Novels online

I can see the Emperor's stats-Chapter 120

cleaver and cut

The moment Julius cuts the last masked man's body in two. There were people who had been hit quite a bit from far away.

Kwajik!

The ridiculous mask was completely shattered, and the man went mad, blood pouring from all seven holes in his face.

“Quaaaaagh!”

The ornately decorated table crumbles with a crackling sound. This time, it was not a simple summon that connected only the senses like the last time, but a 'part of the body' was sent directly, so the blow was huge.

The fallen man had no choice but to roll on the floor for a long time in agony.

“… … .”

Let him twitch somewhat. One of his subordinates approached cautiously.

“Archbishop… Are you okay?”

The man silently raised his hand and grabbed the subordinate's leg.

“Did you say you were the owner here?”

Hwareuk!

“… … !?”

In an instant, without even time to make a sound, the man's body was charred to black. It had nothing to do with men. There were plenty of people who could replace such a careless subordinate.

In fact, the other subordinates who had heard the man's screams and entered the room stiffened with pale expressions at the sight.

"after… … .”

The man shook his head once to see if the pain had stopped and opened his mouth. The tone was unusually full of anger. Compared to before, he seems to have become a completely different person.

“Call the others. I mean, I'll take care of the first prince!"

"I'm sorry, but didn't you already say that the Eastern side would take care of that?"

One of his men spoke cautiously, but the man stubbornly shook his head.

“You said it would take time to come from there in earnest anyway. Before that, we can take care of it here.”

"All right."

Watching them rush off, the man let out a sigh again, as if he had finally found some leeway.

“Eh… I said it out of anger, but how do you catch it?”

What he showed in Heaven Guard was not his strength. However, the prince unexpectedly lightly (?) repulsed himself. Could he be hiding something more?

But the damage he suffered was too great to go on like this. Four dolls that were difficult to make were destroyed, and many subordinates were lost.

The most infuriating thing was that he was in a situation where he had been properly beaten by Julius twice, and that it was difficult to defeat him in a head-to-head confrontation.

'If it's hard with only dolls, I'll have to pull out the roots of the pillars here... … .'

The man thought for a moment and nodded his head with an expressionless face. There was not much time left for him now.

"I'll have to pick up a new one, starting with the mask."

He walked out of the room, remaining expressionless.

* * *

As soon as Julius came out of the heat safely, the castle was cleaned up.

He was listening to Victor and Haynes' report in the waiting room of the Knights.

“Some of the knights were slightly injured, but there were no major damages.”

“I’m glad you did.”

First of all, after hearing Haines' words, Julius nodded. In fact, he couldn't help but worry when four masks appeared.

I used a technique that was not yet perfect in order to quickly organize it and go to the knights for support, but fortunately the enemy's power seemed to be just that much.

He turned and looked at Victor this time.

“What about the damage to the castle?”

“The place where we couldn’t completely block it was slightly scorched by the flames. It evolved quickly.”

“Good job. Then, can I pay off the debt I owe to the Grand Duke?”

“It’s not just about repaying it, it’s about receiving a great favor. On behalf of Heaven Guard, thank you.”

Victor bowed deeply and thanked Julius. As for the resistance damage, if he hadn't informed in advance, more than half of Heaven Guard would have been reduced to ashes overnight.

Contrary to his calm tone, he was quite agitated inside.

'When I first heard that I had competed one-on-one with His Highness, it was hard to believe, but I think I was very wrong. He seems to have lost his judgment because he's old.'

Julius was also quietly laughing inwardly.

'Looks like you've come a long way now?'

Julius was recalling the situation from a few days ago.

* * *

“Then, the deployment of the troops is complete, so just wait and they will come.”

After finishing the ambush plan for the defense battle, Julius stretched out and stood up.

“It can't compare to the imperial palace, but I'll provide you with a place to rest.”

“You can do that in moderation, but I have a request for you.”

Julius restrained Victor from getting up in haste.

“What are you asking for?”

“Isn’t there a quiet and spacious gymnasium in this castle? I have to test what I got this time.”

“… … !?”

Victor couldn't help but be surprised. As he was a confidant of his henchmen, he knew to some extent what the Grand Duke was researching. But what the hell is that saying that Julius, who just came out of the locker room, is testing it?

'no way… But what if it is true that the Grand Duke was defeated?'

With half-doubt in his heart, he moved back to the introspection. The place where Julius was guided along with him was an empty lot inside the castle.

