SWNOVELXO Chapter 130 - Betrayal (1)
Chapter 130. Betrayal (1)
The clash of swords sent sparks flying as the blades met and parted.
Ka-kang—.
A harsh metallic sound erupted.
Gilbert watched as Yuri Holland staggered backward repeatedly, feeling a surge of exhilaration.
‘He’s not much, is he?’
The same Yuri Holland who supposedly walked fifteen steps in the Hundred Steps Ceremony.
Now, he was struggling and failing to block even Gilbert’s lightest attacks.
‘What if I take down Yuri Holland here?’
The way his fellow cadets looked at him would undoubtedly change.
Smiling brightly, Gilbert shouted.
“That was fun! Let’s end this now!”
With those words, Gilbert’s sword came down on Yuri in a vertical strike.
Kwaaaaang!
A tremendous explosion echoed as dust erupted like a burst of smoke.
‘Got him!’
Gilbert felt certain his attack had hit the mark.
He was convinced that this single blow had completely knocked out Yuri Holland.
‘Victory is mine!’
As he thought this and tried to pull back his sword—
Gudeuk—.
“Huh?”
The sword wouldn’t budge.
‘…What?’
A bewildered Gilbert struggled to retrieve his sword, but it wouldn’t move, as if stuck in a rock.
‘What, what the hell?!’
Grunting, Gilbert clung to the hilt for a while.
As the thick dust gradually settled, Gilbert finally understood why his sword wouldn’t move.
His sword was…
“What?”
It was caught in Yuri’s hand, who stood still amid the dust.
Specifically, Yuri’s thumb and index finger were gripping the blade.
“Th-this…?!”
Gilbert stammered in shock.
Yuri looked at him and smiled.
“You insignificant creature.”
Contrary to his smiling face, Yuri’s voice was utterly cold and emotionless.
The voice carried a massive presence, and it sent chills down Gilbert’s spine.
Instinctively realizing he needed a weapon, Gilbert desperately tried to pull back his sword.
But the sword still wouldn’t budge.
“L-let go!”
Gilbert continued to grunt as he struggled, and Yuri’s smile deepened, a low rumble escaping his lips.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
When Gilbert met Yuri’s gaze at that question, his body froze.
‘W-what, what’s with his eyes?!’
Moments ago, Yuri’s eyes had looked human.
Now, they resembled those of a reptile, with vertical slits running through his golden irises.
But that wasn’t the only change in Yuri.
Geugeugeug—.
His body began to be enveloped in a black darkness, squirming like mud.
It then started to swell in size.
3 meters.
4 meters.
5 meters.
6 meters.
As Yuri’s form rapidly grew, Gilbert’s head tilted back.
When he finally saw the massive figure born of the black mud, his jaw dropped.
A colossal serpent’s body covered in black, glossy scales.
Antlers shimmering with iridescence and a mane of silver like that of a lion.
And a face resembling that of a dragon.
To Gilbert’s knowledge, there was only one term to describe such a creature.
“…A dragon?!”
It was the divine beast, the dragon (龍), that appeared in the ancient legends of the Eastern lands.
Stunned, Gilbert froze before the sudden appearance of the black dragon.
‘I-I need to run….’
He thought of running dozens of times in his mind, but the immense golden eyes gazing down at him turned everything to white.
The black dragon pronounced judgment upon the trembling Gilbert.
[It’s time to pay for your play.]
With that, the black dragon’s ferocious mouth opened wide.
Kwoooor!
With a deafening roar, razor-sharp teeth lunged at Gilbert.
And then—
“Aaaaah!”
Feeling as if his body were being torn apart by those sharp teeth, Gilbert bolted upright.
He frantically patted his chest after opening his eyes.
Only after confirming that there wasn’t a single wound did Gilbert let out a sigh of relief.
“Ha… it was a dream.”
He muttered, shivering as he spoke.
‘…A dream?’
When did it start?
Where did the dream begin?
As he pondered this, a throbbing pain flared in one of his eyes.
