Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 4

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

One-Strike Kill Swordmaster Episode 4

Episode 4. Underworld Arena (3)

* * *

This happened 11 years ago.

During my newbie days, just one year after I started playing Lost Elder.

I received a quest from an NPC.

『…Immortal One, please hear our plea. You are the only hero who can shoulder this burden.』

Ding-!

〔A new Quest has been registered.〕

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Quest List】

– NEW! Assassinate ‘Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan’.

….

━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was a request to assassinate Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan.

“Oh, a new quest.”

At that time, I didn’t really know what kind of guild the Ruin Guild was.

The only meager information I had was that they operated the Underworld Arena.

With a light heart, I set off on a journey to assassinate Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan, partly to get revenge for my death in the tutorial.

“Ha, damn… why is this so difficult?”

But unlike my initial casual approach to the quest, the difficulty of that mission was ridiculously hard.

Didn’t I mention this before?

The Underworld Arena is a place you can never escape from, no matter what you try.

Conversely, this also meant that the Underworld Arena was an extremely difficult area for players to infiltrate.

Breaking through the high-level guards stationed everywhere and reaching Karayan, who was hiding on the top floor of the Underworld Arena, was no easy task.

“Alright. Let’s see who wins.”

Click, click-.

Of course, being stubborn as I was, I never gave up on that damn quest until the end.

After hundreds of attempts, I finally managed to secretly infiltrate the important facilities.

When I finally faced the “Shadow Knight Roren,” who could be called the final boss of the Karayan assassination quest, I spent a long time studying his patterns and mechanics to defeat him.

And after all that effort….

『Stab-!』

…I defeated Shadow Knight Roren and was able to plunge my sword into the heart of Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan, who sat regally in his chair wearing a mask.

〔Quest: ‘Assassinate Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan’ has been completed.〕

“Hah, finally cleared it….”

Exactly two weeks.

That was how long it took me to complete the Karayan assassination request.

After confirming the quest completion notification and rewards, I smiled broadly. It felt like my days of hardship were finally being rewarded.

“What should I do today?”

A few more days passed after that.

I had completely forgotten about Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan.

I was busy enjoying other content in the game, so I had no time to think about him.

“Huh?”

…Until I witnessed Karayan brazenly alive and back at the illegal auction house.

“Crazy, why is he alive?”

At first, I thought it was a bug.

Otherwise, there was no way an NPC I had killed could be walking around so perfectly fine.

But other users who heard my story denied the possibility that it was a bug.

[Strawberry Latte] : Come on, where would there be bugs in a perfect game like LoEl?

[Kongiabum] : Agreed

“Hmm….”

Right.

As the other users said, LoEl was a highly polished game.

This was an undeniable fact that anyone who had played this game for even an hour couldn’t dispute.

After hearing the other users’ opinions, I tried to think rationally once more.

Indeed, rather than simply dismissing Karayan’s survival as a bug, it seemed right to think that there were hidden plot threads remaining.

Click-.

Therefore, I abandoned the quest I was currently working on.

Then, with a half-believing heart, I tried tracking Karayan and the Ruin Guild.

“Huh?”

Before long, I was able to notice one shocking fact.

Every time Karayan appeared in public, his physique under the robe he wore would change very subtly.

…It was several years later that I learned the ‘true identity’ of Peerless Merchant Guild Leader Karayan.

* * *

Right.

Karayan usually disguised his identity as a maid.

Who would dare expect that someone of the stature of a Peerless Merchant Guild Leader would dress as a maid?

It was a simple trick that took advantage of the fact that it’s darkest under the lamp.

‘Of course, such cute little tricks don’t work on me.’

After all, I was a veteran gamer who had devoted 12 years to this game.

Whoooosh-.

The cold air circulating through the top floor.

Everyone in the room was looking at me with wary eyes.

Some of them slowly reached toward their waists.

As if preparing to draw their weapons immediately in case of an unforeseen situation.

“….”

All the servants currently in the room were superhumans exceeding level 60.

Among them was even Shadow Knight Roren, one of LoEl’s named NPCs.

‘In contrast, I am….’

I glanced at my MP window.

〔MP : 0/1〕

My available mana was still 0.

This was because the stat responsible for mana recovery was only 1, making my MP recovery speed damn slow.

Moreover, I wasn’t even holding a sword in my hand….

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Soul of the Sword Master】

(Unavailable)

━━━━━━━━━━━━

…Naturally, the skill was unusable.

“…”

A hair-trigger situation where one wrong move could cost me my life.

In this crisis surrounded by high-level enemies, all I had was this pathetically weak body with average stats of only 1.

Yet there was one reason I could act so brazenly confident right now.

‘I killed Barbarian the Slayer of Men with a single strike.’

Of course, behind that was the 12-star skill 【Soul of the Sword Master】, but…

‘…They have no idea about this fact.’

I just needed to thoroughly exploit that point from now on.

I put on an air of complete composure to make myself appear as strong as possible.

I wore an emotionless expression on my face, as if I had no interest whatsoever in trash like them.

‘It’s a kind of bluffing.’

Fortunately, this bluff of mine seemed to be working well.

The proof was in how the servants’ faces looking at me had stiffened with tension.

