Solo Swordmaster

#216. I’m taking pictures with my senses.

[Well, I know of at least one monster who gets stronger every time he cuts a constellation.]

I wonder if anyone else knows.

Yuna-gyeong muttered nervously, as if it was deception for Limon to say such a thing.

“It’s hard to become strong, but with only a few leftover tricks.”

But Limon did not raise an eyebrow.

Most of the tricks he gained from absorbing starlight shards were things like changing his appearance, crossing space, and making it easier to think.

In fact, there was very little that could help in a fight.

Above all, he is a swordsman.

From dragons and demons to ancient spirits.

Having defeated countless transcendent beings with just one sword, he had no reason to rely on such a catch now.

[Ah yes. I guess so

.]

[…!]

Yuna-kyung, who stuck out her tongue at Limon’s arrogant attitude, stood still.

Except for the sound of Limon’s footsteps, the passage was filled with silence.

Because there was a groaning sound coming from the other side.

The moment when Yuna-kyung unknowingly bristled her feathers at that cry that was too malicious to be a mere beast.

Dig!

it moved

Like a beast hunting its prey.

Or like an arrow that left a demonstration.

It came running close to the ground and scratched Limon’s back with its claws like lightning.

No, I was trying to scratch.

That is, until Limon didn’t even look back and fell to the ground after getting hit in the stomach with a sharp knife sheath.

Whoops!

“Kkeuk!”

Is it because I hit the vital point right?

Limon didn’t care at all about the fact that he rolled his eyes and flew back into the darkness.

I just walked forward as if nothing had happened.

Thanks to that, Yuna-kyung, who was dumbfounded, asked a question after a while.

[Uh, chief? What was that just now?]

“What do you think it was?”

[Well… a monster?]

Yuna-kyung replied with a lack of confidence.

Those mad eyes, beast-like behavior, and claws that were long and sharp like blades.

It happened so instantaneously that I couldn’t see the details, but it was clear that it was no ordinary beast.

“Why are you not confident in your answer?”

[The team leader didn’t kill you.]

If it was a simple monster, isn’t it limon-like to cut it down instead of blowing it away?

Limon nodded at Yuna-kyung’s sharply pointed words.

And he spoke softly.

“Yes, just as you expected, it’s not a monster.”

[Then what was it?]

“You said it. This Tartarus is also used to imprison criminals.”

[…just said it was human?!]

“At least it was originally like that.”

Limon said calmly.

Tartarus is a labyrinth created by a god’s miracle and cursed by a god’s death.

Those who do not receive God’s protection are eroded by the curse and gradually lose their humanity and become monsters.

That’s why only the sinners who committed the most terrible crimes in the Holy League were confined here.

Because it was the punishment God gave them to become monsters and protect the labyrinth without even being allowed to die.

[No, something like that…!]

Yuna-kyung opened her beak.

As a former PAB agent, I’ve heard all sorts of ghost stories.

It was the first time in her life that even she had told such an absurd story.

“Is this unexpected?”

[It’s not unexpected! Does it make sense that the gods are doing such terrible things in the basement of the Last Holy Land?!]

“Of course it makes sense.”

[Yes?]

Limon calmly said to Yuna-gyeong, who was taken aback.

“Isn’t that what gods and religions are originally?”

the guilty one.

The one who bought the wrath of God.

or those who do not believe in God.

It is a common tenet in most religions that after death such people will go to hell and suffer the most terrible punishment.

In other words, originally, God is the most ruthless judge and cruel executioner in the world.

“The sinners of Tartarus just received God’s judgment a little earlier than they should have received in hell. So nothing unexpected.”

Watching Limon talk calmly, Yuna-kyung realized anew.

Limon’s words that if there is a paradise on earth, there is also a hell, were literal.

If Avalon, a London confrontation system, is a pseudo-underworld created by magic, the underground labyrinth Tartarus is a pseudo-hell created by a curse from a god.

[I’d rather not know this truth…]

“That’s what being an adult is originally.”

[I’m not even a year old yet? It’s still a long way from becoming an adult.]

He grumbled about the unwanted early education for a while.

Yuna-kyung suddenly muttered.

[By the way, is there really a place like this where Princess White Dragon is?]

“There will be. Because there were traces of that idiot outside the entrance.”

[aha. Then you’ve been chasing the traces of Princess White Dragon until now?]

Yuna-kyung shook her head.

This Tartarus was a place where crossroads, stairs, and doors popped out, befitting the nickname of an underground labyrinth.

I finally understood why Limon had been able to choose the fork in the road without a hitch.

“Well, half of it.”

[…Why half?]

“There’s no way that traces of someone who passed through this cursed labyrinth could remain intact. That was already a few days ago.”

If that were the case, Tartarus wouldn’t even have become the final battlefield of the Silver Age.

Looking at Limon, who said that most of Ainsha’s traces had already disappeared because of the power of Tartarus, Yuna-kyung put on a puzzled expression.

[Then, on what criteria are you choosing the path?]

“What criteria are you using?”

Limon laughed.

Then, with a grim smile, he added one more word.

“I’m just shooting with my senses.”

[…Didn’t the team leader say that this is an underground labyrinth with a total of 666 floors? Besides, it’s a living hell where even the cursed sinners are seething.]

“I didn’t say it was a living hell. I just said it was something like that.”

[That’s what he said! No, what are you going to do if you get lost and wander in a place like this?]

