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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 12
I stood there, dumbfounded, watching the Japanese warship shatter into pieces.
‘Was the Jija cannon always this powerful?’
That couldn’t be right.
I might not know much about cannons, but even I understood that a 15th-century Jija cannon shouldn’t be hitting like a modern self-propelled artillery piece.
The proof was right in front of me that while my shot had obliterated a warship, the other cannons fired by the Joseon navy weren’t even reaching their targets, splashing uselessly into the sea.
‘It must be because of Napoleon’s rifle.’
A status window had appeared over the rifle, showing information I hadn’t seen before.
==
【Napoleon, the Grapeshot General】
—Napoleon, the hero of the French Revolution, dominated battlefields with his artillery. No one could rival his mastery of cannons in war.
Firepower: 500
Accuracy: +60%
==
Relics are deeply connected to the lives of those who once wielded them.
A relic from a warrior thrives in battle and a relic tied to the sea reveals its power at sea.
And Napoleon was a conqueror obsessed with war and artillery like no other.
The Battle of Myeongnyang was a war, and the Jija cannon in my hands was artillery.
As long as I was on the battlefield wielding a cannon, that cannon effectively became an relic.
BOOOOM—!
Another Japanese warship crumbled like a biscuit and sank beneath the waves.
‘Holy shit, this is insane.’
It might sound psychotic to say this, but firing felt good.
The Jija cannon roared like a furious dragon with every shot, and the sight of enemy ships sinking under the bombardment sent a strange thrill through me.
‘Get a grip, Choi Seojun. You can’t be enjoying this.’
This was a battlefield.
A place where people were dying.
I shook myself out of it, forcing my mind to stay rational. And then.
"KISAMAAAAA—!"
[PR/N: It is an impolite way of addressing someone in the Japanese language. It roughly translates as 'scum' or can even mean 'bastard'.]
From a sinking Japanese warship, a samurai in full Sengoku-era armor launched himself straight at me.
His gleaming katana was aimed directly at my throat.
"Shit!"
Panicking, I reflexively fired the Jija cannon at him.
BOOOOOOM—!
"GRAAAAH!"
The airborne samurai took a direct hit, his body sent flying into the ocean.
"Damn, that scared me."
Was this a kamikaze attack or what?
Did Japan have a long-standing tradition of suicide assaults?
I clutched my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.
"Huff…! Th-that was Shiro Masakage…!"
The officer who had dumped the Jija cannon duty on me gaped at the samurai’s sinking form, looking completely stunned.
"Was he someone important?"
"He was a samurai just below the rank of daimyo!"
[PR/N: The daimyo were top ranking figures in Japanese society during the years in which the shoguns ruled Japan.]
"Seems like... quite an important person."
"Not just quite, extremely important!"
Both of us were so flustered that we kept stammering over our words.
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed like I had just taken down a high-ranking samurai.
‘Right... I’m not just some ordinary guy, I’m an Awakened.’
He wasn’t dead, he was still swimming in the ocean but at the very least, he was out of the fight.
"Should I keep firing?"
"Yes! Please, keep firing! I’ll bring you as many cannonballs as you need!"
The officer, who had been speaking to me informally just moments ago, suddenly became overly respectful.
Now that I thought about it, the usual sounds of cannon fire had stopped.
Turning around, I saw that the soldiers manning the Jija cannons were all lined up behind me, each holding a cannonball, waiting for me to take the lead.
'Well then, let's get some practice in.’
BOOOOOM—!
I unleashed another round of cannon fire toward the Japanese warships.
***
Even hearing that there were 133 enemy warships was terrifying enough.
But seeing them with my own eyes? That was enough to make even the bravest warriors hesitate.
The sheer numerical difference ten to one made the Joseon navy reluctant to advance. No one wanted to take the first step forward.
But someone had to lead them and Yi Sunsin understood that better than anyone.
Just as he was about to give the order to charge.
BOOOOOOM—!
An earth-shattering cannon blast rang out.
A Japanese warship sank instantly.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The bombardment didn’t stop with just one shot. One after another, the Japanese warships were obliterated, sinking beneath the waves.
"S-Shiro Shankai!"
