Star-Embracing Swordmaster - Chapter 19

the White World

Garrison was about half a day on foot, but it was less than a few hours on horseback.

“Hey! Hey!”

Even though he was riding along an uneven mountain path in the pitch-black darkness, Zayar’s horse did not get lost.

As if he understood his master’s wishes, he did his best to guide the sword-wielding boy and the timid swindler to the garrison.

“What is that.”

And finally we arrived at the bottom of the hill close to the garrison.

The place, reflected under the moonlight, was shrouded in thick fog that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.

“I heard you did that! “That day was exactly like this!”

“…….”

Vlad got off his horse and looked down into the foggy area.

The fog was so thick that only hazy shapes were visible and it was impossible to make out what was going on inside.

“Let’s run away now! “You’re not planning on going in there, are you?”

“quietly.”

Vlad raised his finger to stop Goth’s words and listened quietly.

Vlad’s keen hearing to perceive his surroundings had already been recognized by Jorge.

‘scream.’

The screams of mercenaries could be heard in Vlad’s ears.

With the incoherent sounds of weapons and meaningless shouts.

It was in a fog where you couldn’t see an inch ahead, but Vlad was able to understand the situation through sound.

‘Before you move blindly, check where you are right now.’

The knight resembling blue moonlight said so.

[Don’t panic. Before you move, decide which direction to go in.]

The voice inside me was like that too.

Vlad quietly took a deep breath and thought.

Where are you now, what can you do, and what should you do in the future?

“You go, goth.”

“huh?”

Everything in life is a matter of direction.

Only those who know the right direction can achieve their goals.

“What about the leader? “You want to go down?”

“…….”

And Vlad found his target.

There was someone singing softly somewhere in the fog.

It sounded like it was going to break, but it was so fragile that it felt like it would collapse at any time.

“It may not mean much, but anyway, I’m sorry about this incident.”

“……huh?”

Vlad promised.

I have a job to do, so I will offer faith instead of loyalty.

The boy walked into the fog that could not even be illuminated by moonlight.

The boy may not have known it, but the step he took that night was the most brilliant step he had ever taken in his life.

Keep the contract and be faithful.

Because it was an act of pursuing something honorable.

The contract made with Josef that night remained as a shining star in Vlad’s heart.

“going.”

[Yes.]

Vlad walked towards the dangerously twinkling star with his blue eyes shining.

※※※※

“Barely getting rid of the mercenaries has become meaningless.”

Josef was able to understand the situation perfectly despite Andrea’s difficult explanation.

“In the end, it means that there is no way to deal with him other than Lord Xayar.”

Behind Andrew, who was kneeling in prayer, a young deacon was singing with tears in his eyes.

It was a hymn.

Although the voice was stained with fear, the brilliant melody calling to God mixed with Andrea’s divine power and was pushing away the thick fog.

-baby! My baby!

A woman is also there, anxiously reaching out her pitch-black hand towards her.

Josef lowered his head and looked down at his knights, who were cackling with foam in their mouths.

‘Is there no way?’

Running would have been the best option, but the damn fog caught them and wouldn’t let them go.

It was a fog that brought the woman to wherever she went.

Therefore, the knights had no choice but to use themselves as shields to protect Joseph until Priest Andrew came up with a way.

Although they rushed in after receiving the outstanding blessing of Priest Andrew, they were not qualified.

You have the right to bring a curse upon your own world.

The result was this.

The mercenaries, consumed by fear, disintegrated and the knights who were protecting them lay there, foaming at the mouth.

Soon you will die.

And I didn’t know if I would be like that too.

‘Is this the end?’

No matter how clever Josef was, he could not create something from nothing.

I couldn’t see any way to overcome this situation.

“Hold on. Mr. Josef. “The sun of tomorrow will definitely come.”

“…Even though it’s too far away now.”

Although she was unable to approach due to Andrea’s divine power, the woman was persistently glaring at Joseph.

Josef could tell.

If he were to make eye contact with the empty darkness of that woman, he would also end up like the knights rolling on the ground.

No, maybe it’s even more serious.

‘Is he targeting me as expected?’

The woman, shedding black tears, was holding a wooden comb in her hand.

The wooden comb he was holding as if it were very precious was something he had used before.

‘Who are you?’

This was a curse.

A terrible curse targeting myself.

However, there was no one here who could answer Josef’s question.

