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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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There once was a boy.
Born an orphan, he was given the name Chronos by a knight.
From the age of 10, there was a boy who swung his sword all day long.
It began as a sword to protect himself and those around him.
He swung that protective sword for 10 years.
And at just 20 years old, he was praised by those around him and rose to the position of vice-captain of the knights.
In reality, it was as good as acknowledging that his individual strength, excluding qualities like leadership, was the best in the Imperial Knights.
The act of cutting people and monsters with a sword.
He had become accustomed to that very act.
And at the end of it, he grew greedy.
A greed for a more perfect sword path.
A greed to wield a more perfect sword.
He swung his sword for 20 more years.
The man began to be called the Sword God.
It was after he single-handedly annihilated two Sword Masters from enemy countries.
Now he felt no value in killing and slaughter.
It was merely a result.
The result of swinging a sword.
For the man, what became important was the act of unfolding the sword path itself.
He cut.
He broke through the limits before his eyes.
A beautiful single strike.
A perfect single strike.
A sword for the sake of the sword.
Chronos swung his sword like that for 30 years, 40 years─
He had swung his sword for 60 years.
Although he had been swinging a sword since he was just 10 years old, he still couldn’t clearly deconstruct its profound principles.
It was 8 years ago.
He annihilated an entire kingdom with a single sword.
Sword Master.
He cut the throats of all the swordsmen who boasted of having reached the level of Master.
Because their sword aura was far too shallow.
He could cut through their protective strong aura covering their entire bodies as if it were paper.
Have I reached the limit of how high human swordsmanship can rise?
Thinking this, Chronos resigned from his official position and began to travel.
It was a journey to experience the swords of the entire world.
Most of the other races couldn’t block Chronos’s sword.
However, a very few of the other races were different.
“…”
Chronos’s knee hit the ground.
There was a clear sword mark across his left eye.
Chronos opened his right eye wide and faced the being that had given him defeat.
An elf with both eyes closed.
A blind elf swordsman.
That being looked down at Chronos.
A beautiful voice that could only be described as angelic flowed from the elf’s mouth.
“Do you travel like this, seeking opponents beyond humanity, thinking you’ve reached the limit of what humans can achieve?”
Chronos couldn’t help but answer that angelic voice.
“…That’s right.”
“How arrogant and ignorant.”
The white-haired elf spoke while looking at Chronos with both eyes closed.
“I’ve seen over thirty humans stronger than you. Even with mortal bodies.”
Chronos’s brow furrowed deeply.
It was an utterly unbelievable statement.
But he had no choice but to acknowledge it.
The elf before him had said he had lived for over 500 years.
“You’ve reached your limit. Not the limit of humanity. Your vessel is just that size.”
The blind elf didn’t kill Chronos.
“Struggle. Rage against your limits. That’s how I broke through mine.”
A man who knew nothing but the sword.
An old man who had poured his life into the act of swordsmanship while living a somewhat predetermined lifespan.
Because he saw fragments of himself in Chronos.
The man who had lost his left field of vision continued to swing his sword.
The narrowed vision didn’t greatly affect his ability to unfold his sword path.
Rather, the five senses he deployed simultaneously when extending his sword became even more maximized.
The man swung his sword.
He swung it like that for another 5 years.
He bisected the waist of a vampire who was said to be quite skilled with a sword using his sword-drawing technique.
He took the vampire’s serum to an alchemist and threatened him to make any usable drug from it.
The resulting product was close to a narcotic.
And Chronos liked that drug.
A sword that cuts through the air.
He could see the gap in time as it cut through that air.
It allowed him to see the subtle sensation of the air being split by the sword.
He cut.
After that, Chronos went around seeking drugs.
Drugs that could make the world clearly visible the moment he drew his sword.
Drugs that would show him how to swing his sword to split the world.
It didn’t matter if it was a misguided greed.
It didn’t matter if the effects were just an illusion.
Chronos was willing to accept anything that gave him the power to break his vessel.
The vessel of limits that confined him.
As long as it wasn’t selling his soul to the devil.
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Chronos was slumped in a chair, having injected the drug.
He swung his sword and took drugs.
That was the method to keep his aged body in top condition.
His breathing became rough.
His mind became hazy for a moment, then returned.
Chronos fingered the handle of his sword.
He slowly raised his body and moved forward.
Thunder and explosions that sounded like lightning striking enveloped the entire development area.
Chronos’s eye shone intensely.
Chronos’s right eye was clearly fixed on one man.
It was aimed at the man who had deflected 8 shots of the magic railgun with a short sword, perfectly repelling them.
“…Huh.”
A being who had repelled the magic railgun that he had declared even he couldn’t block.
The ultimate truth of the sword.
That man might possess it.
Chronos’s eyes were tinged with greed.
He had to cross swords with that man.
That desire moved Chronos’s old body.
“E-Elder! You must help! Th-There’s one strangely strong bastard!”
The cry of the pig-like Belrak running from the side was heard.
The sword in Chronos’s hand fell diagonally.
Slash!
“Aaaaargh!”
“Noisy.”
The sword strike that deeply cut into Belrak’s shoulder.
Belrak writhed on the ground, his whole body convulsing with his eyes rolled back.
Step step─
Chronos walked alone.
Towards where the 34 Arkan guards were.
No, more precisely, towards Yuma.
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The magic railgun, completely neutralized by Yuma’s parrying through the
And as Belrak’s forces guarding that magic railgun were annihilated by the collapse of the buildings, the Arkan guards could move without hesitation.
They immediately infiltrated Belrak’s hideout.
