Chapter 10: What did you see and learn?

Realizing that Seolhyang had disappeared, I immediately climbed over the window frame and onto the roof of the building.

The dark city was dimly lit by the occasional flicker of magical lights.

It was so quiet that it was hard to believe a woman had been kidnapped.

‘So that means………..?

On the rooftops of the buildings, footprints were left in the dust that had piled up.

From the look of the other dust around, they were recent traces.

Using the tracking skills I learned from my father, who was a hunter, I quickly followed the footprints and realized they led to a certain building.

‘That bastard!’

The footprints led to Cyrus’s mansion.

Indeed, when I saw Seolhyang this morning, her eyes looked dangerous……….. Did he really kidnap her so openly?

Gripping my sword, I ran to Cyrus’s mansion and witnessed Cyrus swinging a blade at Seolhyang, who was rolling on the floor to avoid the strike.

“You crazy bastard!”

Dropping right in front of Cyrus, I swung my sword and turned to Seolhyang, asking,

“Is it okay to cut him?”

A confirmation to avoid repeating the mistake I made during the day.

Fortunately, Seolhyang nodded, and I immediately drew my sword.

‘He’s dead, you bastard.’

***

As soon as I grasped the hilt of my sword, the blade shot out like lightning, aiming for Cyrus’s waist.

However, Cyrus naturally angled his sword to the side, deflecting the blade at an angle.

Evan, who swung the sword, let out a faint gasp of admiration as he saw Cyrus easily blocking his strike.

Except for the time when I first held a sword as a child, no one had ever blocked his sword before.

‘Not bad.’

While I was admiring him, the swords that were tightly pressed together smoothly slipped past each other and instantly aimed for his chest.

Startled, Evan stepped back to dodge the strike, but he couldn’t prevent the tip of the sword from grazing his chest.

“Ugh…!?”

As Evan touched his chest, he checked the wound.

It seemed like his chest had been slashed, but strangely, there was no bleeding.

It felt odd to think there was no wound while a subtle pain and a sensation of blood surged inside his chest.

“What is this?”

“It seems you can use a sword for an adventurer, but with just that much, you can’t defeat me.”

Cyrus grinned as he looked at Evan.

Evan glared at Cyrus while touching his chest.

Behind him, Seolhyang, who was collapsing and dying, spoke for the last time.

“E-Evan, the identity of that guy is… the Sword Demon, Cyrus…… Be careful….”

“Ah, right. Seolhyang.”

Realizing for the first time that Seolhyang was dying, Evan fed her a potion he always carried as a spare.

Lying down while looking at the sky, he poured the potion into her, and though Seolhyang, who was struggling to breathe, coughed a bit, Evan confirmed that she had consumed most of the potion and then poured the remaining potion into his own mouth.

‘It actually works for healing.’

He could feel the blood vessels, which had been moving erratically inside his chest, returning to normal.

Thinking it was fortunate, he looked at Cyrus, who was watching Evan drink the potion with a very relaxed expression.

“Did you finish drinking?”

“Are you an idiot? Why are you waiting for him to drink this?”

“Why would I stop a broken toy from fixing itself?”

Cyrus spoke with a playful glint in his eyes as he rested his sword on his shoulder and gestured for Evan to come in.

His confident demeanor suggested he was ready for anything.

The mysterious sword technique he used earlier must be the source of his confidence.

The Sword Demon was truly fitting for his name, wielding a magical sword.

Evan realized that the sword was very similar to one he knew.

“It’s a swordsmanship that only cuts what you want. I gave up because I couldn’t grasp it. How did you do it?”

“Hmm? What?”

“I’m talking about what you did. It’s a swordsmanship that selectively cuts its target, right? I asked how you did it.”

“Oh, kid. You’re pretty sharp, huh? If you survive, you’ll make it big later on.”

Cyrus exclaimed in admiration upon hearing Evan’s words.

Was it because he experienced it himself, or was it because he could accept everything as it was, as a child?

The others who had fallen to his sword were trapped in their fixed ideas about swords and couldn’t even realize what they had done.

It was clear he had potential.

If he could survive here, that is.

Evan seemed to know this as he cautiously opened his mouth.

“Do you plan to let me live?”

“Of course not, now that you know the identity of my sword.”

“That’s a pity. I was planning to let you live.”

Cyrus let out a chuckle upon hearing Evan’s words.

It was a childish sentiment.

Even after taking a hit, he still believed he had a chance to win.

Cyrus, intending to shatter that illusion, slowly walked toward Evan, not rushing at all.

Watching Cyrus casually walk toward him, Evan displayed the innocence typical of a child.

“I’ll show you one since you showed me one.”

Saying this, Evan gripped the hilt of his sword, and Cyrus, who had been smiling, quickly evaded, seeing the illusion of being cut.

At the same moment, Evan’s sword swung with a slicing sound.

The distance was far.

The entity called a sword should never be able to reach this distance.

Yet, he was cut.

Swoosh—!!

Dodging the flying sword energy, Cyrus quickly turned his head to look behind him.

The top of the snowy mountain, which could be considered a landmark of the Abirins realm, had been sliced off.

“……What is this?”

“Now that we’ve both shown one technique, isn’t that fair? If you have nothing else hidden, I’ll go first?”

“No, what the—!”

Cyrus, shocked by the absurd phenomenon of cutting something regardless of distance, rushed at Evan.

