The Wastrel Prince Becomes Ruthless Chapter 80
The one who struck first was Yuwon.
Swish—!
The White Dragon Sword split through a seam in space and aimed straight for the Sword Saint’s neck. It was a flawless thrust, so perfect it was nearly invisible.
“Where do you think you’re—!”
Clang—!
The Sword Saint swung his sword to meet Yuwon’s strike, deflecting it cleanly.
The clash between the two blades, both wrapped in mana, sent sparks of solidified energy flying.
Yuwon’s sword blazed fiercely, his internal energy and brilliant golden holy power surging as if trying to devour each other.
‘Black mana…! Even his mana bears the colors of an Evil God!’
The moment he blocked the attack, the Sword Saint immediately countered, swinging his blade in a line meant to cleave Yuwon’s arm.
The sword in his grip struck down toward Yuwon’s wrist like lightning.
‘…Tch, fast!’
Yuwon quickly moved his hand and struck the flat of the Sword Saint’s blade harshly.
Kaaang—!
Sparks burst once again, and the blade that had been drawing a perfect arc staggered sideways.
The Sword Saint’s diverted strike cut through empty air and returned fruitless.
The Sword Saint, having failed with his broad movement attack, opened up a brief gap—and Yuwon’s eyes shone like a predator’s.
‘An opening!’
A flaw so small that no one but someone of Yuwon’s level could even dream of exploiting. But Yuwon was different. Without hesitating, he drove his blade forward toward the Sword Saint’s exposed torso.
Fwip—!
Yuwon’s sharp thrust rang with a short burst of air as it shot toward the Sword Saint’s chest.
‘Hmph! At such a young age, not only does he stand against my sword, but he even counterattacks…! He has already surpassed age itself!’
For a brief moment, the Sword Saint sincerely admired Yuwon’s skill. He had heard tales of the Fifth Prince’s prowess, but he had not expected it to be this much.
‘But, this alone won’t be enough. I didn’t earn the name Sword Saint for nothing!’
Yuwon’s strike was flawless, but the Sword Saint was not so easily defeated. Having noticed his own opening, he quickly withdrew his sword and stomped back several steps, escaping Yuwon’s range.
Shrrrk—!
The Sword Saint widened the distance by over five meters in an instant. Yuwon closed the gap just as quickly, but the Sword Saint had already re-steadied his stance.
The Sword Saint who had looked down on Yuwon as simply “strong for his age” was gone. His gaze sharpened, and mana flared from his blade like fire.
“Haaap—!”
Tensed to the extreme, the Sword Saint charged head-on toward Yuwon, who was running in to aim for his throat.
Boom—!
Internal energy and mana, muscle strength rushing from swollen arms, and the force built from their sprint all collided at a single point with a thunderous explosion.
The impact of raw strength meeting raw strength sent stabbing pain through both their wrists.
‘…! To think he doesn’t lose even in pure strength!’
Yuwon’s overwhelming might shocked the Sword Saint once again. And he wasn’t the only one surprised.
‘Strong…! As expected of the Sword Saint! He’s clearly above Count Valaris… and perhaps just a bit below Marquis Bradman.’
Though Yuwon had grown spectacularly, he still couldn’t guarantee victory against Marquis Bradman.
In this world where swordsmanship generally lagged behind the martial world he knew, Marquis Bradman had been the strongest person Yurion had ever seen.
And now, the Sword Saint with whom Yuwon clashed blades was hardly inferior.
‘He’s not someone I can face fairly with sword alone. If this turns into a prolonged sword duel, I can’t guarantee victory.’
Yuwon steeled himself, ready to abandon his sword at any moment and switch to hidden weapons.
‘If strength won’t win, then technique will. He is an Evil God. An Evil God! With such absurd power already, if he’s left alive, he’ll drown the continent in blood. There’s no one watching—this is the perfect chance to strike without hesitation and take his head…!’
The Sword Saint, too, acknowledged Yuwon’s absurd strength and shifted his approach accordingly.
The brief test of skill was over.
“Haaap—!”
With a fierce shout, the Sword Saint began his assault. The battle grew even fiercer.
From then on, the Sword Saint attacked while Yuwon defended.
Clang—! Clang-cha-cha-chang!
