Northern Empire Swordsmanship

The dwarf merchant boasted about the Bronze Golem’s performance.

The Bronze Golem was a Golem, old and creaky.

But upon receiving the sword, it changed its gaze and wielded the sword skillfully.

Taking a stable stance and performing several movements, it possessed the perfect form of swordsmanship, with its arms, shoulders, waist, legs, and feet, as if real swordsmanship was programmed into it.

Because it could use the programmed swordsmanship as is, the Bronze Golem’s swordsmanship was much more precise than that of a human.

At the same time, it was boring.

A photo is pretty if it’s like a painting.

A painting is cool if it’s like a photo.

It’s cool when a Golem makes inorganic movements like a Golem, like a robot dancing, but it gets boring if it’s always the same.

Just as the spectators were getting tired of the Bronze Golem’s repetitive movements.

“I’ll fight it.”

Someone stepped forward to challenge the Bronze Golem.

“Before you participate, there’s one thing I’d like to ask. If you participate, you cannot use your power as a Hero.”

“Compete with pure skill?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s easy.”

They paid the participation fee of 1 Gold.

The warrior who participated was a Hero.

The muscles, swollen to the point of bursting, were ostentatious, and the appearance was an alien beauty, mass-produced from a factory, that was often seen somewhere.

The Hero, who seemed to have never died since the Logout Ban, acted as if they had already won against the Bronze Golem.

The moment they pointed their greatsword at the Bronze Golem.

The Bronze Golem’s eyes shone even brighter.

As they glowed reddish-black,

“Wh-what?!”

The Bronze Golem deployed a Field.

The Hero screamed.

The greatsword they had raised fell heavily, touching the floor and unable to be lifted.

They cannot use their power as a Hero.

= They cannot receive the benefits of their level.

The Hero’s stats decreased.

The Bronze Golem approached.

It swung its sword.

The Hero took out a new sword from their Inventory.

They parried the sword.

The Bronze Golem moved mechanically, just like the swordsmanship demonstration it had shown earlier.

Precise.

Detailed.

The Bronze Golem pushed the Hero with its reddish-black eyes, and the sword touched the Hero’s neck.

It didn’t Slash.

The Bronze Golem took a few steps back.

Pretending to return the sword to its sheath.

It bowed.

The Field disappeared.

The Bronze Golem softened its gaze again and stopped moving like a statue.

“How is it? Its performance is quite good, right?”

“If I win against that, I get that?”

“Yes.”

“One more round!”

The Hero challenged again.

“I’m sorry, but there’s a waiting line.”

“Who…!”

When the Hero turned around, more than 10 Heroes were lined up in a long queue.

The swordsmanship shown by the Bronze Golem was amazing, but the [Field] that suppressed the Hero’s level stimulated the Heroes’ desire to challenge.

The value of the Bronze Golem was immense after the Logout Ban, to the point where the price was whatever someone would pay.

Some people challenged it with that in mind, while others were simply curious, and some Heroes followed suit because others were doing it.

The Hero who had personally experienced the Bronze Golem’s [Field] challenged again, following their fifth attempt.

“Ugh… I lost!”

But everyone was completely defeated.

The Bronze Golem was strong.

Just as the challengers were hesitating to try again.

The Bronze Golem’s gaze weakened.

Like a machine running out of battery, the Summoned Heroes stopped challenging. They waited for other challengers to come out and tried to get the last hit.

When no one challenged, the dwarf merchant examined the Bronze Golem.

“Oh dear, the battery is running out. I’ll only accept three more people. Would you like to challenge? It’s 1 Gold.”

“Here.”

Americano paid 1 Gold to the dwarf merchant.

Americano drew her sword.

The Bronze Golem shone its eyes reddish-black and deployed a [Field] that canceled out levels.

The [Field] was not actually a technique that nullified levels.

After watching the challengers’ challenges and experiencing it firsthand, she could see that it only produced a similar effect.

The Bronze Golem blocked the path through which Magical Power was released in a very efficient way.

‘It feels like it’ll come out if I put strength into it.’

But she didn’t.

Because that’s not why she participated.

More than that,

‘It’s familiar?’

Sword against sword.

Deflected.

Americano solidified her defense.

The Bronze Golem’s sword was precise.

It swung its sword along a mechanically learned path.

It follows detailed paths with vast patterns, but the general branches originate from swordsmanship.

While the challengers fought, the Bronze Golem revealed its foundation without hiding anything.

The Bronze Golem showed off its swordsmanship and tried to gain points from Americano.

But the Bronze Golem’s swordsmanship had a narrow pool, and without any more cards to push her further, it gradually revealed a formalized expression.

‘Is this all?’

Americano induced the Bronze Golem to reveal all its cards.

‘There should be one more left?’

Familiar swordsmanship.

Forgotten swordsmanship.

Something considered useless.

Americano knows the identity of the swordsmanship the Bronze Golem is using.

As she released her stance of solidifying her defense, the Bronze Golem held the sword in both hands and rotated it.

