The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 21

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 21

King of Corpses (5)

Yu Seong-wu spoke indifferently, twirling his sword once before unleashing a wide swing.

A storm of sword energy erupted.

The crimson sword energy spun like a mixer, turning the surroundings into scorched earth and pushing back even Azaha’s magic and Silion.

The grand hall, where the vampires’ offerings had been piled high, was instantly reduced to a dilapidated state.

Standing at the storm’s center, Yu Seong-wu rotated the shoulder holding his sword and said,

“Don’t bother with petty tricks; come out and face me. I know you’re fine.”

“You’re just a human, wielding power far beyond what you deserve.”

“What kind of answer are you expecting? You’re already dead anyway…”

Yu Seong-wu drew his sword back.

At that moment, with a clang, Silion was knocked back and vanished into the darkness once more.

Realizing that dealing with the legion commander, Silion, first would be the easier path, Yu Seong-wu deliberately created an opening while lowering his sword.

When his direct attacks failed, Silion grew impatient and made a mistake he wouldn’t normally commit.

He charged in the instant Yu Seong-wu, who had shown no vulnerabilities until then, revealed one.

Driven by psychological pressure, he fell for a simple trap.

Silion moved as if pulled along, following the direction and trajectory Yu Seong-wu intended.

Just as Yu Seong-wu’s sword was about to sever Silion’s head, Azaha intervened, summoning bones to surge from the floor and block the blow.

However, he couldn’t completely stop it; only Silion’s left arm was severed.

Yu Seong-wu clicked his tongue and took a few steps back to regain his footing.

Meanwhile, Azaha attempted to restore Silion’s left arm, but it failed to reattach.

“…Why?”

“You ask why?”

Yu Seong-wu chuckled at Azaha’s bewildered question and tapped Ilsaeng [his sword] with his finger.

“This thing can cut through anything.”

Even a soul.

The reason why the undead couldn’t rise when Yu Seong-wu swept the plains earlier was the same.

“Let’s continue.”

Yu Seong-wu, who had been on the defensive, turned aggressive.

He leaped up, pursuing Silion as he tried to hide in the shadows of the ceiling, and plunged his sword into Silion’s darkness.

As soon as he withdrew the sword, Silion was dragged out with it, impaled through the chest.

Harvesting Silion as if pulling a carrot, he tossed him to the ground and immediately descended from the ceiling, plunging his sword into Silion’s skull.

As Ilsaeng sliced through Silion’s soul, Silion’s arm, reaching out with his last dagger, fell lifelessly to the floor.

“Silion!”

“So, Silion was your name. You were quite skilled, but since you’re already dead, you won’t be improving any further.”

“I will kill you, without fail!”

“Why do the dead always get more worked up than the living?”

It was an incomprehensible question.

Azaha tapped the floor twice with his staff, unleashing dozens of spells.

The magic filled the air, firing indiscriminately as if unconcerned with scorching the surroundings, and blowing away what remained of the Black Castle’s already ruined ceiling.

“…Tough bastard.”

However, Yu Seong-wu remained unharmed even amidst the magical storm.

His clothes might have been slightly torn, but the wounds on his body were mere scratches.

He waved his sword to clear away the dust and stared directly at Azaha.

Then, he drew his sword towards himself, assumed a stance, and exhaled a crimson breath.

‘The dragon’s magic is truly fearsome.’

Since Azaha was promoted to Elder Lich with the dragon’s magic, the amount of magic he could wield must be enormous.

But more than anything, it was about the sheer quantity.

Perhaps because he had accumulated nearly infinite magic over a long period, it didn’t seem to diminish much even after unleashing magic indiscriminately just now.

Instead, the surge of magic seemed to be preparing an even greater spell.

Yu Seong-wu gathered his energy to defeat Azaha before this so-called great magic could be unleashed.

As red energy swirled around him, his eyes and even his hair turned crimson.

Focusing his energy at the tip of Ilsaeng, he took a shallow breath and swung his sword.

The first sword technique he had shown to Yu Ji-u before.

Yu Seong-wu’s swordsmanship, which had instantly killed the giant white snake, revealed its form.

First Sword – Life or Death.

The sword, thrust in a straight line, moved as if wriggling like a dragon.

Azaha erected a wall of bones and cast a shield to block Yu Seong-wu’s sword, but the sharp tip tore through them all and continued its advance.

When the tip of the sword reached Azaha, red sword energy surged like tree roots, enveloping him.

The soul-cutting sword lacerated Azaha.

“Kuaaaaaaaak-!!”

Azaha’s scream echoed.

“Damn bastard, you son of a bitch…!”

Azaha resisted, spewing black energy from his entire body.

He struggled to escape Yu Seong-wu’s Life or Death technique.

“You’re a tough one.”

Yu Seong-wu echoed Azaha’s earlier words and eventually retrieved his sword without finishing him off.

The crimson hair returned to its natural black.

‘I have no choice but to destroy the crown.’

He aimed for the crown with the Life or Death technique just now, but he couldn’t reach it because a strong shield protected it.

Ultimately, he had to concentrate a powerful attack to destroy only the crown, not Azaha himself.

Azaha staggered, grabbed his staff with both hands, and plunged it into the floor.

At that moment, a powerful force erupted and began to sweep through the grand hall.

“…I am Azaha, the last king of the great Epsilon.”

“Hooo….”

Yu Seong-wu kept his eyes fixed on Azaha and timed it.

The time he had counted in his head had just passed ten minutes.

About twenty minutes remained.

‘Then….’

From now on, it’s all-out.

