‘He’s remarkably disciplined for his age.’
Park Gyu-ho was surprised yet again.
Anyone else would have been deeply disappointed by what he had just said and immediately grown irritated.
Yet this young man had shown disappointment for only a brief moment before quickly recovering his composure and adopting the attitude of a student ready to learn.
Dohyeon was the sort of person rarely seen in this age of great upheaval.
Was that why?
Park Gyu-ho found himself wanting to do everything he could to help Dohyeon properly perform this strange and astonishing swordsmanship.
“Earlier, when you twisted your body while advancing, why did you try to support all your weight on your right foot?”
“Because I supported myself with my right foot when I first succeeded......”
“If you intend to catch your opponent off guard by changing direction, it would be far better to put your weight on your left foot instead of your right. That swordsmanship will be twice as powerful that way.”
Dohyeon flinched in surprise at Park Gyu-ho’s words.
Until now, Dohyeon had been so intent on perfectly reproducing the path his blade had followed when he first killed Kirantal that he had thought of nothing else.
That was why he had stubbornly used his right foot even though he knew his knee could not withstand his body twisting in such an unnatural direction.
Yet Park Gyu-ho had pointed out that this swordsmanship required him to use his left foot.
It was something Dohyeon had never even considered.
“Do I need to switch the hand holding the sword to my right as well?”
“That is correct. Support your weight on your left foot as you abruptly reverse direction, then transfer the sword to your right hand, whip your upper body around, and thrust. You should get a better result.”
At Park Gyu-ho’s words, Dohyeon felt as though his mind had suddenly cleared.
Only now did he understand why his swordsmanship had not improved at all despite all his efforts.
When Dohyeon had first succeeded with this swordsmanship, his right hand had been unusable and his left knee had been ruined.
Equivalent Exchange had performed the swordsmanship with Dohyeon’s physical condition at the time taken into account.
After his first regression, however, Dohyeon’s body had been completely restored.
Yet he had continued trying to perform the swordsmanship he had used while injured, so it was only natural that his body kept breaking down.
Park Gyu-ho had identified that problem after seeing the technique only once. He truly deserved to be called the Sword Ghost.
Dohyeon took his stance again.
The method was the same.
Only the sides for his hand and foot had been reversed.
This time, he drew his left foot back and lowered his stance.
His sword remained sheathed at his right hip.
“Haaah!”
Dohyeon kicked off the ground and shot forward, drawing his sword like a bolt of lightning and slashing diagonally above his right shoulder.
After guiding the imaginary enemy’s sword past his right forearm, he planted his left foot—not his right—against the ground and twisted his body in the opposite direction.
THOOM—
A heavy vibration rang out as Dohyeon’s body spun in a direction no one could have anticipated.
And yet—
‘There’s no strain at all!’
Dohyeon realized that Park Gyu-ho had been right.
When he had supported his body on his right foot, the pain had made it feel as though his knee would tear apart. After switching to his left, however, there was no strain on his knee at all.
Maintaining that position, Dohyeon transferred the sword to his right hand, swiftly whipped his upper body around, and thrust his sword forward with all his strength.
WHOOSH—
The sword pierced through the air with a sound utterly different from before.
Dohyeon came to a stop with his sword still extended.
“Hoo......”
Even his breathing was steady.
Dohyeon relaxed his stance, looked down at his hand, and rubbed his left knee.
‘I did it!’
Even by his own estimation, he had performed the swordsmanship magnificently.
It still needed further refinement, but at this rate, he would soon be able to perfect it.
“That is splendid swordsmanship. Could you tell me its name?”
Park Gyu-ho praised Dohyeon’s swordsmanship as well.
But Dohyeon did not know its name.
It was swordsmanship he had been able to use only once through the Equivalent Exchange skill, so how could it have a name?
Dohyeon decided to name it himself.
“It’s called...... Infinite Path. Muhan-do.”
“Muhan-do? The weapon you are holding is a sword, not a saber.”
“No. The do I mean is not the character for ‘saber.’ It is the one that means ‘path.’”
“Ah...... Is that so? Then it means a path without limits. The name suits it rather well. Infinite Path......”
