I Obtained Sword God Level Talent

14 – 014. Awakening (3)

Clang!

Heavy. That was his brief thought as he blocked the nameless knight’s sword.

Trying to resolve this through conversation was arrogance. Thanks to the fact that Martis of the Almangs County was more of a savage than he had imagined.

“It’s a fight!”

“Who’s fighting who?”

“Both are outsiders. Look like knights, though?!”

The shantytown residents flocked like a cloud at the sound of steel clashing against steel. They seemed used to life-or-death fights, expressing their enjoyment of the spectacle.

“Attack all at once! There’s no need to uphold the honor of a knight against such a lowlife!”

Did Martis’s cry resonate with the knights?

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fierce sword strikes came one after another. I twisted my body, evading the onslaught, and set my sword path at a distorted angle. It was a judgment I had reached because a few direct attacks had already missed.

シュカッ!

“Ugh!”

A knight finally succumbed to the possessed swordsmanship and took a hit. With a long gash on his arm, the knight retreated a few steps and shouted in a confident tone.

“That one hasn’t mastered mana!”

“Right! He’s just a maggot!”

At a knight’s cry, Martis burst into a fit of laughter.

“Use mana, all of you! You little whelp, you dug your own grave!”

“…….”

Whoom-!

A blue aura gathered on the knights’ swords. Without needing to ask, one could tell it was ‘mana’.

Swishhh!

Five swords imbued with mana swarmed me, claiming their share of the space.

At the same time, the swords’ trajectories, the flow of mana, the forces at play, their strides, applied techniques, breathing, changes in attack, weight, the swords’ return paths, gaps in the space – all of it filled my mind in a chaotic mess.

‘……I see it!’

Between space and space. Having found just one opening, I thrust my sword through it.

Snick!

“Guh-lrrrk!”

One knight’s neck spewed out dark red blood. The goal wasn’t decapitation. Though his head didn’t fall to the ground, gushing blood like a fountain, he staggered for a moment before collapsing.

Thud!

“H-how? Someone who hasn’t mastered mana…!”

The knights, still alive, erupted in shock.

However, unlike the feat I had just shown, I wasn’t in a comfortable situation either. It was my stamina again. I could clearly feel my sword strikes becoming gradually slower.

Swoosh!

“Kuaaack!”

Swish! Clang!

‘Damn it!’

When I severed another knight’s arm once more, I barely managed to block an enemy’s attack. Again, the impact in my grip was far more intense than I expected.

‘Prolonged combat is too dangerous.’

The reason was simple.

It wasn’t just my own stamina, but the fact that the mana the enemies were using was a major threat.

Mana, fucking mana. I, who overwhelms knights with my *ki* technique, never imagined the mere presence or absence of mana would so greatly impact the flow of battle.

“Such a shame, a talent shining like the sun! Don’t bear resentment. This is our job!”

One of the knights in the lead shouted, tinged with pity. Something about it must’ve grated on him, because Martis spat back harshly,

“The end is near! Die! I’ll kill you, Lancelot, and that b*tch of a mother, all in a gruesome way! Isn’t this a fitting punishment for someone who rushes in, not knowing their place?”

“Shut your mouth. You sound pathetic, all talk and no action.”

“Wh-what did you say?!”

*Thud!*

I took a step back, closer to the alley wall, catching my breath.

One knight slain, another severely wounded. And still, three knights remained, radiating a fierce bloodlust.

The situation wasn’t good. I’d shown divine skill, felling two while fighting five alone, but the enemy was still strong. They were, after all, knights who trained with mana, showing a level of skill far beyond that of orcs.

“…Fucking hell.”

*Grip!*

I tightened my hold on my sword. The limit of my stamina had been reached long ago. In contrast, the enemies were relentlessly exploiting their numerical advantage, choosing a tactic of depleting my energy rather than outright killing me.

…If, if only…

*‘Mana, if only I had mana…’*

Would I have been able to secure victory?

“It’s over!”

*Swishhh!*

The lead knight’s sword fell with a sharp edge. I barely dodged the blade, moving it aside in a diagonal direction, and felt a familiar sense of déjà vu.

*‘It’s like a scene from “The Knight’s Song.”’*

Just then, another sword came flying at me. The combined assault, a series of attacks timed to the millisecond, was razor-sharp.

*Shick!*

“Kuh!”

I had no choice but to let the attack land on my shoulder. It hit the same spot I’d injured back at the orc camp.

*Swoosh! Clash!*

I counterattack, slashing my sword in a cross. But the knights skillfully deflected the blow.

*Wham!*

“Gah!”

At the same time, a vicious kick flew at me from my left.

*Thud!*

Crashing to the floor, a mangled mess, I immediately used my sword like a crutch to stand. I couldn’t fall. I couldn’t die like this. Could there be a more pathetic death?

‘A gash on the shoulder and some mild internal bruising.’

