The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 28

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

Sword Genius Blessed by a Spirit, Chapter 28

* * *

Clang!

Allen’s and Hairen’s swords collided at the center of the Training Ground.
Allen’s blade, wreathed in sword qi, hammered against Hairen’s guard. Stepping through Baekryeonbo again and again, chaining one form into the next, Allen felt sweat gather and bead steadily across his brow.
Hairen’s blade grazed Allen’s head so close it barely missed.
Had he not bent at the waist without hesitation, his neck would have been severed. It was that kind of precarious moment.
But Allen paid it no mind and pressed forward.

“Whew…”

Mary, watching from a distance, tightened her grip and let out a breath.
For a moment, she had genuinely thought Allen’s head was about to come off.
This was not the first time something like this had happened. It wasn’t once or twice that she had nearly screamed.

“There’s no need to be so tense.”

Mary started at the voice beside her.
She must have been breathing too loudly, because it seemed Lucas had caught on to how nervous she was.

“He’s facing the Chief Corps Leader. Nothing’s going to go wrong.”
“That may be so, but…”

When you lived as a swordsman, you inevitably ended up sparring more times than you could count.
Mary herself had sparred countless times before she rose to become Deputy Squad Leader of the Bigeom Unit.
Still, sparring was meant, first and foremost, to be a friendly exchange. It presumed that neither side would take the other’s life.
Yet the duel between Allen and Hairen seemed to have strayed several steps well outside the bounds of such a contest.

“How is he even able to do that?”

Just now was a case in point.
Even as the blade whistled past his head, Allen did not let up on his attack.
He didn’t retreat. Instead, he used that very opening to dive straight into Hairen’s guard.
That was not something courage alone could accomplish.
It took a fearlessness toward death, experience, and the skill to withstand that danger, all coming together before such a thing was possible.

“Wasn’t the Squad Leader cursed by the Bimaa Curse until not long ago?”

Even with her own eyes on it, she could hardly believe it.
The one fighting the Chief Corps Leader over there was really the Second Young Master?
This was not merely stronger than expected. Mary wondered whether it was even possible for a swordsman who had only just come of age to display such ability.
And Lucas seemed to share the very same thought.

“I don’t know either.”
“Sir?”
“For now, the only explanation I can think of is that the Bimaa Curse was suppressing that brat’s talent. Now that the curse has lifted, this must be the rebound beginning.”

Mary had been told that the change was due to the lifting of the Bimaa Curse, but the point in time Lucas had in mind was a little different.

‘His eyes were already different from that bandit den onward. And at Amsang, too.’

But by then, the Bimaa Curse had not yet been lifted.

‘What happened to you, Allen?’

* * *

Chang!

Allen unleashed the first form of Bora.
Kaka-gak—
The two swords struck each other, grinding their edges together. The distance between Allen and Hairen narrowed.
In that instant, a hand shot toward Allen’s collar.

Clamp.

“……!”

Hairen hoisted Allen off his feet and hurled him upward.
The force was so fierce that Allen was flung almost high enough to brush the ceiling of the Training Ground.
The moment his body began to fall from that height, Hairen’s sword came for him.

Pa-at.

Midair, Allen twisted his body as if crumpling it, and the blade whistled past beneath him. In the same breath, he unleashed Sonagi in the air.
He had been readying this counterattack from the very moment he was sent soaring.

Tuhwak!

The gust from the sword qi pushed the two of them apart.
Allen landed as if rolling across the floor and quickly set his stance.

“Haa… hah.”
“A good response. Had you been even a moment slower in twisting your body, your head would have come off. Still, it would have been safer to use a technique to float your body instead.”
“Then I wouldn’t have been able to counter.”
“Heh. I suppose that’s true.”

Swish!

Allen stepped into Baekryeonbo once more.
Closing the gap fast, Allen swung his sword again. Sparks began to fly between them once more.
Though his stamina was fading and he was gasping for breath, Allen’s blade had not dulled in the slightest.
No, if anything, it had grown faster and more precise than at the start.

‘The longer this goes, the stronger he gets.’

Hairen found Allen remarkable.

‘He almost seems to be adapting.’

From the moment the sparring began until now, Allen had kept growing stronger.
Hairen, too, had gradually increased his strength to match that level.
After all, this bout had never been meant to decide a winner. The point had been to gauge Allen’s skill.
And yet.

Paeaek!
Jaeng!

Watching Allen block his blade and retreat, Hairen’s expression shifted to one of surprise.

‘He blocked that?’

Several times, Hairen had swung thinking, ‘He can’t block this, surely.’
Yet each time, Allen had fended off the strike, and he had even gone on to attempt a counterattack.
Hairen knew that could not be, but he had no choice except to reach a conclusion.

‘You’re used to fighting opponents stronger than yourself.’

“Huff, hff.”

Allen, who had stopped moving for the first time, let out a ragged breath.
A continuous sparring match after going through the Insurye.
It was only natural that his stamina had reached its limit.

‘And he seems used to fighting even in extreme situations.’

When someone is this exhausted, their stance usually falls apart first. The elbows drop, or the footwork goes off.
But Allen still held the same stance he’d started with.

Whoosh.

Hairen narrowed his eyes and lunged at Allen.
Thinking, Let’s see him block this, he aimed for Allen’s waist and shoulder at the same time.

Clang!

Allen’s sword knocked Hairen’s blade aside. At the same time, he stepped back and responded precisely to the follow-up sword form.
Given how far past his limit he was, I had thought this would finally be the end.

‘Again?’

At first, I was impressed by Allen’s level of skill.
But the more blades we exchanged, the more I found myself admiring something else.

