Survival Story of a Sword King

Church’s Partner (3)

Artis was speechless when Ryu Han-bin said he had a Tracking Skill.

“No, you’ve been using the Guidelines for over 20 years, and you never knew it has that feature?”

“There was nothing to track down on the Rocky Mountain.”

Tracking was the act of clearly setting the target and following it.

He never had to track down Demon Dogs. He just had to search for them a little bit.

“After I fell into this world, I had nothing to chase after.”

“Well, try it now.”

Ryu Han-bin concentrated his mind.

The message in the Guidelines had changed.

[Please specify the remains or the body part of the target to be tracked.]

“The remains or body part of the target to be tracked… It looks like we need something like hair or blood.”

“That’s the same as the Spiritist’s tracer.”

Convinced, Artis nodded.

Han-bin felt a little embarrassed.

“But where can we even get their blood?”

“Let’s go back to the village. They must have bled somewhere.”

* * *

Watching Ryu Han-bin and Artis return, the surviving villagers fell into even deeper despair.

“Have they given up?”

“How can those great Hunters spend days doing nothing? They must have checked the empty quarters and quit right away!”

“But it’s too early to give up! I thought they would at least pretend to go through the mountains for a day.”

The villagers whispered among themselves, but Han-bin could hear every word they said.

With a hardened look, he tapped Artis on the side.

‘Do something.’

Currently, Ryu Han-bin was disguised as a Valtara warrior, so it’s up to Artis to deal with people.

‘I know.’

Standing in front of the villagers, Artis began to speak.

“We’re not giving up the search. We just need a magic catalyst to track them down. Do you have any weapons with the blood of the bandits?”

Hope came back to the villagers’ faces.

“Ah, we have what you need!”

An elderly woman quickly came forward with a broken spear blade.

A vigilante young man managed to stab a bandit in the arm before being killed, leaving blood on the edge of the spear.

The woman cried out as she held out the spear tip.

“Can you find them with this? Can you save my daughter?”

“I cannot give you a definite answer.”

As he tried to respond objectively, Artis took the spear.

The woman wiped away her tears.

“Sob-sob, Smith, maybe your courage can save your sister…”

Still, it was comforting to know that the bandits didn’t kill her son.

Watching the woman cry made their hearts ache. Ryu Han-bin and Artis left the village hastily.

Going back the same way to the bandit’s house, Han-bin sighed deeply.

“Oh, this is really frustrating. I think I’m going to go crazy.”

“Calm down. Our top priority is to hunt them down.”

Artis handed the bloody spear tip to Han-bin.

“Try tracking it.”

“Yeah.”

After peeling off the dried blood off the spear blade, Ryu Han-bin activated the Guidelines.

[Start tracking the target.]

[Track Target: Human]

A stick made out of pure light appeared in front of Han-bin.

It stood upright in the air for a few moments, then fell to one side.

After a while, it disappeared.

“… What was that? Was that all?”

[The target’s location is somewhere in the direction the stick pointed to.]

“Are you kidding me?”

Speechless, Han-bin was struck with astonishment.

Artis felt a little curious.

“What happened?”

In his eyes, neither the stick of light nor the message of the Guidelines was visible.

Ryu Han-bin briefly explained the situation.

“It’s just something like a shining stick that falls to one side, and that’s all?”

Surprisingly, Artis understood.

“I’m sure that tracking function also came from Latna’s tracking technique like the search function or the level measurement function.”

Based on the way Artis talked, it seemed that the original Spiritist’s tracer operated similarly.

If they activated the tracking technique and placed the light wand on the ground, it would fall to the side where the target was located, giving the Spiritist an approximate direction.

However, the direction it could fall towards was only limited to the east, west, north, and south.

Even if they were to follow the direction the stick fell towards, they weren’t guaranteed to find the target.

Han-bin was dumbfounded.

“This is completely out of date! You call this a tracer?”

It was almost as superstitious as spitting on the ground or throwing one’s shoes up in the air and seeing where it landed.

Even Artis, a native of Latna, seemed to agree that the Spiritist’s tracer seemed insignificant.

“It’s not efficient, but that doesn’t mean the result is wrong.”

Before the tracking spell, they didn’t even have a small lead to follow.

The rough direction alone was already extremely useful.

“Anyway, you mean we’ll find them if we go this way?”

Ryu Han-bin clenched his fist.

“Let’s go!”

* * *

After a long run, they still couldn’t find the bandits’ hideout.

Han-bin frowned.

“What happened? Is there something wrong with the tracer?”

The stick’s direction wasn’t reliable.

Artis shook his head.

“I don’t think it’s wrong. Tracers only give you a rough idea of where the target is.”

When a Spiritist was chasing after someone, he would frequently reuse the tracking technique as he moved.

It continued to infer the direction and improved accuracy.

“But Han-bin, you can only use it once every 6 hours, so it’s very inconvenient.”

“Tsk, It should just let me use the function without any restriction.”

“I think it’s only right to put restrictions on the many functions of the Guidelines.”

The Guidelines’ had so many functions that Ryu Han-bin, a Warrior, could use tracking techniques.

Similarly, even though he wasn’t a Mage, he could use much more advanced measurement magic.

“The Guidelines have too many amazing functions. It can’t be without limits.”

