Chapter 160 – Lake of Swords (4)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Weapon clawed at his sweat-soaked hair.

“Leader… am I doing this right right now.”

Just as Kang Geom-ma had said, he had first sent contact to the academy side. And he had desperately tried to settle the turbulent atmosphere inside the polling place.

Of course, it was impossible for Weapon alone to control this many people.

And yet some unexpected figures helped calm the commotion.

“Did you already forget what that No. 7 brat just said?! For hero candidates to be so swallowed by fear that you’re battle-incapable, how pathetic!”

Den Range barked out. Kim Woo-jin also added his voice.

“We’ve received word that the academy side will arrive within ten minutes. Until then, please refrain from showing such pathetic behavior.”

The two of them also knew that this was not the time to be burning with competitive spirit.

By sheer ability, they fell far short of Kang Geom-ma.

Their pride did not allow it easily. Even so, they could not help but be moved by the leadership Kang Geom-ma had shown before going outside.

That was why the two of them came to an agreement in their hearts to help Weapon.

Besides, were they not still members of the student council?

They might not be able to inspire courage the way Kang Geom-ma did, but they could at least help command the cadets who had fallen into panic.

‘Because of the current student council president and vice president, the chaos is fading quickly.’

Even so, instead of letting out a sigh of relief, Weapon bit down on his lower lip. He was feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.

This was all it amounted to. Working with the student council candidates to keep the cadets from going outside. That was as far as anything he could do went.

He could not go into battle together with the Leader. Weapon understood that much clearly.

If the enemy were only middling, he might at least be able to cast buffs from behind. But against anything beyond that, he would only get in the way.

Even so… was it really right to just stand here twiddling his thumbs? To begin with, was it right for him to be standing at the Leader’s side at all?

The Leader had always broken through situations alone, hadn’t he. Rather than become dead weight, it seemed like it would help the Leader more if he simply disappeared into the background.

In that brief span of time, Weapon sank into countless distracting thoughts.

Then someone slapped him across the face with all their strength.

Smack!

The sharp sound drew everyone’s attention. Whether they looked or not, Saki struck Weapon across the other cheek as well.

Smack!

Then she grabbed his shoulder hard and shouted.

“Hey, you idiot! Kang Geom-ma trusted you and left this place in your hands, and that’s the expression you’re going to make?!”

Weapon raised his hands to touch both cheeks. His lip had split. He could taste blood in his mouth. A bowman’s hands were this vicious.

“Weapon, the feeling you’re having right now, I’m feeling exactly the same thing. Geom-ma asked you to do this, didn’t he. How long are you going to stand there spaced out when you’ve been trusted that much? And how does it make sense to do only exactly what you were told and then fall into despair? Think of countermeasures. Remember those words, got it? The attitude you’re showing right now is the same as betraying Geom-ma’s trust!”

“……”

Weapon stared at Saki blankly, then pushed his hair back. His mind snapped wide awake. The stinging pain physically gave him something to latch onto.

…Still, it would’ve been better if she’d just said it. Because of the slap, his brain was buzzing.

How hard did she hit him?

Weapon only let out a short sigh and did not open his mouth to say anything. If he added anything and got hit one more time, he was liable to lose a tooth.

In a low tone, Saki said.

“And I’m going to do what I can do. Weapon, both you and I owe our lives to Geom-ma several times over. And….”

She muttered as if holding back tears. It was a monologue that expected no answer.

“I can’t just stand here blankly and let go of the most precious person in my life.”

“…?”

Saki did not wait for a reply. She thumped up onto the platform. A firm core was loaded alternately into both of her feet.

With all eyes gathered on her, Saki opened her mouth.

“How are you all feeling?”

At the sudden question, the cadets looked puzzled. The shape of Saki’s eyes curved fiercely as she looked at them.

“You people, you were always looking down on Geom-ma, calling him a special admission student and whatever else. Going on about commoners and nobles. And Geom-ma didn’t even react to it.”

Silence fell over the polling place. One by one, they lowered their heads.

“Since you’re cadets of Hoakin Academy, you know it too, don’t you, that the enemy outside isn’t ordinary. And yet that Geom-ma guy went out there willing to face death.”

Saki clenched her fist tightly. The rims of her damp eyes were a pale red.

She was frustrated. Her heart burned. Maybe this was self-mocking talk, or maybe just venting.

Because even she, saying all this to them, was of no help to Kang Geom-ma at all.

She understood Weapon’s feelings a hundred times over. She too hated and despised how weak she herself was to death.

But even so, she could not just stand there stamping her feet.

“Why? To protect you people, the very ones who kept pouring out contempt and mockery on him. He went out there alone!”

Emotions surging to the surface, Saki finally collapsed to a sitting position. Then she poured out one last cry of grievance.

“If you people have any conscience, then at least pray for the one who’s fighting outside in your place. Please….”

Saki clasped both hands in front of her chest. Her hands trembled violently.

Starting with her, the cadets began to put their palms together in prayer. The hands gathered before their noses each held their own would.

Support for Kang Geom-ma, the desire to live, a means to erase fear.

And so they closed their eyes and prayed. There was no particular fixed object of worship.

They merely pleaded. Not knowing whether it might be light that would brighten the world, or darkness that might stain it black.

A human who had lost their direction could only seek a transcendent existence.

* * *

The tone of the Third Legion Commander of the Demon King’s Army, Vesna, trembled blue.

