Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 187

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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 187

Episode 187. Apostle (4)

* * *

Gooooo-.

Professor Biyolf froze with his eyes wide open.

He couldn’t move a single finger.

He couldn’t even blink his eyelids.

A sensation as if his entire body was tightly bound by invisible chains.

‘What is this…?’

It wasn’t simply because of fear.

It wasn’t magic or a curse either.

Something beyond such dimensions was dominating the space itself.

Saaaaa──.

“…”

“…”

“…”

What was even more chilling was that Professor Biyolf wasn’t the only one in this state.

The entire auction house was engulfed in silence.

A bizarre scene where hundreds of people’s time seemed to have stopped in an instant.

Regardless of the Honored Seats or general seats, all the merchants were frozen like statues.

“Hmm, hm, hehehe~♪”

In the midst of this, only The Girl was humming cheerfully with a bright smile.

She seemed to have no interest in the people around her.

─You’re quite perceptive, mage.

Suddenly, a phrase The Girl had uttered flashed through Professor Biyolf’s mind.

Biyolf had only thought ‘Worshippers of Evil Gods’ in his mind. He had never spoken those words aloud.

Yet The Girl had found him precisely among hundreds of spectators.

‘…She read my mind.’

She had even seen through the fact that he was a mage.

This wasn’t simple intuition or guesswork. It was a power of a different dimension, a force that couldn’t be explained by common sense.

Overwhelming terror.

The despair of an ant just before being crushed by a giant boot. Before this overwhelming presence that made everything meaningless, Professor Biyolf’s ego shrank like dust.

Swoosh-.

Just then, The Girl’s hand slowly reached toward the Celestial Dragon’s Brain Core.

Naturally, as if it were her own possession.

‘No…!’

A scream erupted from deep within Professor Biyolf’s chest.

He had to stop it somehow.

The Brain Core must not fall into that monster’s hands.

He absolutely could not allow the research achievements that Wintershield had accumulated over a long time, and the precious specimen that held humanity’s future, to be stolen.

“…”

However, contrary to his desperate wish, his body remained paralyzed.

He couldn’t move a single finger, couldn’t even make a sound. An invisible massive force was completely crushing him…

[Please don’t resist and stay as you are, Professor.]

“…!”

Startled-.

At that very moment, a clear and calm voice echoed in his head.

Professor Biyolf’s pupils shook violently.

‘…Ta, Assistant Targon?’

It was an incomprehensible situation.

Targon should definitely be outside the auction house with Selena, handling the cleanup.

But how could telepathy be heard from here?

Moreover, it was logically impossible for a mere 2nd-tier mage to use mental magic.

Even if he had entered the auction house belatedly, how could only Assistant Targon freely use magic in a situation where even Biyolf couldn’t move?

Countless questions swirled chaotically through his mind.

But there were no answers anywhere.

Assistant Targon’s next statement in the midst of this only caused even greater confusion.

[You may just hand over the Brain Core.]

“…?”

Biyolf’s mind went blank.

‘What?’

What did Assistant Targon just say?

‘Hand over the Brain Core?’

…To that monster-like Worshipper of Evil Gods, of all people?

* * *

“…!”

Hesitating-.

Strawberry Latte, who had been cleaning up with Professor Selena Servich, headed toward the auction house when the auction was nearing its end.

His steps toward the Honored Seats suddenly stopped.

Kuuuuung-!

Splat-!

An eerie sound echoed from the platform.

The scene of the Auctioneer’s neck grotesquely separating and rolling to the floor.

At the same time, an intense aura that crushed the entire auction house surged like a tide.

‘This is…’

In an instant, Strawberry Latte’s body stiffened.

It was a familiar sensation.

When he had first possessed this world, not long after. That moment when he first encountered The Adversary.

It was exactly the same situation where his entire body was forcibly restrained by something to recreate a cut-scene.

“…”

Strawberry Latte froze at the entrance to the Honored Seats.

‘This is insane…’

His mind went completely blank.

Actually, he had expected the auction house attack itself. It was an event that always happened whenever divine beast corpses went up for auction.

However, the ‘subject’ of the attack was the problem.

He had thought at most Concrete Knights or Ataraxy’s minions would appear, but who would have thought the First Apostle and Second Apostle would personally step forward.

He had never expected final boss-level beings who only appeared in the late stages of the story to start causing chaos this early.

‘But…’

Strawberry Latte tried to calm his mind.

‘There’s no need to be shaken.’

The subject had changed, but the attack itself was a predetermined sequence.

And….

[Middle Finger] : Then I’ll leave the rest to you.

[Strawberry Latte(Me)] : (⊙_☉)✧

…Gaon and Strawberry Latte had already prepared for every situation.

Ding-!

〔Trait: ‘Cool-headed Mind’ resists the opponent’s intimidation.〕

Strawberry Latte, who had barely regained control of her body, immediately sent telepathy to Professor Biyolf.

Telepathy was originally high-level magic that a mere 2nd tier couldn’t handle….

But before Strawberry Latte’s genius talent, completed by grinding 30 million points, barriers like tiers were meaningless.

[Professor.]

Strawberry Latte sent telepathy to Professor Biyolf.

[You can just hand over the Brain Core.]

“…?”

[That too is all part of The Protagonist’s plan.]

* * *

“Ah, ahhh….”

Adelia had experienced many things together with Gaon.

Even in the most desperate situations, Gaon had always found a way.

He had performed miracles that turned the impossible into possible.

Even when he was on the scaffold of the Holy Judgment, he had overturned everything at the last moment. Adelia could never forget how composed he remained even at death’s door.

