Unorthodox Alliance (2)

“Where can I see these missions?”

“They’re posted on notices. But... even if you’re only aiming for tenth place, I doubt any single mission will give you that many points.”

“I should still take a look.”

“Then please come with me.”

Jang Sam opened the door, and Minwoo stepped outside. Rows of magnificent buildings came into view.

“Wow. Pretty impressive.”

“We are the largest organization among the unorthodox factions, after all.”

Just then—

BOOM!

Something like an explosion rang out from the neighboring building. A moment later, a section of wall burst open, and a man came flying through it, blood spraying from his mouth.

Jang Sam’s eyes widened.

“Th-that’s...”

“Someone you know?”

“... Th-the Fourth Young Master! Your half brother!”

A figure emerged through the shattered wall—a woman cracking her knuckles as she strode out with a murderous air.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re touching, you perverted bastard?”

“... Huh?”

Kim Minwoo tilted his head. That voice sounded familiar. He looked at her face.

“... Seo Yerim?”

Her eyes widened at the sound of her name.

“Kim Minwoo! You were nearby?”

Her face lit up. Only then did he realize who the intruder was.

Seo Yerim, the Sword Phoenix.

It was her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to rescue you.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought Grandfather would be sad if you died.”

Wow.

He’d known she was fond of the Sword Immortal, but he hadn’t realized her case was this severe.

He was privately impressed.

Just then, the Fourth Young Master staggered to his feet and began looking back and forth between Minwoo and Seo Yerim.

“Hah. Baek Socheon, don’t tell me you’ve already laid your hands on my new maid, too?”

“Maid?”

“Don’t play dumb, you little maggot...”

The Fourth Young Master glared fiercely at them both, clearly laboring under a serious misunderstanding. Minwoo suspected an entire adultery drama was playing out in his head.

Warriors came rushing over.

“Fourth Young Master!”

“Are you all right?”

“... Let go! I’m fine. Do you think a mere slap from a maid could bring me down?”

Oh, so a slap had sent him flying?

Apparently, Seo Yerim’s strength had reached some monstrous numbers.

‘Well, that makes sense.’

As an awakener said to have surpassed A-rank, her stats had to be formidable. The stats she’d accumulated through training alone would defy imagination.

“Yerim, you’re a maid?”

“Ha. Don’t ask me. That seems to be my assigned role, but they put me under some perverted bastard...”

“If you have to be one, be my maid instead. You’ll be better off.”

“... Is not being a maid an option?”

“Social status isn’t something you can easily escape. Especially in an era like this.”

The Fourth Young Master nodded emphatically.

“Well said, maggot! A mere maid dares slap me? Insolent bitch! I’ll twist your limbs out of their sockets!”

His eyes blazing, he drew his sword. The warriors’ auras turned menacing as well.

Kim Minwoo stepped forward.

“You keep calling me a maggot. It’s getting on my nerves.”

“What’s wrong with calling a lowborn wretch who doesn’t even know who his mother is a maggot? Don’t you all agree?”

The warriors remained silent.

Whatever else he might be, he was still the Unorthodox Alliance leader’s son. It was one thing for blood relatives to insult one another, but openly joining in themselves was out of the question. They weren’t even first-rate warriors, only second-rate ones.

They could, however, show their tacit agreement—by letting a subtle sneer show, for example.

The Fifth Young Master was nothing more than a weakling who couldn’t demonstrate a single decent martial art anyway. A rake who spent every day swilling booze and calling for courtesans.

His influence within the Unorthodox Alliance wasn’t merely weak; it was practically nonexistent. They needn’t worry about repercussions for something this minor.

The Fourth Young Master would protect them.

Just then, Kim Minwoo turned to his servant.

“Hey, Jang Sam.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You saw that, right? Them sneering at me.”

“Uh... well...”

Jang Sam’s eyes darted about.

It seemed he needed the hand of truth.

Minwoo lightly gripped the hesitant servant’s shoulder. Jang Sam’s face turned bright red under the unimaginable pressure.

“You saw it, right?”

