Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 182

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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 182

Episode 182. Puppet Master (5)

* * *

Whoosh-!

Gaon swung his sword toward empty air.

A trajectory that touched nothing.

At a considerable distance from the enemies, his blade merely cut through innocent air.

“…?”

Bewilderment spread among Dawnguard’s guards.

In this desperate situation where thousands of puppets were swarming from all directions, they couldn’t understand why Gaon was suddenly acting this way.

The movement was too serious to be considered warming up. Yet it wasn’t an aura-infused attack either.

‘What? Why is he swinging at empty air….’

It was when gazes mixed with doubt and anxiety were directed at Gaon.

“…!”

Among them all.

Only one mage was staring at Gaon with wide eyes.

‘Th-this is…!’

Isaac Berillov.

His pupils began to shake uncontrollably.

A memory etched in his mind from months ago surfaced vividly.

The miraculous scene he had witnessed in the Forest of the Heavenly Sea.

Back then, Gaon had swung his sword just like now.

Toward empty air where nothing was visible. As if cutting down something invisible.

And a few seconds later, everything had been perfectly severed along Gaon’s sword trajectory.

‘Then could it be….’

Thump, thump-.

Isaac’s heart began to race.

The sound of his heartbeat pounding against his chest echoed in his ears.

‘This time too… the same thing will…?’

Sure enough.

Soon, changes that began from the seemingly meaningless sword strike spread like ripples.

Saaaaa──.

“Huh?”

Someone let out a questioning sound.

At the same time as that voice, the world fell into silence.

The footsteps of the puppets disappeared one by one, and soon even the roars of the chimeras completely ceased.

Silence.

Complete stillness, as if the world was holding its breath, enveloped the Dark City.

Thud thud-.

Then something began falling from the sky above.

What started as just one or two sounds gradually continued at faster intervals.

Thud thud, thud-.

“Wh-what is that….”

Selena Servich muttered with a trembling voice.

A sight only she could see, being a mage who had reached a high realm.

A massive structure made of mana that ordinary people could never detect was captured in her eyes.

Thousands, no, tens of thousands of threads.

Circuits woven from mana formed a complex web, tangled and intertwined. A work close to art that had turned the entire city into one giant magic circle.

But now….

All of this was collapsing helplessly.

Swoosh-.

The threads began to slowly fall toward the ground as if drawn by gravity.

“Ah.”

Witnessing this, Selena unconsciously let out an exclamation.

Whoooosh-.

A rain of mana falls.

Threads cascading down. The sight of dense mana scattering was fantastical, like silver stardust pouring from the sky.

The mana dwelling in each thread glimmered faintly, creating thousands of small meteor showers under the night sky.

Thud─.

And finally.

The moment the last thread touched the ground.

Creeeeak-.

One chimera at the very front tilted forward.

The massive body that lost its balance slowly collapsed, and the dull noise that shook the ground shattered all silence.

Ruuuumble-!

Then the puppet next to it lost its strength and collapsed limply.

Thud, thud, thud, thud-!

The thunderous sounds didn’t cease.

It was as if an invisible wave was crossing the battlefield.

When one fell, the next followed, then the next.

The collapse accelerated more and more.

The wave that started at one end spread to the opposite side of the battlefield, and thousands of puppets fell one after another as if by agreement.

Puppets that lost their threads no longer stood up. They simply lay quietly on the ground, falling into eternal rest.

Rumble-!

And finally.

The moment the last puppet collapsed with a thud.

“….”

“….”

“….”

Saaaaa-.

Complete silence came to Dawnguard.

The battlefield that had been chaos just moments before became quiet in an instant, and the space filled with screams and roars was submerged in cold silence.

In that stillness, Gaon stood alone in a daze.

With his pure white sword hanging at his side.

Silently gazing at the silence he had created.

* * *

A faint smile crossed my lips.

‘It worked.’

The threads of mana that Puppet Master Batu had carefully crafted.

I had completely collapsed that intricate and complex structure with a single sword strike.

Of course, it wasn’t surprising.

This was a result that had been foreseen from the moment I first confirmed the power of 【Supersense Remnant】 after obtaining the Silent Sword.

Ding-!

〔You have collapsed Puppet Master Batu’s dominion network in a single strike.〕

〔You have achieved a nearly impossible Achievement.〕

〔Reward: You have acquired the skill 【Mana Interceptor】.〕

A notification window appeared.

I nodded with a satisfied expression after confirming the expected reward, but…

‘Ugh!’

Drip-.

…soon, I frowned at the excruciating pain that felt like my head was splitting apart.

A pain as if someone was mercilessly swinging a sledgehammer deep within my brain.

My vision instantly distorted and dizziness struck as if the world was tilting sideways.

At the same time, hot liquid began dripping down from above my philtrum.

It was a nosebleed.

“G-Gaon…”

Adelia’s urgent cry echoed in my ears. I could feel trembling in her touch as she supported me.

Hah, ha-.

My breathing became rough.

Something hot surged up from deep within my lungs.

It hurts.

It really hurts.

The aftermath was much more severe than when I had activated my authority during the Trial of Two Paths.

This time, I had condensed all my mental power into a single point and forcibly pushed the authority’s output beyond its limits.

Naturally, the backlash would be much worse than before.

〔Authority skill is enhanced in response to maximum mental power.〕

Right.

For just that fleeting moment, my authority broke through the boundary of Remnant and manifested with True output.

Thanks to that, I was able to glimpse a realm I couldn’t even imagine.

