The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 14

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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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The Sword Genius Blessed by a God, Chapter 14

* * *

The exploration of the Dungeon dragged on late into the night.
The party kept running into monsters. Dorbi packs kept appearing, and so did creatures like the Vampire Bat, which were common in caves.
Was it because they had pushed so deep inside?
Monsters grew stronger and stronger the further they went.

“Brisle!”

The Brisle resembled a wild boar. Bone spikes jutted from its back. There were fewer of them than Dorbi, but each one was several times more dangerous.
Baudon, who had been the first to shout the warning, raised his shield. The Brisle, its eyes burning red, charged at him.

Bang!
Crunch.

Baudon’s shield caved in at once. This impact was on a completely different level from what he’d taken when blocking the Dorbi.

“Gah!”

Still, Baudon was no pushover. Somehow he held his ground against the Brisle’s charge, and once again he waited for Mikel’s help.

“Sir Mikel!”

Kkueeeek!

That was when another Brisle appeared.
Mikel did not come to Baudon’s aid. His blade was aimed at the newly arrived Brisle.
Startled, Baudon staggered. In that moment, the second Brisle’s tusk pierced through his shield. If things continued this way, that horn could skewer his chest.

‘Damn it, it’s breaking through…’

Thud.

That was when he felt something on his shoulder.
Someone had stepped onto Baudon’s shoulder and launched themselves upward.
At first he thought Mikel had come to help, but it wasn’t.
It was Allen who had jumped off Baudon’s shoulder.

Swissh!
Shhk!

The Brisle’s back split open in a long gash, and a shriek of agony rang out through the cave.

Kkwaeeek!

The enraged Brisle turned its gaze toward the rear. But Allen had not yet touched the ground.
As if he were kicking off from empty air, Allen twisted his body sharply and brought his sword down.

Shhk!

With a single stroke, the Brisle’s head was severed and fell to the floor. Allen’s feet touched down almost at the same instant the head hit the ground.
Baudon stood there, holding his dented shield, staring at the scene in a daze.

‘What did I just see?’

He had stepped on my shoulder and leapt, then split the Brisle’s back in two.
From the moment he leapt, not a single wasted motion marred Allen’s movements as he drove his momentum straight through and severed Brisle’s head.
It was like watching a performance choreographed to the last beat.

‘Was it because I drew its attention?’

Probably. Otherwise, Brisle wouldn’t have been caught so easily.
Then again, what was so hard about taking down a monster whose mind was elsewhere? That was how Baudon chose to see it.

“Are you all right?”

At Allen’s question, Baudon startled.
He had nearly been impaled on Brisle’s horn, but he had no intention of letting that show.

“Ahem. Of course I’m all right. I was just about to slam that beast into the ground.”

His mind was already fixed on the treasure in the dungeon.
The moment he admitted he owed Allen his life, he’d have to hand over his share of the treasure.

“Even if you hadn’t shown up, I could’ve handled it on my own. You hear me?”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes, yes. You were supposed to guard the mage, so why’d you charge out front for no reason?”

Baudon grumbled, then, as if embarrassed by his own words, scratched his cheek and added,

“Well, anyway, good work. Your skill isn’t bad. Still, you don’t wear that sword just for show…”

Thud.

Brisle, the one Mikel had been assigned, collapsed right after that.
Baudon turned to Mikel, his face brightening. Mikel stood holding a sword that dripped blood in steady drops, gazing down at Brisle’s corpse.

“Are you finished?”
“Yes. What about you?”
“Naturally, we finished up on our end too.”

Baudon carried himself as though he had felled Brisle with his own hands.
Paying him no mind, Allen shrugged and checked the carcass of the Brisle Mikel had brought down.

‘He butchered it again.’

He hadn’t aimed for a vital spot to kill it. He had cut, and cut again, until the creature stopped breathing.
Most of the monsters Mikel had killed ended up like this. His sword was built less for killing or subduing and more for cutting.

The more he looked, the more the last lingering hope vanished.
The more I watched, the more the last sliver of hope I’d been clinging to faded away.
No swordsmanship in Bishuken had ever been this sloppy.

‘Above all…’

As he passed Baudon’s side, Allen spoke.

“Don’t trust that man too much.”

Baudon’s gaze snapped toward Allen in surprise.
Allen, lowering his voice, smiled faintly.

“Just keep that in mind, that’s all.”

With that, Allen returned to his original place. In the party, Allen’s post was beside Yusia, the mage.
As Allen came back to stand beside her, Yusia said, looking genuinely startled,

“That was impressive.”

She watched Allen from a distance, marveling at his movements. The way he had stepped off Baudon’s shoulder and launched himself into the air was anything but ordinary.

“I was just lucky.”
“You’re too modest. That wasn’t something luck could manage.”

Standing at a distance, Yusia had a clear view of Allen’s skill.
But that was not all she had seen.

“You told me not to trust that man, didn’t you?”

Even from this far away, it seemed she had caught every word Allen had said to Baudon.
It wasn’t simply sharp hearing. She had cast a spell to keep watch over what lay ahead.
She shared Allen’s opinion.

“I agree. He’s changed a great deal since we first met.”
“How so?”
“He’s become rougher, and somehow chilling. He never seemed like a very warm person to begin with, but…”

Now she understood the strange unease she had felt around Mikel.

“Just now, he could have helped Mr. Baudon, but he didn’t.”
“So you’re saying he deliberately put that man in danger?”
“That’s how it looked to me. Isn’t that why you warned him, too?”

There was certainly some truth to that. No matter how you looked at it, Mikel showed no sign of intending to protect his party members.
But if that had been all, Allen would not have planted needless unease in Baudon’s mind with a warning.
Allen looked at Brisle’s corpse, which Mikel had butchered, and spoke.

