Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: 48. Tournament (3)
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Sparrow snorted derisively.
"Ha! You want me to teach you our family's secret technique, One-Point Kill? If this was meant to be a joke, it worked."
"Sparrow Apache, there's one fact you don't know."
"Not interested..."
"I'm a disciple of Master Jackson Apache's teacher."
At those words, Jared glanced at Yuri.
He'd felt the same way when Yuri had wormed his way in as Moyong Chan's disciple. His liege, the Third Prince, had no scruples when it came to master-disciple relationships.
If it suited him, he'd become anyone's student, squeeze out every last drop of knowledge, and move on.
"Well..."
Ignoring his gaze, Yuri spoke with even greater conviction shining in his eyes.
"I've read the secret manual 'One-Point Kill,' handwritten by Master Jackson Apache himself."
"Pardon?"
Sparrow's eyes widened.
"It's been lost to time, called a phantom tome in our family. How could you possibly..."
"I don't know the reason. But I did read it."
"Hard to believe. Then let me ask you one thing."
Sparrow's eyes darted about furiously, as if recalling something.
"How does the book end?"
"The end? Hahaha..."
Yuri burst out laughing.
That abrupt cutoff at the climax still irritated him to this day.
Staring straight at Sparrow, Yuri emphasized his words as if interrogating a criminal.
"I completed One-Point Kill, but there's no space left, so I won't write it here."
"Ooh..."
An unexpected reaction. Yuri had thought he might not believe it, but Sparrow's face lit up as he grabbed Yuri's hand.
"That's the book."
"You said you hadn't read it."
"The final line has been passed down in the family."
"That so? Why?"
"Ancestor Jackson left this will. Ah, right before he passed..."
Sparrow hiked up his shirt again and pointed to a spot on his belly.
"The ancestor had a bad liver right here, and that's what killed him."
"Do you really need to bare your stomach every time?"
"To explain the organ's position..."
Then he grew serious again.
"He said he'd made one mistake in his life. If anyone who read One-Point Kill ever came, teach it to them..."
"No need for the impersonation..."
Yuri tilted his head.
"But what does that mean? Teach it to whoever read One-Point Kill?"
"Because the book was a scam."
Yuri nearly slapped Sparrow without thinking.
"What are you talking about?"
"Our ancestor was in dire straits back then, so he wrote the book before finishing One-Point Kill and sold it to some gullible noble. The 'no space left' bit was a lie—it was just as far as he'd gotten."
"Should I kill you...?"
"But feeling guilty, the ancestor later left a will: if anyone who read that book shows up, teach them One-Point Kill."
"I see."
At this point, even One-Point Kill itself seemed like a scam, but Sparrow's eyes were already gleaming.
"Fine. I'll teach you."
"Don't act all magnanimous."
"Yes, sir..."
Baring his belly confidently, Sparrow grinned.
"Let's go right now. First, I'll see how much you've grasped of One-Point Kill, Your Highness."
"Hold on."
Yuri put on a shrewd merchant's face, demanding to see the goods before the deal.
"Show me your One-Point Kill first."
"Heavens, are you doubting me?"
"Yes."
"Honest. I like that."
Sparrow sauntered over and picked up a wooden sword from the corner of the training hall.
The swordsmanship guild members promptly cleared space for him.
Their movements were crisp and orderly—Sparrow seemed well-respected in the guild.
"It pierces everything in a single point. That's the intent behind this technique."
"Sounds promising."
"The key is will."
Sparrow began circulating his Mana Circulation Method.
Yuri responded by invoking Heart-Soul Severing, entering a black-and-white world drained of color. He'd decided to call this state the 'Realm of Heart and Soul.'
Forms gradually faded, and shades of light and dark began composing the world.
Within the silhouette presumed to be Sparrow, he could see the paths of mana flow.
"Fill your body and mana with the image of destroying a single point. It's not about a line. It's a point. Piercing one single point."
His sword began to blur.
Yuri checked it in both the outside world and the Realm of Heart and Soul. Same in both. The sword's form was genuinely hazy.
And then, pop.
A small sound rang out.
Yuri's eyes widened.
On the wall Sparrow had faced, a sword mark remained.
The distance between him and the wall would've taken several leaps to cross.
It wasn't sword aura projected or extended.
He'd literally pierced through space to that one point.
"This is..."
Yuri looked at Sparrow in astonishment.
His exposed belly no longer seemed odd.
"Most swordsmen wouldn't even know what happened, but Your Highness saw it. Impressive. Hahaha..."
Sparrow laughed heartily as he lowered his shirt.
His sturdy gut and proud navel vanished back into his clothes.
Yuri felt an odd twinge of regret and, surprised at himself, placed a hand on his chest.
"That surprised you, huh?"
"Yeah. It looks different now, Sparrow."
"I get that a lot. The more you know, the finer the man I become."
Sparrow puffed out his chest and asked,
"So, want to learn it?"
Yuri left the Imperial Capital with Jared and practiced One-Point Kill in an open field where the city walls were visible in the distance.
Jared just couldn't get it.
"Isn't this a scam? What even is it?"
He kept stabbing at empty air, but nothing happened.
"One-Point Kill or whatever, I don't get it."
But Yuri was different.
From his perspective, able to see mana flows, Sparrow's One-Point Kill was like a mutant technique.
Sparrow's Mana Circulation Method wasn't exceptional, nor was his sword enlightenment profound.
But he'd awakened the precise sense needed for One-Point Kill.
One-Point Kill touched the world's hidden secrets, still unexplored.
