The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 55

48. Gray Schoolmaster

A slight headache.

He could feel the oxygen thinning as he went deeper into the Gray Schoolmaster.

Crack-

Caryl rotated his stiff neck from side to side.

Strangely, there was a sinking heaviness, as if walking on the deep seabed.

‘It’s a bit languid.’

Not difficult, but a feeling of lethargy.

As if trying to erase the unpleasant feeling, he shook his head from side to side again and began to descend the stairs.

A strangely familiar feeling.

Only then did Caryl realize what the unknown energy filling the Gray Schoolmaster was.

‘I see. It’s just like being inside the Tower.’

A single Tower that suddenly appeared after the Divine Revelation.

It was so huge that it could be seen from anywhere on the continent. It was the means by which he could come to the past, but conversely, it was also the cause of plunging humanity into despair.

‘Surely not.’

The Tower, called Pharel, spewed out countless monsters.

Mankind was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of these creatures and suffered greatly.

‘If it weren’t for Nar Di Maugh and the other races, humanity might have truly perished.’

Of course.

He had climbed that chilling Tower himself.

The sensation from that time, which he had forgotten, or rather, had been trying to forget, came back to him, and Caryl unconsciously rubbed the goosebumps on his arm.

‘But it’s different.’

He had spent an immeasurable amount of time inside it.

‘Is it right to say it’s not perfect? It’s definitely fainter than the feeling of Pharel.’

It was a very subtle difference, but the crushing weight was a little lighter.

After the Divine Revelation.

Mankind referred to the monsters that poured into the continent through the dimensional gate by that name.

Darkness, darker than darkness, devoured the continent and consumed humanity.

This dark power was also the source of the monsters.

No one knows where it came from or how it was created.

But Caryl remembered it clearly.

Because every time he beheaded them, he felt a chilling sensation.

‘It’s the same feeling.’

Caryl waved his hand in the air.

It was just air, but he felt a slight sense of incongruity, as if stirring in water.

‘Even before the Divine Revelation… there’s something similar to Corruption existing…’

The Council of Seven Elders.

The current wizards cannot use the magic they used. He thought that the original magic they left behind might be the key to Corruption.

‘I need to check it out.’

Caryl thought he had one more reason to conquer this place.

‘If this is really something like Corruption…’

In his previous life, Caryl also helped Nar Di Maugh when he was conquering the Gray Schoolmaster.

But it was clean then.

He hadn’t felt this way. Had someone conquered this place before he and Nar Di Maugh arrived?

Thump- Thump- Thump-

Unexplained questions.

But that was only for a moment, as a heavy reverberation was heard from the darkness.

“……”

Somehow, even that sound felt familiar in his memory. He slowly closed his eyes and stroked the darkness as if caressing the air.

‘I’ll have to check if it’s right or not.’

Crack-!!!

At that moment,

Caryl grabbed something as if snatching it, clenched his fist with all his might, and struck down from above.

[Kuaaaaaaa—!!!]

With a sharp scream, his hand was thrown back with a black smoke that seemed to burn it.

“Hmph.”

Ordinary people would have been surprised and stepped back, but Caryl, despite the sharp explosion, snorted and put his hand further into the darkness.

Squeak……!!!

It’s not that he’s not afraid of the flames.

He knows that the black smoke surrounding his visible arm is just an illusion.

‘Hallucination.’

That is the trick that Corruption uses best.

Whirrrrr—!!!

The fire now engulfed his arm, then his shoulder, and then his entire body.

“Kuaaa!!!”

Screaming an unidentifiable scream of pain or roar, Caryl grabbed something he could grab with all his might and pulled.

Splash……!!!

As if pulling something out of the water, a thick darkness was pulled along his arm and burst out.

“Keuk?!”

With a dizzying pain, Caryl slammed something he had in his hand onto the floor with all his might.

A red wound on the back of his hand, as if something had scratched it.

On top of the wound, the skin bubbled as if poison had been sprinkled or was festering.

“……”

Caryl tore off his sleeve and wrapped the wound with an indifferent expression.

A faint magic power swirled around his body and began to push back the blue poison trying to rise through his blood vessels.

Tzzzzzz…….

As the poison seeping out through the wound soaked into the bandage, he quickly unwrapped it.

‘It’s a relief I have magic power. In my previous life, I couldn’t even think of fighting Corruption without a priest or a wizard, or at least a detoxification potion.’

The poison had gone out, but the wound was still bleeding on the back of his hand without being stanched.

It’s not an ordinary attack.

Caryl stared ahead with a firm expression.

“I see.”

He nodded.

“I can’t believe it’s really here.”

[Krrr…….]

A monster that burned the continent.

An ominous being created by God.

No,

Rather than creating them, they were a race born from accidental failure.

“Corruption.”

He said quietly, looking at the monster in front of him.

“I really wonder why you guys are here. Kaie Essir too… The Council of Seven Elders. There seems to be a history I don’t know about.”

This is,

A race that even God hated to be near and cast out.

‘I wouldn’t have known if there hadn’t been a Divine Revelation.’

In the beginning, when dimensions were created and God created the world, cracks were inevitably left in the expanding world.

The remnants of dimensions gathered in the cracks, and what was born there was Corruption.

‘I’ll be fighting these guys to death someday, but….’

I didn’t expect to see them like this.

Squeeze-

Caryl put strength into the hand holding Agnel.

[Kuaaaaa—!!!]

And as if reacting to his appearance, the monster roared sharply and charged.

The monster’s appearance was not strange to be called a monster.

The skin was melted and festered as if acid had been sprayed on it, and it fell off the floor every time it moved, and its eyes were as red as if they were bloodshot.

The creature, standing on four legs, was about the size of a 50cm adult dog.

‘It’s not fully grown yet.’

