Record of a Thousand Lives

Arkan and the bandits could only laugh at the strange wordsspoken bythe man in front of them.

‘Alcohol?’Akon thought.If the manhad givena plausible reason for the slaughter,he would have felt fear at the least and not anger, buthecould not help but grind his teethupon hearing the man’s words.He asked angrily,“You ambushed us just for booze?!”

Kang Yoon-Soo was silent and did not reply to Akon. Instead, he slowly got up and started to rummage through thebandit corpses.Hefound rare swords, magic staves, and accessories with special effectsamong them;it was actually surprising to seesuchrare items on mountain bandits.He stored the higher-qualityitemsinhisdimensional bag.

The fact that Kang Yoon-Soo did not bother to respond and was only rummaging through the corpses as if he werea grave robber pissed Akon off.Heground his teethand yelled angrily, “You must have a death wish, you punk!”Hecharged toward Kang Yoon-Soo, swinging his sword toward the man’sback.

Kang Yoon-Soo instantly turned his body around—it was an amazingly fast movement.Heinstantaneously drew his sword and slashed at Akon’s neck.

“Kuheok!”

Akon was surprisedbythe sudden wound appearingon his neck and immediately tried to retreat. However, Kang Yoon-Soo showed no hesitation in his subsequent actions.Hewas not surprisedbythe sudden ambush from Akon at all; instead, heswung his sword numerous times and cut Akon up.

“Ack!”Akon let out a scream after receiving several critical hitsand diedon the spot.

Kang Yoon-Soo did not even look at the dead body as he looked toward Arkan.He said once againin a cold, emotionlesstone, “Give me alcohol.”

“I’ll give it to you if you want it, but you’llhave to get it over my dead body,” Arkan responded, hisvoice full of malice.

The leader of the Crossed Swords Bandits pulled out a dazzling sword. Arkan’s sword was a magicitemenveloped in a red aura that had a special ability. The other bandits followed suit and readied their weapons as well.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at them with eyes void of any interest.Hecould easily take care of the other bandits, but Arkan was a different story. Arkan was not someone he could easily handle at this point in time.

Hehad met Arkan a few times in the past. Not only was Arkan quite high-level, but hismodest-lookingequipment was also actually high-quality. Not to mentionthe fact thatthe sword Arkan was using was a magic sword; any sword bearing an enchantmentwas a precious itemwithastronomical value.

On the other hand, while Kang Yoon-Soodid his best not to show it, he was in aseverely exhausted state, and the wound he had sufferedpreviously hadcaused him immense pain. To be frank,hewasin nostate to duel with someone.

Perhaps Arkan was able togaugeKang Yoon-Soo’s current state, as helooked toward Kang Yoon-Soo before saying, “You might be strong, but you don’t seem to be that high-level. I’m certain you’re exhausted after facing three hundred men.”

The boss of the Crossed Swords Bandits started to walk toward Kang Yoon-Soo with eyes filled with anger.He growled,“You’ll pay a heavy price for making a mess out of my organization.”

Kang Yoon-Soo started trying to think of a strategy. Arkan was not a knight, so hecould not use thetactic of confusing his opponentby using imperial swordsmanship.Hecould not use the corpses of the bandits and turn them into undead because the skill ‘Mass Raise Dead’ required 100% of hismaximummana, and the Staff of Lightning had consumed most of his mana.

Heonly hadfifty-twoZombie Black Bears in his summoned dimension, and he considered summoning them to fight against Arkan.‘Should I summon White?’hethought to himself.

While Kang Yoon-Soowas deep inthought,Arkan’s swordsuddenly appearedin front of his nose.Arkan was about to stab Kang Yoon-Soo in the face with a fierce strike when suddenly…

Clang!

A sword appeared in front of Kang Yoon-Soo andeasily parried Arkan’s attack. It was a movement that most swordsmen could not dream ofperformingunless they were experts.

A man on horseback glared down at Arkan.“It has been awhile, Arkan,”hesaid.

Arkan furrowed hisbrowwhen he saw the man andcalled out,“Lenox!”

