From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 22
From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 22
"Uuughhh......"
"Grrrk......"
Phlegmy groans. Sounds as though they were reliving the pain of their lives. Wherever the greatsword passed, they died away one after another.
Fwoosh—!
The sensation of cutting through corpses was viscerally clear. Tendons protruding from the skin and rotted, festering flesh wrapped wetly around the blade. Berak silently adapted, turning that unfamiliar revulsion into the work of efficient destruction.
Harvesting. It felt like reaping ripe wheat. Wherever the blade passed, the dead crumpled and clung to the earth.
But it only looked like simple labor. He never relaxed enough to let his focus slip. How could he cut more? How could he cut harder? Berak kept correcting the path of his sword, searching for the optimal angle.
「Swordsmanship Proficiency + 1」
「Magic Resistance + 1」
The murky air around him, which could never be called harmless, gradually changed into pressure he could endure.
Splat.
Amid the chaotic noise, Berak reflexively turned his head. The wrongness came from the footsteps. The sheer mass behind them was different.
Every time it staggered forward, footprints sank deep into the damp earth.
'In appearance, it's no different from the others.'
The moment Berak's impassive gaze settled on it, his greatsword followed. A diagonal line of steel bit halfway through the thing's waist.
Thud-thud-thud—!
'......!'
What spilled from the cross-section were grotesque clumps of three or four arms and heads tangled together.
Berak's eyes, which rarely wavered, flew wide open for the first time. He reflexively kicked off the ground and widened the distance.
Crunch, crack!
The compressed parts expanded and fused, swelling in an instant into a massive form over two meters tall.
How such a monster had been crammed inside an ordinary corpse shell was a sight hard to believe even while watching it.
"It's a variant from the deep zone! One of them was mixed in!"
Dora's sharp shout rang out from behind him. The warning she had given before entering the graveyard—that a dangerous one might be mixed among the rabble—had become reality.
The creature was grotesque beyond words. Its jaw joints and limbs were tangled at random and attached at bizarre angles, while fingers jutting from its head twitched and clawed at the air. It looked like a ragged patchwork forcibly stitched together, but the pressure of its size was very real.
Berak scanned his surroundings. Thanks to the "harvest" that had continued until just now, the ground in the area had been cleared clean.
For the moment, it was one-on-one.
Blows followed. Berak instinctively aimed for the thing's axis.
Knees and ligaments. He expected that a leg severed at once would roll on the ground and bring its eye level down.
He was wrong.
The greatsword only dug in deep. It could not sever the bone. The thing staggered but still reached out its hand.
That speed was too fast for a giant. Instead of targeting the knee again, Berak had to focus on defense and retreat.
Boom! Thwack!
The sound of heavy footsteps crushing the ground. The sound of the heavy greatsword striking flesh mixed chaotically.
Berak gave up on trying to finish it in a single blow.
Instead, he circled it like a troublesome insect, repeating hit-and-run strikes.
Even if he could not cut it down, the lines of deep-carved slashes were hideously etched across the thing's body.
「Swordsmanship Proficiency + 1」
At last, when its knee buckled under the accumulated wounds, Berak drove the greatsword into it with precise rotational force.
Boom!
The giant body, losing its support, toppled sideways.
Ting—!
Berak, who had been closing in for the finishing blow, sprang up and twisted. Something he had barely knocked aside with the flat of his blade flew away.
Fingers. The ones that had jutted from the thing's head.
'It shot them? Like I throw an axe.'
That was not the end. The severed leg was moving on its own, crawling back toward the body. Tendons that had risen twitching from the cut surfaces hooked the leg like grappling hooks and tried to reattach it.
Watching the sight, Dora shouted urgently.
"That's enough! That thing can't be killed by physical means alone! Let's go down while it's incapacitated. You've already achieved more than enough today."
Berak immediately shot back.
"Then how do you kill it?"
"Divine Power, magic, Anima. Do you know how to use even one of those?"
「Magic Resistance + 1」
Berak bit his lip. The increase was welcome, but the letters that appeared immediately after Dora's question felt like a cruel confirmation.
Even with a new ability, the message felt like a verdict forcing him to face reality: he had no way to deal with this right now.
But paradoxically, it was also a clear sign. He could stay longer. He could try more.
A little more...... he could postpone giving up.
That brief reprieve kept Berak from retreating.
"I don't!"
As Berak answered, he raised his greatsword into position again. Dora immediately shouted.
"You fool! You say you have no means, so why are you ready to fight again?"
"Because I can still do more."
Anima, which could only be obtained by risking his life—maybe he needed to look for another way.
Because Berak wanted to live. Because he wanted to survive and reach the end of the possibilities the Record Sheet showed.
But if he fled from the chance to surpass his limits, he had no right to set such a goal in the first place. Berak sensed that instinctively.
'If Divine Power, magic, and Anima are the conditions for conquering it.'
Berak's eyes sank coldly.
'Then I just have to crush it until those conditions become meaningless.'
Berak's greatsword crushed through the variant's shoulder. But the thing forcibly held onto its severed muscle and immediately counterattacked.
Whoosh—
Berak ducked his head. Along the path the monster's arm had passed, Berak's hair stood on end and then settled.
Boom—.
A kick flew in right after. Instead of retreating, Berak drove his greatsword into the ground.
Using the sword hilt as an axis, he leaped lightly.
He jumped over the attack, and the moment he landed, he pulled out the blade and counterattacked.
The thing bent its waist entirely and came at him as if sweeping the ground. Berak rolled away narrowly.
As he rose, he immediately swung his sword.
Thwack, thud!
Like that, a few more times. The blade met the monster's flesh and bone. Berak was gradually learning.
