The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 54
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 54. Blessing (3)
“Bill, what are your thoughts?”
President Bill Johnson of the United States.
He faced the greatest crisis of his life.
The almighty Jesus himself was asking him about the future of humanity.
—What should be done if children harbored the power of Satan and demons?
Moreover, the weight of that question far exceeded anything he could possibly bear.
It was the kind of question where no answer would satisfy, and whoever answered would be left with nothing but unease.
‘Still….’
In truth, the answer was already determined.
The United States had faced such questions far too many times throughout its history.
President Bill Johnson recalled the distant Iraq War.
[Seven-year-old girl wielding RPG rocket attacks U.S. forces.]
[While the gunner hesitates, the girl fires the rocket. Humvee destroyed. Six U.S. soldiers inside killed in action.]
As similar cases accumulated, the U.S. military even implemented specialized training for such scenarios.
He wasn’t sure why he needed to recall such military doctrine in this modern world.
President Bill Johnson answered honestly with what he knew.
“By protocol, elimination would be correct.”
Of course, Jesus would already know this.
“Indeed. But surely there must be another way?”
Jesus, who always smiled and embraced everyone with compassion.
Lately, he spoke with a grim expression, uttering increasingly terrifying words.
President Bill Johnson racked his brain.
‘I have no idea whatsoever.’
What could a mere president possibly explain before a god?
America had countless other transcendents as well….
“Bill, I’ve already posed similar questions to other transcendents.”
Jesus read Bill’s thoughts and spoke.
“A―men.”
President Bill Johnson apologized for his irreverence and resumed his deliberation.
Disregard existing doctrine and doctrine manuals—think primarily in terms of humanity’s greater peace.
‘A child who is a Demon Worshipper might fall and kill countless people.’
If the child had been brainwashed, or was being controlled by some force?
There was even a possibility of a Gate erosion erupting in the middle of Los Angeles.
‘No matter how painful, elimination would be….’
No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t escape the existing framework.
“Bill, how tedious.”
Jesus stared at him with a long, piercing gaze.
Only then did Bill realize he had been thinking within the constraints of ordinary human logic.
‘Breaking conventional wisdom?’
A sudden flash of insight struck my mind.
The thought of the irregular that had recently emerged surfaced.
The second transcendent to appear in South Korea—Shin Si-woo, the being evaluated as the only one in the United States with potential to reach a true ‘EX-rank’.
Could it be him?
‘As food for that eerie Demon….’
No, that’s not it.
Rather.
‘With that golden blade to purify….’
That’s not it either.
‘With that blunt hammer-like blade….’
I had the feeling something was about to come to me!
What had he been doing lately?
“Wait? Didn’t 170,000 Jeonju citizens survive together with Shin Si-woo?”
President Bill Johnson hastily opened [WorldNet].
Relatively safe countries like the United States, several European nations, Australia, and New Zealand had [WorldNet] open.
South Korea was the same.
The President diligently searched through the records.
And thus, he discovered a peculiar detail.
“While Shin Si-woo rescued the 170,000 people, their survival was apparently due to the Guardian Blade and Kim Jun’s ability.”
The epithet of the Guardian Blade and the corresponding ability.
A feeling came to him.
A premonition that he could offer a chance to those who had ‘fallen’ into corruption.
“Perhaps to him….”
President Bill Johnson couldn’t quite find the right expression, but Jesus, reading his thoughts, summarized it in a single line.
“He would have the power to save those who were unjustly tainted by evil. That’s what you mean. Or perhaps my brother Shin Si-woo could restore such humans to their former selves.”
The Korean government disclosed most of its information.
It was because of the Patriot Special Law.
However, Jesus knew well.
That special law thoroughly concealed the ‘real’ secrets.
‘North Korea’s contaminated monster is one of them.’
America, which still had CIA agents embedded in Chinese Mainland.
Its intelligence capability was certainly reliable.
“My brother Shin Si-woo, while he helps in North Korea, I should also receive his assistance.”
For the first time in a while, Jesus smiled.
It was the possibility of saving the poor lambs that would be in New York.
* * *
“Good heavens.”
I encountered soldiers of the Korean military at the Front Lines for the first time.
Clang—.
Eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
Measured footsteps and systematically disciplined order.
The Front Lines of South Korea looked as though the very word “soldier” had been manifested into reality.
‘I never expected it to be this way.’
