The Archmage’s Swordsmanship Is Too Strong - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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3
Episode 3. The Tomb of Beginning
***
Cold metal wrapped around my left wrist. I ran my fingertips across the crudely welded bracelet.
The last trace of him.
Or rather, the only fragment of ‘truth’ that remained in this twisted world.
I sat slumped on the floor, staring into empty space with unfocused eyes.
Gang Tae-yoon should have survived.
The man who protected me to the very end, who erased himself.
A world where he’s gone and only I remain.
There could be no crueler jest than this.
I clawed back through memory.
The Blade Guild training grounds.
Air thick with the smell of sweat.
His voice, nagging me as he pressed a Potion into my hands—back when I knew nothing.
“Do Jin, you’ve got a sharp mind, so watch our backs. I’ll handle what’s in front.”
That warm back was gone now.
An incomparably vast emptiness crushed my lungs.
With every breath, it felt like swallowing a lead weight.
Wouldn’t it have been easier to follow him?
Bang—
I drove my fist into the wall.
My knuckles split and blood wept from the gashes, but I felt no pain.
“Damn it.”
My lips trembled.
Rage surged through my veins before sorrow could, murderous intent before regret.
I had survived.
Then my path was clear.
Zephyros, the evil dragon god.
And this world’s deceptive System that had erased him from existence.
I would make them regret everything they had done.
“Let’s go.”
I braced my hands on my knees and pushed myself up.
My swaying body found its center.
I brushed the dust from my clothes, as if sweeping away all hesitation.
A second life, owed to him.
I couldn’t squander this chance.
The knowledge of a 9th Circle Mage, the skills of a Sword Saint, and information about the future itself.
I would deploy every card I held to put my blade to his throat again.
***
Four in the morning the next day.
I dressed and packed my bag.
A few changes of underwear, high-calorie Energy Bars, Drinking Water, and Emergency Medicine.
This wasn’t a romantic journey. It was a march for survival.
My hands didn’t hesitate as I zipped the pack shut.
Exhaustion pressed down on my shoulders, but the temptation of the bed was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
The time I had left wasn’t ten years.
This was a world like a time bomb, where everything could come crashing down tomorrow.
“Sleep is for the dead.”
I muttered it low and opened the door.
The cold morning air struck my face.
The wind cut sharp as a blade, but the fire burning in my chest wouldn’t be extinguished.
The Wooden Sword wedged in the corner of my pack tapped against my shoulder.
My destination was set.
Gyeonggi Province, Donggulung.
Time to test that impossible skill he’d left behind.
I got off at the bus stop in front of Donggulung in G City, Gyeonggi Province—before the first bus of the day had even run.
A desolate street where the streetlights flickered.
Not a soul in sight.
I plugged in my earbuds and tuned the radio.
Static crackled through the speaker as an announcer’s excited voice spilled out.
[···Have you seen that tower-shaped structure that appeared recently in Gangwon Province?]
[Experts are saying it could become a new tourist attraction···.]
[Could the Gate be a message sent by God?]
[Through the dimensional door, to a new world···.]
“Insane nonsense.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
A tourist attraction? God’s message?
If it was a chorus of grave-diggers announcing destruction, then sure, they’d have a point.
Gates fundamentally tear open space without warning.
But there were exceptions.
The so-called Incubation-type Gate.
Like cracking an egg, it lies dormant for anywhere from a month to over a year, accumulating energy.
Then, when the moment of hatching arrives, it shatters its shell and spews forth a Monster Wave.
In the West, they called these “Easter Eggs.”
The problem was that these things normally hid under a Concealment Barrier, making them impossible to detect.
But I knew.
Memory from the future. A history book written in blood, burned into my mind.
The Donggulung Gate.
A year from now, undead pouring from this place would slaughter some 250 civilians.
The Donggulung Incident.
The first and worst tragedy to expose the danger of Incubation-type Gates.
And in that list of victims were——
······
I bit down hard on my lip.
