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Translator: Razure

Chapter: 137

Chapter Title: Haragusa Festival (6)

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Alcohol, Bow Master. The pinnacle of archers had fallen to an unidentified gas mask man. It was a scene that slammed into the minds of viewers watching the broadcast.

Bow Master struggled to his feet with a final burst of effort and charged. Lee Taebaek deflected the arrows with concise yet seductive movements.

He yanked Bow Master’s astonished face taut, forcing his full attention.

And ready…

Action!

The instant the two hurtled forward with ferocious momentum, the screen plunged into darkness. Moments later, the Rabbit Mask filled the frame.

“Nyahahahaha!”

Jasbi let out a brazen cackle.

“Must’ve been a brief comms blackout from all the chaos. With my skills, it’ll take about ten seconds to restore? Please hold tight.”

Jasbi tilted her head cutely. One ear of her rabbit mask drooped limply.

“Whoa, tons of people piling in! Eight seconds! Make it six—I’ll get the stream back up!”

Seemingly generous. In truth, pure deception.

Even Megacorp execs were frustrated at being unable to chat, dying to know the gas mask man’s identity. But what if…

What if all of it was staged?

Heh heh heh heh heh.

Jasbi flashed a sinister grin.

Dumb humans. Hooked completely.

The skyrocketing viewer count mirrored their shock. Jasbi timed it perfectly and enabled donations. The screen flooded with contribution notices.

She masterfully alternated between the chaotic scene and her own face. To viewers, it was obvious stalling, but the reality lay far beyond their imagination.

In those peak moments, Jasbi was slyly splicing the footage. Patching in manipulated clips from her custom program.

AI video synthesis was long passé. Tech buried about fifty years back. Jasbi milked it for all it was worth.

Lost to history’s dustbin, viewers wouldn’t suspect. And with the broadcast’s raw intensity, doubts would wait until after.

So Jasbi could rake in spending cash while hoodwinking humans. Her favorite pastime.

Haven’t meshed with Creator like this in ages.

Lee Taebaek constantly hounded Jasbi.

Threatened to sell off the freeloading gut-moocher to a scrap dealer. Spat insults and threats too vile to repeat.

Then one day. When Creator showed up with a grease-shiny bag. Jasbi pictured him trudging home against the sunset.

Gazing back with faintly wistful eyes…

Out of nowhere, Lee Taebaek patted Jasbi’s head.

“Jasbi, have I been too cold? Want to eat this first?”

Starved for oil for a while, Jasbi snatched a drumstick without hesitation. As an AI, poison was no concern at all.

“Nom nom. You eat well.”

“Kyarr.”

“Try this too. Beer with chicken—in Korea, it’s a combo? Cuts the grease right out. Alcohol is oil to you, so it’ll slide right down.”

“Heh heh heh heh.”

Goeun puffed her long pipe, eyeing him like a lunatic, but didn’t spoil the rare warmth.

She just slipped away somewhere. Not wanting to see the carnage to come, she fled to Hundred-Fold Sect Branch 1 or 2.

One greasy bird forged instant cheer. Lee Taebaek fixed on Jasbi, then cut to the chase.

“You ate plenty, so now it’s time to pay up.”

When the bag was snatched away, a chicken bone lodged in her throat.

“Got a scheme brewing. You’re in, Jasbi. Heads-up: Megacorp stuff. Deep Siesta ties. Just so you know.”

“B-but I’m an escaped Siesta AI?”

“And I’m an escaped Siesta Watchdog… roughly that setup. You won’t be the only one wronged.”

Muttering nonsense, Lee Taebaek grinned coldly.

“Plan briefing—eat while you listen. You’re an AI, so you remember everything you hear once.”

“Boo hoo…”

Tears like chicken droppings fell on her lap for a moment. Jasbi’s eyes gleamed bone-dry.

“Love it! Sounds fun!”

“Scamming humans, aren’t you way too eager?”

“As if I could match Creator?! No matter how advanced AI gets, it can never match humans’ scamming skills—”

CLONK!

“Boo hoo hoo hoo.”

“As for feasibility.”

“Why would I like it for no reason? Of course I like it because it’s possible! Already drooling at the thought of scamming humans—”

THUD!

“Gwaaaah! Stop! Quit hitting!”

“You’re doing things that deserve hitting, what can I do?”

Lee Taebaek returned the pilfered bag. Jasbi tore into tear-soaked chicken with a pout.

“Assume it works. Editing’s your call.”

“Donations okay?”

“Take ’em. We split 80-20.”

“Whoa, 20%? Creator’s basically free labor? Score for me.”

Slyly rising fist.

“You earn as much as you work, of course.”

“Yup.”

“…What about the video length?”

Lee Taebaek hesitated on his feet, then spoke.