“Ouch, ouch….”
The moment Gilbert clutched his aching eye, he realized.
‘Did I… get knocked out with one hit?’
From the moment he first faced Yuri Holland.
When that white fist flew at him, he had already passed out.
As soon as he realized this, a wave of embarrassment washed over him, and he quickly glanced around.
‘D-did anyone see?’
While he scanned his surroundings in a panic, he spotted blue and black hair approaching from afar.
‘B-black hair?!’
Maybe because of the dream he’d just had.
As soon as he saw the black hair, an inexplicable fear gripped Gilbert, and he quickly lay back down and shut his eyes.
How much time had passed since then?
The sound of two footsteps reverberated through the ground near Gilbert.
Soon, the voices of two people reached his ears.
“Is he still sleeping? Yuri, how hard did you hit him?”
“I hit him lightly. That bastard’s endurance is trash; that’s why he’s still knocked out.”
When Yuri called his endurance trash, Gilbert nearly shouted back in protest, forgetting for a moment that he was pretending to be unconscious.
He barely managed to keep his eyelids shut through sheer willpower.
‘C-could’ve blown my cover.’
Gilbert silently praised his own patience.
He was sure that no one had noticed anything.
However, Yuri had seen his trembling eyelids.
And Gilbert had no idea that Yuri had signaled Arin with his eyes.
Blink, blink—.
Arin acknowledged Yuri’s signal with a knowing blink.
And then, Yuri delivered the prepared line.
“But Yuri.”
“What?”
“What are you going to do now? Are you going to back off like this?”
“Back off? No way, I’ll keep hammering away.”
“Keep going? It seems like our attacks won’t be effective anymore. You saw it earlier, right? The others are roaming around in groups. Meanwhile, there’s just the three of us.”
“Who said that? Who says there’s only three of us?”
“There are three, right? You, me, and Poppy.”
“Sure, if you’re only counting our squad, then yeah, there’s three of us…”
“And?”
“Just wait. That guy’s supposed to give us a signal soon.”
“That guy? Who’s that guy?”
“That’s…”
Gilbert’s ears perked up as he listened to the conversation between Yuri Holland and Arin.
There was something meaningful in their words.
And the one they referred to as ‘that guy.’
‘Who is that guy?’
Holding his breath, Gilbert eagerly awaited the next part of the conversation.
However—
“Hey, they’re following us.”
“What? Already?!”
The two voices, startled, became hurried.
With the sound of feet pushing off the ground, their presence quickly faded.
When they had completely disappeared, Gilbert sprang up and shouted.
“So who’s that guy?!”
* * *
“So who’s that guy?”
This was the question posed by the Fifth Squad Leader after hearing the conversation between Arin and Yuri, relayed by Gilbert.
Gilbert shrugged and pointed at Clarice.
“How would I know? Just as I was about to listen, she chased them off.”
“Hm.”
As the eyes of those present turned toward her due to Gilbert’s pointing, Clarice let out a low cough.
Meanwhile, Gunther, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.
“Clarice, the fact that you gathered only us here suggests you think that the one—Yuri Holland’s accomplice—is in the Third Squad, right?”
At his words, the others began to realize something and looked at Clarice.
‘Indeed… this could have been discussed before the Third Squad went out on their mission, but it was brought up only after they had left…’
As Gunther had suggested, Clarice seemed to believe that the accomplice was within the Third Squad.
Clarice nodded in response to Gunther’s question.
“Yes, I believe that person is in the Third Squad.”
No sooner had she finished her answer than the Tenth Squad Leader interjected urgently.
“Who is it?”
“That’s…”
Clarice did not answer immediately.
She scanned the other squad leaders watching her, seeming to deliberate.
Growing impatient, the Tenth Squad Leader snapped.
“What’s taking so long?”
As the others gave her looks that seemed to agree with the Tenth Squad Leader, Clarice finally responded in a low voice.
“The person I suspect is… Schleiman Hans.”
“…?!”
Clarice’s words shocked everyone.
And soon, a backlash followed.
