kingnovel Chapter 699
Chapter 699
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 699: Basement Floor (4)
“What are you talking about, dead? I didn’t kill him.”
When Yeongwoo tilted his head, Dots Salzeo poked the Ratman sprawled across the floor and spoke again.
-N-No… he’s dead. His eyes have already rolled back.
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
When Yeongwoo flipped the Ratman’s body over with an expression of disbelief, a face that was truly nothing but a corpse was revealed.
Not only had the Ratman’s long tongue slipped out between his teeth every which way, but his pupils had no focus either.
“What the hell, this guy. Why did he die?”
-Because you kicked him while telling him to die.
“No… if he’s an indigenous resident of the underground floor, aren’t they all basically strong? He dies like this just from taking one lousy kick?”
Yeongwoo realized it belatedly.
The fact that, in the meantime, he had become far too strong, and that everyone he had faced so far had all been strong people as well.
Come to think of it, the opponents he had been thrashing all this time had, at minimum, been promising children of prestigious cosmic families.
-This guy probably wasn’t combat-type. At a glance, he was someone who came out to inspect goods.
Just as Dots muttered while looking down at the Ratman, who had already turned into a corpse, a red signal flare shot up from deep inside the harbor.
Tuuuuung!
“Looks like I’ll finally get to meet some guys who know how to fight.”
-…Do we really need to go out of our way to meet them? That guide guy earlier told us to leave this place quickly too.
“That’s also true.”
However, before Yeongwoo could leave the harbor with Dots, heavily armed Ratmen swarmed in and surrounded the outskirts of the harbor.
There had been troops permanently stationed in the harbor itself.
-…There are quite a lot of them.
As Dots tightened his transparent cloak while looking at the dozens of Ratman soldiers, one Ratman armed in purple armor soon walked out from between the encirclement.
Thud, thud!
A rather heavy sound came from the steel boots covering his feet.
As Yeongwoo stared intently at the opponent, the purple Ratman soon unfurled the scroll he was holding.
Shrrrk!
-Two eyes… dark gray armor, blackish-red blade.
No matter who saw it, he was confirming Yeongwoo’s appearance.
Information on Jeong Yeongwoo had already been written inside that scroll.
-You are wanted number 0714932.
“Just how many guys have you put on wanted lists for the number to be that long……?”
However, the other party did not even answer Yeongwoo’s question.
-There are more than enough grounds to condemn you. Become part of the Red Waterway here today……!
With those words, the Ratman drew the sword at his waist, and the rest of the Ratmen also pulled out their weapons all at once.
Shwaaaaaat!
“Do you guys not have the option of solving problems through conversation? You just immediately go on about the Red Waterway or whatever.”
When Yeongwoo said this while scratching his chin, the Ratman standing at the front pointed with the tip of his sword at the dead comrade lying on the ground.
-Then why did you not have a conversation?
“Ah, that was an accident.”
-Then this too will become an accident.
“…Okay.”
Since many things had been understood, any further conversation would be unnecessary.
Srrk.
At last, when Yeongwoo placed his hand on Bastard at his waist, the Ratmen surrounding the area charged all at once.
-Kiaaaat!
-Dieee……!
The one who stood out by far was the Ratman at the front wearing purple armor.
Because in this place, only that guy’s presence felt threatening.
“Not bad, huh? You’d be about the level of a promising younger-generation talent from a prestigious cosmic family.”
He was talking about people like Alden, the third son of the Miras family, or Venura Garn.
Therefore, in other words.
“Bring someone stronger. At this rate, your harbor will be ruined!”
When Yeongwoo drew Bastard and swung it along with those words, the Ratman at the front, sensing the danger, hurriedly rolled across the ground.
Hwaet!
As a result, instead of his neck, a part of the tip of his ear was cut off.
-Hik?
The Ratman, having realized that the opponent’s martial prowess was no ordinary matter, pricked up his ears.
And in that interval, the soldiers who had rushed in from behind thrust their blades toward Yeongwoo.
-Hiyaaaak!
Since the attacks of the Ratman soldiers he saw face-to-face were not at such a low level either, Yeongwoo was reminded once again that this place was a brutal world.
