Chapter 10

**Swordmaster's Peaceful Life - Chapter 10 (10/390)**

**Swordmaster's Peaceful Life Chapter 10**

**Hell of the Bamboo Forest (3)**

The cave echoed loudly.

The immense voice caused the cave to reverberate and begin to shake, but Yuseungwoo merely furrowed one of his brows.

Following that, the creature turned its body and swung a punch.

A fist larger than Yuseungwoo's body, filled with immense power, approached him.

"This is a bit..."

He defended against the powerful punch with his sword held vertically and was pushed back, flying out of the cave.

In terms of sheer brute strength, even a decent S-rank Diver would be no match.

As he landed outside the cave without a scratch, a roar echoed from inside the cave, and the ground shook.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, the heavy sound accompanied the creature as it burst out of the cave on all fours.

Roar!!

"Sure enough, it's a familiar opponent..."

* * *

"Right! Right! I said right, you bastards! Get your act together!"

Hong Seohwa, the guild master of the large guild 'Red Dragon' based in Seohyun City, and an S-rank Diver, was leading five A-rank Divers through the army of monkeys.

Swinging her sword, which was glowing red with flames, she cut off a monkey's head and shouted.

"Damn it, can't you hear me?! If you want to keep your heads, keep doing this, you bastards!"

"No, we won't!"

Her five subordinates were all A-rank Divers of the Red Dragon.

They fought while enduring her harsh words, knowing that her rough tone was out of concern for their safety.

After finally ending one battle and preparing for the next,

Rumble, rumble,

a vibration echoed from deeper within the bamboo forest.

The faint roar and the heavy sound of something colliding were heard.

The other Divers, including Hong Seohwa, felt an instinctive fear from the sounds coming from inside.

They knew just by the sound that it was the voice of the forest's master, a being far more powerful than the monkeys they had just faced.

"...Well, kids, it seems today is the day we die."

"What are you saying, Master? I have a family to feed."

"Why are you here if you have a family? Didn't I tell you to leave?"

"Come on, how can I leave? If we can't stop it, my family will die too."

"You seem to have a romantic side, but you don't... You'll be dead when you get back."

Hong Seohwa chuckled.

Then, she stood up, dusted off her buttocks, and said,

"Alright, kids, let's make a legend. If we're born as men, shouldn't we leave our names in history?"

"But you're a woman, Master."

"You damn, clueless, unromantic bastard... You'll be dead when you get back."

* * *

Several hours had passed since the Divers entered the Abyss.

The Divers, who had split into four groups, had defeated the mid-bosses at the end of their respective paths and regrouped.

The four S-rank Divers and twenty A-rank Divers who had regrouped were all exhausted.

Fortunately, no one had died, but seven of them had sustained injuries that made further combat impossible.

Even those who were relatively unharmed had equipment that was dented or soaked in blood.

The twenty-four-member attack team began to prepare for the final battle.

They took out expensive potions from the small subspace bags on their waists to treat their injuries and cleaned their blood-soaked weapons.

Once the preparations were complete and their stamina had recovered, Hong Seohwa took a deep breath and stood in front of the others, saying,

"I'm not sure if everyone heard, but this boss seems to be no easy opponent."

The attack team had been hastily formed to stop the Abyss Rush.

They had little internal information and could only rely on the data from past expeditions.

They had faced the monkeys, which they had never seen before, and recorded their patterns on the spot, resulting in many injuries.

Even though they were veteran Divers, this was an extremely difficult forced march.

Hong Seohwa bit her lip and exhaled.

"However, everyone knows we can't stop here. If we retreat, the Abyss Rush won't stop."

Not until they defeat the boss.

The monsters they had defeated would soon come back to life and attack the Earth.

That was the power of the Abyss's heart, the Core.

The others nodded and gripped their weapons with determination.

Among them, one person had a peculiar expression.

'He said he was going to watch, but what is he doing?'

She wasn't particularly worried, but she felt a bit uneasy.

She knew he would do well, but there was a strange feeling in her chest.

She had heard the sounds coming from deeper in the forest while fighting the monkeys.

The cause of the roar, which sounded like the boss was extremely angry, was undoubtedly Yuseungwoo.

Hong Seohwa, who didn't understand Yuseungwoo's intentions, raised her sword and shouted,

"Let's go! Let's kill it!"

With Hong Seohwa's spirited cry, they headed towards the end of the forest, where the boss was, and the towering cliff.

There, they encountered the boss in a peculiar state.

A giant gorilla with patches of fur missing.

* * *

Several hours before the Divers arrived.

Yuseungwoo had clashed with the boss multiple times in front of the cave.

The boss swung its two hands one-sidedly, and Yuseungwoo deflected them.

While the boss had the upper hand in sheer strength, Yuseungwoo's technique was far superior.

"Where have I seen this guy before..."

