02. A visitor from the future (19)

August 17th, in time.

I raised the completed three-person sword.

“Oh….”

On the surface of the ink-colored blade, the grains of star ore shimmered like stars.

A constellation of the Big Dipper inlaid with gold and a congratulatory message carefully engraved.

The back of the nose is made in a lotus pattern, and the hilt is wrapped in traditional saeopi and finished in the Yeouidu style.

And at the end of the hilt is a thread dyed red.

There was even Hong Jo-sua, who worked with a ball of thread given to her by her grandfather.

“Wow….”

I never thought I would really make this up.

Looking at the completed three-person sword, I was deeply moved.

Before the Outbreak, the artisans who made traditional swords, including the death sword, were valued by the state and designated as human cultural assets. Just like my grandfather did.

Of course, human cultural heritage is not a job that can earn money properly without government support, and during the outbreak, the situation was so messed up that the government couldn’t play its role, so even my grandfather had to quit his job.

Anyway, traditional hwando has such a high historical and artistic value.

For hundreds of years, only state-recognized artisans have been able to produce the sword, with my own hands.

Even features that were never thought of during the production process were added.

I used my analysis skill to examine the three-person sword.

‘The overall grade is A grade… That’s not the end.’

I looked at the phrase that appeared at the bottom of the tooltip that appeared with the analysis skill.

I never thought a sword would have such a function.

It was more than a shock when the phrase “Exclusive use” Was attached to the gold thread.

“Whew.”

This was a satisfactory job.

I took the finished sword and left the workshop.

Today was the finishing stage, so I didn’t spend even half of my man-hours on assembly.

After confirming that it was over earlier than usual, I was going to go up to my room and get enough sleep.

“What?”

I came back to my room and checked my phone and noticed something was wrong.

No notification came to the smartphone. That was weird

‘Why hasn’t the curfew been lifted yet?’

When I woke up this morning, I confirmed that a disaster text message had come while I was asleep.

I didn’t intend to go outside anyway, and I thought it would be over once I finished making the sword, but I still haven’t received a follow-up message.

Even when it’s over, it’s already over.

In my head, the words that Yoon Seo-hee and Baek Ji-soo had said the other day flashed through my mind.

Yoon Seo-hee said she would need golden eggs for a while.

Baek Ji-soo, who no longer needs a death penalty sword.

Two people together. The sudden appearance of a gate.

Unresolved curfew.

“… ….”

I felt a visceral ominous feeling.

I leave a note for my grandfather saying that I will be out for a while because something happened, and I hurriedly leave the front door with my sword.

At night, when the curfew was imposed, the streets were quiet and not a single sign of anyone was felt.

“Haa….”

Is this a good thing? Could it be that it came out for no reason and caused a big problem?

What can I do if I have one?

I hoped that it was a useless worry, and I ran through the streets at night to find the two of them.

A curfew is issued in a radius of 5 km from where the gate appeared.

So if there’s still a fight going on, you can definitely hear it from nearby.

「Quaaa!!!

At that moment, a huge explosion was heard not far away.

That’s where the city library is located. No way?

I hurriedly ran towards the sound.

A window of the city library was broken, and acrid smoke was pouring out from the inside.

At a glance, it was not normal, so I tried to open the door and go in, but the front door of the library got caught in the middle and I couldn’t move.

“What is this? Why isn’t it open?”

Thump! Thud! I pushed the door open again and again, and dust from above fell from above. Kurleung! There was even a dangerous sound, as if something was sinking.

“Oops….”

I gave up opening the door and cautiously stepped back. The inside was clogged with debris and the explosion made the area unstable.

If the front door doesn’t work, you have no choice but to go back to the back door or window. I went around the library to check the windows, but all the windows were blocked by fallen bookshelves, making it difficult to break through.

“Huh?”

At that time, through a crack in the window, I was able to check inside.

I saw people collapsed inside the messy library.

“Yoon Seo-hee… !”

Yoon Seo-hee, who is buried in the darkly tanned wall and does not even move.

Lee Byung-jun, who fell to the floor and lost consciousness, and an unknown woman.

And Baek Ji-soo holding a cane while standing alone.

Even monsters approaching her can feel her unusual and ominous magic.

Everyone could tell that the situation was urgent. Even Baek Ji-soo, who came to his senses alone, did not appear to be in a full body condition.

‘What should I do? Maybe good?’

I felt like my reason would fly away when my friends collapsed and my life was in danger, but I bit my lower lip and tried to stay calm.

Should I call the police? I didn’t know when it would come, and above all, it made such a loud noise, but someone must have already contacted me.

There is no guarantee that it won’t be blocked if you go around looking for the back door where you don’t even know where it is. Above all, there is no time to find another entrance.

Unless you transfer to that place right now….

Before? I thought for a second and put my hand in my pants pocket.

“Ah!”

