WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Retuned Zenith wants to Rest ◈
Episode 19:
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Yoo Kangmin remembered that the Martial Emperor’s Sword Tomb had been guarded by iron puppets.
Through intricate mechanism formations, those iron puppets used martial arts to slaughter intruders.
That meant there had been no rotting corpses like these in the Martial Emperor’s Sword Tomb.
‘Something has changed.’
The Martial Emperor’s Sword Tomb in his memories was clearly similar to this one, yet different.
‘Was a place like this behind the gate from the beginning? Or did this place change because of me?’
Several thoughts crossed his mind.
But regardless of which was true, Yoo Kangmin was certain this place was not merely a D-rank gate.
Whoosh!
As proof, those rotting corpses were using martial arts just like the iron puppets.
Their level was such that any D-rank hunter other than Yoon Seoha would never have been able to handle them.
“Maybe I should call it a stroke of good fortune.”
Yoo Kangmin watched Yoon Seoha’s battle with the corpses for a moment.
Whoosh!
Just then, a rusty sword wielded by one corpse shot toward Yoon Seoha’s neck.
Seoha hurriedly swung her sword and knocked it away.
Clang!
‘She blocked it...’
At that moment, the corpse’s sword slid along the blade of her sword.
Its edge drove toward her wrist.
“Gasp!”
Caught off guard by the unexpected movement, Yoon Seoha hastily retreated.
Riiip!
Still, she had not avoided it perfectly, and her sleeve was split wide open.
Had she been half a step slower, her wrist would have been cut.
“M-Master?!”
“Don’t try to force it back with strength. That’s what it’s waiting for.”
“You could’ve told me that earlier...!”
Clang!
She did not even have time to finish speaking.
This time, a sword shot up from below.
Yoon Seoha twisted her body and barely met it with her own sword.
The impact left her palm throbbing.
It was a corpse.
A corpse that did not even seem capable of thought was reading her sword.
‘How?’
If she moved forward, it targeted her wrist.
If she stepped back, it stabbed for her neck.
If she swung widely, it slipped inside her guard.
No matter what she chose, a sword was waiting.
“Is fighting many at once still too much for you?”
As he spoke, Yoo Kangmin stepped forward lightly and swept away every corpse in a single strike except for the one holding a sword.
“Whoa...”
Overwhelmed by that display of martial prowess, Yoon Seoha could only gape.
“Just how strong are you, Master?”
“Me? I was once called the Ultimate Zenith. Perhaps the only person who could vie for the title of greatest in all history.”
“What?”
Knowing nothing of the martial world, Yoon Seoha only furrowed her brow at the random remark.
She could not understand Yoo Kangmin, who occasionally said things she could not make sense of.
“Focus.”
Yoon Seoha still had an opponent left.
One sword-wielding corpse was enough for her.
‘Its qi is manageable enough.’
It was an ideal opponent for giving Yoon Seoha real combat experience.
The Bright Mirror Sword Manual would likely develop on its own during the process.
In a way suited to Yoon Seoha herself.
‘Show me.’
Clang!
Their swords collided once more.
Yoon Seoha gritted her teeth.
She was so busy defending herself that she kept getting dragged along.
‘This won’t work.’
She needed to change the flow of the battle.
To do that, she first had to calm these unstable emotions raging within her.
Her sword carried nothing but the impatience to evade the corpse’s attacks.
‘I need to let go of my impatience.’
Instinctively, Yoon Seoha recited the cultivation formula of the Bright Mirror Sword Manual.
She still did not fully understand its meaning, but merely reciting it seemed to bring calm to her body and mind.
‘Still the heart like water. Let intent precede the sword.’
Still your heart, and place your intent before your sword.
“Hoo.”
Exhaling deeply, Yoon Seoha asked herself once again where her intent lay.
‘Where was I trying to cut?’
Yoon Seoha’s gaze reached her opponent’s neck.
‘Right. There.’
She caught a glimpse of it.
A blue stone embedded deep in the corpse’s neck.
It seemed to be the power source that kept these corpses moving as though they were alive.
‘A mana stone.’
Yoon Seoha had thought these corpses were undead, but they were clearly a different kind of creature.
If they had been undead, there should have been a necromancer nearby.
Yet judging from the mana stones embedded in their necks and the way they moved independently, they were not undead.
In other words, cutting off their heads would grant them rest.
Vwoooom!
The sword-wielding corpse relentlessly kept up its assault on Yoon Seoha.
But even as she blocked its sword, she did not lose sight of where her own blade needed to go.
‘Now.’
The single line she had seen in the darkness yesterday became clear.
Yoon Seoha swung her sword along that line.
Slice!
With a single strike, the corpse’s head was cut off.
“Huff, huff!”
As expected, once the mana stone was cut precisely, the corpse lost all movement and decayed where it stood.
“Ugh!”
The stench of rot was overwhelming, but Yoon Seoha could smile at the satisfaction of having done it.
“I did it.”
“Yes. Well done. You’re finally becoming useful. Now keep going.”
“Huh?”
Yoon Seoha thought it was over, but for Yoo Kangmin, it had only begun.
“What are you so surprised about?”
“Uh.”
Yoo Kangmin opened the stone door without hesitation.
When they entered the next area, corpses were wandering there as well, searching for intruders.
“Th-There are more?!”
“Of course. Naturally.”
Yoo Kangmin could not bring himself to tell her what awaited them at the end of this place.
“You can handle them, right?”
“O-Of course.”
“Good. Then go wild.”
Yoon Seoha suddenly had no choice but to fight those nameless corpses like mad.
“Hoo...”