On one side of the clearing ran a small river that was used to supply water for the entire castle, and the flat, well-trimmed floor proved to be well-maintained.

“This is a gymnasium dedicated to His Highness. Now that there is no owner, you can use it to your heart's content.”

The words 'there is no owner' made me nervous as a person who got rid of the owner.

'This old man is secretly stubborn. Does that mean it's hard to completely trust the person who killed the master he served?'

Julius replied with a shy smile.

“It is a good gymnasium. The person managing it must have had a lot of trouble.”

“As a person in charge of managing the castle, it is natural.”

That's how the words with bones passed by each other. Actually, Julius was subtly pressuring him to come under him.

In fact, even though the main force of the secret organization Gladius was almost wiped out, a considerable number remained, including the personnel captured in the imperial palace and trainee knights.

His intention was that it did not matter if he returned to the imperial palace as long as he did not have a grudge with the Grand Duke.

'There's no reason not to subsume decent power.'

In fact, if the archduke had been closely related to the church, he would have thought differently, but surprisingly, he was a much cleaner person than Julius originally thought, except for his contact with the black market.

But isn't Victor wasting his age? I was avoiding the answer with such a clever answer. Going straight to the person who killed the master he served for once would not be justified even as a knight.

“I have something to think about quietly, so would you mind leaving your seat?”

"All right."

After confirming that Victor's presence had moved away, Julius headed towards the center of the clearing.

First of all, I had to test how much I could use what I had learned through 'acquisition'. He slowly drew his sword.

Shhhhh!

The sword slowly ascended into the air and was swung downward at terrifying speed.

The target of the sword that Julius wielded was the small river flowing on one side of the clearing. It was a small tributary, less than a few meters wide, but if he mastered the technique properly, there would be consequences.

Shaaaaa!

The water parted slightly and the bottom began to show. But that time was less than a second. The slash cut through the river and seemed to advance little by little, but soon lost its power.

'I think it's possible to imitate it for now?'

In general, if you try to cut the river with your sword, you will only splash the water on the surface.

Even though it was a small river, it seemed possible to use the secret technique itself even if you learned it once you learned it if you split it cleanly for a while.

"nice… … .”

However, the appearance of Julius was strange. He stumbled and sat down. only once! It was also to cast an incomplete technique, but the energy of the whole body was lost.

[Failure, 1 point.]

Before he could judge, the Yellow Dragon Sword first judged it to be a failure like a knife.

'As expected, what I learned through learning doesn't become completely mine without enlightenment, right? Is it because I'm not a full player? Or do you need realization in the first place?'

Skills learned through acquisition are usually automatically memorized in the head. However, in this case, because the level was not up to the level of technology, not only could not completely split the river, but the force and stamina were consumed so much that the strength was instantly drained.

Julius was lost in thought.

'I can't use it in actual combat until I raise my proficiency.'

[Cutting Sword Mastery: 1%.]

Isn't it meaningless to use it once and throw it away because the power is not perfect? However, since it was still unclear how strong the enemy would be attacking this time, I wanted to have at least one more trump card if possible.

“Is there any way?”

[…] … .]

Even after thinking about it for hours alone, I couldn't find an answer, so I asked Hwangryongsword, but as expected, all of these swords were good, but they were too expensive to get rid of.

Ugh.

However, it seems that he has acknowledged him to some extent, these days, he has become more likely to give plausible hints. The sword moved wildly and pointed at one side of his chest.

'Are you talking about the grand duke's memoirs?'

With a puzzled expression, Julius took out a book from his bosom and held it up. There was no actual content. It's just a diary of the grand duke's anguish, so why did he ask me to read it again?

[Recently concluded. No matter how fast and strong a blow is, it can't cut through mountains or seas. Concentrating on power, I may have made a mistake from the beginning.]

The Archduke's anguish about the second stage of training ended here. So, is there a hint here?

[Not a result.]

Here, the Yellow Dragon Sword added a word. Julius pondered.

'If it's not a result, does that mean it's a process?'

Also, the Archduke judged that it was neither strength nor speed. So what on earth split the lake?

Speaking of the process, I swung the sword, and the result was that the water split. And the speed or power of swinging the sword is not the subject of consideration in the second stage.

“But to split something, of course, you have to have strength and speed, right?”

Ugh.

As if feeling frustrated, the Yellow Dragon Sword began to vibrate louder this time.

