Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 185

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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 185

Episode 185. Apostle (2)

The auction house stirred.

Professor Biyolf wasn’t the only one showing an intense reaction.

People frowned as they looked at the hooded girl and murmured among themselves.

“What kind of brat is that…?”

“She’s lost her mind. To cause such a disturbance in the Ruin Guild’s auction house.”

“Where are the guards and what are they doing! Hurry up and drag that crazy thing out!”

Murmur murmur-.

Voices of complaint erupted from here and there.

No one took this situation seriously.

It wasn’t because the girl’s voice sounded young.

It wasn’t because she proposed the ridiculous amount of 1,000 trillion either.

It was simply…

Those words lacked credibility.

After all, if she were someone who could freely spend budgets in the trillions, she should have been sitting in the honored seats, not the general seating.

Therefore, everyone was convinced.

That the girl’s words and actions were nothing more than frivolous troublemaking.

─Ha, hahaha…!

In the unsettled atmosphere, the auctioneer tried to manage the situation with an awkward laugh.

─I sincerely apologize. There was a brief disturbance, but we’ll sort it out shortly and resume the auction. I’ll call security, so please wait just a moment…

Thud-.

At that very moment, the auctioneer’s words were cut off.

“Huh? What?”

“Why did he suddenly stop talking…?”

People stirred.

The auctioneer had suddenly lost his balance and began staggering.

Swaying back and forth, he stumbled and collapsed right there.

Thoom-!

A dull sound echoed throughout the hall.

At the same time, the sound of something rolling could be heard.

Fresh blood spread along that trajectory. A long, glistening dark red carpet stretched across the platform.

People could finally realize.

That the ‘something’ rolling around on the platform was the auctioneer’s head.

Twitch twitch-.

The headless corpse convulsed intermittently. Flopping around like a fish out of water.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A chilling silence enveloped the hall.

People couldn’t accept the reality before their eyes due to the sudden situation.

“Hehe.”

In the midst of this, the girl began hopping forward.

With a bright smile on her lips.

As if extremely delighted, humming a cheerful tune.

“Upsy.”

The girl climbed onto the platform. No one dared to try stopping her as she crossed the auction hall.

“I don’t have 1,000 trillion… but if we add up all your lives’ worth, wouldn’t that be about right?”

Tap tap-.

The girl said this while poking the auctioneer’s corpse with her toe.

Her innocent laughter echoed through the hall.

“So, hand over the Brain Core to me. I’ll let you live.”

* * *

“…”

Professor Biyolf’s face turned pale.

He should have noticed something was wrong from the start.

No matter how crazy someone might be, they couldn’t cause such a disturbance in the middle of the Ruin Guild’s auction house.

Of course, there were plenty of excuses.

He had been intoxicated by the heated atmosphere of the auction, and his guard was down right after the tense battle with Puppet Master Batu had ended.

Most importantly, he couldn’t sense any aura from the girl whatsoever.

But…

‘Damn it.’

…all of this was just excuses. Regardless of anything else, the fact that Professor Biyolf had let his guard down remained unchanged.

‘What exactly is her identity?’

Professor Biyolf stared intently at the girl.

When magic is used, specific waves are always generated. It was a clear sign that any skilled mage could detect.

Yet somehow, even until the moment the auctioneer’s neck was severed, Professor Biyolf hadn’t detected any flow of magic whatsoever.

‘Then did she use physical means…?’

Pause-.

Right then.

Professor Biyolf caught some subtle change in the girl’s hand.

“…!”

It was a very faint trace, easy to miss.

At first, he felt nothing, but as he concentrated and observed, something alien gradually began to reveal itself.

Something like a black mass was writhing in her hand.

Strangely, only that part had a blurred outline. As if fog had settled there.

Biyolf narrowed his eyes and tried to observe more closely.

‘What is this…?’

But the strange phenomenon continued.

Though there was clearly nothing wrong with his vision, only that part wouldn’t focus properly. Should he describe it as the outline constantly distorting, like trying to see something underwater?

Even so, Biyolf didn’t give up. As a mage who had lived for hundreds of years, he couldn’t retreat before an unknown phenomenon.

He tried to force his focus. He struggled to identify what that black mass was…

“#̶̱͌͝!̵̞̈́$̸̘̫̃@̸̨̛̮$̶͛͊͜*̶͖͔̒͛@̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑&̶̙͖͒%̵̯͑#──!”

Lurch-.

Suddenly his vision shook.

The feeling of his pupils sliding smoothly regardless of his will.

At the same time, a primitive warning rang out from deep within his brain.

‘Don’t look.’

‘Don’t try to understand.’

‘This is not a realm you can handle.’

His survival instincts screamed.

His vision kept sliding, and every time he tried to focus, a throbbing headache washed over him.

‘Th-this is…’

It was a phenomenon he had never experienced before.

But Biyolf soon realized what it was.

Records from ancient texts he had studied for years flashed through his mind.

Those who wielded energy from other dimensions. The forbidden power used by beings outside the boundaries set by The Great Ones.

Supernatural abilities.

And.

There was only one type of being capable of wielding such power.

‘…Evil deity worshippers.’

The moment Professor Biyolf reached that chilling conclusion in his mind.

Whoosh-.

The girl on the platform raised her head and looked toward the honored seats.

Red light flashed beneath her hood.

That predatory gaze passed over hundreds of people and stared directly at Biyolf.

“You’re quite perceptive, mage.”

Hiss-.

The girl’s lips twisted into a sinister smile.

* * *

As I’ve mentioned before.

The reason I loved Lost Elder was a bit different from others.

It wasn’t because of the intricate magic system or vast worldbuilding. It wasn’t because I enjoyed complex political games or was charmed by unique characters.

