Chapter 217
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Time for Some Cleaning First.
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"Personally, I think 'intuition' or 'hunch' fits better than 'foresight.'"
Foresight meant reading the future.
In that sense, Rimon was definitely not a foresight user.
He'd never seen the future.
But what if the latent dragon psyonic subtly influenced his senses?
Not enough for conscious future-reading, but sharpening his 'intuition' that pierced the essence of things and his instinctive 'hunch' to a razor's edge?
'My god.'
Rose felt chills run down her spine.
How Rimon had thwarted the Seven Dragon Society's plans multiple times without any clues.
Li Chingwei's theory made it all make sense.
A Sword Master with superhuman senses and transcendent intuition was, in some ways, more terrifying than any foresight user.
Especially if that Sword Master could slice through even the future itself.
'You can't escape from a Sword Master... That's what it meant?'
At the same time, Rose recalled the famous anecdote about Rimon.
Chasing a demon around the Earth thirty-seven times before finally slaying it—a feat where no enemy ever escaped.
Could even the Blue Dragon Clan, who transcended space, truly evade him through sheer power alone?
No matter when, where, or how they hid and fled, he always tracked them down. Wasn't it because of his transcendent intuition?
The more she thought about it, the more convincing Li Chingwei's argument felt—but Rose shook her head moments later.
"But Li Chingwei, your logic has a flaw."
"You're talking about how the Sword Duke's dragon psyonic could manifest, right?"
"Exactly."
According to Li Chingwei's theory, Rimon could never awaken his dragon psyonic without abandoning the sword intent of the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
A flower couldn't bloom trapped in ice.
"Yes, normally that would be impossible. If not for those three coincidental factors aligning."
But Li Chingwei calmly countered.
Like a millennium flower blooming after a thousand years of dormancy, if the conditions were right, even a glacier—not just a snow mountain—could nurture a bloom.
"...What factors?"
"First, the Sword Duke accepted my marriage proposal."
It sounded like a joke, but Rose took it seriously.
Rimon, who had opposed the Seven Dragon Society for nearly a millennium, accepting their princess as his fiancée.
That decision alone had created room for change in the Dragon-Slaying Sword's intent, which pitted dragon and psyonic against each other.
"The second is with the violin."
"That divine artifact capable of interfering with constellation power."
"Yes. I suspect it influenced the essence of the psyonic dormant within the Sword Duke."
Rose nodded after a brief silence.
She had heard about the Seven Arcs while planning to capture Rimon and the Liberation Brigade's wraiths.
Though its true nature remained unclear, an artifact that affected constellation power could certainly impact psyonic essence.
"And the third lies in the Sword Duke's musical talent."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
This time, even Rose couldn't hide her bewilderment.
She knew Rimon's playing was exceptional, but she couldn't fathom why it came up here.
Yet Li Chingwei added an even more outlandish tale.
"Do you know how much effort our ancestors put into creating the Seventy-Two Martial Styles?"
"Of course I do."
"It must have been incredibly difficult. Turning psyonic they wielded as naturally as breathing into martial arts humans could learn."
"What does that have to do with—"
Rose trailed off.
Seeing Li Chingwei's enigmatic smile sparked a sudden realization.
'...No way?'
"Rose, psyonic can be integrated into martial arts."
Li Chingwei finally hit the nail on the head.
She added with a meaningful smile,
"So, could it truly not be integrated into music?"
Rose was stunned as Li Chingwei casually proposed the very suspicion she'd dismissed the moment it crossed her mind.
"You're saying the Sword Duke... created a new Seventy-Two Martial Style?"
"Who knows. Whether to call it the seventy-third style or the first Sword Duke Style, I'm not sure."
"Impossible."
Rose denied it reflexively.
But Li Chingwei denied her denial.
"Why not? Styles like Dragon Throat Chant Style exist."
"Creating the Seventy-Two was possible only because our psyonic-mastered ancestors did it."
"Instead, the Sword Duke knows the Seventy-Two better than anyone in the Seven Dragon Society—perhaps better than us in some ways."
Rimon Asfelder.
The arch-nemesis who had fought the Seven Dragon Society more than anyone and studied them deeply.
His understanding of the Seventy-Two Styles rivaled any senior practitioner.
No—surpassing even the seven princesses, as he'd analyzed nearly all and devised counters.
In theoretical terms, Rimon was the foremost expert on the Seventy-Two Martial Styles.
"Do you really think it's impossible for such a Sword Duke to instinctively master controlling and manifesting psyonic essence?"
Boom!
It happened in an instant.
