Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Clash with the Sword Master
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Lately, he couldn't figure out why these monsters kept appearing one after another.
Of course, the most recent one could be called Dianal, but hadn't Lian fought enemies who could wield aura in every single battle?
But this time, the feeling was a little different.
The moment their eyes met, Lian's breath caught in his throat, and he felt an overwhelming pressure as if someone were crushing his shoulders.
Drip.
A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek and gathered at his chin.
'Of all times... why now.'
Just a little further, and he'd reach Kurtein.
Moreover, thanks to his recent spear training, he had become proficient with the spear, but Lian was strongest when using his bow.
The problem was that he only had a few arrows left.
'Three... four...'
He carefully counted the arrows in the quiver at his waist with his fingers.
He only had four arrows in total.
He didn't know what situation the battle might unfold in, so Lian bit his lip hard, cursing his own inadequacy.
But regrets always came too late, no matter how quickly they arrived.
Swish.
Lian turned his gaze to the coachman trembling atop the carriage.
He had calmed the horses, but the appearance of this superhuman beyond norms had him shaking violently.
Seeing the man with his mouth covered, not making a sound, Lian looked back at the man in front of him.
'I need to move the location first.'
If they fought here, the coachman was as good as dead.
Lian asked the man,
"Your target is me, right?"
"If you offer your neck willingly, I won't kill you."
"What bullshit!"
Lian quickly drew an arrow, nocked it, and aimed at him.
It had been about a month since he last used his bow, but the motion was as smooth and natural as flowing water.
Shiiiiek-!
The arrow left the string in an instant and flew toward the man. But—thwack!
The man swatted it away as if it were nothing. And at that moment—tatadak!
Lian, who had fired the arrow, spun around and started running.
In the opposite direction from the man.
Pabat-!
Lian ran to put as much distance as possible between him and the man.
The man who had deflected the arrow soon gave chase.
'Fast...!'
As the man kicked off the ground and pursued, the gap that had opened quickly began to close.
Lian's brow furrowed at the man's speed, which was beyond expectations.
'I thought my speed was unmatched by most...'
This was just arrogance on his part.
Lian clicked his tongue.
"Tch-!"
Then, he abruptly changed direction and leaped into the dense underbrush below the mountain path.
There was no path, so the bushes were thick, and protruding tree branches became obstacles.
Lian deftly avoided them as he moved.
To fight a strong opponent, he had to create some kind of irregular situation no matter what.
Besides, rugged mountain paths like this were practically Lian's stage.
Pababat!
Lian dove into the thick foliage and quickly concealed himself.
'Absolutely no frontal assault.'
At the very least, this guy was on par with Dianal. No, perhaps...
'He might even be stronger than Dianal.'
The aura emanating from his body couldn't be easily hidden.
Moreover, the man wasn't even trying to hide it, and that presence was on a level incomparable to anyone Lian had faced so far.
Thanks to his recent sparring with Dianal, he had grown accustomed to fighting the strong, but precisely because of that, he could make an accurate judgment of the situation.
'I need to exploit an opening and end it in one shot.'
Even if he couldn't kill him, he had to at least inflict a wound.
This was someone who had come for his life.
If he couldn't kill, he'd be the one killed.
Tadak-!
Crossing his arms in an X shape to leap over branches and bushes, Lian spotted an old tree ahead and jumped from the ground.
He grabbed a branch of the old tree in an instant and used the momentum to climb up.
Tadak! Tak! Pabat!
In a flash, having climbed higher, Lian hid behind a thick trunk and drew an arrow.
"Huu, huu, huu."
Breathing heavily, he quickly steadied his ragged breaths. Then, nocking the arrow, he drew up his mana.
'Where is he...?'
Lian immediately infused mana into his ring, activating his senses.
His senses sharpened instantly, and he amplified his hearing even further.
Pababababat-!
The clear sounds reached him.
Even without seeing, he could pinpoint the man's position from the sound of him stepping on branches as he ran.
And as Lian drew the bowstring, he turned his body.
At the tip of the arrow he aimed precisely, the man's figure appeared.
'This one will be different!'
Pat-!
Swooooosh!
Lian's arrow tore through the wind toward the charging man's chest.
Surprised by the sudden arrow, the man abruptly halted and swung his sword.
Clang-!
The arrow ricocheted off the sword and fell limply to the ground.
"Damn it."
It was a solid ambush attack, but apparently not enough for the man.
Lian spat a curse and grabbed another arrow.
Now, only two arrows remained.
At that moment,
"So this is the grave you chose for yourself."
"Assassins must all be this talkative, huh?"
As Lian tried to nock and draw another arrow,
Woooong-!
The aura cloaking the man's sword vibrated strongly and amplified, then—boom!
The sword he swung struck the tree Lian had climbed.
It was a massive tree over a meter thick at the base. But—crack! Rumble!
With a single swing of a sword—not even an axe—the tree shattered and began to collapse.
Lian's body swayed violently for a moment.
He hadn't expected the man to destroy the tree.
'Crazy...!'
But regaining his balance, Lian leaped from the tree, rolling on the ground to land.
"Goddamn it!"
Lian quickly rose and looked toward where the man had been.
"If that's all you've got, you're dead."
The man, now right above him, swung his sword at Lian.
Lian gritted his teeth at the overwhelming power in the man's strike and threw himself sideways.
Kwaang-!
A massive explosion erupted where his sword hit, sending dirt and shattered stones flying everywhere.
Lian raised his arms to block the debris, then quickly retreated while eyeing the man.
'That guy's... an assassin?'
The skill gap was so vast that no trick could bridge it.
More puzzling was the man's fighting style.
