Survival Story of a Sword King

Church’s Partner (4)

Looking at the eminence in front of them, the bandits fell into despair.

“Oh, shit…”

There was no doubt that they would die if they stuck to each other.

The only difference was whether the body would float above a sea of blood or burrow in a mountain of corpses.

“Scatter!”

Losing their will to fight, the bandits began to run away with their tails between their legs.

With the warrior blocking their base’s front, the only viable escape route was the back gate.

However, Artis had already predicted their

“Drop on the ground, Wall of Fire!”

A fiery barrier surged forth across the back gate.

The spell effectively blocked their remaining escape route just as they were about to make their exit.

With the infernal wall eliminating the only option they had left, the bandits panicked and trembled.

“Ah, tsk!”

“Damn it!”

They could hear the heavy footsteps of the Valtara warrior approaching them from behind.

The shadow of death loomed over the heads of the trapped deers.

Turning around, they fearfully raised their weapons against him.

Cornered, the deers had no choice but to fight against the lion.

They had to fight.

“We’re not going down that easily!”

“Die! Aaaaaaaah!”

Holding their weapons as tight as they could, they rushed towards the Valtara warrior.

The bandits, struggling to suppress the terror in their hearts, did their best to fight the same way they had done all their life.

One of them even managed to gather enough courage to stab his sword into their predator.

“No matter how big you are, don’t think our weapons won’t cut you!”

It didn’t even break the surface of his skin.

Ting!

Ryu Han-bin’s chest deflected the blade with ease.

It wasn’t due to any armor. It was blocked by his thick pectoral muscles.

“I try to avoid doing that in front of other people, but…”

Han-bin had a fierce smile on his face.

“With no one watching me, there’s no need to hold myself back, right?”

The bandits felt puzzled.

What did he mean no one was watching?

There were more than twenty of them that witnessed the scene.

The realization soon dawned upon them, however.

Dead men tell no tales.

“Hump!”

With a shallow exhale, Han-bin began to swing his sword.

Gently and quickly, he swiped his wrist back and forth, almost as if he was just trying to tap people with his sword.

Tap, tap, tap.

However, the only one who thought of the swings as taps were Ryu Han-bin. To the bandits, each bend of his wrist meant the death of another one of them. They were slowly turning into a mess of blood and flesh.

Screams echoed ceaselessly.

“Ouch!”

“Ahh!”

“Ouch!”

With each scream, another bandit’s life was ended.

Dozens of bandits quickly turned into corpses, helplessly lying on the cold hard ground.

One of them tried to fight back with a Magic Tool, but it was all in vain.

“Magic Arrow! Magic Arrow! Magic Arrow!”

No matter how many times he cast the Magic Arrow spell, Han-bin easily caught and crushed all of them with his bare hands.

Ryu Han-bin easily blocked the magic of a level 72 Lich with his bare body.

Such a low-level spell wouldn’t even be able to tickle him.

The panicked bandit screamed.

“Fuck! We were just trying to live!”

His screamed fell on deaf ears, however.

The bandit felt like the fates were maltreating him.

Han-bin laughed.

“These crazy guys.”

What he was doing wasn’t even comparable to what the bandits did to the villagers.

However, Ryu Han-bin didn’t feel the need to point it out.

He wasn’t their parents. He was going to waste his time educating them.

“Just die already.”

The slaughter continued.

His black greatsword steadily culled his prey as fire and electric spells continued to spread across their hideout to strengthen the cage they were trapped in.

“S-save me!”

“Ahh!”

It didn’t take long for him to completely annihilate the bandits.

Only the boss, Zachrol, though gasping for breath and already drenched in blood, remained.

He didn’t beg for his life like the rest of the bandits.

Instead, he gritted his teeth then let out a shout.

“Do you guys think you’re exacting justice? Don’t be ridiculous! If you guys didn’t come, we wouldn’t have done that!”

The bandit wasn’t lying.

If it weren’t for Ryu Han-bin and Artis, Zachrol would’ve remained quiet and satisfied with the money the villagers paid them with.

“It’s you guys who killed those worms!”

Ryu Han-bin laughed coldly as he looked down on Zachrol.

They didn’t deny that they were the cause of the horror.

But…

“Their death is our responsibility?”

These bandits were the ones who plundered, burned and massacred everyone in the village. They didn’t even show the women and children mercy.

“I’ve been through a lot to be upset by such bullshit.”

Ryu Han-bin decapitated the bandit leader’s head.

“Ahhhhhh!”

With his eyes open, his head rolled on the ground.

* * *

Ryu Han-bin and Artis rescued the women and returned to the village.

A sea of tears greeted the group.

“Rossi!”

“Jane! You’re alive!”

After being caught by the bandits, they were made to suffer from unbearable shame.

It wasn’t right to tell them they were okay.

Still, the fact was they were alive and were able to return to their families. That at least made them feel genuinely elated.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you very much!”

