0.01 seconds.
It was the maximum duration for which I could maintain 【Soul of the Swordmaster】.
It was such an impossibly brief moment that I’d never had the chance to properly feel the skill’s power.
I’d only close my eyes and open them again to find the enemy dead.
Maybe that was why.
Though I’d used the ability twice, the 0.01 seconds during which the skill was active remained an unknown realm to me.
‘...But not now.’
Tick, tick, tick—!
The moment I activated the Authority Skill 【Ritardando: True】, those 0.01 seconds stretched on like eternity.
The Celestial Dragon Bird’s lightning moved like a slowly flowing river. I could clearly see the blue currents branching out in every direction as they approached me.
Rumble—!
I felt my abysmal average stats break through their limits and surge upward in an instant.
It felt as though every cell in my body had awakened. My muscles swelled, and every one of my senses sharpened.
***Shing—!***
At that moment, my sword moved.
Its speed was so great that I couldn’t possibly follow it, even within this imprisoned time.
‘Ah.’
The lightning split apart.
The neatly divided blue streams slipped past me on either side.
The Feather Sword in my hand trembled faintly.
I hadn’t consciously done anything, yet the sword had moved on its own and cleaved the lightning apart.
‘What the...?’
Was this what they called the unity of body and sword?
The Feather Sword felt like a part of my body. Having sensed danger, it had moved of its own accord.
Instinctively—just as one shuts their eyes when something comes flying at them.
Ting—!
〔You perfectly defended against a lethal attack at a near-impossible moment.〕
〔Reward: You have obtained the Passive Skill 【Ultimate Auto-Parrying】.〕
Messages appeared before my eyes.
The reward skill was far more powerful than I had expected, and I couldn’t help but be startled.
...But it was still too soon for admiration.
My allotted 0.01 seconds had not yet run out.
Swoooosh—.
The Feather Sword swept sideways, drawing out a long, straight line.
A golden thread remained like a trail where the blade had passed.
Creak—!
A brief silence followed.
The Celestial Dragon Bird, which had been moving ever so slightly within the slowed time, froze completely.
The faint line running across its body gradually grew clearer.
Like a crack in a massive pane of glass, the fracture spread in every direction.
And then...
*Whoooosh—.*
...Time began to flow once more.
The raindrops floating in midair fell to the ground, drawn by gravity.
My heartbeat raced as if it had never slowed, and the air that had briefly stilled began to move again with the wind.
At last, the duration of 【Ritardando: True】 had ended.
“...”
But the world I was looking at was still frozen.
I remained motionless in the posture of my swing, and the Celestial Dragon Bird’s massive body was equally still.
Crack, crack, crack—!
It was then that the Celestial Dragon Bird’s upper body slowly began to tilt.
Its enormous upper half slid diagonally along the thick line before crashing straight into the ground.
***Thuuuum—!***
The Celestial Dragon Bird collapsed with a tremor that shook the earth.
A cloud of dust blanketed the surroundings.
Dark blue blood poured like a waterfall from the cleanly severed cross-section.
“...”
Yes.
That was the end of it.
‘...It’s dead.’
A Divine Beast.
Once the agents of the Elders, but soon to become one of the continent’s worst monsters—the very name of ruin itself...
It had been unable to do a thing before being cut in half by a single swing of my blade.
“...Ah.”
A dazed voice came from behind me.
Adelia was staring at the Celestial Dragon Bird’s corpse with a completely blank expression.
“Adelia.”
I casually tossed out the question.
“Was this a bit helpful?”
Adelia suddenly raised her head.
Her pupils, fixed on me, trembled without end.
Perhaps she had yet to recover from the shock. She couldn’t answer at all.
She merely opened and closed her mouth several times like a goldfish.
‘Well, still...’
I looked at Adelia with a faint smile.
No—more precisely, at the translucent system window hovering above her head.
【Lv. 80】
‘...Looks like she really did gain a major realization.’
That was right.
There was no need to hear Adelia’s answer.
She had reached Level 78 while fighting the Celestial Dragon Bird, and she’d already climbed another two levels.
It seemed that merely watching my strike had allowed her to achieve tremendous growth.
