Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 44

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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 44

Episode 44. Immortal Slayer (3)

Since Adelia had volunteered to guard the door, Sikan Bauer followed the Guild Master out.

On the hurried path toward the Eastern Wall.

After hearing the Guild Master’s report, Sikan frowned with an uneasy expression.

“The enemy won’t die…?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

The Guild Master nodded with a face pale as a sheet.

“Even when its head was cut off, even when its heart was torn out, even when I confirmed that I had definitely killed it… at some point it would get back up and attack us perfectly fine. It’s not simply a matter of good regeneration.”

Sikan’s expression hardened stiffly.

According to Hakun Durdamel’s explanation, the assailant who attacked the Eastern Wall possessed the exact characteristics of an 「Undead」.

However, something was strange.

Its features didn’t match any entity that existed in Sikan’s memory.

‘A giant over 3 meters tall, a giant-human hybrid wielding twin axes…?’

Nowhere in Middle Temple’s records was such an undead documented.

Information about the undead is thoroughly managed.

Considering this point, there were only two possibilities.

The first was the Guild Master’s ignorance.

In other words, Hakun Durdamel might have mistaken an ogre or troll with excellent regenerative abilities…

‘If that’s not the case.’

…The second possibility was that a new undead not in the records had appeared.

“Damn it.”

Sikan Bauer muttered a curse.

Hakun Durdamel.

He was a top-tier merchant who even knew about the existence of the Celestial Dragon Tribe and Middle Temple.

But would such a top-tier merchant with this level of information network really fail to recognize monsters like ogres or trolls?

‘Then it really means an unrecorded undead has appeared.’

This was tantamount to the worst-case scenario.

And for good reason, since the undead’s very existence often caused great harm to the balance of this world.

The appearance of another undead in an already unstable political situation undoubtedly meant that an ominous crisis had erupted beneath the continent’s surface.

“Phew.”

Sikan Bauer let out a sigh. Just then, the Eastern Wall could be seen in the distance.

Further speculation was meaningless.

Now it was time to confirm the enemy’s identity with his own two eyes…

KWAAAAANG─!

…That was the moment his thoughts reached that point.

With a tremendous explosion, one side of the Eastern Wall was destroyed.

Debris from the fortress wall scattered in all directions, and through that gaping hole, a giant man walked out step by step.

‘Crazy…’

A chill ran down his spine.

Some giant was carrying bloodied twin axes on his shoulders.

…And around this creature, guard members who had been brutally murdered could be seen.

The guard members of Bertas, the Free City, were skilled individuals who had received systematic training. Yet the opponent had smashed through them and boldly invaded the city.

Crack, crackle─!

Was it the aftermath of breaking through the main gate with his bare body?

The assailant’s shoulder and arm on one side were torn to shreds like rags.

However, that wound regenerated in an instant. Along with a dark red aura, the tattered body parts gradually returned to their original state.

Witnessing that scene, Sikan Bauer frowned. The worst assumption had become reality and appeared before his eyes.

‘…It really was an undead. And one with damn excellent recovery abilities at that.’

Shing-!

Sikan Bauer drew his sword immediately without time to think of anything else.

At that moment, the giant gripped his twin axes tightly and growled with a voice full of killing intent.

“Are you also in league with that rat bastard…?”

Rat bastard?

What the hell was he talking about out of nowhere?

Ignoring the opponent’s nonsense, Sikan Bauer quickly gave orders.

“Hakun Durdamel.”

“Yes.”

“Immediately blockade the nearby area to evacuate citizens, and request support from all of Bertas’s guard corps. And…”

Wooong, woooong-!

The sword in his hand began to resonate. Pure white aura rose like a heat haze, illuminating the blade.

How long he could hold out against that monster was unknown.

Those who had made contracts with evil gods were impossible to assess in terms of skill due to 「Censorship」.

But one fact was certain…

“Bring The Protagonist as soon as he’s ready.”

…Gaon, everything would be resolved once he returned.

* * *

“Ugh…”

How much more time had passed?

My hazy consciousness gradually began to return.

It seemed I had lost consciousness after suffering terrible pain for a while.

Letting out a pained groan, I slowly raised my upper body.

