I Became a Swordsmanship Genius at the Academy

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As I stepped outside the barrier, a scent of blood wafted through the air. The scenery that came into view was drenched in red.

In front of me, the warriors of the Endo clan were visible. The circular formation was on the verge of collapse.

Tick-tock.

Kim Il-shin dashed forward without hesitation. A few figures turned their gaze towards him, alerted by the unfamiliar presence.

“I found him!”

“Kill the bastard!”

“Khack!”

Like children who had discovered a precious treasure, they charged with wild abandon.

I could see flesh sticking to their red claws. I couldn’t tell whose it was.

Boom!

The recoil from my step ignited a fire throughout my body.

The rapidly heated mana circuit carried a surge of heat, and Kim Il-shin gathered it, storing it in the Il-shin Convergence Technique that flowed through the circuit.

He took a stance that had now become familiar. Lowering his posture, he pulled back his right fist.

Creeeak……

In that instant, the battle came to a stop. The presence of the compressed energy above their limits didn’t discriminate between allies and foes.

As a momentary silence fell on the chaotic battlefield, Kim Il-shin released his fist.

Kwah-kwa-kwah-kwah-kwah――!!!

A swirling crimson energy tore across the ground, rending the battlefield in two.

The caught enemies were torn apart, unable even to scream.

“……”

There were no enemies left in the wake of the shockwave. Only exploded and shattered bodies lay scattered.

Because he couldn’t fully unleash the Hyun-Wol Divine Technique, he hadn’t killed them completely.

But at this level, they wouldn’t be able to regenerate before this battle ended.

‘This is sufficient.’

Kim Il-shin sprinted down the opened path to check the state of the barrier surrounding Hazuki.

Thanks to the recent strike, one side of the barrier had been breached.

Now that he had appeared, the need to apply further pressure on them had vanished, leaving only the option of holding their ground.

Rustle.

Drawing his sword, he advanced while picking off those who had been grazed by the shockwave.

Those cut by the sword infused with the Hyun-Wol Divine Technique didn’t rise again.

“Our lord is watching! Kill that guy!”

However, the minions to whom Vernika had dominion over showed no fear of death whatsoever.

Instead, they attacked Kim Il-shin with a fiercer fervor.

Swish!

Consumed by madness, the simplified minions were no match for Kim Il-shin.

With each swing of his sword, multiple heads fell to the ground with a thud.

The Endo clan warriors were in crisis due to their immortality.

To Kim Il-shin wielding the Hyun-Wol Divine Technique, they were little more than moving scarecrows.

“Kim Il-shin!”

Kim Il-shin had already breached near Hazuki’s position. Her voice calling for him was filled with excitement and joy.

Kim Il-shin turned his head slightly to check her condition.

She was covered in patches of blood, but it seemed she wasn’t injured.

“Are you okay—”

“I’m holding my ground.”

There was no time for idle conversation. She cut him off and turned her head again.

“Understood…! Everyone, hold the line! Close the gaps and reinforce the barrier!”

With her firm resolve, Hazuki began to direct the warriors, who followed her orders faithfully.

“Push them back!”

“Don’t die, hold strong!”

The warriors’ morale couldn’t have been higher. In a moment of despair, they had seen a brilliant glimmer of hope.

And that hope was now rushing towards the enormous monster that loomed behind them.

Crash! Crack!

Countless minions were minced by the flicks of the Hyun-Wol sword.

With every sweep of that seemingly erratic sword, their heads consistently fell.

As if they had coordinated their movements, the charging enemies were drawn into the trajectory of the Hyun-Wol sword.

This was a forced selection through a chain strike.

By taking control of the vast space with the Phantasm Realm, Kim Il-shin grasped every action of the enemies, matching his movements accordingly.

Swish!

The result of this was a meticulous chain of attacks worthy of a cinematic spectacle.

For an ordinary person, harboring the behavior of hundreds of enemies in their mind could lead to a brain overload and explosion.

Yet Kim Il-shin didn’t stop there; he even stepped into the realm of prediction.

Countless simulations unfolded within his mind.

Choosing one of them and executing it yielded results that were almost infinitely perfect.

Everything on the battlefield lay in the palm of his hand.

For instance, by the time he reached right next to Vernika, his body bore not a single drop of blood.

Now, it was impossible to discern who the real monster was.

The sight of Kim Il-shin brutally slashing through enemies was reminiscent of a possessed demon.

“Ka-ha-ack!”

“Devote your life to our lord!”

However, even after having cut down hundreds, the minion numbers hardly dwindled.

It was due to the black hole that had opened beside Vernika.

From there, new minions poured out every moment.

Inside that hole, countless minions were still writhing around.

