Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Chapter 1 - 1st Floor #15
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[Am I still dreaming? What a long and deep sleep this is.]
It was a slightly low, husky, and androgynous voice.
Since it had echoed directly in his mind, it should have been impossible to pinpoint its direction. Yet Cheon-ho instinctively knew where it came from.
Cheon-ho turned his gaze.
In that instant, the Demonic Tree Casablonda lunged at him.
“Kuht!”
“Hero!”
Cheon-ho whipped his head toward Casablonda and swung his kukri to sever the branch reaching for him. He barely managed to cut it off, but the force overwhelmed him. The hand gripping the kukri tore open, leaving his palm drenched in blood.
But there was no time to hesitate.
To evade the charging Casablonda, he threw himself sideways.
‘About three meters tall.’
That was Casablonda’s height. It was bulky and humanoid—like a walking tree.
Casablonda swung its right arm. Wooden tendrils sprouted instantly, whipping toward Cheon-ho like lashes.
He couldn’t block it.
Cheon-ho twisted his body in a hurry, dodging the whip’s path. The ground struck by the lash cracked with a sharp splitting sound.
A single hit would end him.
[Fighting, are we? Such a pity. You have talent, but your weapon leaves much to be desired.]
The voice spoke again.
Still low and husky, but now with a dreamy haze.
Cheon-ho, who had been intently watching Casablonda’s movements, leaped backward and shifted his gaze.
“You’re alive?!”
[Hm? Are you talking to me?]
The voice followed immediately, like an echo.
That confirmed it for Cheon-ho. He addressed the source more clearly.
“Empire Guardian Sword!”
“Hero?!”
Lucille let out a bewildered cry from the air above.
And who could blame her? Cheon-ho, mid-battle with Casablonda, had suddenly started talking to a broken sword.
“Guooo-!”
Ignoring Cheon-ho entirely, Casablonda charged, swinging its wooden tendrils.
Tssshwak!
The air and ground tore apart simultaneously.
This time, it was truly dangerous.
Cheon-ho grazed the attack by a paper-thin margin and rolled across the floor.
But it didn’t end there. As he rolled and pushed his upper body up, he hurled the kukri at Casablonda. The spinning blade embedded in its forearm, and Cheon-ho turned to the Empire Guardian Sword, shouting urgently.
“Help us!”
[You... you can hear me? Ah, but of course. It’s a dream, after all.]
“This is real!”
Cheon-ho was desperate, but the Empire Guardian Sword remained leisurely.
It truly seemed to believe this was a dream.
Meanwhile, Casablonda glanced at the kukri in its forearm and casually yanked it out as if it were nothing.
“Hero!”
Lucille cried out.
Cheon-ho retreated further, expanding his field of vision.
In the air, Lucille flitted about restlessly, unsure how to help. On the ground, Casablonda tossed the kukri aside with a grimace.
His hands were slick.
Blood still poured from his palm.
And amid all this, only the Empire Guardian Sword remained utterly relaxed, chuckling as it spoke.
[Haha, real? As if this could be... Aaaah?!]
The Empire Guardian Sword—the Holy Sword Mitra—suddenly raised its voice.
But Casablonda had begun whipping with both arms now, leaving Cheon-ho no chance to respond. He was too busy dodging.
The Empire Guardian Sword rambled on alone.
[What in the world is happening?! Why is my body broken?! Ah, wait. Right, I remember now. I remember. Magic. Incredibly powerful destructive magic!]
It had shattered the magic barrier protecting the Empire Guardian Sword in one blow, damaging the sword itself.
That was what had awakened the Empire Guardian Sword from its deep slumber.
“Hero!”
Lucille hurled knives at Casablonda in rapid succession, but it didn’t even glance back.
It simply took the hits with its body while fixating on Cheon-ho.
[You there! Listen to me!]
The Empire Guardian Sword shouted at Cheon-ho.
Cheon-ho rolled past the whipping tendrils and reached out his right hand toward it.
No time for a poker face—he yelled bluntly.
“You’re a legendary sword! Can’t you fly on your own?!”
[You there! I’m a sword!]
