The Lightning Swordsman
"So there was a place like this in the mansion."
It was a dark night.
Following Yu Jin-gwang's guidance, Elsid descended the ladder into the mansion's basement and entered a spacious underground chamber with a wooden floor.
May a healthy mind dwell in a healthy body.
A sheet of fine paper bearing that familiar phrase hung on one wall.
"It's nothing special. I built this space so the children could do some light exercise for their health."
Yu Jin-gwang spoke as he came down the ladder while Elsid was still reading the inscription.
"More importantly, shall we begin right away?"
His body was itching for a fight, so he wanted to start immediately. Even if he didn't show it, he was a born fighter at heart.
"I've always been curious. Just how skilled is the swordsman that blacksmith named Vandel spoke of…?"
Flash.
As proof, Yu Jin-gwang transformed the necklace around his neck—Faker—into a ninety-centimeter-long katana and gripped it in his hand. The scabbard was plain black, without any decoration.
Yu Jin-gwang held the sword with one hand on the hilt and the other on the scabbard, as if embracing it. His eyes had changed.
The man standing before Elsid was no longer the kind uncle who looked after the children. He stood proudly as a swordsman who cut down his enemies.
Elsid took in the sight and felt it.
He's strong, all right.
Now that they faced each other, he could tell. The hairs on his arms stood on end.
That sharp gaze looked as though it could pierce through anything. The atmosphere was completely different from the thugs who only pretended to be swordsmen that Elsid had fought during his days as Luke's trainer—men who couldn't even use aura.
Come to think of it, this is the first time…
Aside from his grandfather, this was the first time he would fight a real swordsman.
Maybe this was the kind of battle he had always wanted—a chance to test his own skill.
An A-rank adventurer was said to be worth an entire squad. Facing Yu Jin-gwang, an A-rank adventurer, was more than enough.
"Well then, are you ready?"
"Of course!"
At Yu Jin-gwang's words, Elsid drew the wooden sword and arming sword from his waist.
Both men shouted boldly as if they would charge at any moment, yet the fight began in unexpected silence.
One minute, two minutes… For several minutes, neither moved. They simply stood facing each other. If there had been spectators, they would have yawned at the dull standoff, but both men kept their guard up, never once letting their tension slip.
In the end, it was Yu Jin-gwang who broke the stalemate and made the first move.
Blue aura began to ripple from his feet.
"Turyeongbo…"
Elsid muttered as he recognized the source of the aura.
Turyeongbo was a technique that gathered aura in the soles of the feet and released it to multiply one's mobility—an ability used by aura swordsmen of the Aura Master rank and above.
"Ah, yes. There is indeed a technique that releases aura from the soles to increase speed."
Seeing it, Elsid realized the swordsman before him possessed strength beyond the Aura Master level.
"But this one is a little different."
Elsid's guess was only half right.
Sparks began to crackle around the aura gathering at Yu Jin-gwang's feet.
"Lightning Aura…"
Yu Jin-gwang leaned forward, knees bent, ready to spring at any moment. One hand gripped the scabbard, the other the hilt.
"Thunder Flash!"
Boom! Flash!
In the next instant, the sound of air bursting and a brilliant flash filled the space, and Yu Jin-gwang vanished.
Clang!
The metallic clash of steel followed the flash.
"Quite the sharp eyes. To predict the attack so quickly…"
When the voice reached him, Yu Jin-gwang's figure, which had disappeared for a moment, reappeared right in front of Elsid.
Having revealed himself, Yu Jin-gwang withdrew his downward strike and stepped back.
"No matter how I looked at it, it only seemed like a technique that draws the sword and swings while charging."
Elsid, who had barely managed to block the iaijutsu with his crossed swords, spoke.
Indeed, in less than a second, a razor-thin exchange had taken place.
Though he spoke calmly, Elsid was struggling. Even though he had predicted the attack, blocking it had been by the narrowest of margins. Without the knowledge of iaijutsu his grandfather had taught him, he would never have anticipated it. If he hadn't predicted it and simply reacted, he wouldn't have been able to respond at all—the match would have ended in a single strike.
