Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 257

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 257

Episode 257. The Second Hero, Muwolcha (2)

Mukyoo in the form of Haewolsumo peeled away smoothly.

The rainbow-colored jelly slowly fell away from Muwolcha’s face, then began to float gently into the air.

At that moment.

Her fluorescent purple skin gave off a strange glow under the meeting room’s lighting.

And the 15 eyeballs irregularly embedded on it… no, more precisely, ‘eyeball-like things’ all revealed themselves at once.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Thud-.

In that moment, silence flowed.

Until just moments ago, Muwolcha had looked like nothing more than a monk with her face covered.

Since Mukyoo had covered all her other features except for her two eyes.

But.

“Wh-what is that.”

“Why is there a monster…?”

Murmur murmur-.

The hall instantly began to fill with commotion.

Several priests nearby instinctively stepped backward.

Their eyes mixed with fear and bewilderment.

Clank-.

Even the paladins guarding the conference hall from the walls placed their hands on the swords at their waists.

Their posture suggested they could draw their swords at any moment.

‘Well…’

Actually, this was the reaction I had expected.

No.

If anything, this was rather mild.

When playing Roel with a character of Muwolcha’s appearance level, it was commonplace for NPCs to turn hostile from the first encounter.

“…”

Swoosh-.

People’s gazes focused on me.

The priests, the paladins, and even Arwen von Goldhart and Sikan Bauer who had sworn loyalty to me.

All their expressions were filled with questions.

Why wasn’t I disturbed? Why wasn’t I surprised?

After a brief silence passed like that.

“L-Lord Gaon?”

High Priest Vermang cautiously opened his mouth.

“Wh-what is this exactly…?”

His eyes sought an explanation.

* * *

Arwen von Goldhart was bewildered.

Extremely so.

Because a completely unexpected situation had unfolded.

‘A monk from the Haslpart Highlands…’

When he heard those words, the image Arwen had conjured was clear.

Neatly combed hair. Distinct features. A balanced body forged through training. And clear eyes filled with piety.

Others would have been the same.

If she was from the Haslpart Highlands, they naturally would have expected her to possess outstanding beauty.

But.

Fluorescent purple skin. Fifteen eyeballs irregularly embedded on it. An appearance so grotesque it was difficult even to look at.

‘What is that?’

Just as Arwen was having such thoughts.

“What are you doing not starting the meeting?”

Gaon’s voice echoed through the meeting room.

A calm yet cold tone. An attitude as if he didn’t care at all about the monster’s appearance beside him.

His expression of not understanding what was strange as he looked around coldly felt rather alien.

But still, no one could open their mouth.

The priests were gaping in shock, and the paladins couldn’t relax their tension, keeping their hands on their sword hilts.

Sigh-.

Soon Gaon let out a sigh as if finding it pathetic.

“Are you so dissatisfied with the appearance of the person before you?”

“That’s…”

High Priest Vermang tried to respond.

His lips trembled. Words circled in his throat.

But no words fell from his mouth.

Because Gaon’s expression was far too cold.

“Since when has Middle Temple become a group that judges individual faithfulness by appearance?”

“…”

“Since when has this city become filled with foolish people who judge the hero chosen by the Great Ones based on outward appearance alone?”

Clench-.

At those words, Arwen shut his mouth tight.

Though it was an extremely impious thought, this time he felt Gaon’s words were wrong as the thought flashed through his mind.

Middle Temple didn’t discriminate against people based on appearance. They couldn’t in the first place.

Just looking at the Sword Masters proved that.

Hybrid Human-Dragon, Death Knight, vampire, cyborg, Blind Elf, and so on… Among the heretics following the gods’ will, those with proper human form were rather rare.

Yet everyone respected them as heretics. Appearance wasn’t a consideration. They simply revered the fact that they had been chosen by the Elders.

However.

‘That appearance… how can…?’

Even for people who respected diversity, that appearance was never easy.

No.

Honestly speaking, it was even frightening.

The instinctive urge to turn away surged up…

‘Wait a moment.’

Pause-.

Right at that moment.

A memory flashed through Arwen’s mind.

A passage from the scriptures he had memorized during priest classes suddenly came to mind.

