Episode 6: The Storm-Ravaged Mountain (1)
Rumble….
The weather atop the high mountain where the monastery sat was always capricious.
Thick dark clouds hung over a sky that had been clear until morning, and the heavens roared fiercely, as if they would pour down rain at any moment.
The group that snuck a glance at the sky was too busy laughing raucously.
“What the hell. Are there only men here? And they’re all brats too!”
“Kehehe! Let us dodge the rain, oh merciful monks!”
“…….”
Diallo looked around at the uninvited guests.
Axes and swords.
Armed with crude gear, they were unmistakably bandits.
However it had happened, they seemed to have drifted all the way to the monastery.
Sid hid his body behind the bars and blinked.
It seemed that something as raucous as the weather was about to erupt.
“Unpack your things. From today, this is our home.”
A man with a thick beard walked out from among the bandits.
The longsword at his waist and his slicked-back hair were quite dashing.
A man boasting a solid build, much like Diallo, raised his eyebrows.
Realizing at a glance that he was the leader, Diallo glared at him.
As expected, the strong recognized the strong.
“You’d better get lost on your own if you don’t want to get hurt. You’re not the first scum like you I’ve seen.”
At Diallo’s threat, the other monks nodded their heads.
In truth, bandit hordes had attacked several times before, and dangerous monsters like wounded orcs had approached as well.
But each time, it had been Diallo who drove them away, so the monks had every right to stand tall.
What ordinary person could possibly pummel an orc with their bare hands!
As expected, Diallo’s muscles were not just for show.
“Oho?”
The man with the thick beard sized Diallo up.
He looked to be in his early forties.
The bandit chief lifted the flask at his waist and gulped it down.
He strolled around Diallo with leisurely, swaggering steps.
He didn’t seem particularly bothered even as the bear of a man revealed his thick, heavy tendons.
The chief pulled the bottle from his lips and smiled sinisterly.
“Hmph, it’s a shame to let a body like that rot in a monastery. How about it, why don’t you join under me and make a fortune? You look like you were born to be a bandit!”
“Bwahaha! That’s right, Chief!”
The thick biceps and rock-like pectoral muscles visible beneath his sleeveless monk’s habit.
Who would ever think this man was a monk?
Even to a mere bandit chief, his muscles were enviable.
But at this familiar scene, Sid burst into laughter.
“That guy’s dead now.”
It was a scene he had seen many times before.
A fearless bandit provokes Diallo, and then his fierce fists—the same ones that had even beaten orcs—go to work.
That was the end of it.
Once Diallo started “dancing” like an unbridled bull, the bandits would be busy soaring into the sky.
Since this had happened just a year ago, Sid watched the scene with utter leisure.
“Puhaha!”
“Who do you think our brother is!”
Perhaps thinking the same thing as Sid, the monks burst into laughter too.
Especially Murphy, the most talkative one, came forward running his mouth.
The chief’s eyebrows rose at the appearance of the scrawny monk.
“Do you know who our brother is? He was a knight candidate, I’ll have you know! A bandit like you would be finished with just one punch from our brother—”
Srring!
In a brief instant.
Murphy’s words never made it to the end.
The sword at the bandit’s waist left its scabbard, and the moment the naked blade sought a new home to hide its bashful edge, Diallo’s arm grabbed Murphy and pulled him away.
Diallo had saved Murphy from the bandit who swung his sword.
Murphy, caught in Diallo’s arm, had pissed himself.
All of this happened in an instant.
“Hmph.”
Perhaps slightly cut, red blood seeped from Diallo’s shoulder.
The bandit chief was also surprised by his tremendous reaction speed, his eyes going wide.
But his surprise did not last long.
Soon, a sinister smile settled on his lips.
Whoosh! Swish! Srrk!
Sharp swords sliced through the air.
Having thrown Murphy behind him, Diallo dodged the bandit’s sword.
One step back to avoid the blade, two steps back to widen the distance.
It was a fight between one who held a sword and one who did not, yet the sight was almost beautiful.
