Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 309

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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 309

Episode 309. Imperial Palace Strategy (6)

Adelia pressed her lips tightly shut.

Jeungmu’s question seemed to echo in her ears.

A surge—.

In an instant, something welled up from a corner of her chest.

The anxiety she had suppressed. The fear she had tried to ignore. They began to crack and pour out at Jeungmu’s single remark.

Her heart began to beat rapidly. Her breathing became labored. Her fingertips grew cold…

‘No!’

Smack—!

Adelia struck her own cheek with force.

As burning pain spread, her wavering mind returned to clarity.

“What the…?”

Hissss—.

A bewildered steam sound leaked from Jeungmu’s body.

Because Adelia’s eyes showed an obsession bordering on madness.

“Meister Jeungmu.”

Adelia muttered in a coldly subdued voice.

Her usual bumbling manner had completely disappeared from her tone.

“Do you remember what I said a few days ago?”

“…”

“We must support and follow The Protagonist’s every action.”

Adelia enunciated each word clearly and distinctly.

“Even if it seems completely incomprehensible by our common sense.”

A few days ago.

When the Sword Masters shared the same room.

Right after everyone learned that Gaon was the only remaining great one in the Lower Realm.

These were the words Adelia had declared.

Swoosh—.

While Jeungmu was at a loss for words, Adelia picked up the essence floating on the putrid water.

A brilliant radiance rippled in her palm.

Proof of clearing the Aquarium’s trial.

After placing it in her bosom, Adelia immediately began walking toward the exit.

“Wait a moment.”

Hissss—.

Jeungmu, who had suddenly come to his senses, urgently called out to stop her.

“Where are you going with that essence, Miss Goldhart?”

“To the promised location.”

Adelia answered without looking back.

“Didn’t The Protagonist clearly say last night? To gather at the designated place once we each finish our trials.”

“Then what about Mukyeonjiju?”

“…”

“With Gaon suddenly disappeared, shouldn’t we hurry to deal with that thing? That’s the only way we can get the final essence.”

Jeungmu’s argument had merit.

If something had happened to Gaon, it would be natural for the remaining members to take on that role.

However.

“No.”

Adelia flatly dismissed Jeungmu’s argument.

“Mukyeonjiju is The Protagonist and Pean’s responsibility. We have completed the task given to us. The rest will be handled by those two.”

“…?”

Hesitation—.

Jeungmu, hearing Adelia’s words, tried to argue back.

Pean had been missing since this morning, and Gaon had been swallowed by the monster’s mouth and disappeared with an explosion.

With both of them missing, she wanted to trust them and move to the next stage?

“Meister Jeungmu.”

Just then.

Adelia pleaded with a more resolute voice than ever.

“Please believe my words. The Protagonist predicts every situation.”

“…”

“Us moving recklessly and disrupting the plan would be the worst outcome.”

Hissss—.

Jeungmu’s expression twisted with complexity.

He couldn’t understand why Adelia showed such blind faith in Gaon even in this situation.

Of course…

Thump, thump, thump—!

Contrary to her outward appearance, anxiety was swirling within Adelia’s heart.

Was The Protagonist really okay? Had something happened to him?

Such thoughts were constantly boring into her mind.

‘But…’

If she doubted even a little now.

If her faith in Gaon wavered.

She felt like she would truly collapse.

So Adelia had no choice but to push herself even harder.

“Let’s hurry, Meister Jeungmu.”

Adelia urged.

“The essence disappears after 3 minutes from the moment one appears. We must arrive at the iron cage and insert all essences within that time, or everything becomes meaningless.”

“…”

“Even running at full speed from here to the iron cage, time is tight. We have no luxury to hesitate. Please.”

Hissss—.

Jeungmu let out a sigh filled with complex emotions.

He too was well aware of the 3-minute time limit from yesterday’s meeting.

He also recognized that arguing here was itself a waste of time.

“…Understood.”

Nod—.

In the end, Jeungmu had no choice but to nod his head.

Clank, clank, clank—!

Simultaneously, his lower body began to change form.

His body made of Proteum reconstructed as four legs sprouted.

A form reminiscent of a centaur from mythology.

It was the exact same form he had taken when sparring with Adelia at Middle Temple for his lance charging.

“Get on.”

Jeungmu said in a low voice.

“Let’s move to the promised location together.”

Adelia climbed onto his back, followed by Muwolcha who hurriedly mounted as well.

Clatter clatter clatter—!

Soon Jeungmu began running like mad.

Crossing drainage channels, passing through narrow passages, racing toward the location with the iron cage.

On his back.

‘I trust you, Lord Gaon.’

Adelia bit the inside of her lips tightly and repeated to herself.

Since you don’t need to defeat the Mukgyeon Lord…

‘…Please stay safe.’

* * *

I opened my eyes.

A space covered in hazy white mist on all sides.

A dreamy space where I couldn’t distinguish up from down, front from back.

There was nothing beneath my feet, yet I didn’t fall, and there was no sky above my head, yet dim light seeped in from somewhere.

This strange realm where even the flow of time was tangled.

I already knew it well.

‘The Realm of the Dead.’

Just before being swallowed by the Abyssal Mound.

In that instant when hundreds of teeth pierced through flesh, I activated one ability.