“Y-yeaaargh! I did! I, Jang Sam, saw it clearly with my own two eyes!”

“Good job.”

He released Jang Sam’s shoulder.

That secured his witness.

He drew his sword.

“Underlings who mock their master deserve to die, don’t they?”

“Has this maggot lost his mind...?”

He extended a hand toward the coldly sneering Fourth Young Master.

At that very moment—

“Huh?”

“What the hell?”

The nearly thirty warriors recoiled in horror. Hundreds of stark white bones were clutching their legs.

SHUNK!

“Aaaargh!”

Weapons thrust in from every direction, killing five or six warriors in an instant.

“B-block them!”

Mana rose from the warriors’ swords. Weapons swung along branching trajectories.

Martial arts.

‘They’re around level 200, give or take.’

Being martial artists didn’t give them some kind of strength beyond the rules. They used mana and swung weapons like everyone else. Their methods were simply a little more refined.

‘Then they can’t win.’

His skeletons currently averaged level 51. Not only were they decked out in Magic-grade equipment sets he’d prepared in advance, but Bone Exchange (B) had also greatly increased their average stats. On top of that, they’d accumulated a fair amount of combat experience.

With hundreds of them launching an ambush from right underfoot, a mere thirty mediocre warriors stood no chance.

Wounds multiplied across the warriors’ bodies. Counterattacking the skeletons was a problem, too. Even when killed, they revived and invariably struck back.

The Fourth Young Master frantically pointed at Minwoo and shouted.

“It’s necromancy! We have to kill the caster first! Baek Socheon! Stop him!”

The warriors knocked the skeletons aside and charged with savage expressions.

At that moment, Cedric, who had been waiting quietly to one side, swung his spear.

The warriors snorted and swung their weapons.

POP! POP! POP!

The heads of all five charging warriors burst like fireworks.

Those about to follow hastily stopped in their tracks.

A single move.

That alone was enough to give them a rough idea.

“Good heavens...”

“A-a master!”

The spear-wielding skeleton, half again as large as the others, was an incredible master.

A master so powerful they couldn’t even begin to match him!

Every last second-rate warrior fell.

[Your level has increased by 1!]

Only one man remained alive: the Fourth Young Master.

“Jang Sam.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Jang Sam stared blankly at the sea of blood before him. Minwoo asked him a question.

“Can I kill him?”

“Uh... I don’t think the Unorthodox Alliance leader would like that...”

“Really?”

“Yes. Killing warriors of this caliber is no great matter, but personally killing his son, the Fourth Young Master, would be a bit...”

“Got it.”

Nodding, Minwoo approached the Fourth Young Master. Weapons of every kind had already pierced his body, leaving him a ragged mess.

“Make him kneel.”

The skeletons disarmed him and forced him to his knees. Minwoo grabbed him by the hair and met his eyes.

“Hey.”

“E-eek...!”

The stench of urine wafted up. The ground beneath him was wet.

“Why do you think we fought?”

The man’s eyes darted about.

Minwoo slapped him across the face. Three or four teeth rolled across the ground. The Fourth Young Master’s eyes flew wide, seemingly shocked by his tremendous strength.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“I-I heard you! I-it wash my fault! I-I didn’t know my plashe!”

“You won’t act up again, will you?”

The Fourth Young Master nodded frantically.

“Who the hell said you could just nod, you bastard? How rude.”

SMACK!

Minwoo slapped him again. Another three or four teeth rolled across the ground.

“I-I won’t! I-I shwear!”

Tears streamed down his face.

He finally seemed ready to repent.

“I’m taking that maid under my command. Any objections?”

“T-take her! I’ll give her to you!”

That settled his consent.

Now it was time to square accounts.

“Good. But you really hurt your senior’s feelings earlier, you know? Calling me a maggot.”

“I-I’m shorry!”

“I know, I know. But you still have to pay for what you did. Let’s just cripple your legs and call it even. You’re lucky I’m not killing you, right?”

“N-no!”

“Tsk. Want your arms crippled, too?”

