Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: The Most Radiant Talent
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The more they exchanged blows with the sword, the stranger Aureum found it.
"It should have been completely unbalanced."
A body where no trace of balance could be found, even if you washed your eyes and looked again.
Because his pure stats were fixed, his flesh itself hadn't been tempered.
He was merely forcing that barely movable body along with a massive amount of allocatable stat points.
"...How the hell did he even learn swordsmanship?"
Normally, he shouldn't have been able to properly learn swordsmanship at all.
Swordsmanship was a technique that handled the body, and a high realm in swordsmanship meant, in other words, a high degree of bodily perfection.
So, he tested it out.
He didn't go all out from the start.
It wasn't fun to just lightly crush a subject that had piqued his interest.
But.
"He's learned it more properly than I thought."
Quite impressive.
Eyes that never let go of the sword.
Advanced concentration that precisely calculated every single movement of the body, as if dissecting it.
He didn't lose his composure even after surviving several brushes with death.
And that wasn't all.
"Even the patience to pretend to be sloppy, waiting until I step into his trap."
The acting was top-notch.
Just like a spider weaving its web and waiting for prey.
The guy was patiently waiting to pounce on Aureum.
Concentration, composure, patience.
All the most crucial virtues a swordsman must possess.
However, possessing all three at once was no easy feat.
More than that, it wasn't just possession.
It was profound.
Profound enough to draw admiration.
"His talent overflowed so much it spilled over, preventing him from breaking through the wall."
...What kind of case was this?
It was a type even Aureum had never encountered before.
The master of the Fox Den, the 'Creator of the Burning Boundary', had thrown countless monsters and powerful beings at him for his growth.
In that process, he had faced and surpassed powerhouses with all sorts of talents, but there had never been one like Park Chan-woo.
So, he was curious.
"Can he break through the wall?"
A worthless body with no balance to speak of.
His skill in handling the sword was decent, but he was a fool who had given up early without knowing his own talent.
If he were told he had talent, could he break through the wall?
"Impossible."
There was no way.
Until now, no such being had existed.
He had taught countless opponents how to break through walls, but none had truly comprehended and surpassed them.
Of course, someone might find it strange.
They might ask if it even made sense to break through the moment they were told.
"If they don't comprehend it the moment they learn, it means nothing."
They wouldn't comprehend it afterward anyway.
What was enlightenment in the first place?
Knowing one's deficiencies and correcting them—that was enlightenment.
If you truly accepted it, you would break through the wall in that instant.
At least, that's how it was for Aureum.
Conversely, unbalanced and incomplete beings like spirits couldn't surpass it even after being told a hundred or a thousand times.
So.
"You'll be the same."
The same as the rest.
Unable to break through the wall, unable to shatter his limits.
He didn't have high expectations.
...Or so he thought.
Clang!
As they exchanged blows, the wrist gripping his sword rang out.
As time passed, the guy's sword was growing deeper and sharper bit by bit.
Bit by bit, it was becoming a sword.
"...".
This sensation was a first.
He had only told him, nothing more.
Yet the guy instantly internalized the enlightenment and manifested it with his body.
He erased all stray thoughts and even himself.
"Hah."
...It was absurd.
Before he knew it, the guy had become the sword.
In that instant, a single word flashed through Aureum's mind.
'Arhat.'
Tremble!
Aureum's body shuddered slightly.
Thump! Thump!
His heart began pounding wildly.
...Because he had met another 'Arhat', just like himself.
The highest ideal that practitioners could reach.
A being of no-learning that only a 'pure powerhouse' could attain.
That was an 'Arhat'.
A name the demons of the Abyss could never utter.
Long ago, after breaking through several walls, Aureum had naturally learned about 'Arhats'.
Arhats were the name and qualification of ancient practitioners, and at the same time, a group that opposed the lords of the Abyss.
They bestowed their name only upon those like Aureum who had 'broken through walls on their own'.
It was certain that those bearing that name possessed transcendent pure force.
Aureum had always wanted to seriously clash with them someday.
But now.
"You've inherited the qualification of an Arhat too!"
A being who had inherited the same qualification had appeared.
One who had broken through the wall on his own.
Though still a fledgling.
"How far can you climb?"
If he was the same as Aureum, he would keep climbing.
A single enlightenment brought boundless achievement.
And that guy was still in the midst of enlightenment.
No, to be precise.
"...He's finally properly awakened the talent he always had."
He had finally become able to utilize what he had possessed all along.
Would it end as mere sword talent?
Or was there more? He couldn't help but be curious.
Aureum finally began to unleash his power.
From what he'd observed, the guy's 'super regeneration' could at best regenerate only up to the length of one finger joint.
He couldn't regenerate wounds larger than that quickly.
In other words.
"If I hit him with a massive blow all at once, he won't regenerate."