There is. The ring of space transfer that Baek Ji-soo gave as a reward.

I put the ring on the index finger of my left hand and breathed magic into it. There is no need to use up my mana.

Because the creator’s mana in response to mana used the magic formula himself in the ring.

If you think about it later.

I was already insane in that I had thought of jumping in right away without even thinking about my safety.

Flash! A view that changes in an instant. The location is in the air right above the monster as specified.

Amid the smoky smoke and rubble, the figure of the guy, covered in rags, was clearly visible.

“Caught.”

I fell from a blind spot where monsters couldn’t see, and swung my three-man sword and aimed for the head.

「Huh-!?」

A blow that is drawn in a straight line. However, the monster that noticed the attack in the middle broke my body.

“Ahhhhh!”

I cut off his right arm, which was burnt black. Awesome! The carbonized and hardened flesh mysteriously cracked like tofu.

As soon as I confirmed that his right arm fell to the floor, I landed on the floor.

“Turn it off… !”

Thump! Ignoring the tingling sensation in my legs, I forcibly raise my body. I’m glad I’m an Awakener. Even if you fall from this height, your legs will hold you up.

“Kim Lee-jin… ?”

“Baek Ji-soo, are you okay? What about the others?”

I aimed the three-man sword at the monster and said, looking straight at it.

“… I’m okay. Other people too… Stay hidden.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“That is fortunate.”

“Why are you here… ?”

Because I couldn’t look behind her, I couldn’t see what expression Baek Ji-soo was making, but her voice was full of confusion as if she had witnessed an incomprehensible situation.

Why am I here? I’m not sure either.

But one thing is certain: without me, Baek Ji-soo would have been very dangerous, and now he seemed to be the only one who could fight him.

That was the moment. When I thought I met my eyes with the boss monster, he opened his eyes wide and suddenly shook his body.

「Huh… Whoa!! aaa!!”

What, why are you like that? Are you angry that you cut off your arm in the first place?

A monster that looks at me with hateful eyes, as if looking at some kind of fierce enemy. I couldn’t help but talk to Baek Ji-soo.

“We’ll talk about that later, what is that guy?”

“… It’s a B-class boss monster. Be careful. I think they targeted you.”

“Huh… What was that explosion earlier?”

“The skill of the boss monster… I don’t know if I can use it one more time.”

I looked at my right upper body, which was burnt black. His condition didn’t look quite normal, but it would be right to fight assuming he could use it one more time.

I have no intention of actively fighting. It’s not like I’m fighting any battle, and no matter how much I’m injured, it’s crazy to catch a boss monster alone.

Even if you drag your time like this, someone will come to you, be it a professional hunter or a policeman.

「Heuuu!!」

The boss monster leans down and leaps at me. It was fast, but it was a speed that I could respond enough to when it creaked somewhere.

A black dagger that swings. Check the trajectory with the analysis skill.

‘The goal is… neck!’

Wield the three-handed sword exactly according to its trajectory. Swords and swords violently clashing in midair.

Suddenly!

“Eh?”

The dagger is cut in half and falls to the floor. The boss monster stares at its own dagger that has been cut off, throws away the sword without regret, and leaps backwards.

I can assure you that it was a sense of cutting tofu, not iron. What kind of knife is that back?

No, that’s not it. I don’t know what the reason for the three-person sword is, but it’s the same as when I cut off my arm earlier, and I’m cutting that guy like tofu.

“Kim Yi-jin, that sword can’t be… ?”

“It’s a three-person sword. I made it with the sword you left behind.”

“Make… did you?”

That one? A startled voice as if asking.

I nodded as I aimed at the boss monster with my three-man sword.

Baek Ji-soo was silent for a long time, then he opened his mouth with a calm voice, perhaps a little calmer.

“… That monster is a half-spirit half-horse type, so the power of exorcism is effective. The dagger isn’t even a real sword, it’s part of that monster… But, how powerful is this?”

Half spirit half horse. A monster with a mixture of spiritual and demon attributes.

I see, that’s why.

The three-person sword is a sword that can ward off disasters and slash evil.

Because it is a sword with that much yang energy concentrated, it only works well with that monster.

At that time, pure white magic power wrapped around my body.

“Hmm?”

I felt that my body was energized and my strength and agility were getting stronger overall.

Muscle strength and agility status have risen considerably. I don’t know exactly, but it’s roughly around the B and C ranks. Considering that my strength and agility are C+ and D respectively, everything has gone up by one level.

Even if not as good as Yoon Seo-hee, her stats were more than an ordinary combat student.

Then, as if all her mana had been exhausted, she heard the sound of Jisu sitting down helplessly.

“Sorry, that’s all I can do…. Please.”

I was quick to judge.

‘Would this be worth doing?’

You only need to feed one, no more. No matter what he tried to block it, all of it was meaningless in this three-man sword tragedy.

