The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 26

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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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Sword Genius Blessed by a Spirit, Chapter 26

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What no one had dared to believe could happen was happening before their eyes.
No, it was already happening.
Two men were down, which meant four more were up next.
Their pride stung, the remaining troopers stepped forward.

“This one’s mine!”
“Me too!”
“Let’s finish this for good!”

Bold as brass, they charged at Allen.

“Finish it, he says. Watch your mouth around your squad leader.”

The outcome, however, was grim.

Crack!

The first trooper to lunge had his jaw snapped sideways in an instant.
Watching from the side, I couldn’t understand how anyone could fall to something like that. It was so anticlimactic that one man dropped without a fight to speak of.
The next trooper, who had traded a few blows, met the same fate.

Thud.

“Gah!”

The man who took the blow to his stomach lost his breath entirely. The moment his breathing and footwork broke apart, his fate was sealed.
With another sharp crack, yet another man went down without fail.
They’d barely started, and already two had been beaten.

“What on earth are you doing?”
“How is it possible to lose to something like that?”
“Get it together, all of you!”

The rest of Squad Two, watching from the sidelines, were close to losing their minds with frustration.
Within the Bigeom Corps they were looked down on, but they were still troopers of Bishuken, the elite of the elite.
Step outside these walls, and every one of them was a figure of fear and respect wherever they went.
Yet the men of Squad Two standing before Allen were showing none of that at all.

‘It’s not that those guys can’t fight.’

Mary, who had been watching the bout closely, narrowed her eyes and gleamed with interest.

‘It only looks that way.’

At first glance, they swung their swords like fools, and it seemed impossible that anyone could fall to something like that.
But that was only because their opponent was Allen.
On the surface, it looked less as though Allen was strong and more as though the men of Squad Two were weak.
He countered lightly, defended lightly. Every exchange was flawless, stripped of any excess.
Allen had reduced his opponents to mere novices.

And above all.

Zzeok!

Another of the squad members went down.
That made three.
Allen’s wooden sword struck exactly where a man would be knocked senseless, barely leaving a mark on them.

‘The only reason he can pin down a moving opponent’s vital point with such precision is that the Second Young Master’s skill far surpasses the squad members’.

With three down, only one remained.
Allen lowered his stance and surged forward toward the faltering swordsman.

“Haup!”

Startled, the squad member raised his wooden sword to block Allen’s blade.
But in that instant, the incoming tip of the blade narrowed to a single point.

Swish!
Crack!

The tip of the wooden sword slipped past his guard and jabbed him under the chin. Just as his head began to spin, Allen’s fist slammed into the back of the man’s skull.

Crunch!
Thud.

With the last one down, all four had fallen.
Allen looked down at the swordsmen sprawled across the ground and spoke.

“Is that the last of them?”
“…”

Their reaction was different from when two had fallen.
Those who had secretly looked down on Bikra and scolded the two youngest now understood this was no joke.
Even without using mana, he had taken the four-man assault so easily.
Even if they could have used mana, it would not have been an easy feat.
To the hesitating squad members, Mary spoke.

“Go on.”

She still had not unfolded her arms.
It was a command for the other seven to all step forward.
Allen turned toward Mary, who stood alone without moving, and asked.

“You’re the deputy squad leader?”
“Yes. Deputy Leader of Bigeom Corps Second Squad, Mary Altran.”
“I’m Allen Bishuken, the new Second Squad Leader. I regret that we’re meeting like this.”
“I’ll apologize for my rudeness later.”
“I’ll be waiting. You don’t intend to step forward yourself, Deputy?”
“I can’t be any more discourteous here. I’ll go last.”

While the two were talking, seven swordsmen closed in around Allen.
Every one of them wore visible tension on their faces.
Four had already been defeated; if they fell here too, the entire Second Squad would be crushed by a single man.
Watching their pride flare into fighting spirit, Allen smiled faintly.

“Well, eight or seven, what’s the difference.”

Allen raised his wooden sword once more.
As if he had no intention of waiting, he surged forward at once.

* * *

“Good judgment.”

Watching the fight from a distance, Hairen nodded.

“When you’re surrounded by a crowd, you have to strike first and break out.”

