NOVEL NEXT Chapter 984
<984 – Sword Saint (8)>
A man who had been keeping his presence next to the lady, without a trace of existence, let out a low sigh.
Watching the Sword Saint’s chaotic aerial sword strikes, I couldn’t help but think, “Does she do the same ridiculous things?” It weighed heavily on my mind.
“Lady, may I confirm a few things for a moment?”
“Sure!”
Irene broke out in a cold sweat upon the sudden appearance of Jonnas, someone she hadn’t even sensed was around despite having been with him all this time. The atmosphere around Jonnas had grown even more intimidating since becoming a professor, and I couldn’t fathom how I hadn’t noticed such suffocating pressure until now.
On one hand, I could understand it. A massive energy like that of a mountain.
It was so enormous that with ordinary awareness, one could hardly gauge its beginning or end, making it impossible to realize that it was a person’s energy.
I had just thought that the Oknodie mansion had extraordinary nature mana and ley line power; it turns out it was actually Jonnas’s energy all along.
Jonnas, breaking the silence, began to reveal his presence, clearly worried.
“Do you also engage in aerial combat techniques during battles, my lady?”
“Maybe one out of three times? The flower of the battlefield is the bomber, after all!”
“Do you wear a separate combat uniform?”
“No?”
“…So you’ve been going around like that in your potentially see-through school uniform skirt?!”
Oops.
Oknodie had begun to sweat profusely. The shame of a puppy sensing it was going to get scolded showed clearly on Oknodie’s face.
Irene, watching from the side, felt her heart break. She wanted to rush in and comfort him, but the strict educator, Jonnas, didn’t fall for such temptations.
“Lady, while I won’t get into the issue of dignity, there is a minimum standard for a woman to cherish her body and behave appropriately.”
“This skirt is definitely not going to flip up and reveal anything—it’s a steel skirt covered in dark vision…”
“Do you not understand that true masters can see through even the slightest dark mana veil with ease?”
Oknodie thought that if he encountered a true master, the concern should be whether his underwear would be visible, rather than worrying about life and death, but that thought remained unvoiced.
He knew scolding would double if he said anything, and he was grateful for Jonnas’s concern.
“By the way, the battle technique shown against Michael is a bit different, isn’t it? The Sword Saint’s technique ‘applied’ to your sword.”
Michael – Specialized Area.
The Night Before the Killing Light.
His techniques were quite similar to the sword group that Sing had learned.
However, just as Sing thought he had stepped one level higher by seeing Oknodie’s sixth-level Rolling Ball, Oknodie, Michael, and the Sword Saint had stepped into an even higher realm.
“I can control the flow of the sword style!”
While Sing’s technique, which needs to draw out its essence to change, is much more difficult to alter, the techniques of the three allow them to execute superior variations from even their standard strikes.
Unlike Sing, who finds it hard to hide even one change within the sword style, the three can repeatedly make changes as if their sword strikes were living, breathing entities.
The core of this is versatility.
Unlike Oknodie, who showcased merely the diversity of skills during the battle against Michael, Glutton Oknodie’s combat style focused on the diversity inherent in the sword itself.
In the summer realm, limited mana use is a characteristic that demands fighting with its low output after exhausting the powers of the Middle Realm. The inherent limitation of the doppelganger being able to focus on only one function.
The differences between Glutton Oknodie and Oknodie’s combat styles emerged from these various factors.
“Unless it’s a doppelganger technique containing functions about <Collection>, no doppelganger can overcome that Sword Saint. I’ve reluctantly put him into the fray, but I have a slight worry!”
“Absolutely. That’s too strong an enemy for your second-year classmates to face.”
Even if Oknodie was not at full power, the fact that the Sword Saint was ‘applying’ the result focused solely on one sword was indeed a different caliber.
“Still, somehow, I feel it might just work out. After all, it’s not just the Sword Saint who has harvested Glutton Oknodie’s insights!”
Even if the speed of learning is different, sufficient time had passed.
Three days before Sing and Jiang were brought in.
In the summer realm, that was equivalent to a year’s worth of time.
The time spent directly facing or witnessing Glutton Oknodie’s ascension.
Ghost Warlord.
Oknodie was paying attention to them.
“It’s only been a year. If we’re hoping too much, we will be disappointed.”
“It’s true that a year is a short time. But even Jiang and Sing struggled against the Four Kings of Class above them last year, right?”
“They are talented students of the Gift Academy. The summer realm’s dead have already lost, becoming mere remains with their swords enshrined in the Tomb of the Sword.”
Sword Master Ryu-wan.
The ever-useful old swordsman, Zweihander.
The Illusionary Sword, Roseblim.
