I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game - Chapter 381
I nearly missed Master by just a little.
‘She always does this, every single time.’
I stared at the green syringe in my Master's stiffened hand.
I knew exactly what it was.
A drug that immediately restores the body’s fatigue, mana, and condition to peak performance—but renders the user completely immobile for ten days afterward.
How should I put it?
It’s like a drug that shaves off your lifespan in exchange for buying you time.
I had relied on it once myself when we rescued Alice from the Demon Tree in the Sword Emperor's Mountain.
Having personally experienced the side effects, I couldn’t help but frown.
‘It doesn’t kill you, but it’s excruciating. I couldn’t move for ten days straight. Full recovery took almost two weeks.’
“Disciple, how did you…?”
“What do you mean ‘how’? I came to help because you were about to do something foolish again, Master.”
My voice came out a little more annoyed than I intended.
“That’s…”
“I know. You did it to share the burden and responsibility with me.”
Her eyes averted mine, as if my words had struck a nerve.
“I appreciate the sentiment, Master, but this isn’t sharing my burden—it’s unilaterally stealing it from me.”
I let out a deep sigh and locked eyes with her.
“...Well, let’s talk about this later. There’s something more urgent right now.”
Yeah, wasting time lecturing her here would defeat the purpose of me coming.
“I heard the gist of the situation on my way here. Master, you take care of Multan and Bahawalpur, and I’ll handle Quetta. Sound good?”
Baek Seol-hee nodded silently without saying a word.
.
.
.
Inside the gate of [Nest of Kalame] in Quetta.
“Grrrr… hahahaha…”
A group of demons gathered atop a massive ancient tree, letting out eerie laughter as they looked down below.
The scene beneath the gate was pure hell.
Growl... Growl...
Wolves with pitch-black fur, glowing red eyes, and three heads prowled, baring their teeth.
Dark, crimson saliva continuously dripped from their sharp fangs.
Screeech!
Above, harpies spread their wings, filling the skies.
Equipped with razor-sharp claws and beaks, they repeatedly dived toward the ground and then rose back up.
Boom, boom, boom!
At the center of it all stood a towering figure over 4 meters tall, its body covered in rippling muscles. A troll, holding a massive iron mace the size of a tree trunk, drooled as it scanned the surroundings.
“Ugh, this is terrifying… I should spray more monster repellent.”
“Hey, sister, doesn’t it feel like something’s wrong outside? Something seems to have happened. The others were supposed to report back, but we haven’t heard from them.”
“It’s those Demon Slayer Squad bitches. They’re probably too busy to focus on us. We just need to stick to our plan.”
A female demon with a face marred by burn scars held her throbbing face. Her skin, twisted and red, revealed eyes brimming with hatred and madness.
“No matter how skilled that lunatic butcher is, with everything going crazy outside, she won’t have time to pay attention to us.”
“True. With three gates set to explode, there’s no way she can come here.”
“Exactly. She’ll have to choose—Multan and Bahawalpur are close to each other, so that’s where she’ll go.”
A sly grin spread across her face.
“They won’t even realize we’ve been focusing all our efforts on this spot from the beginning.”
More than anything, they were thrilled at the prospect of finally being able to strike a blow against Baek Seol-hee, who had tormented them for so long.
Until now, the Demon Slayer Squad had operated in secret, hidden from public view, rendering any attempts at propaganda useless.
But Baek Seol-hee had publicly revealed the squad’s existence, laying the groundwork for them.
Propaganda and manipulation—those were the demons’ specialties.
The other demons joined in with cruel smirks.
“If we completely destroy this area and use it for propaganda, people will naturally turn against the Demon Slayer Squad.”
“Yeah, after that, the fire will spread on its own. We just need to provide the fuel.”
“That stupid bitch. She’s been swinging her sword so much her brain’s turned to mush, hasn’t it?”
“Hahaha, we’ll finally get to see that wretched face of hers twisted in agony.”
Their faces twisted into vicious smiles.
.
.
.
In front of the gate in Quetta, Shin Se-hee made me an unexpected proposal.