My mother. My sister.
Before the regression, I’d been dispatched to a Gate in Busan as a low-level Hunter.
So I never stopped their deaths. Never even witnessed them.
The scent of white chrysanthemums from the joint funeral service rose again, sickeningly vivid.
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them.
This time will be different.
I’ll find it first. I’ll destroy it.
***
Donggulung.
A sacred forest where nine royal mausoleums of the Joseon dynasty stood gathered.
The entrance, draped in dawn mist, looked not merely serene but eerie.
Manicured grass and winding pines.
In this land prepared for the rest of kings, monsters that defiled the dead had made their nest.
Crunch, crunch.
My footsteps pressed into the soil, wet with frost.
With each exhale, white breath scattered into the air.
Low lamps between the graves flickered like ghost lights.
Dozens of gazes swept over me from somewhere in the grass.
I stopped before the Geonwon Mausoleum, the tomb of Taejo Yi Seong-gye.
Mana thrashed within me.
The topology of space twisted minutely.
A discord that ordinary people could never sense—only a 9th Circle Mage could perceive.
“There.”
I gathered Mana at my fingertips.
I flicked it lightly into empty air.
The Mana wave touched the surface of the Concealment Barrier.
Crack——
The sound of glass fracturing pierced my ears.
The landscape warped, and red fog swallowed my vision.
The camouflage tore away, and the Gate’s true entrance yawned open.
[Warning]
[This is a high-risk area unsuitable for your current Level.]
[Recommended Level: 15]
[Evacuate immediately.]
The System warning window filled my sight.
I ignored it.
I knew as well as anyone that this was no place for someone at Level 1.
Any ordinary Hunter would have called it suicide.
But I had spent ten years crawling through Gates.
I was an Archmage who had burned the hearts of high demons and traded blows with an Ancient Dragon that crossed dimensions.
My body might have been reset, but the strategy guide carved into my mind remained intact.
‘The initialization principle of an Incubation-type Gate.’
Monsters in the incubation stage are incomplete.
They pour most of their mana into life support to adapt to this dimension.
Monsters at this stage are in a state of Summon Aftereffect.
Their reaction speed drops by thirty percent, and their aggression falls to half or less.
Besides, I had perfect knowledge of this terrain.
Even after the funeral before I regressed, I came here hundreds of times, analyzing every handful of earth and blade of grass.
Where the skeletal creatures would burst forth, where the blind spots lay—it all fit in the palm of my hand.
This was no gamble.
It was a meticulously calculated hunt, one where I had already rigged the odds of victory.
To stop Zephyros, a calamity beyond standard measure, I too had to grow at an exceptional speed.
If I merely hunted safe goblins, a hundred years would pass and I’d still never reach his heel.
“It’s you who can’t handle this.”
I had something to rely on.
My experience, my knowledge. And this overwhelming power he had left behind.
Thud-thud, crunch.
Vibrations trembled beneath my feet.
The grass rippled, and bleached bone joints thrust up through the soil.
The earth retched, vomiting forth skulls along with the stench of rot.
‘Skeleton Soldiers.’
Level 8.
Creatures that three ordinary adult men would struggle to defeat in a fight.
In my current condition, even a graze would be fatal.
One, two… eight.
The vanguard, then.
A crimson phosphorescence flickered in the hollow eye sockets.
They encircled me, their jaw bones clicking and clacking.
“Haa.”
I drew in a deep breath.
My heart hammered against my ribs like it would break through.
Not from fear.
From the thrill of confirming his legacy—that overwhelming power.
I drew the Wooden Sword from my bag.
The weight fit perfectly in my palm.
“Come.”
A quiet provocation.
As if in answer, the nearest one raised its rusted blade and charged.
The sound of creaking joints scraped across my nerves.
Slow.
Just as expected—Summon Aftereffect state.
To my eyes, its trajectory appeared broken, discontinuous.
But eyes tracking something wasn’t the same as a body following through.
