Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 189

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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 189

Episode 189. Apostle (6)

* * *

Creeeeak, clank-!

The sound of the old abandoned building’s door closing echoed through the alley.

After eliminating Puppet Master Batu and emerging from his hideout, we stepped foot into Dungard’s alley shrouded in darkness.

Cold night air pierced into our lungs.

But something even colder and more sinister was waiting for us.

Whoooosh─.

“….”

“….”

“….”

Silence flowed.

At the opposite end of the alley, two silhouettes stood quietly, looking in our direction.

As if they had been waiting for us all this time.

Ding-!

〔Part of a hidden message is revealed.〕

〔Causality is being twisted.〕

〔The encounter with Golem Knight R̷̢̀͑@̴̺̓͝!̴̟͇͊$̸̰͉̠͉͝&̶̛̣̪̼̫͊̈P̴͔̩̰̣̔̆͋!̸̞̱̱̣̔̓̇̿%̵̤̟̄͜ is being accelerated.〕

One was a knight with a massive build.

The black iron armor covering his entire body swallowed the streetlamp light. As if his very existence had become part of the darkness itself.

Though his face wasn’t visible due to the deeply pressed helmet….

I was able to realize his identity through the System Message.

‘Golem Knight.’

A core figure of the Five Nightmares.

The commander who keeps the center of his insane comrades.

And.

Right beside him stood a hooded girl.

“Wow, we finally meet!”

A clear and pure voice broke the silence of the alley. Within that voice was an eeriness that was the complete opposite of innocence.

“I’m so glad to see you!”

“….”

“As expected, it was good to stop by Batu’s hideout before leaving Dungard!”

The first apostle of the Evil Deities, and the being who turns the player into an Immortal in the original work.

The mastermind who appears in the very late stages of the game.

‘Necromancer.’

Rustle-.

She was carefully holding something in both arms.

In one arm, the Brain Core of the Celestial Dragon she had obtained at the auction just moments ago. In the other, a black star that writhed endlessly.

Under the deeply pressed robe, only the lower half of her pale face was visible. The corners of her mouth were curved in a wicked arc.

“By the way, what about Batu? Did you already finish him off and come out?”

The girl asked a question.

Her tone was far too calm and natural.

As if she didn’t care at all about Puppet Master Batu’s death.

“….”

Rustle-.

Instead of giving the Necromancer an answer, I took something out from my chest.

A purple orb.

It was a new「Trial」I had obtained by eliminating Puppet Master Batu.

Rummmmmble─!

The energy emanating from that small sphere still contained traces of its former owner.

Waves of sticky malice and madness mixed together pressed down on the air in the alley.

“…!”

Flinch-.

Upon confirming this, the Golem Knight’s shoulders trembled slightly.

It seemed he recognized at a glance that this orb was Batu’s remains.

A subtle disturbance could be felt from beyond the Golem Knight’s helmet. It must have been from witnessing the death of a comrade he had been with for hundreds of years.

“Tsk.”

In contrast, the Necromancer clicked her tongue.

“What a useless bastard anyway. He consumed the drugs he received from Ataraxy and received new blessings from that person, yet couldn’t buy time?”

It was a cold and merciless evaluation. Not even a speck of mourning or compassion could be found in her voice.

Swish-.

The Necromancer slowly turned her head toward me.

Two eyes sparkling from under the shadow of her robe stared directly at me. In that gaze was strange curiosity, anticipation, and some kind of dangerous interest.

“Well, still… thanks to that, I was able to meet you directly like this, so should I consider it a good thing instead?”

The contempt and anger she had shown toward Batu just moments ago had completely disappeared. From the girl’s voice came a cheerfulness like that of a child who had discovered a new toy.

“Let’s move locations first. There are too many listening ears right now.”

Tap, tap tap-.

The Necromancer said this while lightly stomping her feet.

Along with the light sound of red shoes tapping the ground, the surrounding space suddenly began to twist bizarrely.

Wooom, wooooom──!

My vision wavered.

The scenery of the alley shook like a reflection on water, then began to completely disintegrate in an instant.

Buildings melted like liquid, and streetlamps disappeared like smoke.

A dizzying sensation as if the entire world was being swept into a massive whirlpool.

And the next moment.

“…?”

Splash-.

I heard the sound of my foot stepping on cold mud.

At the same time, I was standing in a completely different place.

Under my feet was sticky black mud, and around me, reeds taller than a person’s height grew ominously.

The air was damp and heavy, and a stench coming from somewhere pricked my nostrils. The sky covered in black fog showed not a single star.

It was the Uncharted Wilderness outside Dungarrd, the Dark City.

‘Instant teleportation….’

I slowly looked around, but neither Adelia nor Pean were visible. Even the Golem Knight was nowhere to be seen.

Only the Necromancer and I were left alone in this desolate place.

Writhe writhe-!

No, let me correct that.

The Second Apostle was also with us.

“What? You’re not surprised?”

At that moment, the Necromancer asked with a giggle.

She had expected me to be flustered and afraid, but seemed deflated by my unexpectedly calm reaction, different from her expectations.

Still, she couldn’t hide her excited demeanor.

Had she wanted to meet me that badly?

“First of all, I’ve wanted to have a conversation with you for a long time, you know?”

“….”

Swoosh-.

The Girl took a step closer as she spoke.

Even walking on mud, not a speck of dirt touched her shoes. It seemed as if the ground itself refused to make contact with her.

“But fate kept changing, so I couldn’t meet you. Originally, I was supposed to meet you at the Corpse Pit… but I had to go and resurrect some idiot like Barba instead. Tsk.”

“….”

