Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast

Chapter 89

[Story mode]

The center of the noise that echoed throughout the entire field.
The core facility of the Garbage Mountain.
Within the giant compactor that crushed the trash,
a bizarre scene unfolded, one that Ha Eun-eung and other players could never have imagined.

[Move faster! Increase your work speed!]
[The only reason I’ve spared your worthless slaves is to retrieve the Demon King’s treasure buried in this Garbage Mountain!]
[Hurry up! Hurry up! What are you doing?]

The demon overseers wielded whips as half-demon slaves collapsed, vomiting blood.
The slaves, struggling to rise with trembling limbs,
threw trash toward the compactor with difficulty,
but those who had exhausted their strength couldn’t even get up.

[There’s no reason to spare useless slaves.]
[Dispose of the ones who can’t rise!]
[Please... I’ve done everything you asked... please...]

The overseer’s subordinates grabbed the weak slaves begging for mercy
and threw them toward the compactor.
With the sound of bones grinding and the merciless disposal,
the slaves trembled as if they would revolt, but
with their eyes filled with anger,
and their hands full,
they carried the trash, swallowing their fury.
Unable to use their bloodline powers,
and physically inferior,
the half-demons specialized in bloodlines could not confront the overseers and their subordinates, who controlled the Garbage Mountain.

[Please, anyone… just…] [Just remove the bloodline seal… let us use our powers…]

The desperate longing of the half-demon slaves,
unfulfilled for a long time,
only pushed them further into despair.

[Player mode]

Trapped in the core facility of the Garbage Mountain,
forced into slave labor,
viewers who watched the event scene were stunned.

"Was there even an event like this??"
"So, every time we came here for a repeat quest, those slaves were dying?"
"Sorry about that...??"
"What are you sorry about? Those half-demons sucked the heads off humans like lollipops."
"Haha, that’s true."
"It depends on the case, though. Some half-demons are good!"
"The good ones are the ones who’re nice to Mute Swordsman only."
"Anyway, our half-demons don’t bite humans, lol."
The field, thought to be just a resource-gathering event map,
was revealed by Mute Swordsman to actually be a proper field with hidden events.

‘Half-demons forced into slave labor. I can see where they came from.’

The passage connecting the Demon Realm and the Human Realm.
The Demon Queen’s human stronghold.

‘This entire tragedy comes from the Demon Queen’s trap. A well-planned hellscape.’

The Demon Queen, who had a passage to the human realm,
sometimes allowed other factions to use it,
but beyond the passage, what waited was
the Demon Queen’s subordinates in the bloodline-sealing zone.

‘From the start, if she had prepared physically strong demons,
it would’ve been easy to put collars on the incoming half-demons and monsters.’

The demons stationed at the mounds of Garbage Mountain,
were just guards.
Even if one defeated the demons with difficulty,
if they didn’t escape the Garbage Mountain quickly,
they would end up in the same miserable fate as the half-demons forced to work as slaves in the core facility.

‘So there must be at least two key items here.’

One is the item that seals the bloodlines.
It is the key to creating the bloodline-sealing zone.
The other is the item the Demon Queen’s subordinates are searching for,
hidden somewhere in the Garbage Mountain,
an item once concealed by the former Demon King.

‘Whichever one I can obtain will be a great help.’

On the other hand, if it falls into enemy hands,
it will cause huge trouble in the future.
If I can’t have it, at least I must prevent the demons from getting it.

‘I see. The goal of this field is clear.’

The <Executioner’s Corpse Hill>
was the tutorial, testing whether one could surpass the forced defeat event.

The <Blood-soaked Alleyway>
tested one’s courage to storm the field with a single attempt, without building up event counts.

The <Sinking Forest of Great Trees>
tested whether one could defeat the monster sage within the time limit without being deceived by surface-level enemies.

In the <Demon Realm Arena> and <Extermination Battles>
players tested their trust by teaming up with half-demons or monsters to face off against powerful enemies.

This fifth field, <The Garbage Mountain>,
in the harsh conditions of the bloodline-sealing zone,
tests whether one can seize the items while facing the forces of the Demon Queen.
How will the player achieve this?
It depends on their choice.

Swish! Swish!

The half-demon slaves were whipped.
Would Mute Swordsman liberate them,
and fight against the overseers and their subordinates?
Or would she destroy the bloodline-sealing barrier hidden somewhere in the Garbage Mountain?
Would she use the Demon Queen’s subordinates to uncover the hidden items and steal them?

The choice was up to the player.

‘The half-demons from the Demon Realm are ultimately evil beings. Letting them die isn’t a problem.’

Saving them wasn’t something someone like her, a human, would do.
It would be up to players who actively seek demon blood
and choose to become half-demons or monsters themselves.
To her, they were all enemies.
There was no need to consider them,
and there shouldn’t even be a thought of saving them.
It was an irrational choice.

‘But do all half-demons and monsters have to become enemies?’

The human-faced landlord,
the Wandering Merchant she parted with after making a promise to reunite,
the Wendigo who was slow but affectionate,
the Boogeyman who silently helped her,
the bastard prince who called her mother.

