Sword Master With One Strike Kill - Chapter 58

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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 58

Episode 58. Jark von Haibrunn (3)

* * *

“Ugh…”

Whooom, whooooom-!

Adelia frowned.

Every time the healer’s touch reached her, hot energy seeped into her swollen wrist.

She was biting the inside of her lips tightly to prevent screams from escaping when it happened.

Almond, who was conducting the treatment, spoke to her.

“It’s going to hurt a bit. The bones are completely shattered, so I have to reattach them one by one.”

Adelia silently nodded upon hearing Almond’s words.

‘This is agonizing.’

The broken body parts hurt, but truthfully, her heart was in even more pain.

Jark von Haibrunn’s skill was absolutely overwhelming.

No matter that her opponent was a giant of Middle Temple, she was ashamed of being toyed with without even getting to swing her sword once.

But what was most humiliating of all was…

─Is this truly the skill of a Sword Master’s disciple?

…the fact that she had tarnished The Protagonist’s name.

Grind-.

Unable to contain her rising anger, Adelia was clenching her teeth tightly when it happened.

“Sigh.”

Almond let out a deep sigh.

“Like master, like disciple. Both of you are absolutely reckless.”

“…?”

“The Protagonist endured until the very end at the Order of the Holy Maiden and came back completely battered. And now you get seriously injured sparring with Lord Haibrunn…”

“W-wait a moment.”

Pause-.

Adelia looked at Almond with wide eyes.

The moment she heard that her brother had treated The Protagonist, one thought flashed through her mind.

“Did you… notice anything strange when you treated The Protagonist?”

A few weeks ago.

Adelia recalled the day she had headed to Bertas, the Free City.

Gaon’s appearance as he suddenly coughed up blood inside the carriage crossing the Silk Road.

─Are you alright?

─It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it.

A body that was strangely frail despite possessing overwhelming power.

And even the reason why he suddenly appeared and accepted Adelia as his disciple.

Combining all these circumstances, Adelia had reached the speculation that Gaon didn’t have much time left to live.

But that was merely ‘speculation.’ Adelia wanted to know The Protagonist’s physical condition for certain.

‘…Almond might have noticed something.’

Her brother was, after all, the most promising healer in Middle Temple.

Having examined The Protagonist’s body in detail, he would know the situation far more precisely than anyone else.

“Hmm.”

Sure enough, after pondering for a moment, Almond provided an answer.

“His body itself was healthy though?”

“…?”

…Though that answer was the complete opposite of what Adelia had expected.

“Wh-what do you mean? The Protagonist’s body was healthy?”

“Yeah. Completely healthy. But…”

Almond tilted his head slightly.

“There was one peculiar thing.”

“Peculiar thing?”

“There were traces of his body’s structure having changed drastically. It was so subtle that I barely noticed it myself.”

Upon hearing those words, Adelia wore a confused expression for a moment.

But soon, as if realizing something, she let out a quiet sigh.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, a scene flashed through her mind.

The day he returned after dealing with Camillo.

That very moment when Gaon had asked her to guard the door.

After that, The Protagonist’s frail body had improved somewhat, and the aura he emanated had also changed considerably.

‘Then perhaps, the reason The Protagonist visited the Corpse Exhibition was…’

Was that the reason he insisted despite Sikan’s dissuasion? To deal with Camillo von Taribas while also finding a ‘method’ to overcome his condition?

“…”

Various speculations were chaotically swirling through Adelia’s mind when it happened.

“But well, there’s nothing strange about it.”

Almond shrugged and continued speaking.

“You know it too, don’t you? Physical bodies aren’t important to transcendents.”

“…!”

The moment she heard those words, Adelia’s eyes widened. A shock like lightning struck her mind.

That’s right.

How could she have forgotten such an obvious fact?

Transcendents were beings who had literally transcended everything.

Common sense didn’t apply to them.

From the beginning, her concerns about The Protagonist were completely unnecessary.

“Now please be quiet again. I need to focus on healing.”

As soon as Almond finished speaking, Adelia shut her mouth tight. No further conversation was exchanged.