Yu Jin-gwang had used his aura technique without holding back from the very start. The current coiling around his legs granted him speed far beyond ordinary Turyeongbo—faster than sound itself. Combined with his iaijutsu, it allowed cuts that surpassed human perception.
So that's Lightning Aura.
That was Yu Jin-gwang's aura technique. Seeing it, Elsid immediately thought of a way to win.
No—more precisely, the only way to win.
"Then it's my turn."
He dashed toward his opponent.
A slash that combined Lightning Aura and iaijutsu moved faster than perception. Reacting after seeing it was impossible. Therefore, before Yu Jin-gwang could use his iaijutsu, Elsid closed the distance and swung both swords without hesitation.
Fast, faster, even faster… He kept swinging.
That was the method Elsid had devised.
Don't give him a chance to counter.
Attack faster than the opponent can use his aura technique, without leaving any opening. It was the simplest, most straightforward solution Elsid could think of.
One, two, three… ten, twenty…
Yet his opponent was an A-rank adventurer whose strength rivaled an entire squad. No matter how quickly Elsid swung, Yu Jin-gwang blocked or dodged every strike and responded appropriately. On the contrary, the relentless swinging gradually slowed Elsid's blade speed. If he tried to regulate his breathing to recover stamina, his sword naturally slowed, giving Yu Jin-gwang an opening.
But that, too, had been within his calculations. He had never intended to defeat Yu Jin-gwang with continuous slashes alone. That would have been an insult to the man.
Turyeongbo (Imitation).
The real thing was—
Boom!
Elsid concentrated aura in his feet and instantly accelerated, closing the gap with a burst of speed he had never shown before in this fight.
As mentioned earlier, this technique was normally only usable by Aura Master-rank swordsmen who had reached a certain level of mastery. Elsid used a shortcut. Instead of releasing the aura, he concentrated it explosively at a single point in his feet. Though limited in the number of times he could use it, Elsid could still perform Turyeongbo.
And for now, that was enough.
After the continuous slashes that had gradually lost speed, he followed up with a sudden change in velocity.
Burning with fighting spirit, he unleashed that single strike.
"Impressive."
Clang.
Yet even that was blocked.
"If I hadn't trained my reflexes while learning Lightning Aura, that might have worked."
Yu Jin-gwang spoke as if explaining something, then stepped backward to create distance.
Elsid saw it clearly. Yu Jin-gwang sheathed his sword, bent his knees, and took the iaijutsu stance.
Elsid knew what he was about to witness.
He recalled the memory from moments ago.
"Lightning Aura…"
The sword that had reached him in a single flash…
Therefore, Elsid ran toward him.
He could guess the outcome, but he could not stop.
The match was decided in an instant.
"Lightning Sever!"
A dazzling white flash illuminated the world.
At the same time, Elsid felt as though time had stopped. His eyes could see Yu Jin-gwang's sword, yet his body remained frozen like a statue until the blade pierced deep into him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Ah…"
Before long, the sound of the air bursting in succession reached him. Time, which had seemed frozen, began to move again. Elsid felt the ceiling collapsing as his vision went dark and consciousness slipped away.
It was the same sensation he usually felt when sparring with his grandfather.
Damn it…
His body couldn't withstand the powerful impact. His vision darkened and he was falling.
Elsid collapsed helplessly onto the wooden floor as it rushed up to meet him.
Thus, the victor was decided.
"You lost for two reasons. First, you were so obsessed with victory that you failed to truly see the swordsman before you. Second, there was a slight hesitation every time you swung your sword. It was a very immature blade."
If he had truly observed Yu Jin-gwang, he would have realized that the aura technique was not only for charging and drawing the sword, but also a counter technique capable of cutting down an approaching opponent with godlike reflexes.
"I suppose I wasted my breath talking to someone who couldn't even hear me."
The winner of the fight, A-rank adventurer Yu Jin-gwang, stood proudly and offered advice to no one in particular.
Then he hoisted the unconscious Elsid onto his back and left the underground chamber.
Elsid's hands still clutched a sword in each, refusing to let go even as he fell.
"Well, when it comes to grit and tenacity, he might be second to none."
Yu Jin-gwang smiled, clearly pleased by what he had seen.