Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 153

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

One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 153

 

Episode 153. The Reenactment of Annihilation (1)

 

[I will guide you outside the Imperial Palace. So that you can safely carry out the treasures you have taken.]

 

Thud, thump-.

 

Emperor Tarosk turned his back toward the exit.

 

His footsteps in heavy armor echoed throughout the entire corridor.

 

Following behind him, the party members began to carefully move their steps.

 

[…?]

 

Halt-.

 

Right at that moment, Emperor Tarosk stopped walking.

 

Because someone was still standing in place, holding their ground.

 

“….”

 

It was Gaon.

 

He was quietly gazing at the Sealed Door while holding the compass, hand mirror, and pendant.

 

Whooooo-.

 

From beyond the tightly closed door, an ominous aura continuously seeped out.

 

However, despite such an ill-boding presence, Gaon was not shaken at all.

 

[…What are you doing staring at such a terrible thing?]

 

Emperor Tarosk narrowed his eyes and questioned Gaon.

 

The other party members also looked at the Sealed Door following Gaon’s gaze, but soon shuddered and quickly turned their heads away.

 

The aura emanating from inside the Sealed Door was far too eerie for others to endure.

 

Then, Gaon’s calm voice rang out.

 

“Aurellius made two requests of me.”

 

[…?]

 

“The first was the rightful inheritance of his descendants.”

 

Swish-.

 

Gaon slowly looked at the Koshat Siblings.

 

The two siblings still wore dazed expressions.

 

They appeared to have not yet fully accepted the fact that they were descendants of the imperial family.

 

“And the second is….”

 

Swish-.

 

Turning his gaze again, Gaon looked at the tightly closed door and spoke.

 

“Precisely, to eliminate the abomination that Rashutku has sealed away for eons.”

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

Drop-.

 

As soon as those words fell, the entire treasure room was engulfed in silence.

 

While complex emotions arose on Tarosk’s face, Gaon continued to speak.

 

“Your brother, Aurellius, worried about Rashutku until the very end. He said the remnants that destroyed the empire cannot be buried here forever.”

 

Gaon’s face was close to expressionless, but within it was an indescribable nobility.

 

“He asked me.”

 

[….]

 

“If the opportunity arises, to definitely eliminate those remnants.”

 

It was a calm yet detached voice.

 

However, within it was a heavy sense of responsibility.

 

Like someone who believed that bearing all of this was their duty and natural mission.

 

* * *

 

Everyone’s gaze was focused on me.

 

Especially Emperor Tarosk was looking at me with a face mixed with complex feelings.

 

A brief silence passed.

 

Only our breathing quietly echoed in the corridor. The party members held their breath while watching this heavy atmosphere.

 

The next moment, Tarosk asked in a heavy voice.

 

[Then… did you also hear from my brother what kind of existence is trapped beyond that seal?]

 

“Yes.”

 

I nodded and answered calmly.

 

“Didn’t you yourself say it several times just now? The remnants of the culprit that drove this empire to ruin.”

 

[….]

 

Hiss-.

 

The look in Tarosk’s eyes visible beyond his helmet became even more serious.

 

[No.]

 

He shook his head and spoke again.

 

[I was asking if you know what those ‘remnants’ truly mean.]

 

Deep concern was embedded in that voice.

 

[That is not some simple monster or cursed relic….]

 

“It’s the past itself.”

 

[…?]

 

“It’s also a terrible hell where the despair and terror of the moment the Rashutku Empire fell is completely reenacted.”

 

Flinch-.

 

As soon as my words ended, Tarosk’s eyes wavered.

 

That’s right.

 

The trial that reenacts the past, 「Rashutku’s Nightmare」.

 

This was not simply a level of facing a powerful enemy, but a raging torrent of confronting the flow of collapsing history head-on.

 

‘In the game, passing through that door would replay the empire’s final moments.’

 

And here.

 

The challenger would be forcibly transported to the point when Rashutku was collapsing.

 

In the midst of that despair, preventing the destruction that approached like fate was the core of this trial.

 

[You would challenge this trial knowing all of that?]

 

“….”

 

[You’re saying that you, a mortal, would single-handedly bear the disaster that even The Great Ones couldn’t handle and fled from?]

 

Tarosk asked in a voice that seemed incredulous.

 

Of course, I knew too.

 

How dangerous it was to challenge this trial.

 

─In the distant past, humanity that freely roamed the Continent under the protection of The Elders lost their territory long ago. They live calling the places that were once their lands the 「Uncharted Wilderness」, and the underground where blessings once flowed the 「Abyss」.

 

During the first Sacred Inquisition, I made this statement before dozens of councilors.

 

The fundamental cause of why the Continent became so precarious. The reason humanity lost the protection of The Elders and came to live cowering in reduced territory.

 

The beginning of all that tragedy was precisely 「Rashutku’s Nightmare」.

 

The moment of despair when even great beings couldn’t handle it and had to flee to the Heavenly Realm.

 

The day when the brilliant ancient empire collapsed overnight was indeed the starting point of all disasters.

 

‘But….’

 

Whew-.

 

I let out a light sigh.

 

As I said just before, I had clear confidence.

 

In the game, it was a trial where merely ‘surviving’ was treated as success, let alone preventing destruction.

 

However, the current me could definitely achieve the perfect clear that no one had ever accomplished.

 

* * *

 

‘What is this…?’

 

Twitch-.

 

Pean furrowed his brow.

 

Watching Gaon’s actions, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu that didn’t sit right with him.

 

‘…Why is he suddenly trying to challenge that trial?’

 

That was the question that first came to mind.

 

But as time passed, Pean gradually began to realize the reason.

 

‘No way…’

 

Thump-.