***

Kang Yoon-Soo looked alternatelybetweenthe bandit, Arkan, and the knight, Lenox. Hehad beenaware that the two were acquainted based on memories from his past life, and thatboughthim time to think of a strategy.

Lenox withdrew his sword as he glared at Arkan and said, “I heard the rumors that you escaped from prison after raping Lady Kirnell when we were apprentice knights. I never imagined we wouldbe meeting again in a place like this, Arkan.”

“That’s for me to say,” Arkan growled.

The sound of numerous hooves closed in on them as the knightswhofollowed Lenox showed up as well. Lenox and his knightshadfound their way to the bandit base after hearing the numerous screams coming fromit.

Meanwhile, a violent ripple started to form in the lake closed off by the dike.

“What on earth…?!”

“What happened here?”

The knights could not hide their shock as they looked at the corpses litteringthe area, and the newbie Eric threw up at the sight of the dead bodies strewn across the ground.

Lenox looked atthe blood-covered Kang Yoon-Sooand asked, “Did you kill these bandits?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Itisnot for me to say this, butI am impressed,” Lenox said.

“They’re all violent criminals. My notoriety didn’t increase,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered.

Lenox let out a sighin responsebefore turning to Arkan and said, “I have something to ask this man;I suggest you turn back.”

“Your haughty, authoritative attitude hasn’t changed one bit. Do you remember me as someone who followed every single one of your orders?” Arkan growled.

The knight and the bandit started to exude an immense amount of killing intenttowardeach other.

Knight and Banditwere polar opposite classes; they were usually considered to beeach other’s mortal nemesis.Knights received a penaltyfor dishonorable actions that went against their oaths to their masters;they placed importance on honor not just because of their conscience, but because it directly affected their combat ability.Meanwhile,Banditsreceivedmore buffs the more they lied,stole, andkilled. However, they could not livestable liveslikeKnights, and had to live under the radar of investigators. It was obvious that there would be an intense animosity between the two classes due to their differences.

Lenox pointed his sword toward Arkan and said, “I don’t want to shed meaningless blood and waste my time. What do you think of settling this in a duel?”

The bandits started laughing at the noble yet ignorant suggestionmade bythe knight, and Arkan could not help but laugh at Lenox’s words. If there was anyone who would suggest an honorable duel with a bandit, that person would definitely be Lenox.

However, Arkan nodded in agreement and said, “Alright. It’sbeen quite a while since Ilast sawyour swordsmanship anyway. No one could win against you when we were training back then.”

Lenox dismountedand slowlywalked toward Arkan, and Arkandrewhis sword and did the same. The bandits and the knights encircled the two as if making a makeshift arena.Kang Yoon-Soo was the only onewhodid not seem to be interested in their duel. Instead,hewas staring at the dike that was holding back the lake water.

There was no judge to decide the victor and no referee to signal the start of the duel, but Lenox and Arkan looked at each other before instinctively charging at each othersimultaneously.Sparks flew all overastheir swords clashed.

Clang!

It was just the first blow they had exchanged, but they both felt intense recoil from their attacks. They both jumped back the moment they felt the recoil in their hands. One exchange was enough to show them how they hadgrown over the years.

The two activated their skills at the same time.

“Wind, Bless My Sword.”

“Bloodlust Sword!”

They both charged at one another with their skillsthe second time, andLenox’sdazzling swordsmanshipclashed against Arkan’sviolent swordsmanship whileArkan’s magic swordcontinuouslyspewedout explosions.

The sound of their swords clashingbegan to resemblea requiem foreshadowing one of their deaths, and their battle started toescalateto another level that most of the spectators found difficult to follow with their eyes. The bandits were especially not used tosuch alevel ofcombat,and they only stood there stupefied at what was unfolding before their eyes.

However, the situation seemed to be in Lenox’s favor. The knight was not equipped with luxurious or outstanding equipment, but hewas one-sidedly dominating the bandit.Arkan fell backwardafterone finalstrike.Lenox put his sword on the bandit’s neck and said, “You seem to havegrownlazy, Arkan. Your sword and your body are slow.”

“Do you really think so?” Arkanretortedwith a smirk.