“A broadcast?”
- “Yes, if we present this as a coordinated operation between Utopia and the Demon Slayer Squad from the beginning, it’ll significantly dilute any attempts to sway public opinion against us.”
“Hmm…”
It certainly made sense.
- “If people learn that even our Utopia sub-party is involved, they’ll start to feel a real sense of danger. Like, ‘We could actually die without accomplishing anything.’”
True.
The reason the demons were causing such a ruckus right now was based on the calculation that if they all came out and caused terror at once, the Demon Slayer Squad wouldn’t be able to handle it with their limited numbers.
But if they realized that both Utopia and the Utopia sub-party were also joining in?
“They’d see how closely connected we are to the Demon Slayer Squad, and it would make deterrence much easier.”
I nodded at Shin Se-hee’s suggestion.
“Alright. Set up the broadcast.”
- “Got it,” she said with a slight laugh.
While Shin Se-hee prepared the broadcast, I sank into thought.
‘Maybe I should test out the skill I got this time.’
This time, there were two skill books obtained from the third Demon Gate.
One was [Spiderweb].
A skill that transforms magical threads into a powerful venomous property or slows movement, much like the one Arine uses.
Naturally, I gave this one to Senior Ga-eul.
Since she already uses magical threads and has the slow effect as a skill, it fit her perfectly, as though it was made for her.
The other one was:
[Avarice].
I was incredibly lucky.
Getting two skill books at once is rare, and on top of that, this one was a power in and of itself.
It’s a skill that doubles stats raised beyond one’s potential.
It doesn’t apply to stats gained from gacha, only to increases achieved purely through effort.
Avarice, by its nature, seems to recognize only what one has accomplished alone, refusing to share with others.
It acknowledges only the results of individual effort.
In short, this skill shows the greatest efficiency in characters with low natural potential but who are hard workers.
‘That’s why it worked so well on Soup in the game.’
Despite being limited to a 3-star potential, Soup, the epitome of effort, could outclass even 5-star characters with this skill.
So, after explaining what the skill does to my party members, I suggested giving it to Soup.
But the moment I brought it up, my party members stared at me with their mouths agape, as if I’d said something absurd.
Even Soup himself looked at me with a puzzled expression.
When I asked why they were looking at me like that, the responses were:
- “It works best for the person who’s worked the hardest? And you want to give it to me? You’re joking, right?”
- “Ha, Yuha, are you mocking us?”
- “Jin Yuha… I have so much to say, but I’ll hold back.”
- “Jin Yuha, I never thought I’d have to say this to you, but… you’re being kind of annoying right now.”
- “Hey, Little Fool… did you not watch the same video we all did? Do you still lack self-awareness?”
- “Instructor, even someone as new as me knows who the rightful owner of this skill is.”
- “Benefactor… I have a personal edited version of that footage.”
Then Ichika played the video she said she had personally edited for her collection.
It was footage of me training, as seen by my party members.
In the video, whenever the party members arrived at the training ground, they would find me already there, dripping with sweat, training harder than anyone else.
Even when the others started leaving the training ground one by one, I would still be there.
Without missing a single day.
Sometimes, I’d collapse from exhaustion, fall asleep in the training ground, then wake up and swing my sword again.
Watching that video, two thoughts came to mind:
‘Was I really like that…?’
And,
‘I don’t think I could do that again, even if I tried.’
As a character born with 1-star potential and absolute garbage stats,
I had swung my sword day in and day out to shatter those limits.
I trained endlessly, as close to real combat as possible.
‘…They’re right.’
Since I had used resources to raise my stats when I first possessed this body,
and because I’d reaped so many benefits from being a transmigrator,
I had underestimated the effort I had put in myself.
So, I became the rightful owner of [Avarice].
When I activated [Avarice] in front of the gate:
Whirrrrr—
The stats I had raised purely through effort doubled,
and I felt an indescribable power coursing through my entire body.
With a smirk, I accepted it.
‘Yeah, I am the rightful owner of this power.’
At that moment, the gate’s broadcast camera focused on me.