Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Demon Swordplay Unleashed
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"【Ignite】"
Roar— Flames wrapped around the dark crimson blade.
Aden's eyes widened.
"Whoa! Ma, magic swordsmanship?"
In fact, it had been put into practical use alongside Kyle's words of command.
A martial art impossible to find in modern times.
Aden's eyes sparkled.
And then the sword dance began.
Slash, slash!
Roar— Flames lingering in the air along the sword's trajectory.
The sound of the blaze sucking in the air.
Demon swordsmanship was an incredibly flashy martial art.
Kyle had hated it for being too showy.
But the battle proceeded smoothly.
Severing necks.
Piercing hearts.
One-shot, one-kill.
The goblins hesitated in the face of the flames.
The flashiness of demon swordsmanship meant
that its power and threat were vividly conveyed to the enemy.
But Kang Hyun was ultimately just one person.
There was a reason solo clears were called insane.
Keruk!
Kyaek—!
Kieek!
Outnumbered.
Surrounded by three goblins.
As a barrage of attacks flew in that he couldn't dodge with his current stats,
"【Stop】"
Kiiing— Perfectly freezing just one of them.
Slash!
He cut down the stopped one, breaking through the encirclement.
It was optimized for minimal mana consumption.
And then the sword dance resumed.
"Whoa, whoaaa…!"
Aden let out a gasp of admiration.
The harmony of words of command and swordsmanship.
Her master's current form was just like
'A magic swordsman…!'
Aden idolized Kyle endlessly.
It looked just like his appearance in the movies.
Of course, it was less flashy than in the films.
But there was a refined elegance in its conciseness.
Aden's blue eyes grew misty.
Before long, all twenty goblins lay annihilated.
Kang Hyun paused his sword for a moment.
'Let's see, mana….'
Still plenty left.
Demon swordsmanship really is efficient.
Massacre weak mobs with words of command.
Switch to demon swordsmanship for efficient play against tougher foes.
This was Kyle's way.
"Are you the boss?"
A shadow loomed overhead.
A 2-meter orc stood behind him.
'Definitely a big step up from F+ rank difficulty.'
This thing was equivalent to six E-rank awakeners?
A number that warranted a raid.
"M-Master! Be careful!"
Aden jumped in surprise and began preparing her magic.
"Orcs have regeneration, so you can't take them alone! I-I'm preparing a curse spell, so just hold on a bit!"
It was admirable that she wanted to help.
"Remember this. Fire is perfect against regeneration."
"Pardon?"
A massive club came crashing down from above.
But the flames sword swung indifferently.
Roar! The red arc grazed the orc's neck.
The club slammed down right beside Kang Hyun.
The orc's neck was severed and cauterized in an instant.
Cauterized wounds don't regenerate.
Thus, the orc's massive body collapsed.
Thud— "Nice new sword."
Cuts really well?
Light too.
Worth every bit of those 120 million won.
'But….'
Damn, intense.
He pulled down his mask to catch his breath.
With stamina at F-, he got tired after just a bit of movement.
'My physical level is too low compared to my movements.'
Guess I need to work out.
Anyway, time to pick up the magic stone and wrap up.
E-rank, so the stone's a decent size.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Perfect Clear! (Solo)] [An incredible achievement! The Black World Tree's invasion...] [Due to your achievement, a 'Blessing' has been granted to the surrounding area...] Familiar messages.
They even felt welcoming now.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [You have achieved 'Perfect Clear! (Solo)' in an E-rank dungeon. Special rewards will be granted.] ['Bronze Random Box' will be distributed.] "Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"The random box changed?"
It used to just be 'Random Box'.
This time it's 'Bronze Random Box'.
Probably because it's E-segment perfect clear.
"Come to think of it, I heard the blessing effects differ by segment too."
"Nice. Rewards were starting to feel skimpy."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Would you like to open the 'Bronze Random Box'?] Open it right away.
The light and sound effects were even flashier.
"Behold, E-segment rewards!"
"Dududududu!"
Flaaash! Ding! ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [A random word of command seal has been unlocked.] Oh! Word of command!
Honestly, this was even more welcome than magic power.
He reflexively recalled his current words of command.
【Stop】 【Ignite】 【Fall】 Still far short of what he needed.
But even one good word of command would greatly boost his combat power.
'What will it be this time!?'
His anticipation was building when
another effect burst forth.
Ding! 🎉 JACKPOT! 🎉 [The seal on Kyle-style Word Arts 'Shadow Bind' has been unlocked!] ['Shadow Bind' sub-commands 【Silence】 【Blind】 【Forget】 have been unlocked.] "Holy shit!"
"Gasp! What is it!? Jackpot!?"
A reward he couldn't explain to Aden.
"Junk item!"
"Pardon?"
"Whoa! Junk!"
"No... Arghhh! Don't react like that to junk!"
Leaving the stomping Aden behind,
he nodded in satisfaction.
'Shadow Bind is a really useful word art, and it unlocks now.'
Good call going for E-rank.
The rewards really are different.
"More importantly, who did you learn demon swordsmanship from?"
"Hm? Oh."
Come to think of it, people had been saying demon swordsmanship was seeing real action lately.
Well, I'd only been using it because my throat hurt.
"Practiced it alone."
"No way, seriously! I'm not buying it!"
