and join up later.”
Muttering to himself, Drak's figure melted into the shadows of the night.
***
We opened the gates, set the food storage ablaze, and began carving through the panicked enemy troops as we charged toward the inner keep.
“That’s far enough, you greenhorn noble boy and girl.”
I clapped my hands as four martial masters suddenly blocked our path.
“Wow, you’re finally here. Are you the Four Heavenly Kings?”
A man in armor, who seemed to be the leader of the group, answered bluntly.
“That’s us.”
“Quite the ostentatious nickname, no matter how many times I hear it. The Four Heavenly Kings, huh? Still, I’m glad to meet you.”
Even while exchanging casual greetings, I quietly activated my Insight Star.
In an instant, I scanned the four’s mana, stances, weapons, and physical condition.
‘That armored guy must be the leader, Aaron.’
With my current mastery of Insight Star, I could discern an opponent’s tier, fighting style, and even the structure of their cultivated martial arts.
‘I can sense the wind element.’
Combined with his long, slender, slightly curved sword, he likely trained in a style that maximizes long-range slashing attacks.
‘The burly one next to him…’
Overdeveloped muscles, fur-lined clothes, a massive foreign broadsword—everything screamed ‘northern barbarian.’
‘Clear traces of external arts and defensive internal techniques.’
Like a heavy infantryman charging in with defensive energy cloaking his body, swinging that massive blade to crush foes.
‘In contrast, the woman in the floral-patterned cloak reeks of poison and corpse stench from a distance.’
Clear signs of intense poison-based cultivation.
‘Lastly, the scrawny masked one… with his grotesquely twisted frame and ability to hide his energy, he’s clearly a highly-trained assassin.’
After finishing my analysis, I nodded to myself.
“All four of you are skilled masters. And your martial arts are diverse.”
They seemed comparable to Rudgarda and Siena, somewhere between mid and late 6th tier.
More than enough to claim they were the best this kingdom had to offer.
“Money really can move mountains. To gather four martial artists of this caliber…”
If Ghir and Drak were here, we could fight them 4 vs 4, but for now, we were at a disadvantage.
‘But it’s fine.’
As long as I’m here, being outnumbered doesn’t matter.
“I’ll take the leader and the woman in the floral cloak.”
I pointed out my opponents, and Siena nodded.
“Then I’ll take the northern brute and the masked assassin.”
The leader of the Four Heavenly Kings, Aaron, let out a mocking laugh.
“How arrogant. You dare suggest a 2-on-1 against us?”
Even the northern brute looked incredulous.
“You don’t even seem that far below us in cultivation. Where’s all that confidence coming from?”
I ignored their comments and gave orders to my subordinates.
“Jeffrey, Kaimak. Looks like the ones backing these guys are the White Mercenary Corps. Go deal with them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If it’s your command, we’ll crush any foe!”
I ignored Kaimak’s theatrics and turned to Siena.
“Lady Siena, I’ll finish mine and join you. Can you hold out until then?”
Siena smiled, her face full of competitive spirit.
“I should be saying that to you. Just wait a little.”
We shared a grin.
“You pampered little pups raised in a greenhouse think you can take us on?!”
Aaron’s slashing wind, soaring in with a roar, drove a wedge between us.
Babababat!
The ground trembled, dust flying as the stone floor split from the sheer force of the slash, and I let out a whistle of admiration.
“Not bad. Just as I thought, your martial art is designed to maximize the destructive power of your strikes.”
“You’d be mistaken to reduce my Wind and Falling Sun Sword Technique to something so simple.”
As Aaron extended his palm, a spiraling wind riddled with pebbles and shards of metal came rushing toward me.
“Oh?”
Dodging it with Scarlet Cloud Ghost Path , I weaved away, only to be chased by more whirlwinds twisting like serpents.
‘Impressive.’
He was clearly skilled in long-range suppression and harassment tactics.
“Let’s see how strong it is.”
I compressed my mana from the Seven Stars of the Black Sea Technique into Ink Soul Sacred Shadow Technique, forming a protective barrier around my body.
Bababababak!
My body, hardened like steel, absorbed the assault like it was nothing more than a shower of small hailstones.
“Your defensive art is far more formidable than the rumors suggested.”
Sensing the veiled malice in Aaron’s compliment, I replied flatly.
“This can’t be all you’ve got. Show me your next move.”
“Oh, I will.”
With that, Aaron signaled his ally with a glance.
“Levrin.”
Receiving the cue, the poison cultivator launched a venomous mana stream forward.
Fwooosh!
The wind laced with poison surged like a viper straight toward me.
“Ah, so that’s how you two sync up.”
Poison techniques are slow to spread, but nearly impossible to counter once they hit.
Wind techniques are fast and wide in area, but lacking the raw destructive power of lightning, ice, or fire. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
The way these two combined their respective arts, offsetting each other’s weaknesses, was not only precise but also clearly the result of long familiarity.
