Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 044
Chapter Title: Fierce Training, Graveyard of the Beacon Keeper (4)
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7.
The training proceeded in both directions.
One.
Training in the use of 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》.
Two.
Training in the use of 《Divine Dawn Sword》.
It was a rough but impressive curriculum.
It was training to master the inherent power of the Dawn Sword while simultaneously honing the use of humanity.
《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》 controls space-time with the power of humanity.
《Divine Dawn Sword》 converts the power of humanity into overwhelming force and explodes it.
“One hour on the cliff, one hour smashing rocks. Let’s keep rotating like that without any rest time.”
The 《Divine Dawn Sword》 training was like this. Shorten the time from liberation to thrust to the minimum.
Once finished, release the invocation and repeat from stage one.
“You need to increase the power. The key is to concentrate your humanity as much as possible when liberating.”
The 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》 training……
I fell off the cliff so many times. It was because of my impatience to do it quickly.
“Impatience causes errors in [space-time control]. You must keep training until you can remain calm and bold in any situation.”
Of course, falling didn’t mean death. Just when I felt swept up in the powerless sense of falling, my body would suddenly teleport back to the cliff.
That was all thanks to him.
He was always watching over me.
From minor mistakes to major ones, he corrected them with meticulous care and kindness.
His advice was generous and kind.
Baek Hyeon-jong at DMC Station told me that I carried the scent of the pre-destruction world.
I smelled that scent from the [Master of the Broken Dawn].
From the first day, the training was relentlessly harsh, but somehow, I had come to genuinely respect him.
And so the training continued.
One hour. Ten hours. Nineteen hours. Thirty-two hours. Forty-five hours.
And finally, forty-eight hours.
In other words, when the two days were up, the training results were clearly evident.
Humanity.
I could use it continuously four times without a headache.
《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》.
Two seconds of perceived time was enough to cross to the opposite cliff (he said it should be done in 0.5 seconds).
《Divine Dawn Sword》.
I could crack the entire rock (shattering it like he did seemed impossible even after a year).
I naturally assumed he would test the training results.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he took me back to the Twilight Wasteland and suddenly asked.
“Do you know what’s most important in combat?”
“……?”
“Imagination.”
Stamina or muscle strength.
Not even swordsmanship?
“It’s natural that you don’t understand right away. Kim Baek-jun, you’ve only relied on combat memories and charged ahead recklessly.”
I couldn’t argue.
But how could I help it when my combat memories were superior to my actual combat ability?
“That’s not how it should be. As I said, combat memories are just instincts or habits at best. They’re nothing more than pulling out the most familiar response instinctively when an attack like A comes.”
That was…… certainly true.
Even during special forces combat training, we were taught to instinctively pull out countermeasures to attacks.
“First, imagine the opponent’s combat style from external factors like their weapon and physique.”
He walked toward one grave.
It was a grave with a worn, rusted scythe stuck in it mournfully.
Just like the Dawn Sword.
“All the weapons in the Graveyard of the Beacon Keeper are another form of the Dawn Sword.”
Tap. He picked it up and pulled it out.
The scythe elegantly emitted moonlight in all directions.
“The hundred weapons here will give you astronomical amounts of combat experience.”
In that instant.
I only saw footprints dug into the ground. Then, an enormous killing intent exploded behind my back.
Chilling.
I turned around─ and a dazzling blade edge was rushing at me.
What was this overwhelming speed?
By a hair. By a hair’s breadth.
I barely dodged by rolling backward. As I stood up using a tumble and gasped for breath, my neck was suddenly grazed, and blood seeped out belatedly.
“Did you imagine powerful strength-based attacks because it’s a scythe?”
“……Yes.”
“But you just confirmed that your imagination and reality didn’t match.”
I nodded, and he slung the scythe over his shoulder.
“That’s it. Against an unfamiliar enemy, engage primarily with evasion while revising and supplementing your imagination and judgment.”
“Wait. What’s the point of imagination, exactly?”
Like a shot.
He rushed right up to my face in one bound.
──Tsiing!
