Chapter 33: Group Assignment (3)

It was difficult to guess his intentions.
Ernian’s face rarely changed. It was even more so because of the sunglasses.

Why was she aiming a pistol when he mentioned fist techniques?.

It was a kind of refusal to answer.
Park Gangcheol’s eyes flared with anger at the thought of being ignored.

“The sword is the king of all weapons. You don’t even realize that you’re at a disadvantage if you rashly point a gun at a sword. It’s ridiculous. Were you so afraid of my fist that you had to hide behind a gun?”

Swish.

His posture was strange. I couldn’t help but know that he was putting in effort.
The sound of drawing the sword was desolate.

The blade, imbued with light, shone coldly.
His touch was filled with blatant worship and affection.

Slowly, respectfully.
Like treating a lover.

The sign that it was a waste to draw it out in this place was pervasive.
There was also the conviction that a gun could not defeat a sword.

Ernian spoke.
It was the innocent tone typical of her age. She always did this even if she didn’t mean to.

“Why are you carrying around a sword you’re going to worship? Is it a concept?”

It wasn’t ridicule or sarcasm.
It was just pure curiosity.

But.
That one sentence crumbled Park Gangcheol’s patience.

“Are you insulting the Sword Alliance by carrying such a crude weapon like a gun? Now that I see it, you’re a crazy b*tch. It’s a life-or-death struggle!”

He didn’t care that he was facing a child.
He rushed in with a single step. His movement was like flowing water.

There was a law.
There was a structure.

His gait was imbued with thorough calculation and training.
A dilemma arose.

‘Is this an opportunity to broaden my horizons?’

Ernian tended to consider whether it was worth opening her eyes.
Because it was very painful to perceive the world with her eyeballs.

However.
That didn’t mean her judgment was slow.

‘This is worth seeing.’

The conclusion was quick.
The closed world opened and poured into her mind.

Like a sniper, she maintained her composure and examined everything.

The quadriceps and hamstrings contracted simultaneously, and the air force passed through the Hyeolhae point (Inner thigh).

The energy flowed further down.
It passed through the Wijung point (Behind the knee) behind the knee and gathered at the Taegye point (Inside ankle) of the ankle.

The way he stepped on the ground was also unfamiliar.
A method of absorbing the impact by lightly stepping on the forefoot first and utilizing the repulsive force from the heel.

So he could unravel the secrets of Yidansseungjang—overcoming the long with the short—and Pyeoneoeumyoo—thriving through subtlety and softness.

By the time she blinked once, he was already close.
The impression was simple. There was a way to use the body like this, but it was below Gunrimbo.

“It’s your defeat for easily giving up the distance.”

There was a sword strike. It contained the power of a large corporation.
The inspiration of a prestigious family was imbued in a single line of trajectory.

It was pleasing to the eye. I grew again the moment I saw it.

I barely resisted the urge to pull the trigger on his empty forehead.
For further observation, a stable response was needed.

Ernian raised her left hand. It was the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.
The small hand drew an ellipse and brought the side of the hand to the side of the sword.

“What?!”
“Is she crazy?”
“Putting her hand on a moving sword?”

The eyes of the students watching widened.
As if they couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before their eyes, some of them leaned forward in their seats.

The person involved was calm. She didn’t care about the reactions of the fussing spectators.

It was because the sword power that touched was light.

Swish.

It was enough to shake it off. There was no other noise.
The sword slid away.

His expression went blank. He seemed unable to accept what had happened in an instant.
The sword path was completely scattered with a hand motion like dusting off?.

There were few seniors who could respond like this.

It would be a skill that only the graduating class or Geomryong could do.
Naturally, his eyes widened.

“You were late to attack, but how? No, more than that. Wasn’t that just now our Sword Alliance’s Taegukgwon?”
“You talk too much. Isn’t it taboo to inquire about a hunter’s specs?”

She uttered the unspoken rule of the industry with her small mouth.
How could every word be so precious?.