“Wha…?”
The monks lost all trace of laughter at the suddenly erupted clash.
Soon, just like the leisurely bandit chief, the other bandits burst into laughter too.
“Knight candidate? Our chief was a real knight! Puhahaha!”
The chief, turning his sword and correcting his stance, locked eyes with Diallo.
Fortunately, the mob surrounding them showed no signs of attacking the monastery.
They simply watched, treating it as mere entertainment.
“Ahem, as my subordinate introduced just now, I am a former knight. My name is Rowark! Have you heard of Rowark Powell? I’m pleased to meet a junior in these mountains! But as you can see, I’ve been at this bandit business for quite some time. As you know, the state of the kingdom isn’t exactly normal, is it? You’ve got to do what you can to survive.”
“…….”
The swordsmanship fluttering like a butterfly’s wings was clearly no joke.
Realizing the bandit before him was no ordinary man, Diallo’s expression turned serious.
Perhaps sensing the momentum flowing his way, Rowark continued.
“Our mountain stronghold got raided by the kingdom. We were looking for a decent place when your monastery caught our eye. Ah, yes, since you’re a knight junior, how about this? If I win, you hand over the monastery. If you win, we’ll leave quietly. My subordinates are men of honor too, being a knight’s subordinates, you see? They probably won’t interfere or break their word.”
The shaggy man’s sinister gaze flickered.
Diallo frowned, wary of his eyes.
An uneasy atmosphere flowed through the monastery, much like the uneasy sky.
“We may look like this, but we have our honor!”
“Subordinates of a knight, puhahaha! Then would that make us squires?”
At Rowark’s playful tone, the bandits burst into laughter.
As if to prove those words were no lie, the bandits only watched without showing any signs of interfering.
Leaving honor aside, they seemed utterly convinced their chief wouldn’t lose to Diallo.
“H-Hyung-nim? What should we do? Should we fight too?”
“Y-You call that a deal? Give our monastery to those bandits?”
The frightened monks hid behind Diallo and gauged the situation.
They could all use the Iron Fist, but having no real combat experience, they lacked the courage to step into the fight.
Diallo, who could not have been unaware of this fact, raised his head and shouted.
The other monks could not be used to their full potential.
“Fine! If I win, get lost without any lip! If you don’t, I’ll make you…”
His wrinkled nose made him look like a threatening bear.
Looking at his slightly cut shoulder from saving Murphy, Diallo walked forward.
When he clenched his fist tight and took a simple fighting stance, Rowark’s eyebrows rose.
“Er, junior? Don’t you need a sword? Shall I lend you one?”
“Hmph!”
As if to say he had no need for stale jokes, the distance closed frighteningly fast.
Diallo leaned his upper body down and closed the gap like a sliding snakehead.
Soon his crouched body slipped under the bandit chief’s jaw, and like a salmon swimming upstream against the current, Diallo’s explosive fist shot out.
Whoosh!
Instead of a heavy impact sound, sharp wind brushed past.
Rowark tilted his chin back to avoid the fist.
The two who had begun their engagement exchanged attacks like the wind.
Diallo’s fist burrowed into Rowark’s guard, aiming for his jaw, abdomen, and then his side.
He clearly intended not to give enough distance for the sword to be swung, but to finish it in a single breath.
Whoosh! Huk! Huk! Whoosh!
Thick forearms like logs split the air.
It was a threatening attack even enveloped in the Iron Fist, but splitting empty air meant Rowark had leisurely dodged as well.
Despite being a mere bandit chief, the claim that he was a former knight was no lie, as Rowark displayed light, fluid footwork.
Sid, peeking through the window, broke into a cold sweat.
Szzt!
The moment Rowark stepped back and Diallo pulled his fist back.
A sword flowed between them.
In that brief instant, a long slash was carved into Diallo’s chest.
The bandit chief scanned his wound with leisurely eyes.
At that moment, everyone there was certain.
That Diallo could not defeat Rowark.
Whoosh!
Rowark’s hair brushed beneath the wildly swinging fist.