How could a sword fly by itself?!
The Empire Guardian Sword’s claim was valid, and Cheon-ho cursed as he rolled again. The spot he’d just occupied splintered under wooden tendrils. Debris pelted him.
‘The Hero’s acting strange!’
Lucille’s heart burned with anxiety. The fight was already precarious, and now Cheon-ho kept saying odd things.
‘There has to be... some way I can help?’
Lucille opened her inventory and pondered.
In the meantime, Cheon-ho rolled sideways once more and finally grasped the Empire Guardian Sword.
[You there! Dodge!]
Casablonda leaped toward him, whipping its tendrils from above. Cheon-ho cursed and rolled diagonally.
“Half-broken! Can you still fight?!”
He barely had time to speak properly.
The Empire Guardian Sword replied.
[I can fight. But a broken blade is far too inefficient.]
[You there, do you have any magic weapons on hand?]
Boom!
A thunderous crash drowned out the Empire Guardian Sword’s voice. Lucille had opened her inventory above Casablonda’s head and dropped a bookshelf on it.
But the inventory’s withdrawal delay was the problem.
Casablonda dodged the bookshelf, which smashed harmlessly into the floor.
Casablonda turned to glance at the wreckage, then extended wooden tendrils toward Lucille. She darted away swiftly, dodging them—and that gave Cheon-ho a brief respite. He brought the heat dagger in his left hand to the Empire Guardian Sword.
“Here!”
[A dagger, but it’ll have to do.]
[You there, press that sword against me.]
Cheon-ho did so.
The Empire Guardian Sword’s hilt glowed with pure white light, and soon the blade fell to the floor as the hilt vanished.
All that remained was the heat dagger, its hilt completely transformed.
[The hilt ornament was my true form from the start.]
[Strengthening the sword I inhabit—that is my true power.]
‘So it’s not really a holy sword?’
The goddess had forged it herself, but apparently she meant the hilt?
It didn’t matter.
No—in fact, it was a stroke of luck right now.
[Heat Dagger of the Holy Sword Mitra]
[Sacred power begins to dwell within the heat dagger.]
A new light window appeared.
Cheon-ho barely glanced at it before turning back to Casablonda. Lucille was weaving acrobatic flights through the narrow ceiling, but her limits were clear. He had to step up again.
[The fiend is cloaked in mana throughout its body. Normal attacks won’t cut it. You must fight with mana too.]
The Empire Guardian Sword—Holy Sword Mitra—said.
Cheon-ho threw the knives from his belt in quick succession, drawing Casablonda’s attention.
“Kuwah!”
Casablonda absorbed the knives into its body and charged at Cheon-ho again.
Cheon-ho took a deep breath.
Mana-fueled combat.
Internal energy combat.
The way he’d fought the Rat Ogre wouldn’t suffice.
He needed to push further.
He held his breath.
Casablonda kicked off the ground and leaped, swinging wooden tendrils at Cheon-ho.
The air tore.
An attack sharper than any blade, faster than sound, bore down.
Cheon-ho didn’t throw himself aside.
Instead of rolling as before, he recalled his father’s teachings.
Footwork.
The advance and retreat traced in his mind.
Only form and breathing until now.
But this time was different.
He added internal energy.
He drew forth the true power of martial arts.
Kwa-bam!
The floor shattered.
Yet Cheon-ho didn’t roll this time either.
He evaded while standing, slipping into the attack’s opening.
‘Become the wind.’
His father’s words.
Martial arts etched into his flesh made it possible.
Four Guardian Kings Martial Arts.
Virudhaka’s Palm.
Swift Skanda.
Wind blew.
Cheon-ho became the wind.
He replicated the footwork of Vitathara, the swiftest deva.
Kwa-gagagang!
He pierced the sound barrier.
He threaded through the paths carved by the wooden tendrils.
A single gale reached Casablonda.
True martial arts, used for the first time in his life.
But he could do it.
He knew exactly what came next.
Cheon-ho’s palm strike landed.
It drove diagonally upward into Casablonda’s waist, sending its massive body floating into the air.