It seems he’s starting to use all the magic he possesses, so which one of us is stronger?

The time to settle things has come.

Azaha pulled the staff from the ground and struck down again.

Then, the powerful magic of the Elder Lich began to engulf the surroundings, altering the very scenery.

“…What is this!”

It was a sight that even Yu Seong-wu found surprising.

Azaha, who had been merely a skeleton standing before him, transformed into a handsome man with flowing golden hair.

The grand hall, which had its ceiling blown off, reverted to a distant past, to the time when Epsilon was building its wealth and military might, boasting a solemn and majestic landscape.

Azaha, in his human form, waved the staff in his hand.

Then, the place where they stood shifted from the grand hall of the royal castle to a distant sky.

The sky was not the perpetually dark sky of the City That Never Sleeps, but one illuminated by a warm sun.

Beneath their feet lay a glittering royal castle.

However, it was a beautiful castle marred by the fact that everything beyond its walls was black and desolate land.

Azaha, holding the staff, pointed towards the divers and undead engaged in battle and said,

“In the past, a great river flowed through Epsilon. The fields were verdant, and every day must have been peaceful.”

At that moment, the scenery shifted rapidly.

The dead land turned green as waves of life spread from the royal castle, and a large river flowed around it.

New walls rose around the royal castle, and houses sprang up from the ground.

“With lush greenery all around, it was a place with nothing lacking.”

This time, a forest emerged around the royal castle.

Saplings sprouted from the ground, grew rapidly, and formed a vast forest, and even beasts began to peek through the trees.

“Epsilon’s army was brave, and no surrounding country could stand against it!”

A cry filled with regret.

What changed in response to Azaha’s cry was not nature.

The undead who were fighting the divers began to transform, soon assuming completely human forms.

“Keuh-hahaha-!!”

“Th-this bastard!”

The legion commander, now in human form, laughed boisterously and began to push back Seongunryong [a group of divers/soldiers].

The other undead underwent the same transformation.

Taking human form, they exerted even greater power than before and drove back the divers.

Seeing this, Yu Seong-wu frowned and muttered.

“Large-scale illusion magic… Was he preparing something like this?”

“It’s not an illusion. Everything will become real and kill you.”

“Not real, corpses.”

Yu Seong-wu, correcting his language, gripped Ilsaeng tightly.

What was unfolding before his eyes was a terrifying great magic.

Because it was a high-level magic that blurred the line between illusion and reality, he drew his sword and gathered his energy.

“Behold! My majesty! The once prosperous Epsilon has regained its power!”

As Azaha shouted loudly and waved his staff, the sky filled with magic circles.

The sheer number of magic circles and the immense magical pressure bore down on the space.

Azaha, displaying his full power and radiating his intent to kill Yu Seong-wu, was felt even by the divers fighting on the plains.

“Scream, humans. For despair reigns here.”

As Azaha’s words ended, the place where they stood shifted from the sky back to the grand hall.

The brilliantly transformed grand hall was on the verge of becoming desolate once more.

“Hoo-eup!”

The moment Azaha’s magic circles flashed and unfolded.

Yu Seong-wu took a deep breath and swung his sword.

Sword and magic collided.

The iridescent magic of light could not penetrate the sword, and the blood-red blade cleaved the magic in two.

The magic spread to the sides, centered on Yu Seong-wu’s position, creating a large scar.

The aftermath didn’t stop there, and the grand hall collapsed.

Not only the grand hall where they stood, but also the floors below were smashed, and the two plummeted underground.

Yu Seong-wu, cutting through the falling debris and looking around, immediately realized that he was in the place where the dragon had been.

In the City That Never Sleeps, where everything was inverted, it was the only place that felt normal.

At the same time, he understood that the final showdown with Azaha would take place here.

“Die! Your swordsmanship is excellent, but it will not reach me!”

Azaha’s magic rained down, and Yu Seong-wu immediately leaped and ran along the wall.

The magic struck the places where Yu Seong-wu stepped, sending stones flying in all directions.

A whirlwind raged, and the atmosphere intensified.

Yu Seong-wu, jumping off the wall, rushed towards Azaha and swung his sword.

The wall of bones that suddenly rose to block his path was quickly shattered by several swings of his blade.

As he pierced through the wall of bones, Azaha unleashed magic from behind it.

The magic, charged with black energy, was fired, but Yu Seong-wu deflected it with his sword and swung his fist to strike the crown.

“Keuk!”

However, the crown’s barrier remained, and the punch had no effect.

Still, he managed to create a tremor.

The slight impact that reached the crown was enough to shake Azaha.

In that moment, Yu Seong-wu exploded with energy and thrust his sword towards Azaha.

As the tip of the sword touched the crown, a resounding kaaang echoed, and the two were sent flying in opposite directions, crashing into the walls.

Yu Seong-wu was the first to emerge from the rubble.

He touched the long wound on his waist and glared at Azaha on the opposite wall.

‘The barrier is gone.’

All that remained was to deal with the crown.

As Yu Seong-wu assumed a stance and pointed his sword, Azaha, who had emerged from the opposite side, spoke.

“…Why, why? Why do you stand in the way of my procession?”

Azaha, walking with his staff like a cane, spread his arms and continued.

“I only wanted to reclaim the fertile lands of Epsilon. The land that was trampled by those bastards! But why do you stand in my way!”

“You’re saying all sorts of strange things. A dead man should seek Nirvana [a state of perfect peace], what kind of resurrection are you trying to achieve?”

Or aim for the next life.

Go for a one-chance dive [gamble on reincarnation].