The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 368

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 367

Preparation (3)

Yuseongwoo was struck by a profound sense of wonder.

The swords, each crafted in different eras and by different hands, were all destined for the same purpose: the Expedition.

Seven swords, gathered for the Expedition.

The swords Yuseongwoo possessed were Ilsaeng, Heuksa, Owol, and Yungmang.

And Geochil.

The remaining swords were wielded by other members of the Expedition. The ultimate target of these seven swords was the Demon race, the Demon King, and the Demon God.

“…This can’t be just a coincidence.”

Seven swords united, all aimed at a single, formidable enemy.

Yuseongwoo, as the Expedition’s leader, guided his companions toward the Demon God, seeking a deal with the Goddess.

Yuseongwoo knew this process intimately.

Fight the Demons.

Fight the Demon King.

Fight the Demon God.

People die.

Their strength fails, their eyelids grow heavy. Some even perished with their eyes wide open.

He understood the cruelty of war, yet it still grieved Yuseongwoo deeply to witness the deaths of those he held dear.

Bearing this sorrow, he pressed onward.

He carried the dreams and futures of his fallen comrades on his shoulders.

Though it was in the past, the memory remained vivid. Each step was agonizing.

He should have felt joy as he neared his goal, but he couldn’t. Every step forward meant treading upon the corpses of others.

He advanced toward the Demon God, using the bodies of his comrades as stepping stones.

He continued his painful journey until he reached the Demon God and returned to Earth.

In the end, only three remained.

All three were battered and bruised, and one wasn’t even a Swordmaster.

The Demon God unleashed a devastating magic attack that engulfed the three, killing two instantly.

Yuseongwoo was left alone.

Wielding seven swords, he faced the Demon God, his heart burning with hatred.

-Minion of the Gods…

Yuseongwoo didn’t respond to the Demon God’s taunt. He was well aware that he was merely a tool of the Gods.

If he were to fall to the Demon God, they would simply bestow a revelation upon another hero in the future.

Meanwhile, the Demon God would replenish the ranks of the Demon Kings and Demons. This was how they maintained ‘balance’.

It was a never-ending cycle.

However, Yuseongwoo refused to surrender. If it was a repeating cycle, he would swing his sword with the resolve to break it.

The Demon God was an opponent that no mere Swordmaster could hope to defeat, regardless of the quality of their swords or their skill.

How could a human, who hadn’t even attained divinity, stand against a God? It was an impossible feat unless one borrowed the power of a God to fight.

Yuseongwoo barely managed to survive.

Each time the Demon God swung his arm or unleashed a magical attack, he threw himself to the ground to evade it, deflecting what he could with his sword.

That alone was a miracle.

No matter how powerful Yuseongwoo was, he was like a candle flickering in a storm before the Demon God – a faint flame that could be extinguished at any moment.

Miracles continued to occur.

Despite the Demon God’s relentless attacks, Yuseongwoo survived each one, his swinging sword never faltering.

Each time he deflected an attack, he grew stronger, gaining the momentum to withstand the next assault.

An endless dance of death.

The final key to disrupting the eternal balance of the Ouroboros [a symbol of cyclicality and eternal return] began to change its form.

The sword in his hand transformed.

A halo of light enveloped the hand holding Ilsaeng, and Owol, now in its place, pierced through the Demon God’s attack with a powerful, spiraling thrust, reaching beyond.

For the first time, the Demon God showed a flicker of panic. His magic wavered, creating a tiny opening.

Yuseongwoo, a seasoned mercenary, swordsman, and Swordmaster, seized the opportunity and raised Igye [likely a specific sword name].

He recalled the faces of his fallen comrades and unleashed his swordsmanship. The long, extended sword energy sliced through the air, reaching the Demon God’s very core.

The Demon God, enraged that such an insignificant being had dared to touch him, unleashed even more intense magic and divine power.

Yuseongwoo was thrown back by the shockwave, tumbling across the floor before regaining his feet.

The sword in his hand, after throwing Igye, was now a pair of swords, one black and one white.

Heuksa and Yungmang.

The holy sword in his right hand and the demonic sword in his left emitted conflicting energies, tearing at Yuseongwoo’s body.

-Kuaaaaaaaah─!!

A fierce scream erupted from him.

But he didn’t fall. Not yet, because he was still far from changing the course of destiny.

When the tips of the two swords collided, they too seemed to scream, unleashing even more power.

Black and white energy poured out relentlessly, converging.

It soon coalesced into a bizarre Taegeuk [the Korean symbol of yin and yang], which shot out along the trajectory of Yuseongwoo’s swinging sword.

As he intended, the Taegeuk exploded in front of the Demon God, engulfing everything in its path.

The Demon God was caught in the blast, losing a portion of his essence, though it was merely a wave of magic that served as his body.

It was also the first time the Demon God had been forced to retreat.

-I can’t allow that to happen twice…

Discarding Heuksa and Yungmang, he picked up Samjeong [another sword name] with his battered arms.

It was Veronica’s sword, the sword of a comrade who had died.

The self-illuminating, purple sword turned green the moment Yuseongwoo grasped it.

When Samjeong was swung, the surroundings were consumed by green flames. As it devoured the ambient magic and amplified the flames, a battlefield from which no one could escape was created.

Yuseongwoo, struggling to control Samjeong, planted it firmly on the floor and picked up Ilsaeng again. He lacked the strength to wield Geochil, so he would stake everything on his favorite sword.

