Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 152
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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 152
Episode 152. The Imperial Palace’s Treasure (3)
Puppet Master Batu’s face turned bright red. It was an expression mixed with embarrassment, humiliation, and indignation.
“Th-this is just a false rumor! It’s slander!”
“….”
“I, I don’t make lovers in the first place!”
A cry that was almost a scream.
At this, the Tentacle Woman raised her eyebrows with interest.
As if she found Batu’s tantrum endlessly amusing.
“Why is this slander? Explain it to me.”
“No, it just doesn’t make sense!”
Batu, who had let out a squawk, continued speaking.
“I have so many pretty dolls that I’ve modified to my taste, so does it make sense that I’d abandon them and like a lunatic like Dorico Shiro? Does that make any sense?!”
“But Dorico Shiro is cute and pretty looking, right? Honestly, wouldn’t it be hard to find a ‘doll’ better than her?”
“Huh? Th-that’s….”
Hesitation-.
Puppet Master Batu froze.
Because there was nothing wrong with the Tentacle Woman’s words.
Even by his picky aesthetic standards, Dorico Shiro possessed beautiful looks.
“And, Batu. You’re calling Dorico Shiro a lunatic?”
The Tentacle Woman grinned and scratched at Batu’s nerves.
She seemed to be simply enjoying this situation itself.
“Honestly, you’re not one to talk. You’re more crazy than Dorico Shiro…”
“Nooooo!”
“…?”
“No! That’s not true! You’re wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”
Squawk-!
Puppet Master Batu suddenly screamed and cut off the Tentacle Woman’s words.
Trembling with both hands, he shouted as if crying out in despair.
“Dolls never betray me! They obey my words perfectly and always give me beautiful smiles!”
“….”
“But you’re saying I’d abandon my pretties and like the fickle and selfish Dorico Shiro…?”
Batu, who had trailed off, shook his head violently from side to side.
“Never! Absolutely not! It’s all false rumors!”
“…Ugh.”
The Tentacle Woman stepped back with a disgusted expression.
“Hmm.”
The Golem Knight let out a contemplative sound.
Unlike the playful Tentacle Woman, he had been taking this situation seriously and carefully from the beginning.
“Then explain the situation from that day, Batu.”
“What?”
“What kind of conversation did you two have? There must be a reason why Dorico Shiro called you a ‘creepy bastard.'”
“No! There isn’t! We didn’t even have any strange conversation! I just went to complain!”
“…Complain?”
At the Golem Knight’s question, Batu frantically explained.
“Do-Dorico Shiro said that Gaon and I could become good friends! So I believed her words and tried to have a friendly conversation!”
“….”
“But friends my ass! That bastard immediately tried to kill me! He even smashed my precious doll to pieces! It can’t even be repaired! It’s completely ruined!”
“….”
“So I went to confront Dorico Shiro! I was just angry that that bastard’s advice was complete garbage!”
Hearing this, the Tentacle Woman sighed as if deflated.
“Sigh, what? That’s what it was…?”
Resting her chin on her hand, she grumbled in a bored voice.
“I thought it was something big. We already knew that Gaon was a dangerous person.”
“Th-that’s….”
“Gaon is the guy who killed Camillo von Taribas and The Adversary, and even caused 「The Second Apostle」 to descend.”
“….”
“But you thought you could become friends with that bastard just fine? It’s entirely your fault. You’re an idiot for believing the words of someone with a flower garden for brains like Dorico Shiro.”
“N-no! Th-that’s not everything!”
Batu screamed.
“Breaking my precious doll was fine! Objects breaking after long use is common! B-but….”
Hah, hah-.
Batu, who had stopped speaking for a moment, gasped for breath.
His face began to turn pale in an instant.
His lips trembled. As if he was recalling some terrible memory. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and for a moment his eyes lost focus and began wandering through empty space.
After standing like that for a while, Batu finally opened his mouth with an endlessly trembling voice.
“That bastard… even dealt direct damage to my main body….”
