LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 41 - Someone broken.
“Phew…”
I took a deep breath, inhaling until my chest swelled.
-Woong
The feeling in my chest was unmistakably an expert’s aura.
“It’s only 3 minutes, but let’s make it count.”
[02:48]
-Thud
As my aura began to rotate, I, Aaron, started running at an incredible speed.
Passing by the monster that was kicking up huge clouds of dust, I saw Gwen who was trying to lure it away.
“Just as expected.”
[02:45]
From behind Gwen, who hadn’t noticed me, I grabbed her as if embracing her with both hands. I dashed through the dust to move to the monster’s blind spot.
“Hello, master?”
I smiled at Gwen.
“…Huh?”
Gwen’s eyes began to waver gradually as she looked at me smiling at her with unfocused eyes.
“You chan-”
“Shh.”
I gently touched Gwen’s lips as she tried to say something urgently.
“Not now. I’ll explain later~, when I want to.”
Despite my playful tone, I looked at Gwen in my arms with trembling eyes and gently stroked her head.
“No, tell me now. What did you do? Just like that time-”
‘I told you so many times to fix this habit of pushing things, but you still haven’t.’
[02:21]
Even at times like this, the timer kept counting down.
‘There’s not enough time to explain.’
“Excuse me for a moment.”
I interlocked fingers with one of Gwen’s hands while pulling her strongly into my chest.
Simultaneously, I wrapped my arm around her back with the hand stroking her head.
“What are you-mmph!!”
Gwen’s eyes widened.
“Mmm…”
Her red lips, contrasting with her hair color, were sweet.
Her previously stiff lips slowly parted.
“Mmph…”
Gwen closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
Even within our connected lips, we held each other tightly.
As if savoring every emotion.
The sweet saliva and tongues intertwining inside our lips heated us up more as time passed.
Finally, Gwen leaned against my chest and wrapped both arms tightly around my neck.
At the same time, my hand that had been pulling her back quietly moved toward the scabbard at her waist.
[01:51]
“Mmm… hah!”
We explored each other while holding our breath.
A thin thread of hot and sweet saliva connected our parting lips.
“You… you…!”
Gwen’s face was so heated that even her blue hair couldn’t hide it.
I gently stroked her head and waved with a smile.
“Well then, goodbye!”
“…Huh?”
I was waving from far away, even though she had unconsciously held me tight in her arms to prevent me from leaving.
“Wait-”
As she tried to chase after me, she felt something odd at her waist.
‘It’s too light.’
Only then did she look at her scabbard, but it was already empty – I had taken it.
“Hey! My sword!”
Gwen shouted at the top of her lungs at me, her butler who had whispered love so rudely through actions only to take his master’s possession.
“Thank you, master! I’ll borrow it for a bit!”
Without even turning my head, I waved in response to Gwen’s voice.
—–
[01:21]
“Now, let’s run.”
“Woo! Woo! Woo!!”
Sensing my aura, the monster beat its chest like a drum in excitement as it looked at me.
[Trait: {Acceleration} accompanies you to your limit.]
The giant gorilla monster’s arm swung above my head.
It was an incredible speed that clearly didn’t match its size.
However.
“You’re still slower than me.”
I ran up the descending arm.
‘Just a giant gorilla with nothing but strength and regeneration. More than enough ways to deal with it.’
“Hyah!”
Gwen’s sword, wrapped in aura, carved a diagonal slash across the monster’s face.
But the wound wasn’t as deep as when Gwen wielded it, not enough to cut off chunks.
It healed in less than a few seconds without even leaving a scar.
“Woo woo!!”
Naturally, the gorilla monster beat its chest and sneered at me mockingly.
“As expected, cutting all the way through like Gwen is impossible.”
A shortcut using an artifact, not something earned through personal effort.
It couldn’t possibly show the same performance with equal effort.
“Still, it’s fine as long as I can cut.”
Another sword strike.
-Slash
I cut through the monster’s fist as it flew toward me.
“Wooh! Wooooh!!”
But now, the monster’s body began regenerating almost simultaneously with being cut.
Though I cut the fist, the situation of the fist heading toward me hadn’t changed.
