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Swordmaster Healer (Web Novel) - Chapter 22: Great Labyrinth’s Predator (1)
Chapter 22: Great Labyrinth’s Predator (1)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
The labyrinth consisted of forked roads, long paths, and big and small clearings. There were quite a few forked roads, but because Sung Joon had the ‘map’, he didn’t wander off.
Despite that, because the labyrinth was so vast, he was still a long distance out before he reached his destination.
And that’s how a day passed.
“I will stand watch,” Rishbult said, as Sung Joon took out beef jerky, dried fruit and water for his meal.
Due to his ‘Mana Absorption’, Sung Joon didn’t tire easily, to the extent that he had gotten the nickname ‘Unlimited Power’. However, he was still a human being, so it was essential for him to take in nutrients.
“Thanks,” Sung Joon replied, smiling at Rishubalt before putting the beef jerky into his mouth.
If he were a normal Hunter, he might’ve not had an appetite and would’ve avoided eating, since the Great Labyrinth was much narrower and darker than a normal dungeon. But Sung Joon had retained a little of his bloodstained memories, so this much was nothing for him.
Sung Joon finished his meal in a short ten minutes, stood up from his seat, and called Rishubalt.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Rishubalt, who had been roaming nearby and standing watch, returned to Sung Joon’s side.
“There aren’t any presences nearby,” Rishubalt reported.
Just as he said, Sung Joon also didn’t grasp any presences with his senses.
Sung Joon walked along a long path.
There were a few traps set up along the way, but because of Rishubalt, Sung Joon easily destroyed them and advanced. Contrary to Sung Joon, Rishubalt had an extremely detailed memory of the Great Labyrinth.
As he walked through the long path, he suddenly reached an enormous iron gate, which blocked his way. He had felt several presences inside but in order to gain a precise grasp on the enemy, Sung Joon looked at Rishubalt and asked, “Can you scout?”
However, Rishubalt shook his head.
“I feel an interference in the mana. It would be difficult for me to scout inside the iron gate.”
Sung Joon cautiously approached the iron gate. The cold wind that escaped from inside notified him of the vast interior.
It seemed that the enemies beyond the gate hadn’t noticed Sung Joon’s approach.
‘If I open the gate and simultaneously enter using my stealth, will they not notice me?’
Sung Joon hypothesized several different cases and formed a plan.
“There are quite a few of them. Are you planning on rushing in?” Rishubalt asked.
Sung Joon nodded his head and said, “I’m planning on simultaneously entering and utilizing my stealth.”
With a calm expression, Sung Joon opened the iron gate. At the same time, he threw his body inside and recited the activation words, activating his stealth.
“What’s this, the doors are open?”
“Everyone, battle positions! Someone has definitely trespassed!”
Instead of monsters, the clearing was filled with soldiers affiliated with the Knight Brigade wearing standard issue armor.
Following the noncom officer’s order, the soldiers who had been hitting scarecrows assumed defensive positions against the unidentified trespasser.
When he saw that, Sung Joon belatedly recalled that the Great Labyrinth was also a training area for the Knight Brigade.
“Someone definitely intruded! Infantry battalion, calmly form a circular defensive position!” the noncom office yelled eloquently in the other world language.
However, as Sung Joon’s synchronization rate increased, he had acquired all the knowledge corresponding to the other world language, so Sung Joon had no problem understanding him.
Sung Joon hid using the stealth ability of his ‘Veil of Darkness’ item and saw an opportunity.
“Send a report to the Mage!”
“I’ll send a messenger!” the noncom officer ordered, and the soldiers moved busily.
If the Mage arrived, there would be a chance that his stealth would be detected.
Sung Joon withdrew his dagger.
The light action of drawing his dagger wouldn’t undo his stealth, but if he did something excessive, like throwing his dagger, his stealth would be released.
‘I’m eliminating the messenger first,’ thought Sung Joon, deciding to use his only chance of eliminating the messenger. He was planning to order his dagger to return, and then to throw it at the noncom officer’s heart.
