Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 288

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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 288

Episode 288. Ruins of Rashutku (7)

* * *

It didn’t take long for the group to familiarize themselves with the rules.

The Relic Investigation Team were people whose main job was to decipher ancient texts and systematically organize complex information.

The other Sword Masters were the same. There was no way transcendents who had lived for hundreds of years couldn’t memorize just a dozen or so rules.

‘Of course, if I had brought guys like Tyrant Dragon or Mangnyeom…’

…I felt somewhat regretful. If those guys had come to this place instead, things would have been much easier.

While I was having such thoughts.

Captain Yaakov opened his mouth with a calm voice.

“I’ll summarize.”

“…”

“After 10 PM, no more than 5 people per room. Lock the doors and don’t respond to knocks. Meals only at noon and midnight. Don’t look at mirrors. No talking in the cloister. Ignore children in white clothes.”

“…”

“Twelve steps on the stairs. No entry to the basement. Answer names only after the third call. Use the restroom only at the end of the corridor. If you find a corpse in the restroom, re-enter after 10 minutes. If it’s your own corpse, re-enter after 1 hour.”

After catching his breath for a moment, he added.

“And rule number 7, about looking out the window, must not be followed.”

Whoosh-.

Jeungmu, who had been quietly listening to Captain Yaakov’s words, slowly opened his mouth.

“So you’re saying we need to follow 11 rules?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

As a result, the rules our group actually had to follow were 11. Rule number 7 should not be followed, and number 13 was simply a warning notice.

‘Easy.’

Naturally, I was also able to quickly memorize the contents.

The eleven rules seemed complex, but when organized systematically, they weren’t that difficult.

Of course, I didn’t even need to memorize them. Those rules didn’t apply to me anyway.

But since I had to get along with them for the time being, I decided to play along with their rhythm.

Tick, tick-.

The second hand of the desk clock moved regularly.

Time flowed without stopping, and before we knew it, noon was approaching.

“It’s meal time.”

Captain Yaakov’s voice quietly echoed.

The Relic Investigation Team members all began taking out dried rations from their backpacks. Jerky, hardtack, and water bottles.

It wasn’t exactly a lavish meal.

But in the current situation, there was no luxury to be picky about taste.

“…”

Swish-.

I turned my gaze to the side.

I saw Muwolcha crouched in the corner.

Her face, visible through the silver jelly, still looked pale.

For some reason, the monk’s gaze as she kept glancing at me was filled with fear.

…What could be making her so anxious?

The meal proceeded quietly.

No one brought up unnecessary conversation. Only the sounds of chewing dried rations and drinking water could be heard occasionally in the silence.

Fortunately, no more ‘abnormal phenomena’ occurred.

People set up night watches and took turns sleeping.

The night at the imperial palace was quiet.

No knocking sounds or voices calling names could be heard.

And so morning came.

Tick, tick, tick-.

The moment the old desk clock pointed exactly to 7 AM.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong──!

Seven bell tolls echoing throughout the entire imperial palace.

And.

Click-!

Creeeeeeak-.

The tightly locked door opened by itself.

It was Rashutku’s permission that they could now come outside.

“Well then.”

While everyone glanced at Pean.

He, who had declared he would destroy all mirrors in the imperial palace, took his first step outside.

“Please wait just a moment.”

He said with a gentle smile on his face.

“I’ll be back shortly, everyone.”

* * *

“…”

Thud, thud-.

Pean moved his steps without a word.

While others might have felt creeped out by the rules of Rashutku Imperial Palace, he was completely unfazed.

Thousands of years.

He was a seeker of the sword who had lived by hunting down the minions of evil gods for that long time.

For him, who had fought against evil for so long, a space corrupted by the curse of evil gods was nothing new.

‘Is it this way?’

The first place Pean headed to was the restroom.

When thinking of places with many mirrors, the restroom was the first that came to mind.

The end of the corridor. The location of the restroom specified in the rules.

He walked slowly along the cloister. Only his footsteps echoed quietly.

Soon arriving at his destination, he expanded his supersenses more strongly.

Swish-.

The world changed.

Pean’s eyes could see nothing. But the world captured by the supersenses he gained by abandoning his sight was clear.

‘The restroom is… old, but still elegant.’

Old tile floor. Cracked walls. And a mirror hanging on the wall.

Of course, he couldn’t see the actual form of the mirror. He could only sense the fact that a mirror ‘existed’.

Tap-.

Pean lightly brought Seorineul to the surface of the mirror.

Crackle-!

The sound of instant freezing could be heard.

Cold air covering the entire mirror. It was the effect of ‘frost’ that froze everything it touched.

Pean smiled with satisfaction and lightly touched the glass with his finger.

Shatter-!

The frozen mirror shattered into pieces. Dozens of ice fragments poured down to the floor.

Whoosh-.

Soon after, Pean activated the effect of ‘Sunset’. The intense heat instantly melted the fragments.

Steam rose and quickly dissipated.

The restroom returned to its original state from when Pean first stepped foot in it. Only the mirror had disappeared.

‘The other mirrors…’

Coming back out to the corridor, Pean slowly wandered around that floor.

There were none.

Even after activating his enhanced senses and searching every corner, he couldn’t find any more mirrors.

‘…I’ll have to head to the next floor.’

Thump, thump-.