A description about souls passing through the Pantheon just before entering the afterlife.

『When you enter the Pantheon, countless gazes shall surround you, so fear not. For the Great Ones look down upon you, and their will is with you.』

And another one.

『When the messenger of the Great Ones descended, there were many eyes upon his body. He said, ‘Fear not. For the will of the gods is among you.’』

“…!”

Arwen’s eyes widened.

Countless gazes.

Numerous eyes.

‘Could it be….’

Slowly, but surely, one possibility began to take shape in his mind.

‘Just moments ago, a divine beast was clinging to that face.’

And.

Divine beasts are drawn to sacred energy.

“….”

Then could it be that this appearance, which looks monstrous to our eyes….

Is actually the most ideal form in the Heavenly Realm?

* * *

‘You worked hard, Mukyoo.’

[Myu, myuweeeeeeeek….]

Mukyoo made quiet retching sounds beside me.

Even its softly glowing rainbow light was darker than usual.

…It seems clinging to Muwolcha’s face was quite taxing for the little guy too.

‘Sorry. I’ll give you something delicious later. I really will.’

[Myu….]

Swoosh-.

I momentarily left Mukyoo behind and looked around.

The expressions of the priests and paladins were still hardened. Their gazes toward Muwolcha mixed wariness with bewilderment.

However.

Perhaps thanks to me stepping forward first and speaking firmly, that chaotic atmosphere was gradually settling down.

The paladins who had placed hands on their sword hilts had now lowered their arms.

“If there’s nothing more to say.”

I said calmly while looking around.

“Let’s begin the meeting.”

* * *

Ding-!

〔Hidden Message : The Pantheon expresses serious concern about the pla$̸̧͖̻͍̻̳̪̗͂ͅ&̵̖̳̝̱̙̯̻͍͗̋͂̇́̆@̸͚͙̠͈̮̫̱̭̠̔͛̈́̐̄̈́̑̓̾͘ͅ#yer’s appearance.〕

〔Hidden Message : Some gods belonging to the Exterior Circle sympathize with the Pantheon’s position.〕

〔Hidden Message : A vote to restrict future appearance changes for the pla$̸̧͖̻͍̻̳̪̗͂ͅ&̵̖̳̝̱̙̯̻͍͗̋͂̇́̆@̸͚͙̠͈̮̫̱̭̠̔͛̈́̐̄̈́̑̓̾͘ͅ#yer will now begin.〕

〔Hidden Message : In favor #̵̛̼̟̫̳̬̃̔̆̓̿!̷̰̺͊̂͛$̵̜̲̯̻͖͒̽̎̈́ votes. Against @̷͔̺͍̊̔%̶͉̬͋͛͛̈́͘$̴̗̗̲͊͊͝ votes.〕

〔Hidden Message : The motion has passed.〕

〔Hidden Message : The master of ‘Love and Beauty’ breathes a sigh of relief.〕

〔Hidden Message : ‘■̸̨̹̀̃@̷͎̜̤̥͐̌̓͝■̵̲̳̳̻̈͘#̸̻̝̐̇̐͝!̵̤̼̈́̅͊?̴̡̧̠́́̏■̴̼̿͑̈́̾%̸̦͎̯̀’ expresses regret over the motion that places excessive restrictions on the pla$̸̧͖̻͍̻̳̪̗͂ͅ&̵̖̳̝̱̙̯̻͍͗̋͂̇́̆@̸͚͙̠͈̮̫̱̭̠̔͛̈́̐̄̈́̑̓̾͘ͅ#yer’s freedom.〕

〔Hidden Message : The majority of gods belonging to the Pantheon and Exterior Circle look at ‘■̸̨̹̀̃@̷͎̜̤̥͐̌̓͝■̵̲̳̳̻̈͘#̸̻̝̐̇̐͝!̵̤̼̈́̅͊?̴̡̧̠́́̏■̴̼̿͑̈́̾%̸̦͎̯̀’ with contemptuous eyes.〕

* * *

West Branch Terrace.

Beyond the railing, the scenery of Dungarrd, the Dark City, spread out.

Smoke rose between buildings tinged red by the sunset light, and the headquarters of the Ruin Guild was faintly visible in the distance.

