The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 4



Only Krnovel

“… Huh!”

A sharp breath stabbed Enoch.

He desperately tried to straighten his staggering posture as if he was about to fall.

I still can’t believe it.

Oxygen being sucked into my lungs at a rapid rate. The smell of my own blood being strongly imprinted on my mind.

And the feeling of the cold sword at your fingertips.

“Just now, the thing that died….”

I quickly felt around for his neck, but it was still attached as if nothing had happened.

But the death I felt in that fleeting moment was still vivid.

It’s definitely not a hallucination. If so… .

‘Have you come back to life?’

He quickly checked his condition.

The floor and the body, which should have clearly been a mess from the gushing blood, were intact.

So, in this strange space, even if you died, it seemed like it never happened.

‘What on earth is this space?’

A world made of black shadows that surround Enoch.

It was unbelievable, but the only reason he came back to life was because of this unidentified space.

What on earth is this place?

Enoch’s ‘trait’ activated as soon as he picked up the sword. Could it be related to that?

But there was no time to think deeply.

I quickly raised my head as I felt an intense murderous intent, and there was the shadow again, aiming its sword in my direction.

Woohoooo …

The next moment, red mana rose from the blade of the sword that Geomseong was holding. Enoch’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

‘Mana, to the sword?’

As Enoch was inwardly surprised, translucent letters appeared before his eyes again.

? Absorbing the experience of “The Last Swordsman of the Empire” (Basic)

? Inheriting the “Sense of Mana”…

? Progress: 11.5%

‘The sense of mana.’

A question occurred to me for a moment, but of course I had no time to think about it.

Once again, the shadow’s fierce attack cut through my body without mercy.

“Ugh!”

In a moment, my breath came out in excruciating pain.

One-sided attacks continued, with no defense or counterattack possible. No matter how desperately I resisted, I couldn’t even react to the bastard’s attacks.

The result was countless indiscriminate deaths.

Crunch.

Necks, arms, and legs are torn apart and sent flying by the swords wielded by the shadow.

Pain so intense that normal thinking was impossible raced through my body. The smell of blood filled my nostrils.

? Progress: 33.8%

The endless pain of being stabbed by a sword. My consciousness, paralyzed by the excruciating pain, lost the ability to think.

But, at that very moment, the last remaining thread of reason was about to disappear.

? Progress: 50.0%

……for a moment.

Enoch opened his eyes wide.

‘What just happened?’

Suddenly something caught Enoch’s eye.

Something drawn very faintly in the air, but clearly visible.

‘Line?’

A red line of light was drawn in the air before the opponent’s attack.

That’s right.

The movement of the sword that is seen ‘first’ before the enemy’s sword rushes in.

At first, I thought I was hallucinating from the pain, but it wasn’t an illusion.

As the sword was repeatedly cut, the lines became clearer and clearer.

Now I can see it clearly.

─Again, a line was drawn in the air.

Enoch’s pitch-black eyes moved slowly along the line’s trajectory.

In that moment, when the moments overlapped and it seemed as if they were in slow motion, Enoch instinctively realized where the next attack would come from.

Swipe down from the top left.

‘Coming!’

Enoch desperately threw himself to the side of the line, and at the same time, a creepy crashing sound tore at his ears.

WHEEK!

A blade that passed through Enoch’s body by a margin of a sheet of paper.

A chill ran through my whole body at the eerie sensation.

‘It’s not a mistake.’

The enemy’s attacks were gradually becoming visible in the form of lines, one step ahead.

‘…the sense of mana.’

The ‘Mana’ contained in the Sword of the Black Sword. Is it possible to see the flow of movement of the sword itself?

? Progress: 89.9%

I don’t know how many times I’ve died so far. I haven’t even counted more than a dozen times.

But this did give us one thing that was most certain.

? Progress: 95.0%

In this heterogeneous, endless world, Enoch Elseid never dies.

Until I completely absorbed the ‘sense of mana’ from the swordsman in front of me.

‘If that weren’t the case, there would be no reason for it to keep coming back to life so meaninglessly.’

Shhh!

