Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 307

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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 307

Episode 307. Imperial Palace Strategy (4)

* * *

I left the Room of Necessity.

Well, what happened after that was as everyone knows.

I headed to the office, then delivered the speech I had prepared for my confused companions.

And.

That’s how the full-scale strategy for Rashutku Imperial Palace began.

Thud, thud─.

The sound of footsteps moving along the underground waterway echoed in the darkness.

Adelia, Jeungmu, Muwolcha. The three were following behind me.

The path to the aquarium. Humid air brushed past my nose, and stagnant water splashed beneath my feet.

‘By now…’

Probably my avatar and Pean were watching us from the “Realm of the Dead.” This moment as we head to the aquarium.

And simultaneously, they would be helping Balhwan’s party to conquer the Trial of the Two Paths as well.

In a space where time was mixed, the concept of ‘order’ was meaningless. For them, this moment was both past and future, and present at the same time.

“…!”

Urgh-.

Right then.

At the sudden wave of nausea, I momentarily stopped breathing.

It felt like my insides were turning upside down. An unpleasant sensation as if my stomach was being squeezed rose up to my throat.

‘Ugh…’

It wasn’t this bad when I opened my eyes in the Room of Necessity earlier. Right after being expelled from the “Realm of the Dead,” the nausea had actually stopped.

‘…This is seriously driving me crazy.’

But the symptoms started again right before I began my speech.

And much worse than before.

‘The symptoms are worse than I thought?’

Suddenly, I recalled what Pean had said in the “Realm of the Dead.”

─Your condition is not very good.

‘Now I understand what he meant.’

Even at this very moment, my avatar was active in the “Realm of the Dead,” crossing between timelines.

The Trial of the Two Paths.

The left path and the right path.

Intervening whenever Balhwan’s party faced crisis, returning to the past to try again, then overwriting failed futures with successful ones.

The problem was the ‘overlap’ that occurred during this process.

Even when returning to the past, previous actions didn’t disappear. The avatar that helped the right path and the avatar that helped the left path existed simultaneously.

A structure where two timelines overlapped and folded into one.

And…

Right now, all those sensations were connected to me, the main body.

‘Sensations from the left path.’

The sound of a skeleton’s sword cutting through the air brushed past my ears. The scene of Balhwan’s Heukya slashing through skulls flickered at the edge of my vision.

‘Sensations from the right path.’

Markus Koshate’s rough breathing. The screams of the Expedition Members.

‘Sensations from the avatar moving to the aquarium.’

The back of Adelia walking beside me right now. And I could feel the heat from the steam Jeungmu was emitting.

In addition to that.

‘…Even the sensations I’m feeling as the main body right now.’

Four in total.

All those realities poured into my head simultaneously.

Vision overlapped and sounds mixed together. Touch and smell became entangled, making it impossible to distinguish what was real.

It was like staring at four monitors at once while playing different playthroughs simultaneously.

[Kongiabum] : The control is insanely difficult, but it does work.

“…”

Right.

That’s what Kongiabum’s words from before meant.

Roel was originally a high-difficulty game. A structure where a moment’s misjudgment led directly to death.

Having to run and control four such games simultaneously?

‘…No wonder I died.’

Tsk-.

I clicked my tongue in self-mockery.

No matter how much the avatar helped by consuming causality, it was natural that I couldn’t keep my wits about me when fighting the corrupted divine beast in this state.

Could I have properly swung my sword in the chaos of four mixed sensations?

In a battle where even a slight delay in split-second judgment would cost my life?

That was the truth behind the ‘future’ I had witnessed.

I wasn’t killed by the corrupted divine beast. More precisely, I died because I couldn’t fight properly due to the confusion of overlapping sensations.

“Phew…”

Thud-.

My steps wavered slightly.

I tried to maintain composure and continued walking, but my insides still felt like they would turn upside down.

‘What I need to do from now on is…’

Twist the confirmed future.

I had to somehow distort my death that had been observed and fixed.

Ding-!

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Avatar Manifestation】

(Cannot be used)

━━━━━━━━━━━━

And that, with my emergency escape skill sealed.

* * *

A moment later.

We arrived at the polluted aquarium.

A scene I had already seen once in the “Realm of the Dead.”

However, that time it was from a third person’s perspective, and now I was facing it directly with my main body’s eyes.

“Focus.”

I opened my mouth.

I could feel Adelia and Jeungmu tense up with a start.

