Chapter 304
Chapter 304
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 304
Chapter Title: The Way to Confront Death (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Sword of Death, Ganicardt.
This monster, called the most terrifying calamity, always greeted humanity with a single blade in hand. Death wields no flashy magic, no armies of thousands, no impenetrable hide, no flames that burn everything in their path.
Death possesses only one sword.
Yet death is the most fearsome existence of all.
The Sword of Death, Ganicardt, had reigned as a calamity for hundreds of years, and in all that time, humanity had never once inflicted meaningful damage upon it.
The first superhuman, and the oldest superhuman.
As the infamy of other calamities waned and paths opened for humans to challenge them... death alone never allowed such a path.
The first hero, and the oldest hero.
Petty tricks are meaningless before death.
Numerical superiority is worthless before death.
Before death, humans are endlessly alone.
"Prove it."
Thus, one must prove it.
"Your pride."
The life you have built.
The skills honed through that life.
"That you are a swordsman."
Before death, all humans are equal.
And because they are equal, humans must confront death with their own power. They must answer death's question with their own body and the single sword in their hand.
Charr-ruk.
Kyle charges forward, stepping on the chains, exhaling sharply.
His breath comes out hot. Sara's layered blessings and his body accelerated to its limits are burning hot. With every step, the chains beneath his feet melt away.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Acceleration Kyle's star trait. Starlight infuses his body.
Starlight seeps into Kyle's body—his star trait, everything he possesses. The holy sword shines brilliantly, trailing a halo of platinum light.
Kagagagak!
The untouched ground splits open.
Cleaving through the swirling snowflakes, Kyle becomes a streak of light and charges ahead. He swings his sword at death, now right before him.
His lacking technique compensated by the hero's flesh.
His deficient instincts by superior dynamic vision.
Thus, what Kyle unleashes is the Canyon Swordsmanship, directly taught to him by the superhuman swordsman Kuntel.
⚔ First Sword: Initial Sight Kill ⚔ Kills in a single swing. A technique that beheads the foe before they can even perceive it. Kyle mimics Kuntel's specialty with his accelerated body.
Tik, tididik.
Everything the blade touches splits.
The snowflakes scatter and split; even the air currents part. It is an imitation near perfection. But not quite perfect.
Sreung.
Gazing at the blade approaching him, death swings its sword leisurely. The motion seems as if it's moving through stopped time. On the accelerated timeline, Kyle sees it.
Tik, tidik.
The stance death's sword takes.
The trajectory its tip traces.
It resembles the technique Kyle unleashed, astonishingly so. Nay, it is even more refined. The swing without a hint of tremor cleaves through an entire region of space.
⚔ Initial Sight Kill ⚔ Flawless technique, surpassing Kuntel's. Kyle knows not, but its creator is Ganicardt. The technique of a swordsman who honed his blade to cleave all in sight is death itself, unavoidable.
Sgeung.
The moment it is perceived, death arrives.
Kyle grits his teeth and swings his sword harder. Sword clashes with sword. Technique against technique.
Kang!
Naturally, it is Kyle who is pushed back.
The instant the swords meet, Kyle's fingers snap. The blade recoils, the severed space reforms, pulling Kyle forward.
Kuung!
Stamping his foot to anchor his dragged body, Kyle thrusts his blade at an angle. Not a Canyon technique, but one Kuntel developed alone.
Kagagagak!
Death flows along the holy sword.
Whoosh—Kyle feels death graze over his head. Then, kuung, a section of the canyon is sliced diagonally.
Whiiiieeeek!
A beat late, the moonlight arrow arrives.
Toward the shot arrow, Ganicardt merely extends its right hand. The monster's hand. It seizes the incoming moonlight arrow barehanded and crushes it.
They had hoped for an opening, but none exists. Clutching the arrow with its right hand, Ganicardt swings its sword with the left.
Whoosh!
The sword tip slicing empty air draws a straight line with the sky, then falls toward Kyle like a guillotine. Kyle detonates his condensed starlight and leaps sideways. He never retreats.
'Retreating is pointless.'
He knows this.
The moment he leaps sideways, death's swung sword meets the ground. No clamor ensues. The blade pierces the earth without resistance.
Then, seogeuk.
The sword energy extending in a straight line cleaves everything in its path. Raniel's chains, the lingering heat on the ground, the swirling snow—all split apart.
Thuk!
The sword embedded in the ground springs up diagonally, targeting Kyle who leaped sideways. Despite the grand technique, no opening appears. Swallowing dryly at the blade pursuing him relentlessly, Kyle grips his holy sword tight. Raising starlight, he thrusts it into the trajectory of Ganicardt's sword.
