Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 323

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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 323

Episode 323. Legacy of the Ancients (9)

* * *

“Kheuk…!”

Jeungmu groaned and pressed his hand against the ground.

Aching pain surged through his entire body.

It was shocking that he had taken this much damage despite most of his body being made of Proteum.

‘I never thought he’d be this strong.’

Whoosh—!

He already knew the Intruder was powerful.

After all, he was the one who had killed Heukgol.

And the one they encountered in the valley had been strong enough to pressure the Diviner, so that said it all.

‘But…’

From the moment the Intruder shattered Pean’s Transcendent Realm.

That wasn’t simply at the level of being ‘strong.’

『Transcendent Realm 』

An ability where the laws of the sword, which had remained in the realm of thought and philosophy, manifested by directly colliding with the world.

The act of forcibly overlaying one’s sword worldview onto reality.

Therefore, the deployer of a Transcendent Realm inevitably held an overwhelming advantage in battle.

‘There are generally two known methods to collapse it.’

Either counter it with a more complete Transcendent Realm.

Or discern the 「proposition」 that maintains the Transcendent Realm’s world and create a situation where it cannot be established.

‘But that monster…’

Tore apart the Transcendent Realm with pure force alone.

With a single sword strike, he had shredded Pean’s world to pieces.

It was truly an unprecedented case.

But right now, he didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things.

“Pean!”

Jeungmu got up and rushed urgently to Pean.

“Are you alright? Don’t move from there…”

Kwaaaaang—!

Staggering momentarily from the sudden shockwave, Jeungmu looked back.

The Divided Soul Siblings were holding their ground, swinging their swords against the Intruder.

Heukya and Baekya flashed incessantly.

‘Damn it…’

Jeungmu quickly knelt down and examined Pean’s condition.

Using a Transcendent Realm came with tremendous backlash. Not only physical damage, but mental harm was also compounded.

What if it had been forcibly destroyed by another?

It was tantamount to the collapse of a lifetime’s accumulated sword philosophy. In severe cases, one could fall into heart demons and become unable to wield a sword.

“I… I’m fine… Cough!”

“…?”

But for some reason, Pean was surprisingly intact.

Of course, his flesh was torn from being roughly thrown around and fresh blood soaked every part of his clothing…

‘For someone whose Transcendent Realm was collapsed, he’s in pretty good condition?’

Just as Jeungmu was puzzled by this incomprehensible situation.

Pean continued his explanation while breathing heavily.

“I already used my Transcendent Realm a few months ago. Perhaps because of that… Cough! My sustaining power is a bit weak.”

“…Ah.”

Whew—.

Only then did Jeungmu let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, his sword philosophy hadn’t crumbled.

The Intruder hadn’t forcibly collapsed his world, but rather the recoil from his attack had swept over Pean and forcibly cut off the maintenance of his Transcendent Realm.

‘Of course…’

…No matter how you looked at it, the fact that Pean’s condition wasn’t perfect was undeniable.

Swoosh—.

But Pean didn’t seem to have any intention of staying down like this.

As he tried to get up, Jeungmu asked.

“Can you fight?”

“Of course.”

Pean nodded briefly.

To him, bruises and scraped flesh were merely minor injuries.

Crack—!

Pean planted Seorineul in the ground and stood up.

A cold aura seeped out from the tip of the blade.

Crackle—!

The moment white frost flowed down the sword body and touched the ground, the surrounding terrain began to freeze.

“For most Heretics, the Transcendent Realm is considered a last resort…”

Pean continued slowly.

“But for me, the Transcendent Realm is merely one of many means.”

“…”

That was right.

As the second Heretic of the new generation, Jeungmu had watched over Pean from his side longer than anyone.

Therefore, he knew that Pean’s dependence on the Transcendent Realm was not as high as other Sword Masters.

He didn’t know the reason.

But what was certain was that Pean had deliberately pursued such a state.

Instead of staking his life on the Transcendent Realm like other Sword Masters, he had honed a sword that could achieve victory even without it.

And because Pean was such a person.

He could establish himself as the leader of the new generation Sword Masters and guarantee an undefeated record against everyone.

‘If the Intruder is the strongest among the old generation Sword Masters…’

Until the appearance of the Thirteenth Sword Master Gaon, Pean had been the most overwhelming Heretic.

* * *

Pean rejoined the battlefield.

Despite being covered in wounds, his hand gripping the sword showed no trembling.

I watched this scene and thought to myself.

‘He’s still holding on in that condition.’

For most Sword Masters, the Transcendent Realm is a last resort.

Once deployed, you must stake everything, and failure makes recovery difficult. That’s why it couldn’t be used carelessly.

‘At least Pean and Tyrant Dragon have relatively low dependence on the Transcendent Realm…’

Even Tyrant Dragon had collapsed from exhaustion after using his Transcendent Realm in battle against Baekryong Jahar.

But Pean?

A few months ago, he had already deployed 【Ebony Forest】 against an Outsider in Rashutku’s Nightmare.

Even though his Transcendent Realm had been broken against the Intruder.

He was standing again with sword in hand.

He was enduring purely through mental strength alone.

‘He really is impressive….’

Thanks to that, Jeungmu and Balhwan didn’t need to deploy their Transcendent Realms. Even after Pean rejoined the battle, they could hold out sufficiently against the Intruder.

It was a situation even I hadn’t anticipated. I thought they would be overwhelmed one-sidedly without their Transcendent Realms.

Kaaaang-!

Pean swung Seorineul toward the Intruder.

Saaaaa-.

Cold energy spread in all directions.

Frost.

It wasn’t simply the power to freeze objects.

The divine authority that could freeze not only matter, but even abstract concepts.

Movement slowed down.