The goat-headed demon's eyes flashed, and in that moment, a black vortex swept through Rimon's position.
From walls and floor to the very air.
Anything swallowed was melted into a gooey sludge and transformed into gas.
And the vortex's power made mushrooms and mold sprout instantly wherever the gas spread—a horrifying sight.
"Hm, corrosion magic, huh?"
But even that gruesome power was useless if it didn't connect.
Before the demon could fully form the vortex, Rimon had lightly stepped out of range and tossed his torch into the air.
Then he advanced.
"It's simple, which is nice..."
One step over the vortex.
One step kicking off the inverted ceiling.
And one step drawing his sword like lightning.
Slash!!
In just three steps, Rimon bisected the mountain-sized demon from crown to groin, murmuring softly,
"...but too straightforward."
For a moment, the statue-still demon dripped blood from the fine line etched between its brows.
Then, splitting along that line, it crashed with a heavy thud onto the pile of monster corpses it had been devouring moments before, adding its own flesh.
Yuna Kyung stared blankly before asking hesitantly,
[...Team Leader? What was that just now?]
"What else? Sliced a demon."
[Demons die that easily?]
Yuna Kyung was appalled.
She knew Rimon could slay gods.
But still.
Seeing that fearsome demon die in the blink of an eye shattered her sense of reality.
Rimon answered her calmly.
"No reason to be surprised. Demons are just fallen gods, after all."
[Even fallen, they're not exactly something you just slice...]
Yuna Kyung muttered in disbelief.
Rimon added simply,
"I said I sliced it, not that I killed it."
[What's the difference?!]
"Whether it revives or not."
[Huh?]
Crack.
Perplexed by the random remark, Yuna Kyung whipped her head around—and froze.
The bisected demon corpse.
It liquefied into a murky fluid, seeping into the pile of bodies beneath.
Bones twisted, muscles tore, and flesh ballooned like balloons.
Then—pop—they burst, birthing goat-headed demons.
Each now only two meters tall, but dozens strong—an army of demons.
The revived demons' eyes gleamed again, unleashing black vortices at Rimon...
"Demon-Slaying Dragon-Slaying Sword Ultimate Art"
"斬魔龍殺劍 絶藝"
"Slicing the moon's reflection on still water to make flowers bloom"
⟨ Cut Water Moon Bloom Fragrance ⟩
One demon's throat sliced.
A blade plunged into another's heart.
Like a mirror image shattering, dozens of demons' heads flew off in unison, chests gushing blood as they collapsed.
Only then did Rimon sheathe his sword, pick up the rolling torch, and say calmly,
"Now it's really dead."
[...No revival?]
"Not for a while, at least. Thought I'd have to kill it two or three more times, but looks like the idiot princess handled a few rounds already."
[Why the disappointed look?]
To the hesitant Yuna Kyung, Rimon replied nonchalantly,
"Wasted potential. Good punching bags like this are rare these days."
[Demons are punching bags?!]
"Not many have the grit to come back at you after dying."
[Reviving isn't grit!]
"In Tartarus, it is."
Rimon said matter-of-factly.
A place where imprisoned sinners turned monstrous by curses.
Dead or forgotten gods revived as demons to serve as guards.
Thus, unless the entire underground labyrinth collapsed, this demon would revive someday.
Just that it would take centuries.
[...No actual dungeon here.]
"If anything, this is the original dungeon. Hidden rewards are cursed treasures, and level 100 demons pop out from the entrance."
[That's a dungeon? Instant-death trap!]
"Obviously. Labyrinths are built to kill intruders."
Rimon chuckled.
To modern players used to dungeons, this might seem bizarre.
But to Rimon, modern dungeons—weak mobs in sequence, packed with treasures—were the real mystery.
Fine in a game.
But steadily leveling up while looting massive treasures? Such convenience didn't exist in reality.
Shaking her head at Rimon's words, Yuna Kyung muttered,
[Why would the White Dragon Princess come here?]
"Who knows. I have a few guesses."
[Like what?]
"Told you, this is the Divine Alliance's dump. If the idiot princess came here on purpose, she had business with the trash."
[...You're not saying she's scavenging, right?]
"Of course not."
Rimon shook his head.
Gazing down the passage, he continued,
"Anyway, time for some cleaning first."
[Cleaning?]
Perplexed, Yuna Kyung suddenly fell silent.
The passage Rimon eyed.
Amid the thick demonic aura wafting from the darkness, she belatedly spotted the gleaming eyes watching them.
...Seven pairs of malevolent glares.
With Yuna Kyung stiff on his shoulder, Rimon drew his sword again and murmured,
"No shortage of punching bags."