“Because of that, our meeting was delayed for quite a while. I really thought I’d die from frustration.”

Mutter mutter-.

Her grumbling appearance was no different from a child throwing a tantrum.

However, the content was anything but light.

The Necromancer’s words implied that she could detect changes in fate in real-time.

“But….”

Suddenly, the Necromancer’s gaze turned toward my waist.

“Before we have a sincere conversation, could you first put ‘her’ away? She keeps trying to eavesdrop on our talk.”

Swish-.

She pointed at the Feather Sword as she spoke.

This meant she even knew that ego swords were mentally connected to their masters.

I was newly reminded that an Apostle’s knowledge was more extensive than expected.

‘Sorry, Yeonwoo. Just wait for a moment.’

[What?]

At my words, the Feather Sword began to panic.

[Wait a minute! If I suddenly leave during such an important situation…!]

Woom, wooooom-!

I activated the silence function of the Void Scabbard.

Soon after, the mental connection with Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword was severed.

Now she wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation.

〔MP : 0/1〕

〔Sword Energy : 0/20〕

“….”

I carefully assessed my situation.

My mana was already depleted from the battle with Puppet Master Batu. I couldn’t use 【Soul of the Sword Master】 or even Avatar Manifestation.

All I had left was Ultimate Auto-Parry.

It was certainly an excellent skill, but that alone was woefully insufficient to face an Apostle-level enemy.

However.

Despite this, my mind was calm.

Because I was certain there was no possibility of combat breaking out here.

‘The Necromancer has no intention of killing me.’

No.

Even if she had such thoughts, she would never be able to act on them.

My conviction had clear grounds.

─You know what? The Authorities told us to get along with you too!

The words Dorico Shiro had given me just before we parted in the Forest of the Heavenly Sea.

And the statement Puppet Master Batu had made just moments ago.

─The Authorities gave us power but told us never to harm you! They asked us to subdue you if possible!

That’s right.

The Evil Gods didn’t want my death. At least not for now.

All the clues accumulated so far were pointing in the same direction.

‘I’m not just a simple enemy to them.’

Not a target to be killed and eliminated, but a being with some special value. A key element needed for their plans.

Of course, the evidence was still insufficient.

Everything was merely speculation and indirect evidence.

What exactly the Evil Gods wanted, what they were trying to obtain from me, was still shrouded in fog.

‘And….’

Apart from all this, I also had no intention of eliminating the Necromancer right now.

‘For the same reason I let Dorico Shiro go.’

If I removed her now, it would cause unpredictable butterfly effects in future scenarios. It might even accelerate the apocalypse instead.

‘What I need to face is the Evil Gods themselves.’

Hadn’t I said it before?

Monsters, worshippers of Evil Gods, or NPCs who would become hostile to me were all just ‘moves’ placed by the Evil Gods.

A battle of wits unfolding on the giant chessboard called the Continent. To continue this game, knowing what the opponent was thinking was most important.

Therefore, simply eliminating the enemy before my eyes couldn’t be a fundamental solution.

‘The Great Ones know my identity.’

Then the Evil Gods would be the same. And it was highly likely that the Apostles had also received some revelation about me.

As I’d said before, the Five Nightmares and Apostles were the antithesis of Sword Masters.

They were similar in that they both represented divine will, but with the crucial difference that one side protected the world while the other drove it toward destruction.

‘Then….’

I needed to know how they perceived me, what they expected from me.

‘Because I need to know that to make the next move.’

Fortunately, the Necromancer also wanted to have a conversation with me. She too must have something she wanted to confirm through me.

It would be a battle of nerves, each probing the other’s true intentions….

But that alone would be valuable enough.

Information was power, after all.

‘If worst comes to worst, I can just use the 「Trial」 as an emergency escape method.’

Even if the Necromancer harbored ill will toward me, it wouldn’t be a problem.

I could block one fatal blow with Ultimate Auto-Parry. Using that momentary gap, I could activate Jaque’s trial and move to the Parallel World.

‘It might have been difficult in the past, but with my current specs, it’s a trial I can clear easily enough.’

Having finished that thought, I nodded.

“Good.”

Then I looked at the Necromancer and said.

“Now that there are no listening ears, let’s have a sincere conversation.”

“Wow! Really?”

Grin-.

Upon hearing those words, the Necromancer broke into a beaming smile.

It was an expression of genuine happiness and joy. As if the moment she had been waiting for so long had finally come.

“Hehe, you really are easy to talk to! I was worried, you know? What if you drew your sword as soon as we met?”

“….”

“But to accept a conversation so meekly and cooperatively! The Authorities really did have good reason to keep a special eye on you! The old ones didn’t choose you as the ‘first’ for nothing!”

The Necromancer’s voice was mixed with joy and pride.

The emotion of being acknowledged by someone she truly admired was clearly evident.

However, her bright expression didn’t last long.

Suddenly, the Girl’s eyes grew dim. Her radiant smile gradually withered, soon turning into a sigh mixed with regret.

“Tsk, it would have been so nice if I had been your ‘first’ too…”

She muttered while hugging the black star closer to her chest. Her voice was tinged with deep envy and jealousy.

“…To you, I’m probably the 200th, right?”

* * *

The backstreets of Dawnguard.

Only the faint streetlamp light cast dim shadows between the damp stone walls.

Only the sound of water dripping from somewhere and trash moving in the wind broke the silence.

“….”

“….”

“….”

In that eerie space, three figures—the Golem Knight, Adelia, and Pean—stood awkwardly.

Gaon and the Two Apostles had suddenly disappeared.

Those left behind didn’t know what to do and could only glance at each other.

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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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