"It's true."
Kang Hyun was confident.
It was a story from Kyle's days.
No one to teach him, so he grew alone.
Of course, it wasn't the best method.
Bad habits and sloppy swordsmanship capped his potential.
Kyle-style Demon Swordsmanship.
If you isolated just the swordsmanship part?
It was downright pathetic.
Street brawler level.
Mercenary tier at best.
Heroes of the past left their martial arts to posterity.
For example, 'Le Moeris-style Spear Arts'.
Kyle's comrade Le Moeris.
He used the royal secret spear arts of Terra L'Engre.
In Le Moeris's lineage, it became 'Le Moeris-style'.
Naturally, as a royal secret, it was top-tier martial arts.
All heroes were like that.
Except Kyle.
Kyle's swordsmanship had no form or style.
Just low-grade mercenary techniques.
The name was even slapped on by the masses.
Because Kyle's sword left such monumental achievements.
Barbaric.
Violent.
Destructive.
In the best light, extreme practical swordsmanship.
But its fundamentals were utterly crude.
Only Kyle's genius filled the gaps.
He was still the strongest.
But it was regrettable.
'All because I couldn't learn properly.'
Never walking the elite path was a real shame.
But he couldn't show it in front of his disciple.
"What's to swordsmanship? You swing and it grows."
"Whoa."
She seemed speechless at his brazenness.
"Master's insanely talented, that's all…."
"That's true."
"Ugh, so annoying."
"Hey now, respect your master!"
"Will you teach me swordsmanship later too?"
Aden's eyes sparkled intensely.
Full of massive expectations.
"What for? Focus on magic."
Magic swordsmen don't end well.
They were exceedingly rare even in Kyle's era.
"Demon swordsmanship has a high ceiling, but the path is too rough. It takes more than double the effort compared to specializing in one."
Don't do this stuff.
He patted his disciple.
"Yeees…."
She seemed deeply disappointed.
"Wahh… I wanna do demon swordsmanship like Sir Kyle too…."
She looked just like a kid realizing Santa isn't real.
What could he do?
Ding! ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Skill <Kyle-style Demon Swordsmanship> has been created.] "A skill?"
It didn't end there.
Ding! ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Trait <Reincarnator> has activated.] [Skill <Kyle-style Demon Swordsmanship> has evolved.] [Skill <Kyle-style Demon Swordsmanship (Original)> has been created.] [Lv. Max]
"Huh?"
What now?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 💬 Comments — Anon1 It dropped! — Anon2 What did? — Anon1 E-rank solo perfect clear! — Anon3 ? Up to E-rank? For real? — Anon4 Does that even make sense? — Anon1 8 straight perfect clears makes sense? Perfect clears.
Everyone knew they were impressive.
But Kang Hyun was even more special.
"All previous ones were team perfect clears."
Section Chief Choi nodded during the briefing.
Perfect clears had happened twice before.
But a solo perfect clear was unprecedented in history.
"We figured it was possible in F-segment. But this…."
"Perfect clear awakener, total jackpot!"
"We gotta find them quick."
The team was buzzing with excitement,
but Section Chief Choi couldn't smile.
'When they were struggling in E-segment, we planned to recruit with support…!'
E-rank dungeon.
Even C-ranks could enter.
But even with C-rank stats,
handling dozens of E-rank mobs solo?
Absolutely impossible.
Modern awakener evaluations were all about stats.
Skills contributed a little.
This result defied understanding.
And Mr. Kang Hyun wasn't even C-rank.
He'd just registered as E-rank.
"Truly a mysterious person."
"Yeah…."
Of course, if Kang Hyun heard,
he'd yell, 'Stats aren't everything! Gain experience and train!'
"Heh, Section Chief. Looks like we underestimated the EX."
Code name EX (Extra Ordinary).
Translated: Out of spec.
Short for perfect clear awakener.
"Still, keep thinking up support plans. The more the better."
"Yes, sir."
He hadn't told the team they'd found the EX.
But support plan meetings were ongoing.
"We need to support the EX as much as possible."
They'd found the EX.
Now just recruit them.
But the S-rank word master was still out there.
If they missed that one?
'We must promote Mr. Kang Hyun to S-rank.'
[International S-Rank Gate Conquest Approval Standard].
They could meet the minimum of 3.
Position would be mage, probably.
Since he's Aden's master.
Perfect.
Meets position requirements too!
Korea rises as an S-rank conquest nation.
Through Mr. Kang Hyun.
'Strong nation, strong military!'
Just thinking about it brought happiness.
"By the way, don't blessing effects change starting from E-segment?"
"Nothing confirmed yet."
No precedents.
"The research team will figure it out soon and report."
"Can't wait!"
The team kept chatting about the EX.
"Stats probably nothing special. What kind of skill lets them do this?"
"Yeah. Gotta be hero's legacy level to make sense."
"Hero's legacy sounds good. We need to find that S-rank inheritor of Kyle too…."
Indeed.
Where the hell is that S-rank word master….
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Kang Hyun tapped the trait .
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Trait: Reincarnator You possess experience from a previous life. Skills are influenced by your experience. 'What does that mean?'
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Kyle-style Demon Swordsmanship (Original) Lv. Max] The skill suddenly had '(Original)' appended.
From what he'd heard, cases like this didn't exist.