He couldn’t afford to be casual like before.

If he could cut something regardless of distance, then he was at an overwhelming disadvantage with the distance between them!

“Ugh—!”

Closing the distance, they clashed their swords.

While the distant cutting sword energy was the most superior advantage a swordsman could have, it wasn’t as noticeable now that they were so close.

In close combat, it was advantageous for this side to attack unilaterally, ignoring the opponent’s defense.

“Die!”

Cyrus used his magical sword, a finishing move that rendered defenses useless.

His sword seemed to burrow into Evan’s sword like clay, leaping over it directly toward Evan’s neck.

“I’ve seen that twice already.”

Evan left behind those incomprehensible words and twisted his sword.

The two swords adhered to each other as if they had been that way from the beginning and did not move.

Realizing that his magical sword was effortlessly neutralized, Cyrus looked at Evan with an expression of disbelief.

“You, this is…….”

“The sword that cuts what I want… So, it’s basically the principle of finding the gaps in things, right? Seeing it in person makes it easy. Yeah, I get it.”

Upon hearing those words, Cyrus glared at Evan as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

Does this kid really know something?

That can’t be.

Even the Sword King, who pushed him into this desolate countryside, couldn’t grasp the principles of this technique.

Let alone stealing the opponent’s secret move while fighting with swords for the first time?

“Th-That can’t be possible!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Where did you learn it! My magical sword!”

…

“No, what nonsense are you spouting since earlier? You just said it.”

Evan casually replied as if it didn’t matter.

“I learned by watching. Just now.”

His voice carried no sense of pride or boasting about what he had accomplished.

It didn’t seem special to him; it was as natural as breathing, as if he didn’t understand what was remarkable about it.

That tone was quite familiar.

It was the same tone that genius Cyrus often used when talking to his peers while training with swords.

Why can’t you do this if it’s so easy?

You can’t even do something this obvious?

There was no intention to mock the opponent.

It was just a pure question.

So pure that it became the most vicious act.

-This damn brat, where did you!

Using the secret move again to extract his sword, Cyrus gripped his sword and once more swung it toward Evan.

Forgetting the magical sword, he returned to the primordial version of himself who had learned swordsmanship.

Countless deadly sword techniques were unleashed, all aimed at killing the enemy.

And all those moves were effortlessly countered.

I can’t believe it.

Is it really okay for this to happen?

For such a kid to possess this level of skill, for a human to have such talent?

Is this truly permitted?

“It’s not fun.”

After deflecting the sword a few times, Evan muttered that.

He had thought he was up against a skilled swordsman, as it was the first time someone had wounded him.

But he turned out to be just an ordinary existence, lacking anything special except for one technique.

Having learned all he could, Evan’s interest in Cyrus waned as he took a deep breath and gripped his sword with both hands.

‘Here it comes.’

Cyrus, standing in front of Evan, sensed something flying toward him and took a defensive stance.

In the world of swordsmanship, the initiative is disadvantageous compared to the counterattack, and if one knows the opponent will attack, the disparity becomes even greater.

“Nameless three-stage thrust.”

The three split blades surged forward, simultaneously aiming for vital points.

One sword flew toward the upper lip.

It was deflected.

Another sword darted toward the neck.

It grazed past.

The last sword aimed for the solar plexus.

……

He couldn’t avoid it.

“Cough—!”

Wounded in the neck and abdomen, Cyrus staggered back, clutching his pierced belly, glaring at Evan in disbelief.

Evan shook off his sword with an expression devoid of emotion.

In that expression, Cyrus recalled the strongest man he had ever met.

The Sword Demon, or whatever it was, had brought him here.

Tsk.

A superhuman above superhumans.

A being standing above everyone.

The form of the Sword King.

“Ha, haha. Uhaha.”

I thought that if I quietly hid away, I would never encounter him again.

But who would have imagined that there would be another monster like that…

It’s something I could never have imagined.

That’s how Cyrus met his death.

The demon sword, hated by many, closed its eyes.

***

After killing that noble brat and shaking off the filth of blood, I immediately ran toward Seolhyang.

Though I had applied emergency potions, there might still be lingering injuries.

Ssssss— ssssss—.

Seeing her asleep, breathing softly, I felt relieved and began to ponder why she was here.

‘The smell of blood… Did Seolhyang come here to save these people?

But if that’s the case…

The scent of blood was mostly emanating from the dagger she carried.

In other words, it meant that Seolhyang had killed the people in this mansion.

But why? Just a little while ago, hadn’t she said to go back home together?

No, more importantly, how could a blind person have killed so many…

“I don’t understand. Sigh.”

Letting out a sigh, I decided to carry her on my back and left the mansion.

Regardless of whether she was a hedonistic murderer or someone with circumstances, the fact that she had killed must be investigated.

It was to save her, but she had also killed someone, so she would likely face punishment as well…

‘For love, one can do anything.’

As I was about to speak, I felt a deep rumble and turned to look behind me.

The snow-covered mountain, which I had just slashed through, was collapsing.

Seeing the sudden landslide, I quickly began to run with Seolhyang in tow.

“Crazy!”

Love or whatever, I can’t stop a landslide.

***

The collapsing snow mountain triggered a landslide.

The landslide swept over the village.

The people in the village hurriedly fled, but they couldn’t prevent casualties.

There were six victims.

Cyrus, the landowner of the village, and his family.