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Chapter 248
In this bright world, this white world where only light seemed to exist, stood a woman with golden hair. Her name was Isabel.
‘Isabel.’
She wasn’t a sword. She looked human.
‘Oh my God.’
He shook his head. This was a sword. An artifact. Not a person. But why was his heart thumping so hard? The moment he saw her, his heart started to race.
He heard Isabel’s voice.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“...”
“Answer me!”
Isabel raised her voice. Only then did Hyukjin lurch back to his senses.
“Ah. Ah… sorry.”
“Repeat after me. Isabel is a sword.”
“...”
“Hurry.”
“Isabel is a sword.”
“She’s not good at stuff like magic.”
“She’s not good at stuff like magic.”
“She’s also not good at stuff like beating.”
“She’s also not good at stuff like beating.”
“She’s a person who walks the dignified and graceful path of swordsmanship.”
“She’s a per—” Hyukjin stared at Isabel. “Person?”
Not a sword?
“I’m a person right now.” Her face reddened a little. “Though I haven’t been able to take my full form yet.”
She didn’t have a complete human form. She was only human from the neck up; the rest of her was enveloped in light.
“It’s because you still have a ways to grow,” she added.
“If I reach my full growth, will you be able to achieve your full form?”
“Yeah. When that happens, I’ll be able to protect you by your side. With my true appearance.”
Isabel’s words echoed in his ears.
‘If I grow…’
He wanted to grow. For Sunhwa. And for the happiness he was enjoying now. To fulfill his desire to grow stronger itself. And finally, to allow Isabel to manifest her complete form.
“Husband.”
“What?”
“Um…”
He couldn’t see Isabel’s body. But Hyukjin could somehow feel that she was twisting and squirming in place a little. She wasn’t actually doing that, but Eye of Perception captured Isabel’s emotions.
“You’re not disappointed?”
“About what?”
“You always told me I’m pretty.”
He did. He did it offhandedly to appease Isabel, an item. They were empty words of praise to humor and coax an item.
“…”
Now that her real face was in front of him, the words, “You’re pretty,” stuck in his throat like taffy. She was truly pretty, more beautiful than anyone in the world. At least in Hyukjin’s eyes, she was prettier than Senia.
“It’s fine. Tch. Why’d I bother asking about something so pointless?” Isabel grumbled to herself. “I’m Isabel. Isabel.”
“...”
“Whatever. It’s not important whether I’m pretty or not in your eyes. It doesn’t change that there’s a sacred contract between us, a Sword’s Pact.”
“...”
“And well, what would you do if I wasn’t pretty, anyway?” Isabel recovered her confidence. “I’m Isabel.”
Hyukjin read one flow from Isabel, a powerful stream of mana. Even the light wreathing her body was mana he couldn’t comprehend.
“What’s the mana around your body?”
“This?” Isabel frowned a little. “You don’t need to know. It’s nothing.”
It didn’t seem like nothing to him, but Hyukjin just let it go.
“Husband. I’m going to go back to looking like a sword. I was able to manifest for a moment thanks to you absorbing the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique, but you’ve still got a long way to go.”
“...”
Hyukjin’s heart sank with sincere regret. He wanted to see Isabel a little longer. That was how he truly felt.
“Call me when you’re in a really dangerous spot. Your Willpower stat is pretty decent right now, and you should be able to use me, to some extent.”
He didn’t really like the word “use”, but he quickly nodded.
“Got it.”
“You know I’ll be by your side even though I’ll be going back to being a sword, right?” Isabel shot him a glare. “The Arrow-Shooting Cupid. That piece of trash gave Senia a mission.”
In front of him was an artifact that dared to call a Guardian a piece of trash. He already knew she was different, but it was more shocking to hear the words spoken aloud.
“She’s too pretty. Keep some distance.”
“...”
“Where’s my answer?”
In the end, Hyukjin decided to be honest.
“It’s just…” His heart beat painfully against his chest. “She’s not pretty to me.”
“How’s a girl like her not pretty? Even I think she’s pretty.”
Hyukjin cracked a grin. He asked a question.
“Isabel.”
“What?”
“Your abilities will be unsealed as I grow, right?”
“Right. I’ll grow as you do, husband.”
“Your current form, what level is it now?”
Isabel thought for a moment. “The level of a preschool child.”
From that, Hyukjin realized something. The fact she was so easy to appease, that she was a little childish, was all because he hadn’t been able to bring out her full form yet.
‘Because I’m weak, Isabel can’t show me her true appearance. The same goes for her mind.’
He was sure of it.
‘If I become stronger…’
Isabel would, little by little, assume her original appearance and personality.
“Let me ask one more thing.”
“Okay. But there’s not much time. Ask me quickly.”
“What’s the relationship between you and the Queen of the Sword Forest, Isabel?”
“-------.”
Isabel answered him, but Hyukjin couldn’t hear it.
‘It’s information I’m not currently allowed to know.’
It didn’t matter. He got to meet Isabel. For Hyukjin, that alone was a big gain.
“Don’t you dare cheat on me. I’ll be watching with my eyes peeled.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks to the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique, I’ll be able to stay awake for longer. Keep that in mind.”
“Got it.”
He had no intention of cheating anyway. The moment he saw Isabel for the first time, he fell for her, head first.
“You answered so fast that I’m a little suspicious now.”
“You don’t have to be suspicious. I mean it,” Hyukjin said. “When you return to being a sword, you’ll be able to read my mind.”
“That’s true.”
“You can read my mind as much as you want.”
It occurred to him that it was better to express his feelings with his mind than to do so with words. You’re super pretty. You’re beautiful. As soon as I saw you, it was love at first sight. Reading his mind would be way more concise and easier to understand than hearing such cringe.