 

Pean’s heart pounded wildly. His mind became complicated.

 

It was an absurd imagination.

 

However, all the circumstances were telling him about Gaon’s true identity.

 

【The Primordial Beings】

 

This was literally a term referring to all life forms that lived in the primordial era.

 

Even monsters without intelligence were no exception. In that sense, Tolong, who had been sleeping in the deepest layer of Labyrinth Village, was also classified as a primordial being.

 

Pean was also one who had lived through that era. Therefore, nominally, he was fully qualified to be called a primordial being.

 

‘But…’

 

Pean considered himself only half-complete.

 

What he had experienced was merely the twilight of the primordial era… that is, only the end of that age.

 

That was precisely why Pean never learned the reason why The Great Ones had to leave this land.

 

[Are you saying you’ll challenge that trial knowing all of this?]

 

“…”

 

[You’re saying that you, a mortal, will face alone the disaster that even The Great Ones couldn’t handle and fled from.]

 

However, if nothing else, one fact was certain. It was absolutely impossible to prevent that destruction with the power of a single Sword Master.

 

─Even though such a long time has passed… to think you’d try to test ‘me’ with mere riddles.

 

Of course, Gaon was never just an ‘ordinary’ Sword Master.

 

The declaration Gaon had made when opening the gates of Rashutku.

 

Others might have dismissed it casually, but Pean alone clearly remembered the weight of those words.

 

The subject of those words was ‘I’.

 

The inheritors of the imperial bloodline were certainly the Koshat Siblings. But the ‘true master’ Gaon mentioned was referring to himself.

 

‘…Gaon is not of Rashutku royalty.’

 

If he had inherited the emperor’s blood, there would have been no need to gain Emperor Tarosk’s trust by proving the legitimacy of the Koshat Siblings.

 

He could have just stepped forward himself and everything would have been resolved.

 

‘But…’

 

If he claimed to be the true master of Rashutku, and was a being who had visited the treasure room multiple times—a place only those above royalty could enter.

 

If he was even a being who received personal requests from the last emperor who barely survived the empire’s destruction, Aurellius Tarosk.

 

Most of all, considering the overwhelming presence of that ‘egg’ Gaon carried in his chest…

 

“…”

 

Thump, thump, thump-.

 

Pean’s heartbeat began to accelerate even more.

 

The primordial era. That time when the Rashutku Empire was at its most prosperous.

 

When gods freely roamed the Continent. The brilliant age when the blessings of The Great Ones permeated every corner of the land.

 

Those who blessed the empire, whom even royalty had to bow down and serve…

 

Those absolute beings.

 

‘Ah.’

 

Of course, he had kept the possibility open to some degree.

 

Gaon’s overwhelming abilities. His perfect understanding of ancient languages. His vivid knowledge of the primordial era.

 

All of it was beyond the scope of ordinary humans.

 

But there hadn’t been enough circumstantial evidence.

 

No, perhaps he simply hadn’t wanted to believe it.

 

It was known that The Great Ones had all departed for the Heavenly Realm. It was common knowledge that no Great Ones remained on this land.

 

So he thought it made no sense.

 

So perhaps he had deliberately denied Gaon’s true identity.

 

But now.

 

The moment all the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.

 

That speculation turned into certainty.

 

“I fully understand your concerns, Tarosk.”

 

Just then, Gaon spoke up.

 

He continued in a calm yet low voice.

 

“The Great Ones fled to escape the disaster.”

 

[…]

 

“After establishing the Heavenly Laws, they designated this land as the Lower Realm. They made it a completely separate realm from the Heavenly Realm, making direct interference impossible.”

 

[…]

 

“That was their form of protection. It was an attempt to prevent ‘those beings’ from laying hands on this place as well.”

 

Gaon continued his story.

 

“But I have no intention of denying that it was an escape. In the end, The Great Ones avoided a full-scale war with the invaders from another realm.”

 

Sword Masters.

 

They walk the pilgrimage path of heretics, chosen by The Great Ones.

 

At one time, Pean had thought Gaon was the same kind of being as himself.

 

However, that thought was wrong. Gaon was not a being who received revelations or selection from The Great Ones.

 

“But I did not flee.”

 

Gaon’s voice echoed throughout the corridor. Along with firm resolve, there was a deep loneliness mixed in those words that Pean could hardly comprehend.

 

“I alone wanted to remain on this land until the end to protect the world.”

 

Swoosh-.

 

He slowly turned his head toward the sealed door.

 

In his eyes dwelt the unwavering will he had harbored for thousands of years, along with the fateful resolve of a being who had shouldered the weight of the entire world.

 

Pean couldn’t even breathe.

 

Finally, all the puzzles had come together. At last, he began to understand each and every one of Gaon’s actions.

 

Why he had shouldered such a heavy oath.

 

Why he could remain dignified without an inch of submission even on the guillotine of sacred judgment.

 

Why he considered saving the world his natural duty.

 

Yes.

 

All of it had become crystal clear.

 

“So this time too.”

 

Gaon’s voice grew even deeper.

 

A world that even gods had turned their backs on.

 

The empty space left by all The Great Ones who had departed.

 

But the being who stood alone on those ashes, never letting go of his sword until the very end.

 

“I will never flee in the face of destruction.”

 

His declaration echoed through the heart of the empire that had awakened after thousands of years.

 

* * *

 

Ding-!

 

〔Rashutku’s Nightmare: You have entered the trial arranged by ‘■̸̢̧̮͎̂͒̅́͝@̷̦͆ͅ■̷̑̊̒̑͊͜#̷̡̦̺̹̄̅ͅ!̶̡̡̭̱̠̈́̓?̵̟̇͂͒̒͝■̴̤̮̬̣͋͜%̸̙̋’. 〕

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