Meteor Sword Cesare.
Sword Knight Ezequedo.
Jonnas could see no hint of expectation in his gaze as he looked at the five defeated ones.
That’s why Oknodie felt pleased.
She had long wished for graduation alongside the weaker students who, due to their inherent limitations, cannot participate in the graduation phase.
As you can tell from the mobs, she had great ambition in nurturing the weak.
“Wanna make a bet? Whether the Ghost Warlord’s sword can touch the Sword Saint.”
“What are we betting on?”
“If I lose, I’ll take a lecture of Jonnas’s choosing! No substitutes like skipping a class or using points for assignments!”
“Alright. If by any chance they do manage to touch the Sword Saint, I will grant one of your wishes then.”
Thus, the wager was established.
The results began to unfold like a high-speed movie.
*
The Oknodie Style Flying Sword Saint.
Jiang and Sing trembled in fear as they caught sight of a horrifying entity that should never exist in this world.
“We have to stop this!”
“Yeah. The people of the Middle Realm don’t need to know the tragedy of facing such a monster.”
“Last time I got a smack on the head and cried, but this time, I won’t cry or get smacked…!”
If not for being in the realm of spirits, rained down upon by unrestrained power released into the Middle Realm, who knows how many would die?
The Sword Saint, showering down blows on the ground with the intent to destroy the world, was challenged by Sing, Jiang, and Cooking Oknodie.
The pressure from the four, including the resurrected Roseblim from the Ghost Warlord, irritated the Sword Saint’s skin.
“It’s rare.”
The Sword Saint Reinhardt halted the barrage of sword strikes.
Floating high in the sky, he stood atop one of the many swords suspended in the air, looking down at everyone.
“Never have more than five challengers come at once. Are you here for ‘apprenticeship’?”
“Apprenticeship? Wrong. They’re the young ones who will inherit our dueling techniques. Your secret weapon to kill you.”
“Then let’s make the start ours. I will deplete all of your precious energy to the last drop.”
The Ghost Warlord took the lead, standing in for the visitors from the summer realm.
The powerful sword saint Reinhardt’s companions.
Though strong, the Sword Saint felt sheer boredom in encountering those whose analysis had been completed long ago.
“You’re too slow to give up. It’s inefficient. You earned eternal life after all; it seems a shame not to indulge in a new hobby. You stepped right back into a hell you created yourself.”
“We are swordsmen who have dedicated our lives to the sword. Even if we become spirits, that resolve does not change.”
Ryu-wan’s words made the Sword Saint Reinhardt grimace.
“That sounds a bit too grand for someone who died while whining to the passing principal.”
“…You brat! How many times are you going to bring that up? Every time I see your face, you dredge up the past!”
“I thought my entertaining recounts of your embarrassing past, as a price of engaging in a match that was so predictably one-sided, would add some comedic value, but strangely it seems your disgrace exceeds expectations.”
Truly, it was shameful enough to be held in the same Ghost Warlord group.
But in the face of that shared shame, the distance that had widened beforehand due to awkwardness could easily be forgotten against the single intention of facing the Sword Saint Reinhardt.
“Will you accept my challenge or not?”
“If you brought the dueling text, you must accept. But this time, I won’t pull my punches. There won’t be a second time. I’ll send you all back to the Tomb of the Sword.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
The Ghost Warlord unleashed his energy in unison.
Then the Sword Saint Reinhardt descended from the air.
“What are you doing? You’ve got the advantage of being airborne and you decide to come down?”
“Must be a rule of his. He said that all spirits have to speak highly of their opponents, so the Sword Saint Reinhardt will overwhelm you using only the sword techniques of the Ghost Warlord.”
“!”
Being a swordsman at his core, Sing could sense this.
Reinhardt intended to overwhelm the Ghost Warlord using only their techniques.
“Well then, it’s time for a re-evaluation.”
The three Ghost Warlords, led by Sword Master Ryu-wan, positioned themselves around.
The Great Sword of Ryu-wan.
His destructive force boasts an overwhelming power that no recovery can surpass.
“To shift our lives on the line is our mission, to bring Ryu-wan before Reinhardt.”
“Beating Reinhardt. I don’t really believe it’s possible, but clearing the path as a trio seems doable.”
“Even as losers, we can achieve it. So just watch us, young ones.”
The power of the signs’ swords surged dramatically.
Anyone unaware that it was the result of centuries of efforts, hoping for a miracle, maintaining their stay within the Ghost Warlord was absent here.
Jiang and Sing grasped Cooking Oknodie’s shoulder, who was trying to jump in.
“Are we not helping?”