Now there were no knights to protect Josef, and the poor young deacon’s voice was increasingly cracking.

Tonight’s night was too much to wait for tomorrow’s sun.

Josef, guessing the coming outcome, closed his eyes.

The moment the young deacon’s hymn ends, death will rush in.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find a way to break through, so Josef bit his lip.

“…….”

Josef opened his eyes with a sad expression, his resolve strengthened in his heart.

“hmm?”

At that moment, there was a ray of light visible in his eyes.

-Aaaah!

It was a light that started from behind a woman shedding black tears.

“You…”

A single blade of sword came towards him, cutting the woman’s body in half.

At the end of the sword road was a blond boy who shined even without moonlight.

There was Vlad with his right eye closed.

[Aaaaap!]

The white thunderbolt that started from the tip of the unadorned sword cut through the fog and lit up the night sky.

※※※※

[That moves as a curse. It can’t be cut with an ordinary sword.]

“Then what should I do?”

[Can I use Auror now?]

“Are you kidding?”

The voice guessed the identity of the woman glaring at Josef through the fog.

[Only an exorcist priest who wields the will of the wizard god who defies the rules of the world or a knight with his own world can break what was created by the curse.] “What about Priest

Andrea?”

[He is faithful, but he is not an exorcist. An ordinary Heretic Questioner would be more helpful in the current situation.]

“Damn it.”

Vlad, who was watching for an opportunity behind the tent out of sight of the woman, became a little angry when the voice said that there was no way.

“Then what?”

I came through the fog for Josef with great determination, but I couldn’t even swing my sword.

I didn’t come all this way for this.

[……It’s not that there is no way.]

“What is it?”

He answered Vlad’s question with an uncertain tone.

[I’m borrowing your body for a moment.]

“……Is that okay?”

It was the voice he always borrowed from Vlad’s body as part of his training.

However, borrowing one’s body for a moment to show one’s senses and using one’s body to swing a sword containing aura were two different problems.

“Can you borrow my body and use your auror? Even if I succeed, I won’t be able to move for a while.”

[It’s your body, so you decide. Honestly, I don’t recommend it.]

The voice was aware that it was a being that could use Aurors, but whether it could be embodied in Vlad’s body was another matter.

All I could say was that if there was a way, this was the only way.

“If you don’t kill it, you die.”

[That is also the path of the sword.]

Vlad began to think for a while.

There is only one chance.

If you fail, everything is over.

Is there any reason to prepare for that?

“Let’s do it.”

[Are you okay?]

Vlad said, tying the straps of his leather armor tightly.

“The opportunity that Josef gives me may be an opportunity that I will never come across again in my life. and.”

Vlad was determined.

I don’t want to back down anymore.

“If you run away from here, you’ll end up as Vlad in the back alleys again.”

[…….]

More than the unknown woman in front of me.

More than the fear of dying if I fail.

Vlad had something scarier than those.

“My biggest fear is that I am nothing.”

What were you born for and what will you live for?

The boy was not qualified to answer any of them.

I didn’t want to end my life with nothing like that.

“Let’s go.”

[I respect your choice.]

Gritting his teeth, Vlad raised his head one last time and looked at the sky.

Although it couldn’t be seen because of the fog, the moon was supposed to be floating there.

A blue moon that will have to be destroyed someday.

[Right in front of you.]

“Okay.”

Vlad raised the sword he had bought with the girl’s tears and took a deep breath.

The trick of a one-hit kill is its unexpectedness.

Unexpectedness comes from movements that exceed expectations and shatter expectations.

‘You didn’t see me.’

The woman shedding black tears did not notice Vlad.

‘Hmph!’

Even if you notice, you won’t be able to anticipate the blow you’re about to deliver.

Vlad ran out through the fog.

Vlad’s movements, breaking through without the slightest hesitation, were like arrows fired from a bow.

-baby?

At that moment, the woman’s neck strangely bent when she heard the sound of Vlad’s footsteps.

It was an angle that no living person could turn.

[Now!]

“Pfft!”

The woman’s eyes were so deep and dark that I couldn’t breathe, as if I was submerged in water.

but.

“Hmm!”

In order to keep the contract he had made with the person he had entrusted his trust to, the boy did his best to close his right eye.

[Aaaah!]

And from now on, it was the world of an unknown person.

His world is full of storms and lightning.

