The Sword God, Awakened as an Elf 13
The moment I opened my eyes, I knew it instinctively.
I had no choice but to know.
Familiar energy was surging right in front of me.
Divine power.
So this kid healed me? Didn’t think I’d find talent like this here.
I absently reached out to pat Yehwa, who was still face-down beside me, then turned my gaze elsewhere.
“So you were the one who healed me.”
It was the girl I’d seen last.
But she seemed a little different now.
Before, her sky-blue eyes had rolled like the sea.
Now, a golden cross had been drawn across the center of that ocean.
It was a stigmata.
A golden cross dividing her pupils into four could have looked grotesque, but combined with her face, it felt less eerie than mysterious.
So there were still apostles chosen by the gods in this day and age.
I haven’t seen one since that guy.
If she had accepted divinity while her body still wasn’t fully recovered, she must have been pushing herself terribly hard.
Her whole body trembled as if she had something she wanted to tell me.
She squeezed out what little strength she had left and opened her lips.
“...Thank you.”
So that was what she’d been straining so hard to say.
“Ha, you little brat... You’re welcome. Now rest.”
“Yes...”
She seemed to have no strength left to speak, only answering in a faint voice.
Still, what was with those voyeuristic perverts over there?
I wasn’t talking about the kids.
“You’re making it hard to rest. Everyone still got mana?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course!! Leave it to us now!!”
The redhead flexed nonexistent biceps as if to show them off.
I didn’t trust him much, but right now I’d take even a cat’s paw.
“I’m counting on you. And Yehwa, I know you’re awake.”
The hand gripping me twitched.
Did she really think I wouldn’t notice?
“If you don’t get up, you’re going to fall over.”
Leaving Yehwa to keep pretending to sleep, I pushed myself to my feet.
Good grief, I was wrecked.
I’d just confirmed something while using Partial Awakening.
If I pulled out the power of my past life, my body started breaking down after thirty seconds.
And below that? That didn’t mean it was safe either.
My stamina drained away so fast it made the next battle impossible.
The only truly safe duration was five seconds.
One minute was something you used only when you were pushing yourself to the absolute limit.
If I hadn’t had divine power just now, I might have been left with a permanent disability.
Still...
The fact that I’ve got another card to play is a good thing. For now, should I clear out those bugs first?
The shadows in the far corner of the hall.
I opened my mouth toward the perverts that were disturbing my senses.
“Ha, come on out already. You’re making it hard to even rest. Didn’t the people above come down yet? What kind of a mess did you make that there are two more witches here?”
“Ja, Jayeon? There’s nothing over there... Witches, what are you talking about...”
The blue-haired one said that with wet eyes.
Probably because I seemed to be talking to empty air, they must’ve thought I’d lost it.
Not that I had.
Whoooosh—
“Sniff, i-it’s all your fault, Fury.”
“It’s not my fault. It’s because your magic is sloppy and got caught.”
“That’s so mean...”
The black-haired one and the red-haired one.
Sad eyes and an angry expression.
What a distinctly individual bunch.
“Huh? Wha—? There was nobody there!!”
The blue-haired one looked from me to the witches and then slumped down on the spot.
Honestly, how did he expect to survive this brutal world with that kind of backbone?
“Get up, kid. Time to earn your keep.”
I nudged the blue-haired idiot’s butt with the toe of my shoe.
“M-me? B-but there are other people too, over there! And how are we supposed to handle witches in the first place? I mean, maybe you can, but we can’t...”
“Of course they have to fight too. And I did it, didn’t I? Besides, are you just going to stand there and take it? You at least need to land one hit.”
“Th-that’s true.”
The guy stammered and looked up at me.
What?
Who said you could coast through this on raw talent alone?
You called yourself a genius, so let’s see it.
The witch, still speaking in that tearful tone, wiped at the corners of her eyes.
“My, my. Are you turning your attention elsewhere while we’re right here? I feel like crying again.”
“I rushed over because I sensed something interesting, and all I find are kids. Hm? Isn’t that Greed?”
The redhead pointed at the witch whose head and body were separated.
“My... From the frost around you, I’d say... yes?”
At Sadness’s words, Fury bared his teeth and grinned.
“Kahahaha! Looks like that’s the right answer. Fine, then which one of you is the jewel among this bunch... me!”
Whoosh—!
Fury’s red hair snapped behind him as he swung a fist down at the blue-haired idiot sitting on the floor.
Swish—.
The fist wrapped in red demonic energy was deflected sideways by my sword.
“Well, look at that? Kyaahaha!! So it was you? Yes, it was you!!”
