Toward the Secret Technique
Seven days before I headed down to Busan.
By then, there was almost no time left.
In the meantime, I kept doing what I could as a hunter of the Dio Guild: slipping into dungeons whenever I had the chance, and taking down monsters that crawled out beyond the Gates. When I wasn’t doing that, I threw myself into training.
There wasn’t a single day when my whole body wasn’t soaked through with sweat.
Every finger wrapped around a sword grew thick with calluses.
Strike simply.
Swing fast.
Defend firmly.
Again and again.
And again.
And again.
When training was over and I got home, I collapsed like I’d been knocked out cold.
I wouldn’t wake until morning.
When I opened my eyes, my fist was always clenched tight.
I never let go of my sword, even in my dreams.
Had I ever devoted myself to anything this hard, apart from factory work?
I’d expected the stress to chew me up.
Instead, I felt lighter.
Discard everything.
Focus on one thing, and one thing only.
That kind of life gave me freedom.
I didn’t care how much stronger I’d become.
I just kept at it, steadily, with all my attention fixed on moving forward without ever stopping.
And then, at last—
Clang.
The dry ring of metal echoed through the kendo hall in Paradise Garden.
“Ugh!”
Simon groaned and dropped to one knee.
She looked up at me.
I lowered the dagger I was holding reverse-grip in my hand.
Twenty minutes earlier, I’d asked Simon for a true-blade spar.
She’d snorted.
“Trying to show me you’ve surpassed your master?”
She’d sounded confident.
But the result had gone exactly the way I expected.
Simon let out a long breath.
“Hah. I lost. Can’t beat you.”
She had taught me.
I had learned from her.
In the end, the student had surpassed the teacher.
The opening exchange had been fierce.
We’d both used absolute defense, leaving no gap at all.
Even when I was being pushed back, I hadn’t used any hero abilities.
I’d fought only with Ganro-ryu.
But as the duel wore on, the balance had begun to tilt.
What happens when two shields that can’t be pierced collide?
The answer was simple.
At first, both sides got away with little damage.
But if shield kept crashing into shield, again and again, eventually the weaker one would break.
I’d subdued Simon using nothing but swordsmanship.
I held out a hand.
She took it and stood.
“I didn’t think I’d be overtaken this fast. Kind of annoying.”
In other words, Simon had at least expected that one day I might surpass her.
She had confidence in herself.
She’d defeated Yohan, the creator of Ganro-ryu.
In terms of raw strength, Simon stood just below him.
Of course, my fight with Yohan had been different.
I hadn’t won with swordsmanship alone.
I’d barely managed it after pouring every hero ability I had into the battle.
Simon brushed off her knee.
“Congratulations. You’re now the only inheritor of Ganro-ryu besides me.”
The reason I’d asked for a true-blade spar was that she was going to teach me her final secret technique.
There was nothing left for me to learn from her.
Simon said, “Ganro-ryu was created solely to protect the Cheonyang-ji cult leader. But...”
She went on, “I think Ganro-ryu is pretty cool. Depending on the situation, you can use it to protect anyone, can’t you?”
I agreed.
Whatever the founder’s intent had been, Ganro-ryu itself wasn’t guilty of anything.
What you used a sword for was up to the person holding it.
“Simon. I made it this far because of you. Thanks.”
Feeling lighter than I had in a long time, I shook her hand.
Then, just as I was about to slide the dagger back into its sheath, a bright light burst from the blade.
This wasn’t a system window activating.
Literally, White Revenge was flashing.
What the hell is this?
I’d never seen anything like it before.
Simon looked surprised too.
“What’s that?”
“No idea.”
She held out a hand. “Mind if I take a look?”
I handed White Revenge over to her.
Simon examined it carefully.
“That’s Demon's Bone.”
She mentioned the demon’s bone.
I hadn’t known that.
I’d already realized that the sashimi blade Cha Chi-do had used was a demon weapon, but I’d never guessed it had been made from a demon’s bone.
“Where’d you get it?”