[Become, mozilla, word, cut, no.]

'Come to think of it… … .'

Come to think of it, the meaning of the word was also strange. Usually, when cutting something, it is written as cutting, not cutting. The meanings of the two words are distinctly different.

[Me, cleaver, no.]

'What is this again?'

If he had reached his level, in fact, he could lightly cut a decent amount of iron or stone with a kitchen knife. Even if it's not a bit of a kitchen knife, there won't be a big difference whether you use a regular sword or a treasured sword, the Hwangryongsword.

“A sword is a tool for cutting something anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a kitchen knife or a famous sword… ok?"

Thinking this far, Julius suddenly hit his knee.

"ah!"

He raised his sword again and stood up. Quite a bit of time has passed, so his physical condition has recovered considerably.

He realized two things this time. The first is the difference between process and result!

'It's not about splitting water. Separation is the result!'

Squeak.

His sword swung from top to bottom very slowly, this time like a turtle crawling.

[The skill level increases significantly.]

[Cutting Sword Mastery: 10%]

Shaaaaa.

His predictions were right.

"also!"

His sword was only a few meters in a shallow river, but it clearly cut through the water. For several seconds, the riverbed was clearly visible through the cracks.

Looking at the scene, Julius couldn't help but stick out his tongue even though he had done it himself.

'It was a more terrifying ability than I thought. Could it be that it was a sword that could cut objects by blocking space!'

As he thought, the meaning of severance literally meant separating the spaces. The splitting of a mountain or sea simply means that the part is naturally cut off because of the split space.

The second hint given by the Hwangryongsword was that the severing sword had a big difference from the general meaning of 'cutting' in the first place. Isn't there a big difference when you look at it physically, whether you cut people with a sword or cut meat with a kitchen knife?

That is why it is called Severance, not Severance.

And what made Julius quickly realize this principle was the skill he showed at the end of the decisive battle with the Archduke.

He was barely hurt even in the center of the explosion, where the charge was half blown away, because the Archduke's sword shielded the space around him from the blast's effects.

“Ugh… … .”

The joy of getting the big game was short-lived, but Julius had to sit down again. He was better than before, but he was by no means a skill to be abused.

'It's still only about two consecutive uses.'

However, those two cut swords played a decisive role in this battle.

First, he cut off the space around him and easily endured the flame storm that covered his immunity, and second, he was able to take down the regenerative one with a surprise attack.

'Even if I want to regenerate, it's only possible if I'm attached to my body first!'

In the closed space, it was impossible for flesh to touch for a while, so he collapsed helplessly.

'As long as I can handle this sword perfectly, there will be no problem no matter what crisis comes.'

Although there were various adversities, Julius was able to grow to another level like that.

* * *

After finishing his flashback first, Julius spoke up.

“Then isn’t it time to decide your future course? I have something to tell you.”

He asked playfully this time. Realizing that intention, Victor seemed to think for a moment.

“I know all the tangential locations of those called the Black Market… If they had an idea, they wouldn't have left any regrets.”

“Just telling you is enough. And what about the second?”

Julius hurriedly responded. Victor was quite conflicted. After thinking about it, he finally opened his mouth.

“Actually, I have one shameless request, would you please?”

"hmm?"

Julius had a hunch that this request would be the deciding factor in determining Gladius' joining.

“Tell me anything. Obama will judge, but I can listen to quite a few things.”

"then… … .”

* * *

Moments later, Julius smiled and ordered the knights to hurry up and get ready to leave the castle.

“Are you leaving already? I'm sure the battle fatigue hasn't healed yet, right?"

“Unfortunately, there is a lot to do in the capital. I'd like to enjoy the victory a little longer, but I think I'll have to go.”

"Then I can't stop it."

“I will tell you about your request well. I'll send a message as soon as we get to the capital, so you can come up then.”

Victor bowed his head deeply again.

“I am really sorry.”

Julius waved at him and left Heaven Guard with the knights. When he arrives in the capital, he has many things to do besides Victor's favor.

First of all, there were times when it wasn't finished yet.

'The first leg was my victory. But the second match won't be taken lightly!'

The enemy he thought was a black market. Even though he removed the archbishop, no quest message came to mind.

The reaction was different from the last time he eliminated Ismail, so it was highly likely that the enemy was still alive.

There was only one thought in Julius' head as he rode his horse. To find their home base!

'I'll have to prepare to catch their tails when I return to the capital.'