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Chapter 563: Mountain of Swords (2)

Crash!

At last, the two Sword Mountains revealed themselves.

The sky split open and weapons poured down from above, but the manner was utterly different.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!

Yeongwoo’s confidently declared “149 Sword Mountain” dwarfed its rival in scale.

“Hah! You idiot, that’s not a Sword Mountain, that’s a hill!”

While Yeongwoo mocked the thin formation of blades hovering over his own head, Venura was already darting sideways to evade.

SHWEEEAK!

Unlike Yeongwoo, who only faced a few dozen descending blades, Venura was besieged by over a hundred.

—This lunatic… how the hell…?

What’s worse, Yeongwoo’s Sword Mountain contained multiple legendary weapons, each radiating abnormal power.

CRASH-CRASH!

The instant Venura dodged aside, countless blades stabbed into the spot he had just vacated.

At that same moment—

“Oops.”

Yeongwoo, still standing in place and laughing at his opponent’s mountain, hadn’t yet moved away.

CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!

Right beneath Venura’s falling Sword Mountain.

—W-wait…! That guy doesn’t even have a shield—!

Lady Kanaph clutched Aratubank with both hands, her face frozen in shock.

No matter how monstrous Yeongwoo was, she thought, there was no way he could withstand a rain of blades bare-handed.

Meanwhile, Alden Miras had already planted his greatsword into the ground and retreated far away, watching Yeongwoo’s response in silence.

—If he can’t break through that much, then he’s as good as dead anyway.

Kanaph turned her head in puzzlement and asked,

—Why? Didn’t you see him fight Venura Garn? He clearly had the upper hand.

—Behind that man stands both House Garn and the Twelve Sword Council. This duel alone won’t end it.

In other words, if Yeongwoo couldn’t even endure the mountain before him, he’d never survive the retaliation to come.

And finally—

“Damn, that’s faster than I thought.”

Yeongwoo began swatting at the falling blades with lightning speed.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

But there were too many, more than twenty striking at once.

He couldn’t block them all.

A few pierced into his shoulder and lower back.

CRACK!

“…Urgh!”

Yeongwoo toppled forward with a great blade lodged in his back.

Alden Miras squeezed his eyes shut.

At that moment, Venura charged in at terrifying speed.

If he missed this chance, he might never cut down that “assembled monster.”

—Pay for your arrogance!

TATAT!

As Venura lunged, killing intent blazing, Yeongwoo—still prone—slowly raised his head.

Swoosh.

Then, with a calm flick of his violet finger, he activated Sword Command.

From the heap of 149 weapons embedded in the ground, one at the edge lifted into the air.

Click.

And by sheer chance—

“…Huh?”

Sensing something off, Yeongwoo furrowed his brow.

Kanaph and Alden widened their eyes in unison.

Sliiide—

The weapon levitating out of the Sword Mountain wasn’t a sword at all.

It was a pistol.

「Flash Baptism」 - Epic Pistol

【Three-round burst】

【Apply +25% additional damage to a target previously hit】

—W-what… what’s he planning to do?

Kanaph muttered, entranced, and Alden shook his head.

—I’ve… never seen anything like that.

Of course, Yeongwoo himself had no clue what he was doing.

‘Out of all those weapons, why’d I grab the one gun?!’

But Venura was already upon him.

No time to think.

Yeongwoo simply pointed Flash Baptism toward his opponent using his Sword Command.

Swish.

Amazingly, the pistol turned on its own, aligning perfectly with Venura.

‘No way… can it actually fire?’

No time left. Yeongwoo crooked his index finger as if pulling a trigger—

TATATANG!

Gunfire roared.

He had fired the pistol through Sword Command.

And the one most shocked was none other than Venura.

—What the—?!

Hearing gunshots from behind, he reflexively swung his curved sword back to deflect.

TING!

An incredible reaction speed—

but the next strike came before he could respond.

SWISHHH!

While Venura blocked the bullets, Yeongwoo swung Bastard.

SLASH!

A chilling slice, and a red arc through the air.

Venura’s left arm was severed and flew into the void.

—…Ah!

—Huh?!

—Aagh…!

The onlookers gasped.

The second son of the universal noble house Garn, and a member of the Twelve Sword Council, had lost his arm.

