The Sword Demon Tears People Apart

Just as he was about to kick off the ground while hugging the kid and Flone, space twisted.
At least, that’s how Zeron felt.
When he opened his eyes, it was a space that could be called a cave.
It was dark with not a ray of sunlight, but somehow there was a dim light that allowed visibility.
“Kid…!”
But there was no time to care about such things.
The kid he had been holding in his arms was gone.
For a moment, his body stiffened.
Unpleasant imaginings flashed through his mind.
The dreams he had.
The corpse on the mountain path. Red hair.
Elena revived as an undead.
Zeron’s expression hardened.
He immediately grasped the situation.
The unconscious resistance he had made when space twisted.
It seemed that he had been thrown off because of it.
In other words, there was a high possibility that the kid and Flone were still together.
He could feel a little relieved.
If so, action should be swift.
Zeron immediately began to move.
Minimizing his presence as much as possible, but moving as fast as he could.
Even as his feet struck the ground, there was no sound.
The faintly glowing walls flashed by.
At the same time, he spread out his ki sense.
But the range was much narrower than expected.
That strange energy he had felt from the Void.
It filled the space, interfering with his ki sense.
“Tsk.”
Just as he clicked his tongue, something caught his ki sense.
It wasn’t the kid.
Void.
Zeron blended into the soft darkness and moved quickly forward.

Grrrr…
Coincidentally, they took the same form as what he had seen before.
The shape of wolves.
It wasn’t a problem for Zeron, but it was for the kid.
Urgency set in.
He quickly brushed past them and drew his swords with both hands.
Swish-
The sound of something brushing by.
Zeron ran without even looking back.
Behind him, six wolves crumbled.
Ash scattered, and between the gaps, six beads rolled on the ground.
It would be good to break them, but even that split second was precious.
Zeron just ran.
Even as his chest grew tight and pain spread through his arms and legs.
The more he pushed himself, the more his frail body broke down, but this was no time to worry about such things.
He exerted himself to the fullest, surpassing the limits he had set for himself.
His body became like the wind.
In the dark cave, the Sword Demon’s eyes drew a red line.

“This place…”
Medea looked around, her body tightly curled up.
It’s dark.
The walls emit a faint light, but even so, the visibility isn’t much.
“Medea…”
“Ah, Flone.”
She reached out her hand, relieved at the presence of her friend beside her.
Flone, holding her hand, came close and whispered.
“…What happened?”
“I don’t know either. I think I caught a glimpse of Oppa rushing over…”
“The instructor? Then where is he?”
“I don’t know…. I can’t see him…”
Medea felt the cave wall.
It’s rough and cold.
It didn’t seem to be a dream.
“Let’s wait here for now. Oppa will come to get us.”
“Yeah. It would be terrible if we missed each other…”
They slumped down in place.
Somehow the atmosphere was eerie, making their bodies shiver.
Medea fiddled with her gun, trying not to be swept up by the atmosphere.
When she infused it with mana and operated it, with a click! sound, the rifle transformed into a sniper rifle.
She changed the magazine to one for sniping and observed the far side of the cave through the scope.
Perhaps because the scope was also for night vision, she could see farther than with the naked eye.
And then, she saw the figure of something.
She thought it might be Oppa, but no.
It had the appearance of a puppy.
Though it was called a puppy, it wasn’t the kind of puppy one typically thinks of.
It felt like a fierce dog, just shrunk down in size.
Medea observed it with curiosity.

Yap!
It barked.
Then, similar-looking dogs gathered around it.
About six in number.
By then, memories of the past flashed through Medea’s mind.
The ashen wolf that had torn through space.
The suffocating killing intent it had emitted.
And the ashen dog before her eyes.
The skin-tingling killing intent it was emitting.
“Flone!”
Immediately, Medea shouted and pulled the trigger.
Thud-!
Thanks to the silencer, the firing sound was small.
The mana-infused bullet penetrated the target.
One dog’s body turned to ash and scattered.
“Yes!”
Flone reacted instantly as well.
Thanks to tensing up at the sound of the dog barking.
Dogs charged from the edge of the dark field of vision.
The dogs were faster than expected.
Flone raised her greatsword and protected Medea’s front.

Yap yap!
The dog barked, and
Thud-!
Another bullet scattered the dog’s body.
As the four remaining dogs lunged at Flone with their jaws, Flone swung her greatsword widely.
Whoosh-!
Thwack-! The hit dogs were flung back.
One dog that managed to dodge lunged with its jaws.
Flone extended her arm and gritted her teeth against the incoming pain.
But,
Pew-!
With a smaller firing sound, the dog’s body was flung back.
Medea, who had drawn her backup pistol, infused it with mana and fired.
Pew-! Pew-! Pew-!
The dog that was hit in the head repeatedly turned to ash and scattered.
But it wasn’t over yet.
The three that had been flung back by Flone’s greatsword.
They shook their heads and charged again.