“They’re already expending their strength for us. The moment Reinhardt fights us, they want him fatigued just a little more.”
“If we join in now, it’ll only increase Reinhardt’s numbers in a fight. More sword techniques will increase chaos and lead to crisis.”
This composition wasn’t thought up on a whim.
“The strongest is five, but four is fine too. Roseblim, her sword style, we can achieve as well!”
The Ghost Warlord made a charge, ignoring their own lives!
Confronted by the relentless onslaught, Reinhardt unleashed his power and began a sword wind.
Three extremes.
Three resolves.
It wasn’t the linkage of individuals but a cohesive sword formation.
The formation’s connection!
“Indeed. This is ‘new’.”
Reinhardt, who explored all potential and limitations of the Ghost Warlord’s sword, hadn’t expected these high-caliber masters to join forces to forge a successful assault.
The three who stood at the forefront.
The all-purpose old swordsman, Zweihander; Meteor Sword, Cesare; Sword Knight, Ezequedo.
The three techniques they possessed.
Perfect Sword, Exploding Tide, Wave Blade.
Reinhardt had fully cultivated all transcendent techniques.
Recalling memories, he unleashed the three techniques anew as the three quickly exchanged positions, countering with various formations in return.
<Zweihander & Cesare>
<Linked Technique - Perfect Exploding Sword>
Transcending from versatile to almost omnipotent, predicting the change of the transcendent power exchange to carry the transforming sword technique, <Transcendent Fatal Technique - Omnipotent Sword>.
That sword combined the adaptability of the Perfect Sword with the infiltration power of the Exploding Tide, halting the advance of potential divergences before the projection of the transcendent sword technique could take place.
<Cesare & Ezequedo>
<Linked Technique – Exploding Wave Sword>
A penetration technique of explosive power rivaling a meteor burst. Seizing the penetrating force that surpasses the Exploding Tide, <Transcendent Fatal Technique - Destruction Wave Sword>.
The merciless explosive power erupted before the wave sword could even execute its strike, compelling self-inflicted harm.
<Ezequedo & Zweihander>
<Linked Technique - Wave Perfection Sword>
Utilizing the ripple of a sword wave to neutralize the opponent’s sword technique, doubling the detonation potential of a wave sword to form <Transcendent Fatal Technique - Shattering Sword>.
That brutal power neutralized the wave perfection sword before it could tear through the swordsman’s body, simultaneously shattering both parties’ swords and seizing Reinhardt’s weapon.
‘Well done. But I have swords aplenty.’
‘We also prepared extras!’
Blocking the divergent sword techniques.
Halt the penetrating sword winds.
Stop the shatter of wave energy.
Although they managed to fend off the three transcendent techniques, all sword strikes originated from the ‘tormented’ sword that Reinhardt wielded.
His hands still grasped a ‘sword’.
Yet, without invoking its swing, three swords soared through the air once more.
The time taken for the previously thrown sword to be blocked and yet another point was mere seconds apart.
In a world of swordsmen where life and death teeter on such a thin line, a second could feel like an eternity.
But the time was far too short to overcome a fatal technique encapsulating a life.
Reinhardt, however, was a genius capable of digesting his opponent’s techniques with understanding and development into his own within that very short time.
Boom!!!
With a booming sound like thunder, the three swordsmen collapsed.
But, along with their lives, Ryu-wan’s Great Sword clashed with Reinhardt’s blade.
Bang!!!
As the dust settled, within a small pit lay a disembodied head.
“There are two pits!”
The pit formed around the base of Reinhardt.
On the opposite side, around the headless Ryu-wan, the pit was twice as large as Reinhardt’s.
The Greater Sword of Ryu-wan was surpassed not just in size, but in sheer might by Reinhardt’s sword.
“Ryu-wan has lost…”
“No, considering the disparity in their capabilities, Reinhardt suffered greater loss.”
“Even Sister Sia’s words hold true.”
Cooking Oknodie whimpered, but Sing and Jiang placed their hands firmly on their sword sheaths.
“Ryu-wan didn’t lose just by a twofold difference. He caught up to an unfathomably transcendent gap halfway.”
“!!”
“Moreover, it’s an astonishing amount of power. The energy Reinhardt had to expend to endure this was considerable.”
Therefore, this wasn’t a futile fight.
The posthumous powers drained from Reinhardt by the Ghost Warlord and the shocks it left on his body.
That could very well be the key to overcoming the Giant Duel against the Sword Saint.
“You won’t let the will of the Ghost Warlord go in vain, will you?”
“Absolutely not!”
Everyone’s fervor passed through to Jiang too.
Her teary expression transformed into a fierce, determined gaze, ready to confront the swordsman standing before her.