Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 2

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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 2

Episode 2. Underworld Arena (1)

“Hey, snap out of it.”

Tap tap-!

Someone woke me up by tapping my shoulder.

I forced my heavy eyelids open and looked around.

The surrounding scenery began to come into view through my spinning vision.

“….”

The interior of a dirty, damp underground prison.

Dozens of slaves were crouched down weakly in rows.

The wretched appearance of the slaves, who looked like they hadn’t eaten for days, immediately showed me just how terrible this place was.

“Finally awake. You were lying there so motionless I thought you were dead.”

Swoosh-.

I turned my gaze toward the person who had woken me up.

A man with a sturdy build.

Unlike the frail slaves, he was a male with a relatively robust physique.

‘…Sven.’

That was his name.

The man who had been sharing bits of food with me while we were imprisoned.

Thanks to his help, I had been able to survive the past five days without starving.

“Anyway, you’d better start preparing soon. It looks like the matches are about to begin.”

“…Matches?”

“That’s right. Can’t you hear it? The cheering from the crowd?”

After hearing Sven’s words, I concentrated and listened carefully.

Just as he said, I could faintly hear cheering coming from far away.

‘Well, it’s been five days since I regained consciousness in this prison, so I suppose it’s about time for that event to start.’

Tap tap-.

“Anyway, let’s get our heads straight, friend. If we just get through this match well, we can escape this living hell alive.”

Sven, who had been patting my shoulder, grinned and began moving busily to wake up the other slaves.

I watched his retreating figure blankly and let out a deep sigh.

“Phew….”

The Underworld Arena.

This was a place where horrific matches with flying blood and flesh took place.

And within it, slaves were used as expendable resources.

Their human rights were violated until the very last moment, all to excite the audience.

‘…No wonder Sven calls this place a living hell.’

Faced with that grim situation, I could only sigh again.

Living hell or not, until just three days ago, I had a different name for this place.

‘Tutorial Point.’

The space I had entered and exited hundreds of times through the game screen.

“….”

Right.

It’s already been five days, so it’s time to accept reality.

It seems I’ve somehow fallen into the game I used to enjoy playing so much.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Strength : 1

Agility : 1

Stamina : 1

Mana : 1

Perception : 1

…

【Hidden Mastery】

Weapon Arts

Sword : Lv. MAX

━━━━━━━━━━━━

…And of all things, as that trash entertainment character I had created for fun.

‘At least the fortunate thing is that the flow is proceeding according to the original story?’

The Underworld Arena was the space where you first opened your eyes whenever you started a new playthrough with a swordsman character.

As a veteran gamer who had gone through 200 playthroughs, I knew this place all too well.

But that’s exactly why my heart could only become more troubled.

‘…Because this place is somewhere you can never escape from, no matter what you try.’

Ironclad security.

A building designed to make escape absolutely impossible.

Even the harshness of the administrators who constantly created extreme conditions so that slaves could never dream of breaking out.

The Underworld Arena was an extremely evil region in the original game that you could never escape from.

Struggling here was meaningless. That was why I had just stayed quietly locked up in prison for the past five days.

‘Most importantly, with this frail body, I can’t even dream of escaping.’

Actually, this was the biggest problem.

I had no strength in my body at all.

My head was as heavy as if a stone had been placed on it, and my blurry vision kept spinning constantly.

Of course, it could be because I had survived for five days eating only the small amounts of food Sven gave me, but….

【Lv. 1】

…Looking at my level, it’s probably not just for that reason alone.

“….”

I slowly looked around.

Then, above the heads of the other slaves too, translucent windows like those I had only seen on game screens began to flicker.

【Lv. 7】

【Lv. 6】

【Lv. 8】

In LoEl, the average level of a healthy adult male is roughly 10.

Even those slaves who were on the verge of starving to death were all above Lv. 5, weren’t they?

In contrast, my level is 1.

Looking at my status window, stamina, strength, mana, and even all the stats below them are all covered with the miserable numbers 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1….

‘No wonder I have no strength in my body.’

Suddenly, a game message I had seen through the monitor a few days ago flashed through my mind.

〔Warning: Character stats that make normal gameplay impossible.〕

Why on earth did I ignore the system’s warning?

If I had known things would turn out like this, I would have distributed my stats evenly.

Deep regret washed over me, albeit belatedly.

‘The only thing I can currently rely on is this….’

I silently examined the bottom of my status window.

More precisely, the 12-star mythical-grade skill I had obtained by sacrificing all the stats of this body.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【 Soul of the Sword Master 】

Grade: ★★★★★★★★★★★★(12-Star – Mythical Grade)

Type: On/Off Skill

Cost: 100 mana per second

━━━━━━━━━━━━

‘…Why is this one also unusable?’

But for some reason, the 12-star skill that should have been sparkling with brilliant rainbow colors was dimmed to a dull gray.

Unusable.