“Die—!”

Yeongwoo instinctively followed through, blade angling toward Venura’s neck—

—Objective complete!

Lady Kanaph’s shout snapped him back, reminding him of their agreed goal.

“Oh, right.”

Yeongwoo withdrew Bastard just before impact and instead drove his left leg—

the one made of Artari flesh, forward in a brutal knee strike.

BOOM!

—GUAAAH!

The blow landed squarely on Venura’s stomach, detonating like a cannon.

‘What the hell, this leg!’

Only then did Yeongwoo realize the difference.

The Artari limb wasn’t just colored differently; its raw strength was overwhelming.

‘Huh… maybe I should keep the left arm Artari too.’

As that thought crossed his mind—

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THUD.

His Artari arm fell off at the shoulder.

“What the—”

His body could only sustain certain grafted parts: a few organs and one leg.

The rest couldn’t hold.

‘Ugh… guess I’ll need another elixir. But that’ll make me less human again…’

Still, that concern had to wait.

A far more immediate threat remained.

—You bastard…!

WHOOSH!

Venura, bleeding torrents from his severed arm, charged again, eyes blazing.

“You really don’t know when to quit.”

Even half-dead, the man’s will hadn’t faltered.

‘So this is one of the Twelve Swords, huh? Definitely no ordinary foe.’

Indeed, to hold his ground against a wielder of a mythic weapon was proof enough of his prowess.

But today, Venura would learn defeat—

—for his opponent was none other than the Master of a Planetary Vessel.

“Let’s end this. I don’t have time.”

As Yeongwoo’s golden pupils blazed, his aura erupted outward.

Venura froze mid-swing.

—…Kh!

His heart clenched, and a primal terror flooded his skull.

He knew this sensation.

He’d felt it once before, upon first joining the Twelve Sword Council—

—the feeling of deference born from overwhelming difference in might.

—Y-you… you’re…

“…”

Venura’s body bent forward involuntarily under the pressure.

Yeongwoo finally turned around—toward the direction of the escape point.

“Want to live? Then run.”

At that cue, the two cyclopean creatures huddled in the corner bolted for the exit.

TATAT!

Yeongwoo glanced at the two remaining figures, the chef and Alden, tilting his head.

“What, still here? The device has four slots.”

And four limbs total would be needed.

“Take my two arms. As for the legs, improvise.”

Alden blinked.

—Improvise?

“Cut off your own, steal a prosthetic from the cyclopes, whatever. Just move. Time’s short.”

Then Yeongwoo added, almost casually,

“Stay alive until our contract’s fulfilled.”

It was parting advice, not to die before completing their shared journey.

—……

Alden said nothing.

He simply turned to Lady Kanaph and bowed deeply.

—Jewel of the Izori. May we meet again. May the Board’s blessing be with you.

—May your path shine bright.

Kanaph nodded, and Alden sprinted toward the escape point.

The sealing field had already reached the device’s edge.

KRAAAASH!

The chef from Lagtari followed, glancing back repeatedly at Yeongwoo.

“Almost over.”

Yeongwoo murmured as he watched them flee.

Still crushed by his aura, Venura forced out words.

—W-who… who are you? How could someone like you remain unknown?

A compliment or an insult—hard to tell.

Yeongwoo slipped the curved sword from Venura’s remaining hand and replied,

“Why don’t you tell them? Am I still the nameless head now?”

—…What?

“At least you know this much, cross the House of Renaissance, and you’ll lose everything.”

Indeed—

to Venura Garn, Yeongwoo would no longer be an anonymous stranger.

This day would burn the name Renaissance into his memory.

And soon enough, that name would spread to House Garn and the entire Twelve Sword Council.

“Listen well. My name is Jeong Yeongwoo. Patriarch of the interstellar high house Renaissance and…”

He almost said Captain of a Planetary Vessel—

but stopped himself.

Revealing that would be tactically foolish.

So he changed it.

“…and the master of roughly one hundred and sixty Sword Mountains.”

—What?

Venura lifted his head slightly.

—Didn’t you say one hundred forty-nine earlier?

Yeongwoo grinned, grasping Venura’s skull with his mechanical hand.

“Because you’re going to give me one.”

—W-what… what do you mean?

“Your Weapon Catalog.”

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