Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 306

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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 306

Episode 306. Imperial Palace Conquest (3)

Thud, thud-.

The path leading to the aquarium.

Adelia, Jeungmu, and Muwolcha were passing through the drainage channel, following Gaon’s guidance.

“….”

Swish-.

Adelia’s gaze lingered on Gaon’s back.

From the outside, he looked no different than usual.

Straight posture. Unwavering stride. Perfectly controlled movements.

‘But….’

Retch─.

Adelia had definitely seen it.

Just before starting the conquest.

Gaon covering his mouth as if about to vomit something.

“….”

It was such a minor movement that others wouldn’t have noticed.

But Adelia, who observed Gaon more carefully than anyone, could clearly catch that small signal.

And….

Naturally, she could also guess the reason.

‘The night of the Imperial Palace.’

The time when the Evil Deities’ curse becomes strongest.

Gaon had gone outside his room during that time, completely exposing himself to the threat.

His soul was already bound to the Evil Deities’ curse. And in that situation, he had endured the Imperial Palace’s night as well.

So it wasn’t unreasonable that his physical condition had rapidly deteriorated.

“….”

Adelia knew herself all too well.

She had naive aspects. Her older brother Arwen had completely excluded her from politics for that very reason.

But if nothing else….

‘…my intuition is accurate.’

That’s right.

Adelia’s intuition was quite accurate.

It was the same when she first encountered Gaon at the Underground Fighting Arena.

That intense feeling of being swept up in destiny, that following this person would change her life. An inexplicable certainty.

Adelia had moved according to that intense pull, and indeed, from that moment her life began to transform.

‘But….’

Why was it?

That same intuition of Adelia’s was now whispering like this.

Today.

Since being with Gaon, he might face his greatest crisis yet.

‘Please.’

Adelia quietly resolved while looking at Gaon’s back.

‘I hope The Protagonist doesn’t push himself any further.’

For that to happen.

In this conquest, she and Jeungmu would have to pour out more of their strength.

* * *

After confirming that Balhwan and the Koshat Siblings had passed through The Trial of the Two Paths.

I once again traveled back through time.

Swish-.

The scenery changed.

The sight of the party moving toward the aquarium came into view.

Jeungmu, Adelia, Muwolcha, and even ‘me’.

They had almost reached the passage connecting to the aquarium through the drainage channel.

─Remember this.

My voice was heard.

Of course, it wasn’t the voice of me in the Realm of the Dead.

It was the words of the ‘present’ Gaon in the Lower Realm.

─Jeungmu and Adelia will handle the monster in the aquarium. I will deal with Mukyeonjiju in the underground shrine below.

“….”

─Since we need to exert our strength at different times, we must manage our stamina distribution well.

Hiss-.

Jeungmu nodded and released steam.

─I’ll keep that in mind.

Adelia also immediately accepted my words.

─Understood.

The Gaon in the Lower Realm continued his explanation.

─The aquarium is dark. Muwolcha, use the “Blessing of the Great Ones” and Mukyoo to serve as a light source.

─Yes.

Thud, thud-.

The end of the narrow passage began to come into view.

Whoooosh-!

Soon the view opened up wide, revealing a massive space.

“This place is….”

Pean made an expression filled with shock.

This space would be familiar to him as well.

Indeed, this was the very aquarium they had seen in the Parallel World “Rashutku’s Nightmare”.

However.

‘…It’s completely different.’

Thousands of years had completely transformed this place.

The glass dome that had once been transparent was now entirely blackened.

Rotting moss and unidentifiable slime covered the walls, with cracks spreading like spider webs between them.

Gurgle-.

The blue seawater that had once filled the dome was now covered with pitch-black mud.

An abyss where not a single ray of light reached.

Those black waves slowly undulated as if breathing, emitting unpleasant vibrations.

The colorful fish were nowhere to be found.

Instead.

Grooooooo─.

Something swept past through the black waves.

Swish-.

A massive form.

All that could be glimpsed was a grayish-white surface where scales and flesh were indistinguishable.

It slowly swam around the dome in a coiling motion, then disappeared into the pitch-black darkness.

Its size was impossible to gauge.

Neither its beginning nor end was visible.

Only the fact that something enormous ‘existed’ in the black abyss came as an instinctive terror.

─Focus.

While Adelia and Jeungmu stiffened in shock.

Gaon of the Lower Realm gripped his feather sword tightly.

It was true that Upapa had defeated and destroyed the four spirit beasts that had the potential to become divine beasts.

However, those weren’t the only spirit beasts living in the aquarium.

Thousands of years.

The beings that survived here during that long period had all achieved the status of divine beasts.

However, they had been tainted by the Evil Gods’ curse and transformed into ferocious monsters instead of divine beasts.

Even so.

Gaon of the Lower Realm declared with a confident voice.

─Just do as I told you last night and there won’t be any problems.

Right then.

“Gaon.”

Pean spoke with a serious expression.

“Your condition is…”

“…?”

I frowned and looked at the Lower Realm ‘me’ again.

On the surface, he looked fine.

But.