“I have a feeling he might be even more dangerous than that.”
“Huh?”
“Hey!”

Just then, Baudon, who had somehow marched far ahead, looked back and shouted.

“Are you two flirting or something? Hurry up and get over here!”

At Baudon’s words, Yusia’s face twisted into a frown.

“After everything, he doesn’t even know whose help kept him alive…”
“I suppose he’s still fixated on the treasure. I understand.”
“Aren’t you annoyed, Allen? He’s strutting around like he’s riding on the Bishuken swordsman’s back. And he’s the weakest of the lot when it comes to skill.”

At Yusia’s irritation, Allen burst out laughing.
Unlike her, Allen didn’t mind much at all when Baudon acted like that.

“Isn’t that what makes it fun?”

* * *

Contrary to the expectation that the innermost depths would be the most dangerous, the inside of the Dungeon was desolate.
No monsters appeared for quite some time.
Thanks to that, the party reached the end of the Dungeon with ease.
But for adventurers chasing treasure, that was actually a bad sign.

“Damn it!”

At the end of the Dungeon, when a wall came into view, Baudon spat a curse.
Corpses of monsters lay scattered across the ground.
Judging by how long they had been left there, every one of the bodies had already rotted.

“So someone already cleared this place.”

Mikel examined the monster’s corpse and frowned.
The Brisle lying at the end of the dungeon was riddled with wounds from blades and spears. Every one of them was the mark of a human hand.

“Looks like we came all this way for nothing, doesn’t it?”
“Probably. Even if there was treasure, someone’s likely carried it off already.”
“Damn it, damn it!”

Baudon slammed his dented shield against the wall, his temper flaring. They had come here on rumors of treasure in the dungeon, and if someone had already finished the job, all of it was worthless.
Yusia, meanwhile, felt a nagging doubt.

“Something doesn’t add up, though.”
“What doesn’t?”
“If a dungeon’s been cleared, there shouldn’t be any monsters left, right? Then what were those things we ran into at the entrance?”
“Well, that’s just…”

Baudon started to say something, then faltered.

“Huh? Yeah, what is it, then?”

Now that she mentioned it, it did seem strange.
Monsters lingering in a dungeon that had already been cleared?

“There’s only one explanation I can think of. The dungeon itself is drawing them in.”
“A cleared dungeon pulling in monsters? This isn’t a Demon Realm. Is that even possible?”
“It is, because this is a dungeon.”
“Then…”

What Yusia was implying was that this dungeon had not, in fact, been cleared at all.

“This isn’t the end. I’m certain there’s more to it.”

Her eyes were bright with curiosity. The dungeon looked plain enough on the surface, but something secret was hidden here.
Allen admired Yusia’s reasoning. She had sensed the dungeon’s secret by instinct alone.
And Allen already knew the dungeon’s secret.

“I agree.”

Allen glanced around the dungeon walls.

“There’s no way this is the end.”

The one who had told Allen about the dungeon’s secret was a mage, a former adventurer who had once belonged to the Expedition Corps.

“The dungeon where the Star Flower was found was a double dungeon. The cave kept pulling in monsters, so the Billerman Family commissioned me to investigate.”
“A double dungeon, you say? What sort of trick was it?”
“Nothing grand. There was a small groove hidden at the far end of the cave, and…”

He had boasted about the enormous reward he’d earned for finding the Star Flower, calling it the most mysterious job of his entire adventuring career.
Allen recalled his old comrade’s words and searched the cave wall for the groove.
Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to find. At about waist height was a small hole, just big enough for a finger.

‘There it is.’

Without hesitation, Allen drew his sword.

Shk.
Kagak.

Allen’s sword sank into the groove.
The moment something caught on the blade’s edge, Allen twisted the sword.
And in the next instant—

Gu-gu-gu-gu-gu.
Crack, creak-creak-creak.

The cavern ceiling trembled, and the walls began to split.

“W-what?”
“Allen! What on earth did you touch— Eek!”

As the thick wall gave way, the three who had been standing nearby scrambled backward.
Chunks of stone rained from the ceiling, and rock poured down as the wall collapsed. A dark cloud of dust rose through the cavern.
Coughing hard, Yusia raised her staff.

[Storm Veil]

Woooong.

A curtain of wind took shape around the party, a spell meant to shield them from falling stones and boulders.
The dungeon kept crumbling for a while. But after some time passed, only dust kept stirring, and the dungeon stopped collapsing.
Yusia cast her next spell, summoning a gust of wind.
Whooosh—the wind rising along her staff swept the dust away.

As the haze-like dust cleared, the interior beyond the collapsed wall came into view.
At that moment, a spark caught.

Whoomp.
Fwoosh.

Torches lined both sides of the hall, a wide and long corridor stretching on, and at its end, a massive altar.
Above the altar stood a colossal statue with two horns curling from its head, like a devil’s.
A space that stood in stark contrast to the crude dungeon around it.
It looked like a sanctuary built to enshrine someone.

“A double dungeon?”

Startled by the new dungeon that had revealed itself, Yusia looked toward Allen. Allen stayed rooted where he stood, not flinching even as the walls crumbled around him.

“Allen, what in the world is this—”

Yusia, who had been about to address Allen, the one who had uncovered the dungeon’s secret, wore a puzzled expression.
That was because Allen, the very man who had uncovered the double dungeon, looked far more stunned than she did.

“Allen? Allen!”

Yusia’s voice didn’t reach Allen’s ears.
It was a new message that had appeared the instant the double dungeon revealed itself.

[You have discovered the ‘Ruins of the Stars.’]
[‘Heart of ??’ encounters a new fragment.]
[You witness the ’11th Fragment of ??.’]

The same kind of message that had appeared in the Lord’s Hall.
Somewhere within this place, another fragment lay waiting.

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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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