And they rescued the tied-up mayor of Arkan City.
Along with his brother who had been crawling on the floor.
The blue hair of Gelmore, the mayor of Arkan, was disheveled in confusion.
“…Y-Yuma-nim.”
Gelmore bowed his whole body towards Yuma as if prostrating himself.
“How can I ever repay the grace of having my life saved twice…”
The blue eyes within Yuma’s ash-gray hair gazed at Gelmore.
“Stand up, Gelmore.”
“Understood.”
It wasn’t out of consideration for Gelmore, but rather because this behavior of his was very annoying, but to Gelmore’s ears, already thoroughly infatuated, Yuma’s words sounded like a faith that must be absolutely obeyed.
Step─
The sound of Chronos’s footsteps rang out.
Gelmore swallowed hard.
“…This is the old man who cut down my knight, who was a high-ranking Sword Expert, with a single stroke. Belrak said he was the former Empire’s 2nd Seat, the Sword God. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but he is certainly a terrifyingly skilled individual.”
Yuma stared at the level window floating above the head of the white-haired old man, Chronos.
The level of Keingal, current Imperial 10th Seat whom he first met, was 103 and had been the highest among the enemies he had encountered so far.
But the man walking towards them now, exuding an extraordinary aura at a glance, had a much higher level of 152.
It seemed highly probable that everything Gelmore had just said was true.
Step.
Chronos slowly approached.
Gulp.
The sound of one of the guards swallowing was heard.
Aura.
The aura of a supreme ruler.
The 34 Arkan guards literally lost their will to fight in the face of the aura of Sword God Chronos, who had commanded tens of thousands on the battlefield and beheaded tens of thousands.
The old man slowly opened his mouth.
“The ultimate truth of the sword. I just glimpsed that in your sword path.”
Chronos’s gaze was focused solely on Yuma.
‘…The ultimate truth of the sword?’
What’s that?
Yuma couldn’t understand at all what Chronos was talking about.
“That sublime sword path that deflects 8 shots of the magic railgun with a dagger without imbuing even a speck of ki into the sword.”
Shing…
Chronos drew his sword.
A brilliant red light enveloped the sword.
It was an Aura Blade.
“Would you let me witness that sword path?”
Yuma readjusted his grip on the dagger, Fang of Black Dragon Bernak.
And he used Search Vision.
Grand Sword Master?
‘It seems…’
The moment to use
It should have been for this old man standing before him now.
Chronos looked at Yuma’s dagger and smiled bitterly.
“That dagger certainly seems to be a famous sword… but do you have no intention of using another weapon? I have numerous weapons in my spatial pocket, from longswords to two-handed swords.”
Even if given such weapons, he couldn’t use them.
Because of this damn pitiful Strength stat, if he wielded a sword too heavy for him to handle, even
Yuma slowly shook his head.
“Not necessary.”
Chronos twisted his mouth.
It wasn’t a sneer.
It was a smile born from self-loathing.
“I see… In the eyes of one who has truly reached the ultimate truth of the sword, someone like me can be dealt with using just that dagger.”
That’s not it…
“Here I come.”
Thump.
Chronos took a fighting stance.
His right arm holding the sword swung horizontally.
A quiet flash of light was unleashed.
A red full moon enveloped the world.
It wasn’t a mere metaphor.
It enveloped.
Like a heavy brush stroke distorting on a white canvas.
A sword path descended upon the world.
The sword of a boy who had run only towards the sword for his entire life.
The sword of a man.
The sword of an old man.
Slash───────────
A strange light flickered in Yuma’s blue eyes.
It wasn’t qi or anything else.
Just, a moment.
Eyes trying to grasp that moment.
He lightly stepped forward.
He found the gap.
Before that sublime sword path could slice through his body.
The momentary gap to deflect it first with parrying.
The muscles of his entire body screamed.
‘I’ll hit it.’
That was the only thought.
Clang!!
A golden light burst out, signaling a successful parry.
Light flickered at the tip of the dagger.
He returned it.
The sublime sword path that Sword God Chronos had built up over a lifetime.
Back to Chronos himself.
As an attack 10 times stronger.
With 10 times more sublime grandeur.
Only Yuma and Chronos could see that sword path with the naked eye.
A sword that transcended human limits.
A sword path sublime enough to crush even that of the blind elf swordsman.
The sword strike was bearing down.
“Kuhahahahahahaha!”
Laughter erupted from Chronos’s mouth.
Indeed.
So this was the ultimate truth of the sword.
It was silent.
A sword path that has reached the ultimate truth is terribly quiet.
Like death coming for oneself.
“Beautiful!!”
Chronos felt genuine ecstasy.
He felt a sensation greater than any other moment in his seventy years of life.
Slash────────────!!
A white light grazed Chronos’s body.
It was the sublime sword path that Chronos had idealized until now.
Chronos’s body slowly tilted towards the ground.
Thick blood gushed from his mouth.
Yuma slowly approached Chronos, dragging his body that was screaming in pain.
“…Thank you.”
Chronos said that while staring at Yuma with his one eye.
“For letting me experience the ultimate truth of the sword… thank you sincerely.”
Yuma silently watched the dying Chronos.
“No one… will dispute you being called the Sword God. Great swordsman.”
Chronos spoke as if passing on his title.
As if passing on the sword path he had walked until now.
Chronos’s one eye slowly closed.
Soon his breath stopped completely.
‘Damn it.’
Yuma frowned.
That ultimate truth of the sword was your sword path, you say.
That great and sublime sword path was your sword path, you say.
I just returned your own sword strike, how can I tell you that?
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