The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 352

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 351

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully 351

For Peace (7)

Even the Swordmasters’ ultimate techniques couldn’t take down the elite-class monsters. They were injured, but their wounds were slowly healing.

It was a moment that highlighted Yoosungwoo’s skill once again, as he quickly killed such a monster and broke through the horde of monsters alone to return.

The Swordmasters continued their battle. They fought fiercely to prevent the elite-class monsters from reaching Yoosungwoo, and in the meantime, Yoosungwoo steadily advanced towards the gate.

And besides them, there was another Swordmaster in the expedition.

Tian moved alone, traversing the battlefield.

Holding two daggers, he stepped on monsters to jump around, embedding the daggers in their heads.

Monsters seemed to move without any thought, but they had commander-level entities that moved in specific patterns.

Tian targeted only those commander-level entities for assassination and quickly retreated. His stealth skills, learned while working as an assassin in the Empire, couldn’t be tracked even by the monsters’ keen senses.

Moreover, Tian was one who reached the realm of Swordmaster through assassination.

Each time his daggers danced brilliantly, commander-level entities fell one by one, causing chaos on the battlefield.

As the monsters’ command structure became confused, they collided with each other, fell, or even attacked their own kind.

Though, with their varied appearances, it was questionable whether they could even be called the same kind.

Tian excellently carried out the task Yoosungwoo entrusted to him. Eliminating commander-level entities reduced the burden on the squad members who were currently holding out.

And, the four who were divided into several squads were merely swinging their swords to endure and defeat the monsters.

“They’re swarming in like crazy!”

“Don’t break formation!”

“Die, die! Just die!”

It was a free-for-all.

A terribly chaotic one.

The blood of fallen monsters splattered everywhere, raising poisonous fumes.

They had to block the fumes from entering their bodies with mana while fighting the monsters, which eroded their minds at an unimaginable rate, and the numbers that didn’t decrease even after being defeated drove them to the edge.

The red sky seemed to ask if they, mere humans, could handle it.

In the midst of the miserable battlefield, the swordsmen swung their swords mindlessly, just to survive and win.

Miracles performed with swords occurred everywhere.

Lightning flashed, and flames burst.

Waves of mana surged, and golden light poured down.

Soaring shadows bound the monsters’ feet, and swung daggers severed their breaths in an instant.

“Honey! You’re doing great! But it seems like you’re still no match for me?”

A woman who jumped into the air, stepping on Choi Ayun’s shoulder, waved her hands as if she couldn’t hear anything, and the monsters were torn to pieces.

She was an expedition member who had been trying to sell wires to Choi Ayun. A unique technique that enhanced cutting power by channeling mana into specially made steel wires.

She sometimes called it Wire Swordsmanship.

“Now, then, next…”

The moment she landed in the air and turned her head to slice another monster, Choi Ayun intervened and blocked the surprise attack.

In return, Choi Ayun had to roll on the floor, spitting blood, but no one died.

“Honey!”

She looked at Choi Ayun, then turned her head to look at the entity that had ambushed them.

It was a monster. An elite-class monster that Swordmasters fought. The difference was that its arms were made of sharp blades.

“Damn it! Honey!”

She tried to slice the monster by extending the wire to its maximum, but the monster’s arms moved faster.

After cutting all the wires, it rushed towards her neck.

A swordsman stood in its way. It was Lorraine, a Swordmaster wielding dual swords.

Her being here, when she should have been in another squad, meant there was a hole in that squad.

“Lorraine!”

“I’ll block them here! Please cover the empty spot!”

The monster’s arms and Lorraine’s dual swords crossed dazzlingly.

The dual swords, clad in aura, drew hundreds of trajectories, blocking the monster.

The speed of the two quickly surpassed the human realm. Reaching a realm that could not be followed with the eyes, the aftermath affected the surroundings.

Everything around them was torn apart by the two beings’ strikes.

And, while Lorraine was holding back the monster, another elite-class monster popped out from another direction.

A monster with hammers for hands attacked another squad, collapsing their formation.

The Sword Spirit Expedition, which had been holding out firmly, slowly began to crumble.

Veronica and Yoosungwoo, who were watching the scene from the hill, sighed almost simultaneously as they saw the beginning of the collapse.

The elite-class monsters, mixed in and hidden among the monsters, had begun to act when Yoosungwoo, the biggest threat, was far away.

“I didn’t know back then that the elite-class monsters would hide their presence and wait for an opportunity.”

It was something they hadn’t even thought of.

It was the moment when the monsters, who they thought weren’t that intelligent, used tactics.

The commander-level entities had only been able to lead them.

The elite-class monsters seemed to be aiming to disrupt the expedition by targeting the relatively weaker rear.

Yoosungwoo at the time had to face the chaotic expedition after closing the gate and returning.

There were casualties. Expedition members died and became lumps of meat. They were tangled with the monsters, making it impossible to even recognize their shapes.

“…Veronica, what do you think? Will this war be different from then?”

“Doesn’t the commander have eyes?”

Veronica closed her mouth and pointed to the battlefield with her finger.

It was already very different from the past he had experienced once.

Originally, the assassin Shani, who handled the wires, had died from the elite-class monster’s attack just now, and Lorraine couldn’t come to cover because she was dealing with a monster that popped out from somewhere else.