Whooom, whooooom-!

Even as divine power penetrated her entire body, Adelia’s mind was filled entirely with thoughts of The Protagonist.

She was currently suffering from physical pain like this…

‘…The Protagonist is a transcendent who has surpassed even the concept of flesh.’

She was dying of curiosity.

What kind of monster was sleeping inside that ordinary shell?

* * *

“…”

Swish-.

I looked down below with cold eyes.

The blue blade had stopped just before slicing through my neck. Above it, a blue-green aura was rising like a mirage.

I turned my gaze toward Jaque and spoke in a dry voice.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Kahahat…!”

Jaque burst into hearty laughter. My reaction seemed to be beyond his expectations.

“You’ve got quite the nerve.”

“….”

“I didn’t expect you wouldn’t even blink an eye.”

Let me say this again – that was simply because I couldn’t react to his attack.

The gap between level 30 and level 99 was just that enormous.

‘Anyone else would have lost their strength and collapsed right there.’

It wasn’t just because of the threatening attack Jaque had unleashed.

Whoooosh-!

A tingling sensation felt through my skin.

Right now, Jaque was trying to crush me by emanating killing intent.

That pressure was beyond imagination.

The fact that everyone in the training ground, including Arwen, had frozen stiff was proof of that.

‘But….’

〔Mental Power ‘MAX’ resists the opponent’s tremendous intimidation.〕

‘…at least for me, such petty tricks won’t work.’

From the beginning, Jaque had no intention of killing me.

That meant all the threatening killing intent he was emanating was fake.

If he had swung his sword with genuine intent?

Surely 【Ultimate Auto Parry】 would have activated automatically, just like when I faced the Sword Master of the Raging Dragon.

‘But what to do about this?’

Unlike Jark von Haibrunn, who was merely trying to intimidate me….

I was genuinely thinking of killing him.

Both to normalize Middle Temple and to avoid interference with my future plans.

‘However, now isn’t the right time to engage in a death match.’

Such a trivial provocation wasn’t enough justification.

Of course, I could just kill Jaque with 【Soul of the Sword Master】 and then present the contents of the Sacred Covenant.

That Jaque was someone who encouraged the apocalypse. That his existence would only hasten this world’s end.

It was actually true.

In every cycle I’d experienced so far, Jaque had never once prevented the apocalypse.

…If anything, he had made it worse.

I could even brazenly say that if they had complaints, they should go argue with the Elder they serve, and that I was merely following the contents of the Sacred Covenant.

‘But doing that would obviously provoke strong backlash from the Traditionalist Faction.’

There was also a high possibility that the trust I’d carefully built up in Middle Temple would crumble.

‘So… let’s wait for now.’

If I waited just a little, a better opportunity would come.

Most importantly, I was well aware of situations where I could make good use of Jark von Haibrunn until then.

Therefore, just giving him a warning would be sufficient for now.

Having finished that thought, I looked at Jaque.

“You said you wanted teachings?”

“….”

“Unfortunately, a Sword Master’s teachings are precious. Not something just anyone can receive carelessly.”

Jaque let out a hollow laugh and sneered.

“Ha! Don’t tell me you’re trying to avoid a duel with such a pathetic excuse?”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“If you want teachings, become my disciple. Then I’d be willing to provide them generously.”

“…What?”

“Of course, you’d need to show the appropriate respectful attitude.”

Jaque’s face twisted menacingly. That lasted only a moment before he burst into incredulous laughter.

“Kuh, kuhahahat…!”

Jaque’s shoulders shook.

“Me? You want me to become your disciple?”

His laughter echoing through the training ground was full of mockery and ridicule. As if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Listen here, Lord Sword Master.”

Jaque deliberately emphasized my title as he spat it out.

“Don’t mock me with such ridiculous nonsense. Everyone knows you don’t have the skill to teach me….”

“Jark von Haibrunn.”

Stop-.

I cut off Jaque’s words.

Silence briefly flowed through the training ground.

“Adelia risked her life to receive my teachings.”

“….”