Every single serviceman carried a loaded rifle as they moved about the base.
I’m not a veteran, so I don’t know much, but when I was young, I heard that the military had incredibly strict firearm regulations.
Perhaps he sensed my unspoken question?
“Ever since the contaminated monster emerged from underground, all personnel have maintained wartime readiness.”
Kim Hyun-soo, the division commander following me, said as much.
“Every visitor who comes through has questioned this. Even the President expressed admiration when he first visited this place and saw our servicemen in action.”
Truthfully, I’d been worried the military might prepare some strange ceremony given that a transcendent was visiting.
However, such empty formalities held no place at the Front Lines.
“This is the Awakened Unit.”
Though the division commander revealed himself and I, a transcendent, had appeared, the unit members remained absorbed in their training.
I observed the unit members—’guided awakeners’ who disciplined themselves with orderly posture.
Through my eyes, trained in swordsmanship, they appeared to be at the level of quasi-knights from the empire where Iris Ruzbella once lived.
Though the form of their swordplay itself was somewhat different.
“What style of swordsmanship are they training in?”
I asked out of curiosity.
“The swordplay being trained in the Awakened Unit is the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique left behind by the missing Sword Emperor.”
The SS-rank hunter Sword Emperor, who had to awaken his own achievements by holding martial arts manuals in a training chamber.
All of this was his legacy.
“He added illustrations to the martial arts manual that contained only written text and generously shared his own techniques.”
There was a reason the Sword Emperor continued to be remembered.
If Patriot cherished the nation with the intensity of hydrochloric acid, then the Sword Emperor served his country like a gentle milk tea.
His traces remain subtly throughout the entire nation.
Even when I worked as a civil servant at the Awakener Management Agency, the information he shared was of great help.
‘Especially regarding the Tower.’
Kim Hyun-soo gazed at the platform in the training ground with a wistful expression.
“Before his disappearance, he even served as an instructor for the unit members.”
Beyond the longing that was evident, there seemed to be something more he wished to say.
Officially, he should be processed as ‘deceased,’ but in South Korea, the Sword Emperor remains in a state of ‘missing.’
That’s why he was conveying such a message through his eyes to me.
Though I hadn’t heard the question, I gave him the answer he desired.
“Someday… if the opportunity comes, I will search for him without fail.”
With the power of the Aga Sword that connects to the Sword World.
Couldn’t I eventually open a path to another’s [Tower] as well?
Though there’s no guarantee, I can at least make a promise.
At my words, Kim Hyun-soo released a sigh of relief.
“Thank you.”
A brief but respectful bow of acknowledgment.
With that, I headed toward my destination.
“This is the barracks where the Decisive Corps resides.”
The name was ordinary.
However, the ‘barracks’ they occupied was hardly a barracks at all.
It resembled a massive detention facility.
Iron walls coated with mystical energy.
A colossal box of a building with no windows to speak of.
It looked like an enormous prison.
“I’ve heard that Shin Si-woo has quite remarkable resilience.”
Division Commander Kim Hyun-soo spoke before it.
I didn’t bother asking resilience to what.
‘It seems the soldiers inside are in quite poor condition.’
I nodded calmly.
I had repeated the world of [Sword Cultivation] tens of thousands of times.
There was little I hadn’t witnessed.
Moreover, hadn’t I obtained Reinhardt Euclid’s memories in the Tower and relived them countless times from a first-person perspective?
I didn’t come here to despair.
“Let’s go.”
I would save countless people.
I would eliminate the source of evil flowing from the North.
And I would nurture my swords to grow stronger and prevent greater calamities.
This was for myself and humanity.
And for the six swords that would one day stand beside me.
I would sing of hope.
Screeeeeech———.
With an eerie sound, the massive iron gate opened.
What emanated from within was a stench of despair.
What reached my ears were horrific screams, pleas to be killed, and yet soldiers’ cries of determination to endure for their nation.
* * *
[Skill: Area-Designated—Purification]
I possessed the power to restore the contaminated soldiers to their original state.
A skill obtained from an SSS-rank chest.
Furthermore, using the ‘Papal Rite’ embedded in my garments, I could completely resolve even psychological afflictions.
With such certainty, I dared to guarantee a solution.
“Is this all of them?”
“Yes, sir.”
Division Commander Kim Hyun-soo, clad in protective gear, had the entire Decisive Corps lined up before me.