Park Gyu-ho repeated the name Infinite Path several times.
***
After parting ways with Park Gyu-ho, Dohyeon headed straight for the garbage incinerator.
Perhaps because it was where he always trained, he felt most at ease swinging his sword there.
‘Now I can defeat him!’
With the critical flaw in his swordsmanship resolved, defeating Kirantal was only a matter of time.
Even Dohyeon thought he had been truly pathetic.
He had succeeded once, yet never thought to adapt the technique to the condition of his current body and had instead mindlessly imitated it.
This, too, was a matter of talent.
If he had possessed talent, he would have quickly recognized the problem, corrected it, and set himself on the proper path.
But even after more than six hundred hours of training, Dohyeon had failed to realize what was wrong.
‘Saving Park Gyu-ho really was the right choice.’
Park Gyu-ho should have died an absurd death at the guard post.
Because Dohyeon had saved him, he had discovered the flaw and found the proper path forward.
Dohyeon began practicing his swordsmanship again.
His very own swordsmanship, which now even had the respectable name of Infinite Path.
Now that he knew the proper method, he did not find the training tedious in the slightest.
His knee held firm without issue even when he put his full strength into the technique, and wielding the sword with his right hand doubled its power.
One hour, two hours, three hours.
After practicing Infinite Path for more than three hours, Dohyeon returned to the barracks drenched in sweat.
‘Something feels different today.’
For some reason, he had a good feeling.
About an hour later, Dohyeon finished preparing for battle and climbed into the armored vehicle.
“You’re looking awfully healthy today, Squad Leader.”
Yun Du-sik tilted his head as he looked at Dohyeon.
“And that bump on your head looks awfully pretty, Brother Yun.”
A large bump protruded from Yun Du-sik’s head where the helmet had struck him.
“Shit. Look what that mudskipper of a bastard did to me. If I have a bad day today, know it’s all your fault, you fucking bastard!”
Yun Du-sik glared fiercely at Bae Man-deuk, who was smiling awkwardly from the seat across from him.
“Please don’t be so hard on me. Haven’t you heard that you should hate the sin, not the sinner?”
“I hate the sinner more than the sin. What about it?”
“God’s going to punish you for that. Namu Amitabha.”
“You say amen to God, you bastard!”
“Aren’t they all the same anyway? Buddha or God.”
“Now you’re forcibly merging Christianity and Buddhism too? You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
Yun Du-sik and Bae Man-deuk’s ridiculous exchange continued without pause until the armored vehicle passed through the Gate and stopped in front of the forest.
“Everyone out!”
The 17th Squad disembarked from the armored vehicle and entered the forest while keeping watch in every direction.
Much later, they fought a brief skirmish with the dark elves and pursued them all the way to the canyon.
Following the battalion commander’s orders, the MSU entered the canyon, only to fall into the trap and suffer heavy casualties.
They were brutally skewered by giant harpoons and crushed beneath house-sized boulders until they were as flat as dried filefish, dying one after another without mercy.
Amid the carnage, Dohyeon encountered Kirantal once again.
‘I’ll kill him this time!’
Dohyeon knew instinctively.
Only by killing Kirantal would this sickening endless regression finally come to an end.
BANG—!
The Magic Bullet Dohyeon fired snapped Kirantal’s head back, and the chieftain glared at him with murderous eyes.
WHOOSH—! THOOM—!
Kirantal leaped through the air in a single bound and landed directly in front of Dohyeon.
The moment he drew near, Dohyeon unleashed a barrage of Magic Bullets, but Kirantal deflected every one of the dozens of shots with his sword.
Just as Dohyeon found himself envying Kirantal’s swordsmanship—
“Move, Squad Leader!”
Kang Uk charged in recklessly to save him.
‘He’s way too stubbornly straightforward.’
Dohyeon grabbed Kang Uk by the arm and flung him backward.
“Huh?”
Kang Uk sailed three meters through the air with astonishing ease and tumbled across the ground.
At that moment, Kirantal charged toward Dohyeon.
‘Now!’
As though he had been waiting for this, Dohyeon pulled his left foot back and lowered his stance.
THUD—!