I barely, really barely raised the Dawn Sword to block.
The moonlight edge and the dawn blade scraped, sparking a metallic sound.
“To draw up a blueprint. A blueprint to subdue the opponent.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand.”
──Kang!
As soon as the scythe blade knocked my sword aside.
I spun to the side to create distance.
“Think and predict. Didn’t I start with a rear attack earlier?”
“……!”
“If I try that attack again, how would you respond?”
……Response?
“Did you think about how to pierce my guard in that case? And further, what action would make the opponent repeat that attack?”
“……Create distance?”
“Yes. That’s imagination.”
He pointed at me with the moonlight scythe.
“As an example, I’ll tell you my blueprint. Right after I finish speaking, I’ll take your back.”
“……!”
“If you dodge backward? I’ll throw the scythe that way. If you dodge to the side, I’ll immediately sweep horizontally.”
If an unexpected counter comes?
Then I’ll retreat just half a step to gauge the momentum.
“Think of countermeasures for 5 seconds.”
That’s what he said.
And five seconds later, he did exactly as he said.
I barely, in a split second, dodged the charging scythe.
As I rolled backward, the scythe flew sharply, and I raised my blade to knock it away.
The scythe, soaring into the air, embedded into the ground.
“Haa…… haa…….”
My breathing was labored.
Good thing I heard the blueprint first.
If I hadn’t…… one part of my body would’ve been severed.
“Did you at least vaguely think of countermeasures during those 5 seconds?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. That’s the beginning of incorporating imagination into combat.”
Imagination.
My hand gripping the hilt trembled with thrill. Not fear, but awe.
I hadn’t known. I’d fought without knowing something so simple.
So that’s how it’s used. You have to calculate multiple moves in every instant.
What a valuable lesson.
Even as a special forces alum, I’d never had a chance to learn close-quarters combat this in-depth. And it wasn’t even normal close-quarters to begin with.
“Now we’ll conduct the passing exam for the second and final lessons simultaneously.”
“……!”
“That is, landing a single blow on me, even once.”
Once.
Just once.
And yet, I truly had no confidence.
This was the man who sliced Cha-Ratevil with 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》 and shattered rocks with 《Divine Dawn Sword》.
“You’d better stay alert. Passing this lesson requires two kinds of judgment.”
Two kinds?
He raised one finger on his left hand.
“First, the judgment to maintain humanity during combat, and to use 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》 and 《Divine Dawn Sword》 appropriately for the situation.”
Then he raised a second finger.
“And the judgment to simultaneously perform combat imagination and combat execution.”
“……!”
“This is real combat, training, and an exam. All the results will form the foundation of your future battles.”
Real combat.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
My lips trembled. For some reason, a smile formed. Maybe because the training results seemed so immense.
“I’ll do it. I’ll try.”
“You have 26 days left. You need to be able to take me down within that time.”
He swung the scythe through the air with a whoosh. Fantastical moonlight unfurled into a rainbow along its trajectory in the sky.
“On the final day, I’ll take the exam with the resolve to kill you as well.”
8.
One day. One day. And another day.
The fierce sword dance in the Twilight Graveyard continued endlessly.
I fought, fell, and rose again.
Even after fighting so desperately.
My blade couldn’t even graze the hem of his clothes.
It felt like a cliff loomed before my eyes. A frightening realization came. My growth had stopped.
9.
Tenth day of real combat training.
──Tsiing!
Blades clashing in midair.
Kikikik…… As it entered a contest of strength, my wrist screamed in agony.
……Damn it.
As expected, I can’t match him in raw power.
Regroup first.
In an instant, I used 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》. I retreated one step to a point about 20 meters back.
My form shifted there momentarily. I recombined the twin swords, and knelt on one knee as if collapsing.
“What have I been telling you all this time?”
Instead of an attack, advice flew at me.
“The opponent thinks too. If you’re going to bait a feigned fall, you need to be more precise. Who would fall for that?”
It was…… seen through immediately.
“What did you learn fighting those two subordinates? Didn’t you realize the enemy is more cunning than you?”