Unlike before, Allen did not give up the initiative.
He wasn’t arrogant, but he fought aggressively, with the aim of winning.
His footwork was quick, and he answered with precision even the swords that came at him from blind spots.
The moment the ring of attackers began to close in, Allen leapt high into the air.
He stepped on a shoulder to slip out of the encirclement, then pushed off the ground once more.

“He knows how to handle a crowd. Has he had a lot of experience with this sort of thing?”

Crack!

Allen’s wooden sword, which had bewildered seven pairs of eyes, felled two men in an instant.
Seeing this, a smile deepened at the corner of Hairen’s mouth.
It was a flawless movement, the kind that made you think you would have done the same.

“That boy. Didn’t he also fail the mission to hunt the bandits, I heard?”
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a failure. He escaped on his own.”
“Either way, he did get captured, didn’t he?”
“There were circumstances.”
“You mean the Steel Castle Lord?”

Of course. There was no way the Corps Leader, Hairen, wouldn’t know what Lucas knew.

“I’ve heard the news. But tell me, with that level of skill, shouldn’t he be able to overcome a variable like that easily?”

At Hairen’s words, Lucas nodded.
It was a fair point.
Even if the bandits were armed with heavy crossbows, someone with that kind of skill should have subdued them without trouble.

“I… I don’t understand it either.”

Shuaak!

Just then, a wooden sword whistled past Allen’s hair.
The swordsmen of the Second Squad, who had been brawling among themselves, let out sighs of regret.
Allen slid his feet across the ground, gliding backward to open up the distance.
Hairen’s eyes sparkled.

“That one’s using mana.”

Hairen frowned as he looked at one of the swordsmen.
The swordsman who had just swung a threatening strike was gradually drawing on mana.
It wasn’t obvious. Unless one was highly sensitive to mana, there was no way to tell.
Just then, Allen, who had paused his fighting, spoke up.

“Didn’t we agree not to use mana?”

The swordsman who had secretly used mana flinched.
Amid the chaos of the melee, Allen had seen right through him, pinpointing the exact moment he’d used mana.
The hesitant swordsman answered.

“…Insurei has never restricted mana use.”

His answer was less an apology than an excuse.
At the same time, the reply was also a declaration that he would not acknowledge Allen, no matter what.

“Then so be it.”

Whoosh.

Allen lunged forward in a single breath.
Two wooden swords came flying at him at the same instant, aimed at the figure rushing in so fast.
Right then.

Seongsin-ryu, First Form.
Bora.

Swish-shriiiik!

Allen’s figure vanished, and a rush of wind rang through the air.

Crack!

“…!!!”

The swordsman who had channeled his Mana rolled his eyes up until only the whites showed.
Allen’s wooden sword had come down on his head before he could blink, the strike arriving with terrifying speed.
Watching the man crumple to the ground, unconscious, Allen spoke.

“In a moment like this, you just say, ‘Sorry about that.'”

The First Form of Seongsin-ryu was a technique that did not use Mana.
It put a heavy strain on the muscles and stamina, but it did not break any of the Insurei’s rules.

“Get him!”
“Aaaaah!”

Wooden swords came flying at Allen one after another as he pressed through the crowd of enemies. It was as if they saw this gap as their chance.
But in the midst of it all, Allen’s skill only shone brighter.

Thwack!

Between the incoming swords, Allen’s blade jabbed straight into the forehead of another opponent.
Lowering his stance, then leaping upward. Allen moved like a wild beast, slipping past every wooden blade aimed at him.
The moment a gap opened, he drove his sword in without hesitation.
He never stopped moving his feet, and he never once fell back.

“Damn it!”
“Gyaaaah!”

Three members of the squad were still standing.
They swung their swords with gritted teeth, as though they were in an actual battle.
That these three had been the last left standing meant they were all among the strongest in the Second Squad.

Thwack!

“Guh….”

One of them had taken a blow to the jaw and still refused to fall.
Allen had struck him hard enough to knock him out cold, too.
Looking at the swordsman who stood propping himself up on his wooden sword like a cane, Allen grinned.

“Out of all of you, Bikra and you three are the best.”

At Allen’s assessment, the three who had been charging at him like madmen hesitated for a moment.
A praise like that would have grated on them once, but this time, it felt different.
The swordsman who had been leaning on his wooden sword bowed his head, swaying on his feet.