“That’s nonsense. Schleiman is the one who organized this alliance in the first place. Why would he?”
“Yeah, Schleiman has no reason to do that, right?”
As some began to defend Schleiman, Clarice countered.
“Didn’t any of you notice something odd?”
“Something odd?”
“Didn’t it all seem to flow too smoothly? From Yuri Holland’s provocation, to Schleiman’s proposal for the alliance… and then the way Yuri Holland eliminated the front-runners. It all happened too naturally.”
“…It’s true, now that you mention it.”
Someone nodded in agreement, but another voice quickly raised an objection.
“That’s conjecture. Honestly, it did feel like everything was connected too smoothly, but accusing Schleiman of being a traitor just based on that is a stretch. And besides, Schleiman has no reason to do that, right? It’s not even to his advantage.”
This time, another dissenting voice chimed in, not from Clarice but from a different squad leader.
“If that’s the case, then Schleiman proposing this alliance and drafting the plan isn’t really to his advantage either, is it?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? The goal is to catch Yuri Holland, right?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something; the goal of this quest isn’t to catch Yuri Holland. It’s to determine the final winning squad. That’s why it doesn’t benefit him. If I were Schleiman, I would’ve let Yuri Holland take out the other strong squads. That’s what would benefit me. Don’t you agree?”
“Hm…”
When no immediate rebuttal came, another voiced their opinion.
“To be honest, I’ve also found Schleiman’s actions odd from the beginning. Look at everyone here. We’re all in the top 20. And it’s not just that; even the members of our squads are on a completely different level from the initial front-runners who got picked off. They were just a bunch of nobodies.”
“……”
“We’re all potential enemies once Yuri Holland is dealt with. So why would anyone help preserve the strength of their potential competitors? Does that make sense?”
“It does seem a bit strange, unless there’s some hidden motive.”
The debate about Schleiman’s actions intensified among the group.
Those who suspected Schleiman even started to question everything.
“If Schleiman really is a traitor… there’s a high chance the information he provided about Yuri Holland is manipulated.”
“Isn’t it possible that the story of Yuri Holland single-handedly taking out all the front-runners was exaggerated or falsified?”
Clarice’s initial suspicions began to take root, and the speculation among the squad leaders snowballed.
Then someone shifted the focus of the discussion.
“But isn’t it also possible that Schleiman isn’t the traitor? It could be someone here among us… or even someone from the Third Squad.”
“Are you suggesting that you suspect us now?”
“No, I’m just saying it’s possible.”
With mutual suspicion beginning to surface, Gunther stepped in to mediate.
“Why do you insist there must be a traitor?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Why are you so sure there’s a traitor among us? It’s possible there isn’t one, and Yuri Holland could have spread false information to sow discord.”
At this, Gilbert flared up.
“So you’re saying I got duped by Yuri Holland and brought back false information?”
“If you want to put it that way, yes.”
Gilbert glared sharply at Gunther’s calm response.
Then, the voice of the 22nd Squad Leader cut in.
“I’d still bet there’s a traitor. Otherwise, how do you explain how everything has lined up so perfectly?”
A few others nodded in agreement with this rebuttal.
Gunther’s attempt at mediation failed.
“So who’s the traitor, then?”
“Weren’t you listening? There might not be a traitor!”
“I believe there is. But you… why are you so keen on insisting there isn’t one? Are you hiding something?”
“Hiding what?”
“Aren’t you the traitor?”
“What?! Are you serious right now?!”
The spark Yuri had ignited was now growing into a blazing fire.
* * *
Tap-tap-tap.
Around a crackling campfire, Yuri, Arin, and Poppy sat leisurely.
Watching the bright flames, Arin asked,
“Yuri, so if the spark you mentioned has turned into a big fire… what’s next? What will you do then?”
In response to Arin’s question, Yuri threw another log into the fire and answered.
“Hmm, what should I do?”
Though his words expressed uncertainty, a peculiar smile played on his lips.
It was a smile that suggested he had something up his sleeve.