‘Geniuses really are different.’
To grow that much just by watching someone else’s swordsmanship.
There was a reason she was the character with the greatest potential in Loel’s world.
‘Ah, of course...’
Adelia wasn’t the only one to accomplish something remarkable.
Ting—!
〔You witnessed the pinnacle of the sword with your naked eyes and personally experienced overwhelming talent.〕
〔Error: With your current Cognit̶̞̻̀̅ion st̵̳̦̃at, you c̶͓͐͝ann̸̦̍̇oţ̷̽̎ ̷̫̋͑ob̷̹͖̉̍t̵̀̓͜aḯ̸͙̗͠n̶̼̿͋ ̵̟̅͆#̶̺͍̾̓@̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑&̶̙͖͒%̵̯͑#̴̢͕̉〕
〔The Ṕ̶̛͓ant̸͉̀͝heon̴̜͑̕’s vő̷̰te ̸̼́be̶̜̓̏gi̴͙̰̊͗ns̵̖̋̐ ̴̠̭̒̓no̴̲͒ẉ̸̉#̵̹͘͝!̶̱͌͝!̵̞̈́$̸̘̫̃@̸̨̛̮$̶͛͊͜*̶͖͔̒͛@̸̍͝ͅ?̵̧̰̊̓〕
...
The spectacle of notifications filled my view.
I went through them one by one, and only when I saw the final message could I finally smile.
Ting—!
〔Reward: The sealed ‘Sword Lv. Max’ talent has been unlocked.〕
‘...I did it.’
At last, all my efforts were bearing fruit.
***
Ting—!
〔Hidden Message: @̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑&̶̙͖͒%̵̯͑#̴̢͕̉ successfully completed.〕
〔Hidden Message: $̶͛͊͜*̶͖͔̒͛@̴̻̕͜?̴̗̭͑ Achievement Unlocked (1/12).〕
***
“...”
Adelia stared blankly at the Celestial Dragon Bird’s corpse.
Her eyes still held a sight she could not believe.
The path of the blade that had split the lightning, and the golden thread that had bisected the Celestial Dragon Bird.
Every movement had been etched deeply into her retinas.
‘This is the realm of a Swordmaster...’
Until now, she’d never had the chance to properly see Sir Gaon’s sword.
What happened in the Underworld Arena had been far too sudden, and when facing Peterpan, she’d been too frantically occupied with fighting to have any room to spare.
But this time was different.
Because Sir Gaon had told her beforehand, Adelia was able to focus on his sword strike.
—Watch closely and engrave it in your eyes.
She had forgotten even to breathe as she immersed herself in Sir Gaon’s sword.
It was beautiful beyond measure.
It was a perfect strike without a single superfluous movement.
Thump.
And the moment she witnessed it, Adelia instinctively understood.
The wall that had blocked her path had collapsed without a sound.
“Only now...”
After a long silence, Adelia slowly parted her lips.
“...Only now do I think I understand a little.”
The light in Adelia’s eyes had changed.
The answer she had sought so desperately was right before her.
Now, it was time to keep following that answer, all the way to the goal she pursued.
Nod.
Hearing those words, Sir Gaon smiled and nodded.
***
‘What a mess.’
I slowly looked around and clicked my tongue to myself.
It was truly a miserable sight.
Broken carriage wreckage and corpses lay scattered everywhere, and the salty stench of blood stung my nose.
It didn’t look likely that we’d find any survivors in a situation like this.
Surviving a Monster Wave and the Celestial Dragon Bird’s attack couldn’t have been easy.
‘Huh?’
Murmur, murmur.
Contrary to my expectations, quite a few people had survived.
Once the surroundings grew quiet, survivors who had been hiding began to crawl out one by one.
Their hiding places varied.
Beneath carriage wreckage, under monster corpses, in burrows, and so on.
‘Ha.’
Seeing that, I couldn’t help letting out an incredulous laugh.
‘...They hid as well as cockroaches.’
Heh.
Although that was what I said to myself, I was glad to see the survivors’ faces.
There were around five or six survivors.