“Th-thank you… for the lesson.”
“Your name?”
“Hamil… sir.”
“I’ll remember it. Now stop, and go lie down.”

Thud.

Hamil, who had been held upright by nothing but sheer willpower, finally collapsed to the ground at Allen’s words. Even stubborn spirit has its limits.
The two remaining squad members exchanged a glance and lunged at him from either side at the same instant.

Under the combined assault of the two desperate attackers, Allen gave ground, one step at a time.
Perhaps from fighting without pause, beads of sweat had begun to gather on Allen’s forehead. Even from a distance, his breathing was visibly ragged.
Crack!
Allen’s legs wavered as he caught both wooden swords at once.
Just then.

‘Got him!’
‘An opening!’

For the first time, the two of them spotted their chance and surged forward together.

“That was impressive, my lord…”

Whack!

A look of confusion crossed the swordsman’s face mid-sentence.
His voice cut off abruptly, as though it had been snatched away. Allen, who had only moments ago looked exhausted, was now wearing a faint smile.
What was strangest of all was that, without his noticing, his vision had begun to blur.

‘He wasn’t tired at all. He was pretending…’

Slump.

One of the two who had charged in dropped to the ground.
At that moment, the last one remaining had his sights set on Allen’s back.

Shwaaack!
Thwack!

A dull impact.
The blow he had been certain could not be blocked was blocked.
Somehow, Allen was already turning around to face him.

“Haaah!”

Clack, clack-clack.
Bam!

The two wooden swords clashed again and again in rapid succession.
There was a reason he was the last one standing.
He blocked Allen’s sword more than twenty times, countering again and again along the way.
Allen, secretly impressed, asked:

“What’s your name?”
“Bigeom Squad Two, Pliono, sir!”
“Let me correct myself. You’re the best of them.”

Of all the fourteen swordsmen who had come at him until now, Pliono’s skill was by far the most outstanding.
Bora, Hamil, and Pliono—these three were the core of the Second Squad.
At Allen’s assessment, Pliono’s eyes went wide.

‘Could it be he’s testing our skills—’

Swish!
Thwack!

Allen’s sword sank into Pliono’s arm.
A throbbing ache made Pliono’s brow furrow.

“Ghh…”

He gritted through the pain in his arm and held on to his focus.
Thwack, thwack! Allen’s sword struck his body again and again.
The pain felt as though his bones might snap.
But in this moment, Pliono summoned every ounce of mental strength he had.

‘I’ll endure. Somehow, I’ll—’

He shielded his head and vital points as he caught Allen’s wooden sword.
What he couldn’t dodge, he blocked; what he could block, he guarded with clenched teeth, protecting only the vital spots.
Just as it seemed every inch of his body had been bruised black and blue—

‘Now!’

Swoosh!

Pliono’s wooden sword cleaved toward Allen’s head.

Shhhk.

That was when Allen’s figure vanished like an illusion.
He had been certain he’d caught him.
In a duel between seasoned swordsmen, losing sight of your opponent meant defeat.

“Well done.”

Crack!

Thud, thud, thud.

The last of Pliono’s consciousness, which had been clinging on, snapped. His jaw was knocked sideways by the wooden sword, and he lost consciousness.
In all, fourteen swordsmen had collapsed onto the ground.
Mary didn’t know how to take in this scene.

‘So that’s why he came as squad leader.’

Now it made a little more sense.
Even without mana, he was strong enough to earn the squad leader’s post in the Bigeom Corps.
Now, only she was left standing.
The only one who could uphold the Second Squad’s pride was her.
Mary tightened her grip on the wooden sword and stepped forward.

“Deputy Squad Leader of the Second Squad, Mary Altran. Please grant me a lesson…”
“Hahahaha!”

It was then that a laugh loud enough to shake the training grounds rang out.
Mary frowned, irritated that her final bout had been interrupted, and turned her head.
In that instant, her eyes widened until they looked ready to split.
Right beside Lucas.
It was because of the identity of the tall, white-haired man.

‘The Chief Hall Master?’

“Oh, this is rich, truly rich. Hahaha!”

Chief Hall Master Hairen.
One of the giants who led Bishuken, the sovereign power of the continent.
He strode straight toward Allen.

“But, you know.”

With a broad grin, Hairen asked,

“How much longer do you plan to keep squabbling like children?”

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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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