SWNOVELXO Chapter 186 - 5×5 Fight (8)
Chapter 186. 5×5 Fight (8)
The jet-black demonic sword aimed at Yuri.
The energy surrounding the blade wavered like a heat haze.
And then finally—
Swish.
Gunther’s sword slashed diagonally through the air.
‘What the…?’
Yuri was initially puzzled by Gunther’s actions.
But soon, his hair stood on end.
A warning from his instincts.
And in the blink of an eye, a crescent-shaped mass of darkness was right in front of him.
‘What the hell is this?!’
The black crescent appeared as if it had teleported right before his eyes.
Yuri’s golden demonic sword swung urgently, batting the crescent-shaped darkness into the sky.
Skaang—BOOM!
As the black crescent soared upwards, a panicked cry echoed in Yuri’s ears.
“A f-flying sword?!”
Upon hearing this, Yuri frowned.
“…What?”
The Flying Sword (飛劍).
A technique where a demonic sword is projected outward, launched like a projectile.
It was also a ranged skill that all Certified 5th Dans had to master, and for a while, Johan had relentlessly drilled this into Yuri’s training.
“Damn it, this is a flying sword?”
Johan, who had refused to explain what exactly a flying sword was no matter how much Yuri asked, kept saying he’d reveal it after Yuri’s training was complete.
And he had berated Yuri endlessly for not being able to use it.
Just hearing the word “flying sword” made Yuri’s teeth grind instinctively.
And now, someone who could actually wield a flying sword had appeared before him.
‘I can’t even do that…’
Yuri clicked his tongue.
At the same time, he realized why mastering the flying sword was crucial just from the earlier attack.
‘It’s incredibly fast.’
The distance between him and Gunther was easily 5 meters.
The crescent-shaped demonic sword had closed that gap in an instant.
For someone who couldn’t handle a demonic sword, it was nothing short of a disaster.
‘So that’s what a flying sword is, huh?’
The fact that Gunther used the flying sword meant that he had reached the realm of a Certified 5th Dan.
The onlookers buzzed with shock at this realization.
But whether others were shocked or not didn’t matter to Yuri.
With a determined look, he spoke to Gunther.
“Sorry to bring this up in a situation like this…”
“……”
The audience tilted their heads at Yuri’s abrupt statement.
And then Yuri continued.
“How do you do that? The flying sword thing.”
“……”
“Teach me, will you?”
Yuri’s eyes sparkled with an excessive eagerness as he spoke.
The audience then realized.
‘Oh… That wasn’t a determined look.’
It was just a shameless expression plastered on his face.
To say something like that in this situation…
Once again, the onlookers were reminded that Yuri Holland was anything but ordinary.
Gunther swung his sword repeatedly, ignoring Yuri as if not worth his time.
Each swing sent another black crescent flying towards Yuri.
Swish—swish—swish.
Using Cloud Step and Thunder Wing in tandem, Yuri easily evaded them.
And so it began.
As if he had predicted Yuri would dodge, Gunther moved quickly, launching flying swords from other directions.
He even closed in on Yuri, swinging his sword in close combat.
Whenever Yuri stepped back, another flying sword was sent his way.
BOOM—CRASH!
Clang!
Shifting between close and long-range attacks, Gunther’s assault was relentless.
Each time Yuri dodged a flying sword, it would veer off in all directions.
This made things hectic for those watching the fight.
“Ah, ahhh?!”
“D-duck!”
The onlookers hit the ground to avoid the flying swords.
Crawling in a low posture to escape to the edges, they paled at the sight of the flying swords soaring overhead.
The only silver lining was that no one had died from the flying swords yet.
But it was impossible to dodge every single flying sword.
Shak—
Gunther’s flying sword hurtled towards a girl from the 49th cohort.
It was so fast that she didn’t even realize she was on the brink of death.
At that moment—
Swish—BANG!
A rainbow-colored flash intercepted, clashing against the black demonic sword.
Thud—
“Guh?!”
Goetz slid backward, skidding across the dirt after being blasted back from the impact.
“G-Goetz, sir?!”
Only then did the girl from the 49th cohort realize she had almost died, and that Goetz had thrown himself to save her.
When she called out with concern, Goetz waved his hand.
“I’m fine, so keep your head down and retreat quickly!”
With his words, the girl lowered her head and resumed crawling away.
Goetz had heroically saved his junior from danger.
However, despite his words, his face was pale and his hand holding the sword trembled.
‘Owl boy, how are you handling this without breaking a sweat?’
