The God-Possessed Swordsmanship Genius - Chapter 32

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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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Chapter 32: The Swordsman Blessed by God

* * *

Early dawn.
Allen swung his sword in the private training yard at the detached villa.

Swish!

With his eyes closed, Allen faced translucent phantom foes.
He poured his strength into the sword and unleashed forms. Each time he felled one, another took its place, and sometimes several appeared at once.
Without a pause, Allen swept his blade through the air, then suddenly stepped into a footwork pattern.
The Baekryeonbo, now refined to the fourth stage, unfolded around him.

Whoosh.

He cut through the gaps between the foes in a blur, his sword flashing in a single stroke. With the first form, Bora, five heads fell.
Allen stepped through the Baekryeonbo again and again. The speed and precision of his footwork flowed into the blade, and the power of Seongsin-ryu rose another notch.
Thanks to his recent training, Allen could now execute the Baekryeonbo far more smoothly than before.

So it went for a while.

“Hoo.”

Allen opened his eyes and came to a halt.
When he turned his head, he saw a basket of food resting at the far end of the yard.
It was breakfast, quietly left there by a servant so as not to disturb him.
Having stopped training, Allen wiped the sweat from his face with the towel beside the basket and checked his condition.

[Allen Bishuken]
[Strength: 40]
[Agility: 42]
[Stamina: 46]
[Mana: 46]
[Traits: Soul of Myriad Demons, Spirit Eye – Details]

His stats had risen noticeably from three months ago.
Among them, the greatest gain, as expected, was in mana.
That was thanks to the cultivation he had kept up, slowly melting the enormous clump of Spirit Elixir lodged deep within his body.

‘Not bad.’

The other stats were no different.
Three months had passed since he became Squad Leader of the Bigeom Corps.
Throughout that time, Allen had devoted himself to training every single day.
It was born of the conviction that no matter how masterful his swordsmanship, it would be useless without a body forged through discipline to support it.
Above all, over these past three months, Allen had grown fully accustomed to his current body.
Moreover, at this pace, his sword art would likely reach Seongsin-ryu’s fifth stage before long.
His growth was far faster than he had originally planned.

Once training ended and he had finished a simple meal, Allen returned to the villa.
He needed to wash up briefly and change his clothes before reporting for duty as Squad Leader.
That was when it happened.

“Young master!”

Pedrok came rushing to find Allen, who had just returned from his dawn training.

“You trained again this morning, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I want to wash up first.”
“You’re just going to go train again this morning anyway, aren’t you? And then you’ll come back in the afternoon for your private drills.”

Pedrok said it with a look of distaste.

“You’ll really hurt yourself like that. It’s only because you’re still young, young master, but once you get a little older…”
“Save the nagging for later. I’m going to be late for work.”
“Ah, right. What was I thinking?”

As if he’d only just remembered there was something he meant to say, Pedrok hurriedly pulled a single envelope from inside his coat and held it out.

“It’s the information you asked for. It arrived last night.”

At Pedrok’s words, Allen’s eyes lit up.
It was information he had been waiting for all along.

“Is it reliable?”
“You told me not to spare any expense, so I went with the most expensive information broker. You can trust it.”
“Good. Thanks, Butler.”
“You’re welcome.”

Then, Pedrok, who had delivered the information, asked with some hesitation.

“I’m only worrying out of an abundance of caution… but it isn’t anything dangerous, is it?”

Pedrok had not seen what was inside the envelope.
But the sum spent to obtain this information was no small amount, and information that cost that much naturally carried risk with it.
Pedrok was worried that there might be some danger for Allen, who was just about to spread his wings wide and take flight.

“Don’t worry. There won’t be any danger.”

He had answered that way to put Pedrok at ease, but in truth, what he felt inside was different.
What was contained in this envelope was truly information fraught with peril.
Holding the envelope, Allen was seized by a single hope.

‘Could this be how I find the Demon Sword?’

* * *

The Second Squad’s morning training.

“Aaaahhh…”
“I-I think I’m going to die…”
“My b-back!”

Groans rose from every corner of the training grounds.
It was the same physical conditioning they did every day, yet every day felt like hell.
Just when they began to get used to it, the intensity would climb again, so getting used to it was impossible no matter how hard they tried.
Then, Allen, who had been swinging an iron sword with two iron weights strapped to him, set the sword down.

“Good work, everyone.”
“G-good work, sir!”
“It’s over! Finally!”

Cheers burst out all around.
Allen gathered the iron weights and swords he had taken out for training. Today, his own training ended along with the rest of the squad’s.
Mary, noticing that the session had ended earlier than usual, came over and asked.

“Is something wrong, sir?”

Every now and then, he had ended training early to lift the squad’s spirits.
Even then, though, Allen had always kept training on his own without fail.
This was the first time Allen had finished early like this.

“I have something to see the Commander about.”
“The Commander?”

Mary’s face brightened.

“Has the mission finally come down?”
“No. It’s not that.”

The brightness faded from Mary’s face once more.
For the past month, her expression had been clouded with worry.

“It’s strange. We’ve never gone this long without a mission.”
“It’s not just the Second Squad. The entire Bigeom Corps is on standby right now. So there’s no need to worry so much.”
“But we really don’t have much time left.”

Three months ago, the wager with Kasar, the First Squad Leader, was still underway.
A bet over which squad, the First or the Second, would post the better record.
The trouble was that since the bet had been struck, not a single mission had come down.

