MTLNOVEL Ch. 116
Chapter 116: Acanthus (5)
What was the ultimate realm that the millions of swordsmen wandering the continent aspired to reach?
It was none other than Graduate.
A perfected physique.
Perfected technique.
A perfected Aura Sword.
A Graduate was, in essence, the very embodiment of a swordsman’s completion.
It wasn’t for nothing that the continent’s enthusiasts proclaimed, “They’re on a different level.” To draw forth a blade as sharp as ice, surpassing the flowing Aura Sword of an Expert, the swordsmen of the continent were surely dedicating themselves to training even at this moment.
But.
There existed beings that even those dream-filled Sword Users dared not aspire to—none other than the ‘Sword Masters.’
Individuals who transcended the limits of humanity.
Those who rewrote the history of swordsmanship.
Explorers of uncharted realms, surpassing all established theories, expanding the boundaries of swordsmanship through their unique, unparalleled ‘color.’
No one dared to follow in their footsteps, and thus, the swordsmen of the continent scarcely spoke of those beyond the Graduate level.
‘In fact, the number of Sword Masters on the continent… 30? 40? I heard it’s definitely less than 50.’
A shockingly small number.
Considering the continent’s population of 1 billion and the nearly 10 million swordsmen, one would be lucky to encounter a Sword Master even once in a lifetime, even with great fortune.
Of course, I, Harang, had already met one.
It was none other than the Village’s General Manager.
Though he had never shown me the hallmark of a Master, the ‘Color Sword,’ I was certain. There was no way a being exuding such presence could be anything less than a Master.
The man before me was the same.
He hadn’t yet revealed a Color Sword.
But I knew. There was no way I could not know.
This man was, without a doubt, a Sword Master.
My instincts were whispering it to me.
‘Of course… seeing one for the second time doesn’t mean I’m not shocked.’
I stared intently at the man called ‘Heitz.’
Clad in brown leather armor and plain cloth, he was toweringly tall. His unkept white hair fluttered in the wind, but such details didn’t leave much of an impression.
Blue eyes!
A piercing, chilling gaze that seemed to stab into the depths of one’s heart—that was the part that defined him best.
Even a Graduate-level swordsman would likely be unable to meet his gaze directly.
And so, I forced my eyes wide open, staring at Heitz.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence.
Though it lasted only a few seconds, it felt like minutes. The Acanthus members swallowed hard. A tense anticipation, as if something were about to explode, coursed through their bodies.
They already knew.
The strongest of Acanthus had a volatile temperament that even the leader struggled to control.
“Who are you?”
Finally, Heitz spoke.
In that moment, his presence grew even more intense. Feeling as though a biting northern blizzard were sweeping over me, I quickly summoned my Aura.
A chuckle escaped me, unbidden.
I didn’t know why. It just felt like I had to.
With a brief smile, I slowly opened my mouth. Or rather, I tried to.
“Hey, why are you all staring so seriously?”
Konjinyu moved a beat faster than me. Stepping between us with a smiling face, he turned his back to me, locking eyes with Heitz as he continued speaking.
“Weren’t you in secluded training?”
“…I was.”
“Well, it seems you’ve made some progress? You’ve come out much sooner than expected.”
“There were… some results.”
“Excellent! That’s good news. Bad news for that Red Magician, though! With you, Acanthus' greatest asset, growing even stronger, that trash must be quaking in his boots. Haha, shall we all give a round of applause for Heitz’s achievement?”
Wooo!
Clap, clap, clap!
Clap, clap!
Cheers and applause filled the clearing. I wore a puzzled expression. The way they followed Konjinyu’s words, as if entranced, seemed foolish to me.
Heitz was different.
Moments later, words that made the awkward atmosphere even more awkward slipped from his mouth.
“That guy… he’s not a newbie, is he?”
“……”
“He gives off a vibe similar to Zeb, so I wondered. But judging by the leader’s reaction, it doesn’t seem so…”
“No, no, he is a newbie. We just recruited him today, so he’s still a bit awkward. Isn’t that right, Harang?”
Konjinyu turned back, shooting me a wink.
An angle visible only to me, not to Heitz. It was clear he wanted me to play along, but I ignored him and spoke the truth.
“No. As I said before, I have no intention of joining Acanthus.”
“Harang!”
“Sorry, Konjinyu. It’s not that I didn’t catch your signal… I just didn’t want to lie. I don’t even know why I should.”
Pausing to take a breath, I bowed politely and introduced myself.
“Hello. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I’m Harang, a Gold Plate Mercenary of the Eddy Mercenary Corps, operating in the Commercial City Marzen.”
“……”
“While pursuing the Black Hydra, I crossed paths with Ms. Vivian, and somehow ended up here.”
“……”
“Well, that’s about it for my introduction… I’d like to hear your story now, Mr. Heitz?”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
Everyone looked aghast.
To be fair, my words weren’t wrong. If one side introduced themselves, it was only proper for the other to do the same.
But there were always exceptions.
To the Acanthus members, this moment felt like one such exception.
