Chapter 27: The Unyielding Challenge

27 – Hidden Boss Battle and a Single Instance of Superiority>

[Story mode]

A sage with a white beard.

His benevolent smile and relaxed demeanor

Were enough to inspire

Strong trust in him just by looking.

Charm.

An incomprehensible power that manipulates

The emotions of others simply by existing.

That mysterious power calmed the Silent Swordsman’s hostility.

[Humans and half-yokai together, a strange thing indeed.]

[Sage! The day has come for you to pay for your sins. Today, I will kill you!]

[Hmm. Has the essence of the yokai finally infiltrated your very marrow? How unfortunate.]

Unlike what was expected, that he would reveal his true colors,

Launch a surprise attack,

Or quickly enter the subjugation battle,

The sage feigned ignorance.

Rather, he looked at the Silent Swordsman with pity.

[Young one. Yokai bewitch and play with human hearts. Whatever you may have heard and come seeking, can you truly say that that heart is your own?]

[You cunning sage! It’s no use trying to deceive my friend. I already know all your sins!]

[You are hindering the Taoist who was holding back the sinking Great Forest, and even as you do this, the forest is gradually disappearing.]

-What? So the sage is a good guy after all?

-Idk

-Neutral gear ON

-What do you even know, you leech?

-What’s with the sudden outburst?

-So annoying, some soup baby saying “Idk”

-lol, why is that guy so mad?

-Turned on Half-Yokai Ballad to see the sage, but my jumping power wasn’t enough and I dove into the swamp

-lololololol

-Idiot lol

[The chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, a rabbit running through the bushes]

[The end has come to this small and peaceful forest. This is due to the plague. The plague harbored by that half-yokai and those revenants.]

The sage looked at the Human-Faced Spider with sunken eyes,

And brandished a talisman he took from his robes.

Crackle!

[Ouch!]

The Human-Faced Spider was startled by the sparks from the talisman.

The talismans that had been thrown before she could retreat

Were densely packed, blocking her escape route.

The Human-Faced Spider was sealed by talismans that emitted electric shocks,

Unable to move forward or backward.

[What is this! Let me out, let me out!]

[I will now destroy this pitiful and wicked child. Do not condemn me as heartless. As long as this child lives, peace will never come to this forest.]

[Help me! We’re friends, aren’t we? We promised to take revenge together!]

The talisman emitted a blue light,

And ominous lightning energy rose in a cylindrical shape,

Beginning to constrict towards the Human-Faced Spider.

At most, 1 minute.

It was easy to tell that the Human-Faced Spider would die

Once the cylinder had fully constricted.

【Interaction Choice】

[You are…]

1. Believe the sage. (Human-Faced Spider dies)

2. Believe the Human-Faced Spider. (Human-Faced Spider survives)

While blue lightning radiated a geometric beauty,

Adorning the void,

The Human-Faced Spider, an emblem of ugliness,

Screamed in agony.

Right and wrong were not visible,

But the distinction between beauty and ugliness was starkly contrasted.

In the midst of it all.

[Believe the Human-Faced Spider. (Human-Faced Spider survives)]

Her sword tore a part of the talisman,

Roughly pulling the Human-Faced Spider out of the cylinder.

Fwoosh

Crackle crackle crackle

The concentrated electricity in the void sparked in the air,

Radiating beautiful lightning,

Then disappeared as a dot.

[Foolish one. I was trying to return the existence that goes against nature to its original form, so how can you defy the will of heaven?]

The sage’s fluent eloquence.

Even if she didn’t possess the eloquence to counter it,

Hae Eung Eung knew.

That right and wrong do not exist

In a world distinguished only by beauty and ugliness.

How many beautiful and handsome martial artists

Had been ensnared by her, who had reached the pinnacle of charm?

How many of those who claimed to be righteous

In the world of martial arts between justice and evil?

‘The world is not divided into black and white.’

