Ch.5318. Among All Those Countless Stars.

Hot.

No, chilly.

All I want is to sit down and rest right now.

But I shake off all those temptations.

Just moments ago, wasn’t I praying in my heart, begging to protect the village, even willing to throw away my life for it?

Has my resolve changed in just a few seconds?

“——!!”

Someone is shouting from a distance, but I can’t hear them.

A barbarian warrior approaches with an axe in hand.

Instead of charging right away, he stops, rants in front of me for a while, and then finally attacks.

I respond with my dual swords.

As I parry his attack, I counter and cut him down in a single exchange.

My master once told me:

‘You seem to lack innate strength. Your frame isn’t sturdy either. So no matter how much you train, no matter how much you suffer, your gains will be minimal. Still, you mustn’t give up. If you do, you won’t even be able to protect yourself. The good news is that your lungs are strong, so if you use that to your advantage, you’ll tire less than others.’

Train hard, even if just to survive.

Building strength comes after that.

…That’s why even handling the training my master demanded…

For me, it was a trial in itself.

He said it was nearly impossible.

Hearing that, I took it as a challenge.

Doesn’t “nearly impossible” mean that with enough effort, I could move away from impossibility?

I made even my daily work part of my training.

I calculated efficiency in everything, even in my personal time for play and rest.

One must rest to grow.

One must eat well, move well, and rest well.

Don’t compare yourself to others.

I didn’t even have time to be envious.

I couldn’t afford to waste time feeling sorry for myself.

When I came to see loneliness as a luxury not worth my concern, things became bearable.

Even when she watched over me and eventually became disappointed.

The reason I couldn’t comfort her with a pure heart…

…Was ultimately due to my weakness.

We stand on this earth, in hell.

On a desolate, miserable place with nowhere to go.

Like fallen leaves that could be swept away at any moment.

Even if we stay still, we’ll just rot and disappear into the ground.

We have no control over being swept away.

What a lamentable life.

And even if we somehow achieve happiness…

…This harsh reality that even that happiness could shatter at any moment…

I couldn’t simply accept it.

…Another warrior charges at me.

A large man wielding a shield and a club.

He looks much bigger than me.

Come to think of it, the one who charged earlier was also incredibly large.

And as if to prove his worth, after just a few clashing attacks, my blade comes loose and even bends.

Countering with pure strength was indeed reckless.

But it’s too early to give up.

I reach for my waist.

I draw a new sword that feels like it’s clinging to my hand.

It’s just a sword that broke.

As long as my limbs aren’t broken and my life isn’t lost,

It’s not a problem at all.

Above all,

The stronger the enemy, the stronger we become.

Because,

We’ve always used the enemy’s strength and even their mistakes against them to bring them down.

Where does water go?

My master once asked me that.

I naturally answered that it flows forward, through openings.

But my master firmly denied this.

“Water flows from high to low.”

“…?”

When I heard it, I realized it was correct.

“That’s why the sea is the king of all rivers, their father and mother.”

The reason the sea can embrace all water is…

“Because it lies lower than anything else.”

The swords we wield should be the same.

“But that’s not the end of it. After flowing down and down again, water rises back up. It ascends to the sky, becomes clouds, becomes rain, becomes snow, and falls again.”

“Huh? So rain was originally river water and seawater?”

“…That’s right.”

I didn’t quite understand.

But my master emphasized that wielding a sword should be like that.

He repeatedly stressed that using strength should also be like that.

“Also, like the wind, without being entangled anywhere, without being bound, heading where the path leads, naturally resisting where things get tangled, brushing past and moving on.”

When moving your body, it should be like that.

“If you grasp just this much, not many on earth will treat you carelessly. Because of your physical characteristics, you won’t be able to handle mana in complex ways or utilize it. I can’t offer you any other solution besides this method.”

Master,

I still don’t understand what you wanted me to realize.

…Even now.

Yet somehow, I’ve managed to defeat those who manipulate sword energy, emit light, and display impossible physical abilities.

