Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 03. Northern Mercenary Swordsmanship
Hyunwoo charged out confidently, but he felt his body stiffening as he got closer to the goblin.
He held a sword, and he had learned a swordsmanship style.
But that didn't mean the mindset for battle came naturally.
The hand gripping the sword trembled finely.
Seeing Hyunwoo like this, the goblin's face was full of ridicule.
Kideuk―
In the Demon World, the instinct to distinguish the weak was a sense engraved at the genetic level.
In the goblin's eyes, Hyunwoo was unequivocally a weakling.
Shwiik―!
Before he knew it, the goblin's claws swung at Hyunwoo.
It was a playful strike from the goblin, which wore a sneering expression.
“Heok―!”
His completely stiffened body reacted to even that with a delay.
He screamed inwardly at the claws that grazed past his waist by a hair's breadth.
‘Shit!’
It was a game to the goblin, but not to Hyunwoo.
The tension of battle made his movements even more timid.
When Hyunwoo swung his sword widely, the goblin lightly stepped back, creating distance.
Kereuk? Kideuk kideuk―
It was a sound whose meaning he couldn't understand, but he could easily guess that the goblin was mocking him.
“This damn bastard….”
Though he spat out curses with his mouth, inwardly he was calming his mind, relaxing his tense body.
He hadn't thought that he could immediately slice the goblin's neck just by learning one swordsmanship style.
He needed time.
Because swordsmanship grew stronger as proficiency increased.
Shwiik―!
⌜Skill : Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―7%⌟
This time too, the sword that failed to reach the goblin cut through the empty air, but it was fine.
‘7% already.’
With the Swordsmanship Genius trait combined with actual combat, his proficiency was rising at an unbelievable speed.
He could feel the movement of his sword getting sharper by the moment.
Kereuk―!
He dodged the goblin's claws.
Shwiik―!
Counterattack.
As he focused on just these two simple things, the battle became much more manageable.
And at a certain moment.
Shwiik―!
⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―15%⌟
Once his proficiency reached 15% with an insane growth speed, the movement of his sword changed.
Kereuk―!
A look of dismay appeared on the face of the goblin that had been lightly dodging.
A series of continuous swings unfolded from Hyunwoo's hand, so fast that the goblin couldn't even think of counterattacking.
⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―32%⌟
And when his proficiency surpassed 30%, finally.
Kwajik―!
Kieeeeeeeeeek―!
The goblin's severed arm and a long scream.
And.
⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―46%⌟
A crazily rising swordsmanship proficiency!
The goblin no longer had even a sliver of a chance of winning.
“Die―!”
Hyunwoo swung his sword with bloodshot eyes.
In an instant, the positions of the strong and the weak had been reversed.
The thing that would decide their superiority was the final death rattle.
Krrreuk….
Bloody foam spewed from the mouth of the goblin whose neck had been pierced.
⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―62%⌟
As the goblin's breath was cut off, his proficiency exploded upwards once more.
Hyunwoo's fight was over, but the battle still remained.
Kerreuk―?
Kereuk―!
By now, there were only a few humans left standing, including the bald man.
It was only natural that the gazes of the goblins would turn from the humans who were mostly on the verge of death to him, a fresh new piece of prey that had appeared.
The goblins' glaring eyes were all directed at him.
Hoo―
Hyunwoo briefly composed his breathing and raised his sword.
It didn't matter that the bald man, who was no different from a master who had taught him swordsmanship, had finally fallen.
‘62% proficiency.’
Arithmetically, it was a proficiency level that was double that of the bald man.
But its power was more than double.
Shwiik―!
Hyunwoo, who had jumped into the group of goblins, swung his sword widely.
He was no longer afraid of the goblins.
* * *
The bald man, a former northern mercenary, had been confident he would survive until he was dragged to the Arena.
It was only natural for him to think that he was far superior to the trash-like humans around him who didn't even know how to hold a sword.
Moreover, the opponents for the first match were just a group of goblins.
He had even let out a grin at the thought that they were suitable opponents for a successful debut match.
…For that confidence of his to crumble, a single clash was enough.
‘These guys… are somehow different.’
They were distinctly different from the goblins he knew.
The speed of their movements and the power contained in their swinging claws were different.
“Keuk―! Damn it!”
Even facing a single one was overwhelming.
If he was having this much trouble, it went without saying for the other humans.
“Keoheok―!”
“Run away!”
The formation of the humans who had confidently faced the goblins crumbled in an instant.
At that moment, the pale-faced guy who had been hanging back caught his eye.
The one who had been beaten by him inside the bars.