The next moment, a red line trajectory was engraved towards Enoch’s neck. Enoch opened his eyes wide.

‘I can see it!’

Instinctively, the body flies.

The sword strike that had been impossible to react to until now narrowly passed by the spot where Enoch had just been.

‘Now you can avoid it!’

Enoch was finally convinced.

That shadow, the last swordsman of the empire, was teaching him while cutting him down.

A moment of realization crossed my mind.

This is the working principle of the trait . The entire process of learning the techniques used by the original owner of this sword by directly experiencing them!

Suddenly, a sentence I had seen earlier came to mind.

‘The sword can absorb the original user’s experience through a medium, ra… … .’

He looked down at the sword in his hand.

‘There really is no separate bug skill.’

Enoch Elseid, who was just an odd supporting character in the original work, had such an absurd trait.

WHEEK!

With a sharp sound of a crash, Geomseong raised his sword again.

The signs of an attack are drawn before my eyes once again.

A red line was drawn in the air, heading towards Enoch’s heart.

But this time, Enoch also swung his sword at the same time.

Kaaaaang!

The two swords launched by Geomseong and Enoch clashed in the air with perfect symmetry.

Sparks flew along with the loud sound of metal rubbing against each other.

Between the two sword blades interlocked at an angle, the silent darkness of Enoch and Shadow crossed their gazes.

Enoch took a deep breath and muttered quietly to himself.

“…I get it.”

Enoch suddenly raised his head.

Beyond the interlocking swords of oneself and the swordsman.

As if lines were drawn in space with light, countless attacks that the opponent would inflict by moving his sword were clearly drawn across the air.

─A world made of lines of movement.

I could tell even though no one taught me.

This is the world that “The Last Sword Saint of the Empire” saw.

‘…beautiful.’

As Enoch’s gaze was inadvertently drawn to the world of those lines, a transparent sentence appeared before his eyes again.

? Progress: 100.0%

? Basics: Acquisition of “Sense of Mana” completed

The next moment, the bottom of the world that had been filled with emptiness began to rotate and change.

Kkwadduk!

Unlike the space just now that was made up of only flickering shadows, this is a place with clear shapes and colors.

‘What is this place?’

The surroundings were covered in midnight darkness.

The place that suddenly changed was a huge fortress surrounded by tall torches.

Enoch had no time to be surprised by the sudden change in space.

Once again, white letters appeared before my eyes.

? Reproducing the experience absorbed by : “Sense of Mana”

? Reconstruction of the memories of “The Last Swordsman of the Empire”

And in the middle of the fortress lit by torches, the shadow of the swordsman who had just cut him down several times stood with his sword hanging down.

But unlike just a moment ago, he was not alone. Enoch glanced at those around him, and for a moment he doubted his own eyes.

‘Wizards?’

The silhouettes of five magicians aiming their staffs.

They were facing each other with blatant hostility in front of the shadow of the sword.

In the midst of all this, the shadow of the black sword suddenly glanced this way.

Even though it was just a silhouette and had no form, not even a face, Enoch could tell for some reason.

‘A look as if telling me to take a good look this way.’

Woohoooo …

The magicians all aimed at the horse field and concentrated their mana at once, as if they were finally planning to launch an attack on the swordsman.

As the movement progressed, a geometric magic circle was drawn in the air.

Enoch immediately recognized their level.

‘Those are, at least, level 7 wizards?’

If it’s , you can memorize the settings and in-game elements even while sleeping.

You can tell what level these wizards are at just by looking at the types of magic they use and the speed at which they deploy it.

‘The magicians of the Empire are divided into 20 ranks according to their level.’

The closer to 1st grade, the more powerful the high-ranking wizard.

Conversely, a level 20 wizard is the lowest level, a beginner wizard who has just entered the path of magic.

Of course, there are many factors such as actual combat experience, the type of main magic, the presence or absence of unique magic, the compatibility between each magic and battle style, etc., so even within the same rank there can be a big difference, so you can’t think of that rank as combat power.

however….

‘If you look at their costumes or magic, the wizards in front of you are at least level 7 wizards who specialize in combat!’

