I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game-Chapter 281: Ma Count (2)

As soon as I explained that the Magesu was beneath our feet, the Sword Sovereign’s collar puffed up.

She assumed a stance with her sword, likely planning to cleave the ground apart.

"Sword Sovereign," I called out.

She turned her head sharply towards me.

"What is it? Are you going to try and stop me?"

"No, just hold out as long as you can. You shouldn’t attack. You’ll need to endure as much as possible."

Even with this unusual request to take the hits, the Sword Sovereign nodded calmly.

"Simple enough. I’ll trust you."

'She trusts my words more than I expected.'

As the Sword Sovereign drew her sword and infused it with mana, she struck the ground with immense force.

BOOOM —!!

The earth shattered with a thunderous roar, shaking the heavens and earth.

'...Is the Sword Sovereign unaffected by mana absorption?'

No, that can’t be it. Even if she’s affected, this is her level. I could finally understand why Rina spoke so highly of her.

'But, considering all that, I didn’t receive any proper training from the Sword Sovereign...'

She had only locked me in darkness and starved me. Though I had to move past it quickly due to the urgency of ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Alice’s situation, this was something to address after everything was over. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

Lee Yu-ri, who had been staring with a dumbfounded expression, suddenly snapped her head around.

"...Isn’t that a problem? Her granddaughter is captured, right? What if she gets hurt in all this?"

"..."

Honestly, I didn’t have much of an answer. I could only offer a weak justification.

"Well, the Magesu tends to preserve people it captures. She should be okay."

"Are you really hoping for protection from a demon?"

Well, considering she grew up in a place like this, she should be pretty resilient.

"Disciple, what do you need me to do?"

At that moment, my teacher turned to me and asked.

I looked at her for a moment before opening the spatial tattoo.

With a soft flutter, I pulled out a set of pure white armor.

《Guardian Armor of Verdant Growth》

[ For Swordsmen ], [ For Women ], [ Ice Attribute ]

It was an item with restrictions. I originally brought this gear intending to give it to Alice.

'But the true owner is right beside me.'

Although it was initially meant for Alice, I didn’t feel any regret. After all, Baek Seol-hee was my teacher.

It made perfect sense to give it to someone who had taught me, cared for me, and saved me, rather than someone I had just met.

"Teacher, here you go."

"...D-disciple? What is this...?"

My teacher seemed flustered as I handed her the armor.

"It’s a gift."

"A... gift."

She looked back and forth between the armor and me, biting her lip before her expression grew serious.

"I’m sorry, Disciple. I can’t accept your gift. I’ve committed too great a sin against you..."

I already knew why she was burdened with guilt. The Sword Sovereign had explained it to me separately when I was rescued from the pit.

'There’s really nothing to worry about. It’s not even dangerous anymore.'

After all, I could now see the paths of life and death.

But I knew that simply telling her this wouldn’t ease her conscience. I had something else in mind to address that.

"Teacher, you saved my life. Please accept it."

"But... I taught you a sword technique I shouldn’t have..."

"We can talk about that later. Just accept this for now. It’s also necessary for the plan."

"The... plan?"

"Yes."

Aside from Baek Seol-hee,

Lee Yu-ri, Kang Do-hee, and I descended into the massive cavern below the Taebaek Mountain that the Sword Sovereign had opened up.

"...I can’t believe a place like this exists," Lee Yu-ri said, her voice echoing as she looked around.

"I feel like my strength is slowly draining away," Kang Do-hee remarked in her usual stiff tone.

It was a familiar sensation for me as well. I had already experienced this before. Thankfully, this place was connected to the outside; if it were a sealed space like the pit, we’d have been completely drained of strength.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the distance, we could hear the reverberating sounds of immense impacts, and dust fell from the ceiling.

"Grandmother—!"

"Malsook—!"

Alice and the Sword Sovereign were desperately calling out to each other.

'Leaving consciousness intact and forcing them to fight... Definitely a trait of the Magesu.'

Soon, the Magesu’s form was revealed.

"Hmph."

"Ugh..."

Even Lee Yu-ri and Kang Do-hee, who had wrestled with all sorts of monsters, were visibly disturbed by its grotesque appearance.

