Ch.43Chapter 43: Unexpected Test (2)

The spiral flying toward me was red in color.

As if it wasn’t intimidating enough with its overwhelming force capable of crushing anything in its orbital path combined with intense rotational movement, the fact that it was red in color made it exude a pressure that would make any ordinary person freeze in their tracks upon facing it.

“Heh-heh-heh. What’s wrong? Now that you’re facing me, are your knees too weak to move?”

This came with the voice of the being who had introduced itself as the spirit of the sword, who unfailingly grated on my nerves by changing its manner of speech as soon as the test began.

Though it still had that irritating quality that scraped against the listener’s nerves, I could easily tell it was trash talk meant to break my concentration and gain the upper hand.

‘Bullshit.’

I cursed inwardly while ignoring his provocation.

“Haaa!”

I took an overhead stance, gripping the dragon sword that had transformed into a mass of battle aura even more tightly.

My target was the spiral, and my objective was to neutralize it.

Woooong

As if responding to my will, the battle aura-wrapped dragon sword emitted a faint ringing sound, reacting to my movement.

Just as the sword spirit, which had become the spiral itself, reached the point where it would hit me with a single breath.

I maintained my overhead stance while shifting my right foot, which had been positioned behind me, to the left, rotating my body to narrowly avoid the spiral that was flying toward me with enough force to pierce through my body.

THWAKWAKWAK-!!

The deafening sound of the spiral colliding with the ground instead of me hit my ears, and simultaneously.

Fik-!

Even though I had dodged it, I heard the sound of the wind pressure from the spiral grazing my face.

Ah, I registered that I had been wounded, though the wound disappeared without a trace the moment I recognized it.

Anyway, when an attack with this much kinetic energy hits a point other than its intended target, it would normally self-destruct from the inability to handle its own force.

KUTHUNG-!! WEEEEEING!!

But amazingly, the spiral drawn by the sword spirit using its own body as material continued its rotational movement with enough force to grind away at the ground where it had struck, as if showing off that it had suffered no damage whatsoever.

‘Insane.’

I couldn’t help but curse internally at the absurdity of it.

Even in my life before regression, beings capable of launching attacks with this kind of destructive power were extremely rare, found only among a select few of the great demon humans with the Crimson Five Stars that I had seen after becoming an agent of the Demon God.

While I had to admire the destructive power, persistence, and durability that allowed it to withstand the impact of its own failed attack.

“Found an opening!”

To me right now, the sword spirit was nothing more than a training dummy ripe for cutting.

A dangerous dummy, admittedly, still unleashing rotational movement with enough force to grind my blade to dust if I carelessly struck it.

“…!!”

The sword spirit, belatedly realizing its attack had failed, rapidly slowed its rotation to prepare for my counterattack.

“Hap!”

But it was already too late.

My battle aura-infused sword had already been swung downward from above without the slightest deviation, following the movement of my arm.

This is my ultimate technique.

It might seem like a simple sword strike that would appear mediocre to my peers and juniors at the cradle of renowned swordmasters.

“Sever!”

This is the essence of the middle sword technique I developed to overcome the handicap of not being able to properly execute the swift sword techniques that require intense movements based on a body strengthened by battle aura, due to my frail body in my previous life.

The battle aura sword flew toward the sword spirit, embodying the contradictory sword principles of heaviness and softness, without producing even the common sound of cutting wind—to the surprise of even me who wielded it.

It all happened in an instant, but perhaps because I poured tremendous concentration into this moment.

All movement within my sight appeared to be moving very slowly, as if under a slowing spell.

I could see the sword spirit, who had barely stopped rotating, frantically raising both hands while flashing crimson light from within its helmet.

And the trajectory of my dragon sword aimed at its head.

All these movements seemed so slow that I almost felt like yawning.

That’s why I was certain.

‘I’ve got this.’

I was sure that with this sword strike, I would pass the test presented by the sword spirit.

The trajectory I had drawn was ever so slightly faster than the spirit’s attempt to deflect my sword with its armored fists.

And no matter how excellent the defensive capabilities of the bright red armor covering the spirit’s entire body, reminiscent of dragon scales.

It couldn’t compare to the armor infused with the power of the great demon human who had turned away from the Crimson Five Stars, whom I had cut down days ago with a sword far inferior to this dragon sword.

The slow-motion world in my consciousness returned to normal as I became certain of victory.

I expected to feel the sensation of cutting through bone and flesh, or to hear the spirit’s voice announcing I had passed the test.

But contrary to my expectations, reality was not so accommodating.

My dragon sword, imbued with the determination to cleanly cut anything in its path, was caught by the sword spirit who received it with both hands clasped together, making it impossible for me to move it in any direction.

“Phew… Not bad.”

The voice I heard in my ear was not announcing my passing of the test, but rather revealing that it had received my attack with ease.

“Kuh!!”

Though I was disappointed that my prediction of the battle aura sword reaching the sword spirit first had been wrong, this was no time to openly express such regret.

I hurriedly tried to retrieve my failed attack and bring the dragon sword back within my range to prepare for the next attack, but.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

The spirit, who had effortlessly caught my battle aura-infused sword with its widely spread hands as if in prayer, pushed my hands downward, causing me to lose my balance.

“Ugh!”

As I groaned at the unexpected movement and my body pitched forward.

