The Mad Swordsman of the Shadow World
Chapter 57
Whoosh!
The first thing Theron saw when he emerged from the tunnel was the guide lying on the ground.
Blood was dripping from his left arm.
He was injured.
And standing in front of him...
THUD.
An enormous shadow took a step, making the ground tremble.
An Orc?
No.
Its size was wrong.
It was at least two heads taller than an ordinary Orc.
It easily stood over two meters tall, and its arms were as thick as logs. In its hands was a stone axe almost as large as a small child.
Thick veins bulged and writhed like worms beneath its gray skin.
A Giant Orc.
This was the predator the guide had mentioned, the creature that had driven the wolves down from the higher parts of the mountain.
"Ghk... R-Run!"
The guide shouted through the pain of his wound.
"This thing... isn't something you can handle!"
"Grrrr..."
The Giant Orc's yellow eyes slowly turned toward Theron.
They were the eyes of a predator that had just discovered new prey.
The creature raised its stone axe and turned its enormous body.
The guide looked at Theron in alarm.
"Hoooo..."
Theron released a quiet breath and began circulating his mana.
He could not afford to fight for long here.
In that case...
Whoooo.
A faint haze rose from the blade of the longsword in his hand.
The haze gradually took shape, forming a thin layer around the weapon.
Aura.
It was a power that Theron could not maintain for long with his still-immature body.
But he was only facing a single enemy.
There was no need to maintain it for long.
The moment his Aura manifested...
"...Huh?"
The guide's eyes widened.
He was merely a guide working on the outskirts of the kingdom, but he knew exactly what that power was.
Rustle.
Theron lowered his body.
Wandering Wind.
His figure glided just above the ground and slipped into the Giant Orc's reach in an instant.
"Grr?"
The human standing in front of it had suddenly disappeared.
By the time the creature spotted him again...
"GRRAH!"
The Giant Orc hurriedly raised its stone axe.
But...
SLASH!
A sword strike that seemed capable of swallowing even light passed through its neck.
"..."
A brief silence followed.
BOOOOM!
The enormous creature collapsed, blood gushing from its severed neck.
A single strike.
"What...?"
The guide stared at Theron in disbelief.
"That thing you just did..."
"We can talk later."
Theron cut him off while shaking the blood from his sword.
His gaze was already directed toward the depths of the forest.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
Entire trees were breaking apart.
And countless heavy footsteps were approaching, making the ground tremble.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
One enormous gray figure after another began emerging from the darkness of the forest.
Five...
Ten...
Twenty...
"...You've got to be kidding me."
A groan escaped the guide's lips.
Where had so many of these creatures come from?
More than thirty Giant Orcs were gathering, seemingly drawn by the smell of their fallen companion's blood.
The guide shouted,
"R-Run!"
There was no real choice to be made.
Even for someone capable of using Aura, this was a danger approaching the scale of a natural disaster.
But...
"I don't want to."
"...What?"
"I absolutely hate the idea of abandoning someone and running away."
Determination settled in Theron's eyes.
It was true that he and the guide had come together because each had something to gain.
Even so, the man had accompanied Theron all the way here to help him.
Abandoning someone like that and fleeing...
If he did such a thing, what meaning would his revenge have?
My comrades, who fought and faced death alongside me...
And the people who killed me.
Had Theron not started walking this new path precisely so that he could avenge his comrades?
That was why...
"Go hide behind that tree and stay there."
"GRRAAAAAH!"
The Giant Orc at the front roared and charged.
Its stone axe cut through the air.
BOOOOM!
The ground where Theron had been standing caved in, sending dirt flying.
But Theron was already gone.
SLASH!
"GROK!"
The tendon behind the creature's knee was severed, and its enormous body pitched forward.
As Theron's sword pierced the back of its neck, his body was already flowing toward the next Orc.
STAB! SLASH!
Two.
Three.
The shortest possible sword strikes, aimed only at vital points.
With every movement stripped of anything unnecessary, the Orcs collapsed one after another.
But...
There are too many.
For every one Theron cut down, three more closed the distance.
Stone axes and clubs swung at him from every direction.
And throughout it all, he had to make absolutely certain that none of them could reach the guide behind him.
Just then...
"Grrrr!"
One of the Orcs surrounding him broke away and charged toward the guide.
"Ghk...!"
The guide drew his axe.
But with his injured body, there was no way he could contend with such an enormous creature.
The Giant Orc raised its stone axe.
At that instant...