Goetz’s shaky gaze stayed glued to Yuri, who was calmly dealing with Gunther’s demonic sword and flying swords.
BOOM!
The explosive sounds continued to echo.
By the time the spectators had safely retreated to the outskirts of the occupied area, Yuri and Gunther’s fight entered a lull.
Despite the fierce clashes just moments ago, Yuri and Gunther now stood still, glaring at each other for quite some time, neither making a move.
The silence dragged on so long that it seemed the fight might just end there.
However, the tension between the two only grew with each passing second.
‘Just how much mana does this guy have?’
Meanwhile, Yuri marveled at the seemingly inexhaustible amount of mana Gunther had even after continuously launching flying swords.
‘Is this not enough?’
Gunther realized he needed even more power to crush Yuri and set his face in a grim expression.
‘Then… I’ll oblige.’
Sss—
A black aura emanated from Gunther’s body, rising fiercely.
The Ryder Family’s Secret Magic Body Technique.
Black Blood (黑血).
The intense black aura was quickly absorbed into Gunther’s body.
And then, as if that was the signal—
Whooom—
The stillness shattered, and a powerful wave radiated in all directions.
Boom!
Gunther’s body shot forward with a short step.
By the time the onlookers registered this, he was already right in front of Yuri.
The only one who managed to read Gunther’s movements properly was Yuri.
Dodging the incoming demonic sword aimed at him, Yuri swiftly turned his body.
Ssss—
His front hair was lightly sliced and scattered, Yuri’s eyes hardened.
‘He’s faster than before?’
Gunther’s speed had increased by at least 1.5 times compared to a moment ago.
And it wasn’t just the speed that had changed.
BOOM.
As Yuri deflected Gunther’s rapidly twisting sword, he felt a searing pain in his grip, as if his hand was being torn apart.
‘What the, this power?!’
Gunther had become faster and stronger.
BOOM—BOOM!
Every time their swords clashed, explosive sounds echoed, and Yuri, who had initially deflected all of Gunther’s strikes, began to avoid head-on clashes.
It was only natural for Yuri to harbor doubts.
‘What’s going on?’
Initially, Yuri thought Gunther’s change was a temporary phenomenon.
He assumed it was a peculiar effect driven by rage, similar to what had happened with the Demon King before.
But that wasn’t the case.
‘This bastard is getting stronger by the second.’
Gunther was growing faster and stronger as time passed.
This was clearly not a temporary phenomenon.
BOOM!
While Yuri still had the edge in speed, when it came to the battle of demonic swords and raw strength, he was now clearly on the losing side.
‘Was he holding back on me this whole time?’
At first, Yuri thought so.
But he soon shook his head internally.
‘No, that can’t be.’
From the first clash with Gunther, Yuri had felt it.
Gunther was strong.
But he was stronger.
He was confident that he would win if they kept fighting as they were.
Yet the certainty that he would win was gradually diminishing.
Although he was still sure of his victory, the ease with which he had expected to win was now shifting to, ‘If this keeps up, I’ll need to put in some effort.’
‘His skills haven’t improved, nor has his technique become more refined, it’s just…’
Gunther’s physical abilities were escalating abnormally and rapidly.
Swish—
After evading an incoming attack with Cloud Step, Yuri finally noticed something strange about Gunther.
‘…What’s that?’
Gunther’s body, which had seemed fine just moments ago.
Now, black lines ran along the exposed skin outside his clothes.
Like veins filled with dark blood, they had an unsettling appearance.
At first, the black veins were confined to his forearm, but as time went on, they spread further.
BOOM—
Yuri, who had gotten in too close to scrutinize Gunther’s condition, was struck hard and sent flying.
Skrrrk—
Scraping across the dirt, Yuri noticed that the black veins had now reached Gunther’s neck.
And with that, Yuri was sure of it.
‘That’s it.’
It was clear that these black veins were the cause of Gunther’s abnormal enhancement in physical abilities.
The longer the fight went on, the more the black veins spread, enhancing Gunther’s physical prowess in proportion to their growth.
Now, Gunther’s sword strikes were fast enough to catch even Yuri off guard, and strong enough that even steel armor would buckle if grazed.
Finally, when Gunther’s entire face was covered in black veins—
Whoosh—
A tremendous gust of wind erupted from Gunther’s casually swung sword.
The wind pressure shot straight at Yuri, enough to cause his body to sway slightly.
Gunther seized this chance and closed in on Yuri again.