The way they obediently followed orders was truly magnificent.
And to my eyes, their condition became starkly clear.
⦗It appears to be a curse that denies existence.⦘
To be precise, it is the judgment of the Holy Emperor, Yulia Lanestia, as seen through my eyes.
If it’s a curse, there must be a purpose behind it.
I asked for her intention, and Yulia answered matter-of-factly.
⦗As time passes, they lose their human identity and become monsters driven solely by the ‘instincts’ they’ve been given.⦘
What could those instincts be?
⦗They differ depending on the infected individual, but first….⦘
Yulia’s explanation continued.
The instincts remaining in the [Tainted Beasts] were transmitted identically to the infected soldiers of the national military.
The most vivid among them was—.
⦗An obsession with survival.⦘
And though faint,
the remnants that seemed to point to their original purpose were—.
⦗Immortality, eternal regeneration, and offering.⦘
They do not die.
They continue to regenerate.
And finally, they offer themselves in this manner.
To whom?
⦗Each has a different master.⦘
Some to the Evil God Necribas.
Some to a Demon whose name has yet to be revealed.
And still others—.
⦗Are presumed to be living humans.⦘
Offered to people.
Truly a horrifying curse.
In any case, I could not leave them standing here, continuing to suffer.
After identifying the cause, I exercised the power of [Purification].
* * *
The vice commander of the Decisive Corps, whose rank before joining was lieutenant in the Awakened Unit.
He led his subordinates toward the training ground within the barracks in response to the unexpected summons from the division commander.
With each movement, excruciating pain stimulated the contaminated areas, but Moon Ji-hoon gritted his teeth and endured it.
‘You bastards are magnificent!’
His subordinates in the Decisive Corps likewise maintained disciplined postures despite their faces contorting in agony.
Shortly after, a man appeared alongside the division commander.
Was he about to give some kind of speech out of nowhere?
Such a thought might have crossed their minds, but the Decisive Corps members felt something different.
‘Shin Si-woo….’
Moon Ji-hoon gazed upon the transcendent before him and felt a sense of awe.
A transcendent being.
Not someone an ordinary soldier should judge, yet his accomplishments had brought great solace to the soldiers of the national military.
Moon Ji-hoon, whose hometown was Goyang City, was one of those people.
Unlike themselves, who could only contend with contaminated monsters, Shin Si-woo had personally handled South Korea’s national calamity just as the Patriot had done.
‘The glory of a lifetime….’
Drowning in such emotion.
“You’ve all worked hard all this time.”
That Shin Si-woo bowed his head toward them.
Then, saying there would be no more suffering, he drew a mysterious blade from his sword sheath.
Half black and half white.
It was a blade that resembled their own contaminated forms.
Moreover, the Demon he rode also appeared half white and black, creating a sense of kinship.
“Once it’s over, you’ll all be able to continue your lives as you did before.”
The moment his words ended, the black and white blade quietly traced through the air.
Following the blade’s trajectory, a line as if painted in ink was drawn, and from within it, mysterious golden light poured forth like sunlight.
As the storm ended and light seeped through.
Shhhhhhhhh—————.
Soft and warm golden light enveloped the soldiers’ bodies.
‘Huh?’
Moon Ji-hoon suddenly realized he was no longer in pain.
Lifting his blackened left arm, he could see the contaminated area gradually returning to its original color.
Turning his head to look around, the other unit members were the same.
They all gazed at their bodies in wonder, looking here and there.
“The, the pain….”
“The contamination is gone?”
Even the Decisive Corps, which maintained the strictest and strongest military discipline.
At this moment, everyone couldn’t help but be elated.
Weren’t they the ones who had suffered at the Front Lines all this time?
That ending—death through monsterification.
It was truly heartbreaking.
But not anymore.
“I can see my parents.”
“My child is already three years old….”
Parents left behind.
Family abandoned.
Each recalled someone they had missed.
Tears, sorrow, and gratitude.
Various complex emotions drifted all around.
And—.
“….”
Shin Si-woo, observing the changes in the soldiers.
Tilted his head slightly askew and furrowed his brow.
While using [Purification], just in case, he had cast ‘Removal of Negative Mental Effects’ from his armor….
Whoosh!
[Removed mental-type status abnormality.]
[Patriotic fervor heightened, military duty emphasized, conviction instilled.]
Military discipline at the Front Lines was not being maintained through normal means.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————