If there were no limits in the Guidelines’ functions, there would have been no need to raise Aliens from Level 1.

They could just put all the necessary techniques in the Guidelines and use all of them right from the beginning.

“I get it, but…”

Biting his lower lip, Ryu Han-bin looked around.

Both mountains and forests surrounded them.

It was the same, no matter where he looked.

How much longer did they have to wander around?

“At least we know where to wander. That’s a good thing.”

Soothing Han-bin, Artis continued.

“Let’s just rest for now while we wait for the Tracking function to cool down.”

Ryu Han-bin controlled his emotions.

Artis was right.

At that point, there was no merit in rushing into things.

“Okay.”

Plunging onto the ground, he turned on the Guidelines.

[Tracking reactivation time: 2 hours 34 minutes 24 seconds]

And the waiting time counted down in realtime.

23 seconds, 22 seconds, 21 seconds…

“Let’s wait for now.”

* * *

After that, Ryu Han-bin and Artis continued to wander around Mount Gessen.

He had used the Tracking function twice already.

It meant that more than 12 hours had passed.

The morning sun was slowly rising up to the sky as the moon began to sink into the horizon.

Han-bin was annoyed as he looked at the bright eastern sky.

“Can we really find them like this?”

He already had enough sleep since he slept during the cooldown of the Tracking function.

It was starting to look like it was all a waste of time.

He was growing tired and skeptical of the Guidelines’ Tracking function.

Just as he was about to complain again, a noise began to enter his ears.

It was the sound of human breath. It wasn’t one or two people either.

At the same time, the scent of alcohol and food filled his nostrils.

“Found it!”

Ryu Han-bin looked around with glaring eyes.

Artis looked at him curiously.

“What do you mean?”

“Trust me.”

Confidently, Han-bin ran towards the signs of life.

As he moved about 100 meters further in the mountains, he noticed some parts of the stone walls had been disguised.

At the same time, the message of the Guidelines had also changed.

[Target Found. Tracking has ended.]

The reason was apparent.

In front of them was the hideout of Zachroldan, the group of bandits they had been searching for.

* * *

Kenneth, a member of the Zachroldan, stood at the entrance of the hideout. He kept mumbling complaints under his breath.

“No, why the hell should I stand on the lookout…”

They knew that there were high-level Hunters were out there trying to search for them.

To avoid annihilation, he agreed to the boss’s idea of hiding in their hideout.

“But why do I need to guard against potential intruders? Everything is over if we get caught anyway.”

For as long as their location remained hidden, there was no need to stay alert.

“But why should we stand guard so early in the morning?”

He was still tired from all the drinking and playing they did yesterday evening with the women.

At that point, all he desired was to go inside and sleep.

“But since the boss is the one who gave the order, there’s no way I’d be able to disobey.”

Kenneth kept talking to himself as he stretched.

“It’s so troublesome–”

Baaaang!

“–Waaaaaaaaaaaa?”

The wooden palisade in front of him broke down with a loud crashing sound.

It was so unexpected that it made him scream.

“What just happened?”

Frightened, Kenneth grabbed his spear and surveyed his surroundings.

A gigantic human figure made its way across the broken perimeter wall.

Kenneth doubted if it was even human.

‘Human? No, ogre? No, a giant?’

Whatever it was, he knew it was big.

It wasn’t just tall. It was tremendously large.

Its presence alone made him tremble.

The large man with a greatsword on his back turned his gaze towards Kenneth and stared at him.

Beneath his messy black hair, his eyes began to glow.

At that very moment, Kenneth froze.

He looked incredibly enraged.

All he wore were fur shorts and boots, leaving his rigorous body uncovered.

His forearms were so thick Kenneth felt like his entire body would explode just by being tapped by the man’s fists.

He groaned in fear.

“Th-this…”

Kenneth immediately held his spear up, but it was just a kind of conditioned reflex instilled into him after days and days of murder and crime.

“What, you guys!”

Kenneth threw his spear at the giant man– Ryu Han-bin.

Han-bin stared at the opponent’s attack.

‘It’s really slow.’

He hunted Demon Dogs on the Rocky Mountain for over 20 years and dealt with monsters even after falling into this world. Such a weak attack looked like a still image to him.

Ryu Hanbin cracked his finger.

Within the blink of an eye, the black greatsword on his back right in front of Kenneth.

Han-bin very gently lowered the blade of his sword down onto the bandit’s head.

He used only the same amount of force he used against the Devolks he fought back at Onpros.

Braaaack!

Kenneth’s spear crumbled, his armor shattered, and his chest cracked. Blood began to spill out of his body.

Paaats!

Crimson fluids began to dye the dirt floor.

In terrible pain, Kenneth screamed out his last breath.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Shouts erupted from inside the hideout.

“What? What’s going on?”

“It’s a raid!”

Armed bandits soon rushed out of the front door.

Everyone looked sobber.

The agitated men loudly expressed their anger.

“Hey, what the hell!”

“Who dares invade the Zachroldan–”

Their eyes all dawned upon the gruesome scene.

Their fellow bandit’s chest had been ripped wide open, and a 190cm tall giant stood right in front of him.

They were shaken wide awake.

“Waaargh!”

“It’s a Valtara warrior!”