Thud-!
The sound of the sniper rifle firing.
The remaining two dogs charged, and
“Haap-!”
Kwung-! Flone brought down her greatsword.
‘Yelp-!’ One dog whose head was struck turned to ash and scattered.
At the same time, she thrust her left shoulder forward.
Thump-! The shoulder charge hit the dog’s head.
Towards the staggering dog, Flone swung her greatsword upwards.

Yip!
The dog’s head lifted up, and
Thud-!
With the final firing sound, silence returned to the cave.
“Haa…, haa…”
Flone sat down on the ground, catching her breath.
Her body was trembling.
Although she had improved a bit during the field training, real combat was different.
A remote cave where no one could help.
Being directly exposed to killing intent in there made even breathing difficult.
“Flone…. Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah…. I’ll be fine after resting a bit…”
Flone leaned against Medea, who had come close.
She was glad to be with her.
If she hadn’t been here…
Ugh…, it was terrifying just to imagine.
Flone whined to Medea while rubbing her increasingly cold fingertips.
“Medea…, Instructor Zeron will come, right…?”
Even knowing she shouldn’t, she wanted something to rely on.
Surely Medea was struggling too….
Knowing this, she still craved her warmth.
“Yes. I definitely saw Oppa. If it’s Oppa, he’ll definitely come looking for me.”
Medea said, hugging Flone tightly.
The scent that had brushed her nose before entering the cave. The warmth. That feeling of being embraced.
It was definitely Oppa.
And she had faith that if it was Oppa, he would surely come looking for her.
He was that kind of person.
Surely, if we wait a little, he’ll come running from far away, panting.
He’ll brush back his sweat-soaked hair, say ‘Kid, are you okay?’ and hug me tightly.
“Hehe…”
A smile crossed Medea’s lips.
Memories from childhood came to mind.
Surely this time too, just like then…
“Me-Medea…!”
But what emerged from the far side of the cave wasn’t Oppa.

Grrrr…
An ashen wolf scattering suffocating killing intent.
Barely exhaling the breath caught in her throat at its imposing presence, Medea gripped her gun tightly.
“Oppa…”
She wanted to see him.

He kicks off the ground.
The surrounding scenery flashes by quickly.
Yet his insides were burning up.
“Where the hell…!”
Kwahak-!
The Voids are sliced apart by his swinging swords.
Zeron kicked off the ground again, gasping for breath.
The cave, complex like an ant colony.
The Voids filling it.
Though their numbers weren’t unusually high, it was unavoidable to feel his heart drop every time he encountered them.
“Where are you…”
There were many beings that the kid couldn’t handle.
If she encountered something resembling a wolf, it would be truly dangerous.
As time passed, his anxiety only grew.
His breathing became increasingly labored, and his overexerted body creaked.
Clearly, it was the beings that couldn’t even react before their necks were cut off, yet it was Zeron who was gradually getting exhausted.
“Damn it…”
Nevertheless, Zeron ran.
He no longer even tried to hide his presence.
He had only been concealing it because there might be beings that would take time to deal with.
At this point, it was better to run as fast as possible, presence be damned.
“Huff…. Huff…”
His lungs twisted, craving oxygen.
Bones crumbled, muscles squeezed and screamed.
Even amidst this, the Voids kept appearing.
Zeron swung his swords while running.
Swish-!
Diving between two beings, he swung the swords in both hands, and brought the two swords together to cut off the neck in front of him.
The sword in his right hand drew complex straight lines, the sword in his left hand burst bodies, his foot crushed heads, his head rammed and smashed.
The majority couldn’t even react, the rest only managed to react before dying.
Leaving scattered ash behind, he kicked off the ground, but this cursed maze showed no sign of ending.
“Kid…!”
He shouted, if only to draw in the surrounding Voids.
Kid…! id…! d…! His voice echoed, reverberating off the cave walls.
Yet still, only the dark cave lay ahead.
“Damn it…!”
Kwaaang-!
A sword strike launched in desperation smashed the cave.
In that moment, Zeron stopped in place and strained his ears.
He ignored his lungs screaming for oxygen.
He suppressed the sound of his violently beating heart, focusing solely on his sense of hearing.
……Thud
A faint firing sound reached him.
After that, no sound came.
It felt like his heart sank.
No way…
As if denying his guess, he kicked off the ground.
The scenery flashed by.
He killed the Voids he encountered on the way.
He ran like mad towards where the sound had come from.
And what he faced was…
“No…!”
A deep red pool of blood.