Rustle.
A black shadow slipped between them.
STAB!
Theron's sword entered beneath the Orc's chin and pierced straight through its head.
BOOOOM!
"...Thanks."
"Stay farther back."
Theron withdrew his sword and turned to face the other creatures.
Although he spoke calmly, his frustration was steadily growing.
If he still possessed the strength from his previous life, creatures like these...
I could have wiped them out in the blink of an eye.
But his current body struggled to maintain Aura on the tip of his sword for even a short time.
His heart was already pounding as though it might burst.
His arms were gradually becoming heavier.
And then...
BOOOOM!
As Theron deflected a stone axe descending from directly ahead...
Crack.
An ominous sound traveled through his fingertips.
His expression twisted.
"Damn it."
And with those words...
CLANG!
His longsword snapped in half.
"Ghk!"
Theron drove the broken blade into the Orc's eye and retreated.
"GRRAAAAAAAH!"
Half-blinded, the creature began swinging its axe wildly.
Taking advantage of the opening, Theron reached behind his back and drew the other sword he was carrying.
Shing.
The black iron sword.
Its dark blade, which seemed to absorb light, emerged from the shadows.
It's heavy.
He had expected as much, but it was even heavier than he had imagined.
The weight was enough to make the tip tremble when he held it in one hand.
Theron wrapped both hands around the handle.
"GRRRRR!"
A Giant Orc charged straight at him.
Theron clenched his teeth and swung.
SLASH!
"...!"
There was no resistance.
The creature's body was split diagonally, along with the arm holding its stone axe.
Theron's eyes trembled slightly.
He had naturally expected a sword made from black iron to be exceptional.
But...
It's far better than I expected.
The sword possessed extraordinary mana conductivity, allowing it to achieve tremendous cutting power with much less Aura.
There was only one unfortunate detail.
The body wielding this sword was still Theron's current, immature body.
Every swing made his shoulders and waist scream in protest.
Five more. No, six.
And even then, the enemies showed no sign of decreasing.
For every Orc he killed, another emerged from the forest.
His breathing grew ragged.
At this rate, his stamina would run out first.
But at that moment...
The pages of the book he had read in the stone chamber began turning in his mind.
Step upon the ground without leaving a trace.
Change direction without a preparatory movement.
Erase the boundary between one step and the next.
The passages from the second half of Wandering Wind.
Theron could not even estimate how badly using them now might damage his body.
This is madness.
He had only just learned the theory.
He had not practiced the techniques properly even once.
And now he was considering using them in actual combat.
If I fail...
He doubted the consequences would end with his legs being shattered.
But...
Either way...
Simply allowing the fight to continue would also put him at a disadvantage.
To find himself in danger in a place like this...
Against mere Giant Orcs...
He hated it.
But looked at another way...
If I can't even overcome a situation like this...
He would never accomplish his true objective in the first place.
Theron bit his lip.
"Hoooo..."
He exhaled slowly.
And at the same time...
His feet moved.
Tap!
The boundaries between his steps disappeared.
Whooooosh!
And what happened from that moment onward...
"...Huh."
Was something the guide would never forget for the rest of his life.
Theron's figure vanished.
No.
It only appeared to vanish.
But...
SLASH!
The instant the guide felt that something had passed by...
BOOOOM!
An enormous gray body collapsed, its head severed.
The wind changed direction.
SLASH! SLASH!
Two Giant Orcs were cut apart almost simultaneously.
"GRRAAAH! GRRR!"
"GRROOOOOOH!"
Unable to see the small human who had disappeared before their eyes, the Giant Orcs swung their weapons wildly.
But their axes struck nothing but empty air.
Meanwhile, the black streak of Theron's sword was already spilling blood somewhere else.
Thud. Thud. BOOM.
The sound of enormous bodies collapsing echoed repeatedly through the forest.
The guide watched the scene, forgetting even to breathe.
He could not see it.
His eyes were wide open, yet he could not follow Theron's steps.
All he could see was an unbelievable sight.
Whenever a black wind swept past, those enormous creatures fell like bundles of straw.
And at the center of that wind...
Theron was immersed in an extraordinary sensation.
My body...
It felt light.
He no longer even felt as though he were taking steps.
His feet were already touching the places he intended to reach before he consciously moved toward them.
Even the tremendous weight of the black iron sword became an advantage when carried along by that flow, helping to draw the weapon through its movements.
So this is... Wandering Wind.
Of course, he was not using it without paying a price.