"Hehehehehehe—"

Its twisted, bulging form had tendrils that extended like tentacles, each resembling either branches or blood vessels, stretching in all directions. At the end of these thorny branches, human heads hung like fruits, all with twisted, gleeful expressions, staring intently at a single spot.

"How amusing. Truly amusing..."

Yes, it was one of the final bosses from the game. The Demon Commander, Magesu.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

In front of the Magesu, Alice, teary-eyed, was exchanging blows with the Sword Sovereign.

No, it wasn’t an exchange of blows.

"Grandmother, m-my body feels strange! I don’t want to attack you—!"

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Controlled by the Magesu, Alice swung her sword wildly, and the Sword Sovereign took the hits.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Magesu’s branches lashed out, and the Sword Sovereign took the hits. Her body was helplessly tossed around the cavern.

If the Sword Sovereign even slightly shifted her focus to the Magesu or attempted to block an attack, Alice, with veins bulging blue all over her body, would let out a pained cry.

"Kuh!"

"M-Malsook—!"

The Sword Sovereign could do nothing but bite her lip and endure the onslaught, letting herself be hit again and again.

Slowly, the Sword Sovereign’s robe became stained with crimson blood.

It was exactly as I had anticipated.

My party and I watched in silence, taking in the scene.

"Take a good look. These are the kinds of enemies we’ll have to face later," I said.

Beside me, Lee Yu-ri trembled and turned her head towards me.

"Jin Yoo-ha... Are you sure we shouldn’t step in?"

I shook my head.

"No."

No matter what, this was an enemy from the final stage. If we faced it head-on with its power to drain mana and stamina, we could all become hostages.

Only someone like the Sword Sovereign could hold her ground against it...

"Indeed, if we were in perfect condition, we might stand a chance, but... in this state, it’s impossible," Kang Do-hee commented in a cold voice.

'Wait... If we were in perfect condition?'

Even though this was an enemy from the final stage, Kang Do-hee thought we could take it on if we were in top shape?

Feeling puzzled by Kang Do-hee’s reaction, I continued to observe the Magesu.

"Huh?"

Soon, I couldn’t help but let out a confused sound.

Indeed, the tree branches flying at us and the dark energy they emitted were fearsome...

I tilted my head in thought.

'Why does it feel like we could actually manage this?'

Of course, that doesn’t mean we could take it down without getting hurt. I ran a mental simulation in my head.

If our Utopia party was at full strength, and we prepared countermeasures against its mana absorption like in the original game...

'...We could really do this, couldn’t we?'

Could it be that the Magesu was weaker because this isn’t the final stage?

I thought about it carefully, but that didn’t seem to be the case either.

The way it extended its branches towards the Sword Sovereign was exactly as I had seen in the game.

"..."

Something, something was causing a cognitive dissonance in my mind. Here I was, thinking that this final boss seemed more manageable than I had expected at this stage.

It was strange, especially given how many times I had to retry against this enemy in the game, and how unfair it had felt.

'Now that I think about it, even the Shin Ga episode was much easier than I expected...'

Originally, I would have had to defeat Shin Ga’s royal guards alongside her, but I had handled them alone to secure them for my party. I had even faced Sasha Pong’s father, a mid-boss, by myself.

Now that I could see the paths of life and death, it seemed like an insane feat.

'I practically cleared those episode bosses with just one character.'

In the original game, each boss was supposed to be taken down by a squad of six.

All that training to catch up in a world without gacha systems—had it actually paid off?

Could it be that I, and our Utopia party, had really become that strong?

"Jin Yoo-ha."

Lee Yu-ri snapped me out of my thoughts by grabbing my hand.

"Huh?"

"We still have a job to do, don’t we?"

"...Oh, right."

I nodded slowly. Yeah, this wasn’t the time to be lost in thought.

"Here, I’m going to distribute these mana stones to each of you. Make sure you place them around without getting hit by those branches. The Magesu detects enemies through its branches, so as long as we stay out of their reach, its field of vision is quite limited."

I handed out the top-grade mana stones I had brought to Lee Yu-ri and Kang Do-hee.

As I did, I kept thinking about the Magesu.

'...Once we get back, I’ll need to test this out.'

I needed to verify how far our party had progressed by Velvetra’s standards.