Chapter 71: Free Addition (2)

Chapter 71: Free Addition (2)

For the first time in a while, Vhant served the precious drinks he had been saving because he had an honored guest. There was no need for snacks since the two of them had belonged to the same faction and simply drank continuously while reliving past glories.

Hours passed, and their tongues were tingling. They drank so much that it was difficult to believe that there were only two of them.

“Hehehe, Sir Von, our next drink is whiskey made by the famous distiller Magus.”

“Oh, is it exploding whiskey, by any chance?”

“Haha, exploding whiskey is good too, but this drink is one step above that.”

“One step above... It can’t be?”

“That's right! It's volcanic whiskey!”

“Wow!”

Although they were called Henry’s sword and the gatekeeper, they were like children. When Vhant opened his grand volcanic whiskey, the cork flew off with a crisp sound.

Pop!

“Nice!”

“Whoa!”

The volcanic whiskey was beyond regular whiskey, and it bubbled like lava in the glass.

“It’s usually kept cold, and it bubbles as soon as it’s opened. Wow! I wonder how he came up with an idea like this? It’s incredible.”

“Haha, why don’t we toast once more?”

“Of course!”

They decided to lubricate their throats with alcohol first before continuing to talk about the past. However, Von’s hand stopped in mid-air.

“Hm? What’s the matter, Sir Von?”

“...I think we need to postpone our toast.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I think some guests have arrived.”

“Guests?”

Von put down his glass on the table. “We’ll continue this a little later.”

“What? What do you mean by guests?”

Thud.

Vhant had been about to hold Von back, but he fell back onto his chair, unable to sober up.

Von smiled and said, “Wait just a couple of minutes, I will be back before the drink cools down.”

The whiskey inside the glass was still bubbling. Von headed outside with his sword sheathed at his waist.

‘As expected.’?Von felt the calm air turn sharp like thorns when he’d raised his glass. It was a murderous aura that was still quite far away. It seemed that Vhant had not noticed it, although that didn’t mean that his skills were lacking. It was possible that Vhant was too drunk but also, Von’s senses were superior to those of others.

‘Are there around 20 people?’? Past the sunset, Von could see 20 soldiers and their horses, their swords covered in blue aura. It was a murderous aura that had reached its climax of anger.

Von didn’t know why the men he was seeing for the first time were so angry, but one thing was for sure, they were headed toward the checkpoint.

‘I can’t let that happen.’?Von walked down the stairs and took a deep inhale of the cold Salgaera air to sober up. “Haa..”

As the cold air entered his lungs, his mind became clear. Von had drunk more than ordinary people, but because he had more aura than blood, he didn’t get drunk easily.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

The sound of galloping began to get closer and closer. The black-clad men reminded him of trained assassins.

‘A surprise attack at this time... It must be them.’?He already heard the whole story from Vhant, so Von knew that they had to be the Viper Knights led by Salmora, who had been their nemesis in their previous life.

Von felt as if weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He drew his sword leisurely and lifted it.

Boom! Boom!

Von swung his sword in the air as if he were a kid playing with a twig.

‘It’s all set.’

Everything was ready to go and he could feel his aura grow several times stronger. They were now able to feel each other's presence. Von lifted his right hand.

Go...!

The atmosphere seemed to gather around Von’s shoulder.

‘Let’s see how great their skills are.’

Von swung his sword.

Boom!

Swish!

“...Everyone spread out!”

Neigh!

A single swing of his sword had knocked down the left-hand section of his opponents’ formation—or more accurately, swept them all away. The commander witnessed the man in front of him almost cut through four soldiers and their horses with the swing.

‘W-what was that? A special sword strike? N-no it can’t be, he didn’t have any aura.’

Canye believed that Von’s sword had only made an ordinary strike. After all, Von’s presence was not that great. Although he had felt Von’s murderous aura for a split second, he believed that his men were stronger, so they did not slow down in their attack.

However, that had been a mistake. Canye couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat when he saw that the man’s sword had left a massive groove on the ground.

“Don’t be alarmed! He’s just one person! Pressure him with a siege!”

The unit had been cut down to 16 soldiers in the blink of an eye. Realizing the difference in strength, the soldiers changed their strategy from brute strength to technical skills. Soon, like sharks being sucked into a whirlpool, the third unit soldiers began to circle Von from a safe distance.

