Chapter 241: The Savior

“It’s been a while.”

I was currently inside the Association’s building.

The one greeting me was not the Sword Empress, but Kim Ara. Her purple hair tickled lightly.

“It’s been a while. And…”

She had gotten stronger.

Her whole body had become firm.

On the surface, her arms looked soft, and the part of her stomach peeking through the crop top only showed well-defined abs.

Externally, she seemed like that, but what I sensed internally was different.

‘Is it because of the Origin Power?’

It was a power that could cut down to the smallest unit of all forces.

That power enhanced her external strength.

Should I call it a force close to external martial arts?

The more the body was trained, the infinitely stronger it became.

On the outside, her slender arms looked delicate, but if she lost her temper, she could cut the mountain from the ground, disconnecting it from the earth.

But what was even more surprising was—

‘It must be hard to maintain a body like that.’

But honestly, it was much better than if Kim Ara’s body had bulked up grotesquely.

“And?”

“You’ve gotten prettier.”

“……”

Kim Ara’s cheeks flushed brightly.

But she didn’t seem to dislike it.

“Seo-ha, you’ve changed.”

“Really?”

“You’ve grown a lot. From your height to your body. You used to be so delicate.”

Kim Ara said as she touched my arm.

I acknowledged the height, but I still thought I was pretty decent.

As I was killing time talking to Kim Ara, a call came in from the Sword Empress.

“It’s been a while. There’s a job from the Association. There’s talk that remnants of the Nazi Empire have appeared in Hokkaido, Japan.”

“Remnants of the Nazis?”

I was puzzled but quickly let it go.

Japan was a place the Nazis despised. That was because the land was filled with various gods, from the Three Deities and beyond.

The fact that there were many gods meant that the nation predominantly believed in faith, which alone made it extremely difficult for corruption to take root.

America had the Hundred Temple, but Japan had a hundred times more.

Hundreds of thousands of gods.

They had established themselves in Japan.

Because of that, they were often treated as minor gods. Some even lost to mid-level heroes in extreme cases.

Hitler once hinted that there was no need to conquer that land since it was both spiritually barren and a strong nation.

‘Japan, huh.’

When thinking of Japan, one famous swordsman comes to mind.

Miyamoto Musashi.

A swordsman from the past who was revered almost religiously by swordsmen.

But his descendant, bearing the same name, became the greatest swordsman in Japan.

His body was weak, but his swordsmanship reached the heavens.

That was why he was called the Sword Saint.

He used a technique known as the Transcendent Sword Aura.

He could freely create sword energy, making it rain like drops and scatter like clouds. His swordsmanship flowed like water, and most sword strikes were sliced through the moment they clashed with his Transcendent Sword Aura.

His weakness? His body.

Among the transcendent beings, his body was particularly frail, comparable to that of a magician.

‘His talent is so overwhelming that it’s a problem.’

The talent known as Sword God (Ex) was a poisoned chalice.

With one swing of the sword, not ten but a hundred paths of swordsmanship were awakened—that was the power of the Sword God (Ex) talent.

In Musashi’s case, his talent was so strong that it devoured his body.

Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a famous structure known for poor construction, Musashi reached transcendence through sheer skill, without ever strengthening his body.

Thus, while his offensive power was the strongest, his defense was the weakest among transcendent beings. In short, he was a glass cannon.

He was known as both the weakest and the strongest transcendent being for that reason.

‘A similar case would be the Fist Demon.’

The Fist Demon.

Like Musashi, he possessed something overwhelmingly powerful.

His body, as suggested by the word “fist” in his title, was so divine that it was almost godly, but his mind was comparable to that of an average mid-level hero.

In other words, his mental strength was weak.

That was why, even as a transcendent being, he became powerless when burdened with various curses.

This resulted in fits of madness, making him seem senile.

Still, the Sword Saint was a decent guy.

He had an inferiority complex, but he didn’t fall to evil. He used that inferiority as fuel to grow stronger.

‘…Wait.’

Something felt familiar.

Was it because I’d experienced this kind of situation several times before? A fleeting thought crossed my mind—that maybe the Sword Saint had fallen into evil.

‘No way.’

That couldn’t be.

I quelled the strange sense of anticipation.

“So, it’s just Seo-ha and I going, right?”

“…Yes.”

At Kim Ara’s words, the Sword Empress looked at me with a hesitant expression.

Why that face?

It was the kind of look you’d give a philanderer.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door. The Sword Empress’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“Come in.”

Creak.

The door opened, and a neatly dressed secretary appeared.

The secretary briefly glanced at me and Kim Ara, surprised, then turned back to the Sword Empress with a serious expression.

“Sword Empress, urgent news. A Mine has appeared near Sapporo in Japan.”

“Sapporo? That’s a tourist hotspot. Were any Koreans caught up?”

“…The situation is more severe. The active, top-tier hero, Dark Blade Shinjo, and his entire 15-member assault team were killed on the spot.”

“…What?”

The Sword Empress blinked.

“And the state of the Mine?”

“Completely fine. It’s assumed that the hero and his team were cut down in a single stroke by the suspected Mine.”