Those who hid their ugly true colors within beauty,

Those who possessed beautiful inner selves within ugly exteriors,

The villains who exploited the heroes under the name of the orthodox faction,

The virtuous who protected the common people under the name of the unorthodox faction,

All had taught her.

That right and wrong

Are all judged by one’s own will.

Not by following the forced justice

Shown by others.

[It’s not too late even now. Do not blind yourself with pity, and do not give in to impulse. The one your sword should be pointing at is behind you.]

[Not behind. Next to me. The weak child who only cried is gone now. I will fight alongside my human friend!]

[There is no time. Even as we do this, the altar at the northern end of this Great Forest is generating rain that is making the forest sick.]

The sage reached out again.

[If you want to protect the forest, you must trust this sage. I will tell you the answer. Trust me and follow me.]

[Never trust him! Don’t trust that evil sage who turned the tribe people into revenants!]

[Does it matter what happens to this forest? Are you going to put an end to the forest that has endured for 20 years as the last stronghold to prevent the invasion of yokai!]

New information.

A clue to something.

A sage who showed a reason why she couldn’t rashly cut him down, an importance that made it difficult to act recklessly.

Faced with the sage’s skillful rhetoric that incited human hearts,

Hae Eung Eung straightened the sword in her heart.

‘There is only one thing to consider.’

Who did she trust and stand with?

She trusted the Human-Faced Spider.

Then, whatever the sage, the Human-Faced Spider’s enemy, said,

No matter how valuable it was,

Or how much potential benefit there was,

All of it,

Without exception,

Was worthy of being cut down.

【Interaction Choice】

[You are…]

1. Believe the sage. (Subjugate the Human-Faced Spider)

2. Believe the Human-Faced Spider. (Subjugate the sage)

Her sword, without a moment’s hesitation,

Cut down the target.

[Believe the Human-Faced Spider. (Subjugate the sage)]

Slash!

The sage’s upper body was cut in half with a single blow.

A deep tragedy that wouldn’t be strange even if he died.

[A human with a foolishly firm heart.]

The sage’s name tag, engraved in blue,

The color of the letters,

The upper body split in half,

Dyed a deep crimson like blood,

And his body swelled up with tremendous force.

Rumble rumble rumble

The ground cracked,

Houses collapsed entirely,

The forest crumbled,

And dust scattered thickly,

The Great Forest was changing drastically as if it had been hit by an earthquake.

From the center of it,

20m tall

100m long

A giant yokai with the body of a centipede, filling the field of vision at the height of a 6-story building

[Yokai Sage Mihura]

The cunning monster who had been imitating a human

Lowered his huge head

And sneered at the Silent Swordsman and the Human-Faced Spider.

[Friendship that transcends the difference in species! A truly great friendship.]

[But if the end is death, it would have been better not to have such a friendship at all. Your bond has invited death.]

[Young half-yokai, do not blame fate for being cruel. Your greed for revenge has driven your precious human friend to death!]

Following the fake boss Human-Faced Spider subjugation battle,

The true yokai of the Great Forest,

Yokai Sage Mihura.

In front of the yokai who revealed his true colors,

The hidden boss Yokai Sage Mihura subjugation battle began.

[Player mode]

Yokai Sage Mihura was not simply large in size.

When he raised his huge tail,

The shadow was cast even over the rocky area without trees by the huge tail that soared like a mountain,

And a huge sense of pressure, as if the end of the world had come, inspired fear.

“Ah, ah…”

The Human-Faced Spider, completely frozen in fear.

Hae Eung Eung slapped the Human-Faced Spider’s cheek at that pathetic sight.

Slap

“Ouch! That hurts!”

“…”

“What’s with that look? I-It’s not like I’m scared or anything!”

The Human-Faced Spider said quickly, regaining her senses.

“We have to hold out until we get a chance. If he has such a ridiculously large body, he’ll definitely get tired quickly.”

Hae Eung Eung nodded.

She and the Human-Faced Spider stepped on the wreckage of the half-overturned Great Forest,

Avoiding the range of the huge legs that were slowly descending,

And sprinted out of the range of the shadows cast.