Kaaaang!
The fingers that had just healed, his arm—they bend with a horrendous sound under the onslaught. The surging impact launches Kyle's body into the air; he shoots like an arrow into the canyon wall.
Kugung.
"Cough, kuhk..."
His arm bones are pulverized.
The shockwave from the sword clash shook his innards. Spitting a mouthful of blood, Kyle rises. The replenished blessings heal his wounds instantly.
"Tch."
Spitting blood, Kyle glares fiercely.
No time for leisure. If death grips its sword in the left hand, no mercy can be expected. The moment he glares, Kyle chokes on air.
Kuung.
In a single step, death closes dozens of paces and swings at Kyle. Reflexively, Kyle ducks his head and rolls low across the ground.
Kagagagagak!
The wall Kyle had leaned against shatters spectacularly. The canyon crumbles. Amid the pouring dirt, Kyle recalls.
"I know it's hard for you to hold out."
"I know you can't swing your sword like before."
"That's why we made the plan."
What that girl said.
"■■, so use the black sludge."
"Draw up all the starlight you have and make it use that. Then the chance will come."
He follows that advice.
Kyle grips the holy sword. It radiates brilliant light. For a moment, the glint in death's sword dims faintly.
Thuk!
Bursting through the dust, Kyle swings at death. With his even more accelerated body, he unleashes continuous strikes. The brilliantly blooming starlight fills the area, scattering light particles as his sword moves.
From above downward, from below diagonally.
Swing after swing connects.
The raging blizzard veers around Kyle. A domain of the sword forms in the area. Like a net of slashing blades raking the region—but Ganicardt rends the net with a single swing.
Yet Kyle does not stop.
He presses forward another step.
A platinum halo flickers briefly in Kyle's eyes. Something that hadn't appeared in years—the moment it does, Kyle's sword traces an eerie trajectory.
Kaang!
Kyle parries Ganicardt's sword that cleaved the net—for the first time. The instant Kyle counters relying on starlight, the glint in Ganicardt's sword narrows further.
Ganicardt adjusts its stance for the first time.
The fingers gripping the sword creak, clutching the hilt tighter. At that moment, black sludge oozes from the holes in the greatsword.
Death traces a black trajectory.
Kyle traces a platinum one.
The moment swords clash, the starlight and blessings enveloping Kyle's body scatter entirely. Blood streams from Kyle's eyes. Yet he does not release the sword.
His legs creak.
The sword is gradually pushed back.
Kyle's knees bend further. Ganicardt's sword touches his shoulder blade. Thuk—blood erupts from Kyle's shoulder, but he grits his teeth and endures.
Enduring, he shouts.
"Now!"
Before the shout, a human was already moving.
Someone kicks off the canyon and leaps. In Kyle's view—looking skyward from parrying—ashen hair floats in the sky.
"Cursed Mana." Guung—a sinister mana aura spreads in the air. It is the answer a mage learned from defeat, a technique to confront a fragment of god.
"Ashes to ashes." Ash dust scatters everywhere.
Gritting his teeth, Kyle inches his sword hilt. Tik, tik—Ganicardt's sword scrapes the holy sword and angles downward.
"Curse to ashes." ⟨ Ashes to Ashes ⟩
The incantation completes.
Falling from the air, Raniel hurls ashen flames toward the ground. Kyle, seeing the pouring ashen flames, has no thought of dodging. He heard it consumes only the black sludge.
The ashen flames engulf Ganicardt and Kyle.
Indeed, the black sludge that nullifies all spells cannot make even the ashen flames cease to exist. The ashen flames burn away every drop of sludge dripping from Ganicardt's sword.
Kuung!
Barely deflecting Ganicardt's sword, Kyle rolls backward. Only then does Raniel prepare another spell.
Charr-ruk!
Standing on the chain linking canyons, Raniel claps her palms together. Circuits lingering on the ground react to her mana. Ganicardt, burning in the flames, does not react immediately. It slowly raises its head to gaze at the sky.
In that gaze, Raniel feels a chill for an instant.
Halting all spells she was about to release, Raniel turns her head aside. She leaps from the chain. An instinctive action, but it proves correct.
Sgeung.
The blade tip emerges from the flames.
A spell mimicking curses... one ignorant of its foundation... should not be severed. So Raniel thought, but it was a mistake. Ganicardt is a swordsman who cleaved even a perfect divine body.
Even ignorant of its foundation.
Even ignorant of its essence.
If it exists, Ganicardt can cleave it all. The swung blade parts the ashen flames Raniel conjured. It parts space. A massive rift cracks open in the air with a jeok, jeojeok sound.