“I don’t mind if I’m transferred to the First Squad. But if things keep going like this, the Second Squad will…”
“Don’t worry so much.”

Allen grinned easily.

“I just came up with a way.”
“Really?”
“Really.”

At Allen’s confident answer, Mary’s face lifted a little.
Just then, the squad members who had been talking among themselves came over to him.

“Squad Leader! Training ended early, so how about we eat out tonight?”
“It’s a nice day. Let’s have a cold beer to go with it!”
“Sounds good.”
“I know a place that’s outstanding!”

By now, they had warmed up to Allen considerably.
They trained together without hesitation now, and often shared meals too.
Of course, some of the squad members found it a bit exhausting, thanks to Allen’s strictness about never skipping training if he could help it.

“Let’s drink another time. I have something important today.”

* * *

Turning down the meal with his squad, Allen left the training grounds.
The place he headed for was the Commander’s office of the Bigeom Corps.

“Commander. It’s the Second Squad Leader.”
“Come in.”

At the permission from inside, Allen opened the door and stepped in.
Inside the Commander’s office, Lucas was holding a pen, filling out some document.

“What brings you here?”

Allen came to the Commander’s room for the first time in three months.
Aside from the time they’d drawn up the notarized wager with Squad Leader Kasar, Allen hadn’t once sought out Lucas on his own.

“I thought I’d have a cup of tea with the Commander.”
“Cold tea all right with you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”

Lucas poured him what was left in the teapot. Allen sat across from him and sipped the lukewarm tea.

“How’s the squad leader job treating you?”
“What’s there to say? I haven’t even been out on a single mission yet.”
“So you came to beg for a mission? Because of that wager?”

The wager between the First and Second Squads was already famous throughout the Bigeom Corps.
Of course, nobody doubted the outcome. Lucas himself had said as much.

“Why on earth did you make that foolish bet? You can’t possibly win it.”
“There are still three months left before it’s settled, aren’t there?”
“You used to be so pessimistic. Now you’ve swung to the other extreme.”

Still, he looked far better now than before. The old Allen hadn’t just been pessimistic; he’d always been bristling, honed to a sharp edge.

“If it’s about a mission, you didn’t need to come all this way. I was going to summon all the squad leaders this afternoon anyway.”
“All of them? Me included?”
“Yes.”

Lucas nodded.

“The reason the Bigeom Corps has been on standby all this time is this mission. It’s going to be more important than any we’ve taken before.”

Judging by the way he said it, it really was a mission of great weight.

‘A mission important enough to get the entire Bigeom Corps moving at a time like this…’

Allen traced back through his memories, and a suspicion took shape. He asked the question.

“Is it related to the Demon Sword, by any chance?”

Lucas flinched.
From the reaction, it seemed he’d hit the mark.

“Looks like I guessed right.”
“How did you find out?”

It wasn’t really a secret worth guarding, so Lucas didn’t deny it.
Besides, he’d been planning to hand down the mission once the squad leaders gathered that afternoon anyway.
Hearing Lucas’s answer, Allen thought to himself.

‘It was only next year that the family put a bounty on the Demon Sword.’

Back then, Allen had been drifting from one corner of the continent to another.
He had failed a mission, fled the family, and was living as a freelance swordsman. It was outside the family that Allen had heard news of the Demon Sword.
Around that time, Bishuken, having failed to secure the Demon Sword, had put a bounty on the blade itself.

‘It was unusual. Putting a bounty on something amounts to admitting, publicly, that the family failed to secure it on its own.’

Bishuken was willing to tarnish its own standing to get its hands on the Demon Sword.
That alone showed just how much the family valued it.

“I was just guessing. The family’s been hunting for that sword for more than a day or two.”
“Wouldn’t most people treat the Demon Sword as a legend?”
“If it truly didn’t exist, the family wouldn’t have kept searching for it this long.”

Lucas wore a faintly puzzled look, but he soon waved it off as if it didn’t matter.

“Right. This mission is tied to securing the Demon Sword. That’s why the Bigeom Corps has been on standby for a while.”
“Have you found where it is?”
“Three months ago, I put the odds at one in ten. Now it’s about four in ten.”

So a lot had changed over the past three months.
Four in ten.
Considering that until now they hadn’t even had a single clue, that was more than enough odds to mobilize the Bigeom Corps.

“If Second Squad gets lucky and makes a major find on the Demon Sword, it could turn First Squad’s record completely around. That’s how important this mission is.”
“Now that’s tempting.”
“Just don’t get too greedy. Anyway, in two hours the Squad Leaders will gather in the Corps conference room. Don’t be late.”
“Got it.”

As if the conversation had run its course, Allen rose from his seat.
Lucas, lifting the teacup he’d left half-drained, frowned slightly.

“What is it?”
“I’m heading out. I’ve got things to do too.”
“Didn’t you come here to say something?”
“Say something? Not really. I just came for tea with my brother. The tea was good.”

Allen hurried through a quick goodbye and left the Commander’s office.
Behind him, Lucas stared at him in exasperation, but by now there was nothing more to say.

Originally, the reason he’d come to see Lucas was to ask for time for Second Squad to act on its own while no missions were coming down.
And as luck would have it, that reason, too, was the Demon Sword.
Allen even had an important lead for finding the Demon Sword.

‘The Demon Sword.’

Once outside the Commander’s office, Allen closed his eyes for a moment.
In that instant, the scene came rushing back: a demon wielding the Demon Sword, slaughtering his comrades in the suicide squad right before his eyes.

Whoosh!

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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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