In truth, his arm hadn’t even been moving until just now.
As if toying with the “knight junior” Diallo.
“Hoo! Hoo!”
Rough breath escaped between Diallo’s puffed cheeks.
Before he knew it, thick drops of sweat had gathered at the end of his jaw, and his eyes began to show anxiety.
Unlike what he had dismissively assumed, he now realized how seasoned his opponent was, and that his own skills had no answer for it.
“What. Is that it?”
As the fist-clenching Diallo stepped back, Rowark gave way.
A bandit’s characteristic laugh leaked from his raised lips.
As if finally resolving himself to something, Diallo gritted his teeth.
“Everyone run! Jump down the mountain, hurry!”
“Huh?”
“Hyung-nim?”
The monks’ gazes focused on the sudden shout.
The monks who belatedly realized what it meant ran down the mountain.
Only Diallo, extending his fists like a steadfast guardian, stood to face the bandit group numbering fifteen.
“Hmph.”
Unlike him, panting and drenched in sweat, Rowark was neat and tidy.
He brushed back his slightly disheveled hair and smiled refreshingly.
Pointing at the fleeing monks, Rowark tilted his head.
“I told you. I’m a knight.”
“Chief! They say it’s bad luck to kill monks!”
“Then shall we see what they’ve got?”
With the boring fight over, the bandits scattered into the monastery.
There was no way a place like this would hold anything valuable, but once they laid hands on it, looking around to see what was there was simply habit.
Among them, one tactless bandit stuck close to Diallo’s side.
The bandit’s sinister voice flowed beside the man standing firm as a rock.
“We’ll put the monastery to good use! Thanks, missy!”
Crunch!
As if struck by a thick battering ram, one bandit vanished.
The clearing near the main hall.
The vanished bandit was writhing with his face smashed in.
The bandits who saw this opened their mouths, and Rowark smiled vacantly.
“I told you, I’m the strong one, not you lot….”
“Come at me all at once, you thieving bastards!!!”
Boom!
A thunderous roar exploded through the deep mountains.
As if answering that voice, the darkening sky also let out a fierce cry.
Small raindrops fell on his shoulder, and blood mingled with rainwater flowed smoothly down.
Having sent the monks who might get hurt fleeing, Diallo resigned himself to death.
In truth, this man was no pushover, having sent one bandit flying with a single punch.
It was simply that Rowark was too strong.
“This damned monk thinks we’re going easy on him because he’s a monk!”
“Chief! Let’s cripple this bastard and sell him off!”
The hyenas who had lost their comrade growled.
The bandits surrounding Diallo held their weapons and paced around.
It was striking how they hesitated to step forward, like a pack of hyenas surrounding a bear on the plains.
The bandit chief also let out a breath, perhaps finding the sight pitiful.
“Get back. He’s strong.”
“Uraaah!”
Despite the chief’s warning, a fearless bandit charged in.
The ax-wielding bandit got behind him, but a fist that shot up like a roly-poly doll smashed his face in.
Soon another bandit’s sword aimed for his side, but the hulking man leaped into the air, spread his legs, and kicked them aside.
In the blink of an eye, three had fallen.
Bpak!
“Kuaaack!”
As if gored by a giant buffalo, the bandits who were struck once could not rise again.
Diallo, having taken down three in an instant, revealed sharp eyes amidst the light shower.
Like the ferocious momentum of a lion, his gaze was directed solely at Rowark.
As if to say that only this man was his opponent.
Thump, thump….
Sid observed him with worried eyes.
The man glaring through the shower was tragic to behold.
No matter how much they had butted heads and threatened each other, they were brothers who had spent their lives together.
He was a man so honorable that he sent the other monks fleeing and staked his life alone.
How could anyone hate a man like that?
But having clearly seen the bandit chief’s skill, it was no exaggeration to say that the fight was already over.
Sid grabbed the bars with anxious eyes.
Beneath the bare skin touching the cold metal,
a small heart pounded.
“Hyung-nim….”
- To be continued in Episode 7 -