Whoosh!
He released the restriction on his magic power.
Infinite magic writhed through his entire body.
Soon after, he embraced spirits numbering in the thousands.
Then.
Roooaaar!
Spirit energy surged in emerald waves.
As all sorts of spirits mingled together, a blue light gleamed in his eyes.
Aureum had become the Spirit King himself.
An enormous wave of magic power instantly swept through the entire area.
Swoosh!
Kabooom!
Swinging the spirit sword as is, Park Chan-woo's body sprang back like a spring.
Even if he had become a sword, he couldn't block magic power like the sea.
If there was nothing more here, he would meet his end just like that.
"...?"
Aureum furrowed his brow.
Surprisingly, the guy didn't die.
Far from dying, he had even regained his balance and stood firm.
There had definitely been an impact, so how could he stand there unscathed?
But if it were just standing, he wouldn't be this surprised.
The reason Aureum was shocked was something else.
"You bastard..."
Park Chan-woo's holy sword was infused with spirit energy.
Not only had he blocked the Spirit King's energy with his sword, but he had fused it right in.
No, not fused.
It had followed.
In an instant, he had changed the nature of his magic power to match Aureum's.
Just like the Spirit King's.
It was a feat even Aureum had never seen.
Thus, he couldn't comprehend it.
The very fact that there was something he couldn't understand was incomprehensible.
"So it's not just sword talent...?"
What was clear was that this talent had 'blossomed' right now.
He probably hadn't even known about it himself.
After all, he was in a state of no-mind, no-thought.
It wasn't something he had thought up and executed.
He was instinctively exploding with the talent he possessed.
He changed his own nature, imbued that changed nature into his sword, and naturally withstood the Spirit King's attack.
"The moment the swords clashed, I felt some kind of ripple."
A ripple. Or perhaps a wavelength.
Something like the resonance of souls.
What was certain was that it was close to 'magic'.
The power to cause phenomena. The miracle of altering and wielding phenomena at will.
The absolute magic at its extreme!
A talent he had never seen before.
He was certain: among all the cases Aureum had witnessed, this was the 'most radiant talent'.
If he had to sum up that talent in one word...
"...Magic Swordsman."
A being who freely wielded both magic and sword.
With no bias toward either, possessing the ultimate talent—what else could you call it but a 'Magic Swordsman'?
Ah.
"So this was your balance."
He had it.
Balance.
Sword and magic.
Those two were correcting the guy's pathetic distortions.
"You're... fun."
Grin!
Aureum grinned with all his might.
This tension, this thrill, this satisfaction!
How long had it been?
"I'll go all out... and kill you."
...It would be satisfying to kill him.
He would chew up that heart and take that talent for himself.
For the first time in his life, Aureum felt greed.
He envied it.
The talent that he didn't have, couldn't have.
That incomprehensible thing was a wall Aureum could never surpass.
Shouldn't he forcibly steal it?
"He can't climb any higher from here."
He had seen talents bloom before.
This was probably the guy's limit.
Having bloomed the most radiant talent with one enlightenment, going further would be greed.
Rumble!
Aureum stomped his foot.
And with all his power, he thrust his sword to sever Park Chan-woo's neck.
Slash!
"...!"
At the same time, Aureum's eyes widened to the extreme.
"What."
The first strike.
Aureum raised his hand to his neck.
Then.
Ssssh!
The skin of his neck split open.
That was the beginning.
"...What."
The strikes accumulated.
The more they exchanged blows, the more the holy sword's blade began stacking damage on Aureum's body.
"How...?"
He couldn't accept it.
Even the 'Magic Swordsman' talent he had awakened was already wondrous enough.
"In that short time, he leaped another step higher...?!"
He had leaped another step.
It shattered Aureum's common sense.
It was like a child who had just started walking suddenly running.
"I can't... believe..."
Thud!
After nine exchanges.
Now, only the final strike remained.
...Unbelievable.
It was the phrase most often uttered by those who opposed Aureum.
Gazing in shock at Aureum, who evolved in the blink of an eye.
Were they feeling the same as he did now?
It went beyond shock to awe.
That thing was a mysterious being that surpassed him.
"Am I... going to die?"
Aureum's pupils began to tremble deeply.
He had never felt the fear of death while alive.
Much less imagined dying at another's hand.
In that instant.
Aureum's eyes 'looked into' Park Chan-woo's eyes.
In the moment facing death.
And Aureum resigned himself.
...That thing wouldn't stop even if he screamed and begged desperately.
"...Monster of a guy."
That monster was the abyss itself.
Thud!
Aureum's thoughts ended there.
The tenth and final strike.
At its end, his head fell, and he met his demise.
+ Level has risen!
+ Level has risen!
+ Level has risen!
+ Level has risen!