Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 293

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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 293

Episode 293. Creepy Creepy Rashutku (2)

* * *

The second night at the Imperial Palace passed more quietly than expected. There were no knocking sounds or voices calling names.

After 10 PM, only occasional creaking sounds could be heard from the corridor.

Creak-.

And so the next morning arrived.

As soon as the door opened, I was the first to go out into the corridor to look for Muwolcha.

Thud, thud-.

I walked around, looking at my surroundings.

Other doors began opening one by one as well.

The Expedition Members cautiously poked their heads out and looked around.

I could see them looking relieved that they had safely made it through the night.

But.

‘I don’t see Muwolcha anywhere?’

I narrowed my eyes and scanned all the way to the end of the corridor, but the monk wearing the silver jelly was nowhere to be seen.

It was strange.

She had definitely said she would wait in front of our room around 7 AM.

‘Don’t tell me something happened to her?’

Just then.

I caught a faint movement from around the corner of the corridor.

Tremble tremble-.

A silver mass crouched and hiding in a gap in the wall.

‘Ah, there she was.’

It was Muwolcha.

I quickly approached her.

“…!”

Startled-.

At the sudden presence, Muwolcha jumped in surprise and shrank back.

Then she slowly raised her head to confirm it was me and let out a sigh of relief.

“Pakgyu…”

Muwolcha’s voice was trembling endlessly.

“Why were you crammed into a corner?”

“…I was scared.”

It was an honest answer.

It seemed like wandering around the Imperial Palace alone at night had been quite difficult for her.

I grabbed her arm and helped her up.

Then we went down several floors and entered an empty room.

Creak, thud-.

The door closed.

Now I could talk with Muwolcha without worrying about prying eyes.

“So, what happened yesterday?”

“….”

After looking around for a moment, Muwolcha cautiously lowered her voice and asked.

“Is it okay to talk comfortably like this? Pean might be eavesdropping.”

“It’s fine.”

I shook my head.

“That elf has been thoroughly punished for eavesdropping on me more than once or twice. He won’t do it anymore.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. So don’t worry and just speak comfortably.”

Whew-.

Muwolcha sighed and nodded.

Then she began explaining what happened last night, one thing at a time.

Mumble mumble-.

While wandering the corridor, some ghost had spoken to her from behind. Because of that, Mukyoo was startled and her face was completely exposed.

And….

“The ghost looked at my face and then said ‘excuse me’ before just disappearing.”

“…?”

Pause-.

Hearing her words, I slightly furrowed my brow.

Disappeared?

“What do you mean by that?”

“The ghost looked at my face and then just faded away.”

“….”

Hearing Muwolcha’s continued explanation, I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

‘What?’

I couldn’t understand it.

‘Usually that’s where the conversation continues and a Quest begins?’

The ghost of Rashutku Imperial Palace.

By conversing with that entity, the secrets of the Imperial Palace are revealed. Based on this, the player gains new objectives and finds clues for conquering the dungeon.

It was good that Muwolcha met the ghost.

The problem was what came next.

The ghost disappeared. This was a first for me too.

I had run this dungeon dozens of times, but I had never once experienced the ghost just disappearing without any conversation.

“Hmm….”

I crossed my arms and looked up at the ceiling.

My head became complicated.

What was the problem? Did Muwolcha do something wrong? Or was there some variable I didn’t know about?

“What are you thinking so hard about, Pakgyu?”

“…I’m pondering why the ghost disappeared.”

“Huh? Didn’t it just disappear because it saw my face?”

“No, even so, it’s a ghost. Would it disappear just because of that? If it’s undead, it would have seen much worse things….”

Ding-!

〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists terrible panic.〕

Pause-.

My gaze turned toward Muwolcha.

She was slightly lifting up the silver jelly. As if telling me to look properly.

As Mukyoo slowly rose up, the face that had been hidden underneath was gradually revealed.

“….”

“….”

Silence flowed.

I stared at that face for a moment, then finally acknowledged Muwolcha’s words.

“…It’s understandable that it would disappear.”

* * *

“Since this is my first time encountering such a situation, let me think about a solution slowly.”

“Alright.”