The blades collided several times per second, filling the air with ringing noise.
The Sword Saint’s sword twisted and shifted unpredictably, targeting Yuwon’s vital points with relentless precision. Yuwon dodged, blocked, and diverted the furious attacks, waiting for an opening.
Grit—
“Kiiiii—!”
Perhaps dissatisfied that Yuwon kept blocking strikes delivered with his full strength, the Sword Saint bared his teeth and unleashed even harsher blows. But Yuwon’s situation wasn’t ideal either. His arms and legs were already littered with small cuts—marks from attacks he hadn’t fully deflected. He, too, was in danger.
‘No chance to pull out my hidden weapons. I’m blocking for now, but if this continues, I’ll be in trouble.’
Though the Sword Saint seemed to be exhausting himself with his relentless assault, blocking every single one perfectly was impossible.
‘0.5 seconds—no, even 0.3 would be enough. If I can divert his focus even for that long… Ah, that’s it!’
Perhaps he had grown too accustomed to his new life. Yuwon suddenly remembered his true nature.
‘I’m not a knight—I’m an assassin. When killing an enemy, the method doesn’t matter. Only the result does.’
Yuwon’s eyes flashed.
Without hesitation, acting the moment the idea formed—
He hurled his sword like a spear.
Swish—
The White Dragon Sword shot from his hand in a straight line toward the Sword Saint’s throat.
“…!”
Focused wholly on defense, the Sword Saint was startled when Yuwon suddenly threw his own sword.
He easily deflected the airborne blade, then stared at Yuwon in bewilderment.
“What in the…!”
It was not that the knight had dropped his sword from the enemy’s attack—he had actually thrown his own sword away.
Such a thing could never exist within the Sword Saint’s common sense. It was exactly what Yuwon had hoped for.
The moment the startled Sword Saint halted his sword strike, Yuwon slipped a hand into his robe and drew an throwing dagger.
‘Good.’
The familiar, perfect fit of the short dagger’s grip soothed Yuwon’s mind. Yuwon smiled, and the Sword Saint glared at him.
“You threw away your sword? What are you doing? Surrendering?”
“Surrender? Do I look like someone who would surrender after seeing this?”
Yuwon deliberately spun the daggers held in both hands as if to show them off.
“…You plan to face me with weapons that back-alley thugs would use? I must truly look easy to you.”
“No, I drew them because I acknowledge you as a strong opponent. I was never very friendly with swords to begin with.”
Yuwon spoke the truth, but because of the faint smile on his lips, the Sword Saint failed to take his words as they were.
Feeling insulted, the Sword Saint pressed his lips shut. His jaw trembled.
“You don’t believe me. Well, you’ll understand once you take a hit yourself.”
“You insolent—how dare you… hngh!”
Yuwon had no intention of leisurely listening to everything the Sword Saint said.
The dagger Yuwon threw shot toward the Sword Saint like lightning.
The Sword Saint hastily swung his sword and twisted his body, barely blocking and avoiding the attack. But that was not all.
Swiish—!
‘…!’
While the Sword Saint was distracted dealing with the two daggers thrown first, Yuwon launched yet another attack.
The Sword Saint rapidly gathered mana and formed a blade barrier over his body to withstand it.
Because of the Sword Saint’s quick response, the dagger failed to pierce his heart and instead left only a small scratch on the collar of his robes. However, the attack was not meaningless.
A chill ran down the Sword Saint’s nape, and goosebumps prickled over his skin.
‘Had I been even slightly slower, he would have pierced my heart just like that. So he truly wasn’t used to swords!’
Unfortunately for him, the Sword Saint had no time to leisurely reflect.
Having regained the momentum, Yuwon surged in like a thunderbolt and drove a dagger straight toward the Sword Saint’s chest.
Pft! Pft! Pft-pft-pft—!
The short dagger drew strange trajectories in Yuwon’s hands.
Each time Yuwon stabbed or threw one, another dagger appeared in his once-empty hand as if by magic, hammering toward the Sword Saint’s shoulder, heart, and neck.
The Sword Saint was utterly overwhelmed by Yuwon’s completely unforeseen fighting style.
Even while using hidden weapons, Yuwon did not widen the distance—he instead dug mercilessly into the Sword Saint’s reach, and in that cramped space wielded the short daggers with brutal force.