It wasn’t a large number, but considering the scale of the incident, it was a nearly miraculous survival rate.
Fortunately, the merchant company master was among them.
At least our escort mission hadn’t failed.
‘Well, what does that matter at this point?’
I was entertaining such pointless thoughts when...
Buzz, buzz.
The area suddenly grew noisy.
I wondered what was happening, only to find the survivors making a tremendous fuss upon seeing the Celestial Dragon Bird’s corpse.
“G-Gasp!”
“Good heavens, what in the world is that...?”
People stared at us in shock.
It seemed they hadn’t seen what happened outside, having kept themselves thoroughly hidden.
Even if they’d tried to look around, the raging storm would’ve made it difficult to grasp the situation.
“Why is it so huge?”
“It really is massive. Is that the wyvern you only hear about in stories?”
“D-Did you two defeat that monster? Just the two of you?”
Anyway.
Ordinary mercenaries and merchants failed to recognize the Celestial Dragon Bird.
They only recoiled at its massive size and fearsome appearance.
But the merchant company master was different.
As befitting someone who had seen through Adelia’s identity, he instantly recognized the Celestial Dragon Bird as well.
“This can’t be.”
The merchant company master looked unable to believe it.
He cautiously approached and whispered,
“Th-That’s a Celestial Dragon Bird, isn’t it? One of the great Elders’ Divine Beasts...”
I wordlessly nodded.
The merchant company master’s eyes widened further.
“B-But why in the world...?”
The merchant company master trailed off.
Still, I knew what he wanted to ask.
Why had a Divine Beast attacked humans? How had we killed it? And so on.
“...”
I considered it briefly.
Then I slowly opened my mouth.
There was only one answer I could give in a situation like this.
“The world you knew is over now.”
“...”
“Prepare yourself. After today, many things will change.”
Killing the corrupted Celestial Dragon Bird did not delay the prophesied end.
Even the corruption of a Divine Beast was no more than the beginning of the crisis that would befall this world.
***
“By the way...”
It was after the situation had been brought somewhat under control.
Adelia asked in a worried voice,
“...What do we do now, Sir Gaon?”
We couldn’t simply rejoice because we’d found survivors.
The situation was grim.
Not a single carriage remained intact, and most of the horses had died.
To make matters worse, the surviving horses had long since fled in terror when the storm had raged.
Snort!
Just then, the merchant company master approached us, holding a set of reins.
A muscular horse followed behind him.
Its mane and coat gleamed with luster, making it clear that it had been well cared for.
“This is the only horse we can use right now. The finest of fine horses.”
Pat, pat.
The merchant company master patted the horse’s side.
As if to prove that it was a fine horse, intelligence gleamed in its eyes.
What was more, it hadn’t fled on its own, so its loyalty seemed exceptional as well.
“We can’t carry everyone, so perhaps one person should go to a nearby village and ask for help...”
The merchant company master trailed off, his expression turning puzzled.
He began to stare into the distance, following my gaze.
“Y-Young Master? What are you looking at so intently—”
“Wait.”
I cut him off.
“They’ll arrive soon.”
“...Pardon?”
Freeze.
The merchant company master looked thoroughly confused by my answer.
He wasn’t the only one. Adelia and the others also began looking at me strangely.
Well, that was understandable.
Who would come all the way to a place this dangerous?
The middle of the Silk-road was never a place where salvation would suddenly arrive so easily.
*Rattle, clatter—.*
“...Huh?”
But at that very moment,
the sound of a carriage suddenly came from far away.
The people pricked up their ears and quickly turned their heads toward the sound.
Something came into view beyond the distant hill.
The vague shape of a carriage appeared through the pale sunlight.
It was deftly weaving around the debris left behind by the Monster Wave as it approached us.
“Ah.”
Adelia let out another cry of surprise. Her eyes gradually widened.
“That man is...”
“Ahem! Tsk, tsk!”
Before Adelia could finish, a familiar voice rang out.
It was the voice of an old man, thick and rough with a metallic rasp.
“See? I told you I’d get you there safely for two million Shillings!”
“...”
“I’m telling you, it’s dangerous to ride just any carriage because it’s cheap!”