“I killed the previous owner and took it.”
“I see.”
Simon nodded without looking even slightly surprised.
Well, sure. After massacring the Twelve Apostles and killing the Cheonyang-ji cult leader, it would’ve been stranger if I’d never killed a human being before.
“You know the secret of this blade?”
I shook my head.
“I just liked it because it had a good grip. It was light and cut through anything. Is there something else?”
“Hah... you’re unbelievable. Of course there is! The real essence of this blade is—”
Simon fed mana into the dagger.
Crack!
With the sound of bones grinding, White Revenge changed shape.
Like new shoots sprouting from a branch, another blade extended from the dagger.
And then—
a faint vibration rippled through the newly grown edge.
Is the blade shaking?
No. That wasn’t it.
Mana wrapped around the sword and spun at high speed.
It was almost as if a storm had been compressed into it.
If I swung that...
Working in a factory for so long had taught me a few things.
Sometimes we used vibrating cutting tools on the line.
An ultrasonic cutter that shook forty thousand times a second could slice thick plastic like it was sponge cake.
Simon withdrew her mana.
With a sound like bone snapping back into place, the dagger returned to its original form.
Feels like watching magic.
Simon held White Revenge up at eye level.
“Demon’s Bone can hold one of the four elements.”
The four elements.
They referred to Terra, Ignis, Aqua, and Ventus.
So you could merge one element into White Revenge.
That’s a new one.
But that raised a question.
“Why hasn’t anything like that ever happened to me?”
Then Simon raised one hand.
A small funnel-shaped tornado formed in her palm.
“My talent is Wind. I can control air resistance. I can even apply it to swordsmanship.”
No wonder.
Whenever Simon swung her sword, I’d had the strange impression that a gust of wind came with it.
So that’s what it was.
Simon looked at the tornado.
“My talent and Demon’s Bone kept clashing, and then briefly resonated with each other.”
So that was it.
White Revenge reacted when it came into contact with mana belonging to one of the four elements.
Thanks to Simon, I’d learned something new.
“Hmm. If I can get used to using this dagger freely, maybe I can take Ganro-ryu even further.”
Simon handed the dagger back to me.
I frowned and thought it over.
Earth, fire, water, air.
None of my talents fit any of those.
“If I don’t have a talent matching one of the four elements, can’t I awaken the dagger?”
“No. Not necessarily. Like I said, resonance is the key.”
Simon pointed somewhere.
“This might work, though.”
What she pointed at was the sword slung across my back.
The weapon I’d kept sealed while using White Revenge.
Heoksikdo.
“That sword. Didn’t its original owner use fire?”
Heoksikdo’s original owner had been Na Sang-min.
He’d converted mana into green flames and launched slashing attacks.
How much had he used Heoksikdo’s flames?
I didn’t know for sure.
But for a very long time.
And countless times.
Maybe the traces and records of all that time were still stored inside Heoksikdo.
Let’s try it now.
I drew Heoksikdo with my right hand at once.
In my left, I held White Revenge.
Resonance.
I was going to make the two answer each other.
I brought Heoksikdo down against White Revenge.
Then sparks flew like welding fire.
Crack!
With the sound of bones twisting, White Revenge changed again.
A new blade extended from the sword’s body.
It worked.
Gentle green flames flickered up along the new branch.
Incredible.
With this...
“Ugh!”
Before I could finish the thought, pain slammed through me and my strength vanished in an instant.
Clink.
My hand went numb, and I dropped the sword.
White Revenge returned to its original form.
Simon rolled her shoulders.
“Tough, isn’t it? Keeping a resonance state going isn’t easy. A demon weapon burns through mana like a monster.”
Only then did I remember White Revenge’s other name.
Yodo.
A sword of calamity, the opposite of a holy sword.
With a ferocious appetite, it always waited for a chance to devour its user.
“If you can’t use it well enough, you’re better off not activating it at all. It’s special, but not something just anyone can handle. A very picky bastard.”
Simon’s comparison was right on the mark.
