Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 10

Episode 10. Revelation and Trial (1)

Step, step-.

Having entered the building, I moved forward without hesitation.

Having visited this space hundreds of times while playing the game, I knew the factory’s internal structure like the back of my hand.

My destination was the 7th floor of the abandoned factory. The place where the entrance to Dungarrd, the Dark City’s Hidden Dungeon II was located.

“Here it is.”

Before long, we arrived at our destination.

The corridor on the 7th floor was connected to a dark cave.

Fluorescent-colored water flowed from the stalactites and lake, which according to the game’s setting meant the cave had been severely contaminated by factory waste.

“Grooooooar──!”

Just then, a spine-chilling roar echoed from far in the distance.

Sensing the obviously ominous atmosphere, Adelia spoke with a rather bewildered expression.

“How on earth did you find a place like this…?”

“I received a revelation.”

Revelation.

A prophecy delivered only to the chosen ones, including Sword Masters.

Upon hearing those words, Adelia pressed her lips together for a moment before nodding her head.

If nothing else, as someone from the sacred Goldhart Family, she couldn’t dare disregard this revelation.

Moreover, since she thought of me as a Sword Master, even more so.

If ‘benefactor’ worked as a magic word for Lea de Karayan, then ‘revelation’ worked exactly the same way for Adelia.

‘Anyway.’

Having finished that train of thought, I glanced at my MP window again.

〔MP : 1/1〕

‘It takes about 24 hours for 1 MP to recover.’

In that sense, Soul of the Sword Master was a finishing move that could only be used once per day.

Considering the world of Loel where danger could strike anywhere at any time, it was a woefully insufficient number of uses.

It meant I had to save it only for truly life-threatening moments.

Therefore…

“Adelia, take the lead.”

…naturally, I planned to entrust this dungeon conquest entirely to our bus driver.

“…?”

Pause-.

Right at that moment, Adelia turned to look at me with a puzzled expression.

She asked in a suspicious voice.

“Wait a minute. Did I ever tell you my name…?”

I hastily made an excuse.

“This was also from a ‘revelation.'”

“…Ah.”

Nod nod-.

Adelia nodded as if she understood.

Indeed, our ‘magic word’ was extremely effective.

* * *

Ding-!

〔You have entered Dungarrd, the Dark City: ‘Hidden Dungeon II’.〕

I followed behind Adelia as we passed through the cave entrance.

A notification appeared before my eyes.

When I ignored it and continued walking, the translucent window immediately disappeared.

“It’s dark.”

Adelia, who was walking ahead, slightly furrowed her brow and muttered.

As she said, the inside of the cave was pitch black.

Only the fluorescent-colored lake and puddles of the same color dimly illuminated the surroundings.

Whooom-!

Drawing her sword, Adelia began channeling her aura.

Soon, a blue-green energy enveloped her blade.

The sword blazed like a torch. Relying on that light, Adelia carefully advanced forward.

Kieeeek-!

How much further had we walked?

We encountered the dungeon’s first group of monsters.

【Lv. 51】

【Lv. 52】

【Lv. 50】

Shrieeeeeek-!

‘Something’ about the size of a forearm let out a shriek and flew at us with fierce speed.

At that swift velocity, I couldn’t react at all.

“Hup!”

But Adelia was different. As she swung her sword, something came raining down from the sky.

Thud-!

Splash-!

I looked down at the ground.

Five or six fluorescent fairies lay scattered, cut in half.

Adelia’s sword strike had cleanly separated their upper and lower bodies.

“I’ll continue advancing like this.”

At Adelia’s matter-of-fact report, I nodded.

Of course, unlike my calm exterior, my heart was utterly bewildered.

‘No way, that’s crazy. How can they be so fast…?’

Polluted Tinkerbell.

Level 50 monsters born from illegal experiments conducted in the abandoned factory.

Monsters that rush at players and self-destruct, dealing significant damage if not shot down first like just now.

‘In the game, I could react to them without much difficulty…’

In reality, they were so fast I couldn’t even dare to follow them with my eyes.

Perhaps it was because my agility stat was only 1.

‘I need to improve my physical abilities as soon as possible.’

While I was having such thoughts to myself.

“Um… Sword Master?”

Adelia, who had been walking ahead, glanced at me and spoke up.

My title had suddenly changed to Sword Master, but anyway.

“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask this question in the current situation, but could you tell me what you thought of the swordsmanship I just displayed?”

A somewhat out-of-the-blue question.

Hearing this, I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut for a moment.

How was the swordsmanship you displayed?

‘I’d have to see something to know…’

All I saw was something flash before my eyes and then the monster was cut in half.

But I couldn’t very well say this directly.

To make matters worse, Adelia was looking at me with eyes full of expectation, making it even more impossible.

‘Well then.’

Nominally, I was supposed to be giving her guidance in this situation.

After pondering for a moment, I just spouted whatever came to mind.

“Your sword path contained worldly concerns.”

“…!”

“A sword strike born from a troubled mind can never be clean. So when you hold your sword, forget your worries and focus only on that moment.”

Adelia’s eyes widened.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

She seemed genuinely satisfied with my advice.

‘Hmm.’

Why was that?

Suddenly, a phrase I’d seen on the internet flashed through my mind.

That saying about how once you become famous, people will applaud even if you take a dump.

‘…She’d be happy like that even if I spouted shit from my mouth.’

Indeed, there’s not a single false saying among the old adages.

* * *

Other RPGs give you experience points when you hunt monsters. When those numbers reach a certain value, you level up.