“Y-you….”

Kang Geom-ma was standing still. His hair, once black, had now been completely bleached white.

“Don’t tell me you’ve awakened!”

From time to time, humans who surpassed their limits underwent changes in their appearance. People commonly called it awakening.

She knew because she had witnessed it several times during the First Human-Demon War.

There had even been a few among the seven disciples of that cursed ancestral hero.

Sword Saint Aaron Nibelung, Divine Archer Seong Na-yeon, Golden Wolf Frigia Midas, and Yaksha Hojo Moriyasu.

The awakened ones begged some existence that bestowed blessings and expanded the limits of their strength. Naturally, a price followed.

Their own lifespan. That was why the Seven Heroes had all died young.

Even so, they had burned up their lived resisting the demonic race. They willingly cast themselves in for the continuation of humanity.

Thanks to that resolve, the balance between the two forces, demonic race and humankind, tilted heavily toward humanity.

With overwhelming divine might, they pushed the demonic race into a corner. And in the end, they seized victory.

It was a humiliating past. Just recalling that time made Vesna shudder.

However, after that, no more awakened ones had appeared among humanity.

That was why the demonic race had knocked at the sealed gates of the human realm and been able to descend.

And yet, why, now.

“……”

Kang Geom-ma stood there quietly looking up at the sky. Without the slightest movement, simply standing blankly.

Even though he was only doing that, her chest pounded with unease. An emotion she had never once experienced in her life was being displayed plainly on her face.

Seven hundred years ago, had any hero ever given her a sensation like this. It was a shuddering presence.

More precisely, she could not get any kind of read on him at all. From Vesna’s point of view, he was not an existence that could be judged as strong or weak.

By nature, a being one dimension lower could not see beyond what was above it.

Just because they stood on the same land did not mean they were seeing the same world.

By unfortunate coincidence, Vesna’s thoughts did not continue that far.

“…So this is the power my sister was struck down by.”

As if responding to the call, the gaze of Kang Geom-ma, which had been resting on the sky, came down.

Sss.

Light was leaking out from his milky eyes. His face was perfectly still.

“What are those eyes, when you’re nothing but a little creature! If you’re putting me on the same level as my sister, then that’s a grave miscalculation!”

Vesna chanted a spell with clear haste. The strongest art she was capable of wielding.

‘Aqua Punishment’

A spell also called the Punishment of Water, magic that had reached the ultimate extreme of water.

Guguguguguguung!

Mana spread out broadly in every direction. The next instant, more than a hundred thousand lances of water, precisely constructed, rose floating in the air.

The stakes compressed by Vesna’s mana each possessed fearsome power.

Now that it had come to this, Kang Geom-ma had to die. This was no longer a time to regret losing the vessel at all.

“I will erase you here and now, and cut off the sprout of vain hope.”

Vesna raised her hand. The tips of the lances all converged on the place where Kang Geom-ma stood.

Tak!

The moment she snapped her fingers, the lanceheads that had caged Kang Geom-ma in like a birdcage came rushing in.

Papapapapapapapapang!

The more than a hundred thousand lances pouring down on Kang Geom-ma. The impact wave sent the lake surging high and spread a mist of water. The walls of the annex building crumbled and spat debris from the explosion sound alone.

Even as attacks rained from all directions, no emotion appeared on Kang Geom-ma’s face.

He merely raised the two Sashimi blades. He did not dodge. He met all hundred thousand attacks head-on.

The source of his action and decision was unconsciousness. Kang Geom-ma had completely entrusted his body to a sweet intoxication. His awareness and cognition had already blown away.

He swung Murasame in his right hand. It deflected hundreds of the lances. The feel in his hand tingled sharply. But without hesitation, he swung Perennial Frost in his left hand to meet them too. This time as well, the magic was cut down by the dozen and extinguished.

One strike hit Kang Geom-ma in the thigh. A chunk of flesh was torn away. Blood overflowing in streams soaked into the lake. The essence of life drained from his body.

With a blank expression, Kang Geom-ma immediately activated the Blessing of Regeneration. The flesh quickly knit itself back together and healed. Without even checking it, he continued moving his arms.

Even the act of healing was only a distraction to him. Right now, he felt as though he were dreaming a vivid dream. And it was an ecstatic dream he never wanted to wake from.

To be able to keep cutting and slicing something without stopping. Pleasure wrapped around every corner of his body, so he had no time to spare on something as trivial as wounds. Even as he staggered, he held his waist straight.

Vesna wildly chanted and scattered magic. The number of lances kept multiplying. And yet, every time the blades wavered, the spikes were smoothly sliced apart.

Multiplication and suppression were occurring at the same time. It was a fight outside the frame of time. Even space itself looked warped and uneven in shape.

The blades and the magic collided, setting off impact waves one after another. The deafening roar rang so hard the whole region seemed ready to break. Then.

At last, the wall of the building collapsed with a crash, exposing the entire interior of the polling place.

The cadets who had been praying raised their heads. The next instant, the struggle between magic and sword entered their eyes.

? ? ?

Yet even when they tried to look straight at it, their pupils rolled in different directions. It was because the clash was taking place on too high a plane for them.

Before overwhelming fear, humans realize how insignificant they were, and the brain refuses to understand.

“Geom-ma!”

Saki shouted his name loudly as she stretched out her arm. And without hesitation, she ran out of the polling place.