Yuseungwoo deflected the boss's punches with a calm expression.

He thought about the sense of familiarity while deflecting the punches with his right hand, causing them to make a whistling sound.

It wasn't just a simple deflection.

Each time his sword deflected a punch, blood spurted from the boss's fist.

The blood from the boss's fists had already soaked the ground.

Then, Yuseungwoo realized where the sense of familiarity came from.

"...I remember. Mountain King (山王). It's you, Mountain King."

Mountain King (山王).

One of the monsters Yuseungwoo had hunted when he was just starting to make a name for himself in this world.

A monkey that ruled a small mountain range like a king.

Of course, it wasn't as large as this one.

It was about half the size and not as strong.

It was a mediocre creature that had tried to rule a small mountain.

Yet, why did the power of that creature feel familiar in this one?

He had clearly killed it back then.

'...Don't think too deeply about it.'

Thinking too deeply about such things usually just gives you a headache.

Since he had resolved the sense of familiarity, that was enough.

With the mental knot resolved, he was about to swing his sword to kill the Mountain King.

But then he sheathed his sword and looked at the creature, which was retreating, exhausted.

Its hands were drenched in blood, and its breathing was uneven.

Stress had caused it to lose patches of fur.

It looked so exhausted that it would die soon even if he didn't kill it.

"...Hmm."

He turned his head and looked towards the forest.

There was still plenty of time before the Divers arrived.

"I need to tone it down a bit."

After all, it had been quite a struggle to get here.

Yuseungwoo made this decision and kicked the ground.

The Mountain King instinctively raised its arms to guard.

But the moment Yuseungwoo's foot struck the Mountain King's arm, the guard crumbled.

He spun in the air and kicked the other side, penetrating the broken guard.

The small foot connected with the large face.

At the same time, a loud noise echoed, and the Mountain King was pushed back into the cave, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Yuseungwoo landed, stretched, and kicked off the ground, climbing up the cliff.

He found a suitable spot, lay down, and closed his eyes.

The humidity was quite high, but it was a decent spot for a nap.

"I should have brought a can of beer."

* * *

"That guy, why is he in that state?"

"Whatever, it's good for us, right? Let's finish him off!"

They were all battered, but the boss was even more so.

It was almost unrecognizable, with a face that had caved in and arms covered in wounds.

The Divers, realizing the boss's weakened state, were fired up.

The S-rank Divers gathered their mana and energy.

The A-rank Divers who could still fight prepared to support them.

The battle began.

The Divers capable of tanking, holding shields, moved forward to draw the boss's attention, while the magic users launched their spells.

"Charge! [Flame Bullet]!"

"Pierce! [Water Spear]!"

"Earth, bind the enemy's feet according to my will! [Earth Bind]!"

On the right, brilliant flames, and on the left, water spears flew.

The earth rose to grab the boss's ankles, forcing it to raise its arms to block the magic.

Numerous spells of various colors and lights poured down.

The boss, Mountain King, was pushed back by the Divers' attacks, helpless.

It was far too weak for a Level 2 Abyss boss.

Yujiewu sensed Yuseungwoo's presence in the boss's state.

'Big brother did this...'

He had said he was going to watch, so he must have gone to the Abyss boss.

But how did he beat it up so badly?

A Level 2 Abyss boss was a monster capable of destroying an entire city.

Yet, this monster was so beaten up that it couldn't even use its power.

But Yujiewu was even more pleased by this.

"Charge! Kill it!"

The tankers blocked the Mountain King's attacks with their shields.

Using the recoil, they deflected the arms, creating an opening for the S-rank Divers to charge at the Mountain King's chest.

Hong Seohwa, with a sword blazing with flames, charged in, creating an even larger fire.

Yujiewu, with flames around his sword, also charged.

Bai Wuxian, an S-rank Diver in blue martial arts attire, known as the Electric Sky Swordsman, followed with blue lightning around his sword.

The three weapons pierced the Mountain King's chest.

A loud noise and flames, along with blue lightning, burned the flesh, emitting a smell.

The Divers pulled back from the chest, and the Mountain King's massive body fell.

The Divers' faces lit up, realizing they had defeated the boss relatively easily.

But it didn't last long.

Rumble...

The sound of boiling blood.

The sound coming from the fallen Mountain King.

The heartbeat, which had stopped, began to beat again, and the Mountain King slowly rose.

"Damn it, attack again..."

"No!"

Hong Seohwa, who was about to charge, was stopped by an A-rank magic user.

The aura emanating from the Mountain King was not normal.

The aura, which had suddenly intensified, was now twice as powerful as before.

If they charged recklessly, they might be sucked into the aura's vortex and shattered.

Yujiewu was also at a loss on what to do.

Suddenly, a man with a red sword appeared.

"This bastard isn't going to die easily..."

He appeared with a thick curse.