Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 113
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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 113
Episode 113. The Haibrunn Subjugation War (7)
Gooooo-!
Jaque spewing demonic energy right before my eyes.
Looking at that bastard, I continued my thoughts.
‘The bosses in Roel are all troublesome to deal with.’
It’s not just about depleting their HP.
Each boss has unique conditions that must be met to advance to the next phase, and only by fulfilling those conditions would the battle proceed to the next stage.
Jaque von Haibrunn was no different.
What if I had defeated him after a fierce battle?
He would have met a satisfying death while intoxicated by his corrupted power. He would have faced an ordinary ending, fighting until the very last moment before falling to his enemy’s sword.
‘Of course, right now Jaque hasn’t properly adapted to his transformed body yet, so he’s relatively easier to deal with…’
The Jaque in the original timeline was different.
He had taken sufficient time to completely control his monstrous body, and in that state, he faced the player.
Just dealing with that form alone was overwhelming.
There was a reason Jaque was considered one of the worst bosses in the main story.
Perhaps that’s why? During my newbie days when I had just started Roel, I couldn’t even imagine that Jaque would have a second phase.
I discovered that condition around my 30th playthrough.
‘No-Hit.’
In other words, the condition that triggered when I reduced his health by nearly 30 percent without taking a single hit from Jaque throughout the entire battle.
The key here wasn’t HP, but striking at Jaque’s ‘pride.’
The moment he realized that despite making a contract with an Evil Deity, he couldn’t properly handle a single player, Jaque couldn’t bear the humiliation and made a second contract.
‘…Just like now.’
Craaack-!
The sound of bones breaking echoed from Jaque’s body.
No.
To be precise, it wasn’t the sound of breaking, but of ‘reconstruction.’
Larger. More grotesque. And much more powerful.
“Kraaaaaaak!”
The monster’s scream shook the wasteland.
Dark red energy swirled like a storm, and at its center, the corrupted Jaque’s form continued to undergo mutation after mutation.
“That crazy bastard is really…!”
Heukgol shouted in a voice mixed with horror.
The only Sword Master who had been permitted the taboo of contracting with Evil Deities under the Elders’ tacit approval.
Being such a person, Heukgol knew better than anyone what price that power being granted to Jaque would demand.
“Are you insane! Are you really going to sell even your soul completely!”
Right.
Jaque had offered ‘everything’ to the Evil Deity.
In other words, the human known as Jaque von Haibrunn no longer existed in this world.
What stood before us was nothing but a puppet of the Evil Deity.
‘And…’
I knew well.
The fact that only those who made contracts with Evil Deities by offering everything would leave behind something ‘special’ after death.
Usually, those who contracted with Evil Deities dropped nothing when they died. At best, only corrupted equipment or cursed materials.
But in the case of contractors who sold even their souls to Evil Deities, the story was different. Peterpan of Dawnguard and Camillo von Taribas were exactly such cases.
‘Trial of the Evil Deity.’
Unlike the Elders’ trials that measured the qualifications of test-takers, this ordeal existed solely to bring death to challengers.
There existed special abilities that only those who passed through such trials could obtain.
‘And I…’
Shing-!
I slowly raised my Feather Sword.
‘…have an ability I must obtain through Jaque’s trial.’
Without that ability, the journey ahead would become much more perilous.
That’s why I had planned all of this.
Inducing the Sacred Inquisition, gathering the Sword Masters, accelerating Jaque’s corruption, and guiding him to reach his final phase.
Right.
Everything was to achieve this very ‘purpose.’
Kwaaaaaaang──!
It was while I was having such thoughts.
With an ear-splitting roar, the demonic energy gradually thinned, revealing Jaque von Haibrunn who had offered everything to the Evil Deity.
His transformation had finally come to an end.
“Ha…”
Witnessing this, the Tyrant Dragon let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
“…Fuck, isn’t this a bit much?”
Gooooo-.
Jaque’s build had been massive originally, but now even describing him as ‘massive’ was an understatement.
His body rose like a mountain range. Four grotesquely protruding arms stretched in different directions, and his beheading sword had transformed to match his size, becoming even more imposing.
However, what truly made it impossible to look away was something else…
It was the carapace covering Jaque’s entire body.
Squirm-!
It was hard to believe that the surface undulating while emitting dark red light had once been armor made for a holy knight.
“Now… now I have truly obtained power.”
That voice was no longer human.
A cacophony of multiple overlapping voices echoed from all directions.
It was exactly the same feeling as when I met Camillo von Taribas.
Kwaaaaaaaa─!
A suffocating pressure crushed the wasteland.
Ding, ding, ding-!
Notification sounds continuously ringing in my ears.
At the same time, my vision was instantly dyed red.
〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s intimidation.〕
〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s intimidation.〕
〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s intimidation.〕
〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s intimidation…〕
…
“Damn…”
The Tyrant Dragon and Heukgol furrowed their brows.
Jaque’s aura was that murderously intense.
Even Adelia, who had reached level 88, lost strength in her legs and collapsed to her knees on the hill.
“You’re completely unaffected?”
Then, the Tyrant Dragon glanced at me and spoke.
“…Your mental power must be damn high, tsk.”
Right.
