novelraw Chapter 203 : Chapter 203
Chapter 203 : Chapter 203
Chapter 203. The Sword Saint
Robern had appeared.
It was the Robern from decades ago, in the very form that had overwhelmed the world.
In this battlefield, there was practically no one who remembered his face from his youth.
However, one person, Evan, recognized him immediately.
Furthermore, everyone gathered on the battlefield, though they could not explain it with words, realized intuitively that he was Robern.
“What kind of presence does a person have…”
Even Ron, who had lived his entire life without knowing the word ‘fear,’ instinctively tensed up and gripped his spear.
“Solaid army, listen… Do not move ahead of me under any circumstances. No, you must not go near him!”
Even Harashin, who had successively defeated formidable enemies including Varkanon, felt the hair on his entire body stand on end.
At that moment, as everyone was wary of Robern, the question that crossed Evan’s mind was this.
‘Tarkin, you son of a bitch… What on earth have you done?’
Only Evan faced the reality before him without fear.
The Robern reflected in his eyes was undoubtedly the Robern from the time he was called the Sword Saint, just before his death.
It was not just his appearance.
Even the heavy killing intent flowing from the tip of his sword was the same as back then.
‘I have no idea what kind of trickery was used. But what I’m seeing with my own eyes right now is Robern himself.’
From the first time he heard of the existence of the man in the iron mask, Evan had guessed that it was Robern.
If there was someone who could cut down one of the Seven Stars of that era with a single blow, there was no one else who could explain it.
But he had thought that Robern would naturally be in an aged state, but that expectation was completely wrong.
—Seureung.
The moment the sword was drawn, the energy that enveloped him completely vanished.
…
A suffocating silence.
He had only drawn his sword, yet all existing currents and pressures disappeared.
There were not many who could understand the meaning of this.
Only Evan, Ron, and Harashin, just three people.
‘Even his skill in gathering his Qi is completely unshaken… This is crazy.’
The person in front of him now.
He was not simply a formidable enemy but one who had overwhelmed the strong men of his time with a single sword.
And now, that very man was raising his sword before him.
“…”
His blue eyes, devoid of any emotion, turned towards Ron, who was standing in front of Raven’s corpse.
And Robern, as if scattered by the wind, casually swung his sword once.
A wind that seemed as if it could not even brush past a single blade of grass.
However, it was a blade invisible to the eye, becoming something formless and extending forward.
—Hwiik.
Ron instinctively sensed a chilling threat and raised his trident.
“Don’t block it, dodge it!!!”
At Evan’s urgent shout, Ron reflexively withdrew his spear and rolled to the side.
By a hair’s breadth, the formless blade grazed the tip of his trident.
—Syuk!
It extended all the way to the Benked Castle wall behind him and cleanly cut through the stone wall as if it were paper.
And the tip of the trident Ron was holding was also cut off.
“!”
The trident that First Sword Raven had struck with all his might dozens of times without leaving a single scratch.
That trident was now cut by a single light breeze.
“Evan! What the hell is that guy?!”
Ron could not hide his astonishment, but Evan replied calmly.
“Be careful. That is the formless sword. If it comes flying again, don't even think about blocking it.”
“Formless sword? You mean sword aura?”
“No. Sword aura is just a mass of emitted Qi. But that is different. It is the ‘sword’ itself, forged for decades, that has extended.”
“Is that… possible?”
“Otherwise, could he cut your trident so easily?”
Experiencing it once is better than a hundred words.
Seeing his severed trident, Ron could not deny that the man before him was a more terrifying existence than any enemy he had ever faced.
“This… I might actually die.”
“That won't…”
Evan was about to say that but closed his lips.
He himself had to be prepared to die to barely face the decisive battle.
But he could not pass on that fear and despair to Ron.
“…I will make sure it doesn’t happen.”
At Evan’s resolute voice, Ron gritted his teeth.
“So what’s the plan this time? With our joint attack…”
“No. I’ll face this guy alone.”
“What? Do you think that makes sense right now? This is a situation where even one more person needs to lend their strength!”
“The opponent is someone who has easily cut down even those who have built up coordination for decades. A clumsy joint attack will only be a burden. I’m better off alone.”
Ron was dumbfounded.
To think that Evan would step up to face the strongest, no, the worst enemy alone.
“You could die.”
“I know. But… I’ll at least cut off an arm or a leg. Then you can win, right?”
Evan did not offer false comfort or delusional fantasies of victory.
He did not even say that he would win.
That simple answer instead shook Ron’s heart.
“…You’re serious. About facing him alone.”
“…”
Silence was his answer.
And Ron no longer argued with Evan’s decision.
“Alright. But you’re not just telling me to hide behind you, are you? Tell me. What should I do?”
“Join forces with Harashin and clear the battlefield. I can't leave even a single small variable when I’m facing him.”
“Got it.”
“And go to the mages of Remshait and…”
Evan lowered his voice and whispered a very important plan to Ron.
When he finished, Ron frowned with a puzzled expression.
“It’s possible, but will it really be helpful?”
“Of course. It means I’m creating a variable on my side, so you have to do it no matter what.”
“Hmm… Alright. I’ll make those mage bastards do it even if I have to twist their necks.”
“Thanks.”
At Evan’s thanks, Ron silently patted his back once and then retreated to the rear.
“Huu…”
Now, only Evan and Robern remained in this vicinity.
‘Robern… He is so thorough that he cannot be broken through no matter what I do. Even I can't see an answer right now.’
