“Master, please let this disciple teach him the lesson instead.”
Marcus hurriedly spoke up.
“Relax.
I’ll hold back properly…
Hmm.
Give the kid a real sword too.
Don’t worry, I’ll use the back of the blade.”
As Gal spoke, he lazily let the newly drawn magic sword hang toward the floor at an angle.
The Sword God looked perfectly relaxed.
Marcus wasn’t relaxed in the slightest.
As for Noah, now holding a real sword several meters away, the pressure was crushing.
Sixth of the Seven Great Powers.
Back when he’d argued with internet idiots, Noah had casually compared the Dragon God, Jino, and all the other Great Powers like children making beetles fight in a jar.
He’d considered himself an expert on this world’s power system.
Gal Farion constantly got used as a measuring stick for Jino or Rudeus in those debates.
But actually standing in front of him was different.
Even from several meters away, Noah felt as though the air had grown too heavy to breathe.
[Mind’s Eye ★★★] screamed at full intensity.
His sixth sense was sending continuous danger warnings, as though taking a single step forward would send him over the edge of an abyss.
Noah tried to find an opening.
Any angle.
Any tiny gap that might let him put his sword forward.
“Not coming?”
Gal’s amused voice drifted across the space.
“Kid, where’d all that nerve go?
Weren’t you the one who wanted to see my sword?”
Noah inhaled deeply.
This difference was nothing like his duel with Jino.
Against Jino, he’d been Advanced facing an Intermediate.
Between Noah and the Sword God stood Sword Saint, Sword King, and Sword Emperor—three entire major ranks.
‘Screw it.
A real man charges straight in!’
Noah reversed his grip, brought the hilt toward his chest, stepped forward, and swung.
Gal watched him approach and muttered casually,
“Then I’m coming too.”
In the next instant, Noah was blasted away.
His vision blurred.
He never saw where the sword light came from.
Something seemed to flash in front of his eyes, and then a crushing impact struck his abdomen like a charging bull.
His feet left the ground.
He smashed through the wooden entrance door, flew out across the courtyard, bounced once, rolled half a turn, and buried half his body in deep snow.
Between being smothered by snow until he nearly passed out and the sensation that his organs had been thrown into a blender, Noah had only one coherent thought.
‘At least I’m not dead.’
Thankfully, Mind’s Eye had let him choose between chest and abdomen in that split second, and he’d concentrated his battle aura around his abdomen to defend.
It hadn’t stopped anything.
Gal’s vastly higher-quality battle aura had cleaved straight through his defense.
Still, that tiny buffer had dispersed some of the force.
Otherwise, Noah would’ve been bedridden for months.
As things stood, maybe a week before he could get up properly and a month before he was completely healed.
The good news was that Gal really had used the back of the blade.
The bad news was that because it was the back of the blade, Noah had absorbed every bit of the blunt-force trauma.
‘Old bastard.
You absolutely did this for revenge.’
It was hard not to think that.
A few minutes earlier, he’d injured the man’s daughter.
Now he’d been chopped into the ground.
Admittedly, he’d asked for it.
Only when system notifications began appearing one after another did Noah finally relax.
He happily blacked out.
Getting one-shot had been worth it.
Gal stood where he’d attacked, already frozen in the ending posture of his swing before anyone realized he had moved.
Not even the Sword Emperors had clearly seen the draw, strike, and recovery.
“Huh.”
Gal lowered his gaze and raised the hand holding his sword.
Because he’d struck with the back edge, that attack had been fractionally more sluggish than his usual swordwork.
Even so, he didn’t believe a child could possibly have seen it.
So had Noah reacted on instinct?
The possible targets had only been the limbs or torso.
Pick one and commit.
‘A wild instinct similar to Ghislaine’s…?
He concentrated all his battle aura into one point.’
Gal replayed the moment in his mind.
The surrounding Sword Saints, meanwhile, erupted into cheers.
They had been sick of this brat from the moment he arrived.
“Beautiful!”
“Incredible!”
“As expected of the Sword God!
I couldn’t see anything!”
Only the two Sword Emperors refused to join the farce.
Timothy remained expressionless as if none of it concerned him.
Worry surfaced on Marcus’s face.
“Marcus.
Go treat Noah.” Gal stared toward the small figure lying miserably beyond the courtyard.
Then he suddenly smiled.
“Once he’s healed, I’ll teach him personally.”
A flicker of genuine delight appeared in Gal’s expression.
It was the same kind of feeling he’d had when he first met Ghislaine.
‘Heh.
Life won’t be boring for a while.’
The moment Gal gave permission, Marcus sprinted toward his son.
The Sword Saints who had been cheering moments ago froze with smiles still on their faces.
Everyone understood what Gal’s words meant.
Noah was becoming the Sword God’s direct disciple.
Ghislaine.
Gal Farion’s first direct disciple.
The Black Wolf Sword King.
A monster who appeared maybe once every twenty years.
Until today, she had been the only person in the entire Holy Land of Swords Gal had ever accepted as a direct disciple.
Countless swordsmen had fought tooth and nail for the chance to enter his personal tutelage, and Gal hadn’t spared them a second glance.
Now a brat who had just entered the core dojo was getting the same treatment?
No one dared question the Sword God’s decision.
The excited cheering gradually died into scattered whispers.
Word soon reached Nina through the female disciples who had witnessed the duel.
Her expression went blank when she heard it.
…
[As an Advanced swordsman, you challenged Sword God Gal Farion and survived intact.]
[Fate Power Rating +4.]
[Fate Power Rating: 8.]
[The System is greatly impressed by your instinctive response.]
[Acquired: Battle Aura Coating: Hardening.]
[Note: You must be alive to swing a sword.]
…
[Established a formal master-disciple relationship with Sword God Gal Farion.]
[Affection: 50 (Friendly).]
[One Shared Talent draw obtained.]
…
[Path of Legend unlocked.]
[Requirement fulfilled: Fate Power Rating has exceeded 5.]
[Contact established with a God-rank human combatant: Sword God Gal Farion.]
[Human Legend: 1%.]
[Human Legend Bonus: Damage against humans +1%.]