Chapter 219
"Are you saying you haven't shown your full power yet?"
"I'm not talking about myself. I meant you, sir."
"Hmm, you're saying I haven't given my all?"
"Yes."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I knew from seeing that sword you haven't drawn yet."
"This? It's a sword I looted from a village gatekeeper a few days ago."
"A gatekeeper couldn't possibly have such a sword. Isn't the magic pressure covering this area also coming from that sword?"
A brief glint flashed in the old man's eyes. Then, showing curiosity at Damian's words, he said, "You felt that?"
Damian went a step further.
"That sword wants my body."
"Oh ho, on what grounds?"
"I just felt it. When I got close... the magic pressure was friendly, you could say."
The old man's eyes momentarily filled with surprise before becoming calm again.
"Are you trying to distract me with nonsense?"
The old man ended the conversation and turned to swing his sword.
He had sensed Gale approaching silently for a surprise attack and deflected it.
Gale was caught in the cold storm and flew about twenty paces away with his axe, rolling on the ground.
Gale tried to get up but couldn't move. His limbs had instantly frozen to the ground.
"I'll finish you first."
Intending to finish Gale off before he could break free of the ice, the old man started sprinting towards him.
Damian chased after the old man to respond. But the old man's sprint speed was far superior, making it insufficient to stop him.
Damian took out a compressed air bomb and threw it with all his might.
It wasn't aimed at the old man. It flew over the old man's head and landed in front of Gale.
Gale, struggling, saw the bomb fall in front of him and muttered to himself, "You bastard."
Bang!
Gale's body floated up again and was thrown to a place far removed from the battlefield.
Witnessing this, the old man briefly glanced at Damian with an expression that couldn't distinguish between ally and enemy.
Damian didn't stop running and swung his wooden sword at the old man.
Clang!
The old man easily blocked Damian's attack with one hand and said, "Cunning yet efficient. I like your lack of compassion too."
"..."
"If only you weren't such excellent prey, I would have taken you as my disciple."
"I appreciate it, but I'm already receiving teachings from the best master."
"I already know you serve an evil witch."
In their locked swords, Damian's posture began to crumble, being overwhelmed by the old man's strength and pressed to the ground.
"...There's one more. Have you heard the name Geshin Grig, the Dragon Slayer?"
"What?"
The old man was momentarily shaken at the mention of the Sword Master.
Before being flattened further, Damian secretly threw a bomb and rolled backward.
The old man, reading the obvious move, lightly pulled his body back.
Bang!
This time, contrary to expectations, pink flower petals burst out. It was a deception to conserve bombs while creating distance.
"Ho ho."
The old man made a sound that could have been either a sigh or admiration. Then he stared at Damian with a strange look, as if seeing a rare creature for the first time.
Damian regained his posture and said, "If you kill me, the 'Dragon Slayer' will punish you."
"You're babbling anything because you think you're going to die. Fine. Since you seem interesting, I'll show you myself."
The old man kicked off the ground and rushed at Damian. It was a superhuman speed clearly different from before.
Clang!
"...!"
Damian barely blocked the old man's arrow-fast sword once but couldn't withstand the force and rolled backward.
Damian's eyes shook greatly. He had felt the overwhelming difference in skill with just one strike.
The old man didn't let up and rushed in again, swinging his sword.
Damian blocked again, but being overpowered, his left forearm was lightly cut.
Then he was kicked in the abdomen and pushed back again.
The old man poured out attacks without giving time to recuperate. He pressured Damian with pure swordsmanship alone, without using the magic sword's power.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Damian held out better than before but couldn't last more than three exchanges before rolling again.
The old man tilted his head, looking at Damian. Then he poured out another one-sided offensive.
Damian's entire body was cut here and there like meat being sliced, blood streaming down.
"The Dragon Slayer story was a bluff too. Far from resembling that man, you can't even imitate him."
"..."
He poured out attacks again. This time, Damian withstood seven exchanges before falling. The old man tilted his head again, as if finding something strange.
"Where did you learn your swordsmanship...?"
With each exchange, Damian's responses were becoming more and more proficient.
Damian barely got up, leaning on his wooden sword, and said, "I told you. I received teachings from the Dragon Slayer."
"Hmm."
The old man struck again, and Damian countered once more.
But this time, instead of a strong impact sound, there was a sound like threshing barley.
Poof!
Damian's sword turned into a sapling and entangled the opponent's sword like a net.
The old man pulled to free his sword, but it was tightly bound like a snare and wouldn't come loose.
He immediately kicked Damian in the abdomen. Damian was pushed back, spitting blood, but couldn't break free because the sapling stem firmly held his wrist.
Damian put one hand on his bomb pouch. Then he threw something.
What he threw was the bag containing all the bombs.
Damian's choice was self-destruction.
"...!"
Soon after, the necklace Damian was wearing began to glow, and a transparent protective barrier like snake scales enveloped him.
All the mana condensed in the bombs entangled, causing a powerful mana explosion.
***
The mana explosion that emitted a pure white light shattered the altar and scattered nearby bone fragments in all directions. At the center of the explosion, an oval-shaped depression remained.
Damian's wooden sword and the magic sword fluttered in the air, falling far out of reach of their owners.
Damian was thrown far by the impact's aftermath, but thanks to the artifact's activation, he didn't suffer any particular damage.
The old man tried to quickly dodge after letting go of his sword, but couldn't avoid being caught in the explosion. Part of his sagging facial skin was slightly torn, making it even more ragged, and his shabby clothes became even more tattered.
But he was still standing upright.
