Chapter 60: Deserted Island Survival Training (6)

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

The man at the front of the group suddenly began clapping, the sound echoing unpleasantly.

Then, while scratching his temple, he spoke in an insidious tone.

“Kid, who the hell are you? Even though I threw my strikes softly, they weren’t something just anyone could dodge that easily. Are you an undercover assassin infiltrating us too?”

The man stuck out his tongue grotesquely, wiggling it like a snake, which made me frown deeply.

Seeing my reaction, he let out a hoarse laugh, a metallic sound mixed in.

Then, addressing the woman in charge, Lei Shen, he made his comment casulla.

“Boss, this kid isn’t normal, right? How can a brat have that kind of expression in a situation like this? He’s definitely interesting, that’s for sure. Hey, boss, what do you think about recruiting him?”

“…”

Lei Shen, with her arms crossed, didn’t respond to his words.

She simply fixed her cold gaze on me, evaluating me with narrowed eyes.

A woman whose appearance stood out among the burly men.

Though she had an air of nobility in her appearance, on the inside, she was a hired assassin reeking of blood.

‘Lei Shen.’

When I faced her in the game, she was no longer human. Humans who could manipulate magic after making pacts directly with demonic body commanders were known as “villains” to the public.

These villains didn’t play a major role in the story until the second half, when they became the first pawns threatening humanity as agents of the demonic commanders.

I fixed my gaze on her, eyes wide open. She was in a different state compared to when I first encountered her while playing Miracle Blessing M.

Though her expressionless face exuded an aura of violence that made my skin tingle, she was still undeniably human.

It seemed that this was a version of Lei Shen before her corruption into a villain.

‘Of course, the first time Leon faced her was in his last semester of the third year.’

Lei Shen, sensing my gaze, suddenly spoke a word in a tone as cold as it was chilling. Though her voice was glacial, her eyes held a slight dissonance.

“…Which group do you belong to?”

“…”

What the hell is she saying?

The fact that the Undertakers had attacked me without warning was enough to leave me bewildered, but now this woman was interrogating me with nonsensical questions.

The summer heat made my irritation rise, but I knew well that letting emotions take over would only lead to mistakes.

Any moment of weakness in a situation like this could lead directly to death.

I had to regain my composure quickly.

I forcibly suppressed my emotions, took a deep breath, and began analyzing the situation. Slowly, the anger that had filled me started to dissipate.

I moved my eyes to observe the enemies and assess their strength. Seven people were visible, but instinct told me there were at least two or three more hidden.

‘In total, probably about ten.’

The man with the snake-like tongue smiled maliciously and, with an arrogant voice, spoke again.

“Hey, kid. Even though you’re about to die, let me tell you, you’re impressive, huh? It’s not common for the boss to show interest in someone. Right, second-in-command?”

He elbowed the man he had called the second-in-command, seeking his approval. The second-in-command let out a short sigh and then nodded.

“His movements are definitely not normal. Even if he’s the best student of this year, I thought he’d just be a kid. But seeing this, it seems he has enough skill to join our industry immediately. Also, that kid dodged all your attacks while carrying a backpack. Well… he didn’t dodge them completely.”

The second-in-command looked at me with a twisted smile, mocking me.

Suddenly, something dark coursed through my body. The murky emotions that had invaded me disappeared, replaced by a cold sensation that flowed through my veins like an icy river.

It was a feeling of absolute emptiness. My heart and my consciousness seemed to freeze.

My senses were slowly numbing, and the numbness began in my fingers and quickly spread throughout my body.

‘This feeling…’

It was as if I had been struck on the back of my neck. An inexplicable euphoria similar to what I felt during the duel with Knox.

As my body temperature rose, wrapping me in suffocating ecstasy, I dropped my backpack to the ground with a dull thud and spoke.

“Undertakers. If you’re here, that means someone high-ranking in the council hired you.”

The Undertakers’ expressions immediately tensed.

Though my statement was a simple bluff based on prior information, their reactions confirmed I was right.

The second-in-command, in particular, showed an enraged expression.

“You son of a bitch! Who the hell are you? How dare you investigate us—?”

