The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 146

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 146

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully Episode 146

Hetris (6)

Fortunately, Yoo Seong-woo only received a light, affectionate flick on the forehead.

Rubbing his slightly sore forehead, Hetris fell asleep. The next morning, they resumed their ascent up the mountain.

As they continued to climb the rocky terrain, they encountered living beings this time.

“Kaaa-aaaack-!!”

“Kaaa-aaaaaaack-!!”

If it weren’t for their tattered rags, grotesquely elongated limbs, and bizarre screams, one might have considered attempting a conversation.

They were loitering around the remnants of a village, and the moment the Sword Soul entered, they rushed in all at once.

With about thirty of the creatures attacking, Yoo Seong-woo stepped back, excluding himself from the fight, to observe his companions.

After all, this Abyss raid was intended to assess and refine their skills.

A chance to evaluate their progress and identify areas for further development.

With the Swordmaster and a capable healer watching their backs, they had the opportunity to unleash their full potential without feeling overwhelmed.

Nearly thirty humanoid white monsters lunged forward, brandishing their long claws.

They focused their defense around Hetris, who wasn’t a combatant, and Jeanne, the healer.

Yoo Seong-woo watched the eleven people fighting, analyzing their movements.

He aimed to correct any unconscious bad habits they exhibited during combat.

“There’s really no guild leader like me……”

He teaches swordsmanship, corrects flaws, and is incredibly strong.

Where else could you find such a perfect guild leader?

Yoo Seong-woo had done this countless times in other worlds, meticulously analyzing each person and storing the information in his mind.

Through this battle, they would undoubtedly grow stronger.

While one person might not be enough to replace him, shouldn’t they be able to combine their strengths and fill the void?

Yoo Seong-woo planned to hone their skills to that level.

“That guy keeps raising his shoulder……”

Yoo Seong-woo clicked his tongue and approached them as they finished the battle and regrouped.

“You fought well, you fought well.”

Some of them looked sullen at the tone that didn’t sound like a genuine compliment.

Even they felt they had performed admirably.

Yoo Seong-woo pointed out several problems he had observed during the fight.

His criticisms were valid, and they took his advice to heart.

If they hadn’t been aware of Yoo Seong-woo’s capabilities, they might have argued back, but everyone present knew his skill level.

Each piece of advice was becoming ingrained in their very being.

After dispensing his advice, he resumed the raid.

Having encountered living beings and discovered traces of a village, they should be able to conduct a thorough investigation.

The twelve people scattered throughout the village, meticulously searching for clues that could aid their raid.

They discovered several stone tablets and statues imbued with a strange power.

These were statues carved in the likeness of the bird depicted in the mural they had found in the cave while climbing the rocky mountain.

Hetris immediately began analyzing them and presented her findings.

“The statues appear to be at least a thousand years old, making them quite ancient. The inscriptions on the stone tablets are fuþark… Runic script [an ancient Germanic alphabet]. It truly is connected to Norse mythology……”

“Is interpretation possible?”

“Not entirely, but some of it is decipherable. Um, so… ‘We who thought we would touch the wind will be weathered and disappear faintly’… I believe it can be interpreted to that extent.”

“…Hmm.”

Yoo Seong-woo frowned, glancing back and forth between the stone tablet and the statue before making a decision.

Worrying over such things would only waste time.

If they proved worthless, they should be discarded, and the group should move on.

“Only take what you need. Our goal is Hraesvelgr [a giant eagle in Norse mythology] anyway, not these artifacts.”

“Yes.”

As they found a path to climb higher and left the village, an ominous sound began to echo.

The sound of something heavy slicing through the air.

Everyone turned their heads towards the source of the sound.

Yoo Seong-woo moved swiftly, deflecting the spear that hurtled towards him with the Ilseng he had drawn.

Kkaaa-aaang-!!

The deafening sound made people cover their ears, and Yoo Seong-woo, observing the returning spear, commented.

“It’s still daytime, but they’ve started throwing them, so does that mean we’re in a visible position now?”

He knew from Jeanne and Yuwol’s insights that the monster could hurl spears at night because the flow of magic surrounding the mountain subsided then.

During the day, the magical currents were so intense that they couldn’t detect the magic and refrained from throwing spears.

Now, even in broad daylight, a spear had been launched from afar.

This indicated that the distance was close enough to be detected despite the powerful magical interference.

If that were the case, Yoo Seong-woo also had a way to locate the monster.

“You guys go first. I’ll follow you later.”

With those words, Yoo Seong-woo deflected the spear that flew again and leaped lightly in the direction from which it had come.

As his figure vanished in an instant, the remaining members exchanged glances and nodded.

In Yoo Seong-woo’s absence, Vice Guild Leader Baek Woo-hyun would take command.

He spoke with a more serious expression.

“We will continue to climb as the Guild Leader instructed. Please be vigilant in guarding our surroundings.”

* * *

The rapidly returning spear flew once more.

Yoo Seong-woo had already deflected the fourth spear, and the fifth was now in flight.

This time, instead of deflecting it, he studied its trajectory.

He twisted his body while simultaneously returning the Ilseng held in his right hand.

As the massive spear narrowly passed by his side, he reached out and seized the spear shaft.

“Finally caught it.”

The spear, now in his grasp, resisted his touch, emitting intense magical energy.

He could even sense the will within it, threatening to incinerate his entire body if he didn’t release it immediately.