Lian had faced death countless times, but he couldn't shake off that strange familiarity.
'How...'
He didn't know much about assassins.
But in his past life as a soldier, he had once wiped out an entire assassin group.
So he had some knowledge of how those who made assassination their trade fought.
Considering that, the man before him felt utterly incongruous.
He hadn't crossed swords many times, but there was an oddly familiar sensation.
'It feels just like...'
The swordsmanship of the kingdom.
At that moment, Lian's eyes trembled.
"No way...?"
Had the second prince sent someone?
Suddenly, memories of what happened in Bieltuna flooded back. And a name surfaced in his mind.
'Kain!'
But he shook his head.
He was supposed to be a dark sorcerer.
An exceptional sorcerer could wield swordsmanship of considerable skill, but this was beyond common sense.
That left only one possibility.
'Does the second prince's side have a master-class dark sorcerer and a monster like this together...?'
Lian swallowed hard.
He wondered if he had unwittingly gotten involved in the political struggle.
Crunch.
But for now...
"I've got to survive."
Pabat-!
It didn't matter if it was pathetic.
No flair, but he'd find a way to live.
Anything was better than dying.
Tadatadatadak!
Without looking back, Lian fled to widen the distance from the man. The man furrowed his brow slightly the moment Lian bolted.
"Is running the only thing you know how to do?!"
His voice carried anger.
Soon, he kicked off the ground and charged after Lian.
Boom!
Immense explosive power.
As if he'd been holding back until now, the man's movements far surpassed those of any beast.
Swoooosh!
Bushes or branches—none of it hindered him.
Catching up to Lian in an instant, the man raised his sword.
"If that's all you can do, there's nothing more to see."
He swung at Lian.
"Just die."
"Who says?"
Pheet-!
Whoosh-!
The man's eyes wavered for the first time as Lian vanished from his sight.
It wasn't just fast movement.
If it were, he would have noticed.
It was as if he had truly disappeared. But...
"......!"
The terror of death loomed right behind him.
Turning his head, he saw Lian charging with a long spear glowing blue.
"Uwaaaaaah-!"
How...?
What was that spear, and how could he move like this?
But there was no time to resolve his doubts.
"Dieeee-!"
Woooong!
The aura-infused spear roared as it thrust toward the man's chest.
The man hurriedly raised his sword to block, but—
Kwaang-!
With a deafening roar, the man's body was hurled backward.
He nearly tumbled, losing balance completely, but—
Shrrrk-!
Bracing with his left hand on the ground, he halted his slide.
And the moment the man was flung back, Lian grabbed his bow again.
Dianal's voice echoed in his mind.
—The fundamental difference between sword qi and sword aura is whether you can project and maintain aura. In other words, to throw a spear or infuse an arrow with aura, you need the 'fixation' technique to maintain the released aura.
Through training with Dianal, Lian could now perfectly handle projection.
Hadn't he wielded aura just moments ago when swinging the spear at the man?
Unfortunately, fixation wasn't mastered yet.
Succeeding once out of ten was about the best he could do.
But...!
Klik.
'I fail now, I'm dead!'
Lian focused all his nerves on the hand gripping the arrow.
His enhanced senses let him feel every single feather on the arrow.
Swoooosh-!
Child Mana Heart Technique drew in the surrounding atmospheric mana into his body.
Woooong-!
The circulated mana flowed through his channels, past his hand, and into the arrow.
Swish.
Lian eyed the man regaining his footing.
Now that the spear was exposed, he couldn't use it anymore.
It had only bought him time with that one surprise attack.
'Fail, and I die.'
So intense was his concentration that his lower lip trembled.
The man, now standing, looked at Lian drawing the bow on him.
"......No way?"
He murmured lowly.
Even as he stared at the arrow aimed at him, he just watched Lian.
Because the aura flowing from his hand into the arrow faintly shimmered blue.
Still imperfect, but that was...
"Die."
With Lian's desperate words, the arrow shot forth.
Zeeeeeeeek-!
As if absorbing the surrounding wind, a fierce gale accompanied the arrow.
The man's eyes widened at the straightforward yet tremendously powerful arrow hurtling toward him.
He gripped his sword with both hands and swung it down from above.
"Hraaap-!"
A short shout.
In that instant, the explosive aura bursting from his sword cared not what lay ahead.
The moment his sword shattered Lian's powerfully infused arrow and struck the ground—Kwaaaaaang-!
A roar like the entire mountain collapsing shook the earth violently.
The sloped path cracked under the vibration, and shattered rock fragments exploded outward like shotgun pellets.
"......Impossible."
It was the first time.
The first perfect arrow he had ever shot.
In the moment it flew, he even thought he might kill the man.
'He was... holding back his power.'
Lian's eyes trembled greatly.
His one and only last chance to kill the man had flown away.
No, perhaps from the start, his odds of victory were 0.0000001%.
It was a fight where his death was guaranteed.
"......Huu."
The man who had swung his sword exhaled softly and looked at Lian.
Who would have thought he'd unleash such an absurd attack.
"......Interesting."
His lips curved slightly beneath the mask.
Seeing the man's gaze, Lian sensed his death.
No matter what he did here, he couldn't win against this man—the helplessness outweighed the fear.
At that moment,
Swish.
The man simply turned and left.
Lian's eyes trembled as the man vanished in an instant.
But more than that,
Thud.
His legs gave out, and Lian collapsed to the ground.
'What? Why didn't he kill me and leave? Wasn't he here to kill me?'
More shocking than that question was something else.
The man's final strike.
That was...
"Sword... Master."
Lian simply stared at the spot where he had departed, unable to believe the situation.