“Ah, right. You really have to keep this in mind: I’m not a magician. You know that, right?”
Contrary to her words, the mana storm enveloping Isabel right now was screaming, “I’M AN ARCHMAGE!” He also recalled what Elder Bufafa said.
Heavenly talent, accursed.
The esteemed one is engraved with a stigma so deep that I cannot fathom its depths with my skill.
Hyukjin nodded.
“Got it.”
With that, the bright world began to fade. He heard a faint voice.
“Oh, almost forgot. An innate authority of mine was unlocked.”
He returned to the real world.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Lei
Proofreader - Ash
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* * *
“...kay?”
The voice sounded far away.
“Are you okay?!”
It was Choi Sung-gu.
“Are you okay, man?!”
Hyukjin answered, “Yeah, I’m okay.”
He slowly sat up.
“Fuck! You scared me! Why’d you go and black out all of a sudden?!”
Still on the ground, Hyukjin stared at Sung-gu and found big tears welled up in the man’s eyes. There were also streaks of tears down his cheeks, now smudged with dust.
“What? Did you cry?”
And it wasn’t just a little—Sung-gu’s face was a mess of tears.
“Who cried? I’m the Jayangdong Fire Master.”
“Wipe off your snot.”
It was evident that tears and snot had been running down the fire magician’s face.
“Fuck. Why’d your heart stop?”
“My heart stopped?”
“Yeah. It stopped for quite a while, you son of a bitch.”
He understood now why Sung-gu had been so alarmed.
‘My heart… stopped?’
What was that all about? Hyukjin put a hand to his chest.
Thump. Thump.
His heartbeat was exceedingly stable.
“I’m fine now. Don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t worrying about you, you jerk!” Sung-gu hid his tearful face in the crook of his elbow, then proceeded to provide an unasked-for explanation. “I just got something in my eye. And it wasn’t that I was worrying about you or anything, but that I was worrying about how to get out of here.”
Choi Sung-gu looked around. They were still inside the Centipede Cave. Though they had successfully killed the boss monster, the Black Pearl Centipede, they hadn’t been able to leave the gate yet, irrefutable proof that there was still an unfulfilled clear condition. In cases like this, you normally looked for the ‘Clear Crystal’.
“This whole area is blocked off.”
The Black Pearl Centipede’s corpse was gone. All the exits leading out were blocked, leaving no path out. There was also no Clear Crystal to be seen.
“I don’t see a Clear Crystal anywhere. What do we do, friend?”
“Hm.”
Hyukjin got up.
“This is a place made for getting the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique.”
Meaning, it wasn’t an ordinary place. Thankfully, he now had the Divine Sword Physique trait.
“So ultimately, I think we’re supposed to do something using the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique.”
Hyukjin walked around the circular chamber, checking each of the exits that were blocked off by boulders.
“We need to get out of here. The Clear Crystal isn’t here.”
“How do we do that?”
“By cutting our way out. Through the wall.”
“The wall? How?”
Hyukjin took out Isabel, grasping her hilt. Something felt different this time. Though he had held the sword many times before, the feeling in his hand was different. His mindset towards Isabel had changed as well. Now, she was no longer just a whiny artifact, but someone he had to restore and nurture by all means.
With Isabel in his hand, Hyukjin walked forward.
‘I will become stronger.’
“Hey, what’re you trying to do?” asked Sung-gu. “How’re you gonna cut the—”
Sung-gu shut his mouth mid-sentence.
‘Something about him… has changed.’
Hyukjin had gone unconscious and his heart had stopped. Choi Sung-gu didn’t know what, but something had definitely happened during that time.
‘The way he looks when he’s walking…’
How should he describe it?
‘A sword?’
It looked as if Hyukjin himself had become a sword, as if a sword was walking forward. Sung-gu rubbed his eyes.
‘What’s going on?’
Kim Hyukjin was Kim Hyukjin, not a sword. Sung-gu already knew about the realm of being ‘one with the sword’. Shin Yeonseo had reached that stage, and Hyukjin had shown it to him before as well. But what Sung-gu was seeing now wasn’t just that.
‘It feels different from the one with the sword realm.’
He couldn’t put it into words, but something had certainly changed.
‘Come to think of it, it feels similar when he uses the bow.’
When Hyukjin attacked the commander in the Immortal Fleet Gate, Sung-gu had been too shocked and bewildered to see things clearly. But he’d gotten a similar feeling then as well. Back then, Hyukjin looked like a giant bow.
It came to Sung-gu in a flash of understanding.
‘He’s completely absorbed the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique.’
The Tome of the Divine Bow Physique, and the Tome of the Divine Sword Physique. He had perfectly absorbed both ‘divine tomes’.
Kim Hyukjin stopped in front of the blocked-off wall.
“Anything I can do to help?” asked Sung-gu loudly.
“No.”
“Got it. I’ll just squat here.”
Sung-gu decided to stay out of the way and watch carefully. Hyukjin had gained a serendipitous chance just moments ago. He wanted to see with his two eyes just how much that serendipitous chance had boosted this already crazy monster. Sung-gu’s heartbeat quickened a little.
‘Let’s see just how much you’ve jumped up in those few moments.’
Seeing Hyukjin’s growth always sent a thrill down Sung-gu’s spine. A sense of longing towards the strong, and the burning desire to chase them, were qualities possessed by every Ranker fundamentally. Choi Sung-gu was the same.
‘There are no enemies, and he’s probably being recorded right now.’
That meant Hyukjin would show his most flashy and powerful technique. He would give the Guardians a spectacle they’d go wild for.
‘What will he show us?’
In that cave, Choi Sung-gu was able to witness Kim Hyukjin’s new ability.
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