I wanted to stab her in the stomach right away, but I had nothing to say in rebuttal.
I put aside my doubts. His eyes, which seemed to want to devour her, flickered.

“Right. You’re right. However, I’ll show you that even among first-years, there are different levels.”
“Don’t you know the saying that the world is wide and there are many masters? You should be careful because I’m the one you should be talking about.”

Beware of women, children, and the elderly.
It’s a real saying.

But that was a proverb to be wary of hunters whose appearance and internal energy were different.

Did she think she was a master who had achieved a transformation or rejuvenation?.
A disabled person.

‘It’s not for nothing that she took first place. Her tongue-lashing skills are also extraordinary. There’s no end to talking, so I’ll prove it with results.’

I can’t be provoked any more.
The mind of looking down was now gone. Consciousness was submerged.

Am I the sword?.
Is the sword me?.

The boundary of self-forgetfulness became ambiguous.
The sword vibrated on its own as if it was devouring his will.

Ernian felt a sense of déjà vu. She had seen it in a textbook she had opened for prior learning.

‘So this is Singeomhapil (body and sword become one).’

It was said to be the stage before embodying energy externally.
There was something I realized naturally.

A sensation of my head tickling came. A dizzying feeling of inspiration coming and going.
As if I might miss something, I naturally put strength into my eyes.

‘So you can put your will into a weapon. I want to see more.’

The energy changed. It was right to see him as a different person from before.

The sword cried.
A merciless slash aimed straight for the heart of the body.

The trajectory flickered and the direction and magnitude of the force moved at will.
His slash was flexible like an elastic body.

Linear motion was bent by rotation, and that bending created speed again.
It was a trajectory in which the balance of gravity, sword force, and inertia was optimally combined.

‘Bi Seonhyeong Dongyeokhak (Non-linear Countermovement Theory) and Choedan Gangha Gokseon (Shortest and Strongest Curve)—it’s no coincidence he draws a circle. It’s not for nothing that he draws a circle. Sword force and centrifugal force combine to enable faster acceleration. Since the interaction of the acting forces is not constant, the speed and direction of the sword change minutely. The centripetal point that controls this is Singeomhapil (Body and Sword as One).’

It was a misconception that a straight line was the fastest.
A straight line was the shortest distance, but not the shortest time.

An object reached faster when it followed an appropriate curve than a simple straight path.

Since the sword was unfolding as intended, it was possible to implement his own image at will.
That was why the energy contained in the sword was both soft and strong.

“This is the martial art of the Sword Alliance. Taegeukgeomgyeol!”(Taegeuk Sword Art)

All the paths were visible. I held out Asadia to the approaching sword.
It was a treasure-grade weapon. It was deflected without a scratch.

Clang!
Clang clang!

Metal rang. It was a thrill, not a sound.
The sound of swords clashing tore through the air and spread. The smell of iron spread.

Every time the blades collided and bounced, sparks flew.

Bending and accumulating the flow, and returning again. If the opponent accepted the offensive, he became more advantageous.

The more so, Park Gangcheol smiled.
The corners of his lips rose slightly. It wasn’t joy. It was composure. It was excitement.

Hundreds of rounds had already passed.
He should have been out of breath. But his breathing was constant.

His body remembered the flow. The strikes were not broken.
The more the opponent dealt with it appropriately, the more his sword flowed magnificently.

By now, that arrogant b*tch must be at a loss for how to handle the situation.
I hadn’t had time to look at her face because I was busy handling the sword, but I was sure of it.

‘The martial arts of the Sword Alliance are late-blooming. The more the rounds increase, the greater the power becomes. It’s too late to realize it now.’

Waryu was the principle of preserving energy and continuing rotational motion.

The way the sword moved in a circle following the flow, absorbing the opponent’s force like a whirlpool and counterattacking, resembled the rotation of a fluid.

The sword was a circle.
And the circle was also a sword.

A single continuous momentum concentrated, bending, accumulating, compressing, and counterattacking, was endlessly amplified.

Even that was sword power that he had never handled before.
What was already in his hand was a typhoon.