“…A single stroke?”

“Yes. And there are reports that the Mine is using two swords simultaneously.”

“…It can’t be.”

“The upper echelons of the Association are holding an emergency meeting. There’s a possibility that a new Great Evil has emerged. The world is watching closely, and the Hundred Temple is urgently gathering a team for a Japanese expedition.”

Hearing the secretary’s words, I swallowed quietly.

The secretary’s words pointed to one possibility.

‘Has the Sword Saint fallen?’

The fall of the strongest swordsman in Japan, no, the world.

A transcendent being falling into corruption would cause an immense ripple. In the worst-case scenario, it wouldn’t be surprising if an entire nation were wiped off the map.

Japan wasn’t that weak, but the impact would be massive.

‘How strong has he become?’

While I was worried about Japan, I also couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation.

I wanted to test the power of the Black Heavenly Demon Sword.

“The Sword Saint might have fallen…”

The Sword Empress let out a groan and closed her eyes.

“Contact the Association immediately and summon all the top-level—no, all the strongest people who can participate right away. If possible, ask for help from the Emperor or the Overlord, who is favorable to us. Also, notify the Thousand Sorcerer just in case.”

“Yes, understood.”

“How many people can depart immediately?”

“Only you and Summoner Seo-a, who recently rose to the top rank.”

“Seo-a is out. If the opponent is the Sword Saint, Seo-a’s life would be in danger. For now, it’ll be me and…”

The Sword Empress looked at me and Kim Ara.

“I’ll go too.”

“…Right. Now that I think about it, you possess power equal to or greater than mine.”

The Sword Empress looked at me with a proud gaze.

“By the way, what’s your title? Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever hearing it…”

“It’s the Black Flame Dragon.”

The secretary whispered into the Sword Empress’s ear.

“…It’s not Black Flame Dragon.”

“…Don’t be embarrassed by it.”

The Sword Empress looked at me warmly, as if watching a troublesome child.

…I might as well go to the Hall of Honor and announce my title now.

‘It’s about time I reveal it.’

The title of The Savior, Lee Seo-ha.

As soon as the decision to go to Japan was made, Kim Ara became sullen.

The reason was none other than the fact that the Sword Empress was coming along.

‘A date…’

She had been looking forward to some time alone with Lee Seo-ha.

However, Kim Ara didn’t complain. The situation was too serious for that.

The representative transcendent of Japan had fallen.

Kim Ara knew how severe this was.

Growing up, she had been trained in martial arts by the Overlord.

If the Overlord had fallen into corruption, Kim Ara might have both worried about him and fled.

The Overlord was practically a natural disaster. He could erase mountains with a single punch and ‘plow’ through land over kilometers with a single kick.

He was already that powerful, so the thought of him becoming a Mine was beyond imagination.

‘Can I protect him?’

Kim Ara had been trained by the Overlord in Lee Seo-ha’s absence.

The training had been harsh enough to surpass anything before, pushing her past a wall to become stronger.

However, she hadn’t yet achieved the feat of defeating a Great Evil, so she hadn’t ascended to the highest rank like others.

Her strength might be comparable to a top rank, but when it came to fighting a fallen transcendent, she wasn’t sure if she could help.

At the very least, she wanted to protect Seo-ha.

“Shall we head straight to Japan…?”

“Can we stop by the school first?”

“The school?”

The Sword Empress looked at Lee Seo-ha with a puzzled expression.

“……Oh. That’s right, you’re still a student.”

“Why do you sound so disappointed?”

“No, it’s just that the accomplishments and power you’ve achieved are so remarkable.”

The Sword Empress closed her eyes briefly before looking at Lee Seo-ha.

She thought to herself, as she often had, that there was nothing outwardly special about him. But her instincts, honed through years of experience, screamed at her never to fight him.

‘Strength recognizes strength, they call it.’

He grew stronger every day.

It suited him perfectly.

It was no exaggeration—he truly grew stronger with each passing day.

Thinking back to when she first sensed the warning signs upon his arrival from the martial arts world, she still felt cold sweat trickle down her back.

Even now, her instincts were vehemently warning her against fighting him.

“Then we’ll stop by the school.”

“Sure. But why?”

“To reveal my title.”

“Ah, I see.”

The Sword Empress’s interest was piqued.

The world had been watching the path that this boy had walked. What title, bestowed by the world’s will, would he have?

“Revealing a title has its benefits. The moment you unveil the title bestowed by the world’s will, its power strengthens.”

In certain situations, the power of a title could be overwhelming.

That’s why most heroes publicly announced their titles.

“So do I.”

Kim Ara clung to Lee Seo-ha’s side. She was curious, too.

It was a curiosity different from the Sword Empress’s.

She wanted to know what kind of title and path the man she liked had walked.

‘Seo-ha’s title must be something cool, right?’

And so they headed to the school.

It didn’t take long to reach the Hall of Honor. After all, they were superhumans wearing the mask of humanity.

And there, in the Hall of Honor.

A single title was engraved beneath the greatest and most revered hero at the top.

The Savior, Lee Seo-ha.