“Enough.”

Before he could finish, Lei Shen interrupted him.

Annoyed, the second-in-command closed his mouth and clicked his tongue while muttering a curse.

Lei Shen looked at me coldly and asked.

“It seems you know something about us.”

“Know? Just that you’re human butchers who kill people for money.”

My tone was deliberately provocative. A dry, empty flicker appeared in her eyes.

“Crazy bastard… You just said what the boss hates hearing the most.”

The group members, including the second-in-command, showed increasingly puzzled expressions. But I knew Lei Shen’s personality well.

Although this truth was revealed later in the story, Lei Shen was the daughter of a high-ranking noble family.

She had been betrayed by her relatives and expelled from her family, which led her to become a hired assassin out of hatred and resentment toward the nobles.

Her hatred grew so much over time that she eventually sold her soul to a demonic body commander and became a villain, later defeated by Leon…

But although she was a tragic figure, I didn’t feel any pity for her. Everyone in this world has a story.

Simply using her circumstances as an excuse to justify murder made no sense.

After all, in my past life, I had also faced ruin due to my father’s debts.

Yet, instead of falling apart, I pushed forward, cutting fish and living an honest life, rejecting even the tempting offers from the underworld.

‘Now that I think about it… was I even more miserable than her?’

Yes, perhaps I had lived a worse life than this assassin.

“…”

Lei Shen narrowed her eyes, looking at me intensely.

My words were meant to shatter her composure, and they seemed to be working.

Though they were human, the Undertakers were trained assassins.

And I still hadn’t drawn my weapon. I needed to exploit any gap I could find.

I smiled sarcastically and said.

“What’s the matter? Does it bother you that someone like me, a distinguished student, calls you a human butcher just because you come from an aristocratic background?”

Lei Shen’s eyes visibly wavered, and the second-in-command, unable to contain his fury, screamed and ran toward me with a fist covered by bloody knuckles.

“Son of a bitch!”

The second-in-command charged at me, a sharp sound piercing the air.

His face was filled solely with rage and murderous intent. The group members tensed at the second-in-command’s unexpected action.

‘This is it.’

I had provoked Lei Shen on purpose to create this opportunity.

This was the opening I needed to shift the course of a fight against many.

As the second-in-command approached, shouting, I quickly drew my sashimi knife.

“Die!”

His heavy fist aimed at my face.

I flicked my wrist slightly, unsheathing my knife at the last moment.

Slash!

The brief sound of my knife cutting through the air echoed as a flash traced across the second-in-command’s throat.

Our bodies crossed. The second-in-command tried to speak, but his lips only moved silently. He slowly touched his neck.

“What… what the hell…?”

A thin red cut appeared on his throat before his head fell to the ground with a thud and rolled, stopping with empty eyes staring at the other group members.

“…!!”

“What the hell…?”

“Damn it, the second-in-command!”

The group’s horrified screams filled the air.

It was clear they couldn’t process what had just happened.

Their gazes alternated between me and the corpse of their second-in-command.

A strange feeling of euphoria began to fill my chest. I had never directly cut a person before.

“Phew…”

That strange sensation of satisfaction wasn’t entirely unpleasant. In fact, it was a type of pleasure that seemed to spread through my entire body.

I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair to clear my mind. That’s when a familiar female voice echoed in my ear, clear and familiar.

[The Blessing of the God of the Sword has manifested.]

The Undertakers, hearing this, paled, and with panicked expressions, quickly drew their weapons, pointing them at me.

Lei Shen, who had been standing still, finally seemed to react.

With fluid movements, she drew two knives from their sheaths and gripped them firmly.

“Kill that brat!”

“To hell with this!”

Some of the men shouted, their curses mixing with the sound of their weapons being drawn.

From their yellowed teeth, drops of saliva sprayed as their faces twisted with rage.

However, I had already made my decision.

I looked at the group of assassins and took a step forward.

++++++++++++++++++++++

《May the blessing of the gods be with you》

++++++++++++++++++++++

The time I had to use my sashimi knife under the Blessing of the God of the Sword had already begun.

I had exactly 50 seconds.

***

Crack!