The split rift seals instantly.
By the time she blinks, Raniel is pulled before Ganicardt's nose. Ganicardt had cleaved the distance between them. No time even to panic.
"...Ah."
Ganicardt reaches out.
As if no need to swing a sword at a non-swordsman, it extends the monster's hand. The massive grip fills Raniel's vision.
"Kuhk!"
The grip seizes Raniel.
A hand woven from the corpse of the Beast King. Its grip strength, far beyond human limits, crushes Raniel's body. Blood gushes from Raniel's mouth.
She tries to summon a spell, but none forms. Spells are meaningless before the shadow. Her vision blurs, breathing grows ragged.
That moment.
Tak—Kyle kicks off the ground.
2.
In the midst of the evacuating procession.
Suddenly gripped by unease, Chloe turns back.
The events far away are visible, and the shockwaves reach them. The ground trembles; sounds of collapse echo repeatedly.
Chloe cannot know the battle unfolding there.
She can only pray for their safety.
As Chloe prays for Lania's safety, zzirit—her spine tingles.
"......"
A sensation as if every sense in her body stands on end.
Chloe feels something approaching.
"Just now."
It is not just Chloe who felt it.
Belnoa beside her does too. Belnoa narrows her eyes and turns back. Her gaze slowly lifts to the sky.
A black object floats in the sky.
It draws nearer. What appeared a small dot grows into an undeniable size.
Whiiiieeeek!
The sound of air tearing.
A massive object rips through the air approaching. At last, shadows blanket the ground. Refugees, escorting knights, holy knights—all look up without exception.
Tuk, tuduk.
Something falls.
Hudu duduk.
What falls is black sludge.
Someone staring at the sky mutters hollowly.
"...Dragon?"
A massive form floating in the sky with wings spread.
It is a dragon. But its shape differs from ordinary dragons. Wings of human bones, a membrane coated in black mucus. From that membrane, black sludge drips endlessly.
Goluk, gruluk.
The mucus hitting the ground makes eerie sounds.
As if alive.
"Uh, uhh..."
Panicked knights step back.
Their commander, directing them, stares blankly at the sky and mutters.
"We definitely disposed of it back then..."
The dragon form in the sky.
It is the heretic's familiar, said to have been handled at Rodimel Fortress. To bury that familiar completely, countless knights were sacrificed.
Black Dragon Hatchling.
A curse dragon crafted from it as material.
🐉 CURSE DRAGON ROAR 🐉 【■■——— ■■■■■■■■■■■—— ■■■■■■■!!!】
It emits a horrific screech.
Sludge pours like rain.
The mucus touching the ground rises as ghouls.
Another calamity has appeared in the north.
3.
⚙ CONTRACT FULFILLMENT ⚙ Fulfill the contract. In an instant, Kyle's body moves on its own.
A 'portion' of the starlight accumulated in the holy sword dwells in Kyle's body. Starlight that even erases shadows accelerates Kyle's flesh beyond limits.
Kwaang!
Kyle kicks off the ground and leaps in.
Ganicardt momentarily loses track of the super-accelerated motion. Planting his foot on the monster's gripped hand, Kyle swings the holy sword with all his might.
Jjee eee eee eek!
The spine encasing the monster's arm writhes.
Unable to withstand the impact, the grip loosens. The seized Raniel falls to the ground, clutching her throat and gasping for breath.
Kwajik!
Then, astride the monster's arm, Kyle swings again. The motion is unrefined. No technique infused. A swing of pure power... yet more potent than ever.
Kaaaaang!
The moment swords clash, Kyle is not repelled as before. Launched into the air, he twists midair, stabbing his sword into the ground to land.
"......"
Ganicardt's glint narrows as it watches Kyle.
In that glint, Raniel glimpses emotion for the first time.
"What I demanded to be shown."
It is fury.
"Was a swordsman's pride, slave of the stars."
Shadows boil from the Sword of Death's body.
Pointing at Kyle's eyes beyond the evaporating sludge, Ganicardt glares. No platinum halo in those eyes. No will sensed.
"An insult."
Ganicardt growls in a boiling voice, pointing at Kyle's hollow eyes.
"A sword without will holds no pride. I did not come here to face a puppet."
Ganicardt discards its sword.
It grips with the right hand, not the left. At that instant, the receding shadows surge madly. The surged shadows fill the holes in the sword completely, forming a perfect blade.
Ganicardt no longer looks at Kyle.
That eerie glint turns to the star afloat above, reflected in the clear sky. Toward the star mirrored in the blue sky, Ganicardt swings.
"Begone."
Ganicardt swings.
Jjeok.
The blue sky fractures.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