The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 211

164. The Demon Realm (1)

“Wa… Water…”

Thud-

Cahill watched, dumbfounded, as Mikhail, his face gaunt and skin clinging to bone, collapsed in the hallway. He’d just walked out of the room.

“Huff… Hooo…”

Serika, behind him, staggered out as well, using her spear as a crutch.

“…Can you even fight in that state?”

Mikhail was handsome enough, but he had a history of toughing it out in the mercenary corps.

He’d endured the harsh environment of the South, so Cahill couldn’t imagine what training had left him like this.

“You… I’m going to kill you someday.”

Serika glared at Nine Darhon, growling.

“Kekeke. At first, I was just going to teach them the basics of 4th class magic quickly… But this guy mastered it in less than a week! And he’s just a spear user.”

Nine Darhon wasn’t intimidated and spoke to Cahill.

Even if she became a soaring Supreme, she was still a novice 4th class.

She was no threat to the great mage Nine Darhon.

“But what’s even funnier is this guy.”

Nine Darhon poked Mikhail, lying face down, with his finger.

“He can’t even use auxiliary magic properly, but he mastered Blade Wind. It’s a 3rd class spell, but it’s quite lethal. So, I increased the intensity a bit…”

“Ugh…”

Mikhail flinched with each poke.

“A 4th class mastering a 5th class Wind Scythe. And somehow, he figured out how to amplify magic instantaneously, unconsciously. I’m telling you.”

Cahill nodded. He must have used mana transformation, an Eastern secret art.

“Anyway, both of them are interesting.”

“You mean they have great talent.”

In two weeks of special training, their abilities had increased dramatically.

Cahill wondered how much they’d changed.

[Judging by their appearance, they must have been in the Reverse Room.]

Arun muttered, looking at Serika and Mikhail.

“As expected…! I knew you’d know.”

Nine Darhon clapped in admiration.

[It’s been a training room for mages since the Magic Era. Pan Oman, one of the Seven Elders, created it. He liked geomancy and battle formations, so he made a lot of useless things.]

“Use… Useless?”

[Those at the top are talented anyway. You can’t overcome them with tricks.]

Arun spoke as if it were nothing.

[Still, his techniques must have been difficult to implement. Did you make it?]

“Yes, I did.”

Arun nodded.

[Good, Cahill. You have those brats from Azor you’ve been gathering.]

“The Ulkas Guild?”

[Yes. Mages have gathered there for a few years, so they should have a minimal foundation. Call them and have them train here.]

“What? Bu, but… This place is only for the Immortal Society’s mages…”

[Then have them join. What’s the problem? Everyone’s a mage, which is the basic requirement, and they’re free mages who don’t belong to the Magic Society.]

Nine Darhon’s eyes trembled, flustered by Arun’s blunt words.

“No, that’s not it…”

“That’s a good idea? You can see definite results quickly. I’ll contact Tatur as soon as I get back.”

Cahill clapped and agreed.

“…What do you think the Immortal Society is? This place is only for the chosen…”

“The more, the merrier. And they’ll be proud to have helped me later.”

“Me? Not unless I’m crazy…”

Nine Darhon was dumbfounded.

He couldn’t tell them about his previous life, but the fact that Antihum and the Immortal Society’s mages existed was a great gain.

Now he’d learned how to increase the Ulkas mages’ skills quickly, so Cahill was happy.

‘I didn’t even know magic in my previous life, so I didn’t know there were secrets like this. If I train them here, they’ll be a great help in the war with the Empire.’

The Empire’s power is essential in the Holy War.

To dominate the continent, they must show overwhelming power to keep their power alive.

‘The variable will always be magic.’

Cahill looked at Nine Darhon.

“…Even if the Reverse Room is there because of your orders, I won’t be under you in the Immortal Society.”

Nine Darhon, quick to notice, spoke first.

“Suit yourself.”

Cahill smiled slyly and walked out of Antihum.

* * *

“Reporting! The Dust of Emptiness is heading towards the Burning Anvil!”

The guard shouted, saluting with a trembling voice.

“Where’s Benedict?”

“Yes? Ah, well… He said he wasn’t feeling well, so for the time being…”

“That guy, really. I should lock him in the library. He’s so slippery…”

Nine Darhon clicked his tongue and asked,

“What about the magic net I set up? Did it have no effect?”

“There was a reaction. We found its path… But we failed to hold it back.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we know where it is. Let’s go.”

Cahill took the lead.

* * *

Ssssssssss…

The edge of the mountain range behind Antihum.

The summit was shaped like an anvil in a smithy, and there was a legend that Glduka, one of the seventeen gods, used it.

“That’s the one.”

[Its appearance is different from the Corrupted. It feels unfinished. Nine, what materials did you use?]

Arun looked at the Dust of Emptiness, wandering like a ghost.

“Ah… Well, I used the materials on the first page of the Book of Nightmares. Someone tore the book, so I can’t see it anymore.”

Nine Darhon glanced at Cahill.

“Mud, molten iron, softened moss, ivory powder, spirit dew, and andesite powder mixed into a dough…”

There were many materials, but he remembered each one perfectly.

He wasn’t a 7th class great mage for nothing.

[It’s not corruption alchemy. It’s closer to creating a Homunculus [an artificially created human]. No wonder such a bizarre thing was born.]

Arun Zabiuss didn’t marvel at his memory but clicked his tongue.

[Even in the Magic Era, human transmutation was forbidden. But what you know isn’t proper alchemy. Someone wanted you to fail.]