While Muwolcha nodded, I fell deep into thought.

Until now, I had been able to guarantee Muwolcha’s safety, but from the third night onward, the situation would change.

The Imperial Palace’s curse would grow stronger, and abnormal phenomena would certainly occur more frequently.

Most importantly.

‘…The Mysterious Man will start appearing from tonight.’

The situation had gotten slightly complicated.

Even if it meant wearing Tristan’s cloak, it seemed better to stay with Muwolcha and attempt to converse with the Ghost again.

Just as I was having such thoughts.

Creak, thud-!

Suddenly the door burst open and someone breathing heavily rushed in.

“Haa, ha…!”

It was Captain Yaakov.

Startled-!

He showed a surprised expression upon seeing us in the room, then let out a sigh of relief.

“You, you were having a conversation… I’m sorry for interrupting…”

A pale face. And a trembling voice.

Click-.

Before we could even ask what was wrong, he hurriedly locked the door.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, that is…”

Yaakov stammered as he tried to catch his breath. After opening and closing his mouth for a moment, he swallowed and revealed the reason.

“I encountered a child wearing white clothes in the corridor.”

“…”

“…”

[3. If you see a child wearing white clothes in the corridor, look away and pass by quickly. If that child looks at you first, do not look back and enter the nearest room to lock the door.]

‘The third rule.’

The instruction to flee to the nearest room if you encounter a child in white clothes.

It seemed Captain Yaakov had encountered that abnormal phenomenon and fled here according to the rules.

Knock knock knock-.

Right at that moment.

The sound of knocking on the door was heard.

“…!”

Everyone’s movements stopped in unison.

Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock-.

The knocking sound grew increasingly intense.

It wasn’t one person knocking, but rather multiple hands hitting the door simultaneously, with overlapping rhythms out of sync.

‘…What is this now?’

My brow furrowed involuntarily.

It was only the third day and such serious abnormal phenomena were already occurring from morning.

I couldn’t understand why such things kept happening only during this expedition…

“Open the door. It’s me.”

“…?”

Then, a familiar voice came from outside the room.

“Bun-hon…?”

“Yes.”

Creak-.

I immediately opened the door.

Bun-hon quickly slipped into the room, then immediately turned around to close and lock the door again.

“Huh?”

Captain Yaakov stared at Bun-hon blankly, then opened his mouth with a hopeful expression.

“Don’t tell me, was what I saw earlier Lord Bun-hon?”

“Yes.”

Nod-.

The Boy in the White Robe and The Girl in the Black Robe both nodded simultaneously.

Yaakov’s lips trembled.

“If you saw me fleeing in panic, you could have at least said something…”

He muttered with a slightly aggrieved tone.

“Why did you just keep walking steadily?”

To this, Bun-hon answered in an indifferent voice.

“Did you forget the rule about staying quiet in the corridors?”

“…Ah.”

Pause-.

Captain Yaakov, at a loss for words, shut his mouth tight.

Muwolcha, who had been quietly watching this scene, carefully asked Bun-hon a question.

“But why did Lord Bun-hon come into this room?”

Was it simply to inform Yaakov that he wasn’t the white child?

Just as I was having such thoughts.

“I encountered a child wearing white clothes. As soon as it saw me, it chased after me like crazy.”

“…”

“…”

Silence-.

A stillness fell.

Muwolcha and Yaakov’s faces turned pale simultaneously.

Thus, the four of us had to remain trapped in the room for a while until the corridor became quiet.

* * *

The group searched every corner of the Imperial Palace.

They opened dusty rooms, pushed rusty doors, and walked to the ends of corridors.

However, all they got in return were empty results.

The only thing they obtained was an old map of the Imperial Palace.

When they unfolded the map that had been hanging on the wall, the group finally realized.

How small a space the building they were trapped in actually was.

“This is…”

Captain Yaakov muttered.

The overall scale of the Imperial Palace shown on the map was enormous.

Dozens of buildings were intricately intertwined, with cloisters and gardens, plazas and towers spread out like a giant maze.

But where was the group currently staying?

It was merely a tiny part of the Imperial Palace, marked small in one corner of the map.

