episode_0032

“Phantom… … ”

Maya’s eyes widened as she recited the famous poem.

‘I thought he was just a bunch of idiots, but I was wrong.’

She came to the capital out of curiosity after hearing the news that a candidate for the same generation’s warrior had emerged.

At that time, was being performed to great acclaim, so I naturally went to see it.

And in the process, Maya came to a realization.

A candidate for the warrior of the pen.

You knew that too?

The truth that the only thing you need to survive in this world is power. The only thing you need to dominate others is overwhelming force.

“… … ”

Maya closes her eyes and quietly concentrates on meditation.

She was also well aware of the craze that had created in the capital.

There are even rumors that young magicians and knights are thoroughly imitating the martial arts from and are researching a new profession called the ‘Magic Swordsman’ by applying mana as internal energy.

“Idiots.”

The internal energy that Xiang Yu, the Overlord of the Western Chu Kingdom, displayed was not something like mana.

After watching the first part of , Maya has been practicing instinctively for several days. While reflecting on the description of the ‘un-gi-jo-sik’ in the play, she focused all her mind on her dan-jeon.

Although she has elven blood, Maya is an orphan who was born into human society and grew up wandering the human world.

Even she doesn’t know whether the depiction of the elves in is historically accurate.

Perhaps because it was a creation, it differed in many ways from the teachings of the elf master who once taught her.

“… … ”

But as a warrior candidate who had trained with the sword his entire life, there was one thing that he instinctively realized.

The internal energy of Xiang Yu, as depicted in the play , is not pure magical power, but rather closer to the accumulation of life force within the body.

And maybe.

He, who was called a genius only in swordsmanship, might be able to reproduce it.

As expected, that intuition wasn’t a mistake.

10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours… …

In the endless flow of time, Maya continued to pioneer new realms.

An energy I had never felt before surged up my pulse.

The moment when all that energy finally reaches a point.

Kuoooo-!!

A strong energy rose up riding on the blade of Maya’s famous sword, ‘Eternal Snow’.

Although it is different from Xiang Yu’s Sammaejinhwa, the principle itself is similar and the result is similar.

It was evidence that his skills, which had been stagnant for a while, had risen to a higher level.

Maya, who was watching this, quietly raised her sword and aimed it at the large rock in front of her.

And the next moment.

Chomp-!!

Boom!

In the blink of an eye, the rock collapsed, splitting into 10 pieces in a single stroke.

Even if you hit it with a steel sword, the blade would lose its edge, but the rock was cut like a soft cabbage leaf.

“… … ”

Chirp chirp chirp!

Before we knew it, a pale dawn was rising beyond the horizon.

Maya, who was watching this, gathered her energy and put her sword on her back.

Then he walked slowly along the road leading to the dark forest outside the capital city limits.

It was a monumental moment in which the first Sword Aura Awakener in another world was born, influenced by .

Dark Forest, a forest located near the capital of the Holy Empire.

There existed a secret cartel there, formed by a large number of members, much like the Green Forest in martial arts.

The Dark Forest has been infamous since ancient times for its dense forests and complex terrain.

It’s a perfect place for homeless criminals and villains who enjoy killing to gather.

Naturally, they gained some influence and grew into a crime cartel so great that even the country has difficulty dealing with it.

Since they hide in the lush forest and operate, it is difficult to carry out full-scale subjugation, and their fighting power has become formidable as they employ money-minded swordsmen, mercenaries of different races, and even smuggled monsters.

In reality, it could be said that it was a group with a similar status to Los Zetas, the drug cartel that once ruled Mexico.

… … But that fearsome group was currently being torn down by a single inspector.

“Kaaaak!”

“Do, run away!”

“Damn it! Where did that monster suddenly come from?!”

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch-!!

Sharp rays of light coming from all directions.

One after another, blood spurts out like a fountain, excitingly wetting the surrounding area.

And standing in the middle of that scorched earth crucible was a half-elf holding a sword that flashed like ice.

Break up, break up!

Kihihi!?

The sound of unleashed rabid dogs and hyenas’ skulls splitting apart.

The uniquely tough leather that repels swords had no effect.