“…?”
“…?”
Pause-.
At those words, the playful atmosphere completely sank.
The Tentacle Woman’s eyes became drowsy, and the Golem Knight also sat up straighter with a much more serious expression.
Until just a moment ago, Batu’s complaints were nothing more than a loser’s whining, but the moment the story of his main body being damaged came up, the situation completely changed.
“Whew….”
The Tentacle Woman sighed and shook her head.
“…Why does that crazy bitch Dorico Shiro always leave out only the important stories like this?”
She looked at Batu and asked the rest of her question.
“So? What’s the reason you called us here? You didn’t convene a meeting just to inform us that Gaon can damage main bodies.”
“I-I need help.”
Batu, who had been anxiously fidgeting with his fingers, glanced up at the Golem Knight and muttered.
“Co-could you possibly… protect me just until this auction…? Hm…?”
“….”
“….”
* * *
Ding-!
〔Hidden Message : Causality is being twisted.〕
〔Hidden Message : The encounter with Golem Knight R̷̢̀͑@̴̺̓͝!̴̟͇͊$̸̰͉̠͉͝&̶̛̣̪̼̫͊̈P̴͔̩̰̣̔̆͋!̸̞̱̱̣̔̓̇̿%̵̤̟̄͜ is being moved up.〕
* * *
“Are you really sure it’s right to take these three…?”
Markus Koshate asked in a questioning voice while looking at the treasures in my hands.
The others’ expressions also showed clear disappointment.
And no wonder, since the treasure room was full of items that took your breath away just by looking at them.
Staffs emanating extraordinary magical power. Swords so splendid they made your eyes widen. Various accessories emitting mysterious auras.
The treasures were so coveted that anyone would desire them.
But what I chose was… just an old compass, a hand mirror, and a tacky-looking pendant.
It was only natural that the others showed dubious reactions.
However, I had no intention of changing my mind. As I said before, these three items were truly all we needed right now.
“Are you doubting me?”
“…Ah, no! Absolutely not!”
Markus hurriedly waved his hands.
Of course, there was still lingering regret flickering in his eyes.
He clicked his tongue and looked around, then fixed his gaze on a particular spot.
Grooooooo─!
“…”
A particularly alien space even within the treasure room.
A door firmly sealed with thick talismans and barriers.
From beyond it, a sharp energy was seeping through the cracks.
Markus hesitated for a long while, then unable to contain his curiosity, carefully spoke up.
“But…”
He looked up at Emperor Tarosk and asked.
“By any chance, what’s beyond that sealed door?”
[…]
Pause-.
At that moment, Tarosk’s face hardened stiffly.
His expression was extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable, as if he had to forcibly drag up a past he didn’t want to remember.
[A treasure room is not simply a place to store precious things. Sometimes it becomes a place to eternally seal things that must never come into the world.]
“…”
[What is trapped in there… are the remnants of the ‘culprit’ that plunged this great empire into the abyss of destruction.]
Emperor Tarosk’s voice sank even lower.
[Those remnants are not some trial to test a challenger’s qualifications. There’s no reward either. What slumbers within is pure destruction itself, condensed malice.]
“Ah…”
Swoosh-.
Everyone who heard those words let out sighs and simultaneously averted their gazes.
They seemed to judge that such a trial wasn’t even worth challenging.
However…
[The Protagonist] : It’s a trial of the Evil Deities created purely to kill people.
[Strawberry Latte] : (⊙_☉)✧
[The Protagonist] : Let’s do it right now.
[Strawberry Latte] : ⁽⁽٩( ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )۶⁾⁾
…Originally, such vicious challenges are what make a Veteran Gamer’s heart race.
‘Above all.’
Knowing what the ‘real reward’ hidden in that trial was, the excitement could only be doubled.
Right.
From the beginning, I came to the Ruins of Rashutku to clear that trial.
Originally a section you could barely set foot in until the mid-to-late stages.
A trial you could only challenge with perfect equipment and thorough preparation.