[PR/N: "Shiro Sankai" in Japanese translates to ‘White Birth Monster’, where ‘shiro’ means ‘white’ and ‘sankai’ refers to a ‘birth monster’ (a type of yokai in Japanese folklore), they’re referrring MC as Shiro Shankai]
The stunned Japanese fleet began to scatter, trying to avoid the deadly artillery.
Yi Sunsin turned toward the source of the fire and there, Choi Seojun stood, firing the Jija cannon with relentless precision.
"...As expected!"
It was astonishing.
Could even a Jija cannon become divine in the hands of a master?
‘Choi Seojun’s abilities seem to have no limit.’
He can open doors to the shop anywhere, track the movements of nightmarish creatures in the dark… and his rousing pre-battle speech at dawn still echoed in the soldiers’ hearts.
Choi Seojun was like a bottomless well, always revealing something new.
As if the heavens had sent him.
"Advance!"
Yi Sunsin’s flagship, the panokseon, charged straight toward the heart of the scattered Japanese fleet.
BOOOOOM—!
***
‘I need to be careful with my shots.’
As I continued firing the Jija cannon, I quickly realized that this wasn’t something I could just spam recklessly.
==
[Snowflower Stone]
Remaining Mana: 1100 / 4000
==
Every shot drained an enormous amount of mana from the Snowflower Stone.
Napoleon’s cannon was a monstrous energy glutton, devouring 500 mana per shot.
In other words, I was limited to just two shots.
After firing twice, I had to rest until the mana of the Snowflower Stone replenished.
‘Do I have to target the Kamikaze?’
Kamikaze.
That was the nickname I had given to the Japanese samurai.
The awakened samurai of Japan charged in, disregarding their own lives.
It was a fitting display of the same tragic resolve that had once driven them to charge with swords instead of guns during World War II.
Just as I was scanning the Japanese warships with tense eyes, making sure no samurai were soaring toward us.
"E-enemy warships approaching!"
A soldier watching from the mast shouted urgently.
"Thirty ships! No—eighty!"
The number of enemy warships he reported kept increasing. And finally.
"T-two hundred ships!"
"!"
The entire ship fell into a stunned silence at the number.
"Are you certain of what you saw?"
At a commander's question, the soldier scanned the sea again before shouting back.
"It's confirmed! Over two hundred warships!"
"……."
The initial count of Japanese warships, according to the Joseon navy, had been 133.
And now, over 200 more had appeared.
Even excluding the six we had sunk earlier, we were now facing an enemy force of 327 ships.
To make matters worse, I could sense an unusual magical presence emanating from some of them.
‘So they have awakened among them, huh.’
Unlike Joseon, where supernatural abilities were shunned as unnatural, Japan viewed them as a mark of success.
I had once heard that all high-ranking Japanese commanders in the past were awakened. It seemed that was true after all.
Meanwhile, most of Joseon’s naval commanders were ordinary men without supernatural abilities.
And now, 13 ships against 327.
In both numbers and strength, the disparity was overwhelming.
Despair loomed over the deck, silence gripping the air until a voice shattered it.
"Advance! Raise the signal flag!"
At Admiral Yi Sunsin’s command, the rallying flag was hoisted atop the flagship.
Yet, despite this signal, not a single one of the 12 remaining Joseon ships moved to follow.
Commander Ahn Wi hesitated. Vice Admirals ignored the call. Some even chose to withdraw and observe from a distance.
With the enemy outnumbering them thirty to one, none dared to step forward.
That was when Yi Sunsin’s thunderous voice erupted across the battlefield.
“Ahn Wi! Do you truly believe you will live if you flee?!”
His voice, carrying immense force and conviction, echoed across the waters of Myeongnyang.
Immediately, Ahn Wi's warship, once hesitant, began moving toward the flagship.
And at that moment, the tides carried the overwhelming force of the Japanese fleet surging toward them.
Amid this desperate, do-or-die moment, Yi Sunsin suddenly took a step forward.
Step. Step.
The footsteps echoed across the deck and came to a halt before me.
“What is it, Admiral?”
Yi Sunsin gazed up at the sky with a faint smile.
“I know you are not of this world.”
“……”
Looking back down, he spoke with certainty.