He launched himself in the direction of Kirantal’s incoming sword.
A black blade filled with an eerie light streaked toward his head.
Dohyeon drew his sword with his left hand and deflected the blade.
SKRRAAAAPE—!
Sparks flew as Dohyeon guided the sword aside, supported all his weight on his left foot, and twisted his body at an unnatural angle.
When Kirantal’s eyes widened at the unexpected movement—
SNAP—!
Dohyeon transferred the sword to his right hand, whipped his upper body around, and thrust forward with all his strength.
CLANG—!
The sword struck the armor protecting Kirantal’s neck and slid between its gaps.
SQUELCH—!
At last, the sword sank into his neck.
‘Did I succeed?’
Dohyeon stared directly at Kirantal with his sword still fully extended.
Kirantal gazed back in utter disbelief and spoke in a phlegmy voice.
“Kamtokpuranmang twi!”
The moment he finished speaking, he seized the sword and pulled it free by force.
If he still had that much strength left, the wound was not fatal.
“Damn it.”
He had failed again.
Then—
“Which fucking bastard wounded Lord Kirantal?!”
Someone’s shout rang out, slightly different from before.
This time, Dohyeon had no intention of meekly offering up his neck.
He leaned his upper body forward and hurled himself ahead.
After slamming bodily into Kirantal, Dohyeon rolled across the ground and righted himself.
SWISH—!
An eerie blade swept through the spot where Dohyeon had just been.
For the first time, Dohyeon finally saw the face of the person who had beheaded him more than two hundred times.
‘A woman?’
His opponent truly was a woman.
She was a human woman wearing the black combat uniform of an MSU soldier.
The woman had tied her brown-dyed hair tightly behind her head. Her face was strikingly beautiful, but a long scar ran down her right cheek.
Dohyeon engraved every detail of her appearance into his mind.
He was determined to uncover her identity no matter what.
At that moment—
SQUELCH—!
Dohyeon collapsed where he stood as horrific pain tore through him.
When he looked down, a sword that had pierced through his back was jutting out of his chest.
Dohyeon turned his head and looked behind him.
It was Kirantal.
He was clutching the wound on his neck with his left hand while the sword in his right had run Dohyeon through from behind.
“You cowardly bastard......”
Kirantal reacted to his words.
“Amuyami kwiturak toa!”
It was another Elven phrase he had never heard before.
“What the fuck is that supposed to—”
SLASH—!
A stinging pain struck him, and once again, the sky spun around and around.
Then—
THUD!
Dohyeon’s world went dark yet again.
***
TA-TA......
Dohyeon sprang upright!
Now his body reacted before reveille could even finish playing.
Crackle-
As static flowed from the speaker, Bae Man-deuk began his usual prank.
“Monsters have invaded—”
“Shut up, Bae Man-deuk.”
Dohyeon cut him off before he could even pull the prank.
“Everyone up! Assemble on the parade ground in five minutes. Move!”
Dohyeon shouted loudly in place of the night watchman, and the squad members leaped up and hurriedly changed clothes.
Bae Man-deuk stared blankly at Dohyeon and muttered.
“Wow. Our squad leader is fucking charismatic today......”
This was the first time Dohyeon had been so proactive from the moment reveille sounded.
Once the run, calisthenics, and the battalion commander’s address were over, Dohyeon hurried to the mess hall.
He made his meal vanish as quickly as a crab tucking in its eyes, then headed straight for the guard post.
Now that he knew how to perform Infinite Path properly, he no longer needed Park Gyu-ho’s advice.
But he could not simply let the man die.
What if he killed Kirantal today and the endless regression stopped?
Then tomorrow would begin with Park Gyu-ho already dead.
‘I have to keep Park Gyu-ho alive. If only for the sake of the MSU.’
Dohyeon went to the guard post and saved Park Gyu-ho from the rookie guard’s accidental discharge.
Grateful to have his life saved, Park Gyu-ho tried every way he could to show his appreciation, but Dohyeon refused.
He merely asked Park Gyu-ho to help him once if he ever saw Dohyeon in danger during battle, then left.
Dohyeon’s next act was to comb through every MSU barracks as thoroughly as if he were hunting for lice.