“AH!”
“The messenger’s down!”
“It’s an ambush!”
The messenger, who had been carrying a flag and running busily somewhere, had been hit by Sung Joon’s dagger and collapsed.
“That way!”
As Sung Joon had thrown his dagger, his stealth was released. A certain soldier yelled and the others focused their sights on him. The soldiers leveled their spears at him and raised their shields. In response, Sung Joon raised his left hand.
“Return!”
Sung Joon recited the activation words and threw the returned dagger at the noncom officer. The dagger flew in a straight line, piercing deeply into the noncom officer’s chest and heart.
The noncom officer was wearing a thick breastplate, but Sung Joon’s throwing dagger had been clad in aura, so he couldn’t protect himself against it.
“AH!”
“The noncom officer’s down!”
“Shield bearers! Forward!”
The shield bearers moved forward.
“Stealth,” Sung Joon recited, using his stealth once more to hide within the darkness.
“He disappeared again!”
“I’ll take command! All around guard! If he reveals himself, we’ll immediately contain him using long-distance attacks!”
The noncom officer had collapsed and Sung Joon had hoped that there’d be a gap in their command, but the Knight Brigade soldiers weren’t to be taken lightly. The soldiers affiliated with the Knight Brigade were all battle-hardened veterans.
Though they had once faced annihilation at the Ridonia Great Plains, these soldiers who had reformed the ranks were also formidable. Though the noncom officer had fallen, an experienced soldier had taken charge, filling the gap in command.
‘I’ll first dispatch the shield bearers.’
Sung Joon stared at the shield bearers with eyes gleaming with killing intent.
Although they had reformed their ranks, the Knight Brigade were the hands and feet of the Emperor who had betrayed him.
Sung Joon rushed at them without hesitation in order to carry out his revenge.
“Ugh!”
His aura-clad blade cut through both the shield and the soldier behind it, slashing deeply into him. Sung Joon’s stealth was released, but by the time the soldiers had pointed their spears, Sung Joon wasn’t there.
Sung Joon jumped over the fallen soldier, and after he penetrated deeply into the enemy lines, he swung his sword so quickly that the soldiers had difficulty tracking it. And so, their ranks crumbled.
“AH!”
“Our defensive positions have fallen!”
“Fall-in!”
“We can’t! Our opponent’s an aura-user!”
The soldiers that made up the Knight Brigade* were elites that assisted the elite Knights, but they seemed weak before an aura-user. (*The Knight Brigade used to consist of 500 knights and 4,500 soldiers.)
If they had a lot of troops, they would’ve been able to use a human-wave strategy to corner him, but unfortunately, the soldiers that had been training in the clearing numbered less than fifty.
“AH!”
“Argh!”
The soldiers collapsed like scarecrows. Within five minutes, the forty-eight soldiers all became corpses.
“Phew!”
Sung Joon had fought around fifty enemies, but he took a brief deep breath and was able to calm his breathing. Sung Joon raised his left hand and after absorbing the mana, began walking energetically, following the long path of the Great Labyrinth.
“Was it around here?”
Sung Joon checked the map. There was an item storagehouse not too far from there. He smiled.
He was curious as to what kind of items were stored there. They’d definitely be locked magically or physically, but Sung Joon had the ‘Anvel’s Master Key’.
“This is also my first time going to the item storagehouse. I’m curious as to who’s guarding it,” commented Rishubalt.
“It’s probably a knight from the Knight Brigade.”
“You’re probably right. That’s because the ‘Great Labyrinth’ is under the Knight Brigade’s jurisdiction,” Rishubalt agreed.
“Stealth.”
As he drew closer to the storagehouse, Sung Joon often saw patrolling soldiers. In order to move secretly, Sung Joon used his item’s stealth ability, even if it consumed a lot of mana.