“The heavens must have sent you to me for this day. Now, I finally understand.”
“Admiral…”
“Take my sword.”
Yi Sunsin unfastened the Twin Dragon Sword from his waist and extended it toward me.
“Why are you giving me this…?”
“It is a blade meant to slay the unnatural. I have long since retired from my role as a Monster Hunter, so I no longer have use for it.”
He gestured toward his waist.
“These two blades are enough for me.”
There, hanging at his side, were his two cherished longswords, famed throughout history.
"With a three-foot blade, I swear to the heavens, and the mountains and rivers tremble."
"With a single swing, I sweep away all foes, and blood stains the land."
Yi Sunsin himself had inscribed these verses upon the blades.
“Though I have never walked the path of the transcendent, even I can tell your relic’s power is nearly spent.”
His eyes fell on the Snowflower Stone inside my pocket.
“At best, you have two more shots left.”
“……”
He had seen through everything.
He knew exactly how much mana I had exhausted with my cannon fire.
He even knew that I could only fire twice more.
“Kim Manho escort Master Choi to the scouting ship.”
“Yes, sir! Master Choi, this way, please.”
My feet refused to move. I turned back to Yi Sunsin.
“Come with us”
But he shook his head.
“This is my battlefield not yours.”
His eyes locked onto the horizon.
And then.
“YI SUNSHIIIIIIIIIN—!”
A thunderous battle cry tore through the air.
A samurai, clad in Sengoku-era armor, hurtled toward Yi Sunsin, his entire body surging with magical energy on par with an A-rank Hunter.
Yi Sunsin’s twin blades flashed.
Clang! Kaang!
His blue sword aura clashed against the samurai’s red energy, intertwining for an instant before quickly overwhelming it.
─B-bakemono…! GRAAAH!
From the scouting ship, I could only watch.
One lone warship, carrying a single man with supernatural strength, charged into the enemy ranks.
Straight into the heart of an army filled with awakened warriors.
I bore witness to a miracle slicing through 233 enemy ships.
That day, out of 300 Japanese warships.
30 were sunk by Yi Sunsin’s blade,
and over 200 were left in ruins.
─The War God of the Sea.
This was the moment when the legend of Myeongnyang was written.
***
"Ugh…"
I opened my eyes at the counter.
A strange heaviness pressed down on my chest. Looking down, I found a massive three-meter-long greatsword resting in my arms.
==
[Twin Dragon Sword]
Relic Rank: Legendary
- A sword wielded by the great Joseon Admiral Yi Sunsin to slay the unnatural.
Attack Power: 3200 ~ ???
==
Yi Sunsin’s cherished weapon The Twin Dragon Sword.
"Damn, these stats are insane."
The sheer weight of the sword was suffocating, so I quickly set it aside.
Having experienced something similar back in Napoleon’s era, I wasn’t as disoriented as the first time.
But the lingering aftershock… that was something else.
‘That was absolutely incredible.’
Yi Sunsin alone was a force of nature, cutting down waves of awakened Japanese warriors,
but the Joseon navy, encircling the enemy fleet in a perfect crane-wing formation, was just as breathtaking.
I never imagined I’d see Hakikjin with my own eyes.
[PR/N: Hakikjin is a tactical formation where the opponent is surrounded drawing them in a circle, widely used in both the East and the West.]
If only I could have recorded it.
But more importantly.
"How the hell do I use this thing?"
I clicked my tongue at the ridiculous weight of the Twin Dragon Sword.
Yi Sunsin had swung it like a feather, but to me, it felt like a chunk of reinforced steel.
"Do I need a gym membership or something?"
Smirking at my own ridiculous thoughts, I hoisted the sword with both hands.
"God, it's heavy."
Forget the gym, just lifting this thing was a workout on its own.
"I need to rest first."
Burning through my mana with those cannon shots had left my entire body sore.
Technically, it wasn’t my mana being used, it was the Snowflower Stone’s but standing for so long had still taken a toll on me.
I stowed away the Twin Dragon Sword, headed to my room, and collapsed into bed.
And then, a few days later.
A mysterious figure was spotted in Seoul, dragging an enormous greatsword behind them through the Gateways.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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