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SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (Web Novel) - Chapter 275: Swordsman (2)
Chapter 275: Swordsman (2)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Translator/Editor: Ryuu
You're not listening.
Is it immersion?
This guy has cojones. I like it.
Hey, my name is Liǎofàn.
Even if you don't hear it, it doesn't matter.
Back in the audience chamber, you saved my life. I always make sure to return favors.
Just keep running straight ahead.
I'll take care of the left side.
That's an enormous privilege, you know.
No one who stood to my right has ever died.
Go, rising star.
"Come on, King of Death."
"......."
I quietly observed Viper.
'What should I say to you?'
Viper had one eye, with a patch covering where the other should be.
Have you ever made eye contact with someone who has only one eye?
It's not common. Like most, I grew accustomed to interacting only with people with two eyes. My eyes, my gaze, my thoughts – they're all adapted to binocular vision.
But it's different with a one-eyed person.
When facing them, when I need to look at them, my field of vision narrows to half its usual breadth. My eyes, usually adjusted to a wider perspective, narrow down to a single path. As my vision constricts, my thoughts deepen and stray.
Maybe that's why.
Even as I'm making eye contact with the Celestial Martial Clan Master, my mind drifts to the past.
'Viper doesn't remember.'
That was during the battle against the monsters summoned by the Demon King of Autumn Rain.
For the first time, I was completely engrossed in the fight with my sword. Back then, Viper had assisted me, ensuring I could stay in a state of mindless fury for as long as possible. A kind gesture, wasn't it?
'He doesn't remember.'
I died hundreds of times at the hands of the Demon King of Autumn Rain. Viper's assistance was just one of those hundreds of deaths. Buried and obscured by time, it's impossible for Viper to recall that specific moment.
Simply impossible.
'But I remember.'
Slowly.
I drew the holy sword from its sheath.
Before the blade was fully drawn, the moment my palm touched the hilt, I had already begun to summon my aura.
Another red hue flowed alongside the blood in my veins.
As the aura surged more violently through my veins, swirling tightly around my heart, my thoughts accelerated and my vision slowed.
During the brief moment the sword was drawn from the sheath, I thought.
'You said you were jealous of me.'
Why…
Why are the children I look after…
Even now, same as back then, King of Death, why? Why can't the ones under my care be like the ones you tend to?
'Even though you don't remember my countless deaths, I do.'
Why was it you who was able to give the Heavenly Demon such precious moments? Despite being devoured by the pain of death, she could genuinely smile because of the gifts you gave her.
Why.
'My realization always found you by my side.'
Why couldn't the Head of the Martial Alliance do the same?
Is it my fault?
King of Death.
Why am I...
'As much as you've become an object of my jealousy, you too occupy a part of me.'
The sharp sound of metal.
The sword, embodying the Holy Goddess, was now fully drawn.
'How can I convey this to you?'
That you're not meaningless to me.
That I'm aware of your existence, and I still remember a day you've forgotten?
Can I even convey it?
“Very well. That's it. You’re getting it.”
With words?
“That’s right. During my seclusion, I fully grasped the teachings of my master, Namgung Woon. He taught me something, and in the solitude, those teachings came flooding back. Perhaps it's true that a person needs their own time.”
With a mere tongue and one eye?
“Thanks for recommending seclusion, kid.”
What should I say?
“Anyway... why have you been silent?”
Maybe, no words at all.
“Did my ascended aura intimidate you? That's disappointing. I was so glad to see you after decades that I didn't even greet the others. Even if we fight, we should exchange a few words, right?”
It’s easy to defeat you with words.
To overpower you with a sword might be effortless as well.
“Right? Aren’t I?”
Though you've trained for decades, the realm you've reached now seems beneath my vision.
Your stance, the color of your aura - I can guess from these.
It's easy to hurt you with words, saying, "Is that all you've achieved?" And just as easy to prove it with my sword.
“...? Hey, King of Death?”
It's always been easy to inflict wounds and win.
What's always been hard is winning your heart.
“...Really, you won't say anything?”
This makes me remember my master’s teachings.
Reflecting on it, my master only taught me a few things.
How to infuse wounds with emotions.
How to overlay voices onto the sound of a sword.
"......."
Words uttered by humans are mere noise, but when that noise takes direction and meaning, it can wound the unseen heart.
The sword I wield is also just a chunk of metal, but when it takes direction and purpose, it can cut through hearts it otherwise couldn't.
My master aimed to cut the cycle of suffering with a strip of metal, while I aim to cut your stubbornness, obsession, contempt, and delusion.
“Indeed.”
Can I cut it?
“That settles it. If words aren’t needed, then.”
With a single stroke of metal, a line of reality can be formed.
As I let aura flow through my veins and wrap around my heart, extending to my blade, I bring the flow of my life, the warmth I've gleaned from the world – here, where my blood flows, where my heart beats – to you.
If I extend it, you might understand.
For you are a swordsman, who has closed yourself off from the world, enduring decades of solitude.
“Here I go.”
Shine.
[Shiny responds to your call.]
Hwiya.
[…….]
[Goddess of Protection listens to your call.]
The Idol.
[.......]