This was the last stand, truly the last.

He had lost count of how many miracles had occurred.

Yuseongwoo prayed that this miracle would last just a little longer, at least until he defeated the Demon God.

His blood-stained sword was swung, leaving a crimson trail in the air.

The Demon God relentlessly unleashed magic and swung his arms, attempting to obliterate Yuseongwoo.

The terrible magic acted as a poison, gnawing at Yuseongwoo’s body.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he would even be able to return home, even if he managed to kill the Demon God.

But he crushed that thought, shoving it into the deepest recesses of his mind, and swung his sword, taking another step forward.

There was only one thing he had to do now: cut down and kill the Demon God.

The energy of the area swirled, drawn into Yuseongwoo. Magic power in the atmosphere, raw magic – everything permeated his body, forced into the sword without being filtered.

What erupted from his sword was an overwhelming energy, a black aura.

A force with a higher concentration than the Demon God’s magic swirled, drawing out everything contained within him.

-Ah, the balance… Is this the moment when the balance that has lasted for hundreds of years is broken…?

The Demon God muttered.

At that moment, terrifying magic from the Demon God crashed down on Yuseongwoo like a tsunami.

The black aura sliced through the black magic, creating a narrow opening.

Yuseongwoo’s unique swordsmanship, fueled by every ounce of power in his body, surged toward the Demon God.

The black star pushed back the magic and soared into the sky, then plunged down again, threatening to shatter the earth.

The Demon God struggled to the very end, but was unable to stop the swordsmanship unleashed by Yuseongwoo.

The magic that had been stagnant due to the Demon God reacted to Yuseongwoo’s aura and exploded, literally turning the world upside down.

The Demon God lost his form and vanished, destroyed by Yuseongwoo’s final blow.

It was the moment when the ‘Demon God subjugation,’ the condition set by the God, was achieved. But in return, Yuseongwoo had expended all the power in his body and was unable to move.

The blow he had just delivered was a power that could even kill a God, far too great for a human to handle.

If the swords hadn’t moved on their own to protect him from the explosion, not even a fragment of him would have remained.

Yuseongwoo, unconscious, lay in the center of the blast, a scene that resembled death itself.

Then, someone approached Yuseongwoo. A child with long, red hair grabbed Ilsaeng, which was as big as his body, with both hands, dragged it over, and plunged it into his heart.

Then, a strange thing happened. Yuseongwoo’s wounds began to heal, and he slowly opened his eyes.

This is…

“…There was something I didn’t even know.”

It was a scene he didn’t remember. He had lost consciousness in the middle of the battle.

He had swung his sword in a state of unconsciousness.

The details of the battle were vague, memories that his brain had pieced together arbitrarily.

Perhaps the memory shown by Ilsaeng was the accurate one.

Yuseongwoo, having defeated the Demon God, sat up and examined his body.

He had kept his promise to God. The cycle that should not have been broken was broken, and in the end, the balance had collapsed.

Because it was a promise made in the name of God, the Creator God [referring to the Cheonjigyo’s deity] couldn’t refuse, and opened a dimensional door to Earth using the remaining remnants of the Demon God’s divinity.

Yuseongwoo gathered the scattered swords and turned around once.

His dead comrades weighed heavily on his mind.

He wanted to bury them, but there was no time. He could hear the voice of God, saying that the window to open the door was closing rapidly.

Yuseongwoo raised his middle finger to the sky and stepped through the dimensional door.

The memory ended there.

The world faded to black, like a movie theater after the film had ended, and a figure appeared before him.

It was a child with long, flowing red hair. It wasn’t difficult to recognize who it was.

The child was holding a familiar sword in his arms.

“Ilsaeng. You suffered a lot when I fell.”

“…Did you just realize that? I protected you when you lost your mind.”

Was that so?

Yuseongwoo hadn’t known. Ilsaeng stared at Yuseongwoo with a pout, then spoke.

“…There were so many things I wanted to say.”

“You didn’t say much, considering.”

“Because I was embarrassed. Swords get embarrassed too, you idiot.”

“That’s new. Yungmang doesn’t seem to experience that at all.”

“He’s… crazy. He’s not in his right mind. More importantly, what I wanted to say is…”

Ilsaeng hesitated, unable to speak. He wiggled his fingers and moved his lips.

When Yuseongwoo tilted his head, trying to hear him, Ilsaeng blushed, stretched out his arms, and hugged Yuseongwoo’s neck.

“Thank you! Thank you for choosing me! Thank you for not abandoning me, even though I was born from the hands of an immature blacksmith, and for being with me for decades!”

Was that what he wanted to thank him for?

Yuseongwoo laughed at Ilsaeng’s heartfelt words.

It wasn’t Ilsaeng who should be grateful. Rather, it was he who should be thanking Ilsaeng.

Yuseongwoo hugged Ilsaeng’s small body and replied with a smile.

“It’s me who should be grateful. You didn’t break while being with me, and you helped me defeat my enemies… I’m even more grateful.”

Perhaps, if it hadn’t been for Ilsaeng, he might not have overcome the difficult situation.

If it hadn’t been for Yuseongwoo, Ilsaeng would still be locked away in an oak barrel.

Or he might have been melted down and turned back into a lump of iron.

They were each other’s salvation.

“Please take care of me in the future, too, Ilsaeng.”

“…Of course, partner!”