“Ghhk…!”
The dagger in Yuwon’s hand pressed the Sword Saint back—sometimes held forward, sometimes reversed.
The dagger looked almost as if performing acrobatics.
After thrusting with a forward grip and having the attack blocked, Yuwon retrieved the dagger and lightly tossed it into the air of his own accord.
As it spun downward, Yuwon caught it in a reverse grip exactly as he had anticipated and sliced at the Sword Saint’s upper body with enough force to cleave it in half.
Cha-cha-chaang—!
Within the blink of an eye, a deadly exchange passed between them—one that could have killed either of them several times over.
Yuwon’s sword aura and golden divine power collided, sparking violently.
At a distance close enough to reach by simply extending a hand, dozens of fierce exchanges were traded. Yet the only one accumulating more wounds as the fight went on was the Sword Saint.
‘I have never once in my life seen daggers used like this. Where did he learn this…?!’
The daggers in Yuwon’s hands shot out again and again in serpentine arcs like a snake’s flicking tongue.
Each time, the Sword Saint had to swing his sword with all his strength just to barely block Yuwon’s attack.
Yuwon wielded the short blades freely with both hands at maddeningly close range, while the Sword Saint desperately struggled to widen the distance enough to freely use his sword.
Though the daggers Yuwon used resembled the hidden weapons used by assassins in this world, the way they were being used at this very moment was something entirely different.
‘These are no longer mere daggers.’
The Sword Saint had dismissed Yuwon’s daggers, but they proved themselves fully capable—no less than the Sword Saint’s own sword.
Surrounded by Yuwon’s inner power, a dagger capable of cutting iron like paper danced right in front of the Sword Saint’s nose.
Small scratches that began one by one steadily increased in number. Knowing this truth more painfully than anyone, the Sword Saint clenched his teeth and swung even harder.
‘Faster—! I need to get faster! If I am to push him back, I need offense, not defense, and for that I must become even faster than I am now!’
The Sword Saint, who had once held the advantage, should never have cared whether Yuwon threw his sword away or not.
Even if it had been the legendary White Dragon Sword left behind by the great General Geiorn.
The single moment he hesitated when Yuwon dropped the sword—such a trivial mistake decided the life and death of the two.
Puk—! Crunch!
“Guhk—!”
A chilling sound rang out as steel tore flesh and split bone.
It was the sound Yuwon had been waiting for—the signal announcing the end of the battle.
“Khk, k-heuuugh—!”
The dagger filled with mana sliced the heart in two and still had strength left over, grinding through the Sword Saint’s internal organs.
When the mana heart was split cleanly apart, the mana protecting the Sword Saint from Yuwon’s venom-tinged inner power collapsed. His body began to rot at a terrifying speed before their eyes.
Then Yuwon’s cold gaze met the Sword Saint’s. Fear of death spread across the Sword Saint’s eyes.
“S-spare… me….”
Perhaps because his lungs were ruined, only a hissing breath leaked from the Sword Saint’s mouth.
“Begging your life to an Evil God? Planning to become a demon?”
“P-please…! Khurgh—!”
“No. It is time for you to return to your god.”
Without hesitation, Yuwon swung the dagger in his other hand and severed the man’s neck.
Sseok—!
Thud—
The Sword Saint’s headless corpse collapsed beside its severed head. Yuwon picked up the White Dragon Sword lying on the ground nearby.
Clack—
The White Dragon Sword returned to where it belonged.
“It has been a while since I bled.”
Yuwon glanced over the wounds carved on his body like medals of battle.
The bleeding was considerable, but thankfully none of the wounds were deep.
‘Why aren’t they coming yet? They must be waiting.’
Thinking of Terrien and Bernid, who must be waiting eagerly for the news he would bring, Yuwon’s lips curved faintly.
Whooosh—
Wind blew, brushing through Yuwon’s hair dampened by sweat and blood. It was a cool breeze that allowed him to forget summer’s oppressive heat, if only for a moment.
“Then let’s go.”
Just as the White Dragon Sword had returned to its place, it was time for Yuwon to wrap up his brief outing and return to his own.
The wind brushing past him carried the smell of blood.