Ever since I regained consciousness in the prison, 【Soul of the Sword Master】 had been in that state.

‘Could it be because my maximum MP is only 1?’

According to the status window description, the skill cost was 100 mana per second.

However, the mana I possessed was only 1.

By simple calculation, I could only use the skill for 0.01 seconds.

‘If the skill is completely deactivated because of insufficient mana…’

…It meant I couldn’t even use the mythical-grade skill obtained by gathering all the stats of this body.

‘Fuck.’

A curse slipped from my mouth without realizing it in that shitty situation.

And for good reason…

Bang-!

…The harsh tutorial that was about to unfold was absolutely impossible to endure with my frail body.

“Get up, you maggots!”

The iron gate opened roughly and five or six guards stormed into the prison.

Watching the guards handle the slaves while wildly swinging their whips, I thought to myself.

‘Is it finally starting?’

The tutorial.

An event that opens on the fifth day after the player is imprisoned in the Underworld Arena.

It seemed like LoEl’s main story was finally about to begin.

“What are you doing! Move quickly!”

Crack-!

Suddenly, a pain that made my head go white struck me.

One of the guards had swung his whip at my back.

“…Ugh!”

It hurts!

Fuck, it really hurts like hell!

My body was already weak, and with this shock added, even my mind became dizzy.

But I couldn’t just stay still.

The slaves, including myself, began frantically fleeing to the opposite side of the guards to avoid the whipping.

“Huff, gasp…!”

Light began to faintly appear at the end of the dark corridor.

The closer we got to that light, the clearer the faint cheering became.

Soon after, my vision brightened and an open clearing greeted me.

Waaaaaaah──!

I stopped walking and looked around with a bewildered expression.

“Ah…”

A circular arena surrounded by tens of thousands of spectators.

The dusty dirt floor was soaked with sticky blood, as if a match had already been fought.

Several corpses that hadn’t been cleared away yet were rolling around on the ground.

Then, a man’s cheerful voice began to resonate loudly.

─Now then, today’s second match begins!

I turned my head toward the source of the voice.

At the top of the arena.

A one-eyed man who appeared to be the announcer was continuing his commentary while holding a magic amplifier.

─First team, 15 slaves belonging to the Underworld Arena!

─These people, dragged into a living hell for failing to repay their debts, have now become gladiators fighting for freedom!

─The slaves who survive this match will have all their debts forgiven and receive a fortune of 100 million shillings from the Ruin Merchant Guild!

Rusty weapons were scattered throughout the arena.

Some quick-witted slaves hastily picked up weapons as soon as the announcer finished speaking.

Creak-!

Just then, the iron gate on the opposite side of the arena began to open.

At the same time, the announcer introduced the common enemy that the slaves would have to face together.

─And here, there is a hero who faces these 15 slaves alone!

Gulp-.

I swallowed dry saliva.

For some reason, the announcer’s next words seemed to echo in my ears.

And for good reason, this scene was one I had seen hundreds of times while playing LoEl.

─…Barbarian the Slayer of Men, Barba!

The scene I had only seen through a monitor began to be recreated in reality.

Thud-!

The ground shook heavily.

A height that easily exceeded 3 meters.

A warrior in massive armor was slowly walking out from the dark corridor, carrying twin axes.

And above his head, a translucent window appeared.

【Lv. 71】

A whopping level 71.

Considering that anyone above level 90 was always counted among the world’s strongest, Barbarian the Slayer of Men Barba could be said to be a representative expert of this region.

Even in the original setting, he was known as the strongest gladiator in the Underworld Arena, so that said it all.

He wasn’t a slave like us. Instead, he was a free-status expert hired by the Underworld Arena.

Waaaah-!

With the appearance of the Underworld Arena’s star gladiator, cheers incomparably louder than before engulfed the arena.

“Ah, ahhhhh…”

The slaves’ faces turned pale.

Seeing the gladiator walking toward us with a menacing aura, some lost their fighting spirit entirely and collapsed with a thud.

“Snap out of it, you bastards!”

At that moment, one slave who had grabbed a spear rolling on the ground shouted with a vigorous voice.

…It was Sven.

He glared at Barbarian the Slayer of Men and growled boldly.

“We overwhelmingly outnumber them! If we just kill that one big knight, we’ll be free!”

Freedom.

The moment that word came out, the atmosphere flowing among the slaves changed.

Before long, a glimmer of hope began to settle in their eyes.

The slaves, gripping the handles of their worn weapons tightly, ignited their will to live once more.

“…”

However, seeing their appearance, I could only bite my lips tightly.

Because I knew all too well what kind of ending this tutorial would ultimately meet.

‘…No one survives.’

All the slaves who fight in this match will die.

Without a single exception.

Even the player’s character gets split in half by Barbarian the Slayer of Men’s twin axes.

Whiriririk!

Crack-!

The noisy arena became quiet in an instant.

With a sound like a watermelon bursting, dark red blood scattered in all directions.