“You two eat from the same pot?”
“You could say that,” Aaron replied, curling his lips into a mocking smirk.
“Even if you hadn’t said anything, we were going to go in together. The fact you pointed us out on your own just made it easier.”
“That so? Guess I got lucky.”
“No doubt, you’re lucky.”
I corrected him with a light shake of the head.
“You’re mistaken. The lucky one here is me. Too bad for you.”
Then I raised my palm, and used the Dark Mana to use Absorbtion to absorb the venomous mana that Levrin had released.
‘Let’s slurp up that poison first.’
Whoooosh!
As the venomous mana was sucked into my palm, both of their eyes went wide with shock.
“What the—?!”
“What the hell is that?!”
I quickly contained the poison, and feeling the mana rise in my dantian, I grinned.
“Damn, this is stronger than it looks. Did you pour in your ultimate technique thinking it’d kill me in one shot?”
Levrin stared in horror, whispering in disbelief.
“...Immune to all poisons?”
“Not quite. More like immune to a thousand poisons.”
Strictly speaking, I hadn’t trained any poison-resistance techniques, but considering the innate properties of my Dark Mana, calling it ‘immunity to a thousand poisons’ wasn’t much of an exaggeration.
“Now do you believe me when I say I’m the lucky one? I mean, seriously—you thought a poison master would work on me?”
“This can’t be happening…”
As Levrin faltered and retreated, Aaron stepped forward to cover him.
“Stand back.”
“Oh?” I snorted.
“You think you can stop me? If you think so, by all means—try.”
“You arrogant bastard—!”
Before he could finish the sentence, I closed the distance in an instant and unleashed one of my ultimate techniques.
Moon Dance.
The third technique of Azure Sea Moon Shadow Swordsmanship, fused with the essence of Scarlet Cloud Ghost Path and Whispering Snow in the Night.
Sshhhk!
With my heightened mastery, the already complex technique took on a deeper sophistication, scattering his focus.
Light Star.
I used Light Star to accelerate the attack.
Aaron couldn’t keep up.
Puwaak!
Blocking with his arm in desperation, he managed to avoid death but lost the arm in the process.
“C-Captain!”
I slowly walked toward the stunned Levrin and raised my palm again.
KABOOOM!
Struck by the force of Flowing Cloud Thunder Fist, Levrin was blown away like a ragdoll.
“LEVRIINNNN!”
As the now one-armed Aaron charged at me in rage, I fed mana into my twin dagger bracelet.
Cha-cha-cha-CHANG!
Then I unleashed a chaotic dual-blade technique, intentionally erratic, with no traditional form.
It was improvised entirely to exploit the weakness of a one-armed swordsman.
“Grrgh!”
Unable to withstand even ten exchanges, Aaron was stabbed and slammed across the face with the blunt side of a blade, crumpling to his knees.
“What a disappointment. You’re the leader of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings the marquis boasted about?”
“...You’re too strong. Are you really still 6th Tier?”
Aaron asked, eyes full of disbelief.
“Seriously? You still think I’m 6th Tier?”
Allen unleashed his full pressure that he has been hiding.
“...You’ve been hiding your cultivation. You broke through the 7th Tier wall at that age?”
“In war, deception is standard. If I hadn’t, you idiots wouldn’t have confidently rushed in like this, would you?”
Overconfident enemies are easier to lure in and destroy than cowards who run.
“So this is where the ‘myth’ of the Four Heavenly Kings ends. Assuming it ever existed at all.”
I deactivated the dagger bracelet and pointed the tip of my sword at Aaron’s nose.
“Speak. Where is your lord?”
“...Just kill me.”
“Loyal to the end, huh.”
Pshhk!
Granting his wish, I turned the Four Heavenly Kings into the Three Heavenly Kings.
‘He was probably late-stage 6th Tier, but he was way weaker than I expected.’
If I’d fought someone like Ulbhild, it would’ve never gone this smoothly.
Tiers alone doesn't dictate combat power, that much is obvious—but still...
Had I simply become too strong?
‘The level is just too different now. It can’t be helped.’
I had hoped to try out some of Leszek's teachings in real battle, but aside from that improvised twin-sword technique, I barely got the chance.
‘Still... that side’s holding out better than expected.’
The northern warrior, fortified by body-protection arts, and the assassin exploiting every gap in sync made for a sturdy combination.
But judging by Siena’s handling of it…
It wouldn't take long before the ‘Three Heavenly Kings’ became two, then one, and finally none.
‘More importantly—’
There was someone lurking just beyond the shadows, watching the fight unfold.
A far more dangerous presence.
‘Snakes. Sending their lackeys in first to gauge my strength?’
I know these sneaky bastards well. Cowards who love hiding and testing the waters.
“Come out, Black Society scum.”
…And then the darkness of night rippled ominously.
“You’re sharp, Allenvert.”
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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