Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: One Sweep
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The air was thick with the stench of blood in every direction.
Every time the fishy reek of blood stabbed into my nostrils, my head spun dizzily.
It was only thanks to my Mental stat that my mind stayed forcibly calm and collected.
I'm only human, after all—my spirit was grinding down in real time.
......Let me take that back.
Not quite grinding down, but my mood was definitely souring.
"Grraaawrl!!"
"Shut up and die."
Sschwick—
It's been 30 minutes now since I started carving through the zombies.
A time that felt short if short, long if long.
In that span, I hadn't paused for even a moment—my grip on the longsword never slackened.
And naturally, a mountain of corpses kept piling up around me.
An endless trail of sword arcs.
Steady breathing.
The blade sliced through zombie necks and torsos with elegant, disciplined curves, its gleam undimmed.
The arcs are getting shorter.
What used to connect from point A to B in a single motion was now compressing—down to 0.9, 0.8, 0.7.
The minimal distance needed to prepare for severing a zombie's neck.
The body's positioning and movement to secure that distance.
Footwork, gaze, finger strength, target selection—all of it.
I let my body flow naturally with the shifting rhythm imposed by my skills.
"I-Incredible..."
"Minjun! Ahead!"
"Ah, got it!!"
And Junsang's group was expertly handling the zombies I casually let slip past me.
Minjun, who'd been admiring my movements, swung his crude club back at the zombies on Junsang's shout.
A makeshift mace pieced together from pipe bed frames.
"Haat...!"
Kwazig—!
The mace-like thing caved in the zombie's skull like a pot over a fire.
The zombie collapsed to the floor with a faint death rattle, its cranium sunken.
"Grraaaawrgh...!!"
"Don't stop! Get ready for the next one!"
Even as the zombie crumpled, Minjun raised his mace again at Junsang's command.
The others followed suit, battling the zombies nonstop under his directions.
Even without me, they'd have survived a good while centered around Junsang.
Not perfectly efficient, but solid commands and coordination.
He himself stabbed zombies with a long spear fashioned from a kitchen knife fixed in place, supporting those up front.
Above all, he kept snapping everyone back to focus right when complacency might creep in.
And Jiyeong...
A gloomy woman surrounded by people clashing against zombies with crude wooden shields and polearms.
Lee Jiyeong stood protected in their center, completely out of it.
In more ways than one.
"Hyat?!! Ah...! Eheheh... Ha!"
She flinched when a zombie got close, then smirked when it died on her group's weapons—over and over.
Frankly, her expression during the quick side-glances I stole while decapitating zombies looked like a manic-depressive patient.
Uncannily creepy, too.
I've confirmed they're fine. Time to wrap this up.
Junsang's group had already taken down 15 zombies.
They held out better than expected, so I kept sending more their way—five extras beyond the plan, all dropped.
But no matter how well they held, human stamina has limits.
Especially decked out in heavy armor all over—they were tiring faster than I'd thought.
"Haa... Haa...! Hup!!"
Pfook—
"Grraaaawrl..."
Leaving Junsang stabbing another zombie's head, I gripped my longsword two-handed and faced forward again.
Zombies were swarming in from beyond the furniture section, tail to tail—at least a hundred in sight.
But the sight didn't faze me one bit as I slowly drew up my mana.
Wooong—
"Hooo..."
A bizarre energy—warm yet cold—spread through my body.
Every cell awakening on instinct.
What I was about to do was a kind of remix.
"Fireball"
Fwoosh—!!
No need to even extend my hand to speed up deployment.
Just imagining it formed the spell formula in empty air, spawning a fireball the size of a person's torso.
Then I thrust my longsword into the roiling, searing orb.
"Junsang. No more zombies coming your way, so fall back a bit."
"Got it! Boss says fall back, everyone! Drop prep and pull out!"
Junsang immediately ordered his group—who'd just killed the last one and braced for more—to withdraw.
I faced forward again, manipulating the now-familiar mana at will.
Adjust the mana flow.
Forcibly intervening in the completed spell.
I twisted the flow maintaining the sphere, utterly reshaping its structure.
Impossible before.
Possible now.
The fireball collapsed in an instant.
But its crumbling remnants didn't scatter like a failed spell—they surged toward the blade.
Flames shed their spherical form to enwrap the sword, flickering hotly.
A sword wreathed in flames was complete.
Fwoosh—
"Flame Sword... kinda cringey middle-school syndrome vibe."
Better skip naming it.
No need to call out technique names mid-fight anyway.
I shook off the silly thought, laying the flaming sword horizontal and drawing it back to the side.
Twist the torso, anchor the lower body, grip the hilt firm.
Two-handed horizontal slash.
In perfect form, I whipped the blade forward.
Shyaaaack—!!
The swing etched a wide afterimage in the air, tracing the blade's path.
Blazing heat unfurled, the vast sea of fire hurtling toward the zombies in a blink.
Kwaaaaang—!!
The fireball, launched as sword qi, erupted across a massive area.
My original technique to fix Fireball's excessive power and narrow range.
Inspired by webtoon sword beams and the idea of firing thin, wide fireballs.
"All those zombies... gone in one hit...!"
"Whoa..."
A single strike.
About a hundred zombies ahead were annihilated.
And I, who wrought that scene, swung my now-normal blade once to cool it, then advanced slowly.
"No survivors... huh."
The furniture section was scorched everywhere from the aftermath of my strike.
Torsos torn ragged, faces fully charred—only corpses littered the place. I checked for any live zombies.
No fire hazard either. Just scorch marks, no embers.
Someone might say unleashing such huge flames indoors is dangerous.
But mana-born fire gutters out once its mana fully burns.
Even the lingering flames were ruled as mana fire.
So no actual fire broke out.
Having fully scanned the area, I returned to where Junsang's group waited.
Junsang greeted me beaming.
But the faces around him weren't exactly welcoming.
"Incredible, Boss! That power in one swing! I knew you were special, but not this level!"
"No need to overpraise. You guys held up great, though? Good commands too."
"Haha! Thank you!"
Junsang grinned wide at my praise.
But beside him.
Minjun and the rest eyed me with slightly darkened expressions.
A look like they were staring at something terrifying.
...Ah. Come to think, Junsang's the only one here I've rewarded.
Those who've received something from me, and those who haven't.
With my strength laid bare, their reactions naturally diverged.
Junsang saw me as his boss or ally, while to them, I was someone who could turn that power on them anytime.
Great power feels different when you trust it's on your side versus suspecting hostility.
I was gonna reward them all anyway for holding out well... To win them over, better make sure today's payout is solid.
That'd flip those gazes to match Junsang's in no time.
So, yeah.
"Lee Jiyeong. Come here."
"Hya...? Y-Yes? Me...?"
"You, yeah. Get over here. Rest of you, good work. Short fight, but life-or-death wears you out. I've got more to do, so head back first."
"You sure you'll be okay?"
"Who're you worrying about...? Just go rest, no backtalk. Go."
I brushed them off to leave quick, then cast Clean on the blood-and-guts-soaked group.
They nodded assent under Junsang's lead and returned to the safe zone—everyone but Jiyeong.
Now it was just me and her outside.
I led her over the charred corpse piles, out of the furniture section.