Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 274

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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 274

Episode 274. Ravenhil (1)

“Phew! Home really is the best!”

Thud-.

Western Branch of Ataraxy.

Dorico Shiro threw herself onto an old sofa placed in one corner of the laboratory.

Her face was filled with pride and satisfaction as she yawned long, like someone who had returned home after a long journey.

“…?”

Hodupayi stared at her blankly.

With an absurd expression wondering what on earth she was doing.

“What are you doing? This isn’t even your home, is it?”

“But it feels as cozy as my own home, doesn’t it? Hehe.”

Dorico Shiro waved her hand while buried in the sofa.

“If I had to mention something slightly disappointing… it’s a flaw that hideous creatures are floating around in the culture tanks.”

“….”

“Don’t you have any thoughts of changing the interior to something more cozy, Hodupayi?”

Crack-.

Hodupayi’s brow twitched slightly.

Setting aside Dorico Shiro’s attitude of using his workshop like her own bedroom, he was annoyed that she called the chimeras he had painstakingly created “hideous creatures.”

“Just go back to your own home. Why did you follow me to my laboratory and camp out here?”

“I don’t have a home! I’m homeless!”

“…?”

Hodupayi made an absurd expression, then promptly shut his mouth tight and let out a sigh.

He felt there was no value in continuing the conversation any further.

‘…I was foolish.’

Phew-.

Hodupayi let out a deep sigh and turned his back.

Even though he had known all along that she wasn’t someone he could have a reasonable conversation with, he felt pathetic for trying to talk with Dorico Shiro for no reason.

Step, step-.

Moving his feet, Hodupayi headed toward the workbench lined with experimental tools.

‘This is driving me crazy, really… I just wasted my precious time because of that zombie girl.’

It was such a waste.

In that time, he could have made at least one more chimera!

Originally, Hodupayi had no reason to participate in the gathering at all.

He had just been dragged along by Dorico Shiro’s lies, and thanks to that, he ended up hearing about the Heretics’ plans that he had no business knowing.

Something about launching a first assault to interfere with the Billopozy Mass Migration before the full offensive against Wintershield.

Something about recruiting more spies within Middle Temple and Wintershield.

‘And moreover….’

The biggest problem of all was.

That Hodupayi, who had participated in the gathering by accident, was also assigned a mission.

The First Apostle.

The “Necromancer” wearing the shell of an innocent girl had called Hodupayi aside separately at the end of the gathering and given him an order.

─Make more chimeras.

─…Excuse me?

Hodupayi had made a blank expression at those words.

─Many operations will unfold from now on. Even before the siege of Wintershield begins, and after that too, there’s a mountain of work piled up.

─….

─The more chimeras, the better. Don’t worry about things like quality for now, just push through with quantity first. Others will take care of the enhancements.

Having finished speaking, the Necromancer quietly turned away without even listening to Hodupayi’s response.

And.

Suddenly, Hodupayi found himself saddled with an enormous workload.

‘Well… I don’t really have any major complaints.’

Rustle-.

Hodupayi spread out the blueprints on his desk and muttered to himself.

He had always enjoyed making chimeras in the first place. The pleasure of creating life. The sense of achievement when looking at completed works.

Moreover, after the Western Branch Head’s death, Ataraxy had been generously supporting Hodupayi with funding.

However….

“…This means I’ll have to work hard on procuring materials.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Whoosh-.

The moment he muttered to himself.

Dorico Shiro, who had been lounging on the sofa, suddenly raised her head and asked.

Hodupayi answered without taking his eyes off the blueprints.

“I said I’ll have to work hard on procuring materials. I don’t have enough usable ones to mass-produce chimeras right away.”

“Ooh? Then where do you procure them from?”

Dorico Shiro asked as if curious.

“I want to come along too! Are you going to the black market? I think I heard last time that you get them from dealers in Dungard….”

“No. I only go to the black market when getting small quantities of high-quality materials.”

Hodupayi shook his head.

“What the First Apostle ordered now is quantity, not quality. So I need to go somewhere I can get very large amounts of monster corpses cheaply.”

“There’s a place where you can get monster corpses cheaply? Where is that?”

“….”

Slide-.

Hodupayi paused for a moment.

Then he slowly raised his head and looked out the window.

“A land where monsters’ corpses are piled up like mountains.”

“….”

“Ravenhil.”

* * *

Ravenhil.

The region with the second-most discarded corpses on this continent, after Dungard’s Pit of Corpses.

Dungard’s Pit of Corpses served as a graveyard for the big city. So it was natural that there were many corpses there.

But Ravenhil was different.

This land sat alone in the middle of the Unexplored Territories. There were no big cities nearby, not even villages where people could gather and live.

No, it wasn’t an environment where life could flourish in the first place.

Yet even so.

Corpses were piled up like mountains in this place.

‘That’s why Ravenhil has such a notorious reputation among people.’

A place counted among the most terrible cursed lands. A land called hell unfolded in the present world.

This was such a horrific region that it appeared as a symbol of nightmares even in children’s fairy tales.

But….

“…It’s more ordinary than I expected.”

Swoosh-.

Adelia, who was beside me, carefully murmured as she looked around.

A dim forest stretched out before us, and the sunlight filtering through the trees was faint. The air was damp and eerie, but it wasn’t terrible enough to be called horrifying.

Caw, caaaaw-.

Only the occasional sound of a flock of crows flying overhead could be heard.

‘Actually, if you just look at the surface, it’s just a spooky forest.’