Even though they were slightly stronger and more dangerous than humans,
sometimes they could become friends,
sometimes enemies, and sometimes part ways.
To Ha Eun-eung, this wasn’t a foreign concept.

‘In the martial world, this is how it was with martial artists.’

Martial artists were stronger and more dangerous than commoners.
They could become friends, but also enemies.
They could part ways after fighting together,
just a little special human being.
Maybe half-demons and monsters are like martial artists.
She made her decision.

‘I’ll give them one chance.’

She decided to save the half-demons and monsters who had become slaves.

4.

The garbage of Garbage Mountain was the residue of the Demon Realm’s invasion.
It was a den where discarded human realm items, useless to demons,
were carelessly piled up.

Thud.

Among the disorganized piles of discarded items,
it was so common for small trash to fall that it seemed meaningless to count.

“Ugh, such annoying trash!”

As long as the trash didn’t keep falling near her.

“Hey, you! Go stop that trash from falling over there.”

The overseer pointed to one of his subordinates,
who grabbed the leashes of several slaves.

“It’s the overseer’s order. If you don’t want to be crushed in the compactor, hurry up.”

The slaves, trying to hide their frustration,
quietly followed behind.

‘Something’s off.’
‘This isn’t just overflowing trash.’
‘Why is trash falling in such a place?’

The slaves, who had been forced into labor and transported trash,
felt that something was wrong,
but instead of reporting it to the overseer,
they exchanged glances and nodded silently.

“Huff, huff. This is seriously tough. Human legs just aren’t efficient. Next time, I’ll have to get some half-demon legs and attach them to these.”

As they reached the flatter terrain beyond the garbage mound,
one of the overseers dropped to the ground.
After finishing his awful complaints, he released the leash.

“Make sure the mound doesn’t collapse. You know it’s useless to run, right?”

With a confident, relaxed demeanor,
the overseer, convinced there were no predators,
stretched his twelve legs and laid down.
His peaceful moment, which seemed to last forever,
was abruptly ended when a sword burst from the garbage pile,
piercing his neck perfectly.

“Gkk… grr…”

The overseer’s throat and windpipe were pierced simultaneously,
and he couldn’t scream, only squirming in agony.
The strike, which avoided the bones and muscles,
was a perfect strike.

Thrust.
Thrust.
Thrust.

The sword, pulled lightly after each thrust,
continued to stab the overseer’s body.

"He couldn’t even resist."
"From a perfect action to 3 consecutive just actions, is this real?"
"Critical hit rate 100%"
"Why even have a probability?"
"For weak players to get lucky"
"I agree, sometimes it’s nice when the enemies die unexpectedly from a random stab."
Unlike players who relied on luck,
Ha Eun-eung’s critical hits weren’t just luck.

‘The distorted bodies and muscles of the demons have become familiar to me now.’

The anatomical knowledge she had gained from massacring demons in the Demon Realm
made her much more familiar with the placement of major blood vessels and the structure of muscles.
Her success rate for Just Actions and Perfect Actions, targeting key pressure points,
had drastically increased compared to before she entered the Demon Realm.

Shh…

Mute Swordsman placed her finger on her lips, signaling for silence.
Thanks to her, the slaves who had freed themselves from the overseer’s control
nodded enthusiastically with excitement in their eyes.

Thunk. Thud.
Thud. Thud.

“Ugh! What are the ones up there doing? More trash is falling than before! You three go fix it!”
The demon overseers, ready to kick their lazy co-workers,
looked back at the slaves who were diligently carrying the trash,
and their suspicious looks turned to the slaves.
One of the demons licked its lips hungrily.

“I smell blood.”
“Hey, slave. Where’s the one who came earlier?”

The scent of blood, hidden but not completely covered,
threatened to reveal Mute Swordsman’s presence.
The half-demons, unable to conceal their unease,
couldn’t hide their fear.

‘Could they already have found out?’
‘If they’ve found the human who killed the overseer, we’ll all be killed.’
‘With my powers still sealed, can I defeat three overseers?’

As the half-demons’ thoughts turned toward betrayal,
just before they were about to reveal where Mute Swordsman was hiding,

“One of the overseers went up to the mound with some slaves for a snack.”

The weakest of the half-demons,
who was about to collapse from exhaustion,
suddenly protected Mute Swordsman.

‘Ungrateful bastards. Do they think they can survive by abandoning those who helped them, waiting for their next opportunity?’

Of course, the moment the half-demon spoke out, it placed itself in danger.
Two demons with the bodies of monkeys and hyenas stepped forward,
baring their teeth and glaring menacingly at the half-demon.

“Which mound did he go to?”
“That lazy bastard is actually going to move all the way over there just to do something so troublesome?”
“Is it the storage? He might be hiding some snacks there.”

The two demons nodded at the half-demon’s explanation.
The half-demon’s reasoning made sense.

“If it’s that greedy bastard, it’s possible.”
“It’s better to snack on something little by little when you're hungry than eating a full meal.”

With the demons off on their chase, Mute Swordsman was left alone,
but she couldn’t shake off the cold feeling that had taken over her gaze.
Only one of the half-demons had chosen to protect her.