The chilling sound of flesh and bone tearing echoed, and another head fell to the ground with a dull thud.

“Aaaaahhh!”

“Damn it! What the hell is this bastard?”

The group members, in a complete panic, began shouting incoherent insults.

Meanwhile, the sharp blade cut through their bodies at a speed they couldn’t even react to.

“Where is this damn—?”

Slash- Thud.

The bodies of the men, as robust as they might seem, were sliced through with the same ease as a block of tofu. Farik, his neck veins bulging with rage, screamed.

“Hey, idiots! Focus! He’s just a brat! Attack all together!”

Following his order, the members quickly reorganized their formation and launched a combined attack on Kang Geom-Ma.

Several sharp blades converged toward him at the same time.

But Kang Geom-Ma, as if he had anticipated it, used the momentum of his legs and arched his back, dodging the attack with precision.

“Shit!”

The combined attack cut through only air, leaving the attackers bewildered as their eyes followed Kang Geom-Ma’s movements.

Whish!

In that position, Kang Geom-Ma switched his grip on his sashimi knife, holding it in reverse, and swept his arm.

Slash! Slash!

A searing heat coursed through the attackers’ arms as the blades in their hands fell to the ground, along with their hands, which had been cleanly severed.

“Ahhh, damn it, it hurts, it hurts!”

“You bastard! Die already!”

One of them, with his remaining arm, tried to swing his sword at Kang Geom-Ma.

Kang Geom-Ma reacted instantly, straightening his body with agility and twisting his sashimi knife to block the attack.

The blade pierced the attacker’s throat, driving through and exiting the back of his neck.

“Gahhh!”

The man let out a choking groan before collapsing limply as Kang Geom-Ma withdrew his blade.

The other members, seeing their comrade fall, turned their attention toward him.

Slash, slash, slash.

The blood-soaked blade slashed the throats of the remaining men in one fluid motion, like a wave. Their heads rolled to the ground one after another, their deaths too swift for them to even process.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh.

From the rear, arrows began flying toward Kang Geom-Ma.

Without even looking back, he tilted his head slightly to dodge them.

Immediately, his eyes locked onto the position of the archers hidden among the trees.

As they met Kang Geom-Ma’s cold, piercing gaze, the archers’ eyes widened in terror.

“Damn it!”

They finally tried to move into cover, but before they could do so, a whistle sliced through the air.

The sashimi knife flew in a straight line, piercing the vital points of the three archers.

The three of them collapsed under the trees, their bodies trembling as if in spasms before they slumped lifelessly, their necks broken.

The Undertakers were left speechless.

They couldn’t find the words to describe what they were witnessing.

Even they, used to the metallic scent of blood, had never faced anyone like this.

The prey they had considered an easy target was now hunting them one by one, with a brutality they had never experienced.

And their enemy was just a student.

What they had believed to be an easy, straightforward mission had turned into a massacre in less than ten seconds. How many heads had already fallen under that terrifying sashimi knife?

The shock shattered the remaining members’ formation.

At that moment, Kang Geom-Ma leaped toward them.

Tap, tap, tap!

Before they could properly retreat, the cold touch of metal reached them.

Slash! Crack!

“Aaaaaaaahhhh!”

The sound of multiple bodies being cut through resonated, followed by screams of agony that gradually faded.

Now, only two members remained alive: Farik and Lei Shen.

“Bo… Boss!”

Farik, his voice trembling with pure terror, called out to Lei Shen desperately.

His shrill cries escaped between his split tongue and ragged breaths.

Lei Shen, unmoving, just watched. The oppressive presence before her robbed her of words.

Do you want me to kill something like that? Come to think of it, that couldn’t be a human.

Monster, demon—any description seemed insufficient to define him.

Every movement, every slash, was pure skill. Not only were his movements flawless, but his ability to carve through bodies so effortlessly made reality itself seem distorted.

Step, step.

Meanwhile, Kang Geom-Ma, holding his blood-covered sashimi knife, began to approach.

Farik, trembling, tried to shout as his body convulsed.

“D-Don’t come near me, you bastard! You’re a butcher with a kitchen knife!”

Crack!