I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents-Chapter 41: Escort (5)

Fifth-Rank Knight Kailas moved.

His sword energy lashed out.

Each arc of his swings—

every single one was executed with the clear intent to kill.

A chilling instinct rang like an alarm in my bones.

Boom!

I blocked all of Kailas’s strikes.

But that only meant I hadn’t landed a single hit of my own yet.

Clang!

After another exchange, Kailas pulled back, widening the distance, and finally spoke.

"Third-Rank, is it?"

His low voice pierced my ears.

"Judgment, speed, strength... All surpass the Third-Ranks I’ve faced until now. But you’re still Third-Rank."

I couldn’t help but ask.

"How did you figure that out?"

Kailas actually answered.

"From Fifth-Rank onward, one gains the ability to perceive the capacity of their opponent. It’s a power meant to avoid needless death."

He scanned me again—

like he could see through me entirely.

He continued.

"By others’ standards, you might measure up to a Fourth-Rank. But if that’s your best... you’ll soon die by my hand."

His sword began to shimmer with red aura.

"If you don’t want to die—devour."

Kailas’s form blurred once more.

"A swordsman grows by devouring the lives of other swordsmen."

A crimson storm swirled around the blade in his right hand.

The air distorted under the pressure of his aura.

A crushing force I hadn’t felt before closed in.

Red sword energy came crashing in from every direction.

I inhaled deeply.

I’d block it all.

His swings curved sharply at right angles.

My thoughts kicked into high gear.

An escape route.

I stepped toward the only viable opening—

and launched a counter with murderous intent.

I felt mana spread from my mana heart,

threading into my aura circuit.

Dragonslayer Swordsmanship, Form Two: Thrust — Hjartagnyr.

Form One: Horizontal Slash — Thursahogg.

Form Three: Vertical Slash — Drakabani.

I deployed every technique I could.

Form Six — Lamina Rabiei.

A blade of fury meant to slay dragons.

A storm of slashes from all directions.

White-blazing sword energy wove into a dense net.

My arm muscles swelled with strain.

Kailas was undeniably stronger than me.

If I wanted to land anything, I had to unleash only unavoidable strikes.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

But Kailas blocked every one of them.

A comment from Sword of Light came to mind.

—Sword of Light: "You only ascend in rank through epiphanies earned mid-battle."

In the end, I had to risk my life.

Just like now.

Kailas swept his red aura.

BOOOOOM!

His aura slammed down like a giant hammer.

I twisted my body sideways in a tight dodge.

Fourth Form of the Soft Airflow Step Technique—

Moonbreaker Step.

I extended my white sword energy like a scythe, aiming for Kailas’s throat.

But he parried with a vertical strike—nullifying the attack.

Keep going until it works.

Shraaak!

A searing pain bloomed from my waist.

Then again from my right shoulder.

After taking two direct hits, I landed a blow to his abdomen.

I looked straight into Kailas’s face.

His lips had curved—faintly, but unmistakably—upward.

He was smiling.

This guy’s not right in the head.

Clang!

Our swords clashed again.

The red glow on Kailas’s blade flared violently.

Chills ran up both my arms.

This was the second time I’d felt this cursed sensation—

a sword energy detonation, like what the Third-Rank Knight Reiner had done.

I flooded my aura circuit with turbulent flow.

Whirlwind Path.

Dragonslayer Swordsmanship — Sword Energy Detonation.

KWAAAAAAAM!!

His crimson flash collided with the burst of white light from my blade.

Both detonations exploded at once.

Chunks of earth launched into the air as the ground trembled beneath us.

Dust blanketed the field, obscuring my vision.

The shockwave hurled my body into the air.

KRACK!

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I stabbed Mundum Exstinguit into the ground to anchor myself.

Pain shot through my abdomen and right thigh.

My body was half-ruined, but my mind was clearer than ever.

Unnaturally so.

It felt like I was watching myself in third-person.

Thud—

The ground quaked.

Kailas closed the distance again.

His eyes glowed a sharp crimson.

In the blink of an eye, his sword engulfed my entire field in a web of slashes.

Red arcs filled the horizontal plane around me.

I channeled protective aura through my whole body and plunged into the storm.

I didn’t need to cut through everything—

nor did I have the strength to.

Just one opening.

If I could find even the tiniest gap—

I unleashed a single thrust, honed like an awl.

Slash—

Sword energy sliced through sword energy.

Red shards danced in my vision.

Fragments of Kailas’s aura—split from his attack.

Mixed with my blood.

His overwhelming aura had found a gap in my armor and protective energy—

and drew blood.

I accelerated my mana control.

I needed a second, thicker layer of protective aura.

My aura circuit surged again.

Then I felt it—

next to the original centerline of my circuit,

another path began to form.

It was rising.

A second pillar, growing beside the core of my aura circuit.

[You have reached the threshold of Fourth-Rank.]