“She said it was fine to lose an arm, fine to have a leg cut off….”

I drew the Feather Sword from my waist.

Sring-!

The sword’s cry, now familiar beyond measure, rang through the training ground.

“I’m curious whether you have that level of resolve.”

Seeing me grip the Feather Sword, the corner of Jaque’s mouth twitched.

“Aren’t you underestimating this old man too much?”

Jaque also properly gripped his beheading sword. Then he took a stance as if he might charge at me at any moment.

“A life already dedicated entirely to the sword. I’m more than ready to risk my life.”

“Is that so.”

I chuckled inwardly.

‘You know what?’

Some skeleton bastard said the exact same thing last time.

But when he actually faced the crisis of death, he lost all fighting spirit.

‘So….’

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

‘…let’s see if this time it’s real.’

* * *

The reason Jaque provoked Gaon was purely political.

The Sword Master who claimed to be Adelia’s teacher had elevated the Reformist Faction’s position.

Moreover, having emerged as a savior through the Sacred Covenant, his support within Middle Temple was sky-high.

‘I must somehow break his influence.’

Gaon’s influence would become the Reformist Faction’s strength.

He had to somehow diminish his authority with this opportunity.

‘Hmm…?’

But what was this about?

Actually witnessing Gaon’s appearance, Jaque couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

‘…What? That kind of guy is really a Sword Master?’

An appearance no different from an ordinary mercenary.

The fact that someone who supposedly reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship looked so weak made him doubt whether the rumors were true.

At this point, he wondered if the Reformist Faction had pulled some dirty trick while he was away.

Sring-!

A suffocating silence filled the training ground. Even in this situation where he and Gaon faced each other with swords drawn, his thoughts remained unchanged.

‘How could someone who can’t even hold a sword properly become a Sword Master…’

Kuuuuuuuung──!

Startled-!

At that very moment, an indescribable, tremendous fear was felt.

His entire body tingled as if being pricked by needles, then a chill that seemed to freeze all the blood in his body was felt.

An unknown sense of oppression pressed down on him. Shadows of death seemed to rush from all directions, strangling his throat.

“…!”

Buuuuuung-!

It was not an intentional attack.

An instinctive action, like automatically closing one’s eyes when something flies toward them.

Jaque’s hand, terrified out of his wits, swung the beheading sword on its own.

‘…Huh?’

But Gaon showed no intention of blocking the attack at all.

His two eyes weren’t even following the sword’s path, merely wandering through empty air indifferently.

In the illusion that time was flowing slowly.

Just before the beheading sword would crush his opponent’s head like a watermelon….

‘Ah.’

…Jaque realized too late.

The fact that Gaon couldn’t even ‘perceive’ his attack.

‘Wh-what is this…!’

This was wrong.

Even if he changed the sword’s trajectory now, Gaon’s life was over.

He had only intended to humiliate the guy, he absolutely never meant to kill him….

Everything was about to go wrong.

‘Damn it!’

What would happen if Gaon died like this?

Would he become a criminal who killed a Sword Master?

But how could someone who was supposedly a seeker not be able to block even one attack like this?

No, that aside….

‘…What exactly was that spine-chilling fear from just now?’

It was the moment when Jaque’s head felt like it would explode from the complexity of countless thoughts.

Kwadeuk──!

…A terrible sound of flesh being torn filled the training ground.

“Huh?”

The next moment, Jaque’s expression twisted with bewilderment.

Gaon was still gazing at empty air with listless eyes. With exactly the same expression as before, unchanged.

And the beheading sword that had been flying toward the guy’s head suddenly began floating upward out of nowhere.

‘What…?’

It was definitely an unavoidable trajectory, wasn’t it?

How is that bastard unharmed?

At the moment when he couldn’t understand what this situation was at all.

Thud-.

The sound of something spilling came from beneath his feet.

Thuduk, thudduduk-.

At the continuous noise, Jaque slowly lowered his gaze.

The beheading sword that had fallen to the ground was rolling around making a loud noise.

And beside it….

“….”

Some forearm was convulsing while spurting blood.

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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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