Damian raised his head, confirmed that the old man was empty-handed, and shouted loudly, "Grab it!"
And Gale, who had been waiting for an opportunity in the forest, ran towards the magic sword stuck in the ground.
It was too late for the old man to retrieve it.
Gale, covered in fallen leaves and dust, picked up the magic sword.
The magic sword in his hand began to emit a pale blue light.
The old man stood still with an inscrutable expression, just watching the scene.
Gale wiped the dust off the sword's back with his hand and swung it in the air.
White frost flowed out along its trajectory.
"It fits perfectly in my hand. I'll make good use of this."
Then he fixed the sword's tip towards the old man and took a stance.
Damian also hurriedly retrieved his wooden sword and took a defensive stance.
Despite having lost his magic sword, the old man showed no impatience. Rather, he frowned at Gale and kept shaking his head.
"Tsk tsk, wrong."
As soon as the old man's meaningful words ended, Gale's body began to stagger.
"...?"
Gale stepped forward, then fell to one knee and clutched his head.
"Ah, damn it."
He tried to stand up again but staggered as if possessed by something.
Then he shook his head left and right by himself and muttered, "Shut up, shut up! Damn it."
Eventually, he started groaning in pain, clutching his head.
"Ugh, urgh, aaargh!"
The ground at Gale's feet began to freeze, slowly creeping up his body.
Damian shouted, "Throw away the sword!"
"Damn it, this disgusting bitch... I'll..."
As Gale stubbornly resisted, the magic sword in his hand began to tremble. Soon, the magic sword started randomly spewing cold energy into the sky.
"What is this...!"
The expelled cold energy fell like meteors, devastating the altar site and nearby forest.
Bang! Bang!
Cold energy exploded everywhere.
The old man, who had been standing still, quietly drew another sword from his waist. It was the very one that had been emitting overwhelming magic pressure.
It was an old sword with a crude shape and peeling paint on the handle, but its ability was not crude at all.
When the old man raised the sword towards the sky, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The randomly falling cold energy gathered around him, forming a tornado-like vortex.
A whirlwind of cold energy strong enough to uproot trees swept through the battlefield, and Damian stabbed his wooden sword into the ground and laid down.
That powerful energy was sucked into the sword. Soon after, all the cold energy was absorbed, and the vortex completely disappeared as if it had never existed.
"..."
Damian was stunned by this overwhelming sight he had never seen in his life.
Gale was still wrestling with the magic sword but was soon hit by a cold explosion due to the sword's rejection and was thrown back again.
The magic sword that had escaped his grasp bounced off the ground like a skipping stone and came to a stop at Damian's feet.
The old man, seemingly without any intention to attack, stood still holding his sword.
Damian held his breath for a moment. He put his wooden sword back in its sheath and stared at the magic sword. Then he casually picked up the magic sword as if picking up a fallen coin.
And nothing happened to Damian.
The old man asked, "Can you hear the whispers of the magic sword?"
In Damian's hand, the magic sword became as quiet as a gentle lamb.
He swung the sword around demonstratively. There was no sign of rejection at all.
The old man grinned, then burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha! That's enough."
"...?"
"That sword is now yours."
The old man grabbed his sagging facial skin and pulled it hard. Then the face that had been stuck like slime came off completely, revealing his original face.
White hair brushed back. Well-groomed white beard, eyes with strong yet kind wrinkles, and features that, though faded with age, might have been called handsome in his youth. He had a kind and sturdy impression that didn't match the infamy of a magic sword hunter.
Although the opponent had withdrawn his hostility, a considerably surprised Damian took a battle stance again and said, "...So you weren't a magic sword hunter."
The old man put the sword back at his waist. The magic pressure that had been weighing down the space finally disappeared without a trace.
"The magic sword hunter has already died by my hand."
"..."
"That too was taken from the magic sword hunter. The mission is over. That sword is the reward for this mission. A fitting reward for a reckless, fearless idiot who doesn't listen."
Damian, finally confirming that the situation had ended, looked up at the sky with a vacant gaze. He was feeling disappointed that everything was suddenly resolved just as he was about to face a full-fledged fight.
"...So it was all a testâdefying Eternia's orders, breaking through the magic pressure, seizing the magic sword."
Damian, with the tension released, slumped down on the ground.
"And you were just playing along at our level."
"You saved your life, yet you're disappointed?"
"..."
"Did you really think you could win?"
"...No."
Damian was lost in thought for a while, then continued, "No matter how strong an opponent I meet, there's always a thought I have. Even if I lose the first ten matches, I can picture myself winning from the eleventh onward, but this fight was different. I could only see myself losing even at the hundredth or thousandth match."
"Then why did you want to fight more?"
"That's why I wanted to see it through to the end."
"You and those youngsters sprawled over there fought well enough. Don't waste your energy on meaningless fights. Now that the floodgates have opened, magic sword hunters will keep coming after you."
"..."
Damian lay down on the ground, feeling deflated.
"Let me ask one thing."
"...Go ahead."
"Who taught you Paleomedina swordsmanship?"
"What's that?"
"That ancient sword technique you clumsily used."
"I don't know anything about that. I just stumbled through imitating what you used."
"...Huh."
Curiosity about Damian once again filled the old man's eyes.
As if to confirm Damian's words again, he asked, "You imitated it after seeing it briefly during our encounter?"
"...Yes."
He turned around with his hands behind his back, quietly looked at the sky, and muttered softly, "...Under my tutelage, he'd quickly become a monster."
"But, who are you exactly, sir? Are you a professor?"
"Yes, I'm a visiting professor come to fix you brats' manners."