He intended to find the dark elf shapeshifter he had seen just before dying.
‘At least it wasn’t Song Ha-jun.’
Dohyeon had suspected that Song Ha-jun was a shapeshifter the elves had sent to infiltrate the MSU, and he had thought Ha-jun might even be the one who kept cutting off his head.
But the person he had seen just before dying was clearly a woman, and her face was completely different from Song Ha-jun’s.
‘Which squad does that woman belong to?’
Dohyeon had spent thirty minutes checking every barracks but had been unable to find the woman he had seen just before dying.
‘Should I give up?’
Dohyeon could not afford to waste time.
If he wasted any more, he would not have enough time to practice Infinite Path.
He had thought he had pierced Kirantal’s neck this time, but his attack had missed by a tiny margin.
He had certainly wounded the chieftain’s neck, but his sword had failed to penetrate the armor and had been forced aside.
‘I need to increase its destructive power enough to pierce that armor.’
To do that, he had no choice but to practice his swordsmanship like his life depended on it.
Just as he was considering leaving—
“Squad Leader Lee So-hee! Where are you going at this hour again?”
Someone shouted from behind him.
Dohyeon paid it little mind and was about to continue on his way.
But the voice that followed made him stop short.
“What do you think? I’ve got time to spare, so I’m going to practice with my sword.”
It was a delicate woman’s voice, yet somehow filled with strength.
‘That’s the bastard!’
Dohyeon immediately recognized its owner as the dark elf spy who had cut off his head.
He turned as inconspicuously as possible and saw a tall woman standing across from another female soldier.
She had a slender face and her hair was tied tightly behind her head.
A conspicuous scar marked her cheek.
Her face perfectly overlapped with the woman he had seen in the canyon.
Though she was a squad leader like him, he had definitely never seen her before.
She had likely been transferred to the MSU only recently.
‘There you are, you spy bastard.’
Dohyeon quietly slipped away.
He hid around a corner and watched where the woman named Lee So-hee went.
She headed toward the small woods behind the MSU’s Building B.
There was a clearing in those woods. Once there, she drew her sword and began practicing a bizarre style Dohyeon had never seen before.
Dohyeon confirmed that no one else was nearby.
Then, as he slowly approached her from behind, he suddenly shouted.
“Kamtokpuranmang twi!”
Lee So-hee jolted in surprise and whirled around.
When she saw Dohyeon slowly approaching, she spoke with a deeply flustered expression.
“Who are you?”
“Who else? I’m a shapeshifter who infiltrated the MSU under the same orders as you.”
“......What? What are you......?”
“Amuyami kwiturak toa.”
This time, he repeated the last words Kirantal had spoken.
Lee So-hee’s face filled with shock.
“You can’t be......”
“‘Can’t be’ is exactly what gets people killed.”
Dohyeon grinned as he spoke, then drew his left foot back and lowered his stance.
Then—
THUD—!
He kicked off the ground and charged toward Lee So-hee.
Already badly shaken, Lee So-hee had not expected Dohyeon to attack without warning, so her response came late.
Even so, she was no ordinary fighter and managed to swing her sword at the charging Dohyeon.
CLANG—!
Their swords collided, scattering sparks.
But Dohyeon’s stance was as steady as a massive boulder, while Lee So-hee’s was as precarious as a candle flickering in the wind.
“Who the hell are you?!”
As Lee So-hee shouted—
SKRRAAAAPE—!
Dohyeon guided her sword past his shoulder and twisted his body at an impossible angle.
Then—
WHOOSH—
The sword he thrust out while whipping his upper body around—
SQUELCH—!
Plunged straight into the right side of Lee So-hee’s chest.
“Aagh!”
Lee So-hee screamed and dropped her sword.
Dohyeon had deliberately avoided killing her in a single strike.
His skill had now reached the point where he could control the exact point of impact as he wished.
Dohyeon kicked Lee So-hee’s legs out from under her and sent her crashing to the ground.
He pinned her down with his knee just below her neck, then raised his sword and leveled it before her eyes.
“Now then, how about we have a little talk?”
Dohyeon had no intention of killing Lee So-hee so easily.