“Uuugh...!”

“Hold still. Unless you want to get hurt worse?”

He carefully placed the man’s ankles together.

Just then, a voice came from behind him.

“Fifth Young Master, are you really going to stamp on them?”

He turned. An old man was staring straight at him.

“Who are you?”

“Hoho. Have you forgotten my face already? I’m the Second Elder. You’ve certainly made quite a spectacle.”

A considerable amount of mana rose behind the chuckling old man.

One look told Minwoo all he needed to know.

‘A master, huh?’

In level terms, at least 400.

The real deal.

“Elder, what will you give me if I don’t?”

“Nothing. Why would I?”

“Then I’ll go ahead.”

CRUNCH!

He brought his foot down hard on both ankles. They dangled limply, the bones apparently shattered to pieces.

The Fourth Young Master’s head slumped as though he’d passed out. Minwoo flung his face down onto the ground.

“Hah...”

Minwoo looked at the Second Elder, who was blinking in apparent disbelief.

“What’s wrong? This isn’t some stuffy orthodox sect.”

“True enough... Well, never mind. That isn’t what matters. Fifth Young Master, you’ll have to come with me.”

“Why?”

“The alliance leader has summoned you.”

“Let’s go.”

He needed to meet the Unorthodox Alliance leader at some point anyway. He walked over to the elder.

“Follow me.”

The elder glided swiftly away. Minwoo had no movement technique, so he wasn’t that fast. He would just have to make do with a few tricks to keep up.

Fortunately, he managed well enough.

Back where Kim Minwoo and the elder had departed, Seo Yerim stood left behind, staring blankly ahead.

It was all over before she could even do anything.

She was dumbfounded.

‘... Why is he so strong?’

Those warriors—and the Fourth Young Master, too—had been strong enough to appear as a C-rank gate’s boss and minions. Yet a single gesture from Kim Minwoo had utterly demolished them.

Even the skeletons had exceeded anything she’d imagined. Ordinary summons actually knew how to fight to some degree.

And that one called Cedric...

‘Even I’d need some time to take him down.’

If their physical abilities were equal, she would lose without question. His spearmanship was that refined.

What a monstrous summon.

Naturally, she couldn’t help growing suspicious. This was supposed to be a rescue of an ordinary citizen who’d been forced into a gate.

‘Did he pull some stunt to get inside from the start?’

From loitering near the entrance to possessing that much strength yet merely spluttering as he was nudged forward—it all felt as though he’d deliberately engineered his own entry.

“... But what am I supposed to do? Why did he leave me here alone?”

Just then, the servant called Jang Sam came up beside her and cleared his throat.

“Ahem! A pleasure to be working with you. My name is Jang Sam. As the Fifth Young Master’s sole loyal retainer, I have long been someone he relies upon and looks to for guidance.”

“... Right. Hello.”

“You said you were a maid? Our stations may be similar, but seniority is determined by when one enters service. You can call me Senior—no, that’s too stiff. Big Brother would do nicely. Brother Jang, perhaps...”

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Stop putting on that deep voice for no reason. Big Brother, my ass. How old are you?”

“W-well, twenty, as it happens?”

“Twenty, not forty?”

“F-forty? What are you...”

“I’m twenty-two, so just call me Big Sister. You’ve got no skills, yet you expect me to treat you like a senior...”

“What? What did you just...”

Jang Sam’s eyes suddenly went wide. Her hand was already at his throat, radiating a chilling sharpness.

His heart lurched with dread.

‘Sh-she can imbue her hand with sword energy?’

This maid was a master.

A master on a level an ordinary man like him couldn’t even imagine!

“Am I wrong? Isn’t the stronger person the older brother or sister in martial arts stories?”

“... You’re right, Big Sister.”

Come to think of it, she had sent the Fourth Young Master flying with a single slap.

Jang Sam’s manner turned respectful of its own accord.

“Show me the way. I don’t know where I’m supposed to go.”

Neither did he...

Swallowing those words, Jang Sam started walking. For now, he would just have to go wherever his feet took him.