Pean’s supernatural senses could read beyond appearances.

“For some reason, it’s not very good.”

“…?”

Swoosh-.

When I looked more carefully after hearing those words, my condition did seem slightly strange.

The intervals of my breathing were minutely shorter than usual. Too much force was being applied to the fingers gripping the sword.

‘This is…’

Something was wrong.

* * *

Pean’s and my concerns didn’t end as mere groundless fears.

The aquarium’s tank walls shattered.

We entered into battle with the corrupted divine beasts.

Jeungmu, Adelia, the current me, and even the avatar intervening from the「Realm of the Dead」while consuming causality.

Everyone fought with all their might.

But…

Crack──!

“G-G-Gaon!”

The end was despair.

* * *

Flash-.

I opened my eyes.

Glass fragments were scattered everywhere.

Between the pieces reflecting cold, sharp light, my face was reflected in dozens of fragments.

“Haa, ha…”

Rough breathing leaked out.

I had exceeded the effective value of causality.

Because of that, the avatar was expelled from the「Realm of the Dead」.

The unpleasant churning that had tormented my five senses as future and past mixed together disappeared. My mind, which had been hazily clouded, gradually returned to its place.

However.

‘…Damn.’

My heart was heavier than ever before.

Just before being expelled.

It was because of the ‘future’ scene I had witnessed.

Crack──!

The sight of ‘me’ having my life cut short by the aquarium’s spirit beast.

“…”

I stared at the ceiling for a long while.

‘Yeonwoo.’

[…Yes.]

Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword’s voice was unusually low and subdued.

She too must have witnessed the scene of my death.

‘Was it the avatar or the main body that died to the spirit beast?’

[…]

A long silence followed.

I could immediately tell that Yeonwoo was hesitating to answer.

Eventually.

[Right now, I only have my first-level ability activated.]

“…”

[In this state,「Undesignated」can only be applied to one person.]

I pondered the meaning of those words.

The Realm of the Dead was a space where past and future overlapped.

And the reason I could intervene in causality there was because my main body remained in the Room of Necessity, maintaining the「Undesignated」state.

Living yet simultaneously dead.

That contradictory state created gaps in causality, and I could use those gaps to traverse timelines.

But.

‘Only one person can be「Undesignated」…’

That meant.

At the moment I witnessed my own death.

Since the me in the Room of Necessity was already「Undesignated」…

The ‘me’ in the aquarium couldn’t use Avatar Manifestation.

[Therefore.]

Yeonwoo’s voice trembled.

[The one who died to the spirit beast was Gaon’s main body.]

“…”

Right.

I knew that.

I had only asked Yeonwoo to confirm it, just in case.

─This… means we can change the future through our intervention.

The words Pean had spoken in the Realm of the Dead came to mind.

He had been right.

In that place, the future could be changed.

Because it was a transcendent space where past, present, and future all overlapped.

No matter what future I ‘observed,’ I could simply return to the past and make different choices.

But.

I was no longer in that place.

The moment I returned to the Lower Realm, time began flowing in one direction again.

A state where I couldn’t go back to the past, nor could I modify the future.

And in that state, I had ‘observed’ the future.

Just as observation collapses the wave function in quantum mechanics, ‘observation’ in this world also converges possibilities into one.

The last observed future becomes fixed as it is.

That was the law of this world.

In other words.

My main body’s death was a future that would definitely occur.

“….”

I slowly got up.

Glass shards rustled and broke.

There had been countless crises since my possession.

However.

All those crises had been in the realm of ‘possibility.’

Situations where I could die or live.

Crises where the outcome could change depending on my choices and abilities.

‘This case is different.’

This was an already determined future.

Confirmed death.

An unavoidable future.

‘It’s not a possibility but a certainty.’

In 5 hours, I will definitely die.

[Lord Gaon.]

Yeonwoo’s voice was trembling.

[How… what should we do…?]

“….”

I didn’t answer.

Instead.

‘Think.’

I commanded myself.

‘Find a way somehow.’

Something I had said countless times before.

I hate variables.

I maintain thorough gameplay to an almost obsessive degree.

Everything must be within the plan and move within predictable ranges.

But.

That didn’t mean I was powerless against variables.

Rather.

‘…It’s the complete opposite.’

My ranking that had consistently been first place.

That wasn’t solely thanks to perfect planning.

Even in the early rounds where quick reflexes and improvisation were most important, not a single player surpassed me.

Not in the late rounds where all variables were controlled, but in the early rounds where nothing could be predicted.

Instantaneous judgment to survive in extreme situations.

The ability to turn unpredictable situations into opportunities instead.

That was the real reason I could maintain first place.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong──.

The bell announcing 7 AM rang out.

Creak-.

As the door to the Room of Necessity opened, I stood up from my spot.

‘My true strength is…’

I walked toward the door, stepping on glass shards.

‘…moving flexibly on a changed board and regaining the initiative.’

Confirmed death?

An unavoidable future?

Fine.

‘Then I’ll overturn that confirmed future itself.’

The remaining time is 5 hours.

Within that time.

‘I will definitely find a way to survive.’

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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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