If my mental strength hadn’t been at maximum, I would have certainly fainted.
And for good reason – the demonic energy emanating from the corrupted Jaque was a disaster in itself.
The surrounding air turned a dark red as if rotting away, and the parched wasteland cracked just from his presence alone.
Faced with this overwhelmingly different presence, the Tyrant Dragon gripped Pokryeomdo tightly.
“To face that thing, it seems we’ll have to use ‘that’…”
“Right. There’s absolutely no way we can handle it barehanded.”
Heukgol agreed with a troubled expression. The two Sword Masters exchanged glances, reaching a silent agreement that they would need to bring out their hidden ‘full power’.
“Hey, answer me. Even like that, is one sword strike still enough? Huh?”
Heukgol turned to look at me with a smirk.
It was half-joking mockery, but there was sincerity mixed in as well.
The Tyrant Dragon chimed in, as if agreeing with those words.
“You need to bring out your full power too, Gaon.”
“…”
“You can’t make excuses this time. We’re still not far enough from the Holy City, and if we act carelessly out of overconfidence, the situation could become even more dangerous.”
The Tyrant Dragon’s voice was more serious than ever before.
“If this bastard escapes from here and joins forces with other worshippers of Evil Gods, there would be no situation more dangerous than that. You know this fact well too.”
At the Tyrant Dragon’s continued words, I almost let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
When was he being so uncooperative, but now that the situation had become serious, he suddenly became docile.
“We absolutely must kill him here and now.”
Hearing the Tyrant Dragon’s following words, I nodded briefly.
‘He’s stating the obvious.’
The moment Jaque survives and escapes from here, all my plans will fall apart.
Not only would I miss the 「Trial」 he would drop, but I would also leave behind the seeds of disaster that would drive the world to its end.
Wasn’t the reason I hastened Jaque’s corruption in the first place to eliminate him here early on?
So he absolutely must meet his end here.
“I’ll activate 「Transcendent Spirit」 first.”
The Tyrant Dragon began forming a strategy.
“The duration is 10 minutes. If possible, we need to kill him within that time…”
“There’s no need for that.”
“…Huh?”
Thud, thud-.
Right at that moment, I cut off the Tyrant Dragon’s words and began walking straight toward Jaque.
Seeing this, the Tyrant Dragon looked at me with an expression that couldn’t hide his bewilderment, and Heukgol shouted.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! What are you doing! We need to make a plan, and even with the three of us working together it might not be enough…!”
I didn’t listen to their words.
I just walked silently toward Jaque.
“I don’t need your help.”
No.
To be precise, I had already received enough help from the Tyrant Dragon and Heukgol.
From driving Jaque to the Uncharted Wilderness away from the Holy City, to drawing out his final phase.
Right.
If it hadn’t been for the help of the two Sword Masters, I never would have made it this far.
‘So…’
…Now it was my turn to show my role as a Sword Master.
“Kahahaha!”
Jaque’s laughter burst forth.
“How arrogant, Gaon! You would face this new power alone?”
Whooom, whooooom-!
Crackle-!
Four arms each lifted different weapons.
They were swords forged from demonic energy, modeled after his beheading sword.
“Good, Gaon! I’ll break that arrogance of yours first!”
I didn’t answer, just drew in a breath.
Inhale-.
The world became quiet.
No, it wasn’t the world that became quiet, but my inner self.
All distracting thoughts disappeared, leaving only one purpose.
Exhale-.
I expelled all the air I had held in my lungs.
In that moment, time stretched viscously.
Thump-.
The color drained from the world. The dark red demonic energy, the earth-colored wasteland, the gray clouds in the sky.
Only black and white contrasts remained.
And in that world, I saw a single line.
“…”
A line that would cut through Jaque.
A line that didn’t exist yet, but would soon exist.
That line where past and future overlapped.
Clench-.
When I closed both eyes, that afterimage formed on the pitch-black darkness.
〔MP : 1/1〕
Tick-.
〔MP : 0/1〕
How should I describe that moment?
I swung my sword.
No, the sword moved on its own.
The moment my will and the sword’s will became one, I could no longer distinguish who was the subject and who was the object.
There was no storm. No roar. Not even a breeze stirred.
“…”
As I slowly opened my eyes.
Color returned.
Time returned.
When everything returned to normal like that.
“What the…?”
A voice came from behind me.
At some point, Jaque von Haibrunn was standing behind me.
Crack-.
It was then that a thin ‘line’ penetrating his body appeared.
Crack, crackle-!
At first it was a crack thinner than a hair, but as time passed, that gap began to widen gradually.
Little by little.
Just like that, little by little.
Craaaaaash──!
Soon after, the massive body split exactly in two and collapsed.
A surprisingly smooth cross-section.
That too was brief.
Puhwaaaaak-!
Dark red blood spurted up like a fountain.
Regeneration, hard carapace, the power gained from contracting with the Evil Gods… all of it was perfectly neutralized by a single sword strike.
“…?”
“…?”
A terrible silence fell.
As Heukgol and the Tyrant Dragon, the two Sword Masters, stared at me with dumbfounded expressions…
Ding, ding, ding-!
Only the notification sounds ringing in my ears were driving away the silence of this world.
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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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