Every step brought the sensation of something snapping in his ankles and knees.
The pain had already grown so severe that his senses were becoming numb to it.
Theron knew the consequences would come back to haunt him later.
Even so, he did not stop.
He knew that the moment he did, the one who died would not be a Giant Orc.
It would be him.
And then...
SLASH!
The last Giant Orc's body was split open and collapsed.
BOOOOM...
Silence settled over the forest.
More than thirty enormous gray bodies lay piled like a mountain in pools of blood.
"..."
The guide was speechless.
And Barkanis thinks it can hunt someone like this?
He knew very well that Barkanis possessed some of the finest tracking skills on the continent.
They were the sort of people who would pursue prey to the very ends of the continent once they had caught its scent.
But this...
They've disturbed a hornet's nest filled with poison.
This boy was not someone ordinary hunting dogs could handle.
If they confronted him directly, then...
The hunting dogs would become the prey.
But at that moment...
Thud.
Theron suddenly sank to the ground in the middle of a pool of blood.
"Hey!"
Startled, the guide hurried over.
"Are you all right?"
"...Damn it. I think there's something wrong with my ankles."
Theron grimaced and looked down at his legs.
Pain spread from his ankles to his knees, as though the muscles were being torn apart.
As expected, those steps were far beyond what his present body could handle.
And he had ended up in this condition after imitating them for only a few breaths.
Still sitting on the ground, Theron said,
"I think I need to rest for a while."
"..."
The guide stared down at him.
A boy sitting in a pool of blood, complaining about his ankles.
Behind him lay the bodies of more than thirty Giant Orcs.
The sheer absurdity of the contrast finally made the guide burst out laughing.
"Heh... Hahahaha!"
"What's so funny?"
"You're seriously a monster, aren't you?"
Still smiling, the guide extended his hand.
Then he pulled Theron's arm over his shoulder and helped him stand.
"We need to get out of here first. The smell of blood will attract other beasts."
"Can you support me?"
"My legs are perfectly fine."
Theron nodded at his answer.
"...Then I'll be relying on you."
"Don't worry about it. You've already paid me back by saving my life."
Supporting each other, the two began leaving the blood-soaked forest.
As Theron limped along, he glanced at the black iron sword in his hand.
Despite cutting through the bones and hides of more than thirty Giant Orcs, not a single chip had appeared on its blade.
Its edge remained as sharp as before.
And even after being drenched in blood, its black surface retained the same quiet, subdued appearance.
This is a fine sword.
The footwork.
The sword.
That wanderer had left behind nothing but utterly extraordinary things.
Theron looked back toward the tunnel.
Someday... I'll return to pay my respects again.
Leaving behind a silent expression of gratitude, he hurried away with the guide.
At the same time.
Inside the Mercenary Guild in Delkena Village...
"A boy around thirteen or fourteen. He probably came alone and spent his money freely."
At the sound of the low voice, the receptionist swallowed nervously.
The men standing before him...
They were dressed like ordinary travelers.
But the presence surrounding them was anything but ordinary.
Most importantly, on the chest of the man standing in front...
A bronze token was partially visible between the folds of his clothing.
Two overlapping wolves were engraved on it.
"A-A boy like that... did come here a few days ago."
"Where did he go?"
"He hired a guide... and entered the Makerdiran Mountain Range."
"Makerdiran."
The man, the captain of Barkanis, quietly repeated the name.
It had taken an entire day just to identify the real trail among the false ones.
The team following the western trail had returned empty-handed after reaching a sheer cliff.
Only then had they realized that trail had been nothing more than a discarded decoy from the very beginning.
Half of an elite tracking team had been thoroughly deceived by a boy who was not even fifteen.
Swallowing that humiliation, they had followed him through Hollen and all the way to Delkena.
The pursuit had taken two full days.
And now, of all places, their prey had entered that mountain range.
"Captain, we've heard the situation inside Makerdiran is dangerous right now. Even experienced adventurers are avoiding the area..."
The captain looked toward the dark ridges of the mountain range for a moment.
Then...
"Excellent."
"Sir?"
"He's walked into a dead end all by himself. Once we're inside the mountains, we won't need to worry about witnesses, either."
The captain turned around.
"Replenish our supplies. At dawn, everyone enters the mountain range."
"Understood."
As his subordinates began moving in perfect order, the pursuit captain looked toward the Makerdiran Mountain Range and murmured,
"It's the perfect place for a hunt."