「Huh!」

The boss monster throws a dagger in the dark. The black-painted dagger is hard to see with the naked eye on such a dark night.

“… ….”

Concentrate your consciousness and use your skills. Even if you can’t see it with your eyes, you can’t hide the sound, and I just need to analyze the sound. Where did he throw the knife?

‘Neck, heart, head! The order… Head first!’

Feel the trajectory of the flying dagger and swing the sword in the exact order.

Suddenly! I just swung it without exerting much force, but the daggers were mercilessly cut and all fell to the floor.

In times like these, analysis skills are really helpful. Even if you are not in the combat department, you can imitate the combat department.

I ran to the place where the sword flew while analyzing the location. The appearance of the boss monster, hidden in the darkness, was faintly visible.

“Suck!”

I swung the sword in a precise trajectory, but it was faster for it to disappear into the darkness like sinking into water. It was an annoying skill.

That guy must be wary of this three-man sword.

I couldn’t feel the presence of the boss monster, perhaps because I was hiding in the dark. He raised his sword and alerted his surroundings so that he could respond immediately wherever he appeared.

What would I do if I were a bastard? Throwing a dagger doesn’t work, and running directly into it only increases the risk of being cut by a three-person sword.

Considering the fierce reaction I showed you earlier, you won’t run away now, but you’ll definitely be aiming for my life. Then, how?

Thump! I heard the sound of something hitting and breaking right next to me. When I turned my head, a large bookshelf that stretched over 3m was falling toward me.

“Kuu!”

I rolled forward and got out of range of the bookshelf falling over. However, a glass light fell from the ceiling towards exactly that location. It wasn’t just one or two.

An indirect attack using nearby objects. I braced my legs and hopped like a rabbit to avoid falling bookshelves and lights.

Crack! Clink! Lights are shattered and fragments are scattered in all directions. My skin tingles as if I had been scratched by a small piece of glass.

I keep dodging falling objects and approach him slowly. But there was something flying at me.

Of course I thought it was a dagger and tried to slash it with a death sword, but it was not a dagger but a book. Booung! The thick, heavy books flew at me like bricks.

“Damn it!”

It’s not like I can use an aura, and if it’s just once or twice, if I keep cutting things like that with a sword, the sword will shatter. I gave up on cutting the book and analyzed the flying trajectory and avoided it, but it wasn’t the end just by dodging one of them.

Heavy collections flying in from all directions. What bothered me even more was that daggers were mixed between flying books.

Suddenly! I cut off the flying dagger, but it continued to change its location riding on the shadow and attacking using terrain features and objects.

‘What should I do?’

I can’t rush at the enemy like Yoon Seo-hee, and I don’t have the means to attack from a distance.

I just need to hit it somehow, but I can’t seem to find a way to approach it.

Is there really no answer?

“… ….”

Maybe, there might be a way.

Another function of the three-person sword.

Unique skill.

The problem is that I don’t know how to write this function. If you check it with the analysis skill, it tells you that there is such a thing, but it doesn’t tell you how to use it.

It was not enough to just analyze. I’ve never heard of the need for qualifications to use an item’s unique skill. Then there’s something I’m lacking.

“Haa….”

Since a while ago, the magic circuit kept tickling. The condition of the sword was unusual.

I heard that a swordsman cherishes his sword like his life.

Because they know that the only thing they can trust on the battlefield is their own sword, the sword is not just a tool, but is regarded as their friend, and sometimes as one body.

But I am a blacksmith, not a swordsman. He only makes the sword, not the person who uses it.

But it feels like the sword in my hand is constantly talking to me.

Please don’t just use me as a tool to hold and wield, use me wholeheartedly.

The golden congratulatory message written on the surface of the three-person sword shines softly.

[I will defeat the great evil, subtly cut it down, and make it right.]

A sword that allows itself when the user has the heart to cut evil.

That was the three-person sword.

I swept the surface of the sword from top to bottom. I thought I could do it now.

“Healthy tablets (乾降精).”

Celestials, descend.

“Kun Yuanling (坤援靈).”

Wake up, dear God.

Ugh-! The three-person sword resonated with the mana of the heart and trembled. In order to use the unique skill, he had to recite the appropriate starter words. As I held the hilt of the sword, the last word naturally came to my mind.

“Cut the hemp.”

A unique skill of the three-person sword.

Yam(斬魔).

In response to my will, the three-person sword rises into the air.

The sword floated in the air, set its own direction, and then shot like an arrow and flew towards the shadow hidden in the darkness.

The boss monster, who didn’t know that the sword would change direction and fly by itself, reacted belatedly, but the three-man sword was already cutting his throat.

「Kuheouk… !!」

As the three-man sword returned to my hand, I heard the sound of a severed head falling to the floor.

A head that rolls around on the ground.

The light slowly went out in the red eyes soaked in madness.