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Chapter 3




SMH 3
Swordmaster Healer – Episode 3
TL: Boko
Editor: Ren
Chapter 1 – In my Previous Life, I was a Swordmaster (2)
“Ugh!”
The worn out blade emitted tremendous amounts of mana. Sung Joon screamed. The mana and the memories proved too much for his brain and blood continuously spilled from his nostrils.
In these foreign memories, an unfamiliar man fought a giant evil dragon.
‘Didn’t I see this in my dream?’
The stranger looked similar to the man from his dream. Everything seemed to stop, except that strange passage of time. Sung Joon focused on the overflowing memories.
The memories weren’t complete and the background changed frequently. The man’s opponents also changed. Despite that, there was one constant.
‘They all died.’
The enormous evil dragon slaughtered tens of thousands of soldiers and swallowed swordsmasters, yet with a single slash of his sword, the stranger cut off its’ wing.
Even an arrogant vampire noble couldn’t withstand a single attack and his head flew from his body. Finally, the stranger turned and looked behind him.
‘Find your true self,’ the man said. Then the frozen time began to flow once more and Sung Joon came back to reality.
“Ugh!”
Sung Joon was engulfed by a brilliant white light.
The sword that once felt heavy now felt as light as a feather. He felt his whole body being filled with mana.
Creak.
However, Sung Joon was unable to adapt to the sudden change and woke to the appearance of Living Armors approaching.
The closest Living Armor challenged Sung Joon with its halberd.
“D-Don’t…”
Sung Joon was seized with fear.
The Living Armors were unfeeling so they didn’t respond to his plea. However, when it stabbed with its halberd, Sung Joon, unbeknownst to himself, raised his sword and gently deflected the halberd.
Was it just luck? It wasn’t.
“I’m sure now of it now,” Sung Joon said. It felt like he had lost control of his body.
He knocked the sword away but the Living Armor was unable to assume a defensive position. Sung Joon seized that opportunity and penetrated its’ thick armor and shred through the armor, destroying the core inside.
It only took three seconds to topple a single Living Armor.
‘Aura?’ Sung Joon questioned.
If he hadn’t used aura, he would’ve been unable to penetrate the thick armor. Plus, aura was an extremely rare ability only a few Combat Hunters could use.
‘I’ve changed.’
Everything’s changed. What’s worse, his voice sounded colder.
”I couldn’t see it,’ Jin Ah thought.
She couldn’t even follow the afterimages because of her low combat ability.
‘A non Combat Hunter, a  C-rank Healer beat a Living Armor? I can’t believe it!’
Living Armors appeared within dungeons of B-rank or higher and were considered a high level monster. Yet, she wasn’t thinking about that right now.
‘Will I survive?’
She cried and felt relieved now that she had hope.
She looked at Sung Joon and said, “P-Please save me!”
Sung Joon looked at Jin Ah. She obviously thought that he would save her, so she smiled.
Although Sung Joon was weak and lived whilst hiding his fangs, it didn’t mean he would abandon someone in danger.
“Shit!”
Sung Joon had previously forgotten about Jin Ah. Although he attempted to save her, his wounds hampered him. In the meantime, the Living Armors raised their weapons.
“Don’t kill me.” Jin Ah cried and pleaded. However, her plea didn’t reach them.
After all, Living Armors were without mercy.
“AH!” she screamed.
The Living Armors continued to stab her with their swords and spears.
“It hurts! IT HURTS! Save… me.”
After experiencing a series of excruciating pain, she died.  However, the Living Armors didn’t let up until her body was torn to pieces.
Without anything else to stab, the Living Armors surrounded Sung Joon.
‘Can I do it again?’
Sung Joon held his breath while the Living Armors edged closer. He had been wondering earlier if his swordsmanship had been a fluke but now he was in a bind.
He didn’t know how to wield the sword. It was like instinct.
‘Live or die!’
He’d die here if he didn’t do anything. In that case, he’d at least put up a fight.