He was just standing still in his spot, as if frozen by the bloody smell of the battlefield.
‘Stupid bastard!’
He cursed inwardly at the cowardly sight and quickly lost interest in him.
There was no need to pay attention to a corpse that would soon die.
“Die―!”
Kieeeeeeeek―!
The bald man, who had painstakingly killed one goblin, resolved that he would definitely survive, even if he was alone.
But even that resolve did not last long.
“Y-You cowardly bastards―!”
He could grit his teeth and face one or two of them.
But as the other humans died, the number of goblins surrounding him increased, and he had no way of holding out.
His limbs grew dizzy.
“Aargh―!”
His wounds increased.
He felt dizzy.
The claws must have been coated in poison, as even a small wound acted as a fatal injury.
“D-Damn it all!”
When he staggered and looked around, it was all goblins.
No, there was one human left.
The pale-faced guy. The coward.
He saw the goblins swarming towards him.
‘That guy will be dead soon too….’
Keolleok―!
The sensation in both his legs had long since disappeared, and his arms no longer even had the strength to hold a sword.
Death.
It was the first time he was experiencing it himself, but it was a final moment he had seen familiarly.
His vision was dyed red.
Kreuk―?!
Krreuk keek―!!
At the sound of the goblins' seizures in his ears, his head naturally turned.
Come to think of it, it was strange that the goblins had retreated without finishing him off.
With that question in mind, the moment he blinked his eyes with difficulty and looked at them, a bigger question struck his mind.
Chwaak―!
Red blood gushed like a fountain around the pale-faced guy.
His surroundings were a sea of blood.
The goblin with its neck gone sank into a pool of blood, spewing copious amounts of it.
“How… in the world?”
The bald man opened his mouth with difficulty, forgetting even the pain that pierced his lungs.
That was how surprising the scene unfolding before his eyes was.
‘Northern Mercenary Swordsmanship…!?’
The Northern Mercenary Swordsmanship was unfolding from the hands of the pale-faced guy who had jumped in among the group of goblins.
A swordsmanship that was unfolding much more perfectly than his own.
The bald man could see it clearly even as his consciousness faded.
Seugeok―!
The northern swordsmanship, unfolding in the hands of the unfamiliar stranger, was drawing faster and sharper trajectories.
‘…It seems I’m seeing things because my time has come.’
He had never even heard of a human who grew stronger in real-time like that.
It was probably a hallucination he was seeing as he was dying.
…Because if it wasn't a hallucination, it would mean his entire life was being denied.
The man, denying what he saw to the very end, met his death.
* * *
Hyunwoo's sword cut the breath of the last goblin.
Kieeek―!
⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―88%⌟
He was out of breath, panting up to his chin.
“Haak, hak….”
His swordsmanship proficiency continued to rise, but the difficulty of the battle did not change.
Because as his proficiency rose, his stamina also fell in proportion.
Krrreuk―
Only after confirming that the last goblin's breath had been cut off did Hyunwoo drop the sword from his hand.
The sword, with its blade chipped in the middle and messy with the flesh of the goblins, slid to the ground.
Jjaenggeurang―!
At the same time, Hyunwoo's legs, which had barely been supporting his body, seemed to have lost all their strength, and he collapsed on the spot.
His stamina had already hit rock bottom long ago.
His body wouldn't move as he willed.
All he could do was mutter a single word softly.
“…I survived.”
In the end, he survived.
He had merely collapsed because his stamina had run out, but the goblins had fallen because their breath had run out.
He had won.
As he came out of the excitement of the battle, his heated body slowly cooled down.
Without even a moment to bask in the joy of victory, his head spun.
And.
Koong―
He collapsed right where he had sat down.
As that happened, he faintly saw the wall of the arena from which he had emerged opening again.
Kureureung―
‘I have to… go in….’
His battered body, along with his flickering vision, his consciousness slowly faded away.
Through his blinking vision, he saw an Orc walking out from the opened wall.
Bureureu―
He barely managed to extend a trembling fingertip towards him before he lost consciousness.
* * *
Feeling a cold sensation, his mind, which had sunk into darkness, slowly began to return.
“……”
Hyunwoo opened his eyes slightly and looked around.
A space that was closed off on all sides.
The musty smell characteristic of an enclosed space naturally brushed past the tip of his nose.
His face contorted slightly at the unpleasant smell.
Actually, it wasn't just because of the smell.
‘I was hoping it was a dream….’
What greeted him was not a sweet dream but a harsh reality.
The cool chill that dug into his chest awakened his mind once more.