I turned my head to look behind me.

A massive axe had precisely split Sven’s face in two.

Thud-.

A corpse falling lifelessly.

From the spectator seats, an explosive reaction burst out a beat too late.

Uwaaaaaaaaaaa──!!

What followed was a series of one-sided massacres.

Barba, living up to his epithet as the Slayer of Men, swung his twin axes and continued the festival of slaughter for the spectators.

Fresh blood and entrails scattered through the air.

The terrified slaves frantically fled to escape Barba, but they only met death by the flying axes.

I could only watch that situation with anxiously trembling eyes.

‘My body, won’t move…!’

It wasn’t that my body was frozen from fear.

No matter how much I struggled, something beyond the laws of physics was strongly binding me.

The tutorial’s cut-scene.

An unknown force was restraining my movements to perfectly recreate the perspective of that video I had only seen through the monitor.

‘…Right.’

This was exactly how the tutorial proceeded.

Players and slaves could never defeat Barbarian the Slayer of Men.

Not simply because of level differences, but because the game itself was just made that way.

Countless veteran gamers had attempted to hunt him.

But when Barba’s HP dropped below a certain gauge, the screen would automatically transition to a cut-scene of the player being executed.

…The system was designed so that players would unconditionally die.

‘Eventually, the player who meets death at the hands of the Slayer of Men gets thrown into the Corpse Pit…’

By chance, they receive help from a “Necromancer” wandering around that area and are revived as an undead.

A narrative to provide plausibility for being able to retry whenever a character dies.

The player meeting their first death in the tutorial could be said to be the true beginning of LoEl’s story.

“…”

But just because that was the flow of the original story didn’t mean I intended to give up on life.

Games are games and reality is reality.

Above all, even if I could be revived by the Necromancer according to LoEl’s story…

I absolutely did not want to meet death.

Because there was an ‘important reason’ why I shouldn’t.

“Huu, hu.”

Of course, I know too.

That in normal circumstances, it would be impossible for me, at merely level 1, to survive against that level 71 monster.

As if to prove this fact, among the tens of thousands of spectators right now, not a single one was placing any expectations on me.

‘Still, it’s not entirely impossible.’

Because…

Ding-!

〔Available for Use〕

From the moment I gripped the handle of the old sword rolling on the dirt ground.

The 12-Star Skill that had been quiet until now was sparkling with brilliant rainbow light.

‘…So the condition for using the skill was holding a sword.’

It wasn’t that the skill was deactivated because my maximum MP was 1.

It wasn’t that the skill was deactivated because my strength or stamina stat values were ridiculously low either.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Hidden Mastery】

Weapon Arts

Sword: Lv. MAX

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Befitting a reward obtained by investing everything into sword talent…

The skill could only be activated when holding a sword.

“Huu.”

Saaaaa-.

Just then, along with a notification sound, control of my body returned to me.

The tutorial’s cut-scene had ended.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the MP window that appeared before my eyes.

〔MP : 1/1〕

0.01 seconds.

By simple calculation, the maximum time I could maintain 【Soul of the Sword Master】, which consumed 100 mana per second, was exactly 0.01 seconds.

‘Is it possible…?’

No matter how much of a 12-Star Skill it was, would it be possible to kill that monster in just 0.01 seconds?

I don’t know.

To find out that fact, I had no choice but to try using this skill directly on Barbarian the Slayer of Men.

“Grrrruuk…!”

I gripped the handle tightly and pulled out the one-handed sword stuck in the dirt ground.

Perhaps because my strength stat was 1, even simply lifting that sword made my arms tremble.

Some spectators burst into laughter looking at me.

Even Barbarian the Slayer of Men, who was hunting other slaves in the distance, glanced at me and immediately turned his head away.

With an indifferent expression, as if something like me wasn’t even worth being wary of.

“…”

Right.

Of course it would be laughable.

The sight of an emaciated slave draped in rags no better than burlap, unable to even properly hold a single sword, would be endlessly ridiculous.

‘Still….’

Praying that this would at least be a meaningful struggle.

I activated【Soul of the Sword Master】with the desperation of grasping at straws-

〔MP : 1/1〕

Tick-.

〔MP : 0/1〕

KWAAAAAAAAAANG───!!

A thunderous roar that seemed to tear apart heaven and earth.

The sudden fierce gale forced my eyes shut without realizing it.

The clothes on my body fluttered as if they would be torn off at any moment, and my hair whipped about mercilessly.

After the momentary commotion passed, the arena became infinitely quiet.

I opened my tightly shut eyes.

“…!”

I thought my heart would stop.

Barbarian the Slayer of Men, who had been far away just moments ago, was now standing right in front of me.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

For some reason, both my arms holding the one-handed sword were stretched straight forward.

And the tip of that rusted blade….

Drip, drop-.

…had cleanly sliced through the neck of Barba, whose head had disappeared.

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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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