As Yuri distanced himself from Gunther, his eyes held a hint of shock.
Simultaneously, a realization sparked in Yuri’s eyes.
‘So that’s why!’
Johan had once spoken about Sword Masters, mentioning extreme strength and extreme speed.
He said that a Sword Master was a monster that mastered both strength and speed to their extremes.
And now, as Yuri fought against Gunther, he began to grasp what that meant.
‘To think that just raw physical strength alone… can do something like this.’
The gust Gunther had sent flying moments ago—
It wasn’t any special technique or extraordinary move.
It was merely fast and immensely powerful.
But when those qualities surpassed a certain threshold, it was as if the strike could conjure wind like something out of legend.
Yuri clicked his tongue.
‘Is this guy… really even human?’
Gunther’s current strength might have already surpassed Poppy’s, and his speed could be nearing Theresia’s level.
And all of that became possible—
‘Ever since that disgusting thing appeared.’
Yuri glared at the black veins.
His heart pounded a little.
‘Is that one of the magic body techniques that elevated the Sword Masters to the world’s strongest?’
He was insanely curious.
What exactly were those black veins?
How could he use them too?
But it wasn’t something he could figure out just by looking.
So, to observe more closely, Yuri decided to do what he did best.
Whooom—
He deployed Magic Flow.
Simultaneously, he began reading the flow of mana centered around Gunther.
Meanwhile, Gunther, facing Yuri, furrowed his brow in frustration.
The more he swung his sword, the more an inexplicable sense of frustration built up.
And it wasn’t long before Gunther identified the cause.
‘He’s not attacking at all.’
So far, the only one attacking had been himself.
Yuri Holland had only been countering or dodging his attacks.
To others, it might seem like Yuri Holland was barely managing under his onslaught.
‘Damn it…’
But Gunther knew better than anyone else.
He knew that even with ‘Black Blood’ activated, his speed wasn’t keeping up with Yuri.
He recognized the ease in Yuri’s movements as he dodged his attacks.
Realizing this, Gunther clenched his teeth.
‘How dare you hold back against me, Yuri Holland!’
Gunther’s eyes flared with anger.
And as if responding to its master’s fury, the black veins carved across Gunther’s body writhed intensely.
Creak—
A secret technique passed down in the Ryder lineage, capable of pushing physical abilities to their utmost limit without any side effects—Black Blood.
This unfair technique, known to bring nightmares to Ryder’s foes, now pushed Gunther’s physical abilities to an even higher level.
And that wasn’t the end.
Boom—
The Ryder Family’s Secret Magic Body Technique.
Dominance (君臨).
A pressure even greater than before now bore down on Ryder’s opponent.
Swish—
Gunther’s sword began to trace a large circle.
As it did, the spectators felt as though darkness was closing in from all sides.
Darkness creeping in from every direction.
The only thing glowing in that darkness was Gunther’s piercing eyes.
And finally—
Glint—
When Gunther’s sword-like eyes emitted a cold, murderous gleam, the sun vanished.
The Ryder Family’s Secret Magic Body Technique.
Solar Eclipse (日蝕).
Reflected in the wide-eyed gaze of those lying flat on the ground, staring blankly at the sky, was a terrifying illusion.
‘Th-the sky?!’
‘A black… sun?’
The sky darkened, and the sun turned black in this vision.
And the sun, consumed by darkness, plummeted straight toward Yuri.
The spectators believed the sun would crush Yuri.
Or that the darkness would swallow him whole.
The blackened sun was massive, and it seemed impossible for anything to block it.
But—
Swish—
From within the darkness, a single golden light bloomed.
The sacred light soared vertically, leaving a long, radiant trail.
And then—
Slice—
The black sun was split in two.
“Ah…?”
“…Huh?”
As light returned to the darkened sky, dispelling the dismal illusion—
The spectators witnessed—
BOOOM!
“Ugh?!”
Amid the piercing roar that shook their eardrums, Gunther was sent flying, blood spraying in the air.
Crunch—Crack—Thud!
Gunther crashed down after breaking through several trees, his body embedding into the ground.
“……”
“……”
“……”
While the onlookers were still in a daze, trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed—
Tock—
In the center of the occupied area, the final grain of sand fell from the small hourglass set into a device.
Click—
Swish—
A heavy mechanical sound followed, and the white sand was sucked into the device.
Then—
Pop!
With a puff of acrid smoke, a small sphere was launched straight upwards.
Pop!
Reaching high into the sky, the sphere exploded, scattering white smoke.