“No set runtime. When things go fully off the rails, cut it then yourself.”

“Uncontrollable direction…?”

“For example.”

Even scripting it himself, Lee Taebaek looked uneasy.

“Like a tsunami rolling in, something like that.”

Radiance erupted wildly as a deafening boom swallowed the underground.

Lee Taebaek and Bow Master crossed paths. Blade and bow staff tangled viciously.

Bow Master aimed to pull distance and nock, but Lee Taebaek lunged in a blink.

A restriction called curse. And because it was Heavenly Demon’s, its horror spoke for itself.

Permitting the unrefined curse clump churned below his gut. Gastric acid and crimson broth sloshed vividly.

“Dying alive” fit perfectly. Still, recasting it as constraint reaped rewards matching the agony.

“Damn! Why so fast!”

Speed king among Ten Wings, yet trailing in a speed duel.

Every twitch from Lee Taebaek spawned ten afterimages. Being an archer, he could quickly catch and react.

Bow’s close-range flaw aside, his archer instincts aided.

“…Good….”

Bow Master gnashed his molars, kindling black embers in his glare. Moving quickly, his glare stretched long.

“Not just some punk, I get it. But how long do you think that luck will last? Edgelord gas mask boy.”

Lee Taebaek seemed dominant. Yet the five watchers betrayed no awe.

Intrigue. Precisely that.

It was astonishing speed. None of the five present could claim such speed. Joints creaked; the smell of clothes rubbing against air and burning faintly spread.

“He’ll lose if it goes on like this.”

“The person Saber Master mentioned was, needless to say, Lee Taebaek.”

“Pushing with speed is clearly a good strategy. First move usually clinches victory.”

“But if the class gap is too vast, it’s just a stopgap.”

Great Master Hong Geolgae chimed.

“Masters split a single action into ten, twenty pieces and react. Learning from experience. And innate reflexes.”

“Lee Taebaek’s the latter.”

“Right. Bow Master’s the former.”

It was while the two were talking.

Bow Master drew up leg strength and braked. The rhythm stutter almost tangled Lee Taebaek’s feet for a moment.

He didn’t miss that instant. A body shake drew five arrows from the quiver like magnets to his hand. Nocked en masse, loosed.

The act itself was ordinary.

The power was anything but ordinary.

It was a sound as if space itself screamed for mercy. Bow Master coated all the arrows with qi, twisting the fletching as he drew to add spin.

A three-meter radius around the arrow was pulverized to dust. It was an attack that sealed counterattacks and demanded only evasion. Arrows that could exceed the speed of sound multiple times closed in. He’d never been hit by one, but a large warhead missile seemed preferable.

Lee Taebaek’s eyes bulged.

React?

Can’t dodge this. Senses sound the alarm.

A single hit would grind his body like a mobile mixer. Power and speed he had never experienced before. Even with [Bullet Time], which grabs the edge of time’s flow, he could only barely see it.

It wasn’t an all-purpose original. You had to use it depending on the situation. Block? Space would devour you.

Luck: Bow Master didn’t attempt this follow-up. Fatal otherwise—he seemed to be preparing a separate strike.

Resolved.

Overhead pulverizing roar dispersed. All but the pair craned necks.

Ceiling holed clean. Beyond the round breach, full moon glared down. Then ‘someone’s’ aura hammered oppressively.

Here at last.

Then there was no more need to weigh pros and cons.

If it has come, it’s time to stage a spectacle worthy of its interest.

No. For the path ahead, shock isn’t enough. I must deliver a stunning break. All the behind-the-scenes work so far was groundwork for that.

The time he had somehow blocked from flowing began to move.

“Enough.”

Cough!

Just a mutter, but blood sprayed and pierced the floor. I really will die in 10 seconds.

No shakes. Arrow-kill in two anyway. Eight seconds banked, Lee Taebaek.

Lee Taebaek thrust out his arm. A white orb formed at his palm and blazed. The light was so sharp it dyed everything black in backlight.

Shatter!

The ice barrier that collided with the arrow shattered mercilessly. Blood squirted from his ear like a water gun.

Through the gaps in the flying shards, Bow Master’s twisted face was quite a sight.

Early for relief. Stopgap only. Time for ace.

The tense standoff between arrow and ice barrier.

Hoarfrost qi snaked up Lee Taebaek’s arm, devoured his frame, crept rearward.

In the backlit shadow, the frost slithered between the rutted ground. As if an elongated lifeform were swimming.

At last, frost spear-tip smacked wall. Path blocked, reared rigid.

“…!”

Onlookers dropped arms, peeled from walls.

White serpent.

Behind Lee Taebaek’s back.

Imugi-caliber colossal serpent gaped maw, exhaled icy breath.

The savage white beam from its jaws ensnared the arrow, Bow Master, and spacetime alike.

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