The Magical Power surrounding the sword remained around the Bronze Golem and created a continuous wind, causing a small storm with suction power.

Americano also held the sword in both hands and rotated her body.

[Chapter 6, Form 3]

She doesn’t know the name.

But she knows.

It was a technique used by [Human Knight Chris], and she had taken it directly with her body.

One rotation of the body.

Two rotations.

Three rotations.

The blade, whose power had increased, shattered the Bronze Golem’s blade.

The Bronze Golem has no scream.

They collided with the same technique and were pushed back.

Confirming that it had lost its sword from its hand, the Bronze Golem looked around.

The sword fell in front of the Bronze Golem.

“Use it.”

“[….]”

The Bronze Golem picked up the sword and used another form.

She recognized the next movement immediately from the first movement.

The moment the Bronze Golem kicked off the ground.

Americano also kicked off the ground.

[Chapter 6, Form 2]

Dash and Slash.

The most frequently used dashing skill among the techniques used by [Human Knight Chris].

The degree of completion was the highest, but the Bronze Golem used it in a much more complete form.

Even though most of the Magical Power was blocked by the [Field], light flickered from the blade and broke the sword. A sword that was not protected by Magical Power.

Unable to withstand the aftermath of the collision, it broke.

She took out two swords.

One for herself.

One for the Golem.

They collided immediately.

[Chapter 6, Form 1]

Ordinary downward Slash.

Clang!!

The sword broke again.

“Tsk.”

She took out a new sword again and shared it with the Golem.

There are still two techniques left.

The reason for using each technique one by one was to supplement the [Northern Empire Swordsmanship], which had substandard effects and efficiency, through the Bronze Golem.

She took a backstep to create distance.

She raised one hand high and held the sword high.

Although Magical Power is blocked by the [Field], there is a slight amount of Magical Power that seeps out. That subtle Magical Power became the blade of Magical Power emanating from the [Northern Empire Swordsmanship].

She intentionally gathered that Magical Power and focused it on the blade, then slashed down.

The Bronze Golem also slashes down with its sword raised high.

The slashes that left the blades collide with each other.

Long-range Slash.

Americano’s Slash cut through the Bronze Golem’s and reached the Golem, but it lost its power due to the impact of the collision and became a gentle breeze.

“Is this the end?”

From [Form 1] to [Form 4].

Chapter 6 of the [Northern Empire Swordsmanship] is over.

The reason why she had only used the [Execution Sword] for the [Northern Empire Swordsmanship] until now was largely due to the large movements of [Form 1] to [Form 4], which involved greatly slashing, greatly running, greatly turning, and greatly flying.

She hadn’t used it because the effect wasn’t very great for something that created such a large gap.

She knew the reason now.

It was incomplete.

Even now, she still thinks the movements are large, but after using the completed swordsmanship directly, she felt inclined to use it occasionally.

At that time, the [Field] disappeared.

‘Is it over?’

No,

Gugugugugu.

It’s not over yet.

The Bronze Golem hasn’t finished yet.

Removing the [Field] was just a procedure to draw out its own Magical Power.

When all of its techniques didn’t work, it unlocked a hidden pattern.

The Bronze Golem raises its sword.

It gathered the power it had been allocating to the [Field] into the sword.

[Chapter 6 Secret Technique: Execution Sword]

It resembles Form 1, but,

The power imbued in the sword was different.

The completed form of the [Execution Sword].

The [Execution Sword] created by the Bronze Golem created a giant sword of Magical Power.

‘Was it originally this kind of technique?’

After seeing the completed version, Americano imitated the [Execution Sword] while the Bronze Golem was running towards her.

She had already used it countless times and created the [Execution Sword] in an instant. In that instant, she supplemented the technical differences between the [Execution Sword] she used and the [Execution Sword] the Bronze Golem used.

Yes, I admit it.

‘I guess I’m a genius.’

She learns the enemy’s technique as soon as she sees it.

It was something she had been doing since before.

A deed she had tried to ignore.

It’s not new, but,

She feels unnecessarily proud.

“….”

She slashed the Bronze Golem.

With the sword.

She cut it in half.

Looking at the Bronze Golem that had fallen in front of her, she muttered inwardly, ‘Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to complete the Northern Empire Swordsmanship.’

The dwarf merchant stared with surprised eyes.

“I won, so it’s mine, right?”

“Y-yes, it is.”

“But can I just check one thing?”

“-, Yes.”

“Where did you find this Golem?”

“I don’t really know either.”

“I heard you found it in an ancient ruin.”

“Actually, I… I picked it up on the way here.”

“Then at least tell me the location.”

She received the location information.

She squatted down in front of the Bronze Golem.

She picked up a part of the Golem that had been cut in half.

Just as she was putting it in her Inventory and getting up.

“Wait a minute!”

“Sell me that Golem!”

“No, to me!”

Several people appeared and raised their hands.

They shouted urgently to sell the Bronze Golem.

Of course, she didn’t sell it.

The Bronze Golem that used the [Northern Empire Swordsmanship].

It was a clue related to the sub Quest called [Knight Chris’s Last Words].