-What is this wtf

-Giantmax Yokai real?

-Is this the final boss battle?

-Why is a yokai boss appearing from the third field?

-Wow amazing;

-The sage was a real yokai?

-More than that, is it even possible to win against that?

The chat room was in chaos.

Unlike the viewers who were in a panic,

The Silent Swordsman, who had captured the attention of that huge enemy and countless viewers,

Without a moment’s hesitation,

Sprinted beyond the attack range with his unique quick feet.

“It hurts my pride.”

Everyone was saying it was amazing,

How did he unlock this hidden boss battle,

And praising the Silent Swordsman’s physical abilities

And his judgment to trust the half-yokai.

Only one person

Speedmaster, truly felt humiliated.

‘He’s fast, but not as fast as me.’

Everything the Silent Swordsman could do,

He could also do.

But Speedmaster, who had been playing according to the game,

Following the set route,

And playing by the book,

Didn’t have the time in the game.

‘He’s strong, but not as strong as me.’

He had already cleared several fields,

And in the Great Forest, which had become half swamp,

He had even headed to the northern end of the Great Forest as the sage had requested,

Defeated the fake boss guarding the altar,

And stopped the ritual.

What awaited him was

A field that had already become a swamp,

And the disappeared sage.

‘I could do everything the Silent Swordsman could do.’

But he didn’t doubt anything.

He was just too busy enjoying and following the path in front of him.

There was plenty to enjoy just with that.

A whopping 10 years.

Since the release of Half-Yokai Ballad,

Even though 10 years had passed.

During that long time, he had arbitrarily considered that he had seen the end of Half-Yokai Ballad,

And drawn a line for himself.

“Everyone, I’m going to make a promise.”

-Suddenly?

-Speedmaster’s promise? I can’t miss this

-Something big is coming

-Ta-da

-So what are you betting?

“I think I can do what the Silent Swordsman is doing.”

-Ohh?

-Are you going to play Half-Yokai Ballad?

-Wow, is Speedmaster joining in?

-But now is a bit;

-The Silent Swordsman’s route is in progress lol

“Of course, I can’t ignore the pioneer, the Silent Swordsman. So I’m going to make a promise.”

Wounded pride

Burning competitive spirit

Respect for the pioneer

His own compromise that could compromise with all those emotions.

“I won’t start Half-Yokai Ballad until the Silent Swordsman dies even once or sees the ending.”

-Then what if he dies?

-What if he sees the ending?

“Instead, if the Silent Swordsman dies even once or sees the ending. Then I will start strategy the Half-Yokai Ballad hidden route.”

If he made such a promise even though it wasn’t his broadcast,

He knew that even his viewers would be sucked into the Silent Swordsman’s stream

To watch when the Silent Swordsman would die.

So this was a handicap.

You may be ahead right now,

But if you falter or retreat even once,

The confidence of a top-tier physical streamer

That he could catch up and overtake you at any time.

The number of viewers,

His skill as a player,

His ability to lead the progress of Half-Yokai Ballad,

The confidence that only the best could show

That he could surpass the Silent Swordsman in everything.

-Wow lololololol

-Speedmaster’s promise clip saved

-No take-backs?

-How long has it been since Half-Yokai Ballad?

-Speedmaster strategying the hidden route?

-I’m really looking forward to it, seriously

-But you have to start when the Silent Swordsman dies

-How can he not die when such a ridiculously huge yokai has appeared?

-It’s like fighting a 6-story building

-lol true

-We need to mobilize a demolition steel ball, not a swordsman

In an atmosphere where the heat, which was thought to be as hot as it could get,

Was boiling like lava, The Silent Swordsman ran and ran.

Towards the body of the centipede that slammed down on the ground,

Towards the top of it.

‘Do your best, Silent Swordsman.’

With the maximum physical ability you can, By drawing out the maximum potential you can show.

The only chance she has to get ahead is once.

Until the day her undefeated myth

Comes to an end.