I saw Kailas’s eyes widen.

He’d noticed.

That I’d just broken past Third-Rank.

But he was still Fifth-Rank.

Even reaching Fourth-Rank didn’t guarantee a win.

I didn’t ease my killing intent at all.

From straight ahead, I heard a voice.

"Come."

The faint smile on Kailas’s lips had turned into a full grin.

And he charged.

Crimson thunderbolts of sword aura crashed in from all sides.

Shrrrip!

A meaty tearing sound rang in my ears.

Even Phaethon’s pitch-black armor had gaps.

So did my protective aura.

Kailas’s sword traced right through them.

Every blow added to my learning.

Each one stacked with the threat of death.

Crack crack—

Blood hit the ground.

[Status Effect – Critical Bleeding activates Doombringer.]

[Skill “Doombringer” has leveled up. Lv.4]

[Your body temporarily surpasses its limits.]

My body screamed.

If I stopped, I’d die.

My mind was consumed with one technique.

In the Dragonslayer Swordsmanship manual, Sword of Light had scribbled in a few extra notes.

— There are techniques that must only be attempted after reaching a higher rank.

— I set the standard by my own rank, but I don’t believe your talent falls short of mine.

The Fifth-Rank swordsman charged like a wild beast.

Kailas swung his sword, conjuring a massive moon.

The rising crimson moon behind him began to press toward me.

Overwhelming pressure cloaked my entire body.

That red moon carried countless blades within it.

Shraaak!

My left shoulder was slashed deep.

My arm hung uselessly.

Not yet.

I had to wait until he was close—

close enough to tear out his throat.

Strength left my right thigh.

Blood sprayed from my left side.

SSSWWWWEEEEEEEEEHHH!

The sound of wind roared in my ears.

His sword came for my neck.

I locked eyes with Kailas’s horizontal slash and readjusted my grip.

Fourth-Rank swordsmanship.

Dragonslayer Swordsmanship, Form Eight.

Draco Scalpere.

A technique that slashes like it’s etching through a dragon’s scales.

I couldn’t block a horizontal slash in one go.

So I unleashed two lightning-fast arcs,

smashing through it with consecutive strikes.

And I didn’t stop.

Twenty blows.

Thirty.

It became meaningless to count—the numbers soared into the double digits.

It was more like butchery than swordsmanship.

A relentless storm of shallow and deep cuts.

I tore apart the crimson moon.

I could see Kailas’s body—etched with dozens of red slashes.

His armor was in ruins.

The final blow.

I stepped forward.

And brought my sword down vertically.

One last slash.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

All the shallow and deep wounds I’d carved burst open in unison,

gushing white light as blood sprayed from every inch of Kailas’s body.

Splatter.

A wide pool of blood soaked into the earth.

“Khak...”

Kailas staggered, a faint smile still lingering on his lips.

Noise exploded around us.

Coincidentally, my body wouldn’t move.

I couldn’t even lift my head.

Three figures were charging from different directions all at once.

“Kill him now!”

“Kill him!”

“Sir Kailas!”

The ones who hadn’t dared interrupt the fight were now suddenly charging in.

SSSSWWWEEEHH!

Three streaks of light closed in.

The Fifth-Rank swordsman who’d seemed out of his mind collapsed without another word.

[Level Up!]

Three slashes of death came racing toward me.

[Lv.27 → Lv.29]

My left arm, which was about to drop limply to the ground, fully recovered.

All the wounds that had been bleeding across my body instantly closed.

A benefit of leveling up.

After that, I moved on instinct.

I circulated mana.

Crack—

Gritting my teeth, I swung my sword ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) horizontally, wrapped in white sword energy.

CRACK! BOOM!

I heard the sound of the knights’ blades shattering.

Blood sprayed in a wide arc.

Red lines streaked across the trees.

The three knights—who’d charged from the left, right, and center—collapsed slowly to the ground.

I scanned the surroundings.

Rengel and Karmin had done about as much as I’d expected.

Between the two of them, they’d finished off three.

They’d also killed the ones I’d left incapacitated.

[‘Sword Ghost of the Black Tempest’ applauds.]

[‘Blood Demon’ furrows his brow.]

[‘Judge with a Thousand Eyes’ bites their nails.]

[‘Warrior Embodied in Rage’ double-checks the difficulty and floor.]

I closed the annoying notification windows.

Rengel approached me slowly.

“...Just who... are you?”

"What."

"You killed a Fifth-Rank swordsman."

I killed him because if I didn’t, I’d be the one to die.

"Just lucky. Let’s go. Karmin, get in the carriage. Now."

"Yes!"

I saw Karmin nodding frantically. freewebnσvel.cøm

It really was just luck.

Seven parts luck, three parts skill—no more than that.

Killing Kailas.

Leveling up at the exact second I was about to die from the three who followed.

I needed to get stronger.