It was grueling. His lungs felt crushed. His palm felt like it would shatter.
But Cheon-ho didn’t stop. He pulled back his right leg, chaining into another attack.
He recalled another technique.
Four Guardian Kings Martial Arts.
Dhritarashtra’s Palm.
Mountain Push.
Kwa-gang!
A roar erupted.
Cheon-ho’s fierce kick slammed into Casablonda’s airborne body.
Immense power. Casablonda flew nearly horizontal, tumbling across the floor.
“Krheu!”
Cheon-ho exhaled. His body went numb. But an indescribable thrill surged through him.
True martial arts.
The full might of Four Guardian Kings Martial Arts, which his father had taught him only in form and breathing!
“Hero!”
Lucille’s eyes widened in joy.
But Holy Sword Mitra wasn’t pleased.
[You there! Why did you pick me up?!]
If you’re holding a sword, swing it—why kick?!
A fair point.
There’d been no need to grab Holy Sword Mitra in the first place.
[The enemy comes! Prepare!]
As it said, Casablonda rose.
It had taken damage from the combo, but it remained swift and powerful.
Cheon-ho readjusted his grip on the heat dagger and panted.
His internal energy was depleted.
He’d exploded it repeatedly.
And since these were new techniques, he’d wasted much of it.
Casablonda charged again.
This time, no leap—just a straight rush. Instead of whipping tendrils, it formed its arms into hammers and barreled forward.
[Hesitate not. I will aid you.]
Mitra, sensing Cheon-ho’s state, spoke.
Mitra’s own mana was nearly spent after so long in slumber, but there was no choice.
The heat dagger infused with Mitra glowed golden.
Cheon-ho forced his breathing to steady and faced forward. He charged straight at Casablonda’s terrifying momentum.
The distance closed.
The hammer swung with ferocious force, and Cheon-ho calmly read its arc. He dodged and closed in.
Bang!
The hammer smashed the ground.
Mitra’s golden light was sucked into Cheon-ho’s body.
Now it was right before him.
The second hammer swept horizontally at his head.
No time to just dodge.
Cheon-ho lowered his stance. The attack whistled over his head as he stepped forward.
Casablonda’s chest was exposed.
Cheon-ho didn’t think.
Just as he’d become the wind, he naturally swung his right arm holding the heat dagger.
Four Guardian Kings Martial Arts.
Vaishravana’s Palm.
Iron Cutter.
The sword aura of Vaisravana, guardian of the north.
His enlightenment was shallow.
His internal energy insufficient.
But it connected.
Holy Sword Mitra filled the gaps, steadying the faltering aura.
Cheon-ho roared.
The heat dagger’s tip touched Casablonda’s bark. It carved a new line across its chest.
A blow that could cleave iron ravaged the fiend.
“Kwaaaar!”
It screamed for the first time. Its upper body split wide open, exposing its innards. Not fully bisected, but enough.
“Hero! Aim for the core!”
Lucille shouted.
Cheon-ho knew instinctively.
The glowing orb in the exposed gap.
Casablonda thrashed.
Cheon-ho clung to it. He thrust the reverse-gripped heat dagger into the split.
“Graaaah!”
The heat dagger pierced the orb. Mitra’s sacred power shattered it, and the mana cloaking Casablonda’s body evaporated instantly.
Thud!
Casablonda toppled backward.
Cheon-ho, astride it, fell with it—but he was satisfied. He panted, squeezing his eyes shut.
Light windows rose above his head.
[You have defeated the Demonic Tree Casablonda, ruler of the tower.]
[As a 1-star hero, you are the first to defeat a regional ruler on the 1st floor.]
[The Labyrinth World remembers your wondrous tale.]
[The Labyrinth World is a tiny bit safer.]
[The tower is liberated.]
[The surrounding area is purified.]
[Hidden quest completed.]
[Sub quest completed.]
[Hidden quest reward granted.]
[Sub quest reward granted.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up—]
Cheon-ho looked no more. He rolled onto his back, sprawled out, exhaled, and laughed freely.
He clenched his fist.
[Chapter 1 - 1st Floor #15] End