〔Error: Cannot access with current …#̶̺͍̾̓@̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑&̶̙͖͒%̵̯͑ ….]

For a moment, an experience that could only be described as my toes brushing against the outside of reality.

However.

The reaction was not something that could be taken lightly.

‘…This really hurts like hell.’

What could I do?

With so many eyes watching me in the yard, I couldn’t show my pain or whine about it.

I had no choice but to grit my teeth and endure it.

Ding-!

〔Passive skill 【Intermediate Pain Resistance】 has been enhanced to 【Upper-Intermediate Pain Resistance】.〕

Just then, a notification window appeared in my vision.

My head became much clearer.

With my pain threshold raised, the current situation became much more bearable.

After continuing to take deep breaths for a while, I was soon able to stand straight without Adelia’s support.

“I’m fine now. Don’t worry about it.”

“B-but…”

Swish-.

Leaving Adelia’s anxious concern behind, I wiped the blood droplets from my nose with my sleeve.

As I slowly raised my head, I could see the scene I had created.

Saaaaa-.

A city reduced to ruins and sunk in silence.

Even the corpses of thousands of puppets and chimeras lying quietly scattered in the streets.

However, this battle was still just the prologue.

‘The most crucial task remains.’

Finding Batu’s hideout. And eliminating his main body to completely eradicate the source of all evil.

Swish-.

Having finished that thought, I took out The Compass of the Exalted.

Whirrrr-!

The needle still swayed unsteadily.

Nevertheless, the compass was consistently pointing in a specific direction.

I spoke in a calm voice.

“I’ve pinpointed the puppet master’s location.”

“…!”

“…!”

Gasp-.

Everyone looked at me with startled eyes.

Regardless, I continued giving orders in a calm voice.

“From now on, we’ll track down the puppet master’s main body.”

“W-wait a moment!”

At those words, Adelia interjected while looking at me with a worried expression.

“Gaon… s-still, it would be better if you rested for a moment…”

“Adelia, you follow me. The rest of you guard the auction house in case of any unforeseen circumstances.”

“…”

At my infinitely resolute voice, Adelia couldn’t make any reply.

Of course, the others were equally unable to respond.

Roren, Wintershield’s mages, Dawnguard’s guards, and even Strawberry Latte all just stared at me blankly.

An atmosphere as if they didn’t dare say anything. They seemed completely stunned by the supernatural strike I had just shown them.

‘…This isn’t a situation where conversation is possible.’

However, I didn’t have time to consider them. There was even less reason to do so.

I turned around and trudged forward. Toward the direction the compass indicated.

Adelia, who belatedly came to her senses, hurriedly followed.

With an expression as if worried about losing her master.

[The Protagonist] : Well then, I’m counting on you for the remaining tasks.

While walking, I sent a private message to Strawberry Latte.

After a moment, a reply came.

Ding-!

[Strawberry Latte] : (⊙_☉)✧

* * *

In the depths of an old abandoned building on the outskirts of Dawnguard.

Pean was quietly catching his breath in the darkness.

Creak, creak-.

The ominous noise from the old building constantly brushed past his ears.

But what concerned him more than that was… ‘this space’ itself.

It appeared to be an ordinary building on the outside, but from the moment he stepped foot inside, everything was different.

Even the air felt heavy and sticky.

Like being trapped in a giant spider web, he felt an invisible resistance with every movement.

‘It’s no different from another dimension’

Pean furrowed his brow.

The space itself was distorted.

It was the result of Puppet Master Batu transforming this place into his own domain.

Because of this, Pean’s heightened senses couldn’t properly detect the ‘outside world’.

Normally, he would have been able to easily grasp the external situation or Gaon’s location through his hearing or sense of smell.

Swish-.

Pean took out The Compass of the Exalted from his chest.

Whirrrr-!

The compass needle spun wildly. But gradually, the range of its vibrations was getting smaller.

‘They’re getting closer.’

Pean’s expression gradually brightened.

It was hard to imagine how fierce the battle with the puppets would be.

Breaking through thousands of enemies to reach this point would certainly not be an easy task.

‘They’ll probably break through the encirclement moderately and escape.’

Of course, if it were Gaon, he could probably eliminate all those puppets.

But with a full-scale battle against Puppet Master Batu ahead, there was no reason to waste stamina and mana to that extent.

It would be a wiser decision to leave the rest to the other companions and come here efficiently with minimal effort.

Creeeeak-!

Just then, a faint noise came from the building entrance.

Pean reflexively turned his body.

The heavy door slowly opened, revealing two silhouettes.

“Ah.”

A relieved smile spread across Pean’s face.

“Gaon. And Miss Goldheart has come as well.”

He approached them, unable to hide his joy.

Both of them appeared to be fine without any major injuries.

“I’m glad you’re both safe.”

Pean spoke with a sincere voice.

“There must have been easily thousands of puppets, so you must have had a hard time breaking through their encirclement.”

Pause-.

But soon after, Pean’s expression became serious again.

It was because of a sudden worry that came to mind.

“But…”

Pean continued with an urgent tone.

“…Is it alright for both of you to leave the front lines? No matter how excellent the remaining forces are, it seems like it would be difficult to handle the remaining puppets without you two.”

Concern was evident in his voice.

It wasn’t that he doubted Roren and the Wintershield Mages’ abilities, but the numerical disadvantage was so overwhelming.

“We need to quickly eliminate Batu’s main body. Before the auction house falls to his puppets…”

“There’s no need to rush.”

Then, Gaon cut off Pean’s words.

“Because there are no more of his puppets left outside.”

“…Excuse me?”

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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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