Sung Joon threw himself to the closest Living Armor. The Living Armor stabbed with its sword but Sung Joon instinctually evaded it and got behind the Living Armor.
His sword was covered by a faint aura and he split the Living Armor in two.
“Ha!” he cried. When he exerted himself, his body moved accordingly. The Living Armors’ flurry of sword strikes blurred as if he were in slow motion. Yet, Sung Joon’s sword moved too quick for the eyes to track.
“Ha, ha…”
When he regained consciousness, the Living Armors had become armor scraps that rolled around on the stone floor.
-Verifying assault, measurement complete. A-rank dungeon, clear.
The measuring tool confirmed his clear. While the portable Hunter’s measuring tool carried several functions, it was mostly used to identify items, check the quality of magic stones, or confirm a Dungeon clear, giving a final grade to the Dungeon based on the quality of mana.
“I was right. It was a Hidden Dungeon…”
The measuring tool shouldn’t be wrong. Because the Dungeon Bureau’s evaluation had been wrong and the dungeon’s difficulty was much higher than expected, it had to be a Hidden Dungeon.
As long as the measuring tool confirmed his clear, there would be nothing to worry about. Although he felt relieved and sheathed his sword, his entire body ached.
He had awakened with a crippled body and utilized advanced swordsmanship, so he had reached his limit.
“Argh!” Sung Joon groaned and crumpled. He felt the pain in his torn muscles and rolled on the floor in agony.
“Ugh!”
He wasn’t just afflicted with physical pain, but was plagued by an intense migraine and dizziness from the thousands of unfamiliar memories.
However . . .
‘I was a Healer, right?’
While his healing power might be low, he still qualified as a Healer.
“H-Heal!”
White light wrapped around body and the pain quickly subsided. After a few minutes, he could move again.
“I’m already healed? My wounds must’ve not been that deep.”
His whole body was caked in blood due to his torn muscles and injuries. He thought it had been fatal. Guess not.
Maybe he was just tired.
‘I wanna rest.’
His Heal didn’t treat the stress on his mind, so he needed rest. He moved hurriedly but stopped in front of a corpse.
“Mr. Sang Min.”
Although Sang Min died, he hadn’t been able to die peacefully. Sung Joon closed Sang Min’s eyes wordlessly. He took a white cloth out of his bag and draped it over Sang Min’s body.
Everyone else had turned their backs on Sung Joon, except for Sang Min. Thus, he gave him the respect he deserved.
“The other corpses should be collected by the Dungeon Bureau…”
They hadn’t been close. He didn’t feel like he needed to take care of their bodies.
Soon, the stone gate opened. That was his cue to leave.
However, a sparkling object caught Sung Joon’s eye.
‘A magic stone? Was it left behind by a Living Armor?’
The Dungeon Bureau purchased most magic stones for a high price and they became the primary source of income for Hunters.
‘I can’t let these magic stones go to waste.’
He momentarily hesitated, but Sung Joon soon began gathering the scattered magic stones.
“Dead men tell no tales.”
He felt no qualms hoarding all his party’s magic stones. It might’ve been because Deok Soo had been keeping them.
‘They’re mine now, anyway.’
The dead had no rights to a share of the profits.
When Sung Joon’s bag brimmed with magic stones, he left the dungeon.  A Dungeon Bureau worker on standby waited outside.
“What about the others?”
Sung Joon shook his head.
“So there’s only one survivor…” the employee said. He recorded something on a chart and spoke with an unusually clear voice.
Sung Joon stilled and watched the employee dumbfounded.
The employee clicked his tongue and shook his head. “You must’ve been shocked, but you still have to undergo an investigation.”
Sung Joon nodded. The Dungeon Bureau investigated when they were suspicious of murder.
“When the investigation results are out, you must attend and make a final statement. We will contact you separately.”
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“Thank you,” he roughly replied.
He went home and fell asleep immediately. He awoke to the sound of his phone the next day, in the late afternoon.
He had just slept but he felt strength overflowing from his body. However, his surprise was short-lived. He heard his phone ring continuously and checked the display.