It was like a warhorse that could gallop a thousand miles by day and eight hundred by night, but only accepted a master it liked.
If you couldn’t control it properly, it was no different from junk.
“Sounds like fun to tame.”
I picked up White Revenge from the floor and slid it into its sheath.
Simon continued, “Oh, right. I’ve heard that if you go beyond the four elements, you can even reach the ether stage.”
Ether.
Something that didn’t belong to the four elements.
The legendary substance that corresponded to the fifth element.
Some even said the pinnacle of alchemy touched ether.
A hunter who could use ether.
If the day ever comes...
A smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it.
Getting White Revenge had been a coincidence.
But that coincidence had become a blessing of fate and landed in my hands.
How I used it from here on out—
That was up to me.
Simon asked, “So you’re heading down to Busan now?”
The moment I beat Simon, the inheritance of Ganro-ryu was complete.
But—
“There’s still one more person. I need to beat him too.”
“What?”
Na Sang-min’s face twisted.
He looked furious, his lips twitching at a bizarre angle.
“A trrrrrue-bladeeee sparrrr?”
After throwing out a mocking drawl, he finally exploded.
“Choi Yongki!!! You little shit, do you actually want to die?!”
A burst of mana detonated through the training room.
I dodged quickly, but a chill ran down my spine.
Yeah.
He’s on a completely different level from Simon.
An S-class hunter. A master of the sword.
Na Sang-min’s mere presence was overwhelming.
Can I really win this?
The doubt crossed my mind, but I didn’t back down.
I gripped Heoksikdo and took the basic stance of Ilcheon-illyu.
“If there’s a mountain I have to climb, then I’d better climb it.”
Na Sang-min looked at my serious expression, clicked his tongue, and went off somewhere.
Soon after, he came back carrying something he’d taken from a corner.
It wasn’t a staff.
It was a Burn Light superalloy rod with a smooth surface and a flesh-colored sheen.
In other words, a steel pipe.
Come to think of it, he used that during the Dio Guild hunter exam too.
Unlike Ganro-ryu, I had never received the final secret technique of Ilcheon-illyu from Na Sang-min.
He’d said I wasn’t good enough.
“If I win, teach me the secret technique.”
Na Sang-min tightened his grip on the Burn Light rod.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. A rookie like you gets cut down in three seconds—no, one second.”
And with that, the duel was set.
The training room fell silent, as though even the air had frozen solid.
Na Sang-min and I didn’t move for a long moment.
The hallmark of Ilcheon-illyu was one strike, one kill.
The outcome would be decided in the blink of an eye.
My heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst.
In the next instant, our shapes vanished.
Chaa-cha-ching!!!
Kaang! Kaaang!!!
And then, in a fluid rhythm, the music of swords began.
Damn it.
I was the one getting pushed back.
Na Sang-min pressed forward without pause, every movement stripped of waste.
“What’s wrong? You wanted a true-blade duel, didn’t you? You wanted to bet your life on it, didn’t you?”
He even mixed feints into his swordplay just to toy with me.
He’s way too relaxed. This monster bastard!
Na Sang-min wasn’t a villain.
I probably would never seriously try to kill this man.
But—
I don’t plan on living in his shadow forever, either!
Twisting my body, I drew White Revenge from my thigh.
Final technique of Ganro-ryu.
“Iron Bastion!”
For a single second.
A fatal move capable of blocking every attack coming from all directions.
It had only lasted a fleeting instant, but in a battle where life and death were on the line, one second was as good as eternity.
Clang!
Na Sang-min’s Burn Light rod snapped.
The cold edge of Heoksikdo touched his throat.
My breath came up to my chin, and my shoulders rose and fell.
“Huh?”
Na Sang-min gave a rough laugh.
I knew it.
If Na Sang-min had really been holding a proper sword...
I’d need a hundred lives, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
But even so—
“Winning is what matters.”
Grinning, I watched as Na Sang-min angrily hurled the broken Burn Light rod aside.
“Fine. I lost. Shit! I’ll teach you, won’t I?”