‘In the game, it was called a success just to barely survive…’
But now.
A ‘perfect clear’ on a completely different level from back then might be possible.
* * *
Saaaaa-.
A quiet place where time seemed to have stopped.
The remains of a ruined temple floated in the air, defying gravity.
Broken marble pillars and cracked floor fragments were scattered in the air like constellations.
[…]
Thump-.
At the center of all those ruins, a woman was curled up.
A being that was pure white from head to toe.
Her skin was clear and soft like freshly fallen snow, and her feather-like delicate shoulders and tender body lines evoked a pure white sculpture crafted directly by a god.
Thump, thump-!
The thin, transparent lace dress hazily embraced her silhouette, and around it, countless particles of light danced ecstatically as they floated.
Thump, thump, thump-!
The sound of heartbeats growing louder and louder.
And…
[Ah.]
…Finally, a soft and clear voice echoed.
Slowly-.
The woman slowly opened her eyes as if awakening from a long sleep.
The gradually revealed pupils were filled entirely with pearl-white radiance.
Even her pupils were dyed with pure white light, creating an eerie emptiness, but deep within, an indescribably sacred and mysterious energy was pulsing.
The woman whispered with a gentle smile.
[…The day when this body awakens again has indeed come.]
* * *
“Hmm.”
Ruins Stay Hotel.
A luxury accommodation located in the center of Dungarrd, the Dark City.
In the splendid reception room of the highest-grade guest room with five rooms, two Guild Masters sat facing each other.
The Shaggy Merchant took a sip of tea while glancing at his counterpart across from him.
“Hey, Jack. Why did you call me again after seeing me yesterday?”
“…”
One-Eyed Jack.
They had known each other for a full 30 years.
He was a merchant who had shared hardships together from the bottom, and also one of the few friends he could call a colleague.
“You got a guard knight I haven’t seen before in just one day? Did you call me to show off?”
To the Shaggy Merchant’s question, One-Eyed Jack answered.
“You know the security in the Dark City is a mess, right? Especially when secret auctions are held, it’s more dangerous. Rich merchants like us could be attacked at any time, so I hired a new skilled person.”
“Hmm, well, that’s not wrong…”
The Shaggy Merchant glanced sideways at the guard knight again and continued.
“Even so, having him fully armed even in a place like this. It’s unusually excessive for you, isn’t it?”
“…What?”
“I don’t know about other things, but I wonder if there’s a need to make him wear a helmet even in the lodging…”
“Wh-what’s it to you! It’s, it’s, it’s my business!”
“…?”
Pause-.
The Shaggy Merchant unconsciously twitched his eyebrows.
Because One-Eyed Jack’s reaction today was somehow strangely off.
Usually he was the type who could cleverly counter jokes, but today he reacted sensitively even to trivial words.
‘…Well, something bad must have happened.’
Shrug-.
The Shaggy Merchant, dismissing the other’s reaction as nothing serious, casually threw out a question.
“So, why did you want to meet today?”
“Well, it’s nothing special…”
One-Eyed Jack answered.
“I called you because I was curious if you knew anything about this Celestial Dragon auction.”
“…?”
Pause-.
The Shaggy Merchant’s expression changed strangely.
He asked back with a voice that seemed to find something odd.
“You, why are you acting like this today? Why are you asking again what you asked yesterday…”
“No, no, no, no.”
One-Eyed Jack shook his head vigorously as if frustrated.
Point-!
Then he pointed at himself with his finger and muttered incomprehensible words.
“What asked you yesterday was ‘that guy’.”
“…?”
“Right now ‘I’m’ the one asking, you fucking frustrating shaggy bastard who can’t understand anything.”
Flinch-.
In an instant, goosebumps rose all over the shaggy creature’s body.
The sight of One-Eyed Jack screaming while tainted with madness…
For some reason, it gave him the terrible fear of facing not a familiar friend, but some completely different ‘creature’.
“Y, you…”
The shaggy creature muttered.
“Are you really Jack?”
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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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