Slowly looking around, Hyunwoo realized that this was a different place from the iron bars he had been initially trapped in.
For one, it was spacious.
Looking more closely, he saw a small bronze plaque hanging in the corner.
‘Bronze Waiting Room.’
It was a dormitory exclusively for Bronze-grade gladiators.
Calling it a dormitory made it sound grand, but it was no different from a prison.
Because the status of gladiators was that of slaves.
…It was the same as saying that he would have to fight endlessly unwanted battles from now on.
Haa―
How did it come to this?
Just as Hyunwoo let out a deep sigh and was about to contemplate his future, he heard someone's footsteps.
Jeobeok―
The owner of the footsteps that stopped in front of the waiting room where Hyunwoo was staying was the Administrator Orc he had seen earlier.
“Eat.”
Cheolbeok―
He threw something in front of Hyunwoo through the bars and left.
As if he would only do the job he was given, the Orc didn't give him even a shred of attention.
“……”
After staring at the Orc's retreating back for a moment, Hyunwoo picked up the something that had fallen on the floor.
Since he had left the words "eat," the identity of the something must be food.
Yes.
So it should definitely be food, but….
He couldn't bring himself to think of it as food at all.
A round something that looked like it was made by clumping together some grotesque lump of flesh.
It was a terrible visual that made him feel sick just by looking at it.
Kkoreureuk―
“……”
At the tactless sound his stomach made, he just picked up the food.
No, he was probably the tactless one.
Because he had to eat to live.
He mechanically moved his jaw up and down, chewing on the tough food.
‘It’s edible.’
It had a slightly fishy taste, but when he thought of it as raw beef, it was somehow edible.
Hyunwoo slowly chewed the food and thought.
First, he put aside the question of why he was here.
‘Unknown.’
Clinging to a problem for which he couldn't find an answer was unproductive.
He had to do something productive.
Not why, but how.
How was he going to survive in this place?
This was a place where, just like the game's title, ‘Surviving in the Demon World,’ just surviving was the problem.
‘The biggest problem is….’
The ‘Calamity,’ of course.
It was an event that happened at the drop of a hat, a trigger that led to the end of the Demon World, like the button of a nuclear bomb.
So, he, a mere ordinary developer, had to push aside all the monster-like beings of the Demon World and stop the Calamity.
‘Simple… shit.’
With a scheduled apocalypse that made his vision go dark, he couldn't just be relieved for having survived in the Arena just once.
There was only one thing Hyunwoo could believe in.
‘Status Window.’
⌜Name : Kim Hyunwoo
Title : None
Skill : ■Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)―88%, ⊠
Unique Traits : Swordsmanship Synthesis, Master of Copying, Swordsmanship Genius⌟
It was still a humble status window, but the answer was within it.
‘Swordsmanship Synthesis, Master of Copying, Swordsmanship Genius. I have to utilize these traits to the fullest.’
Easily obtain swordsmanship skills with ‘Master of Copying,’ and quickly raise proficiency with ‘Swordsmanship Genius.’
And then, after filling the proficiency to 100%, use ‘Swordsmanship Synthesis’ to acquire a higher-grade swordsmanship.
These three traits were his last resort and his lifeline in having to survive in the Demon World.
‘88% proficiency.’
The proficiency, which had risen quickly at first, gradually slowed down as the number got higher.
This was because as much as Hyunwoo had gotten stronger, the goblins, in turn, had become the weak ones.
The first thing he had to do was to make this proficiency 100%.
And after that….
When his thoughts reached that point, he realized that he still had only one skill slot.
‘Condition. What’s the condition for opening a new slot?’
The slot system was something Hyunwoo had newly created this time.
The AI that helped with game development would have automatically created appropriate conditions.
As he fiddled with the status window in the air and pressed the slot marked with a cross, a system voice was heard.
⌜Would you like to open the second slot? The cost is 10 mana stones.⌟
The price for a new slot was not that high.
He would probably be able to receive about 10 mana stones by fighting in a Bronze match just once.
Hyunwoo reviewed his future plans in his head.
‘First, I’ll master the Northern Mercenary Swordsmanship. And then….’
Survive the next Bronze match to open a new slot and learn a new swordsmanship skill.
Master the new swordsmanship as well, and then synthesize the two to create a 2-Star swordsmanship.
As he organized his thoughts step by step, the things he had to do became clear.
Hyunwoo clenched his fists.
‘I can do it.’
Just as he, an ordinary developer, had cut down all the goblins and survived.
He would be able to do well in the future too.
First, survive.
Hyunwoo engraved his resolve deep in his heart.