‘That’s not a bad idea. If you’ve realized the difference in power, of course, you should approach me with technical skill.’

Von nodded and praised the judgment of the enemy commander. ‘But skill is not enough!’

“Kill him!” At the command, the soldiers began to surround Von, a thick aura around their swords. Soon, the attack began to close in.

At that moment, Von put his sword back into his scabbard and then instantly pulled it back out, drawing a huge circle.

Slice!

There was a short burst of energy. Everyone could sense that something had been cut. The third unit stopped for a moment, and Von began to slowly sheathe his sword once more.

Tzzz...

The scabbard and the blade created a soft sound, and as soon as the hilt of the sword touched the opening of the scabbard...

Click.

Boom!

Thud!

Thud!

The torsos of the frozen soldiers fell to the ground along with their horses’ heads. At the same time, the giant trees near the soldiers began to collapse; they had also been cut in half.

“I-is that... the effect of a Draw Swordsmanship...?”

Canye couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched from a distance. He was sure that a Draw Swordsmanship had been performed. It was a type of swordsmanship that used surprise as a method of attacking.

Canye had believed that this technique could only be used in close combat. However, it couldn’t be denied that Von’s Draw Swordsmanship was way beyond that limit. Canye didn’t know how to react.

‘Aura? No, it can’t be. I didn’t feel any threatening aura from him. Then what is it? Is it his sword? Is he using some kind of special sword?’

Canye was a young man who had never fought in a war before. His swordsmanship was the efficient Imperial Swordsmanship developed by the previous emperor, and the only martial arts that he knew was limited to what he had been taught at the swordsmanship academy.

‘If it’s not that either, then what could it be...’

Canye’s expression froze. He’d never seen this bizarre phenomenon before.

Step, step.

‘He’s coming...!’

First, a single swing had swept away four men, then the second one had cut the rest of his men in half. He couldn’t see a single bit of aura or bloodthirst in Von. Von had simply waved his sword but it had cut people and trees in half.

Von was now walking toward Canye with the same sword sheathed at his waist.

‘Gulp!’

Step, step.?

Von showed no signs of attack. He wasn’t releasing any aura, nor did he have a murderous look, but Canye still felt terror. ‘I-I must fight..!’

Canye had been called a genius sword wielder all his life, and he had always lived a trouble-free life. How was it possible that he was frightened of a middle-aged man?

Running away was against the chivalry that he followed, so Canye unsheathed his sword and took a firm stance, biting his lower lip to calm down his trembling breath. He struggled to stare into Von’s eyes.

The distance between them was now less than five steps away.

“It’s pretty courageous for you to not run away.” Von stood face to face with Canye.

“Shut up!”

There were still five steps between them, but Canye’s heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would jump out of his chest at any moment.

Von was smiling like a neighborly uncle, but Canye couldn’t hide his fear. He was like a child facing a great beast.

‘Tsk tsk, you’re so scared.’

His fear was so obvious that anyone could see it.

Von took one step closer. “I don’t know who taught you so poorly. What kind of fool wouldn’t notice when you show your bloodthirst so obviously.”

Canye’s heart sank.

Von moved another step closer and said, “You belong to the Viper Knights, so it must have been that snake.”

It was clear that Von was talking about his leader, Salmora. Although Canye was insanely mad, he couldn’t dare to open his mouth from the intense pressure.

“I’m sure you’re proud, since the snake you’re serving is the tenth sword of the Imperial Ten Swords, but do you know what’s really important?” asked Von, taking another step and unsheathing his sword. “That in the end, snakes can never become dragons.”

“Nonsense!”

Shring!

Canye could tell that he was moments away from death, and he had no choice but to wield his sword. If he died without at least drawing it, he knew that he would remain in Salgaera as a ghost because of his undying regret.

Canye instantly poured all of his strength into his sword like it was gunpowder and swung it with all his might. It would be the last attack of his life. However, his blade didn’t even get close enough to Von to tear his clothing.

Thud.

Canye’s head fell to the ground, blood gushing out like a fountain from his neck. Even at the moment, Canye’s eyes were still fixed on Von. In the split second that Von had cut his head off, Canye had seen the unimaginably large aura on Von’s sword. It was much larger than Salmora’s.

“I hope I’m not late.”

After dealing with the guests, Von made his way back inside the checkpoint to drink the whiskey.