Fury’s eyes slowly swept over my body.
“Hiiik!! J-Jayeon!!”
“Hey, Blue. Get ready.”
“O-okay!”
Boom—!
The witch kicked immediately.
My body was sent flying and slammed into the wall.
“Blocked.”
“Oh? Look at this lot?”
“I-I can do it too if I try!!”
Something like water wrapped around me from behind.
Kek, kaha-ha!
Exactly. These pathetic types only needed one small opening, and they’d do the rest themselves.
“You can do it, can’t you! Don’t just stand there, all of you! Now!”
“I know that already!!”
Fwoooooosh—!!
A massive blaze shot toward Fury’s body.
“Huh?”
“Die!!”
Red-head.
Same red color, but Fury’s was the red of blood, while this traffic-light redhead had hair the color of fire.
“Sniff, I think I’d be sad if Fury got hurt.”
Zhiiing—.
The great blaze was swallowed by a black curtain and vanished.
“Tch! Cat!!”
Just as the redhead clicked his tongue and called out to the cat girl, the cat girl beside him vanished like smoke.
Swish—.
In an instant, she reappeared behind Sadness.
“Dark Sword, First Form. Night of a Hundred Demons.”
Dark Sword? So that girl was one of their descendants?
Black Followers.
I remembered fighting alongside them once.
Pretty useful bunch.
But did they even have beastmen among them?
I didn’t think so. They’d been a pretty closed group, if I remembered right—maybe they only accepted humans.
Well, times change. Maybe that clan had changed a little too.
If you didn’t have teeth, gums would do, and the cat girl used her claws.
But was that really going to go as planned?
Her opponent was a witch.
Slash—.
“Tch. Too shallow.”
A thin line appeared at the corner of the witch’s eye.
Red blood trickled down.
That shallow strike had only provoked her.
“H-how could you commit such an atrocious act... Even a child must be punished for this...”
“Bitter, huh?”
Before I knew it, Fury was standing beside Sadness.
Why was she Sadness, you ask? What else would she be if she kept crying next to Fury like that?
Black energy gathered around Sadness.
Something like mist erased their forms.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
A wind laced with green energy tried to blow away the fog around them.
Oh, so Green was a spirit user?
And she controlled the wind spirit too.
Maybe my mother would like that if I brought her one.
“Jayeon, shouldn’t you stop that now?”
“Ah, right. I guess it’s about time I stepped in. Will five seconds do?”
Thanks to having briefly recovered the power of my past life, my five senses were incredibly sharpened now.
That was why I’d been able to notice the witches’ presence.
But that wasn’t all I’d picked up on.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Countless footsteps.
“They’re here?”
“Yeah. It’s over now, so you should rest.”
There was no need for Yehwa to join this fight anymore.
At last, support had arrived.
You stupid witch bastards.
You thought you could play around with us? If you wanted that, you should’ve done it right after I woke up.
“You think you can enjoy yourselves at our expense? If you were going to do that, you should’ve done it before I woke up.”
“They aren’t here yet, are they? Kill you before they arrive and that’s enough.”
Fury looked at me with arrogant confidence in his eyes.
Haha, to hear that from a witch. I really have fallen far.
Laughter slipped out on its own.
“Hahahaha!! You think that’s possible? My, my...”
How conceited.
Fwoosh—!
-Partial Awakening is in progress. Set duration: 5 seconds.
“Kahahahaha! Yes, that’s it! That’s the energy! Come in, come on in!”
“Is that so?”
Five seconds.
Red energy wrapped around my body.
The omnipotent feeling I’d lost came flooding back.
Four seconds.
I advanced toward the witches as their pupils slowly dilated.
Three seconds.
“Hello.”
I gave a little wave to the witch who met my eyes.
Two seconds.
I unleashed a slash at them.
Schk—.
The witch’s right arm flew off.
“Kyaaaah!! Sadness!! Kill him!!”
“What a pity.”
One second.
I evaded every black needle raining down on me and returned to my original position.
Zero seconds.
Release.
Fsssss—.
I drew in ragged breaths as my stamina plummeted.
“Haaah... Looks like I’ve gone a bit rusty too.”
Fury’s severed arm flew through the air and slapped down onto the floor.
He pressed on the wound and glared at me.
“Y-you bastard!!”
He stared at me with icy eyes and spewed murderous demonic energy in every direction.
Oh dear. How scary. Whatever will I do?
“Time out.”
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Kim Jayeon!!!
It was my father’s voice.
“Fury... They’ve arrived. We need to pull out.”
“You... I’ll see you again next time.”
