Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 441 (Part 1)



441 (Part 1)

”’〈 Chapter 442 〉 Don’t Touch.

It has been about ten days since I fell here.

With each passing day the hope of waking up from this dream gradually faded and now my goal has become to produce the results this world desires and escape no matter what.

Crack-!

Someone’s bones were crushed.

“Grrk.”

With a short scream he breathed his last. The words “Justice” were written on his white martial arts uniform.

He was a martial artist from the Murim Alliance.

“…”

Swoosh—

As I silently brushed my hands off while watching the dying man with his head bowed and eyes rolled back the sensations were still overwhelmingly vivid.

‘…This feels disgusting…’

Corpses were scattered all around.

Most of them were martial artists from the Murim Alliance dressed in white with a few demonic practitioners mixed in but their numbers were extremely small.

Moreover they were not practitioners from the Black Flame Corps; they were all martial artists selected from the Inspection Sword Corps.

I quietly observed this.

Drip—

I felt something flowing down my cheek.

When I wiped it with my thumb it was blood.

“…”

I frowned at the sight.

I knew where I was hurt.

It was a wound I received when the martial artists from the Alliance ambushed me just before.

It wasn’t a proper ambush nor was it due to carelessness.

I had already sensed them with my energy and at most they had barely surpassed the corrupted officials.

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There was no way I would fall to such beings.

This was simply.

‘I hesitated.’

It was because I hesitated to kill them myself.

The despair reflected in the eyes of the martial artist charging at me the desperate wish to survive the fear.

All of it was vividly visible causing me to involuntarily pause for a moment.

The gap created in that instant was enough for the martial artist’s blade to graze my cheek.

That’s why blood was flowing.

‘Damn…’

I cursed inwardly recalling the lingering sensations in my hands.

There was no way I would be afraid of killing someone now.

If I were to feel such a thing it should have been different since my return.

‘…It’s just pathetic.’

It’s just pathetic.

Returning to this damned time. Coming back to this place and fighting this wretched war again.

Even the eyes of those who make me feel this process.

‘I need to escape quickly.’

Is that why I feel increasingly anxious?

I wanted to escape this hell as soon as possible.

Step.

As my weary heart grew heavier I felt someone approaching from behind.

“Newbie.”

“…!”

A sleepy dazed voice containing something chilling.

There was only one person with such a voice.

“…Yes Vice Captain.”

I slightly bowed as I confirmed the approaching Mage Sword Master.

The Mage Sword Master stopped a few steps away from me and continued speaking in her characteristic tone.

“…What… are you doing…?”

“…”

“…You’ll die like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

The sudden reprimand caused the surrounding demonic practitioners to look puzzled but I knew what she meant.

Among the corpses scattered around there was one particularly finely chopped piece of meat. That was the martial artist who had wounded my cheek.

The moment his blade grazed my cheek the Mage Sword Master unleashed a sword flux from behind.

In an instant the sword flux struck his body directly. He was hit by dozens of strikes in the blink of an eye and died instantly.

I should have felt something sharp looking at the piece that had turned into meat.

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The more I saw such things the more I realized what this world was.

Namgung Bia wouldn’t have used such a brutal method.

If she did she would have simply killed him in one blow.

‘…Ha.’

That thought made a sigh escape me without realizing it.

In the past I compared Namgung Bia to the Mage Sword Master but now I was looking for Namgung Bia in the Mage Sword Master.

It was truly a filthy sensation. How selfish could I be?

‘Did I want to make the events of that time disappear?’

I had said I would carry the regrets with me in the document of the day.

But perhaps deep down I wanted to forget.

Or perhaps that’s why I was shown this world.

To remind me not to forget my regrets.

‘If that’s the case it’s terrifying.’

This damned world felt particularly frightening.

“…”

The Mage Sword Master who was looking at me made a peculiar expression.

Clank—

She sheathed her sword and turned her back.