And I feel a modest pride in that.

It’s not that I fear my own defeat.

I feared disgracing your teachings.

I was most afraid of tarnishing your name.

That’s why I couldn’t confidently reveal who my master was.

…That’s just another aspect of my unworthiness and weakness.

“How can he do that?”

“Is he… a monster?”

I’ve taken down about five of them.

By now, they seemed to have abandoned the idea of honorable one-on-one duels, focusing solely on bringing me down.

‘If they had thrown arrows or stones, it might have been troublesome.’

It’s actually easier when they come right up to me.

I don’t have the strength to rush forward, nor do I have the energy to advance toward them.

Standing is all I can manage.

My body won’t respond with strength.

All I can do is grip my legs to keep from staggering.

And yet.

“Gack!”

Why…

“Ugh, aaaah!”

…Am I…

“Z-Zenj…ang. G-God…”

Why won’t I fall?

I suddenly remember that I mustn’t fall.

If I collapse here, if I sit down,

Who will stop them?

In truth, even if some of them headed toward the village,

I had neither the physical strength nor the energy to stop them.

But why?

Why do they all watch me, wary of me?

‘Why?’

How can I instill caution and fear in them,

While standing unfazed amidst their wave of attacks?

‘Did he tell me to release my strength?’

There is no artifice in nature’s actions.

Intentionally applying force, squeezing, infusing…

All of that is meaningless and irrelevant.

It’s true that the human body structure shouldn’t work that way.

…But unless you apply that principle to your body,

Performing nature’s actions with your body is impossible.

Forcibly recreating this through mana is the height of artifice.

But even if it’s a falsehood, if it can be done, it becomes clear reality.

Therefore, that too is a path if it’s a path.

Is there only one direction to find the desired answer?

That too is an expression and realization of will.

…However.

Those without legs cannot climb stairs with legs.

Beasts without wings cannot fly like birds.

‘…I see.’

I’ve been mistaken all along.

I still have much to learn.

No.

Rather, I realize how infinitely lacking I am.

Rather, why did I only realize this now?

But it couldn’t be helped.

Even in the most exhausting and difficult moments,

There’s never been a time as challenging as now.

As the strength naturally drains from my entire body,

Yet the enemy remains powerful and formidable,

A path has opened.

Just as river water naturally converges when a valley narrows,

No, is this a bit different?

I can’t understand it intellectually.

But somehow, I feel like I know.

This must be what my master was talking about…

====

I chase the vision.

I thought I had lost consciousness for just a moment.

What he felt in that moment flowed back in an inexplicable current,

Drifting into my consciousness.

‘When taking a stance, be like a rock and a tree.’

And.

‘When flowing through movements, be like water and wind.’

Simple, unremarkable content.

But one thing was certain.

‘This is…’

The wind blows.

Though everything seems blocked,

If there’s an exit, even if it’s just a tiny gap,

The wind naturally throws itself toward it.

That’s what I am now.

Following the vision, I guide my body,

And raise my sword.

—!!

The moment it collides with a greatsword, my body flies to one side.

But I don’t lose my center.

My posture continues, and my body slides, glides in the intended direction.

From there again,

Deflecting an incoming axe from the side,

Using that force as momentum to slide in the opposite direction.

In an instant, I reach the chest of a warrior,

Lowering my stance and sliding between his legs,

I grab his ankle.

Though he stands firm like a pillar,

Using that to my advantage, I reverse my body while swinging my sword to sever his ankle.

“Arrrgh!”

Neither too shallow nor too deep.

As he hunches over in pain and bewilderment with a terrible scream,

I roll over his back to the opposite side.

The encirclement has loosened somewhat.

No matter how surrounded I am, constant movement creates gaps.

‘Water and wind…’

As long as there’s a path, they never stop or stagnate.

Not only do I dodge a man’s kick, but I grab his leg.

When he instinctively pulls back his leg, I use that force to throw myself to his chest, climb onto his shoulder, and grab his head knot.