If they were high-level battle magicians like that, they would be powerful enough to obliterate a city if they wanted to.

‘But, something seems strange?’

As Enoch watched the wizards cast their spells simultaneously, he noticed something else.

The magic of wizards, so familiar that I could recite it one after another, felt somewhat out of place.

There is only one reason.

‘… That?’

Energies rippling around the wizards.

Wheeing-

In Enoch’s eyes, the flow of mana they created was depicted as countless lines of light. A flow of mana that would have been completely invisible originally.

‘Is it because of the “Sense of Mana” I just acquired?’

at that time.

The blacksmith quickly closed the distance between himself and the wizards and swung his sword.

Enoch’s eyes widened.

To a normal person, his movements would have simply been seen as a move to cut down an enemy.

But no.

Thanks to the ‘Sense of Mana’ he had just inherited, Enoch was able to see something quite surprising.

‘What the Black Swordsman is really trying to do is….’

Crunch!

The next moment, Enoch clearly saw the Black Swordsman ‘cutting the lines of mana with his sword’.

Chaaaaang!

With a sound like glass breaking.

As the swordsman cut through the mana line, the magic circles that were just forming suddenly lost their shape and scattered into pieces.

Geomsung moved his sword without stopping.

Every time he cut through the enemy wizards’ mana lines, the magic circles they had built in the air would break and disappear one by one.

Enoch looked at it with sharp eyes.

‘… … Blocking magic by cutting mana.’

Only then could I fully understand.

This was exactly the feeling that the swordsman was trying to convey to me as he cut him down over and over again.

? Succession completed

? “Sense of Mana” (Basic)

All beings in this world created by the goddess are imbued with mana.

‘Swordsmanship’, a movement that is completed by projecting one’s own will, is no exception.

Therefore, in order to truly handle a sword, you must first learn the feel of mana.

? Effect: You can focus your senses to perceive the flow of mana.

? The unique talent possessed by the “Last Swordsman of the Empire”

‘crazy.’

At that moment, my heart started pounding rapidly.

You can block the magic of wizards in advance!

As a veteran who only played this game after eating, Enoch could tell for sure.

‘There is no other dog-like skill like this.’

A world where 90% of the empire’s citizens are wizards.

Most of these wizards must construct a magic circle in order to cast their spells.

If that’s the case, then it was obvious that what I had just learned would be a skill that could be used against almost any opponent.

And that’s not all?

Depending on how you use it, you can randomly scatter the enemy’s mana, combine it with other magic, or even return it to the enemy as is. Infinite combinations may be possible in the future.

The intuition of the old man was telling me so.

‘All possibilities for growth must always be open.’

From the beginning, was that kind of game.

‘Even the ‘sense of mana’ was called ‘basic’.’

If that’s the case, then that shadow of the black swordsman hasn’t learned proper swordsmanship yet.

Enoch recalled a chapter from the original game.

‘There was one episode where Enoch showed off his ‘sword skills’ in front of the player, and that was it.’

But in the work, that scene was one that had a huge impact.

Extra Enoch, who originally had no idea he existed, became a hot topic in the community due to that episode.

Of course, after that scene, Enoch never appeared again.

But it was an impressive incident that made everyone remember Enoch, who was just an extra.

Enoch glanced down at the sword he held.

‘So, what if, instead of this basics, I were to truly inherit this ‘swordsmanship’?’

Enoch’s eyes deepened as he thought about it.

It’s worth doing.

Enoch was originally just a consumable supporting character in .

Even with a character like this, it is possible to survive in this absurd world filled with wizards.

I felt that way.

Swish.

But the next moment, the swordsman, the wizards, and the surrounding scenery suddenly became blurred.

Looking around, Enoch was left alone in the empty world.

? Temporarily suspending the absorption of the experience of “The Last Swordsman of the Empire”

Support position

In a world that is losing its form.

Messages that were blurry like the surrounding environment came to mind.

? Lack of understanding of mana in “Enoch Elseid”

? When a skill acquired as a characteristic is expressed, its power is limited

? Conditions for absorbing the next level of experience: Increased understanding of mana in “Enoch Elseid”