“…Be careful.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

After a brief exchange she gracefully disappeared.

Once the Mage Sword Master was gone the remaining demonic practitioners finally began to murmur.

It was a somewhat hushed sound.

One of them approached me and asked.

“Hey newbie.”

That title still felt strange to me.

“Yes.”

“…Do you have some sort of close relationship with the Vice Captain?”

“…What?”

What kind of random question is this?

“What do you mean by that?”

As I slightly furrowed my brows and asked the demonic practitioner added an explanation.

“No it’s just that… I’ve never seen anyone treated so familiarly by the Vice Captain.”

The demonic practitioner didn’t add “except for the Captain.”

“Familiar?”

I didn’t know what part of it made them think that.

“There’s nothing like that.”

I replied with a chuckle.

A close relationship with the Mage Sword Master.

There was no way that existed.

At least not with her here…

‘Since we don’t know each other.’

That was enough for me.

******************

The Black Flame Corps based near Sichuan.

If the Heavenly Demon War had officially begun it would be different but after successfully conquering Sichuan what they did was not particularly impressive.

At most they dealt with the remnants of the Alliance hiding in Sichuan like today or patrolled the surroundings to assess the situation.

One thing that had changed was that having heard about the Celestial Lord their vigilance had somewhat increased.

‘You can tell just by the fact that the Black Flame Corps is patrolling directly.’

Each one of them was a martial artist at the level of a Vice Captain in the Alliance.

Even among the Black Flame Corps the seven or so individuals below the Captain were figures that surpassed the level of Elders or Clan Heads from other sects.

The fact that such individuals were patrolling outside indicated that the Celestial Lord’s involvement had a significant impact.

I observed the Mage Sword Master walking toward the battlefield from a distance.

‘The Celestial Lord is facing the Mage Sword Master.’

That was a memory.

When the Celestial Lord was drawing attention from the outside it was none other than the Mage Sword Master who faced him directly.

She faced the Namgung Clan’s sword with the Namgung Clan’s sword.

Moreover it was the Mage Sword Master’s intention to eliminate the remaining bloodline of the Namgung Clan herself.

The problem was.

‘This ultimately means she was unsuccessful.’

Even under normal circumstances achieving victory against the Celestial Lord was not an easy task.

No matter how much the Mage Sword Master was a master who inherited the name of the Sword Master the Celestial Lord had been a formidable figure in the Central Plains for decades.

There was no way the Mage Sword Master could easily defeat such a person.

Knowing this she had gone all out to confront the Celestial Lord.

But that’s where the problem arose.

‘The Defeated Lord attacked the main base.’

While the Celestial Lord drew attention the Defeated Lord launched a surprise attack on the main base and in that process I ended up facing him.

That was the issue.

It was precisely that.

‘…She came to me.’

While I was engaged in a brawl with the Defeated Lord most of the demonic practitioners had died and just before I was about to be killed by the Defeated Lord the Mage Sword Master appeared and pulled me away from him.

In that process the Mage Sword Master who was the strongest force disappeared leading to the annihilation of the forces facing the Celestial Lord.

The only survivor Mukwon lost one of his arms.

Fortunately the injured Celestial Lord retreated and the Defeated Lord also wounded was chased by the intervening Cheonra Heukmang Corps ultimately facing the Captain Pildu Ma.

At that time Peng Woo-jin appeared and saved the Defeated Lord.

This was a situation that arose due to the Mage Sword Master leaving the battlefield to save me.

Moreover it led to the incident that resulted in her death.

The Mage Sword Master who stood against the Defeated Lord while bearing the wounds inflicted by the Celestial Lord.

Fortunately she succeeded in escaping from the Defeated Lord and Sichuan was not taken.

However due to the wounds she received from the Celestial Lord and the Defeated Lord she would later die in an ambush.

‘No that’s not right.’

I need to speak correctly.

The Mage Sword Master could have escaped at any time.”’