Because of the item’s stealth effect, Sung Joon presence was reduced even further, so the soldiers couldn’t find Sung Joon at all. Thanks to that, Sung Joon arrived to the storage area without any interruptions.
“There seems to be a trespasser in the ‘Great Labyrinth.'”
“We’ve lost communications with a portion of the soldiers that were in the middle of training.”
As Sung Joon drew closer, he could overhear the noncom officer’s conversation with a soldier. At the entrance of the storage area, soldiers raised their shields, leaving no gaps, and blocked the entrance, so he couldn’t pass by them while stealthed.
“It seems like a battle is unavoidable,” Rishubalt said.
Sung Joon drew his sword.
‘I’ll break their ranks with an aura slash.’
Sung Joon drew his mana and his stealth was released. The soldiers pointed their spears at Sung Joon and the archers strung their arrows.
However, Sung Joon was much faster than the archers.
“Slash!”
The aura slash flew in a straight line and cut through everything in its path.
“AH!”
“Ergh!”
The soldiers yelled in agony and collapsed. Sung Joon’s aura slash had broken their battle formation and had even hit the archers behind them.
Amongst the ten archers, six spurted blood and fell.
“Ha!” Sung Joon cried out shortly and pushed deeply into their ranks. Since he was so fast, the soldiers couldn’t even react.
Before they had even noticed, Sung Joon had already taken their lives.
“Ugh!”
“Where the hell is he attacking us from!?”
“We can’t, sir (non-com officer)! Half of them have already been killed… AH!”
The soldiers were elites, but because they couldn’t track Sung Joon as he was moving too quickly, there was mayhem everywhere.
“We can’t stand against him! Hurry and request backup from Sir Delfo…!”
“Sir Delfo has to protect the inside of the storagehouse! It could be a diversion!”
They couldn’t avoid their annihilation.
“Absorb.”
Sung Joon absorbed the mana from them and after using his stealth, cautiously entered the storagehouse. The inside of the storagehouse was vast.
The walls were filled with safes on his left, right and front.
“He’s a knight from the Knight Brigade. It seems that the Mage is part of the royal family’s Magic Tower.”
The knight and the Mage were guarding the storage area.
Rishubalt saw the color of the Mage’s robes and realized that he was affiliated with the royal family’s Magic Tower.
Sung Joon thought he’d deal with the Mage first. He drew his dagger, took a throwing posture and forcibly threw it.
At the same time, his stealth was released and the knight set his sights on him.
“Protect.”
He thought that the dagger, which flew in a straight line, would pierce the middle of the Mage’s forehead, but the Mage’s defensive magic blocked it.
If it could defend against his aura, the Mage must’ve poured a tremendous amount of mana into his defensive magic.
“Knight Brigade, rank 465, Delfo! I will punish you in the name of his Imperial Majesty!”
The Brigade’s knight, Delfo, who had introduced himself as rank 465, brandished his sword oscillating with aura, and used his high-speed movement against Sung Joon.
Delfo had quickly closed the distance between them, so Sung Joon raised his sword and assumed a defensive stance. He didn’t have enough time to fire off a Slash.
Koong!
“Ugh!”
Sung Joon endured Delfo’s slash and a groan leaked from his mouth. The might behind Delfo’s sword was fairly heavy. There was a large boom, accompanied by the cracking of the stone floor.
While Sung Joon blocked Delfo, the Mage was casting a spell.
“My lord! You have to stop the Mage!” Rishubalt warned.
Sung Joon felt an unusual flow of mana from the Mage. However, Delfo was still alive and well.
When Sung Joon’s synchronization rate reached 25%, he had learned a new skill. Sung Joon decided to use the skill and took a step back, taking an attacking posture.
Separate from his aura, Sung Joon raised mana in his entire body. Seeing that, Delfo gripped his sword and prepared for a counterattack.
Then, at the moment when Sung Joon recited the activation words, the Mage, who had finished his spell, glanced calmly at him and opened his mouth to recite his own activation words.