Since it was the top floor, there were no stairs leading upward.

Pean thoroughly followed the rules as he went down to the lower floor.

He gripped the handrail tightly and counted the steps. One, two, three… twelve.

Right.

Exactly 12 steps.

This time too, the first place he headed to was the restroom.

Thump-.

But the next moment.

Upon entering the restroom, he had no choice but to stop in his tracks.

His enhanced senses detected an all too familiar presence.

‘…Gaon?’

* * *

“Let’s start our exploration too.”

Not long after Pean said he would break the mirrors and return, I spoke up.

“What do you mean by that, Gaon?”

Jeungmu asked with a puzzled expression.

Hissss-.

A faint steam sound leaked from his body.

“Pean hasn’t even returned yet, and you’re already talking about starting exploration…”

“Pean has already gone down to the lower floor.”

I answered briefly.

“That means he’s broken all the mirrors on this floor.”

“Ah.”

Jeungmu nodded.

A massive imperial palace with an unknown number of floors. If we just waited around until Pean finished wandering through all of it, that would be a waste of time.

Since it was certain that all the mirrors on this floor had been broken, it seemed right for us to explore this floor on our own.

“Waiting for Pean to go through every floor is inefficient. It’s better to start investigating from the floor we’re currently on.”

“…”

“…”

A brief silence fell.

The group showed signs of contemplation. They hesitated while looking at each other with somewhat anxious expressions, but soon everyone nodded.

It seemed they had decided to follow my words.

Captain Yaakov began giving instructions to his members. Voices rang out quietly as they organized their luggage, gathered torches, and arranged their formation for exploration.

‘It’s true that we can’t waste time.’

We currently had important schedules ahead of us.

We needed to return to the surface as soon as possible.

Many things were waiting for us…

“Gaon.”

“…?”

I froze at the familiar voice that suddenly reached my ears.

‘Pean?’

Pean, who should have gone down to the lower floor, was suddenly standing before my eyes.

“…!”

“…!”

Startled-.

The others who had been organizing their luggage to prepare for exploration were also shocked.

No one had sensed Pean’s presence.

Not only Adelia who had been staying close to Muwolcha, but even Sword Masters like Jeungmu and Balhwan looked at Pean with surprised expressions.

“Why did you come back?”

A voice filled with questions.

“Did you already break all the mirrors?”

“Ah, that’s not it.”

Pean let out a small sigh.

Then he spoke quietly.

“Could I have a word with you privately, Gaon?”

“…?”

“Just the two of us.”

* * *

‘Why does he suddenly want a private meeting?’

I couldn’t understand the reason.

But there must have been some reason why Pean made such a request.

“…Alright.”

I nodded.

We couldn’t have a conversation in the corridor. There was a rule that we had to maintain silence.

Eventually, Pean and I had to move to the place farthest from the room where our companions were. This was because our conversation might leak out.

Click-.

The sound of the locking mechanism echoed quietly.

Pean stood in the middle of the room and looked straight at me. Even though his eyes weren’t visible, his gaze was directed precisely toward me.

“What’s the matter?”

“I went to the restroom on the lower floor.”

Pean spoke in a calm voice.

“But I saw you there, Gaon.”

“…?”

I blinked.

“Did you forget rule number 2? It said you might occasionally find the corpse of an acquaintance in the restroom. You just need to go back in after 10 minutes.”

“…”

Pean didn’t answer.

He just stared at me silently.

“But you wouldn’t have asked to speak with me privately just because of that…”

I continued slowly.

“There must be another reason.”

“Yes.”

Pean nodded.

Then he explained the situation in a serious voice.

“It wasn’t a corpse.”

“…?”

“It was alive, moving, and even talking.”

Instantly, the air in the room turned cold.

Pean continued speaking.

“That Gaon warned me. He said you, who are currently with the party, are fake, and that he himself is real.”

“….”

“After saying that, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.”

Pean’s voice dropped low.

“Since this is an anomaly that doesn’t exist in Rashutku’s rules at all, I thought it would be best to inform you, so I returned immediately. What do you think about this situation, Lord Gaon?”

At those words, I answered calmly.

“The imperial palace is a space eroded by the curse of the Evil Gods. Therefore, it wouldn’t be strange for anomalies not covered by the rules to occur.”

“….”

“The curse of the Evil Gods distorts not only vision but the senses themselves. Extrasensory perception is no exception. Or the possibility of causing mental confusion cannot be ruled out either.”

A moment of silence passed.

Soon Pean slowly nodded his head.

“Well, that could be the case.”

After finishing those words, he turned his body.

Thud-.

Pean walking toward the door.

Creak-.

The old door opened.

But.

“….”

People were standing outside the door.

Jeungmu.

Balhwan.

Adelia.

And at the very back, even the monk Muwolcha wearing silver jelly.

All four were looking this way with tense expressions.

Whoosh-!

Rough steam erupted from Jeungmu’s body. The Heavenly Transformation Device was already in his hands.

Swoosh-.

The Bifurcated Siblings also had their swords half-drawn. The boy in white robes and the girl in black robes simultaneously glared at me with sharp eyes.

As if.

In a stance ready to engage in battle at any moment.

Shing-!

Pean also quickly drew Seorineul.

I stared blankly at that scene and muttered.

“…What exactly is this supposed to be?”

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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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