“What are you all doing?!”

“Enough playing around!”

When the head is lifted up, it naturally tilts backward.

The head is surprisingly the heaviest part of the human body.

Controlling it means controlling the body’s center of gravity.

But that’s not the end.

Just before dismounting, I swing my sword in mid-air to cut his nape.

This too is neither deep nor shallow.

But it is clearly a fatal wound.

It’s even more painful and deadly than being stabbed deeply in the abdomen.

Without time to grab his nape, the warrior who was reaching for that area while staggering collapses.

“……”

The fighting style shown in the vision is distinctly different from this.

He deflects opponents’ attacks with his sword in a similar way, sometimes cutting with his sword, sometimes kicking, sometimes even punching their jaws.

In the midst of the melee, despite being alone, he resists, deflects, and counterattacks like flowing water, like the wind,

Moving across the battlefield.

But that is his way.

His physical condition and circumstances,

The given environment and methods,

…All remind me that I cannot be like him.

However,

The fundamentals are the same.

By what principle, purpose, means, and methodology he drives them back and overwhelms them,

I’ve just understood that.

“Aaaaaaah!”

A massive figure charges like a bull with his head lowered.

I respond by lowering my body close to the ground, almost lying my upper body flat.

His powerful hands reach out to grab me like a wolf’s open jaws,

But I slip between them and slide away from his charge.

From there, still sliding on my back, I turn my body and slash across the warrior’s ankle.

Thud!

Unable to resist the momentum, with his ankle now damaged, the warrior falls forward.

I deflect an incoming spear shaft, avoid a descending sword, and barely deflect an axe swinging up diagonally with my sword.

I dive in.

When someone tries to grab me with bare hands, I grab their fingers and roll my entire body.

“Aagh!”

Belatedly concerned about his fingers breaking, he follows my roll, but in that moment I cut his throat, roll over him, and strike another warrior’s ankle to break his stance.

Then I cut.

“Are these fools playing around?! Against a kid who’s barely a mouthful!”

“Swarm him! All of you swarm him! How can you not manage even that?!”

“How long will you continue this disgrace?!”

The vision neutralizes enemies with minimal force and minimal response.

The vision aims for gaps, cutting eyes, wrists, or ankles.

Punching jaws, kicking between legs,

And grabbing anyone who clings with ghostly skill, pushing and pulling them around.

Making them roll on the ground of their own accord, plant their heads, drop their upper bodies,

Bringing them down and sprawling them out.

When weapons fail, they try hand-to-hand combat.

When that fails, they try to pile on and restrain me,

But nothing works.

Just as trying to capture water with hands, arms, or the entire body is meaningless,

Or like trying to embrace the wind.

It’s all futile.

And when their attempts fail, it transforms into another opportunity for counterattack.

Even this, using the opponent’s strength against them.

There’s no need to stab a sword into eye sockets like I did earlier.

Just slightly cutting the eyeball is enough to immediately neutralize the opponent.

Even if another charges, it’s not difficult to respond.

Cutting ankle tendons, slashing throats, severing wrists, splitting sternums, cutting thighs, slicing femurs,

Bringing them down.

Sprawling them out.

Careful not to damage weapons by hitting bone,

Effectively targeting the most vulnerable points that are hardest to protect, even with intact muscles.

Slicing through.

In the vision, he

Has already rendered more than a dozen warriors helpless.

“……”

Somehow,

The number of massive warriors sprawled by my hand had already exceeded a dozen.

“I… see.”

At that point,

The vision stopped.

I also realized that the vision was looking directly at me.

I too directed my gaze toward him.

“So in the end…”

Even the memories he showed me,

Even the scenes he showed as visions,

All of it…

…Was arranged for me.

At this moment,

I sensed it all with certainty.

He…

Was waiting for none other than me.

For a long, long time.

For 300 years.

In that one place.

He had been guarding it alone.

…For nothing else

But this moment.