But.

This was the first time she had seen such a miserable and desperate crisis.

Crack-!

Pean, who had become a puppet, slowly drew Seorineul.

Fresh blood fell to the floor, creating a dark red puddle. Drip, drip, drip. The sound of blood drops echoed in the room.

And beside that….

“G-The Protagonist!”

Hah, ha-.

She could see Gaon collapsed powerlessly, his breathing growing shallow.

Adelia’s world came crashing down.

The Protagonist was someone who always calculated and predicted everything. Any crisis was within his expectations.

There was no way such a Gaon would collapse so helplessly.

Rationally, she knew something was strange.

There was no way a skilled person like Pean could be so easily defeated by Batu, and even if he had become a puppet, there was no way Gaon couldn’t have blocked that attack.

But such doubts were buried deep in her heart. Only the terrible reality before her eyes filled her vision.

“Please… please….”

Adelia’s hands trembled as she knelt down. She tried to touch her pale master’s face, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Because she felt that the moment she touched him, he would truly disappear.

“G-G-The Protagonist….”

Adelia’s voice grew smaller and smaller.

Despair began to strangle her throat.

─Kuhaha! Kuhahahaha!

Even in the midst of this, only Batu’s disgusting laughter echoed in her ears.

─Finally! I finally did it! I killed that arrogant bastard…! Kuhaha, kek, kehek!

He was laughing so hard that he made choking sounds.

─Kek, kekek…!

“…?”

But something was strange.

Puppet Master Batu’s laughter was becoming increasingly bizarre.

Like someone with breathing difficulties, he kept choking intermittently, and murky sounds like phlegm bubbling mixed in.

It was too excessive for joyful laughter.

Feeling puzzled, Adelia slowly turned her head.

And….

“…!”

Adelia was able to witness it.

In the distance.

The figure of a man who had thrust a sword into Batu’s body.

“You’re being overly emotional, Adelia.”

─Kek, kehek…! H-how…!

…It was Gaon.

His expression was as calm as always.

As if he had been there from the beginning. As if nothing had happened.

“I’m sure I told you that when you hold a sword, you should forget your worries and focus only on that moment.”

“….”

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten my first teaching?”

Flinch-.

Adelia’s pupils began to shake violently.

Gaon’s words didn’t register in her ears.

Because this situation was far too confusing.

‘W-wait a minute….’

Whoosh-.

Adelia hurriedly looked down at her arms.

‘Gaon’, who had been collapsed there just moments ago, had disappeared without a trace.

Even the drops of his blood that had pooled on the floor were all gone.

“…?”

Adelia’s face was covered with confusion.

‘T-then….’

Whoosh-.

She looked at Gaon, who had thrust his sword into Batu’s body, and thought.

‘…What exactly did I just see?’

* * *

─Pean, can you truly try to kill me?

A few days ago.

When I asked that question in the Rashutku nightmare, Pean shook his head without hesitation.

Now that he knew my true identity, he could no longer truly harm me.

‘I need to release the Sword Master’s Pact as quickly as possible.’

The Sword Master’s Pact was a troublesome restriction in many ways. Not only did it limit the use of my powers, but it also made it difficult to respond flexibly in emergency situations.

‘However….’

But Pean already showed absolute trust in me.

No matter what I did, he wouldn’t harbor true killing intent. He could imitate it through acting, but not enough to fool the system.

‘Then….’

There was no need for Pean to step forward directly; I could just drag someone else into this.

‘…Let’s use Puppet Master Batu.’

The plan was simple.

Pean would deliberately get caught in Batu’s threads, and Batu would control Pean to attack me. Then Batu’s genuine killing intent would be transmitted to me through Pean.

From the system’s perspective, it would be sufficient to judge this as a real crisis situation.

More importantly, there was the characteristic of 【Avatar Manifestation】.

The being created by this authority was literally my avatar… in other words, no different from another ‘me’.

Therefore, even if the avatar died, the Sword Master’s Pact would be released normally. I had experience releasing it several times in similar ways in the game, so enough said.

And…

‘It worked.’

〔Authority Skill: 【Avatar Manifestation】 is being released.〕

Swoosh-.

I immediately escaped from the untargetable state and respawned.

Thanks to the proficiency that had risen to the 10% range, my movement distance had increased dramatically compared to before.

Whiing-!

For a moment, my vision flowed like lightning, and the next moment, I was standing right behind Batu.

I had moved to the opposite side of the room in an instant.

‘Pean first.’

Slash, slash-!

I quickly activated Mana Thief and cut through the threads binding Pean.

As the silver-white energy flowed along Feather Sword, the threads made of mana were cut cleanly like paper.

The severed threads gradually faded away in mid-air as Pean regained his freedom.

─…!

Batu looked back at me with surprised eyes, but it was already too late.

Thunk-!

Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword advanced like lightning and pierced precisely near his heart. It was a perfect strike that accurately targeted the gaps in his spider-transformed body.

Ding-!

〔Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword is quite dissatisfied with the opponent’s flesh quality.〕

“…?”

A strange System Message appeared before my eyes, but I ignored it for now.

─H-how…! I definitely killed you…!

Batu stared at me with wide eyes in disbelief. His voice was mixed with fear and confusion.

I laid out the prepared answer in a calm voice.

“Haven’t you realized it yet? The reason your puppet arts were so futilely seen through?”

─Wh-what do you mean…

“Don’t tell me.”

I finished my words with a sneer at the corner of my mouth.

“You didn’t think you were the only one in this world who could handle puppet arts, did you.”

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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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