“Haha. Next time, I’ll cut off not your arm, but the thing sitting above your neck.”
I tilted one corner of my mouth at him, and Fury’s eyes practically flipped inside out.
“Kraaaagh!”
The moment he lunged toward me—
the sad-eyed witch beside him turned cold.
“Fury. We have to go.”
At that icy gaze, Fury stopped in his tracks.
“Tch. Just you wait...”
“Jayeon. Is it really okay to let them go like this?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
We’d already rescued the kids, so there was no reason to keep fighting.
For now, this branch was finished.
Mission accomplished.
They’d probably been temporarily dispatched here to participate in tonight’s ritual.
The one in charge of this branch was probably that white-haired bastard I’d just cut down by the neck.
“By the way, where did the black-robed guy who kidnapped us go?”
Dunno.
“Jayeon!!”
Finally, he was here. Haa...
Just thinking it was really over loosened the tension in my body.
“Haaah...”
The kids, too, collapsed onto the floor with expressions that said they were about to die.
“Why are you so late, Father... I really thought I was dead.”
I really had almost died. If not for Partial Awakening—
then what my father would have found here was probably our corpses.
And maybe the three witches.
“Sorry, sorry. I ran into this guy up front.”
Beside my father stood a figure wearing a black hood.
“Long time no see.”
“Ha, you’ve got the nerve to say that? You’re the one who dragged me here.”
“You say that as if you weren’t the one who came willingly.”
So he knew.
“Then why?”
The guy’s gaze settled on the saintess.
Could it be?
Was this guy a pervert?
“Don’t look at me like that. She’s my little sister. I devoted myself to this organization for her sake, and under the pretense of saving her, I committed countless crimes. But even I can’t keep going anymore.”
“So what, you want forgiveness or something?”
“Of course not. I intend to accept the full judgment for my sins.”
But before that—
“May I see my little sister once? I don’t think I have any right to ask for that, but... before I’m judged, I’d like to see her once.”
My father looked at me.
“I decide?”
“Of course.”
The limitless trust my father placed in me was honestly getting hard to handle.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Ah, but...”
“What is it?”
“Do you know that your sister was being experimented on here?”
At that, the man’s face went red.
“Experimented on? What do you mean, experimented on! I was never told anything like that!! They said that if I devoted myself to the Demon Cult and worked my fingers to the bone, they’d return my sister to me unharmed!”
“You got played. You actually believed that?”
Wow. For all his actions, he was surprisingly pure.
Rather than trust the Demon Cult, it’d be safer to trust a voice-phishing scammer.
“Hah, b-but she doesn’t look any different from the last time I saw her...”
“That’s because I treated her.”
What was with this guy? Why was he so dense?
A fool who fancied himself smart.
The man twitched, then pitched forward.
He looked back and forth between me and the girl, his body trembling.
“Fine, go on. Take a look.”
“T-thank you.”
The man dashed over at once and checked on his sister.
“Ah... ahh...”
I left him to his strange noises and met my father’s eyes for a moment.
“Father, let’s talk for a second.”
“Sure.”
“I felt a pretty large amount of mana from above. Is Mother in battle?”
When I’d briefly regained my senses, I’d felt my mother’s mana.
It was mana as refreshing as a spring breeze.
“Yeah. Seems like she’s in a fight with the archbishop. Well, she’ll probably win.”
“Probably.”
An archbishop was still just an S-rank Awakened, for all practical purposes.
There was no reason for my mother to lose.
How many spirit users have a contract with a spirit king?
If you insisted on counting, she was SS-rank.
Looking at things like this, I really did seem to have a deep connection to SS ranks.
“It should be about time for it to end.”
The moment my father muttered and looked up at the sky—
Boom!
The sky split open.
The ceiling above us had been cleanly blasted through.
And through that opening, a woman came down, wearing a hat decorated with two stars.
“Oh...”
“Hey, son!”
In her left hand, my mother was carrying something no longer recognizable as human.
“Honey, don’t tell me that’s...”
“This? The archbishop. Need to extract some intel.”
Was it... alive?
As if to answer that question, it announced its own survival.
“Uuuuuuugh—”
A sound like metal scraping out of its mouth.
“Wow.”
She really had beaten him beautifully.
The kids nearby immediately slumped to the floor at the sight.
“Haaah—!”
“We’re alive!! We’re alive!!”
My mother smiled at that.
“So you were the one who saved them.”
“It was a bit of work.”
“Good job. I’ll hear the details later, so let’s go home now.”
“Yes.”
The Ulleungdo cult kidnapping incident, resolved.
Bang, bang, bang.
---