One of the bandits standing in the encirclement suddenly threw a dagger toward Lenox, and Lenox swung his sword to blockit. Arkan did not miss theopportunity, as he dashed forward and stabbed Lenox intheabdomen. Lenox managed to twist his body at the last second, however,which saved him from receiving a fatal blow.

“Captain!”the knights called out.

Lenox staggered back as his face turned pale.Arkan licked the blood off his sword as he cackled andexclaimed, “The coward always winsinthe end!”

“You’re right.”

The one who spoke wasnone other than Kang Yoon-Soo.Heslowly stood up, having comeup with a plan to kill thebandits. He stretched out his right hand and said, “Summon White.”

“Grrrrruo!”A werewolf with snow-white fur appeared. Theonlookerswere surprisedbythebeast’ssuddenappearance, but Kang Yoon-Soo did not pay anyheed to them as he climbed on top of White.

White bolted forward at an incredible speed with Kang Yoon-Soo ridingatophim;they almost rammed into Arkan, but narrowly avoided him and insteadclimbed up the mountain.They moved ata frighteningly fast speed that neither the bandits nor the knights could react to. Of course, there was no way even a horse could catch up to a werewolf even if they tried.

“Stop,” Kang Yoon-Soo ordered, andWhite came to a sudden halt.

A bandit suddenly shouted, hiseyes wide open in shock, “That’s…That’s the dike keeping the lake water in!”

Kang Yoon-Soo was standing in front of the dike on top of the mountain that held back the lake water.It was the trump cardthe bandits hadprepared against enemieswho climbedup the mountain.The dike washeld together bysturdy ropes;Kang Yoon-Soo swung his longsword, cuttingthose ropes apart.

Pukeok!

The dike started to fall apart, and a streamof waterbegan to flow out of it.Not only the bandits, butalsothe knights, watched in horror at the sight of the water slowly flowing through the dike.

Arkan screamed, his face red withanger, “What are you doing?! A massive landslide will be triggered if that dike breaks!”

“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he swung his longsword once again.It was only a swing of his sword, but the dike started to tremble even more, andeven more water started to pushitsway out of the dike.

The peoplebelowKang Yoon-Soo finally realized the gravity of the situation as they started to shout and scramble.

“Damn it! What happened to the ones guarding the dike?!”

“They all died to that guy!”

“Run! Run if you want to live!”

“Escort the captain! We will leave this place at once!”

The knights quickly mounted their horsesandquickly rodeaway. However, the bandits did not have anyhorsestoescapeon. The bandits ran with all their might, but it was nowhere near enough to escape from the torrent of water about to come crashing down the mountain.

“Grrrruuuo!”White roared.

Kang Yoon-Soo slashed at the last rope keeping the dike together. The dike shatteredanda torrent of water roared out from the lake like a waterfall. The water swept away everything in itspath, and the bandits were noexception.

“Ack!He…l…p…m…”

The bandits could not even properly let outscreamsas the water swept them up. Even Arkan, who had managed tofleethe farthest among the bandits, was swept up by the torrent of water.

Arkanglaredat Kang Yoon-Soo while he was being swept up. Suddenly,he noticed that the expensive wine on his waist was no longer there. However,hewas already buried beneath the water and mud by the time he realizedthat.

The dikehad beendesigned to let the water sweep awayonly theareabeneath the bandit base, but since Kang Yoon-Soohadabruptly destroyedit, the water swallowed everything in its path—including the bandit base.

Kang Yoon-Soo calmlywatchedthe sight while sitting on top of White, anda message popped uponhis wrist device.

[You have triggered a massive landslide in the Hatar Mountains.]

[The only victims were violent criminals; therefore, your notoriety will not increase.]

[Today’s event, where a huge amount of criminals were sweptawaybyalandslide, will be recorded in history.]

Theareabeneath Kang Yoon-Soo had suddenly turned into a vast lake.The landslide had managed to fully annihilate the bandits and prevent any morepursuit from the knights.

Kang Yoon-Soo opened the expensive wine bottleanddrank while enjoying thescene of destructionbeneath him.