The pitch-black water filling the inside of the glass walls was slowly rippling as if breathing, and a massive form could be faintly seen swimming in those depths.

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

As soon as those words ended.

Crack crack crack crack crack──!

Cracks began to form in the glass wall.

Fissures spread out like a spider web.

One line became two, two lines split into dozens.

Crash─!

Soon the wall burst open.

Black water came pouring out. But the amount was much less than during “Rashutku’s Nightmare.”

The seawater that had once filled the tank seemed to have mostly evaporated over thousands of years.

Splash-.

The liquid that rose up to knee level was more like mud than water.

It was viscous, and every step felt like sinking into something sticky. There was even the stench of rotting fish that stung the nose.

‘…At least the floor isn’t collapsing like last time. Just like in the game.’

When I had conquered “Rashutku’s Nightmare” with Pean, countless spirits had poured out simultaneously.

The aura they emitted combined with the massive water pressure had caused even the floor to collapse.

But now.

Slither slither slither-.

Only one monster walked out of the contaminated tank.

Splash, splash-.

A mass of flesh.

An elongated mass of flesh formed from hundreds of fish merged into one was visible.

A deformed collective born from repeatedly devouring, absorbing, and entangling with each other.

“…Ugh.”

Adelia frowned in disgust.

The first thing that caught the eye were the legs.

Limbs developed like goby fins protruded here and there from the elongated torso.

More than ten deformed legs slowly advanced, gripping the muddy floor.

Between the flapping gills all over its body, teeth from sharks, conger eels, and deep-sea fish were haphazardly embedded.

【Abyssal Mound】

That’s what players called this monster.

A naturally occurring chimera formed from four divine beasts and dozens of spirits merged into one body.

“…Everyone, take your positions.”

As soon as my command fell, the party moved.

Hissss-!

Steam explosively erupted from Jeungmu’s body.

The Cheonbyeongi in his hands began to change form in the next moment.

Click, click, click-!

The small metal mass expanded instantly. The Cheonbyeongi spread out flat and transformed into a massive shield that easily exceeded human height.

At the same time, Jeungmu’s body itself began to thicken. His body made of Proteum reconstructed, layering up like armor.

Rumble-!

Jeungmu, who had planted his shield into the ground, took the front line.

Truly like an iron wall.

Standing behind him, I glanced back and muttered quietly.

“Muwolcha.”

“Yes.”

“Use the blessing.”

Flare─!

Intense light blazed from Muwolcha’s body.

7-star skill, 【Blessing of The Great Ones】.

Divine power spread out from her as the center, and a halo pushed back the darkness, illuminating the aquarium.

[Murmur…!]

At the same time, Mukyoo changed form.

Its cubic body stretched fluidly and transformed into the shape of Haewolsumo. When Muwolcha’s halo passed through its body, it refracted like a prism and scattered in all directions.

Soon the entire dark aquarium became brightly lit.

Screech-!

The Abyssal Mound let out a horrible cry.

Having lived in darkness for thousands of years, the monster reacted sensitively to light.

The Abyssal Mound, having lost its reason, charged toward us.

However.

Crash─!

Jeungmu’s shield met it head-on. Shockwaves spread in all directions, and the rotten water rippled like waves.

Hiss-.

Amid the rising hot steam, Adelia leaped forward.

“Hup!”

Slash─!

The Meteor Sword drew an arc, targeting the Abyssal Mound. Black fluid gushed from the cross-section carved by the blue-green aura.

Screech-!

The Abyssal Mound retreated, howling in pain.

But then.

Writhe writhe-.

The severed flesh writhed on the floor and began to form itself.

Fins sprouted, legs emerged…

In just a few seconds, a new entity was born.

Division.

A monster that multiplied the more you cut it.

That was the Abyssal Mound’s characteristic.

“Phew.”

But Adelia wasn’t flustered.

This was something she had already heard about in last night’s meeting.

‘Actually, the solution is simple.’

I just needed to kill the Abyssal Mound myself.

After all, I had the skill 【True Eternal Slayer】 that nullified all types of regeneration.

The problem was…

‘…In my current physical condition, I can’t possibly engage in combat.’

I suddenly recalled fighting the doppelganger.

─How on earth… do you fight with such a harsh body?

Now I thought I understood what that meant.

A situation where countless information and sensations were pouring in.

In the midst of that, reacting properly was no easy task.

Crash, scrape-!