[00:49]
“Well, I’ve confirmed what I needed to.”
Despite the enormous fist approaching right before my eyes, somehow I appeared relaxed.
“Accelerate.”
With that single word, the color of my aura began to change.
The aura that had been nearly colorless, without any hue, began to take on a certain color.
“Woh! Woh!”
As if sensing my changing energy, the monster rushed in urgently.
In response, I cut down the fist coming toward me.
“Wooooh!!”
The gorilla monster, watching me standing still and cutting its hands, now began swinging both arms.
A series of attacks at an incredible speed, incomparable to just moments ago, continued.
All that could be heard was the sound of the ground being mercilessly crushed and the monster’s mocking cries.
However, somehow the gorilla’s cries became inaudible as time passed.
All that could be heard was the sound of giant fists tearing through the air and the sound of the sword cutting through them effortlessly.
For every punch, three sword strikes returned.
When the next fist came, my sword was swinging six times.
By the time the monster raised its arm again, I had already swung over 10 strikes.
The speed gap gradually became visible.
“Woo…wooh!”
As if sensing something had gone wrong, the monster’s sneers began to tremble.
But.
“It’s already too late.”
[Reached acceleration limit]
My sword-wielding arm was no longer visible.
“Wooooh!”
The monster cried out a roar that no longer held any meaning.
And my speed began to surpass the monster’s regeneration.
[Entering hyper-acceleration.]
[00:29]
With that blue message, my vision was inverted.
Light vanished, leaving only black and white in a reality that seemed like another world.
A space where everything appeared frozen.
“It was when fighting you that I learned how to use this trait.”
Even in this space, I continued swinging the sword.
“I cut dozens of times per second, and because you survived even that, I cut hundreds of times per second.”
In the black-and-white world, the only color that existed was my aura.
“I wonder how many cuts it will take to kill you this time?”
My expressionless face while swinging the sword until now slowly began to curl up at the corners.
Like a broken machine, crackling.
[00:26]
When my sword stopped, color returned and my vision went back to normal.
The first thing I saw in my returned vision was…
“Woo…wooh…”
It could no longer be called a monster.
Only its head remained in a massive pool of blood, mouth gaping.
And there I stood, covered in the monster’s blood.
“Huff…huff…”
Stopping my aura, clutching my heart.
[00:24]
“G…wen.”
Gwen, who had been quietly watching from behind me.
She carefully opened her mouth.
“Who are you?”
“…”
“Something is different.”
Her instinct.
“Something is very different from the one I knew.”
But I only pressed my finger to her lips once more.
“That’s for later.”
[00:13]
“Just in case, don’t worry about what happens after this. I can’t die anyway.”
Ignoring her question, I spoke hurriedly while suppressing even my panting breath.
[00:10]
“And please, I beg you, don’t fight with Sephir.”
“What?”
[00:06]
“And… Gwen.”
Taking a moment to catch my breath.
[00:02]
I opened my mouth.
“I love you.”
[00:00]
[The hidden effect of the Playful One’s Mask {Sword Expert Trial Version} has expired.]
[Cooldown: 20:00:00]
-Crackle
[Trait: {??Backup} forcibly terminated.]
-Crackle
The blue message window crackled like it was buffering, disappearing into pixels of black penalty windows.
And then
-Thud
I, Aaron, who had been staggering weakly, collapsed right into the monster’s pool of blood.
“Aaron!”
Just as Gwen rushed over
“Puah!”
I raised my head from the blood pool.
“…Aaron?”
“Ugh… my head…”
I clutched my head and slowly got up.
“Aaron! Are you okay?”
Gwen quickly ran over and supported me.
“What… exactly happened?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t remember anything after putting on the mask…”
What stopped Gwen from asking about my previous behavior was my condition.
I couldn’t remember anything.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
“Um… seems that way?”
My honest response.
Gwen was becoming increasingly confused.
As Gwen was trying to sort out the situation in her head, that’s when,
“Ah. This is bad.”
My single statement.
[A wave of fatigue is flooding in.]
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen this… ugh.”
And with that, I collapsed face-first into the pool of blood.