Yuna-kyung jumped up and down.

As she had already experienced the battles in London, she knew with a shudder what it was like to be the most powerful magic in the Silver Age.

However, to be lost in the middle of a battleground that was said to be comparable to such a London confrontation.

It was a frightening thing.

But Limon said calmly.

“I wasn’t lost. Look, there’s even a road sign here, right?”

[What do you mean by a sign…?]

Yuna-kyung blinked.

Then, at the end of the passage, a monster’s corpse piled up in a huge cavity.

No, to be exact, he opened his beak as he saw the goat-headed monster as big as a mountain glaring at him while eating the corpse.

It was because he was overwhelmed by the evil and terrifying magic that the monster exudes.

But Limon did not raise an eyebrow.

He just laughed as he saw the thin strands of thread that had been severed from the head of the goat-headed monster in half.

“It’s a god who has fallen into a demon… Anyway, that stupid princess has touched all the troublesome things.”

* * *

“Right. As I expected, you must have obtained the psionic essence from our ancestor’s blood.”

“Impossible.”

At Li Qingyu’s calm reply, Rose responded.

covered in dragon’s blood.

There was no way it would be possible to obtain dragon psionics at all for such a simple reason.

In fact, there was a reason Rose concluded that it was impossible.

“Humans could not have endured it if they had directly absorbed the psionics of the ancestors.”

Psionics are mighty powers, but at the same time, they are also double-edged swords that put an enormous strain on the body.

Even among the masters of the Seven Dragons, who have trained the seventy-two kinds of martial arts throughout their lives, there are even those who die or become crippled by coin intoxication because they can’t handle their own psionics.

What if a pure human who was not even a descendant of a dragon absorbed the dragon psionic?

The body would have exploded immediately.

“Usually it would be.”

Li Qingyu also acknowledged that fact.

In fact, the fact that dragon’s blood is passed down as poison in many myths and legends is also because normal humans can’t handle the psionic.

Yes.

If you are a normal human.

“But Rose Swordsman is a sword master.”

“…!”

“Could he not be able to handle the power that we can handle?”

Superhuman Sword Master who reached immortality just by swinging his sword.

Do you think that the transcendent being with the most perfect body in the world would not be able to withstand even the blood of the dragon he cut?

And behind the myth that regards dragon’s blood as poison, there is a legend about a dragon slayer who endured the miasma and gained mysterious power.

Li Qingyu calmly said to Rose, who was frozen at the unexpected point.

“The three sword masters who actually fought the seven ancestors boasted overwhelming strength among the thirteen sword masters.”

“You say that the secret to your strength was because you absorbed the essence of the psionic?”

“There is no specific evidence. It could be a simple swordsmanship or skill difference.”

Li Qingyu shrugged.

Thirteen sword masters who existed in history.

Among them, the Sword Emperor and his two disciples who ended the Age of Bronze were more special in many ways than the ten Sword Masters born in the Age of Heroes.

However, there is no guarantee that the dragon’s blood had no effect on its speciality.

Seeing her talk calmly, Rose bit her lip.

“If they had had dragon psionics from then on, wouldn’t we have gone unnoticed for close to a thousand years?”

“What if the dragon psionics were absorbed but not manifested?”

“What does it mean?”

“Did you forget Rose? What kind of swordsmanship did you learn?”

Rose involuntarily held her breath.

It was only then that he realized what he had inadvertently overlooked while focusing on dragon psionics.

“…a blade for yam.”

“that’s right. And its origin is the dragon killing sword. The first sword master, Geomje, is a swordsmanship created to thoroughly compete with our ancestors and psionics.”

After hearing Li Qingyu’s words, many thoughts ran through Rose’s mind.

The sword master’s sword is a mysterious power more than any other mystery in the world, and it is the reason why they can cut the providence of the world with only their sword.

And the sword emperor and the two disciples were those who became sword masters by building swordsmanship based on such dragon blades.

What if they absorbed the psionic essence?

Did psionics really manifest?

Rather, wouldn’t it have been frozen like a seed buried in the snowy mountain, crushed by the blade of the dragon slaughter sword?

“Perhaps that’s why we haven’t noticed for hundreds of years that swordsmiths have dragon psionic potential.”

“….”

“In fact, I doubt whether or not the dragon psionics were manifested in the middle of it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve never heard of a ghost story that the swordsman used something similar to psionics.”

At Rose’s objection, Li Qingyu smiled.

And because it was so old, it was considered common sense, but if you think about it carefully, you can’t help but feel a sense of incongruity.

“Have you ever thought that it was strange? It’s about the swordsmith’s ‘feel’.”

Rose’s eyes widen again at an unexpected point.

However, Li Qingyu, who made her heart beat uncontrollably, continued to speak calmly.

“The senses of a sword master are obviously superhuman, and intuition based on long experience sometimes transcends logic.”

“Still, persimmons are just persimmons after all. If you keep repeating it ten or twenty times, eventually one day it will be wrong or miss.”

“In fact, in history, there are many anecdotes of sword masters who made absurd mistakes like Geomrang.”

“However, the swordsman saved the world several times with that intuition. Not even once did he fail.”

“What does that mean?”

Seeing Li Qingyu smile meaningfully, Rose trembled her lips.

A 100% sense of fit cannot originally exist.

if it is possible?

it is no longer a feeling

And what is the transcendent sixth sense that goes beyond the limits of the five senses?

Rose knew.

“Precognition…!”