Forcing myself upright, a thick, bitter tide of blood surged back up my throat. A kind of injury I hadn’t felt before.

“You worm. Kill yourself right now. That will be your penance!”

“Shut your yap, you Maltese.”

“I’m not a Maltese, I’m a Martis! You imbecile!”

Had I touched a nerve? Martis glared at me, his face a mask of pure rage.

“There will be no more mercy! Kill him!”

*Shhheeeeee*!

The swords of the Almans knights moved like living snakes. They weren’t confident they could kill me with a single blow, so they all went for my arms, thighs, shoulders, and the like.

‘If only I had mana.’

In the midst of the fierce and desperate back-and-forth, the thought returned to me again.

‘I could’ve cut them down.’

*Whoosh!*

At the same moment, something astounding happened. Even with the swords aimed to kill inches from my face, my vision went hazy. The change happened in a matter of seconds.

It was like an expansion of deja vu, as if I’d experienced this before. A low and chilling voice echoed in my ears, creating the illusion of a thunderclap.

‘Mana isn’t some energy you accumulate within yourself.’

*Thud!* *Thud!*

Rain began to fall. The raindrops that landed on my nose carried the voice.

‘Mana, embraces you.’

That’s right.

I had no mana cultivation method. In this place where mana cultivation methods like mana arts, blood arts, and pupil arts were so prevalent, mastering any random one would spell utter disaster. A shortcut towards becoming a hopeless ‘misfit’ in the true sense of the word.

But… Why?

In that short moment, I understood something profound. Mana, mana is… not something I grasp. Mana exists everywhere in the world in the first place.

‘It’s not about amassing mana in your dantian… I become, a world that embraces mana.’

The basis was weak, yet I understood it in my head. Mana wasn’t meant to be used in such a way. Mana, such was its nature. It was an unknown power that could neither be seized nor bound in the first place.

—

[Trait: Sword Saint]

[Trait: Genius]

[Trait: Tyrant]

[Trait: Great Nature]

[Trait: Dark Moon]

[Trait: Divinity]

[Trait: Sharpness]

[Trait: Cold-Blooded]

[Trait: Composure]

[Trait: Fighting Spirit]

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.

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.

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[Trait: Mana Sensitivity]

* * *

*PHWA-aaaK!*

“Wh-what the fuck!”

“……What in the hell is this?”

A magnificent fountain of blood gushed from Frey’s mouth.

And that wasn’t all.

Not only from Frey’s mouth, but blood was streaming down from his eyes, ears, and nose as well.

“What…what’s going on right now?”

The knights, considering the possibility that he’d released poison in a split second, hastily retrieved their swords. They stepped back several paces, watching the situation unfold.

This was a man who had overwhelmed them with pure swordsmanship. There was no way he’d be bleeding from every orifice with just one kick!

*Tzzzt! Tzzzt!*

“……?”

It was then that a faint static noise echoed through the training arena.

*ZIIIIIING——!*

“……Ha, ha ha!”

“Ehehehehehehe!”

The knights who had been clashing swords with Frey suddenly burst into uproarious laughter. They knew full well what that meant.

Mana. And the sound of a sword overlaid with mana, howling. The perfectly formed mana was screaming, as if it would burst forth at any moment.

“Sword aura, it’s sword aura!”

“Sword aura is injuring people…”

They call one who embodies mana a 1st tier. A 2nd tier is one who loads mana into a weapon, and a 3rd tier is one who can release that mana.

Then, if that’s the case, what level is that man showing right now?

“Just a moment ago, he was said to have no mana, and now he’s manipulating sword aura.”

It was something that far exceeded common sense.

The knights’ beards were trembling.

“A legend, a myth… is being rewritten. Right here, a new sun rises.”

“What, what are you doing? You lot! Kill that b*stard now! It’s your chance!”

The knights cleanly ignored Martis’s voice, roaring from behind. And, like warriors embarking on a most sacred battle, they gripped their swords tighter and opened their mouths.

“Come! Nameless swordsman! We are the Knights of Luten!”

*Tzzzt!* *Pzzzt!*

The swirling black mana writhes like a dragon.

*Clack!*

[ Frey raised his sword. And he gathered the mana he had stirred. From Frey’s wounded sword, dazzling mana burst forth. The people around doubted their eyes. Sword aura, it’s sword aura! But it was different from ordinary sword aura. The sword aura Frey drew out, as if proving the enlightenment he’d experienced, was a jet-black light.]

“…This is.”

Frey’s eyes, their focus gone, opened his mouth slowly.

*Swooosh!*

As if the sky was responding to him, heavy rain poured down. The rain, falling in the slum with its dilapidated drainage system, began to wrap around the ankles of everyone present.

“My song.”

*Tzzzt,* *Tzzzt!* *Kwwaaah!*

Energy that had exceeded its limits tore through space and shot forward.

Frey’s enemies, the knights, smiled and raised their swords. And they gladly crashed against the tidal wave of the sword.

…It was mutual.