However, Yoo Seong-woo, on the contrary, slammed his aura into it, suppressing the spear’s will.

As the spear calmed down, he rotated it halfway and hurled it back from whence it came.

If the spear possessed magic that would return it to its owner, it would return and become lodged there.

Simultaneously, he quickly kicked off and climbed onto the spear, securing his feet with aura.

Like Son Goku [protagonist of Dragon Ball] riding on the Kintoun [flying nimbus], he soared through the fierce magical storm and clouds for a long time until he spotted another rocky mountain.

The rocky mountain had been hidden from view by the terrain.

There stood a towering spire, and a giant stood blankly on its roof.

The monster was entirely white and clad in rags, just like the ones he had seen in the village.

The bastard who wouldn’t let him sleep comfortably. The cause of his insomnia!

‘About 8 meters tall.’

An enormous size.

Yoo Seong-woo, having finally located the monster throwing spears, recalled a story Hetris had shared.

‘In Norse mythology, they call those things Jǫtunn [a race of giants].’

The enemy of the Aesir [a group of gods] and Vanir [another group of gods] gods that appear in Norse mythology.

The characteristics Hetris had described perfectly matched the giant, so he identified it as a Jötunn, leaped off the spear, and drew Ilseng.

The spear flew swiftly and embedded itself in the giant’s leg, and Yoo Seong-woo’s sword swung powerfully.

However, the giant quickly grabbed another spear placed behind him, befitting his size, and blocked Ilseng.

A shockwave rippled outwards with a heavy Kuung sound, and the spire trembled slightly.

“Block?”

Yoo Seong-woo smirked and swung his sword again as the giant blocked his attack.

He deliberately hammered the spear shaft with his sword.

The sword, swung with emotion in each strike, gradually pushed even the massive giant backward.

He attempted to use the spear shaft to push Yoo Seong-woo away, but his movements were far slower than Yoo Seong-woo’s sword, preventing him from launching a counterattack.

“Uwoh, uwoh oh!”

The giant was screaming strangely.

“What are you saying, you bastard!”

Yoo Seong-woo relentlessly hammered the monster’s spear shaft, and soon it cracked and shattered.

“Uwoh-uh-uh-uh-!”

The giant was flustered when the spear shaft broke and tried to pull out the spear lodged in his leg.

However, Yoo Seong-woo didn’t give the monster a chance to do so.

He swung Ilseng, severing the monster’s arm, then leaped lightly and kicked him in the chin.

The huge giant staggered back a few steps and then tumbled over the tower’s railing.

-Uwoh-uh-uh-uh……

The giant’s scream gradually faded away beyond the railing.

It was so high that the sound of his body hitting the ground was inaudible.

Yoo Seong-woo took a deep breath, calmed himself, and surveyed the spire.

In the spot where the giant had been standing, his footprints were deeply imprinted, as if he had been there for a long time, and behind him was a path leading into the spire.

“A nobody……”

He sheathed Ilseng and kicked a few spears lying around on the spire with his foot, then proceeded inside the spire.

Perhaps because it was a spire used by giants, the stairs leading down were also enormous.

After descending the stairs, lined with blue torches, for a considerable time, a large cavity appeared.

There, a pile of white bones was stacked high, also of giant size.

The floor was covered with massive bones, indicating how many giants had perished here.

“…What is this?”

Yoo Seong-woo spotted something sparkling among the piles of bones.

A small mirror reflecting the light of the blue torch.

The mirror, about the size of Yoo Seong-woo’s palm, emitted a strange power.

‘It’s an artifact.’

Yoo Seong-woo navigated through the piles of bones and picked up the mirror.

When he wiped away the dust accumulated on its surface, small clusters of light formed and moved in one direction.

The light traced a straight line.

Yoo Seong-woo realized that the direction the light was pointing was the direction he had come from and muttered.

“Is this the artifact that allows you to pinpoint the location?”

No wonder he threw it so accurately. When he examined the spear, it was evident that it contained magic, but not to the extent that it could provide such precise aiming correction.

The giant had used this artifact as a reference point when throwing the spear.

“If it’s this level of performance……”

It was clearly a fairly historic and useful artifact.

He had come in search of Hraesvelgr’s tail feathers and stumbled upon an unexpected treasure.

Yoo Seong-woo immediately placed the unknown mirror into the subspace bag on his waist and searched the piles of bones a little more.

He found a few old weapons.

Huge swords, spears, and axes that giants would have used.

They were old and worn, so they weren’t particularly helpful, but as a blacksmith, he recognized that they were made of metals he had never encountered before, making them worth studying.

Then, he returned to the top of the spire and looked in the direction he had come from.

Perhaps because he had flown for so long, he couldn’t see the rocky mountain he had left behind.

He sighed softly and clicked his tongue as he gazed at the other side.

He felt a little conflicted.

It was fortunate that he had come to defeat the monster who had been throwing spears in a fit of pique.

But he hadn’t considered how to return.

If that were the case, he had no choice but to return the same way he had come.

Yoo Seong-woo picked up a spear lying on the spire.

Then, he retrieved the mirror from the subspace bag and infused it with aura, causing a ray of light to connect to the sky on the other side.

If Yoo Seong-woo’s assumption was correct, this ray of light would be directed towards the members of the Sword Soul who were diligently continuing the raid.

He threw the spear forcefully into the sky and muttered.

“They’ll avoid it on their own.”

If they can’t avoid it, they die.