‘Huh?’

I froze.

Right then, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

I definitely felt that something had changed.

Just from raising my upper body, I could instantly feel that my physical body had transformed.

‘…It’s not simply that my strength or stamina increased.’

My constitution itself had completely changed.

Should I say it felt like every single cell had transformed into a completely different being?

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked at the mirror set up in one corner of the room.

Then I could truly feel the changes in my body.

‘Wow.’

My previously scrawny body had somehow transformed into a solid, muscular physique.

It was a body that was just right to look at, not excessive.

However, my greatest ‘change’ of all was…

【Lv. 30】

…the translucent number floating above my head.

‘Level 30.’

My level, which had been merely 11 until I consumed the Heart of the Toryong, had risen to 30 in one go.

Considering that all the mercenaries who escorted Hakun Durdamel’s merchant guild were between levels 20 and 30…

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that my physical abilities had now grown to match those of decent mercenaries.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Status】

Strength: 32

Agility: 29

Stamina: 35

Magic: 1

Perception: 31

Dexterity: 12

…

━━━━━━━━━━━━

‘Insane.’

The changes displayed in the status window felt even more dramatic.

The stats that had been completely filled with ‘1’s just a few weeks ago had suddenly made a tremendous leap.

It was truly an incredible growth rate. Anyone else who saw it would have been writhing in envy.

‘…But considering what I’ve accomplished, isn’t this level of growth only natural?’

Crack-.

I slowly clenched and unclenched my fist while thinking this.

As I mentioned earlier, the effect of the 「Heart of the Toryong」 wasn’t limited to simply raising the player’s stats.

‘There’s still something bigger remaining.’

Just then, a new notification window began appearing in one corner of my vision.

Ding-!

〔You have inherited the characteristics of Dragon Body .〕

〔Your physical body has been enhanced.〕

〔The growth rate of physical abilities has been accelerated.〕

‘…Dragon Body .’

The Heart of the Toryong had fundamentally transformed my body.

The human body has limits. There are walls that cannot be overcome no matter how much one trains.

This is because there are predetermined limits to how much growth bones, muscles, and organs can accept.

To overcome these innate limitations, one must learn aura cultivation techniques and steadily improve their constitution over decades.

‘But I don’t have time to learn aura cultivation techniques.’

Improving a weak constitution through aura cultivation takes ages.

When I barely have enough time to travel the entire continent and realize my plans, how could I possibly force in training as well?

So I used the Heart of the Toryong to reconstruct my body anew.

My skeletal structure changed, bones became harder, muscles became more elastic, blood vessels allowed more blood to flow…

Thus I enhanced myself beyond the limits of ordinary humans, into a constitution capable of infinite growth.

‘Thanks to my changed constitution, my growth rate will be much faster too.’

To borrow an expression from RPG games, my experience gain would be boosted by 1.5 to 2 times from now on.

Of course, this is just an analogy. Lost Elder’s growth system operates in a much more complex manner.

‘Anyway.’

With this, everything I wanted had been achieved.

It was the moment when the plan I had carefully built up through multiple stages came to fruition.

Creak-.

After thoroughly confirming all the changes brought by the Heart of the Toryong, I opened the firmly locked door.

Right then, as soon as the door opened, Adelia’s urgent voice reached me.

“Lord Gaon…!”

For some reason, Adelia’s face was filled with anxiety.

Even Hakun Durdamel standing beside her had a deathly pale complexion.

“What’s wrong.”

To my question, Hakun Durdamel answered instead.

“Be, Bertas has been attacked.”

…What?

Pause-.

I froze upon hearing Hakun Durdamel’s words.

Though I maintained a calm expression, my inner thoughts were utterly confused.

‘There’s no scenario where Bertas gets attacked at this point in time…?’

An anomaly had occurred.

Just like encountering the Sword Master of the Raging Dragon in the deepest layer of Labyrinth Village when he should have appeared much later…

This time too, an unexpected event not in the original story had occurred.

“Explain the situation in detail.”

“So, some unknown assailant broke through the eastern wall single-handedly.”

I hurriedly descended to the inn’s first floor while listening to the explanation. Adelia and Hakun Durdamel followed closely behind me.