Sure enough, Heitz didn’t introduce himself.
Instead, he turned to Konjinyu and said, “I’ll handle him.”
“Hey, wait! Just hold on and listen to me for a second…!”
“He said it himself, didn’t he? He’s not with Acanthus.”
Whoooosh!
A wind blew. A biting, frigid gale that made the winter weather feel even harsher. Whether Heitz summoned it or not, the atmosphere in the clearing froze in an instant.
No one could speak.
Not Vivian.
Not the Demon Silenos.
Even the ever-jovial Konjinyu, who never lost his composure, was rendered speechless before the overwhelming presence of Acanthus' strongest.
In that state, Heitz continued.
“The location of our hideout has been exposed.”
“……”
“Silenos' identity seems to have been uncovered as well. I’ve only just arrived, so I don’t know what else has happened… but these two reasons alone are sufficient to deal with him.”
“Wait, hold on!”
Woooom!
Konjinyu let out a startled cry.
But it was in vain. From the sword Heitz had already drawn, a pale gray—no, blue—Aura was emanating.
Like eternal snow from the peaks of the northern mountains, his Color Sword exuded a chilling aura.
Everyone who witnessed it was frozen, like insects trapped in an iceberg.
“Idiot.”
Only I, Harang, with an expressionless face, hurled an insult at Heitz.
“…?”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
Everyone except me wore shocked expressions.
And rightly so.
Who was Heitz?
A Master. A being so rare that even in an entire kingdom, one might not exist—a prodigy among prodigies, who reached a sublime realm that even the most talented gave up on due to the wall of ability.
And yet, to spew an insult in the face of such a powerhouse?
It didn’t end there.
I turned my head. Facing a Master approaching with a blue-hued Aura Sword, I dared to look away.
My gaze landed on Zeb, Godok’s fourth-ranked peer.
Meeting the eyes of my old comrade, I spoke again.
“Zeb. Get out of this idiotic place right now.”
“…What did you say?”
“That guy, and these people who can’t even stop his nonsense… they’re no different from the guys in the village.”
“……”
“Am I wrong?”
Yes.
I genuinely believed that.
Killing because someone couldn’t stop crying.
Killing because someone didn’t eat properly.
Killing because someone lacked talent in swordsmanship.
That’s what the village’s managers were like. They didn’t care about the circumstances or thoughts of their peers, simply pouring out their demands one-sidedly.
Heitz was the same.
Imposing his will was the village’s way.
Finding common ground through communication and negotiation was the way of the outside world.
When I viewed the world through these two lenses, Heitz clearly followed the former.
Explaining this much, I looked at Zeb with even fiercer eyes and said,
“Zeb, I’ll say it again. Leave this idiotic place now. Or change it.”
“……”
“If you can’t do either, the next time we meet… we won’t be able to hang out like friends anymore.”
“Are you done talking?”
Wooooom!
No sooner had I finished speaking than a voice as cold as frost burst from Heitz’s mouth.
That wasn’t all. His Blue Sword, roaring with intense resonance, was aimed at me. I turned to face the blade, honed so sharply it seemed it could cleave through space itself.
Swish—
Whoosh!
Woooom!
“Come at me.”
After spinning my sword once and assuming a stance, I muttered provocatively. From my blade, too, an Aura—a perfected Aura Sword—burst forth.
But before Heitz, who had surpassed perfection and armed himself with ‘his own color’ beyond the history of swordsmanship, it felt as frail as a firefly before moonlight.
Everyone could sense it. The impending catastrophe.
Thus, Konjinyu and all the Acanthus members wore grave expressions, and among them, Zeb’s face was particularly dark, reminiscent of times in the village.
But.
“……”
Even so, Zeb couldn’t bring himself to move.
Dash!
Instead, it was I who moved first.
Like a nimble wild animal preparing to pounce, like a predator hunting silently, I charged forward, and Heitz locked eyes with me.
My black hair, so different from his, fluttered in the wind.
My Aura Sword, still an unripe pale gray, stretched toward his heart.
Confirming every move I made as if he could grasp it in his hand, Heitz swung his sword a beat later.
Yet, his blade shot toward me far faster.
It surged toward my neck with unparalleled speed, faster than anything in the world.
Clang!
“…!”
It wasn’t a slice.
Not the sound of metal cutting through flesh, but the ringing of metal clashing against metal.
At this, all the Acanthus members wore shocked expressions, their eyes wide as they began scanning the surroundings.
My figure was nowhere to be seen.
“……”
It wasn’t just them who lost track of me.
Even Heitz, the master of the Blue Sword, maintained his stance, stirring his senses to search the area.
Moments later, a low voice escaped his lips.
“…He’s targeting me in return?”
In a fight between swordsmen, he was confident he could win a thousand, ten thousand times.
But this was a fight between a swordsman and an assassin.
A one-in-a-thousand, one-in-ten-thousand chance of a miracle.
Unable to dismiss that possibility, Heitz’s eyes gleamed with a mix of astonishment and curiosity.