I felt it.
Felt it down to my bones.
“Didn’t you even think to observe and learn from it?”
“…….”
“That’s why you lost. If you don’t fix that carelessness, you’ll lose again! And lose everything again!”
I gritted my teeth.
Raised my sword and imagined the battle anew. What momentum to take this time. How to respond then.
In that interval, he stepped forward.
In that moment.
His form vanished from my sight, then suddenly appeared before my eyes.
“You haven’t made a single thing your own.”
The trajectory of my pounding heart.
The moonlight scythe rushed in with the momentum to sever my neck.
──Tsiing!
I barely blocked, but that was it.
He pressed down with raw power and continued.
“You still haven’t drawn a single blueprint. Your physical abilities are sluggish. Even your skills are feeble.”
Kang! Kang! Kang!
Relentless consecutive strikes poured in.
“In this immature state, what do you think you can do?! In that hellish nightmare?!”
I barely parried while retreating one step, one step.
“You have to become like me! As naturally as breathing! You must dominate every power of the Dawn Sword!”
“I know……!”
While imagining.
Executing the ever-changing battle moment by moment was truly difficult.
“I know, I’m trying, I’m working hard, but it’s not that easy!”
“Are you throwing a tantrum like a child!”
The scythe whipped toward me again.
I barely knocked it aside, and kagagagak── sparks flew as metal ground against metal.
“Instead of making excuses, observe, memorize, absorb, and engrave it into your body and mind! As much as possible. As quickly as possible.”
I retreated in an instant and pulled the Dawn Sword to my waist.
The moment the scythe charged straight in.
I stabbed fiercely, blood coating the blade.
《Divine Dawn Sword》.
A crimson wedge swirled forward. Naturally, he didn’t fall for it easily.
──Swirl.
His form scattered like a mirage. In an instant, he took my back, grabbed my head, tripped my foot, and slammed my body to the ground.
“The enemy won’t wait! They won’t show mercy! How long will you swing that immature sword?”
“I told you I’m trying!”
I sprang up and created distance first.
“I’m trying my ass off, trying again and again. But it’s not working. It’s not. If I had more time─”
“─How long will you make excuses about lacking time? Even in front of your dead comrades’ corpses? Even before the completely destroyed world?”
His words choked me.
He tossed the scythe into the air. Then he drew a bizarre sword from a nearby grave.
A blade like a fish spine…… Is that a serpentine sword?
“What the hell have you been doing these past ten days?”
──Shriririk!
The blade curved like a snake.
As it curved, it struck toward my temple at invisible speed.
Shwaaaak──
I raised my sword belatedly, but too late. The rugged blade tore across my face.
Sharp pain.
A thick metallic taste filled my mouth……
……Puk!
The moment my eyes were blinded by pain.
A kick slammed into my abdomen, deeply crushing my lungs.
“Kr…… Heuk!”
I flew through the air for a while.
Rolled across the dirt for a while, and only after sprawling on the ground did my blocked breath finally escape.
How…… how do you beat a monster like that?
In that instant, the pain vanished.
Proof that the wound had already healed.
Physical fatigue disappeared too. But…… mental fatigue from tension didn’t recover.
It piled up and up, leaving my mental state in utter ruin now.
“Are you going to give up like this?”
Give up?
No, never.
With a shout, I punched the ground. Used my sword as a cane to lift my heavy body.
“Who said I’m giving up……!”
No time to whimper about how hard it is.
I have to learn and advance with full power. This tuition is none other than the price of Kim Gye-sang’s life.
────Swiriririk!
The serpentine sword flew at me again. I couldn’t see it like before.
By the time I sensed the strike from the sound, the sky filled my vision.
Ah.
My legs had been severed.
The realization hit before the pain, that only my upper body lay sprawled on the ground.
“Your concentration has slipped now too.”
I had no retort. He sighed softly.
“You’ve been fighting nonstop for ten days…… Fine. Take two hours’ rest. Review the battles so far.”
It was probably my 768th defeat.