But Lost Elder’s growth system had a structure quite different from other RPG games.

‘Players can increase their stats through repetitive actions or training.’

Of course, you could also level up by defeating monsters, thanks to the setting that you gained ‘enlightenment’ based on real combat experience.

Therefore, no matter how many monsters of the same type you hunted, experience points wouldn’t rise beyond a certain level.

‘It means simple hunting is meaningless in Lost Elder. You can’t level up that way anyway.’

This was why my level remained the same even after killing Barbarian the Slayer of Men.

Anyway.

The reason I’m suddenly talking about this out of nowhere…

Ding-!

〔Stamina increases slightly. (1→2)〕

〔Strength increases slightly. (1→2)〕

…was because walking through the treacherous terrain of the dungeon had raised my stats.

‘My stamina and strength increased already.’

I actually had muscle aches all over my body.

My legs were shaking, and I was gradually getting out of breath.

‘Getting tired already after walking just this much.’

I felt pathetic beyond belief, almost pitiful.

Meanwhile, Adelia, who had single-handedly slaughtered the dungeon monsters, wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

“Phew.”

Stop-.

Just then, Adelia halted her steps.

Taking a short breath, she shook the blood off her blade. Fluorescent slime dripped onto the stone floor.

Soon, slowly raising her head, Adelia looked at the massive obstacle that appeared before us.

“It seems we’re finally reaching the end of the dungeon.”

Whooooo-.

A massive stone gate, appearing to be nearly 10 meters tall, revealed itself.

Horrific murals were carved on its surface, vividly depicting children being kidnapped and used as illegal test subjects.

It was an entrance all too familiar to me.

…And for good reason, since this was the ‘Boss Room’ of this dungeon.

“Then let’s go in.”

Adelia pushed the stone gate with both hands.

With a thunderous sound, countless particles of dirt fell from the ceiling.

Creak-!

The scenery beyond the entrance slowly began to reveal itself.

A cave with soaring heights.

Faint moonlight dimly illuminated the underground through gaps in the half-collapsed ceiling. The half-submerged floor glowed with fluorescent green light.

Factory steel pillars precariously supported the ceiling.

And in the center of that clearing, a massive form radiating ominous energy crouched.

【Lv. 82】

Flutter-!

Translucent wings writhed between torn and tattered green rags.

Six grotesquely bizarre arms each gripped massive greatswords. The bumpy, rough skin was stained a dirty brown and fluorescent green.

An appearance reminiscent of ‘Asura’ from Indian mythology.

If this were a game, the following boss name would have been displayed above his hideous face.

【Peterpan, the Kidnapper of Dawnguard】

【Peterpan, the Kidnapper of Dawnguard】

“Ah…”

Hesitate-.

For a moment, Adelia unconsciously stepped backward.

The intimidating aura Peterpan emanated was fierce enough to momentarily freeze even her at level 77.

Ding-!

〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s intimidation.〕

Of course, I was completely unaffected.

The passive effect of 【Soul of the Sword Master】 made me immune to all mental debuffs.

I glanced at Adelia and spoke.

“You should be warmed up from walking here.”

“…”

“This is the final stage of the ‘training’ I mentioned earlier. Can you handle it?”

Peterpan.

Despite the familiar name that might seem amusing, he was considered one of the worst bosses in the main story.

High stats aside, his attack patterns were quite troublesome.

If the current Adelia faced him, she’d probably meet death 7 times out of 10.

“Hah.”

There’s no way Adelia wouldn’t know this fact.

Experts above level 75 can assess an opponent’s level at a glance. Unless there’s a considerable difference in class.

So she must know too. The fact that fighting Peterpan wouldn’t offer much chance of victory.

Sring-!

Nevertheless, Adelia pointed her sword without a moment’s hesitation.

Then she began cautiously approaching the creature.

“If I can gain enlightenment, I’ll challenge it no matter what…”

Kaaang──!

At that very moment, bright red sparks flew.

In the blink of an eye, Peterpan had approached right in front of Adelia and swung his sword.

Adelia, who instinctively defended against that attack, opened her eyes wide.

“What the…!”

The attack was fast and heavy.

Perhaps due to the impact, Adelia’s hand gripping the sword was trembling.

But there was no time to catch her breath.

Six massive blades immediately swept in like a storm.

“Wendyyyy─!”

Whiriririk-!

Peterpan, who leaped into the air flapping his wings, twisted his entire body and unleashed sword strikes.

Against the swift attacks that didn’t match his massive frame, Adelia desperately defended while stumbling backward.

The attacks she couldn’t defend against left wounds on her body.

Less than five minutes had passed since the battle began, but Adelia’s body was already covered in scratches.

‘As expected, it’s too much.’

Right.

Peterpan was a much more formidable opponent than I had thought.

I had hoped that Adelia might gain some enlightenment through this battle, but at this rate, she would surely meet a pointless death without lasting long.

…My judgment was quick.

Having finished that thought, I immediately pulled out the trump card I had prepared.

‘You’ve worked hard, Adelia.’

I thought to myself as I watched Adelia struggling to block the attacks.

Just by bringing me to the Boss Room, she had done her part.

Anyway, I had planned to handle everything from this point on myself.

Sring-!

I drew the Feather Sword.

The weightless sword stuck perfectly to my hand.

Suddenly, my vision went dark. It wasn’t a conscious action. My body reflexively closed both eyes, remembering the gust of wind that had struck last time.

And then…

〔MP : 1/1〕

Tick-.

〔MP : 0/1〕

…For a very brief moment, an explosive sense of omnipotence enveloped my entire body.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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