Whoosh!

The wind cried. It was already like a ghostly wail.

It was a situation where he had to kill somehow.
The vortex that had grown while exchanging rounds would not be easily resolved.

The final strike was poured towards Ernian’s forehead.

Palbangpungwoo. It was the thrusting technique among the three talents swordsmanship.

When handling great power, there was nothing as appropriate as the basics.
It was because the sword power had already accumulated to the point where it was meaningless to use more techniques.

Everyone watching felt a chill. Loran also flinched and took out her bow.
She was a member of the same club. Her appearance wasn’t to my liking, but I had unknowingly become fond of her.

I didn’t have many friends, so I couldn’t afford to lose one.

“That crazy b*tch!”

But there was no room to intervene. In front of that sword power, no projectile was meaningful. It would be swept away by the vortex.

I shuddered at the thought that even the corpse wouldn’t be intact, and shouted.

“What are you doing? Run away. Do you want to die? Even if you lose your limbs, you should preserve your life!”

It might even peel off the shield of the Miles equipment.
It was a killing move that could actually kill a person.

Even though they knew that, neither of them showed any signs of backing down.
No, Ernian rather lowered her arms.

Her chest was confident. It was an intention to stab if he could.

“Your arrogance is shortening your life! Did you think I would back down because I was afraid of killing someone?”

Killing the first-year ranking number one.
No matter how you looked at it, there was nothing but profit.

When he was full of triumph.
Ernian spoke. It was a calm tone.

“A corpse is talking.”

When the HP of the Miles equipment was completely depleted, a drug that stopped activity was forcibly injected.
Non-depolarizing Neuromuscular Blocker.

It completely paralyzed the muscles by blocking nerve transmission, but it didn’t affect the brain and consciousness.

He would aim for that.
He was already dead. He just hadn’t realized it yet.

‘I had a good look. But I only got one thing.’

Singeomhapil.
I learned that will could flow freely even in weapons.

My body already moved according to my thoughts, so what if the gun did the same?.

The result was simple. Unpredictable in itself.
The moment Asadia danced on my hand.

A gunshot that would steal all of his HP had already exploded. No one seemed to have seen it.
The noise of the vortex was so loud that even the gunshot was swallowed.

‘The reason he uses curves is because he longs for the most destructive straight line.’

Brachistochrone curve, Nonlinear Dynamics, inertia and gravity, vortex and flow—everything made the trajectory of the sword.

The curve was efficient. It flowed like a fluid, accepted and deflected the opponent’s force, and accumulated energy in the rotational speed.
It became a sword strike that followed the optimal path.

But.
No matter how much you drew a circle.

Direct fire weapon. Overwhelming power didn’t need to transform itself.

As it was.
Just stick it in stubbornly.

Guns were superior to swords.

‘There was nothing to learn. Skill use, existence denial.’

Gun technique exploded in front of swordsmanship.
The accumulated damage exploded. When his HP bottomed out, his surprised face uttered an exclamation.

“What, no way. This is a bug!”

Even while his body was paralyzed, he couldn’t accept the situation.
For him, this situation would be an endless absurdity.

I didn’t feel the need to explain. She had no obligation to resolve all doubts.

Just.
Drew a circle.

Brachistochrone curve. The path that a falling water droplet instinctively followed.
The curve that accumulated speed and energy most efficiently.

The aesthetics of the curve were added to the path of Nahangwon (Circular Net Movement).
Hubalseonje. The mystery of moving late and arriving first unfolded from her hand.

A body that fell out of control. I couldn’t just leave the typhoon-like sword power.
I had to use it frugally.

I gently grabbed the sword wave and handled the flow of sword power.
It was like a child carrying an adult.

The goal?
The students who entered the first fork, who were waiting for an opportunity from behind.

Miles’ shield would react to the vortex.
This much sword power was more than enough to deplete all of their HP.

“Eek?!”
“W-wait a minute.”
“Let’s put that down and talk calmly, shall we?”

Like hunters, they didn’t care.
The sword wind was unleashed.