It was only because he was a planetary shipmaster that he could wander around so freely like this; for the children of most families, it was a place they would be better off avoiding entry into as much as possible.
“You rat bastards must have killed a lot of visitors all this time.”
When Yeongwoo extended the Bastard to its maximum length and swung it, a blackish-red trajectory nearly eight meters wide swept across the front.
Kwaaaaaaat!
A single strike annihilated one Ratman platoon.
Then, as cleanly severed pieces of flesh and armor fell to the ground like hail, not only the Ratman at the front, who had been left alone, but Dots Salzeo’s face as well turned terrified.
For Dots, it was the first time seeing this kidnapper exercise his power this seriously.
In any case, at the same time as he felt relief that they might be able to survive in this insane underground world after all, he also felt instinctive fear.
Chaaet!
In the meantime, Yeongwoo shook the blood off his blade onto the ground, then moved the tip of the sword just like that and aimed it at the sole surviving Ratman.
“Is this all the manpower in the Red Waterway? That’s not it, right?”
Then the Ratman laughed low from within his purple armor.
-The waterway will turn red in the end.
“…What are you talking about?”
The moment Yeongwoo furrowed his brow at the incomprehensible words, the black-horned sailboat moored over there cut its mooring rope and began to move away.
For whatever reason, it was getting away from the area near the harbor.
‘Looks like there’s something else?’
Having sensed something, Yeongwoo immediately cut off the last Ratman’s head, then rifled through his pockets.
-What… what are you doing in the middle of this?
“He seemed like some kind of officer, so wouldn’t he be carrying at least a little money?”
And just as Yeongwoo said, from inside the purple armor came six underground-floor coins engraved with two long front teeth.
“These must be pit coins. There’ll be some use for them someday.”
Around the time Yeongwoo pocketed the coins and picked up the sword that had been in the Ratman’s hand, the reason the black-horned sailboat had hurriedly vacated its spot was revealed.
Pepeong, peong, peong!
From beyond the harbor came something that sounded like cannon fire.
As a planetary shipmaster, there was no way Yeongwoo would fail to recognize the firing sound of large cannons, and Dots too looked at his kidnapper with an expression that suggested he had foreseen something ominous.
-What is it this time?
“What else? It must be a sea-of-fire operation.”
-Sea of fire?
“Stick close to me.”
As Yeongwoo moved to the side and pulled Dots Salzeo by the nape, dozens of things like pillars of fire rose up from over there.
Hwaaaaaak!
But a moment later, those pillars of fire drew arcs through the air and flew toward the berth where Yeongwoo and Dots were.
Cannonballs wrapped in flames had been fired.
“There was a reason they told us to get out of here quickly.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
No sooner had Yeongwoo, sensing the fierce presence overhead, raised Aratubank than a huge iron ball slammed into Aratubank’s surface and shattered into pieces.
Kwajak!
Then the blue flames contained inside it flowed down like lava and burned everything near the berth.
Even the corpses and armor of the Ratmen sprawled on the ground.
-Uwaaaaak! F-Fire!
Seeing the corpses quickly burn away, Dots Salzeo climbed up onto Yeongwoo’s shoulder blade before Yeongwoo even instructed him to, and Yeongwoo, carrying the hostage on his back like that, dashed toward the outside of the harbor.
Taaaaat!
Then another round of firing sounds rang out.
Pepepeong! Pepeong!
-They’re firing again? Can we even make it out of here alive?
“They won’t collapse the entire city just to catch one wanted man, so once we get inside there, the bombardment itself will stop.”
-The bombardment itself……? Then does that mean there’s something else too?
“Of course the special-grade rat bastards will come after us.”
Kwakwa-kwaang!
In the meantime, behind Yeongwoo, cannonballs containing blue fire were hitting the ground and creating huge flames.
Then, when Yeongwoo left the harbor and entered the inside of the city, the bombardment truly stopped.
And instead.
-What the hell is this guy?
-Are the flame cannons chasing that guy?
They encountered villains of all sorts of races living in the Red Waterway.