The villagers bowed their heads over and over to express their gratitude to the duo.

Ryu Han-bin looked at the scene, stunned.

They were truly grateful.

They were just resenting them yesterday.

Though their hatred towards them was sincere back then, their appreciation was just as real.

“Wow, how can their impression of us change so much?”

Looking at the villagers, Artis cheerfully laughed.

“Humans are a race that can easily adapt and change. They can genuinely hate someone as much as they’re genuinely thankful to them. They’re quite complex beings, but their complicated nature makes them even more beautiful.”

‘Spineless creatures that swayed as easily as reeds were beautiful?’

“Artis, your reasoning is a little hard to understand.”

“Well, maybe it’s because I’m not human.”

They had successfully defeated Zachroldan.

They’ve accomplished what the Althea Church requested for them to do…

“What now? Do we return with proof that we’ve defeated the bandits?”

He didn’t have to.

“The Althea Church will send people to help the villagers because they live outside the Kingdom’s jurisdiction.”

The Church would be able to confirm the Zachroldan bandits’ defeat naturally.

They didn’t have to prove themselves.

“It’s time to head back, then?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing more for us to do here.”

* * *

After leaving the village, Ryu Han-bin and Artis headed to Highten.

They walked at a leisurely pace as they chatted with each other.

“I finally discovered a new function of the Guidelines after a long time.”

He knew the Tracking function was going to keep being useful to them.

Looking back at Ryu Han-bin, who was happy, Artis asked.

“Speaking of which, shouldn’t you try to look for more details in the Guidelines? You know, like issue a command to list all of the functions. That should make it easier to learn about all of its abilities.”

Han-bin shook his head.

“I’ve already tried it before.”

All he had to play with for over 20 years was the Guidelines.

“I got an error right away.”

There were also functions that only became available for use after coming to this world.

“Maybe it’s because my level was too low.”

Due to the constant level reset he suffered from, the skills he had unlocked were Stab, Horizontal Cut, and Vertical Cut. His stats kept increasing, at the very least.

“That’s a little unfair. Han-bin, you can learn such basic attacks by yourself, right?”

“Not exactly.”

Those skills were part of the reason why he was able to go to this world.

Ryu Han-bin no longer complained about his broken Guidelines due to that.

“If my Guidelines worked correctly, there’s a great chance that I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

There was a chance that he would’ve become one of the Devil’s faithful puppets like the Aliens called Demon’s Followers.

“Well, even if I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking.”

While following the mountain path, Ryu Han-bin stopped abruptly.

He looked up at the sky.

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong, Han-bin?”

“Something seems to be approaching us.”

He could hear a soft fluttering sound.

It was faint, but considering the distance it was coming from, he felt like the creature was gigantic.

They didn’t need to wait too long for the source of the sound to enter their vision.

Looming over them was a Wyvern with a slim body.

Artis felt a little confused.

“I haven’t heard of wild Wyverns inhabiting this area.”

They quietly observed it as it circled around them.

Wyvern soon started descending onto the clearing right in front of them.

As it got closer, they finally saw the man riding on its back.

The man immediately cheered as he saw them.

“Found you!”

Han-bin narrowed his eyes.

“Who’s that guy? Do you know him?”

Artis was just as confused as he was, however.

“I have no idea.”

Wyvern landed on the mountain path, effectively blocking it.

The man holding the reins of the Wyvern had annoyance visible on his face.

“I could barely follow after you. Why is the Tracking function so useless?”

* * *

The man jumped off Wyvern’s back.

“Hop!”

He looked to be around his 40s with reddish-brown skin and curly black hair.

He didn’t look particularly large or muscular. He was wearing light armor and had twin blades sheathed around his waist.

Appearance-wise, he looked no more than a normal middle-aged man.

However, the Guidelines revealed utterly different information.

Ryu Han-bin whispered the details to Artis.

“That guy, Level 75 Magic Swordsman.”

Artis’s face hardened.

‘Oh my God. I won’t be able to match that guy.’

His level was higher than that Lich they met at Satt Forest.

It was rare to meet someone over level 50 in a single lifetime, yet in such a short period, they encountered another being with a level higher than 70.

Still, it was fortunate that the level difference between the Lich and that man wasn’t that big.

‘Han-bin can deal with him if needed.’

Looking at him, Artis spoke politely.

“What kind of business do you have with us?”

The middle-aged man didn’t respond.

“Looking at his level, it doesn’t seem like it’s this guy…”

He ignored Artis and turned his gaze towards Ryu Han-bin.

“Pffft! What the hell is that?”

The man burst out in laughter.

“I heard there are people in this world who pretend to be Valtara warriors, but this is the first time I’ve seen one with my own eyes.”

At the moment, Han-bin’s eyes grew cold.

He dressed and acted unmistakably like a Valtara warrior.

Nobody could call him weak.

‘But now he’s treating me as if I’m a fraud?’

The man clearly saw his level.

‘He’s an Earthling!’