And it was a world full of thunderstorms so large that they engulfed the world.

A ray of lightning that escaped from his world tore through the black tears that the woman was shedding.

The white world split the black world.

※※※※

It was just a flash of light, but it revealed everything in the world.

Josef truly thought so.

“Vlad!”

Cutting through a woman shedding tears with swirling lightning.

“Whoosh!”

Vlad collapsed and rolled on the ground.

Although he had prepared for it, the pain that came was easily beyond Vlad’s expectations.

“Qua…Quaaa.”

Vlad’s whole body was writhing in pain that came later.

Using an auror in a borrowed body.

It was a tremendous pain and burden to Vlad, the owner of the body.

“shit!”

Josef noticed that Vlad was in no condition to move his body right now.

What had just flashed was clearly the mark of an auror, and I don’t know how they did it, but it was clear that they had paid a high price.

“Joseph!”

“Never stop singing hymns!”

-Baby baby!

The cursed woman split, but did not stop.

He was still crawling on the ground with empty eyes.

And the direction the woman was crawling and looking was in the direction where Vlad was.

“Off!”

“Close your eyes! “Don’t look at that woman!”

Josef took the risk and ran towards Vlad, who was groaning.

It was worth it.

The flash that Vlad just showed was a possibility too precious to throw away now.

I couldn’t leave that brilliant thing in front of cold death.

“Catch me!”

He felt the chill coming from the woman right behind him, but Josef did not stop.

“Big!”

“shit!”

Although his strength was weak, he could not fully lift Vlad, but he had to somehow pull him to the extent of his divine power.

“Off!”

For a moment, the woman’s pitch-black hand grazed his ankle, but Josef did not let go of the hand he was holding on to Vlad despite the burning pain.

“Joseph!”

Bordan, who was stamping his feet when he saw Josef suddenly jump out, quickly grabbed them and pulled them inside.

“Wow! shit!”

“Knock gag!”

Two young men rolled around on the floor, drenched in sweat.

-Ahhhh!

The woman who lost the two began to cry violently, spreading her hands wide like a mother who had lost her child.

-where are you! Where are you!

It was a woman whose body was split in half, but perhaps because she originated from the dead, she did not easily let go of her existence.

-baby. Please please please.

Maybe there was a reason not to do that.

-sick. my child Please find it. please.

“Huh. “Hmm.”

Josef, startled by the crying he heard next to him, looked at Vlad who was rolling next to him.

Vlad was crying sadly while listening to the woman’s voice.

I was crying like a child who was only five or six years old.

‘Is it contaminated!’

Josef was able to sense Vlad’s condition due to his unusual behavior.

“Priest Sa.”

“Vlad! “Come to your senses!”

Perhaps in a state of confusion, Vlad shook off Josef’s support and approached Andrea with a trembling body.

And I kneeled down hard towards him.

“Please bless my sword. “We have to let that woman go. We have to let her go.”

“…I understand.”

Priest Andrea also noticed Vlad’s condition, but nodded and said that he would do so.

Although his complexion was gradually becoming paler, the boy’s eyes did not waver.

“Give me the sword.”

Priest Andrea stopped praying and looked at Vlad’s sword.

A sword without decoration.

He placed his hand on the blade of the sword.

“It’s a definite blessing.”

“……thank you.”

The blood of the faithful priest ran down the unadorned sword.

silent Night.

A night when the hymns of young deacons and the sorrowful cries of weeping women died down.

The only thing that resonated here was the boy’s difficult steps.

“I’m sorry.”

-Find…please.

Although it was only for a moment during the rush, Vlad looked into the woman’s empty eyes.

There were terrible memories inside.

Women trapped in a dark prison.

Their young and delicate children dying one by one.

And the mother of the last remaining child cried and shouted.

-Baby, my baby.

Watching his child slowly dying under the cold floor outside the bars.

“Haa…huh…”

The boy kneeled in front of the woman with tears flowing.

The boy raised his sword towards the mother who was looking for her child.

Even though my body was trembling in pain and my muscles were twisted and not responding properly, I had to do it.

Because at this moment, the person who understands her pain more than anyone else is himself.

“Now take a break.”

Puuk –

The woman shed her last tears as she saw the sword approaching her.

-where are you.

The boy’s sword pierced the head of the weeping woman.

Her flowing tears soaked the cold ground and pooled.

The mother, unable to find her child, stopped like that.