These were the loyal subordinates that Vernika had painstakingly collected over her long life, numbering at least in the thousands.

The lives of these minions and the blood they spilled were all power for Vernika.

Thus, no matter how many minions were eradicated, she could not be dealt with.

On the contrary, the more time passed, the stronger she would become.

Ultimately, there was only one choice left. They needed to aim for the main body.

Whooooosh!

The Hyun-Wol sword released a fierce sword’s will. The flickering energy of the Hyun-Wol Divine Technique started to take shape.

Finally, the piercing strike that pushed against the air marked the true beginning of the conflict.

Slash!

It was then. The space beside Kim Il-shin distorted as if a curtain had been pulled back.

Red claws filled his sight.

It was the stealth technique of Petel, Vernika’s closest aide.

It did not merely conceal his figure and presence like other pitiful stealth techniques.

Petel could open space itself to hide his body within it, thereby avoiding detection in the Phantasm Realm.

Rustle!

Kim Il-shin was not flustered.

Lowering his upper body to dodge the claws, he swiftly rose to slash, cutting off Petel’s arm.

Immediately followed by a downward stroke.

The sword sliced from his collarbone through to his spine and came out the opposite side of his waist.

Petel’s body collapsed, severed, collapsing slowly.

However, the expression on his face, meeting a painful death, was filled with joy like never before.

Just before he died, he had fulfilled his master’s command.

Crackle……

Fragments of the badge turned to dust scattered from Petel’s grasp.

The mansion’s barrier, having judged Kim Il-shin as an intruder, began to press in on him.

*

When Kim Il-shin had approached right before Vernika, the warriors forming the barrier murmured.

Thanks to the enemies focusing their attention on Kim Il-shin, they had a moment’s respite.

“That’s— a ghost. A ghost of the sword…”

“Is this the birth of a new sword spirit?”

The gazes of the warriors looking at him were mixed with awe and a tinge of unease.

Having trained for a lifetime with swords, they understood just how abnormal Kim Il-shin’s prowess was.

His level of skill was leagues beyond what they could comprehend.

“Ah…”

But just one person, Hazuki, was different.

“That person is a deity… The god of swords has descended…!”

Having inherited some talent of a sword sage, Hazuki could see.

In her eyes, she witnessed it.

Even in this moment, Kim Il-shin’s overwhelming talent was growing.

This was a talent incomprehensible to those with merely human perspective.

Indeed, as just another human, Hazuki began to revere Kim Il-shin.

“How can he do that? …No. It must be natural for a god. Yes, since he is a god…”

Hazuki erased the very fact that she was in a battlefield from her mind and followed Kim Il-shin’s movements.

She took in every part of him.

What he had shown during the sparring session and testing was merely a mere warm-up.

To have assessed his capability based solely on that was utterly foolish.

Kim Il-shin’s true power was beyond imagination.

No, it was even uncertain if that was truly his full power.

That realization made Hazuki see him as an even more fearsome and admirable being.

Currently, despite the presence of many stronger individuals, including those she witnessed since childhood, that was not the case.

‘In the future, it’ll be different.’

Hazuki was certain. He would soon surpass anyone else in this world.

Transcending the bounds of humanity, he would emblazon his star in the center of the lofty sky.

And so would be recorded forever in history.

She couldn’t tell how long it would take. But she guessed it wouldn’t be for long.

“God…”

With every passing thought, her faith deepened.

The boundless trust shining in Hazuki’s gaze toward Kim Il-shin compared to that of the minions was incomparable.

And then.

Slash!

Petel’s ambush appeared from the side of Kim Il-shin.

Though he easily brushed it off, Petel had fulfilled his mission by sacrificing himself.

‘The badge…!’

Kim Il-shin’s badge had been completely destroyed.

Hazuki realized why those cunning enemies hadn’t destroyed the barrier.

They had aimed at Kim Il-shin’s badge to incapacitate him.

No matter how strong he was, facing enemies without mana was an impossible task.

“Ryota! Prepare to break through!”

She planned to quickly approach through the path Kim Il-shin had cleared and deliver him the badge.

“……Huh?”

But she couldn’t execute her plan.

‘Why… doesn’t it vanish?’

The pitch-black horror that dwelled within Kim Il-shin’s sword was still blazing bright.

He wasn’t holding on without mana.

Instead, it was a more vivid form of the horror than before the badge was destroyed.

It was easy to guess what that meant.

For whatever reason, Kim Il-shin was unaffected by the barrier.

Not even a barrier designed by a sword sage could bind him.

“Ahhh…!”

Ultimately, Hazuki collapsed under the pressure, unable to hold back the overwhelming emotion.

“……?”

“….”

The warriors who looked at Hazuki were only left confused.