"Found an unexpected connection."
Yuri murmured.
One-Point Kill connected to the 'chaos' power he'd used on Moyong Chan.
Where his former self had collapsed fractals to shatter world laws, One-Point Kill induced space-transcending phenomena in the immeasurably microscopic realm.
It harnessed chaos in the tiniest world.
Probably discovered by accident. Or perhaps Jackson's obsessive fixation.
Either way, it birthed this wondrous technique: One-Point Kill.
"Yuri-Style Second Form complete."
"Oh, another one besides the Whirling Tempest Blade? What's this?"
"One-Point Kill."
"Pardon?"
Jared made a weird face—the same one from when Yuri had bluffed about being Jackson's disciple.
"That expression's annoying."
"It's Sparrow's technique, calling it Yuri-Style feels..."
"Am I famous, or is he?"
"Well, you're the prince..."
"Then it's mine."
"Ah..."
"If anyone asks, just say I learned it from Sparrow."
"Yes, sir."
"And the One-Point Kill I'll use will be different."
Sparrow wasn't outstanding in swordsmanship overall. He'd honed just this one technique to the extreme.
Thus, it was inefficient beyond the space-piercing effect.
But Yuri was different.
His mana sensitivity was exceptional, he'd mastered the outstanding Mana Circulation Method Heart-Soul Severing, and his sword enlightenment was deepening.
One-Point Kill in his hands would no longer be mere One-Point Kill.
"Hmm..."
Yuri eyed Jared.
"Yes?"
"You tired?"
"Of course not."
"Can you use One-Point Kill?"
"Honestly, I don't really understand..."
"Fine. Just fight normally."
"Yes?"
"Looks like a practice partner showed up."
Yuri glanced around. Jared finally noticed the anomaly too and hardened his expression.
Killing intent hung in the air.
An ambush right after leaving the capital—they'd clearly been waiting for this chance.
Yuri curled his lips.
"The capital was too crowded and stifling. Now I can cut loose."
"Seems like a lot..."
"More targets mean more practice."
The figures that appeared were a group of masked black-clad assailants.
"Aren't those the ones from before?"
"Looks like it."
Same attire as Hasan had worn.
Hasan didn't know Yuri had tracked him. Nor that Yuri had caught on to the link between the Crown Prince and the drugs.
"Did digging into their backsides piss them off?"
"Nah. This is just..."
There weren't many reasons for them to target Yuri specifically.
"Probably annoyed that I've been saving people left and right."
Yuri symbolized the war on drugs in the capital. After shoving Gott into rehab, he'd worked with the temples to drive out narcotics.
The capital had grown healthier for it—but that wasn't what the Crown Prince wanted.
"Perfect. Makes it clearer the Crown Prince is behind this."
"Indeed."
"Jared."
"Yes."
"Don't get embarrassed."
"Your Highness, what do you take me for?"
The two advanced toward the black-clad group instead.
The assailants hesitated briefly before spreading out calmly to encircle them. About twenty in total.
"Ten each."
"That's a lot."
"Scared?"
"A bit..."
Even as they bantered lightly, the black-clad foes stayed silent.
Yuri called out,
"Hey, you shadowy blobs."
Jared freaked out.
"Isn't that term ancient?"
"Shadowy blobs?"
"Yes."
"Fine..."
Yuri switched.
"Children of darkness."
"Hm..."
"That bad too?"
"Yes."
"Whatever. You bastards."
Yuri slung Guilty over his shoulder and said,
"Not gonna talk?"
"..."
"Here to kill me? Nah? You wouldn't try to assassinate Brioll's Third Prince, right?"
"..."
"Huh, for real? These guys got balls."
Yuri pointed Guilty at the strongest-looking one.
"But what if you all end up dead instead? Tell me why you're attacking, so I can think, 'Oops, my bad. Gotta keep my head down around random folks in the capital from now on, or I'll get jumped again.' Right?"
The black-clad exchanged glances. Convinced by his logic.
The apparent leader spoke to Yuri.
"Drugs."
"Drugs? I hate that stuff."
"Don't interfere."
"Aha, so you're the dealers?"
Yuri feigned ignorance.
"Where'd you scum crawl from? Messing up the capital—are you foreign spies? Or some gang?"
The black-clad said no more. At his subtle signal, the rest charged Yuri and Jared en masse.
Twenty assassins flying in from all sides felt like a black wall crashing down.
Yuri thrust his sword.
"One-Point Kill."
But it didn't go as planned.
"Gah!"
It barely grazed one's thigh.
But that sufficed.
The precisely aligned charge collapsed like dominoes as one fell.
One tripped awkwardly and rolled right to Yuri's feet.
Guilty plunged into his skull.
The cranium shattered; as Guilty withdrew, brains splattered out.
Yuri wiped the blood from his face with his gauntlet and smirked.
"Picked the wrong guy to mess with, huh?"
The regrouping black-clad's eyes filled with a new emotion.
Yuri advanced.
"Haven't seen blood in a while. This is fun."
At the leader's signal, three rushed Yuri this time.
They surrounded him, stabbing from three directions simultaneously. Yuri blocked one, dodged another.
The last he clamped between arm and side.
Pulling his sword yanked the foe off-balance; Yuri severed his neck with Guilty. Blood gushed from the stump.
Yuri hurled the corpse at one attacker, then smashed down on the remaining one.
The black-clad parried with his sword, but Guilty shattered the blade and bisected him.
The body split cleanly in half.
"Don't run."
Yuri laughed as he stabbed the retreating one in the back.
"It's just getting interesting."