The Pity.
[.......]
The Prayer.
[Goddess of Protection responds to you as follows.]
The Sacrifice.
[Yes, King of Death.]
The Salvation.
[I obey your command.]
As I called the swords one by one and reached the third name, Hwiya had already perceived my intention and manifested in this forest.
Hwiya radiated light.
The light was intense. As the light grew and spread, to my eyes, it appeared slowly, like a series of photographs.
The light diffused in all directions. As the blade’s light brightened in the air, its shadow on the ground deepened. As if pressured by the surrounding light, the shadow cast by the sword on the ground steadily narrowed.
It became narrower and darker.
More.
A bit more.
[The Salvation Sword obeys your command.]
Finally, the length of the sword in my palm and the shadow cast on the ground were equal.
[The Sacrifice Sword obeys your command.]
Neither were mere physical entities nor mere shadows.
[The Prayer Sword obeys your command.]
Stir.
Despite the intense light, the shadow that no longer shrunk suddenly moved as if it were alive.
[The Pity Sword obeys your command.]
Viper, who was about to charge at me, hesitated.
"......!"
He squinted his one eye.
In a mere moment, the shadow stirred and divided into four separate shadows. One. Two. Three. Four. The single sword shadow split into four directions – east, west, south, north, forming a square.
They scattered, but not in disarray.
The sword shadows surrounded me as if guarding me.
Like the hour, minute, and second hands of a clock, the shadows slowly revolved around me as I stood in the middle, holding The Idol.
[The Goddess of Protection manifests.]
I then aimed the tip of the sword at the Viper.
"Ah…"
The Viper paused and lifted the corner of his mouth.
I heard that sound.
His breath folding along with the curl of his lips, the Guardian Spirit behind me blinking heavily, the Sword Saint, Black Dragon Witch, and Paladin widening their eyes, and Ester moving her eyes - all these sounds rang clearly in my ears.
“Hey---."
Swish.
Four swords emerged from the four shadows.
“Really?!"
The swords which arose from the shadows maintained their shadowy hue even after leaving the ground. They were dark, with continuously writhing textures rather than clear outlines. They pulsated. Throbbed. Undulated. Growled. Like half-ripe beasts.
They were alive.
“This is cheating…!"
The aura that coursed through my body and played around, now serving as the avatars of the [Goddess of Protection], manifested themselves.
"Just one sword was barely enough to win, and now you use five?!"
If mere aura is called sword energy, then what approached was akin to sword force.
As I turned my head, the four swords moved with me. As I aimed the sword tip, the four tongues whined in unison.
Unerring.
My Salvation, my Sacrifice, my Prayer, my Pity. Ever since I held the sword, everything I've gathered, collected, and harvested, now perfectly synchronized with the Idol in my hand.
“Fine! Let’s do it!"
This is the level I stand on now.
The view I see with my own eyes.
I may not yet be able to fade the shadows like my master, but...
“If you plan to defeat me without a single word!"
I might not be able to slice through the tail end of winter, but perhaps I can cut a strand of the heart tucked within your chest.
“I’ll definitely drag at least a word out of you!"
Viper swung his sword.
I've seen this swordplay somewhere before.
When was it?
Ah.
It resembled the techniques demonstrated by the Head of the Martial Alliance Namgung Woon in the snowy field, battling my master. Yes. Even as his body crumbled and flesh decayed, he manipulated his muscles with Ki, turning into a puppet with rigid joints, resembling that desperate technique.
"King of Death!"
If it were the old me, maybe I wouldn't have recognized it.
Back then, I wouldn't have understood the martial arts, no matter how expertly they were displayed. I couldn't read it. I couldn't understand it even when I saw it.
Even the sword dance between my master and Namgung Woon, even their 989th duel, was seen as merely whimsical puppetry.
"------!"
The martial arts that the Viper now displayed were just like that.
My Blindness.
Something that I wouldn't have understood, even if I saw it, becoming ■■■■ in my ignorance.
Something I didn't even regard as anything. Smoke. Husk. Illusion.
"......! ----, ----!"
Now I know it as 황월파천(黃月破天), a gesture with a voice.
I parried the Viper’s swing with The Pity Sword. Silence. His sword clashed with my shadow, but there was no sound of collision. His sword couldn't cut through my shadow with sound.
"-----!!"
The Viper swung his sword.
■■■
Earth King Strike.
■■■
Dragon of the East River.
■■■■ ■■ was ■■ ■■ ■■ like ■■ ■■ and ■■ ■■ like ■■■■, ■■■ to ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ before ■■ ■■ ■■, ■■ to ■■■ ■■ ■■ to ■■■ ■■■.
With the ferocity of a snake’s venomous fangs and the cunning of a dragon’s coils, you must snatch the breath before the jaws open, grab the distance before the schemes unfold, and turn the opponent's strength against them to strike at the neck.
"......! -----!"
■■■■.
Celestial Martial Guild Master.
■■
Viper.
■■
Hey.
■■, ■■.
Come, rising star.
"My name is Liǎofàn."
Slowly parrying his swing and.
‘I remember you.’
Flying Ki Sword Technique.
I swung my sword.