[Pain Blocking]
The moment the incantation left my lips, my body lurched forward.
No—before my brain could even command it, my muscles responded first.
His memory. Instinct carved into my flesh.
“Skill activation. [Quick Slash].”
Crack—
Fibers tore inside my right arm.
Mana surged like a torrent through my veins, concentrating at my wrist.
A speed beyond my will. An acceleration that defied the human range of motion.
Slash—!
The impact was dull and hollow.
The Skeleton Soldier at the front literally had its skull erased.
Before bone fragments could scatter, the wooden sword had already returned to its place.
“Ugh···”
A gasp tore from my throat.
Even with Pain Blocking active, my entire arm burned with numbness.
My muscles were screaming.
Output that a Level 1 body couldn’t handle.
It was like strapping a nitro booster to a compact car engine.
Crack.
The sensation of my elbow ligaments stretching shot through me, sickening and clear.
‘The recoil is this bad?’
I’d expected something, but reality was different.
A single swing was enough to render my right arm unusable.
But the enemy grants no mercy.
Spurred by their companion’s death, the remaining seven rushed forward as one.
My knees buckled. I tried to regain my footing by bracing against the ground, but I was too slow.
A Skeleton Soldier beside me drove its blade downward.
‘Too late.’
Dodging was impossible. I wondered if I should hastily deploy a defensive spell instead.
The blade descended toward my crown.
Beep—
[System add-on detected.]
[Activating auxiliary program ‘AIRI’.]
With a mechanical chime, time seemed to slow.
Whoosh!
It wasn’t my will.
My right arm rose of its own accord.
The wooden sword traced an odd arc and struck the falling blade’s side.
Clang—
With a metallic ring, the Skeleton Soldier lost its balance and tumbled backward.
A perfect parry.
It was mechanically precise—a defense I had no memory of executing.
‘What is this?’
There was no time for confusion.
The encirclement was tightening.
My right arm hung useless, my Mana nearly depleted.
Fighting any longer would be suicide.
I grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground.
‘Explosion’
Scatter.
As I flung the earth, I ignited my Mana.
Boom—!
With a violent crack, dust erupted like a smoke grenade.
The blinded skeletons swung their blades wildly at empty air, tangling with one another.
I didn’t waste the opening and fell back.
Crossing the Gate’s boundary, I hurled myself into the real forest beyond.
***
The convenience store plastic chair creaked beneath me.
I breathed hard and guzzled cheap canned coffee.
Once the caffeine hit my bloodstream, the trembling finally began to ease.
“Ha···”
They hadn’t followed beyond the Concealment Barrier. Given the nature of an Incubation-type Gate, those creatures still prioritized defending their nest.
A relief, but it left a foul taste.
“Still, the power is undeniable.”
I stared at my mangled right arm.
I’d used Healing magic to stop the worst of it, but muscle soreness lingered.
One strike.
That was all it took to pulverize a Level 8 monster.
If my body could just hold up, this skill would be catastrophic.
But questions remained.
That mechanical defense earlier.
It wasn’t my reflexes. The sensation of someone else puppeting my body.
“Status Window.”
A blue window materialized in the empty air.
I scrolled through the combat log.
[Combat Record]
[Quick Slash] cast successful. (Critical Hit)
Physical durability warning. Right biceps damaged.
···
[Emergency Defense Protocol Activated.]
[AIRI System Intervention.]
My gaze fixed on the upper right corner.
A single unfamiliar icon was flickering there.
An odd, pixelated eye-shaped icon.
“···AIRI.”
The moment I spoke the name aloud.
— Ding.
A crystalline sound that resonated through my skull.
The icon expanded, and a chatbot-style dialogue window flooded my vision.
[Greetings, Transmigrator.]
[I am AIRI, tactical support program.]
A feminine voice, yet clinically devoid of emotion, rang directly in my ears.
I stood there transfixed, staring into the void.
“···What?”
What Gang Tae-yoon left behind was no mere skill.

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