‘His ability to adapt to his opponent. His nerve. His reaction speed and judgment. His experience…’

And when all of this came together, it made a complete swordsman.

‘I expected his fundamentals to be weak, given how quickly his level had risen, but it was the opposite.’

“Haa, hah.”

Allen’s breathing grew rougher.
I could see his legs trembling slightly. His focus, stamina, and mana were all running on empty.
It couldn’t be helped.
From the moment the sparring began until now, Hairen had been constantly gauging Allen’s limits.
Allen had kept fighting nonstop, pushing right up against his own limits.
At this rate, it would be hard to continue the match.

“Do you intend to keep going?”

Clicking his tongue at the state Allen had been driven to, Hairen spoke.

“There’s no need to go further. This is more than enough to earn a passing mark.”
“Not yet, huff. We’re… not finished.”
“…Oh?”

One corner of Hairen’s mouth twitched.
No matter how hard he tried not to show it, a sense of pride welled up in him all the same.
There were plenty of strong swordsmen in the world, but ones who pushed themselves right up to their limits were hard to find.

“Very well. Go on, then, show me what you’ve got.”
“Huff. Yes.”

Sseu-eup. Allen drew a deep breath.
Their ragged breathing settled at the same moment.
Hairen noticed Allen was about to burn through whatever he had left.

Allen’s foot landed on Baekryeonbo.
The distance closed in an instant.
But he wasn’t as fast as before.

Swish-hah!

Like wringing out a dry rag, Allen swung his sword.
Hairen tilted his head. Allen’s blade whistled through empty air.

“Your swordsmanship and footwork have both slowed. You’re in no condition to fight.”

Until just now, Allen had grown stronger with every exchange.
Faster, sharper, more precise.
But now it was the opposite.
His strength spent, his sword and feet dragged, and the breath that had flowed endlessly had stopped dead.
He hadn’t come to win, so whatever Hairen needed to see from Allen, he had already seen.

“That’s a passing mark. If you’re only being stubborn out of pride-”

Sseuuuuu.

That was when it happened.
Mana began gathering on Allen’s blade in a quantity beyond anything before.
Hairen’s eyes flew wide.
Hadn’t he only just been freed from the Bimaa Curse? Shouldn’t his mana be running low?
His stamina had dropped from undergoing Insurye, but Allen’s mana had not yet run dry and still remained.

Gathering mana into his sword, Allen silently recited the Seongsin-ryu oral formula.

‘Send the mana away from the heart, cradle it deep against your chest. Not overflowing, not lacking, like water filling a vessel to the brim.’

Sinking into Mua, Allen’s sense of time stopped.

‘If Sonagi is a downpour, Neoul is a surge.’

Focus the mana along the flat of the thin blade, and sweep it outward in the same motion as the swing.

Sseuuu.

Allen’s sword, which had been frozen, began to move.

Seongsin-ryu, Third Form.
Neoul.

Chwareok!

The sword qi carried by a single swing drove straight into Hairen’s chest.
Just as a wave crashes down upon a man, the technique Allen unleashed bore down on Hairen and pushed him back.
At that moment.

Tuhwak!

Hairen’s sword met Neoul.
The wave broke apart, and the sword qi scattered in every direction like mist.
The final form shattered.
It was a strike wrung from every last drop of his remaining mana.

*Thud.*

Allen, who had swung Neoul, dropped down onto the ground.
Now he truly had not a shred of strength left in his body. He didn’t even have the energy to twitch a finger.
Yet a smile lingered on the lips of Allen, who lay sprawled there.

“Huh-.”

Hairen, who had swung his sword, let out a sigh of sheer disbelief.
A faint green sword qi clung to the blade of Griffin.
Without even realizing it, he had used mana to break through Neoul.

A mistake?
No.
From the start, Allen had been the one who lured him into complacency.
His stamina had truly dropped, and his legs really were trembling. Every bit of that was real.
He had only hidden the fact that he still had reserves of mana.

‘Did he plan this all the way through?’

Hairen looked at Allen with an expression of pure bewilderment.
I never thought I’d end up saying this.

“You win.”

At that, Allen shook his head.
Still slumped on the ground, Allen raised a hand and pointed at him.
It was the reaction of someone who had something more to say.

“What now?”
“Your robe…”
“What?”

It was only then that Hairen checked his own clothes.
The front placket of his chest robe.
The hem had been slightly sliced.
It wasn’t just the mana he’d used. Allen’s sword qi had grazed Hairen, however faintly.

“Hah. Hahahaha!”

Overwhelmed by sheer absurdity, Hairen burst out laughing.

“At this rate, it’s not even a loss, it’s a complete defeat. A total rout, no doubt about it.”

He was just a boy who had barely come of age.
Even after losing a bet to a mere squad leader, he showed not the slightest sign of displeasure.
If anything, he seemed to be enjoying the whole situation immensely.
At the same moment, a message flashed up in Allen’s mind.

[You have won the wager against ‘Chief Corps Leader Hairen’.]
[All stats have increased by 3.]

In an instant, vigor welled up through his body.
Both stamina and mana rose together, and it felt as though his withered frame had been partly recharged.

“Haah-.”

*Thud.*

Only now letting out the tension, Allen flopped back onto the ground with a great sprawl.
He had won the bet, but his gut still didn’t feel settled.
All he’d managed was to slice the hem of Hairen’s robe, and even that hadn’t been Hairen going all out.

‘Not yet.’

Lying flat on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of the Training Ground, Allen’s eyes grew deeper.

‘Not yet.’

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