【Form-Spirit Exchange】

This was an enhancement obtained through the second Jinmyeong Opening.

Originally, 【Avatar Manifestation】 completely separates the main body and avatar.

The main body as the main body, the avatar as the avatar.

‘But this enhancement breaks that restriction.’

Thanks to this ability, I could completely swap the phases of avatar and main body.

Thanks to this, I could leave my battered main body in the Abyssal Mound’s stomach and escape to the avatar side that hadn’t been expelled from the “Realm of the Dead” yet.

“L-Lord Gaon…?”

Then, a familiar voice broke the silence.

When I turned my head, I saw Pean.

He was looking at me with a thoroughly tense expression.

“Be quiet for a moment.”

I said briefly.

“I need to organize my thoughts.”

“…Ah, yes.”

Pean closed his mouth.

I pushed his presence out of my consciousness and fell into contemplation.

‘There’s one more enhancement unlocked in addition to Form-Spirit Exchange.’

Originally, Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword’s main ability is only 【Avatar Manifestation】.

Repeating Jinmyeong Opening doesn’t create new abilities. It’s more like unlocking enhancements attached to existing abilities one by one.

I obtained the first enhancement, Form-Spirit Exchange, through the second opening.

In addition to that, an additional enhancement was unlocked as my bond with Yeonwoo deepened rapidly.

‘40% proficiency.’

The moment I realized I already knew the contents of all enhancements, my bond with Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword deepened greatly.

And that change led to a correction in the form of increased proficiency.

Of course, I had calculated all of this.

This was also one of Roel’s original QOL… that is, game convenience systems.

‘Anyway.’

The second enhancement unlocked is this.

【Sword Energy Transfusion】

The ability to recover an avatar by burning sword energy.

The main body currently left in the Abyssal Mound’s stomach has torn arms, crushed legs, and broken ribs.

Using Sword Energy Transfusion could heal those injuries.

The problem is…

[…Master.]

Yeonwoo cautiously spoke up.

[Even if you activate Sword Energy Transfusion here now, you can’t affect the Lower Realm, can you?]

“…”

She was right.

In the past, I could intervene in the Lower Realm from the “Realm of the Dead” because my main body was still in the Room of Necessity.

Because my living main body had its feet planted in the Lower Realm, I could reach out to causality through my avatar as a medium.

‘But the situation is different now.’

The moment I activated Form-Spirit Exchange, what’s here became the main body.

Like Pean, I too had become a ghost.

I was in a position where I could no longer intervene in the Lower Realm.

Moreover.

Ding-!

〔Authority Skill: 【Avatar Manifestation】 is being deactivated.〕

The avatar left in the Abyssal Mound’s stomach.

That body, having suffered serious damage, finally disappeared.

‘…Though I deliberately deactivated the avatar because I didn’t want to waste any more sword energy.’

Anyway.

With this, the thread connecting the Lower Realm and me was severed.

“…”

That’s right.

The main body became a ghost trapped in the Realm of the Dead, and the avatar completely disappeared.

Objectively speaking, it was a situation where everything was over.

‘More precisely…’

…It would have been if I hadn’t left behind a ‘trump card’ in advance.

“It’s fine.”

I said to Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword.

“There’s still one more of my main bodies remaining in the Lower Realm.”

[…What?]

Bewilderment seeped into Yeonwoo the Feathered Sword’s voice.

That was understandable.

What I had just said didn’t make sense by common standards.

Having two avatars was possible.

With sufficient sword energy and proficiency, that much was entirely feasible.

‘But two main bodies?’

That was impossible.

A main body means ‘myself.’

There couldn’t be two identical beings like me in the world, could there?

However.

Just a few days ago.

There was a time when I had two bodies.

Precisely…

The very moment I was possessed by the doppelganger.

Ding-!

〔Failed to deactivate Authority Skill: 【Avatar Manifestation 】.〕

At that time, I had attempted to deactivate Avatar Manifestation.

If that body had been an ‘avatar,’ it should have disappeared the moment it was deactivated.

But it didn’t budge at all. Because that thing wasn’t an avatar to begin with.

Ding-!

〔Skill: 【Formless Sword 】 proficiency has increased. (14%→15%)〕

Even the skill proficiency was shared.

It was strong evidence that the system recognized that body as ‘another main body’ of mine.

And.

The body that had been possessed by the doppelganger.

That corpse still remains in this Imperial Palace.

I didn’t dispose of that corpse, leaving it in the room where it died.

From the moment Formless Sword was shared, I had an intuition that I could utilize this.

Even if a situation arose where both the main body and avatar were completely lost.

I thought of it as insurance I could rely on as a last resort.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Sword Qi Transfusion 】

(Available for use)

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Since it wasn’t an avatar, the sword qi didn’t disappear regardless of time.

And since it was still my body, I could restore it with Sword Qi Transfusion.

Moreover, since it’s treated as a separate ‘main body,’ it also becomes a device through which causality can intervene in the Lower Realm.

‘I told you, Yeonwoo.’

[….]

‘I would show you applications that past masters couldn’t even imagine.’

No response came back from Yeonwoo.

However.

I could clearly feel the emotion contained within her silence.

Not shock, not bewilderment.

Pure awe.

‘Now….’

…the moment to break this detestable Imperial Palace’s curse and escape this place was approaching.

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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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