“That…”

[It’s okay. That’s how mages are born. They satisfy their curiosity until they die.]

Arun laughed, looking at Nine Darhon, embarrassed.

“Curiosity is good, but you have to take care of what you’ve done. Listen carefully. I’ll only say it once.”

Cahill pointed to the Dust of Emptiness’s chest.

“See that? If you cut that heart, it will die. But if you just stick a sword into its heart, the poison inside will explode. The area will be blown away.”

“Huh…”

“There’s a phase. The heart expands when attacked. It repeats contraction and expansion, and the time to attack is when it expands for the third time.”

Nine nodded tensely.

“So, destroy the heart so it doesn’t expand and explode, right?”

Serika Lauren untied her hair tie, put it on the magic wand on her waist, attached it to the spear shaft, and fixed it.

It was a strange shape, but she didn’t care and said,

Crack… Crackle…

The spear blade was covered with pure white ice.

“Simple.”

She said, carrying the spear on her shoulder.

“So, I went through all this trouble because of that damn thing. Just because of that?”

Even seeing the person who had caused Nine Darhon to rack his brains, she burned with fighting spirit.

“Serika…”

Mikhail, who had woken up, looked at her anxiously.

“Everyone, just wait. I won’t let anyone step in.”

She put her hand on her chest.

Woooong…

Light flowed out around her.

[Brat, that’s the method you used before.]

As auxiliary magics were cast, her hair floated up and fell.

“Of course, she also has the aptitude of a battle mage…”

Clang-

Before Cahill could finish, Serika rushed past him and thrust her hand into the heart of the Dust of Emptiness.

“Wa, wait!”

Cahill shouted in surprise.

[Krrrrrrr…!!]

The Dust of Emptiness raised its fist to strike her down.

Crack… Crackle…

Pure white frost formed around her hand holding the Dust of Emptiness.

[K… Krrr…]

The heart stopped, trembled, and stopped moving.

“If you attack with magic and physical attacks at the same time, the heart won’t be able to expand.”

Swaack…! Swazazak…!

Serika stabbed the spear with all her might.

Her spear blade, connected to the magic wand, was frozen.

The monster’s body froze and shattered into powder.

Bang! Kwaang! Kwagaang!!

The Dust of Emptiness’s body shattered, except for the frozen heart, like snow powder.

“…!!”

Cahill’s eyes widened in surprise. Her martial arts weren’t great to him, a Sword Master.

However,

The method surprised Cahill.

She seemed to put magic into the spear blade, like a mana blade, but her method was different.

‘She freezes the body with ice magic from the magic wand just before it touches the spear, and then applies a physical attack.’

It wasn’t a mana blade that put magic power into a weapon, but a double strike that attacked with magic in less than 1 second and then used the spear.

‘Freezing Spear.’

Her unique combat technique maximized attack magic unique to mages and assisted swordsmanship.

‘It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely that.’

She hadn’t reached the Supreme stage but had realized how to take advantage of her strengths in the Reverse Room.

Cahill admired her combat sense.

“…Was it that easy?”

Nine Darhon looked at Serika, stabbing the wreckage with her spear as if she was sorry for the disappearing Dust of Emptiness.

“Even though it was incomplete, it wasn’t that bad…”

Stab-! Stab! Stab!!

“She’s a monster, so that’s why.”

“…It’s terrible to hear the word monster from a monster.”

Nine Darhon shook his head.

“Well, there was no room for me to intervene. But I know the method. If something like that comes out again, I’ll take care of it.”

“If there was a guy with five times the ability of that incomplete dust, could you kill it?”

He turned his head at Cahill’s question.

“Hmm… It’s a bit tricky, but it’s not impossible.”

“Then what about ten times?”

He frowned slightly.

“Well, it’ll be difficult, but…”

“Twenty times?”

“…Are you kidding me? What are you curious about?”

Nine Darhon laughed at Cahill’s questions.

“Train. You too, and the Immortal Society too. So that you can win even if more than twenty times appear.”

“…?”

Nine Darhon looked at him questioningly.

[Hey, you. You said you got the Book of Nightmares through the Order, right?]

“Yes? Ah, yes!! That’s right.”

He hurried towards Arun, who was calling him.

[And the guys who originally had that book are those Wooden Cloud guys you were talking about, Cahill.]

Cahill nodded.

[These bastards… They’re funny guys.]

“What’s wrong?”

Arun Zabiuss spoke directly into his head.

[I know why the fanatics were created. If they were sane, they wouldn’t worship the Corrupted who are trying to destroy the world.]

‘……?!’

The two were bound by a soul contract, so no one could eavesdrop. Not even the Spirit Kings.

Arun picked up something from the wreckage and showed it to Cahill.

‘What is that?’

It was like a black seed, bumpy and bizarre.

[You thought Antihum disappeared because of the explosion of this half-baked corruption, right?]

‘That’s right.’

[It wasn’t just that. To be honest, even if it explodes, this guy that Nine Darhon made is not even half of the original Corruption. It’s not enough to swallow the entire residential area.]

‘Then…?’

Arun looked at the black seed.

[But if this explodes instead of the Corruption, things will be different.]

Cahill looked at the seed.

Even he was seeing it for the first time.

As Serika’s magic disappeared and the frozen thing melted, the seed seemed alive and trembling.

[This is a Demon Realm item called a Black Spore.]

‘……!!!!’

Cahill’s face hardened.