No.

More precisely, a sensation as if everything was freezing spread out.

Within Seorineul’s domain, even time seemed to flow slowly.

Kagagagang-!

Even the sound of sword clashing against sword rang out dully.

Krrrr-!

The Intruder, who had been wildly swinging his sword, now had no choice but to make each move carefully.

Facing three people simultaneously in a speed-restricted situation wasn’t easy, even for the Intruder.

‘Of course….’

…it was the optimal environment for Pean, who deployed thoroughly calculated swordsmanship.

Jjeojeojeojeojeok-!

The Intruder was no pushover either.

The bastard resisted the frost’s effects with overwhelming power, still showing faster movements than the others.

That alone was enough.

The Sword Masters were holding out against the Intruder using Seorineul’s ability and their numerical advantage.

‘Right.’

They were only holding out, nothing more.

That meant the advantage still lay with the Intruder.

There were just no injured people.

The Sword Masters were being pushed back little by little.

Kwaaaaaa-!

Each time the Intruder’s sword was swung, the air split apart.

At first glance, it might seem like he was swinging thoughtlessly just to kill his enemies.

But.

He had a clear purpose.

‘He’s watching me.’

The bastard’s gaze remained fixed on me throughout.

Even with movements slowed by the frost, the Intruder was slowly but surely approaching me.

He regarded me as the greatest threat.

‘Naturally so.’

The reason was clear.

First was the Authority Extractor in my hand.

The bastard would instinctively know what this was. A tool that could steal away his power.

And another thing.

‘Memories linked with the Intruder from the valley.’

Despite his mind being corrupted by erosion from the Abyss, the bastard would remember that I had cut down his doppelganger in one strike.

That’s why he was targeting me as the priority elimination target.

Step, step-.

I stepped backward.

The Intruder charged toward me.

The Sword Masters blocked such an Intruder and continued the battle.

Kaaang, kwaang, chaechaechaechaeng-!

As the battle continued like this.

Before we knew it, we had been pushed quite far from the forge.

No.

More precisely, I was intentionally luring the bastard.

‘Almost there.’

When I glanced around, I could see the outline of the Imperial Palace in the distance.

Collapsed stone buildings. A garden turned to ruins.

And the entrance to the Imperial Palace rising massively from the darkness.

I raised my head to look up at the sky.

The sky had been dim to begin with, but now even the blood-red radiance that had been the only light source was diminishing.

The red sunset that had been seeping through the tree roots of Ravenhil was gradually fading away.

‘Just a little… just a little more.’

Kwaaaaang-!

The Intruder’s sword struck the ground.

The stone floor shattered completely, sending fragments flying in all directions.

I took advantage of that gap to step back a few more paces toward the Imperial Palace entrance.

“The Protagonist!”

Jeungmu shouted.

He seemed anxious seeing me continue to retreat.

But I didn’t answer.

I just kept moving toward the inside of the Imperial Palace.

Step-.

Finally, I set foot into the shadows of the Imperial Palace.

The Intruder charged fiercely, and the Sword Masters blocked him while entering the Imperial Palace together.

Kaaang, chaechaechaechaeng──!

Inside the massive crypt.

Metallic sounds echoed.

Rough breathing and battle cries mixed together, filling the space.

‘…It’s dangerous.’

Balhwan’s movements were gradually slowing down. His breathing became rougher with each sword swing.

Jeungmu’s steam emission speed also began to become irregular. There was definitely strain on his Proteum body.

Pean was still holding out, but he too was reaching his limit.

When pushed to the extreme, one of them—either Balhwan or Jeungmu—would use their Transcendent Realm.

But could they deal with the Intruder with that?

‘It would be difficult.’

No matter how imperfect his condition was, Pean’s Transcendent Realm had been torn apart in a single blow.

Even if Jeungmu or Balhwan deployed their Transcendent Realms, the result would likely be similar.

If that happened, one of them would become unable to fight on the spot due to the backlash.

The situation would inevitably worsen at an accelerated pace.

〔MP : 0/10〕

But I couldn’t just wait for my mana to recover either.

It would take at least half a day more.

However.

There was nothing to worry about.

‘All preparations are already complete.’

Within the Ruins of Rashutku, there was a way to kill the Ascetic even without MP.

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

At that moment.

Bell sounds echoed throughout the entire Imperial Palace.

Ten times.

It was the bell announcing 10 PM.

─And be careful of one more thing.

─…?

─The ownership of the Imperial Palace has transferred to me, but there will still be remnants of curses scattered throughout.

That’s right.

The Imperial Palace was still quiet.

Only the sounds of battle between the Sword Masters and the Ascetic had been echoing since earlier. There was no sign of the Relic Expedition Members at all.

It had to be that way.

Before I left the Imperial Palace, I had given a warning to Yakov, the Captain.

─After 10 PM, act according to the original rules of the Imperial Palace.

─According to the original rules….

─It means five people stay in one room, and during that time period, absolutely do not come out of the room.

10 PM.

From this time onward, the Imperial Palace operates to ‘kill’ intruders.

─By the way, if I’m not mistaken, it seems like the Imperial Palace’s curse still remains, doesn’t it, The Protagonist?

Naturally, that curse was something I had deliberately left behind.

Screeeeeeeeeeeech-!

A spine-chilling sound coming from far away.

A deafening roar like metal scraping against the floor, enough to tear one’s ears.

“…!”

Pean heard that sound and turned his head in shock.

Jeungmu and Balhwan were the same. His gaze turned toward the other end of the corridor.

Screeeeeech──!

Something was approaching from the darkness at a terrifying speed.

In one hand, holding a dimly flickering lantern.

In the other hand, dragging a blood-stained chain whip.

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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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