Of course, these people had no particular connection with Yeongwoo, so they merely stared blankly, or even moved out of his way.
“That’s a relief. Looks like there aren’t any madmen who’ll pick a quarrel even here.”
Just as Yeongwoo was about to let out a sigh of relief, this time a sound completely different from before stimulated his hearing.
Tidik, tididik!
‘What sound is that?’
In any case, it surely could not be anything good.
When Yeongwoo raised his head to find the source of the sound, he saw rats wearing masks running on all fours along the roofs of the buildings stretched out on either side.
“Looks like those guys are the disposal squad.”
When Yeongwoo muttered while looking at the rooftops, Dots, who discovered the pursuers belatedly, let out a shrill scream.
-Uwaaak! What are those this time?
And as if that were the signal, the rats on the roofs swung their hands all at once.
‘…A surprise attack!’
Since it was not as if he had seen an opponent throw hidden weapons only once or twice, Yeongwoo immediately twisted his body in midair and held out Aratubank.
Then, sure enough, a sharp scraping sound came from Aratubank’s surface, and lattice-shaped throwing stars poured down.
-……!
It was then that the Ratmen who had been chasing the wanted man from the roofs showed signs of surprise.
Since they had tracked so many targets, they could estimate someone’s level just by seeing their response to hidden weapons.
Tititit!
Next, together with those thin footsteps from before, the pursuers disappeared, and seeing this, Dots poked his head out.
-A-Are they gone? Did they give up?
“There’s no way. They must have judged that there’s no point in chasing any farther themselves.”
-Isn’t that giving up?
“They’re letting us go so obediently because there’s a next section.”
-The next section……?
In reality, Yeongwoo was now almost out of the city attached to the Red Waterway.
The proof was that the number of people he encountered on the road had markedly decreased.
And around this point, a forest of pitch-black trees began to come into view in the distance.
The boundary with that forest was probably the very end of the Red Waterway.
‘Then the rat bastards’ ultimate move must be around there too.’
Yeongwoo put strength into his eyes in order to find the new obstacle that would probably appear soon.
Then, though faintly, he saw someone standing far away.
Something was guarding the exit leading out of the city.
“He’s alone.”
-Who?
“The guy waiting for me.”
To move alone in this universe meant, in other words, that one was strong.
As soon as the opponent entered his field of vision, Yeongwoo set Dots down on the ground.
“You stay here and wear that cloak properly.”
-Y-You’re not planning to abandon me in a place like this, are you?
“No way. If those masked rats from earlier happen to show up, scream with all your might.”
After giving Dots those instructions, Yeongwoo moved forward with his right hand lightly placed on his waist.
At this, the unidentified opponent, who had been staring in Yeongwoo’s direction since earlier, likewise began to walk.
Step, step.
The other party’s footsteps were very light.
It meant he was not wearing anything like metal boots.
‘He’s a rat bastard all the same, but there’s something a little different about this one.’
At last, when Yeongwoo was able to properly see the other party’s appearance, he was inwardly surprised by the opponent’s armament, which was far simpler than he had expected.
He was barefoot to the point that the pale pink skin unique to mice was completely exposed, and as for armor, all he had was cloth clothing.
However, at his waist, two swords larger than his own height were hanging crossed over each other, and the fact that his two eyes were covered with a red cloth also felt somehow unusual.
“Hey, you’ve got quite the style for a rat bastard. If I get past only you, can I get out of here?”
When Yeongwoo asked this, the opponent tilted his body diagonally and pricked up his ears.
-If I fall, it would mean no one in this city can stop you… so your words are correct.
“Yeah? That’s really nice to hear. I’m a little busy today, you see.”
The moment Yeongwoo said this and slowly felt for the handle of the Bastard, the Ratman’s pink nose twitched.
-Draw your sword first. I will permit it.
“You’ll regret it. You don’t even know who I am.”
-I know that you are a troublesome one.
“And you? Do you have some amazing name?”
At this question from Yeongwoo, the Ratman twitched his whiskers.
-I am Sevio Fonta of the Twelve Swords Council. A name you will chew over forever in the afterlife.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]