If First Sword Raven was a rough tributary, Robern was like the main stream of a river that overflowed and swept everything away.
A gap as wide as heaven and earth.
In front of that, a clumsy scheme would only be poison.
‘Let’s leave it to instinct. All the battles I’ve experienced, the experience I’ve accumulated on the numerous thresholds of death, that is my weapon.’
Evan, who picked up a sword lying around on the ground.
He gathered his breath and let his Qi flow through every corner of his body.
Robern looked down at the young warrior before him, still unshaken.
He lightly swung his sword twice, and two streams of formless sword cut through the wind.
‘Now!’
Evan threw his body and dodged the formless sword by a hair's breadth.
The breeze grazed his skin, but he paid it no mind.
He closed the distance to Robern in an instant.
—Tat!
Nevertheless, Robern did not dodge.
He did not step back or move aside, but rather slowly walked forward.
The meaning of that attitude was this.
—I will never be pushed back by anyone.
Realizing this, Evan’s gaze became even sharper.
‘Good. Today, in this place, I will surely surpass you. And I will cut off the Emperor’s head!’
Arrogance and desperation, the wills of two extremes collided.
—Kang!
The first blow.
The moment the swords met, a vibration so strong that Evan’s wrist tingled and ached.
At the same time, cracks began to appear on the sword as well.
‘This sword was not ordinary steel. A head-on confrontation with Robern is indeed dangerous.’
Robern was not the type to crush his opponents with overwhelming brute force like Varkanon or Ron.
Nevertheless, there were countless cases where he had ended an opponent’s life with a single blow.
That was because the state he had reached, was the pinnacle of ending everything with a single sword.
‘But the me now is different!’
Not the cursed body of his past life, but a body that held the blessing of the wolf god.
It was a body that could properly exert the power of a Sword Master.
Evan shook off his fear and unleashed his own unique swordsmanship, a collection of the strengths of the numerous powerful individuals he had faced.
—Kakakakang!
A surging wave of attacks.
But Robern did not even flinch.
His sword moved as freely as a blade of grass swaying in the wind, deflecting Evan’s attacks.
Robern’s sword sometimes looked precarious, as if hanging from his fingertips, but it never left his grasp.
Rather, if Evan’s sword path loosened even for a moment, Robern would grip his sword and launch a counterattack.
—Kagak!
“Ugh!”
Each and every one of these small openings was fatal.
Evan barely dodged his vitals, but his side and shoulder were successively cut.
It was only thanks to the armor of the war god that Harashin had entrusted to him that he was not deeply cut.
‘But the impact is transmitted directly… If this drags on, I will be the first to fall.’
What the war god’s armor blocked was only the wound; his stamina and Qi were still being consumed.
It was as clear as day that he would be pushed back the longer it went on.
So Evan made a decision.
There is no turning back.
The opportunity is only now.
—Kakakakak!
His sword poured out like a storm.
Dozens of illusions scattered before his eyes, and every single blow was a persistent rush aimed only at Robern’s vitals.
“…”
Robern stepped back and parried Evan’s storm-like assault with his sword.
For him to be pushed into defense for so long was a first in his entire life.
Then, suddenly, Robern held his sword in a reverse grip.
‘What is this?’
Evan, seeing a posture he had never seen before, felt a fear welling up from the depths of his heart.
It was because an unknown swordsmanship that he did not know was unfolding.
‘I have to dodge!’
There was no time to think further in his head.
His body reacted on its own, blocking with his sword laid flat as he retreated.
In that instant, Robern lowered his waist, ducked under, and swung upwards.
‘If he’s going to get under and swing up, I’ve blocked it.’
Evan received the upward blow with his flattened sword.
—Kang!
But at that moment, Robern let go of his sword.
The sword spun outwards once, and then he grabbed it properly again and brought it straight down.
—Pakang!
Evan’s sword shattered into pieces.
At the same time.
—Jjeojeok!
The war god’s armor cracked, and Evan’s torso was vertically slashed.
Red blood burst out from between the cracks of the armor.
Robern, who had always insisted on the orthodox, had even used the trickery he despised most to exploit a weakness.
As the attack succeeded, Evan, bleeding, staggered and then burst into a smirk.
“I really… can't beat you with a sword.”
He muttered, letting his broken sword hang limply.
“I admit it. You’re the best with a sword, you damn bastard.”
He realized that Robern was not just a person who insisted on a single path, but one who walked all possible paths with a sword.
He was a ‘Sword Saint’ in the true sense of the word.
—Tatat!
Robern himself did not care at all.
He was nothing more than a shell from the beginning, and he charged forward with the sole intention of cutting down the enemy before him.
Then, sensing a strange energy, he suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.
“What amazing timing.”
A giant and complex magic circle filled the sky.
It was a chain magic cast simultaneously by the mages of Remshait.
And it was also the plan that Evan had conveyed through Ron.
“Robern, no. Should I say Robern’s shell? Anyway, you just missed the opportunity of a lifetime.”
As the giant magic circle activated, countless weapons rained down from the sky like rain.
—Pupupupuk!
Swords, spears, axes, flails… Endless weapons stuck into the ground, piling up like mountains.
Evan pulled out a spear from among them and aimed it at Robern.
“I lost with the sword. So from now on, I will bet everything I have and face you.”
At that moment, the flow of the battlefield changed.
“Come, O Sword Saint.”
The one who freely wields all weapons, not just the sword.
The time of Weapon Master Evan Lafard had arrived.