It wasn’t because of thrilling action or impactful combat either.

It was simply…

─In Lost Elder, you can theoretically control everything.

In reality, unpredictable variables constantly occurred, and most things didn’t go as planned no matter how meticulously you prepared.

But Roel was different.

At least within this world, I could directly choose every option. I could predict the flow of variables and even draw out the results entirely with my own hands.

Yes.

That was everything.

As experience accumulated over 200 playthroughs, I became able to control more and more things.

Who would do what and when. What choices would lead to what results.

I could even prepare countermeasures in advance for unexpected emergencies.

Perfect control.

Absolute prediction.

That was the real reason I became obsessed with Roel.

‘However…’

Since I opened my eyes in this world, the situation has changed.

Variables began constantly appearing.

From the beginning, countless crises attacked me one after another.

I was attacked by the Celestial Dragon on the carriage to Bertas, the Free City, unexpectedly faced a Tyrant Dragon in Labyrinth Village, and was pursued by Barbarian the Slayer of Men who had been revived as an Immortal.

Perhaps it was a natural phenomenon.

Since surviving Tutorial Point, each of my actions had become the starting point of butterfly effects.

Things that never happened in the game… or more precisely, ‘couldn’t’ happen, were bound to occur one after another.

The knowledge and experience built up over 200 playthroughs certainly made me stronger. But at the same time, it became a destructive element that shook the original story’s flow.

And now.

This situation could also be said to be an extension of that.

〔The First Apostle intervenes in the scenario.〕

〔The Second Apostle 「#̷̢̑@̷̜̯̋̔&̷̼̐̔͆^̷̮̹̼̊̆!̶̝̓̂̈%̷̸̵̡̛̣̭͙̳̓̂̌̎̔̌̂#̵̍̌̕」 intervenes in the scenario.〕

‘The apostles have intervened in the scenario.’

I already knew they were exerting influence over Dawnguard.

After all, the reason Batu targeted the Brain Core was to accelerate the Second Apostle’s descent.

However.

I never expected they would move ‘directly’ while bearing such great risk.

Thud, thud─.

That wasn’t the only anomaly.

I moved forward while looking around.

This was the hidden world.

Originally, traps should have been lurking throughout this hideout.

It was practically Batu’s fortress, perfected over hundreds of years.

But there hadn’t been a single threat so far.

The maze-like branching paths weren’t a problem either. I just had to follow the energy flowing from the end of the corridors.

…However, that ‘energy’ was the problem.

It was bizarre, eerie, and above all had an alien quality as if something that shouldn’t belong to this world had seeped in.

It was an intense pressure I couldn’t feel at all when meeting Dorico Shiro or when meeting Batu at the tavern.

〔Puppet Master Batu’s #̶̨̛̭͖̜̮̦̖͓̥̣͍̳̩̳͑͂͆̓̈́͘͘͝@̵͔͔͍̯̲̭̞̹̠͍̫̦̰͙̦͆̽̋́̇̔͑̈́́$̵͈̅̿̔̆%̷̢̢͈̭̥͊̔͝͝…̷̡̛̟̿̌̃̒̈͗̋̈́̑̄́͠…̸̢͈͇̘͇̔̓̄̀̆̾̽͑͜ͅ is in progress.〕

In other words, some change had occurred as written in the notification window.

Thud-.

Just then, the narrow corridor ended and a massive space spread before my eyes.

A circular clearing that soared so high the ceiling wasn’t visible.

Spider web-like threads filling the walls and ceiling on all sides were tangled in complex patterns, with unfinished puppets hanging and swaying above them.

Blood-stained sewing tools were arranged like an altar on the floor, and the air was thick with the smell of rotting flesh and rusted iron.

“…”

And in the center of that web.

Skitter, skitter-skitter-!

Something was crawling around.

Dozens of puppet parts had attached to Batu’s originally emaciated body like parasites.

His limbs had multiplied to eight, and his torso had swollen with ball-jointed dolls and corpse fragments tangled together.

Batu, who had become a spider made of corpses, began giggling as he quickly moved across the web he had spun.

─You, you, you seem quite flustered? Ke, kehihik…!

Batu’s voice echoed from all directions. Just like when Jark von Haibrunn had completed his corruption.

─You, you never expected this situation at all, did you?

“…”

Right.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected it.

Puppet Master Batu transforming into a spider form like this was the first time in 200 cycles.

And it was also the first time an Apostle had intervened at such an early point.

─Keh, kehheup! I don’t know the details either… but thanks to you breaking the 「Heavenly Laws」 first, something like this became possible! Anyway, thank you!

“….”

─Su, su, surely you completely destroyed all my puppet legions and came here triumphantly! Right?

“….”

─Yes! That’s it! That expression! Always acting like you know everything, like everything flows according to your plan, always putting on that arrogant face instead of looking flustered like now, I wanted to see…!

“Flustered?”

I cut off the words of Batu who had transformed into a spider.

“Me?”

* * *

Naturally, this Dawnguard auction was bound to be full of variables. A divine beast’s corpse had never appeared on the market this quickly before.

In that sense, I had already emphasized dozens of times. That the possibility of unexpected incidents couldn’t be ruled out.

But…

─Even if variables arise, I should rather use them as opportunities.

As I’ve said many times.

Those variables would only serve as another opportunity for me.

‘High risk, high return.’

The greater the risk, the greater the reward, but the price of failure is proportionally fatal.

And.

This law didn’t apply only to me.

“In your craving for greater power, you touched the forbidden.”

─….

“Unable to overcome your desires, you crossed the boundaries set by the world.”

Sring-.

I drew Feather Sword and looked up at Batu who had transformed into a spider.

“But foolishly, you don’t know that the price is destruction.”

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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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