“Who are you?”

Before long, the real Karayan, who had been disguised as a maid, cautiously spoke up.

“Who are you to know my identity? No, more than that… what exactly brought you all the way to the Underworld Arena?”

Without a second’s hesitation, I delivered the answer I had prepared.

“This doesn’t seem like a conversation to have with so many listening ears around.”

“…Pardon?”

Karayan’s eyes widened.

“Are you perhaps requesting a private audience with me right now?”

I nodded silently.

The Ruin Guild’s reaction was immediate.

“Absolutely not, Master!”

A voice came from behind.

The eagle-masked figure who had been impersonating Karayan hastily stood up and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Who knows what that person might do when you’re alone together…!”

Snap-.

At that moment, Karayan raised one hand.

At that gesture to remain silent, the eagle mask immediately shut their mouth.

After staring at me with an expressionless face for a while, Karayan slowly opened her mouth again.

“My subordinate is right.”

“…”

“A private meeting with you would be dangerous. Especially if you’re skilled enough to kill Barbarian the Slayer of Men with a single strike.”

Karayan spoke with a voice tinged with slight tension.

“So prove it once. Prove that you won’t harm me when we’re alone together.”

I let out a silent laugh in my mind.

Prove that I wouldn’t harm her when we were alone together.

It was truly an absurd demand.

No matter what I said, Karayan could just insist she didn’t believe me and that would be the end of it.

‘Of course, I have a surefire way to change her mind…’

I’d save that important card for a little later.

For now, I needed to show strength.

In situations like this, seizing control of the conversation was more important than anything else.

“Proof, you say.”

I let out a derisive snort.

Making sure that sneer carried an air of leisure.

“I think I’ve already provided sufficient proof.”

“…Pardon?”

“You’re slow on the uptake.”

Karayan slightly furrowed her brow as if asking what I meant.

But I continued speaking in an indifferent voice, paying her no mind.

“If I had intended to harm you, I would have already killed everyone here.”

“…!”

“…!”

Flinch-.

As soon as my near-threatening words ended, everyone in the room shuddered.

A suffocating silence pressed down heavily on the air in the room.

‘…Did it work?’

Of course, right now I was just putting on an outrageous bluff.

In my current physical condition, I probably couldn’t even beat Karayan, who was just an ordinary person, let alone Roren, the strongest Shadow Knight here.

‘But as I said before, they don’t know that fact.’

And no matter how full of bluster those words were.

If the person who spoke them was the one who killed Barbarian the Slayer of Men with a single strike…

“…”

“…”

“…”

…No one could ignore my warning.

‘Well, I suppose that’s enough of acting tough.’

The situation where control had completely shifted to me.

Now it seemed like the right time to play the card I had prepared.

‘Karayan, head of the Ruin Guild.’

According to the game’s story, she had been searching for someone for a very long time.

Long ago.

During her vagrant days when she couldn’t settle in any city and wandered aimlessly through the Uncharted Wilderness teeming with vicious monsters.

There was a lifesaver who had rescued Karayan and her father when they were on the brink of death.

『Slash-!』

That traveler, who appeared wearing a robe, cut down the monster that was about to devour Karayan and her father with a single strike.

『Are you alright, little miss?』

『Ah, ahh…』

That memory was seared into young Karayan’s mind.

From that day forward, Karayan wanted to somehow find that unknown traveler who saved her life and repay the debt.

But it was never an easy task.

The traveler’s face had been hidden by the robe at the time, and even his voice had grown increasingly dim, buried by the passage of time.

‘Of course, I’m not the benefactor Karayan was looking for.’

But…

That didn’t mean there was no reason to utilize the ‘information’ I possessed.

“Lea.”

“…!”

“Lea de Karayan.”

Gasp-.

Upon hearing my words, Karayan’s eyes widened in shock.

She was extremely shaken.

It was quite a contrast to how she had tried not to show any emotion until now.

“H-how do you know my name…”

Lea de Karayan.

That was the full name of Karayan, the Peerless Merchant Guild leader.

In this world, there were only a few who knew her full name.

Lea de Karayan herself.

Her parents.

The unknown benefactor who saved her life.

And lastly….

『My name isn’t little miss, mister.』

『I’m Lea de Karayan.』

『Though I’m just an insignificant girl wandering the unexplored territories now, I’ll definitely become a big shot who rules this world in 10 years.』

『So if you need help later, please come find me. I’ll definitely repay this debt for saving my life.』

…Having played the game for 12 years and knowing all the important NPCs’ stories inside and out, I also knew her full name.

“Think carefully, Karayan.”

“….”

“Why would the benefactor who already saved your life and your father’s once come to harm you now?”

That’s right.

I’m not the benefactor Karayan was looking for.

But that didn’t mean there was any law against me impersonating that person.

‘Especially when there’s no need to fear the consequences.’

According to the original story, the benefactor Karayan was searching for had already lost his life at this point in time.

There wouldn’t be any problems with me impersonating that NPC.

‘Sorry to that character, but….’

…I would be taking credit for his already-dead accomplishments.

Since I’d been unfairly dragged into this game world, I intended to survive by any means necessary.

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