“…Yes, it’s already different.”

While Lorraine blocked the monster, other swordsmen joined forces to fight another elite-class monster.

And, at the center of it was Yoo Jiwoo. Hae Wol Geom [Sea Moon Sword] was a swordsmanship specialized in defense, and it was excellent at channeling great power.

In fact, Yoo Jiwoo was unfolding Hae Wol Geom against the elite-class monster, deflecting the monster’s attacks.

The attacks that she couldn’t deflect completely were shared by the surrounding swordsmen. That way, the balance of power was barely maintained.

“…But, whether even that ending will be different remains to be seen.”

***

Baek Woohyun and Hong Seohwa defeated monsters while assessing the situation on the battlefield.

The battlefield was very chaotic. They were somehow maintaining balance, but it was a situation where that balance could collapse at any moment.

Yoo Jiwoo and Choi Ayun were swinging their swords against a strong-looking enemy that had suddenly appeared, and Yoosungwoo’s squad was already far away.

And since support couldn’t be requested, it seemed like they were in a dire situation.

“It’s a situation that makes you curse involuntarily.”

Carlton, who was in the same squad as Baek Woohyun, smiled bitterly at Baek Woohyun’s muttering. It had been less than two days since he joined the expedition, and he had already been caught up in something like this.

He thought they were very unlucky. It was Carlton’s first time experiencing a Red Omen since joining the expedition.

He had experienced other Omens, but Red boasted the highest level of danger.

To stop it, the entire nation’s forces would have to be mobilized.

It didn’t make sense to stop a Red Omen with such a small number of people. It was only possible to attempt it because there were several Swordmasters.

“It seems like one is coming this way too. I’ll have to deal with it, won’t I?”

“I’ll join you.”

“Then that’s even better.”

Carlton, sensing the monster’s presence, smiled and stretched out his sword, and the monster’s body was pierced as it rushed in.

It was as if he knew it would rush there, it was a single strike.

The monster, whose body was pierced by his speed, was momentarily flustered before stepping back and glaring at Carlton.

“Blades, hammers, and now spikes. This is quite something!”

With a whirl, the monster’s spike pierced the spot where Carlton had been.

And the small gap that was created.

Baek Woohyun, taking advantage of the gap, plunged in a lightning-like strike.

However, the monster didn’t budge. Rather, it launched a counterattack against Baek Woohyun.

Baek Woohyun, who quickly evaded by becoming a streak of lightning, realized just how much of a monster it was from that exchange alone.

‘In terms of the Abyss, it’s a Grade 1 or higher, a boss-level of a Special Abyss!’

Even with his current strength, it was an enemy he could never face alone.

Baek Woohyun stiffened his expression, sensing that it would be a difficult fight.

Forgetting that this was all a hallucination, he became deeply immersed in the situation.

Carlton tapped Baek Woohyun on the back and said.

“Relax. If you’re too stiff, your swordsmanship will become stiff too.”

“…I understand.”

“It’s coming! Focus!”

The monster moved again.

The ground roared and dust soared just from kicking off the ground, and it approached in the blink of an eye.

Carlton stood in front of it, gently deflecting the spike.

Dozens of exchanges unfolded in the world of 0 seconds.

As a swordsman on the verge of becoming a Swordmaster, Carlton concentrated all his senses and unfolded the Evernia family’s secret swordsmanship.

‘One, two.’

Carlton read the moves.

Like playing chess, he moved his steps while measuring the distance between the monster and himself.

One step, two steps.

The Evernia family’s secret swordsmanship, unfolded to the extreme, was like dancing.

“Right advance, left traverse, rotation, left advance…”

Carlton continued to mutter, analyzing the monster’s behavior patterns, creating a manual in his head, and reading even more moves.

That was the essence of the Evernia family’s secret swordsmanship.

However, on the chessboard in Carlton’s head, his moves began to be pushed back more and more. This was because the monster’s physical abilities were far superior to Carlton’s.

A chess game with no surrender. He couldn’t stop making moves until he reached checkmate.

Eventually, Carlton made his last move. Now, no matter what move he made, he couldn’t avoid being pierced by the monster’s spike.

Death was imminent.

However, one piece that wasn’t on Carlton’s chessboard intervened. It was a piece that took the form of lightning.

Baek Woohyun, who had transformed into lightning, stabbed a streak of lightning from the monster’s blind spot, rushing towards Carlton, who was cornered in checkmate.

Perhaps because it was an attack that wasn’t sensed, the monster’s shoulder was deeply pierced and shook.

Because of that, Carlton’s chessboard was overturned. A new board was unfolded.

And at that moment, Carlton also felt his world being overturned. The created variable shook even Carlton’s mental world, and that soon became the key to breaking through the blocked wall.

Mana raced through Carlton’s blood vessels.

The mana, which ran from the heart to the tips of his hands and feet along the pulse, soon became a blue aura and burst out along his sword.

He, who had broken the wall of Swordmaster, smiled and swung his sword, and the sword, condensed with intense aura, blew away one of the monster’s arms.

As the monster jumped back, Carlton lightly swung his sword a few times and said.

“Good. Let’s do it again. I’m very curious to see what kind of board it will be this time.”