When even the biological weapons they had relied on were neutralized, the panicked cartel leaders shouted with their subordinates at the forefront.

“What are you all doing! It’s only one person!”

“Kill them all at once! Have you forgotten who we are!”

“The numbers are much higher here! We can capture them by surrounding them and attacking them all at once!”

Unfortunately, numerical superiority doesn’t help.

Even the movements of a half-elf who had once awakened his power were more agile than expected… …

Choaaaak-!!

“billion?!”

“A, A, A, Steel like a piece of paper?!”

… … Because the weapons and armor of the organization members were cut to pieces like tofu by the famous sword wrapped in a powerful sword aura.

And now that all weapons that could be used in battle have been destroyed.

“Okay, wait! Wait a minute, eww-!!”

“Sa, save me… … !”

For her, who possessed unrivaled talent in swordsmanship, it was a given that she would be annihilated.

“Ugh, who the hell are you?! What grudge do you have against us!”

The cries of a disgraced cartel boss who has lost all of his subordinates.

Maya, the candidate for the Sword Hero, approached him with calm steps as he rolled around, blood gushing from his wounds.

“Does it hurt?”

“Fuck! Are you talking now?! Of course it hurts, you crazy bitch, squeak-!!”

Snip!

“Yeah. You guys are sick too.”

The boss’s finger flew away with a blue flash.

“… … My parents were also killed by criminals belonging to your cartel.”

Maya looked at the leader who was holding his bleeding hands and ankles and said coldly.

“In front of me, a child. And in a very cruel way.”

“Keuheuk? What, what, what is that… … !”

“They tried to kidnap me when I was a half-elf and sell me to a slave market overseas. But when my parents found out, they got mad at me for rebelling and killed me right away.”

It’s been over 15 years already, but I’ve never forgotten the trauma of that day.

If the hand of salvation had not reached Maya, she would have either died or been sold into a foreign land.

An unknown elf swordsman who later became Maya’s teacher as she grew up.

Because she happened to discover the situation and intervened, saving the girl’s life.

But even though her life was saved, from that moment on, something in the girl’s head was ruined.

The emotions that a living being should feel disappeared in an instant.

I became insensitive to stimuli coming from outside and stimuli arising from within.

And the misaligned gears kept turning and turning, instilling in the girl a deep and inescapable obsession.

It is the longing for great power.

It was once again a mad obsession that one must pursue only force in order not to lose something.

“Wait a minute! I don’t know when exactly you’re talking about, but I never gave orders for such a thing! Oh, maybe it was just some members of the organization making their own decisions! Everyone, everyone, I’ll apologize right now, so please just save my life… … !”

Phew!

“Aaaaah-!!”

“You didn’t save our mother.”

Boom! Boom!

“Keuheung, geueueueu… … !!”

“You trampled and laughed at my father as he bled to death.”

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

“But why should I save you guys? Huh?”

An answer that has not yet been heard. The cartel boss, who was writhing in pain, has long since been reduced to meat in a butcher’s shop.

Despite this, Maya, the Sword Warrior candidate, couldn’t stop hacking at the bastard’s corpse.

It wasn’t just a matter of revenge to avenge his parents.

“… … ”

By the time the cartel boss’s body was chopped into pieces.

Maya stopped cutting and remained silent, looking at her bloody palms.

There are many instances of encounters with bandits and thugs during the course of his wanderings.

As a candidate for the warrior, he also had frequent experiences in punishing evildoers and slaying monsters.

… … However, this is the first time that such a large number of people have been mercilessly slaughtered like today.

And now, her delicate hands were trembling for some unknown reason.

The joy of bloodshed and murder that I am not yet fully aware of.

In the process of writing about a mountain man, Doji unconsciously opened his eyes to sadistic pleasure.

At that moment, Maya remembered the horoscope of the evil witch she had encountered during her wandering training.

‘Kihihi, what a strange child you are. The elven mother from the East. You were born with a sinister aura that calls for bloodshed. You are literally a sharp blade, my child.’

A sinister aura that calls for bloodshed?

Me, chosen as a hero candidate to eradicate the evils of the world?