Swordsmanship that traced "planes," combined with linked strikes driven by rotational force. It was a style that exploited the greatsword's strengths, making it all the more effective against multiple opponents.
The problem was the opening created as the blade returned after each swing. That brief instant gave the creature time to regenerate and counterattack.
'Think of it not as a greatsword, but as using a thin, slender sword.'
Berak forcibly cut off the sword's flow. Instead of yielding his body to inertia, he gripped the greatsword's hilt as if it would burst and forcibly controlled the blade with raw strength.
A heavy lump of steel swung like a feather. A feat produced by Berak's strength, which far surpassed any human's.
Whoosh, boom—!
The greatsword's arcs became short and sharp. It retained the weapon's characteristic mass while gaining speed more suited to a light rapier.
Control of acceleration and precision. Within that, his swordsmanship leaped another step.
「Swordsmanship Proficiency + 1」
「Swordsmanship Proficiency + 1」
It had become precise disassembly rather than the crude crushing he had first intended. He struck the same spots again without pause, the blade crossing through each opening again and again. Densely layered, carefully controlled lines carved across the creature's flesh.
"Kuaaaah—!"
The variant shrieked and staggered. Berak slipped out of its attacks with far more ease than before.
Every time he passed by, the sword split its body.
Slashes came from every direction, no longer fixated on any one spot. Yet before each wound could recover, he always struck the same place again.
Plop, thud.
Things began to fall to the ground one by one.
They were shredded pieces of flesh.
An arm fell away from the tangled corpse pile. Fingers, ears, and organs of unrecognizable shape poured out in succession.
They became dozens, hundreds of fragments and scattered across the earth.
The pieces twitched toward one another, never ceasing their grotesque convulsions. But perhaps because they had been divided too finely, they gradually lost their way and began to fall into confusion.
The twitching pieces gradually slowed, then all stopped at once.
"Hah, hah......"
Berak gasped for breath. The arm holding his sword trembled, and the sweat running down blurred his vision. It was proof that he had poured all his overwhelming stamina and strength into this one battle.
A moment later, Dora spoke.
"...Why you'd go this far. And the fact that you can actually do something like this."
Dora looked down at the flesh pieces scattered on the ground, no longer twitching.
"None of it makes any sense to me......."
Her lips trembled faintly as she searched for words.
"People like me have a word for this kind of situation. A miracle."
Dora started to place her hand on Berak's shoulder, then withdrew it and turned her back.
"Now let's really go back. Today, I saw the miracle you brought about."
"Yes. I think... this is enough for me too, for now."
One or two undead that tried to touch Dora's body were blocked by an invisible wall and bounced back. Berak used that strange ripple as a landmark and slowly followed behind.
"Do you need support?"
"No, I'm fine."
Berak forced strength into his buckling knees and straightened his posture.
* * *
A small room in the monastery. Someone was waiting for Dora, who had returned after seeing Berak off. It was the old woman who had looked after the children during the day.
"Why weren't you sleeping? Your health isn't good, so you shouldn't overexert yourself."
Dora's voice had changed. The rough, harsh tone was gone, replaced by a quiet, elegant timbre.
Unlike her face, which depended on an artifact, changing her voice was a feat of pure vocal skill.
"If you're going to say that, you should relieve this old woman's worries first. In the end...... did you follow him all the way to the graveyard?"
"Yes. He's still a child. If it became dangerous...... I would have to bring him back with my own hands."
Dora looked down at her own palm. The "Absolute Defense Art" she possessed. Not only beings with intent to harm her, but even inanimate objects that could cause harm bounced off without touching her body.
However, that power was limited solely to her own body.
The old woman had to pour all her strength into maintaining the barrier, while Dora herself had practically no combat power.
That was why they had risked danger and entrusted the request to an outside mercenary.
Still, with that absolute defense, Dora could at least keep the person accompanying her alive. She could wrap them in her arms and bring them back.
"Revealing that defense art repeatedly could itself become dangerous. There are already those nearby who have witnessed it......"
"We're covering it with the rumor that I'm a witch, aren't we? And you shouldn't judge that boy by the same standard as others. He's a benefactor who came to help us."
"To me, Dora's safety is the highest priority."
The old woman looked out the window into the distance, as though afraid the Empire's pursuers might burst in at any moment.
"Still, he was a child who didn't need my help. It was like watching Lutenpol."
"You mean...... Lutenpol of the Iron Wall?"
"Yes. Honestly...... I don't think even Lutenpol was at that level at his age."
"I guessed as much when I saw the burden on the barrier noticeably decrease, but to that extent......"
The old woman suddenly hardened her expression and lowered her voice.
"With that much talent, wouldn't we have to assume the Empire's hand has already reached him? It's hard to believe the other eight nations have the foundation to find and nurture such a talent."
"Well. But he showed no sign of understanding the Imperial language at all."
Dora tilted her head slightly.
"That wasn't an act. He's such a thoroughly wary child that it actually convinced me he wasn't from that side."
Dora thought back to the battle in the graveyard. More than his overwhelming strength, what lingered in her heart was the image of the boy throwing himself in without hesitation to protect her despite the danger.
"Oh...... Then he truly came to us like a miracle at the moment we needed him."
"It really is fortunate. Thanks to him, the children won't have to tremble at the sound of something scratching the iron door every night for a while."
Dora thought for a moment, then spoke with resolve.
"I want to express my gratitude to that child. Not just the few coins written on the request, but a proper reward."
"But wasn't even that barely scraped together? If you think about the expenses to get through this winter......"
The old woman asked with anxious eyes.
"Surely...... you're not thinking of the holy relic?"
"That won't do, of course. The very reason we hid here would disappear."
Dora rose from her seat and added.
"There's still time left, so I'll have to think about what that child truly needs."