Right then.

“It looks like an ordinary forest, doesn’t it?”

Pushing up his glasses, Markus Koshate interjected.

“But beneath this ground we’re standing on, countless corpses are buried. Those trees over there have all grown using blood and flesh as nutrients.”

“…What?”

Adelia’s expression stiffened slightly.

An expression of disbelief.

Then Markus gestured toward his younger sister.

“Natalia.”

“Yeah. Got it, brother.”

Swoosh-.

Natalya Koshat nodded and pulled something from her waist.

It was a cute little shovel that fit perfectly in one hand.

Pororong-!

As soon as it left her hand, the shovel emitted light and instantly grew enormous.

It was one of Natalia’s favorite artifacts.

‘…I’m actually seeing that thing.’

Natalia swung the shovel with skilled movements.

Thud, thunk-.

The shovel blade dug into the earth.

Once, twice, three times.

Her movements were swift and precise. In an instant, the ground was dug as deep as an average adult’s height.

And then.

“…!”

Before long, Adelia’s eyes widened.

In the dug pit.

Rotted and crumbling skeletal remains were tangled together.

Ribs, skulls, femurs, and so on. Bone fragments broken beyond recognition were mixed with soil and layered upon each other.

“See? Brother was right, wasn’t he?”

“No… even if that’s true, there was no need to prove it by digging up the ground like this…”

While Adelia was flustered by the Koshat siblings’ initiative, Captain Yaakov, who had been lost in thought, spoke up.

“As you Heretics know, the Relic Exploration Society boasts a deep history.”

“…”

“Throughout that long history, we have created and updated maps of the continent. Naturally, we also preserve all the records left by our predecessors.”

The other members of the Relic Investigation Team began getting off the carriages one by one and gathering their luggage. Taking advantage of this, Captain Yaakov continued his explanation.

“Originally, there was no region called Ravenhil. It was just ordinary flatland in the uncharted wilderness.”

“…”

“But at some point, hills made of corpses and bones began forming here. Those hills grew larger and eventually became a forest.”

“…”

“Even now, Ravenhil’s terrain continues to grow.”

Swoosh-.

Captain Yaakov slowly looked down at his feet.

Adelia, Jeungmu, Muwolcha, and even the Koshat siblings all followed his gaze.

“Actually, this isn’t an environment where living creatures would naturally gather. There are no villages nearby, no resources either. Yet monsters gather here enough to form mountains of corpses.”

“…”

“The Relic Investigation Team has conducted several investigations to resolve this mystery. But we came up empty-handed every time.”

Yaakov caught his breath for a moment, then slowly reached his conclusion.

“But now the mystery has finally been resolved.”

“…”

“If this place was the site of the Ratkku Empire… then monsters must have gathered in response to its relics or magical power. If that’s the case, everything makes sense.”

Upon hearing this, Natalya Koshat raised her hand brightly.

“Then what should we do, Captain? Should we keep digging until we find relics?”

Flinch-.

When unexpected manual labor was mentioned, several Relic Investigation Team members who were moving equipment and luggage paused.

Some even looked back at Natalia with surprised expressions.

“Sigh…”

Seeing this, Markus Koshate shook his head. He looked slightly exasperated with his action-oriented younger sister.

“For now, this is the area indicated on the map. But the existence of an opener key means there must also be an entrance leading to the ruins.”

“Oh?”

“But to find the entrance where this key fits, we’d have to search all of Ravenhil…”

Swoosh-.

Markus Koshate said this while looking in my direction.

Following him, the others began turning their heads one by one.

Yaakov, Natalia, Adelia, and even Jeungmu and Pean.

‘You guys…’

…You naturally think I’d know the answer?’

But well.

Since that was true, I had nothing particular to say.

‘I do know the location of the Rashutku ruins’ entrance.’

The problem was the process of getting there.

Ravenhil isn’t simply a mountain made of corpses. Throughout the forest, dangerous beings drawn by the eerie atmosphere are hiding.

There’s a reason it earned the nickname “demon realm.”

‘Taking a group of over thirty people to that entrance won’t be easy.’

Even with three Sword Masters and Adelia providing escort, casualties would definitely occur.

However.

‘There is one way to significantly reduce that difficulty.’

I took a short breath and spoke.

“There’s no need for us to go searching ourselves.”

“…?”

Everyone looked at me.

Their expressions were full of puzzlement.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to ask someone who knows Ravenhil better than anyone?”

Silence fell.

Everyone seemed to be pondering the meaning of my words.

Then.

“Ah.”

Pean nodded as if he understood.

“I see. We could ask the Diviner directly.”

Thud-.

As soon as his words ended, the atmosphere around us subtly changed.

Adelia’s expression stiffened slightly. When the name Diviner came up, her fists unconsciously clenched tight.

Jeungmu also seemed to be reading the mood.

The Relic Investigation Team’s expressions were no different. Particularly, a hint of caution crossed Captain Yaakov’s face.

“But…”

Captain Yaakov asked in a cautious voice.

“Whether it’s the entrance or Bun-hon, don’t we have to search for both either way?”

“No.”

Pean shook his head.

“The Diviner is always at the top of the hill. Someone just needs to go and call them over.”

Swoosh-.

Having finished speaking, Pean glanced in my direction.

Then once again.

Everyone turned their heads toward me.

‘No… you guys can do that much too, can’t you, Jeungmu, Pean?’

Why do they keep asking me to do things?

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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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