Jeungmu’s shield blocked the Abyssal Mounds’ attacks, and Adelia’s Meteor Sword drew continuous flashes.

But with so many overlapping sensations, that battle didn’t register properly in my vision.

Everything was blurry and slow, like looking at the world from underwater.

‘It’s okay.’

In the current situation, there was only one thing I needed to worry about.

That was…

‘…the timing of my death.’

Right.

For now, I just need to think about that.

* * *

A few hours ago.

I observed my death in the “Realm of the Dead.”

A confirmed future. An unchangeable fact.

That’s why I was fixated on one thing.

That it was a crisis. That I had to find a way to break through it somehow.

I kept thinking only about ways to avoid the approaching death.

‘But…’

Now that I’ve returned to my main body. Now that the moment of death is actually approaching, I have doubts.

‘…This is strange?’

Of course, my physical condition is at its worst. Four layers of sensations are overlapping, making it impossible to move properly.

However.

‘That’s not enough to kill me.’

【Ultimate Auto Parry】.

A skill where my body automatically blocks attacks regardless of my will. No matter how bad my condition is, as long as I have that skill, I won’t suffer fatal injuries.

Then…

‘Why did I die?’

There was only one answer.

On purpose.

I ‘deliberately’ chose death.

In a situation where avatar manifestation was sealed. Even while causing serious danger to my main body.

‘Because there’s something I can only gain by doing so.’

Until just a few hours ago, I didn’t understand that intention.

Because I was fixated on the idea of crisis. Because I had no idea of the sense of crisis my main body was feeling.

But now I could objectively and coldly judge this entire situation.

By doing so.

I also succeeded in grasping the purpose of that death.

“Phew.”

Swoosh-.

Having finished my judgment up to that point, I took out a compass from my pocket.

The Compass of the Exalted.

One of the twin compasses. The other half was held by Balhwan.

Tremble tremble tremble-.

The needle trembled slightly.

Of course, as a veteran gamer from the 200th playthrough, I could read countless pieces of information just from the vibration and pattern cycles.

The distance to Balhwan’s team.

Their movement speed.

And even which stage of the trial they were currently at.

‘…Not yet.’

3 minutes.

The gap where the essences of the three trials must be obtained simultaneously.

If we miss that timing, everything becomes void.

Tremble tremble tremble tremble-.

The needle’s trembling grew faster and faster.

Then.

Tick-.

It stopped.

The needle came to a complete stop while pointing in one direction.

‘Done.’

Balhwan’s team had passed the trial.

3 minutes from now.

Within that time, I had to defeat the Abyssal Mound and kill the underground Mukyeonjiju as well.

‘And…’

The first step of that is.

Death.

More precisely, being dragged to just before the threshold of death.

Kwaaaaaa-!

The largest main body among the split Abyssal Mounds charged at me.

I saw a gray afterimage. My intuition warned me.

I could have dodged. 【Ultimate Auto Parry】 was about to activate.

But I suppressed it.

My body was sucked into the creature’s mouth as it was.

“Ga, Ga, Gaon!”

Darkness.

The stench of decay.

And.

Crunch, crackle-!

The pain of teeth digging into flesh.

Shark teeth. Moray eel teeth. Even deep-sea fish fangs. Hundreds of teeth began tearing at me from all directions.

My arm was torn. My leg was crushed. I heard the sound of ribs breaking.

Vivid pain. A sensation as if my consciousness would cut out at any moment.

Right then.

Ding-!

〔Authority Skill: 【True Ritardando】 has been used.〕

The world stopped.

The teeth stopped. Time stopped.

The terrible pain continued, but in exchange, an instant stretched into eternity.

Just before death.

On that boundary line, I was given nearly infinite time.

And…

〔MP : 10/10〕

Tick-.

〔MP : 9/10〕

…I activated the 【Soul of the Sword Master】 that I had been saving all this time.

* * *

〔Hidden Message : $̶͛͊͜*̶͖͔̒͛@̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑ Achievement Completed (7/12)〕

〔…(8/12)〕

〔…(9/12)〕

〔…(10/12)〕

〔Hidden Message : Feather Sword’s 2nd Stage「Jinmyeong Geopbang 」is now activating.〕

…

〔Eroded Sanctuary : Moving to Jeongmyeongcho .〕

* * *

Now.

Yeonwoo.

In this 2nd stage opening, you absolutely must give me ‘that ability’, okay?

Otherwise I’m going to die, you know?

You understand, right?

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