“Tah!”

What entered my vision was the spirit, who had risen with surprisingly swift movement using my sword gripped in both hands as support while I was pinned to the ground.

Perhaps because my confident sword strike had come to nothing.

I was so stunned that I forgot even to retrieve my sword and merely watched his movements, becoming his target this time.

Though everything that had happened so far had ended in an instant, it was still a few breaths longer compared to what was unfolding before my eyes now.

“You’re a thousand years too early, you greenhorn!”

The spirit, still uttering those annoyingly mocking words, blocked my dragon sword with both hands clasped together and dove into my chest with nothing but efficient footwork.

THWACK

He drove his head straight into my solar plexus.

It might have seemed ridiculous that such an elegant movement culminated in a headbutt, but.

“Kuhak!”

I had no time for such idle observations as I rolled on the ground, unable to suppress the scream that escaped due to the impact on my solar plexus.

I felt my consciousness fading from the shock that traveled through my body as I hit the ground, but I managed to barely stay conscious.

However, I had momentarily lost my grip on the dragon sword during the spirit’s counterattack, and with a start, I hurriedly tried to get up to retrieve it, but.

Squish

The spirit, who had already seized my dragon sword with both hands and now held it in his right hand, extended the index finger of his left hand and pressed it against the center of my forehead, rendering me unable to make any movement.

‘…I can’t move.’

Not only was it impossible to push forward against the pressure of the finger on my forehead.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t even retreat backward.

My freedom of movement was completely blocked, not just my feet, but my arms, torso, face, and entire body, as if all bodily autonomy had been completely revoked.

What on earth had the spirit done to me?

All kinds of bewilderment took various forms in my mind, but now was not the time to be swayed by them.

“Hrrrgh!!”

I tried with all my might.

Although my movement was blocked, I could still breathe, so I tried to move my body strengthened by the body reinforcement technique using battle aura gathered through breathing, but it was in vain.

“Heh heh heh.”

All I could hear was the soft laughter coming from the spirit who, after blocking my movement, showed no particular movement while observing my previous actions.

“You’re much better than when we first met, but you’re still far from ready.”

The spirit’s voice, which had been filled with intentional mockery that seemed to grate on my nerves since the start of the test, changed back to a calm clarity.

Judging by the change in his voice tone, it seemed the test he had declared was now over.

It was over, but.

“40 points. Better than the first meeting where you scored nothing, so I’ll train you every evening until your mouth tastes sweet.”

The spirit’s evaluation, delivered in a tone that made it difficult to distinguish whether it was harsh criticism or moderate praise, indicated that my test had ended in failure.

“I’ll return this to you.”

The spirit, holding the dragon sword that had reverted to its original black blade after the battle aura dissipated, twirled it so that the flat side faced me and lightly tapped my head with it.

Despite being an extremely light action with no physical force or killing intent behind it, the moment the flat of the dragon sword touched my head, I felt my consciousness fading and my eyes slowly closing.

#

“Ugh…!!”

I felt a needle-like pain at the top of my head.

My closed eyes opened naturally.

“…I’m back.”

I realized I had returned to my room in the real world, the last place I had been before taking the test.

Despite having spent quite a long time engaged in a struggle with the dubious being claiming to be the spirit residing in the dragon sword, almost no time had passed in the real world, as evidenced by the twilight sky still visible through my window.

“Haah….”

I rubbed my head with my right hand to suppress the pain that hadn’t fully subsided yet, ruminating on the sting of defeat.

“A complete defeat.”

It hurt my pride, but I had to admit that although I was slightly better than in our first encounter where I had been pathetically blown away after confidently believing I had grasped victory, I had still lost to the being who had arbitrarily pulled me into what seemed to be an imaginary space.

I acknowledge it.

Despite having gone through two deaths and one regression to reach this point.

I was still just a greenhorn blinded by the thrill of victory.

And the skill possessed by Paph—no, the sword spirit, who didn’t fully reveal his abilities and ultimately toyed with me using just one finger, was truly remarkable.

Crunch

…Of course, separate from acknowledging the opponent’s skill, the fact that I had lost in a duel with someone other than Shizu was infuriating, causing me to grind my teeth as I tried to suppress the rising anger.

I must not lose.

I had vowed to become a pillar of support for the difficult future of the precious person I always wanted to protect.

It was certainly a situation that would make anyone’s blood boil, having already stamped two marks of defeat on my record just days after regressing.

But dwelling on it would only further scratch at my already wounded pride.

“Hoooooo….”

I was able to stop ruminating on the bitterness of defeat by calmly exhaling to release the heat built up in my head and chest.

“I don’t know when, but I will definitely make that sneering voice utter the word ‘pass.'”

As I stopped dwelling on the defeat, a sense of purpose naturally escaped my lips, and simultaneously.

“Yaaawn….”

I realized that the aftermath of the fierce battle in what seemed to be the mental world had exhausted my mind, if not my body.

Though it was regrettable, I recognized that my physical condition wasn’t perfect enough to recklessly rush to the outdoor training ground and swing my sword again to overcome the pain of defeat.

“…I’ll wash up and sleep.”

I shook off my regrets and headed straight to the washbasin to prepare for sleep and conclude the day.

The reddish light of the sunset was gradually being consumed by darkness.