“Dozens of guards have already lost their lives. The Inquisitor is blocking the enemy together with Bertas’s guards, but the situation isn’t good.”

My mind raced as I listened to Hakun Durdamel’s explanation.

An opponent so strong that even Sikan Bauer was struggling.

What exactly was their identity? And why would such a powerful being attack Bertas, the Free City, at this point in time?

…No. Calm down. Getting excited right now won’t accomplish anything. It would be better to start with the most straightforward questions that could provide information.

“What does the enemy roughly look like?”

“I, I’m not certain, but from my limited perspective, they appear to be of giant blood.”

“…?”

“Their height is about 3 meters. And, and they use twin axes as their main weapon.”

Huh?

Wait a minute.

‘Giant blood? Twin axes?’

Don’t tell me…

Ding-!

〔Part of a hidden message is revealed.〕

〔Twisted causality has given birth to ‘The Undead Barba.’〕

‘…Damn it.’

Tsk-.

I clicked my tongue after seeing the notification window.

Perhaps because I had somewhat expected this since leaving Dungarrd, the Dark City? I wasn’t particularly flustered.

“Guide me.”

No further explanation was needed. I hurriedly moved with Adelia toward the eastern wall of Bertas, the Free City.

* * *

‘Damn it.’

Sikan Bauer gritted his teeth.

The undead wouldn’t die.

No matter how many times he cut, stabbed, and smashed it, it just kept reviving endlessly.

The wounds healed in the blink of an eye, making any attack meaningless.

‘Fortunately, I’ve managed to hold it at the entrance somehow, but…’

…There was a limit to how long he could hold out like this.

“Ha.”

Thud-.

That was the exact moment.

The undead that had been attacking blindly suddenly stopped moving.

For the first time, a crazed smile spread across its face.

“Finally you’ve appeared…! You little rat…!”

…Little rat?

Sikan Bauer turned around with a puzzled expression.

A man was walking steadily through the middle of the Guard Corps’ defensive line.

Witnessing that scene, Sikan Bauer quietly muttered.

“The Protagonist….”

Pat-.

Gaon lightly tapped his shoulder.

His steps as he passed by Sikan Bauer were neither fast nor slow.

“Good work.”

After briefly uttering those words, he walked calmly toward the giant.

As Gaon drew closer, the giant’s expression began to grow more and more excited.

“Do you know…! How much trouble I went through to find you…!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-!

The giant swung his massive twin axes threateningly.

The axes tore through the air, making vicious sounds.

That sight was like a performance a gladiator would put on just before killing the prey before his eyes.

“Come at me, little rat! Barba has grown stronger! Let’s fight once more!”

Whoosh-!

Gaon, who had approached right in front of the giant, indifferently swung his sword.

It was an utterly ordinary strike, but it was sufficient to sever someone’s neck.

“Kahahaha!”

The giant burst into laughter.

He didn’t even think to defend against Gaon’s attack.

Rather, he stopped moving and leisurely watched the sword’s trajectory.

Slice─!

Soon an eerie sound of flesh being cut echoed.

The giant’s neck was cleanly severed and blood shot up like a fountain.

But no one let their guard down.

Not only Sikan Bauer, but all the guards remained frozen stiff, just watching the situation.

They had already killed their opponent dozens of times, but each time he had come back to life as if nothing had happened.

“….”

But….

“…Huh?”

Time passed.

10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds.

Nothing happened except blood gushing out from the giant’s severed neck.

Finally, after quite some time had passed, one guard muttered in a flustered voice.

“…Wh, what’s this?”

* * *

Drip, drop-.

A sensation all too familiar. An inexplicable sense of déjà vu enveloped my entire body.

Actually, that made sense. I had killed the same target twice now, and in the same way at that.

If there was any difference, it would be that this time I didn’t use 【Soul of the Sword Master】 and instead walked right up to his face before swinging my sword.

‘Well, that aside….’

Ding-!

〔Authority Skill: 【Immortal Slayer】 has been used.〕

〔The opponent’s ‘immortality’ has been nullified.〕

Seeing the notification window, I let out a quiet chuckle inwardly.

‘…The skill performance is definitely solid.’

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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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