It was by no means a small size, but Caryl knew what a complete Corruption looked like.

The last Corruption he defeated was a huge creature over tens of meters tall.

Bubble…… Boogre…….

Bubbles boiled and burst on the monster’s back.

Somehow, it felt like it was getting bigger little by little even in this short time.

It was then.

A cool energy enveloped his whole body.

Kwaaaaaang—!!!

The sharp teeth of Corruption rushed towards Caryl’s waist. The moment it kicked off the ground and jumped up, its flesh splattered everywhere.

The large tongue swayed every time it moved.

“Keuk?!”

A faster movement than expected.

Perhaps because his body was not yet perfectly formed. Caryl barely avoided the monster’s attack and turned his body.

Agnel’s sharp blade grazed the monster’s neck.

Splash……!!

The torn flesh, as if torn by a dagger, was scattered on the floor, and the monster stumbled on the floor several times as if unable to control its speed, and then jumped towards Caryl again.

Instead of the already cut wound, a slimy and foul liquid filled the inside.

The downward-facing ribs opened to both sides every time it breathed, and the rotten entrails were clearly visible.

Thump- Thump- Thump-

The monster’s red heart was beating without filtration.

‘I have to destroy that.’

The way to catch Corruption was simple.

Although it was imbued with the power of darkness, in the end, it was also a living thing.

If you destroy the heart, it dies.

But even if you know the method, it’s never easy.

If you go inside the Corruption to destroy its heart, you may die from the poison it spews out from its whole body.

‘I regret not having a weapon.’

All he had was one Agnel.

He didn’t prepare because he thought he would be dealing with it several years later.

Basically, he wears a mantle sprinkled with holy water to block the poison and armor with protective magic inside.

Divinity and magic.

Even if protected by two forces, it is dangerous, so he even borrows the power of alchemy to prepare a detoxification potion.

He doesn’t have any of that now.

Gulp-

Caryl looked at Corruption with a nervous face.

Now he was in a situation no different from jumping straight into a sea of poison.

‘I have no choice but to draw out the magic power of the magic blood and wrap it around me.’

Caryl, who is not a high enough class to cast protective magic, wanted to wrap his whole body with pure magic itself.

‘Can I do it?’

Woowoowoong…….

As he concentrated his strength, magic power began to flow through the two blood vessels pierced from the dantian [an acupuncture point below the navel, considered the center of energy].

Spark- Sparkle-

Sensing the magic power of the blocked blood vessels, the Bracelet of Greed emitted light and devoured the magic power.

‘Damn it.’

Something he failed last time too.

Caryl frowned and began to gather the scattered magic power again.

Kwaang- Kwagagang—!!!

The monster in front of him is not stupid enough to leave him alone. He hurriedly stepped back, avoiding the monster’s attack.

The situation became even more difficult.

“Keuk!!”

Caryl frowned.

However, by moving his body, the unnecessarily accumulated magic power was naturally released, and magic power enveloped his whole body without overflowing or lacking.

‘It’s done!’

It was an unexpected timing, but Caryl cheered.

At that moment, he did not miss the movement of Corruption’s beating heart.

It’s not just about stabbing the heart.

The heart, which had been moving violently until just now, swelled greatly.

‘Not yet. Aim for the third stage of expansion.’

The timing to stab the heart was right then.

It’s difficult to get inside, but it’s not the end just because you get inside.

That was a hunting method discovered after losing tens of thousands of soldiers.

There were times when Corruption’s rampant heart would harden once in a while, just like now.

People called that ‘stage.’

[Krrr……!!]

If you just stick a sword into a beating heart, the poison inside the monster’s body will explode.

When the first Corruption appeared, the 1st Legion of the Empire was annihilated due to the explosion of a single monster.

‘Now the second.’

The monster that was attacking until just now disappeared.

He couldn’t even feel its presence, but Caryl took a stance as if he had been waiting.

‘Inhaling mist.’

One of the techniques that Corruption mainly uses.

Boo Woong-

Caryl drew his sword in the air with all his might. His magic-filled aura blade shone in the darkness.

Kwaddeudeuk……!!

‘There’s no way to cut through the mist, but.’

There was a feeling of something touching Agnel’s blade along with a sharp sound like scraping metal.

The method used by Kwell, a Sword Master and his father. A huge amount of magic power is consumed, but it was not a problem for Caryl.

His Agnel blew away the entire mist with a sharp wind pressure along with a loud noise.

Kwaaaaaaaa—!!!!!!

Kwagagang—!!!

Along with a tremendous explosion that distorted space, a pure white light poured out.

Before the third attack.

Caryl’s sword pierced the monster’s heart before Corruption could.

Thud.

The hardened heart fell to the floor.

The crushed flesh of Corruption instinctively tried to regenerate, but it did not properly combine because it lost its heart.

Crack-

Without a moment’s hesitation, Caryl stabbed a dagger into the monster’s heart lying on the floor.

[Kue…… Kueeek……!!]

Then the monster trembled and shattered into ashes.

“Hoo.”

As if the tension had been relieved.

Caryl let out a low sigh and sat down on the floor.

As soon as Corruption disappeared, the darkness that had enveloped him disappeared as if it had never existed.

‘It’s just the beginning, but I’m worried about what will be ahead…….’

He was starting to regret saying confidently that he would finish the conquest within two days because he had some memories of the Gray Schoolmaster.

Caryl smiled and leaned against the wall of the hallway.

It would be absurd for anyone other than a strong-hearted person to rest in the battlefield he had just fought in.

But stamina management is important.

Especially in a situation where you don’t know what will come out, especially if you are alone.

Woowoowoong…….

At that moment.

“Huh?”

Light was coming from Agnel, which he had stabbed into Corruption’s heart.