“…Well, at least we’ve identified the location of the exit leading outside. We just need to head to the Main Building somehow.”

But even that yielded no results.

Just like yesterday, all passages leading to other places were blocked.

There were iron bars lowered, thick planks reinforced, or cases where they were completely blocked with bricks.

“I’ll try breaking through.”

Jeungmu stepped forward.

Whoosh-!

Steam erupted from his body as the Thousand-Change Device transformed into a massive hammer.

Bang-!

With a thunderous roar, the hammer struck down on the door.

However.

“….”

The door didn’t budge an inch.

Even when Balhwan and Pean tried, the result was the same.

It was confirmed that there was currently no way to escape this building.

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

And so the third night arrived.

When 9 PM came, the group scattered to their respective rooms in advance.

Creak-.

Adelia opened the door and entered the room.

Inside, Jeungmu, Pean, and the Bifurcated Siblings had already settled in.

“Oh?”

Pean looked up.

“Today Miss Goldhart is joining us instead of Captain Yaakov.”

“Ah… yes.”

Adelia answered awkwardly.

There was actually a reason for this arrangement.

A little while ago.

Captain Yaakov had come to find her.

─Miss Goldhart, please, I beg you.

Yaakov clasped his hands together with a desperate expression.

─Just for today… could you please enter the Sword Masters’ room?

─….

─Please, I just want to sleep comfortably. Being stuck between the Protagonists, I couldn’t get a wink of sleep yesterday… please….

His haggard face.

The dark circles that had settled heavily around his eyes.

Seeing him like that, Adelia couldn’t bring herself to refuse Captain Yaakov’s earnest request.

And so she had ended up entering this room instead of Yaakov today.

‘Honestly….’

Adelia thought as she settled into a corner of the room.

‘…it’s not really uncomfortable.’

She had expected to feel tense being with the Sword Masters.

If it had been before, she certainly would have.

But now it was different.

Even being near Jeungmu and Pean didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable. She even felt somewhat familiar with it.

Was it because she had been involved with the Protagonist so much?

Or had she grown enough that she was no longer overwhelmed by the Sword Masters’ intimidating presence?

The reason wasn’t clear.

However.

“….”

Swoosh-.

Adelia’s gaze turned toward the opposite wall.

There sat the Bifurcated Siblings side by side.

‘…those things are always uncomfortable to look at.’

Just seeing them made anger surge up within her.

But now wasn’t the time to let personal feelings take precedence.

This was the Imperial Palace of Rashutku. To survive, cooperation came first.

Inhale, exhale-.

Just as Adelia was taking deep breaths and slowly exhaling to calm her emotions.

“This works out well.”

At that very moment.

Jeungmu looked at Adelia and spoke.

“I’ve been curious about many things, Miss Goldhart.”

“…?”

“As Gaon’s chief disciple, you must know many things about your master.”

Adelia fell silent for a moment.

Chief disciple.

That phrase strangely tickled a corner of her heart.

“What are you curious about, Meister Jeungmu?”

“Pean told me. That Gaon is not a being of the Lower Realm like us.”

“…!”

“At first, I couldn’t believe it. The only Great One remaining in the Lower Realm. It was a story that was hard to accept logically.”

Whoosh-.

A long steam sound leaked out.

“However.”

Jeungmu paused briefly.

Then he continued, slowly and carefully choosing his words.

“During the battle with the Intruder, and also during the battle with the Doppelganger… there was far too much evidence suggesting he wasn’t a being of the Lower Realm.”

Silence flowed.

Jeungmu looked straight at Adelia and asked his question.

“Do you know anything else about this?”

* * *

“This is bad, Hodupayi.”

“….”

“Sister Corel isn’t answering. The situation seems pretty serious right now.”

Tap, tap-!

Dorico Shiro bit her nails anxiously.

Watching her, Hodupayi inwardly sighed.

‘Sigh… why is she making such a fuss over something so trivial?’

Whip-!

Just then, Dorico Shiro looked up and shouted.

“You’re thinking I’m worrying over nothing right now, aren’t you?!”

“Th, that’s not….”

Even though she seemed naive, her intuition was annoyingly sharp at times like this.

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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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