“Phew….”

Hodupayi let out a satisfied sigh.

“…It ended well, at least.”

Everything had proceeded according to plan.

A new apostle has set foot in this world, and the first apostle, the “Necromancer,” has disappeared somewhere along with the “망룡 흑뢰성,” as if having completed their role.

Now peace had returned to the West Branch.

Of course, the branch manager had died, but headquarters immediately dispatched a temporary branch manager. That person spared no support for Hodupayi, just as the 「Necromancer」 had said.

At least from Hodupayi’s perspective, everything had been successful.

But.

“….”

Swoosh-.

Hodupayi turned to look beside him.

Dorico Shiro remained silent with her arms resting on the railing.

Normally she would have been humming a tune. She would have been smiling brightly and chattering about this and that.

But for several days now, she had been in a low-pressure state.

“Um, excuse me….”

Hodupayi glanced at her standing beside him and carefully opened his mouth.

“Why, why do you look so troubled? Everything ended successfully….”

There was no answer.

Dorico Shiro was still just looking down at the scenery of Dungarrd. The sunset was gradually setting, and the red light was slowly being swallowed by darkness.

How much time passed like that?

Phew-.

Dorico Shiro let out a long sigh and opened her mouth.

“Something’s strange.”

“Pardon?”

“It keeps bothering me.”

Hodupayi tilted his head.

“I’m talking about Gaon.”

“…?”

“He can kill immortals, you know.”

Dorico Shiro’s voice lowered.

“If you die by his hand, even resurrection becomes impossible. Complete death. Camillo von Taribas, Puppet Master Batu, The Adversary… even Jark von Haibrunn who made a contract with Evil Deities all met eternal death that way.”

“….”

At those words, Hodupayi fell into thought for a moment.

It was a fact Dorico Shiro had told him a week ago.

Hadn’t even the chimera army he had painstakingly created been swept away by his hands?

Right.

Gaon had the ability to eliminate 「immortality」.

“But.”

Dorico Shiro continued speaking step by step.

“Why did he leave Zahhar’s body to be recycled as is?”

“…?”

“Surely if it were Gaon, he would have finished it off directly to prevent any resurrection. Someone as meticulous as him would definitely have done that.”

Her voice carried conviction.

“But… this time he didn’t even clean up properly and deliberately left the corpse behind. As if he wanted us to revive it.”

“….”

Hodupayi, who had been seriously listening to Dorico Shiro’s words, fell into contemplation.

‘There’s some logic to that….’

Was it because Dorico Shiro, who had nothing but flowers in her head, said such words? Her words seemed utterly unreliable.

“So that’s why you’ve been so gloomy for the past few days?”

“Well… something like that, I suppose.”

“Ugh, then let’s go do something fun to change your mood! There’s no point in worrying about it now anyway since we won’t find an answer!”

“Something fun?”

Dorico Shiro frowned.

“What’s that supposed to be?”

“Although the Second Apostle took Baekryong’s corpse… we still have Lord Zahhar’s head left!”

“…Huh?”

“I was thinking of playing some pranks with it, haha.”

“Whoa.”

In an instant, Dorico Shiro’s expression brightened considerably.

“That sounds so fun! Let me join in!”

“Let’s go to the workshop together.”

* * *

“With this.”

High Priest Vermang’s voice resonated majestically throughout the entire meeting room.

“I declare that the first agenda item of this meeting has been passed unanimously.”

A moment of silence flowed.

“Middletemple, the Holy City, hereby officially recognizes Muwolcha as the second hero in accordance with the will of the Elders.”

As his declaration ended, the priests in the meeting room all placed their hands on their chests and bowed their heads in unison.

And then.

High Priest Vermang’s expression hardened coldly.

“Furthermore.”

He slowly unfolded the document he was holding in his hand.

“The one who reduced the hero chosen by the Great Ones to such a horrific state.”

Anger seeped into his voice.

“The black mage affiliated with Ataraxy, Hodupayi.”

The air in the meeting room turned cold in an instant.

“I declare that said individual has been proclaimed a public enemy of Middletemple and immediately added to the elimination target list.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————