Though she did not realize it, Yoon Seoha was growing a little stronger each time her sword clashed with theirs.
A smile rose to Yoo Kangmin’s lips as he watched.
‘The Sword Empress would have been pleased to see this.’
At first, even receiving the sword of one corpse had been overwhelming.
Yet before long, five corpses surrounded Yoon Seoha, and the battle remained evenly matched.
Of course, as Yoon Seoha grew stronger, so did the corpses’ qi as they drew closer to the center.
Clang!
Watching Yoon Seoha gradually begin to lose ground, Yoo Kangmin shook his head.
“She’s reaching her limit.”
She had fought better than expected, so Yoo Kangmin was about to step in.
If she was injured, it would interfere with her training going forward.
Just as he was about to intervene...
Hummm.
A sword blade gave off a low hum.
Yoo Kangmin was not holding a sword, so the source of that sound was Yoon Seoha.
‘A resonance hum?’
No matter how exceptional Yoon Seoha’s talent was, and even if she had learned the Sword Empress’s Bright Mirror Sword Manual, she could not have grown this quickly.
This was not simply a matter of an F-rank advancing to D-rank.
Beginning to resonate with her sword meant Yoon Seoha was awakening her aptitude as a swordswoman.
‘Could it be...?’
Yoo Kangmin looked at Yoon Seoha.
Then he decided not to intervene.
‘She has entered a state of selflessness.’
Yoon Seoha had fallen into a state of selflessness, focusing on her sword more deeply than ever before.
She was continuously murmuring something. It was the cultivation formula of the Bright Mirror Sword Manual.
“Show me.”
At that moment, Yoon Seoha took a step forward and moved her sword.
Vwoooom!
The sword rang loudly.
For an instant, it seemed as though Yoon Seoha and her sword had become one.
Kraaaash!
A tremendous roar echoed through the chamber.
Amazingly, Yoon Seoha swept away every enemy blocking her path with a single strike.
Yoo Kangmin stared at the sword in Yoon Seoha’s hand.
At the faint sword intent lingering at its tip.
‘She didn’t simply imitate the Sword Empress’s sword.’
It had been based on the Bright Mirror Sword Manual, but that strike was undoubtedly Yoon Seoha’s own sword.
‘It’s immature, but...’
Even Yoon Seoha herself would not be able to perform it again if asked.
Even so, if only for a moment, she had crossed the limits her body could bear.
‘What a splendid sword.’
Yoo Kangmin let out a hollow laugh.
Perhaps because the tension had left her, Yoon Seoha was barely standing, using her sword as a cane.
She was exhausted, breathing heavily again and again.
“D-Did I cut them?”
“Yes.”
She had not merely cut down the corpses.
She had also destroyed the stone door they needed to pass through.
“Well done.”
She had created a passage altogether.
And Yoo Kangmin could sense what was at the end of it.
“Just as I thought...”
Yoo Kangmin sighed.
It seemed it was no longer Yoon Seoha’s turn, but his.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Go where?”
“Today’s training has been enough. Let’s get out of here.”
“Ah. Already? But how are we getting out? The exit gate disappeared.”
“Then we just clear it completely.”
“Th-That’s true, but this isn’t an ordinary D-rank gate. We have no idea what dangers might be in here.”
“I know.”
“What?”
Yoo Kangmin’s expression had hardened.
“I know what’s in there.”
“...?”
At that moment, familiar qi flowed from the darkness at the end of the open passage.
At the same time, a voice filled with will, as though crushing the presence of both of them, reached them.
[Who.]
[Has awakened this one’s slumber.]
A shiver ran through her.
That voice did not merely ring in her ears.
Her head throbbed as though it had been engraved upon her soul.
“Uuugh!”
Yoon Seoha clutched her head in pain.
The voice continued to echo, gnawing away at her soul.
“S-Stop...”
Clatter.
Yoon Seoha finally dropped her sword.
Thud!
At the same time, she fell to her knees.
Her vision turned white, and something hot trickled from her nose.
Drip.
Drip, drip.
Drops of blood fell to the floor.
Yet more than the pain, the sound still ringing in her head was consuming Yoon Seoha by the second.
‘Breathe...’
She needed to breathe.
But she could not remember how.
She could remember nothing.
Not even the cultivation formula of the Bright Mirror Sword Manual.
Nothing came to mind.
‘I-I need to bow my head.’
Only one thought remained: if she wanted to live, she had to bow her head and submit to the voice in her mind.
That was the only way not to resist the owner of that voice.
Yoon Seoha’s forehead lowered toward the floor.
Tap.
At that moment, a hand rested on her shoulder.
“Don’t bow your head.”
It was Yoo Kangmin’s voice.
The moment she heard it, the resonance tearing through Yoon Seoha’s mind stopped.
“Cough! Hah, hah!”
The breath trapped in her lungs burst free.
Yoon Seoha remained braced against the floor, coughing repeatedly.
“Tch. So weak.”
Yoo Kangmin sent qi through her back.
He gathered her scattered qi and straightened the meridians that had begun to twist.
Yoon Seoha barely regained her senses, then asked Yoo Kangmin in terror.
“W-What... what is in there?”
Even as she spoke, Yoon Seoha’s body trembled violently.
Merely recalling that voice made her entire soul react violently.
“...”
Yoo Kangmin answered without removing his hand from her shoulder.
“The Martial Emperor.”
Yoon Seoha could not bring herself to say that name aloud.
She felt that if she did, its owner would turn its gaze upon her again.
Yoo Kangmin removed his hand from Yoon Seoha’s shoulder, rose to his feet, and looked beyond the passage.
“A specter once called the Ultimate Zenith.”
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