The Swordmaster Who Returned After 1,000 Years-Chapter 240

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 240

Chiiiiik...!

A deluge of light rained down indiscriminately from above the moon, as bright as midday.

There was only one target for the light—Kaylen.

As the mana of light poured out from an uncountable number of solar stones, the moon's surface melted in an instant.

But no matter how powerful the light was—

—it never reached Kaylen.

"Hm. I'm starting to get used to this."

At first, Kaylen had not fully adjusted to the moon's gravity, but after dodging the beams falling from the sky a few times, he moved with ease, evading the solar stones’ light without trouble.

"Too slow."

[Keek...!]

As Kaylen slipped past the beams, Arashiel adjusted them to bombard a wider area.

"This is too weak."

The widened beam had lost power in exchange for range.

Kaylen didn’t even bother dodging—it wasn’t worth it. He simply took it head-on.

[Kuh...…]

Arashiel grew anxious at the unresolved situation.

[Kaylen... You came all the way to the moon just to run away? I didn’t expect you to be so passive.]

He scoffed.

At those words, Kaylen laughed derisively, as if it were pathetic.

"Passive? You call that a provocation? Still, I was just starting to get bored."

Six Sword Path – Second Sword: Sword Rain

A technique created by merging the mana of light and water—Sword Rain.

However, the Sword Rain Kaylen unleashed this time wasn’t bound to any specific mana attribute.

Bathed in gold, the Six Swords spread in all directions.

They instantly split and scattered into an uncountable number of droplets.

"Try and withstand this."

Whoosh!

A golden Sword Rain surged from the ground toward the sky.

All of it aimed for the solar stones above.

[You think that’s enough…!]

Arashiel sneered as he realized that each droplet of Sword Rain held only a minuscule amount of mana.

Kang! Kang!

But as those tiny swords—barely more than raindrops—began piercing the solar stones one by one, his expression hardened at once.

With just those...? Impossible...

Arashiel knew full well how solid the solar stones were, and the sight before him was utterly unbelievable.

He was aware Kaylen was beyond human strength, but there had to be a limit.

To pierce solar stones with swords made of such minuscule mana—how could that be real?

As Arashiel stood in shock, Kaylen appeared silently right before his eyes.

"I don’t like that expression on your face—especially when you’re looking at me."

[Wha...…]

"I’ll destroy you."

Whoosh.

It was a single, effortless strike.

[Ah… ah…]

But—

The result of that simple move was anything but simple.

Chiiiiik—!

Arashiel’s entire body, made of solar stone, completely split apart.

Plop. Plop.

Fragments of solar stone began to fall to the ground, one by one.

Due to the low gravity, the fragments scattered in all directions like bouncing balls.

“Hm.”

Kaylen, who had shattered his opponent with a single sword, looked at his blade with a dissatisfied expression.

‘I meant to grind him to dust. Solar stone is sturdier than I thought.’

Though Arashiel, now merged with Kaylen’s body, was weak for the time being, there was no telling what kind of variable he might become in the future.

To prevent any chance of future trouble, he needed to be uprooted completely.

‘If I can’t disassemble him entirely... I’ll have to absorb him myself.’

Six Sword Path – Third Sword: Bottomless Pit

Three swords spun—

—and soon formed a golden vortex.

Toward that floating vortex behind Kaylen—

—the shattered fragments of Arashiel began to be absorbed at once.

‘He had quite a bit of mana in him…’

Kaylen replenished his sword with the mana held within the solar stone.

Perhaps because this was the moon and not Earth, Infinity within Kaylen’s body no longer replenished mana endlessly as it once had.

After all, Infinity’s source was Earth itself.

Now that the location had completely changed, Kaylen could no longer rely on infinite mana. He had to sustain himself.

‘Time to go look for the Celestial Demon God.’

After destroying every solar stone in the sky and absorbing even Arashiel’s fragments, Kaylen felt that his warm-up was over.

If he ran low on mana, he could just absorb more solar stones from the sky and continue the fight against the Celestial Demon God.

With that thought, Kaylen looked around.

The desolate, gray lunar surface stretched endlessly, making it impossible to tell one place from another.

“Was the moon always like this?”

[I only remember the era of Theia.]

“Your speech has gotten rather casual.”

[In the era of Theia, this wasn’t a land devoid of life.]

At Kaylen’s remark, the Earth God immediately corrected his tone.

Staring out over the moon, he continued—

[For life to exist, an atmosphere is essential… but this moon has none. Even for the moon's own kind, they’d need at least some air to live as lifeforms.]

“Hm… maybe that’s why. The mana is incredibly scarce. Except for the light from the solar stones, I can hardly sense any mana at all.”

[The moon’s dark mana as well… it’s almost undetectable. Originally, the surface of Theia carried dense dark mana…]

Kaylen stepped onto the gray land.

The distinctive dark mana that the Earth God or the Celestial Demon God once held couldn’t be sensed here at all.

‘It might just be a problem with this place for now. I should try heading in the direction where the mana feels strongest.’

He couldn’t just stand here forever.

Whoosh.

Kaylen glanced around, then began walking toward the direction where mana was most concentrated.

‘And I’ll keep absorbing solar stone along the way.’

Behind Kaylen, the golden vortex continued to expand in size.

The solar stones from above were being sucked into the Bottomless Pit.

Kaylen moved in the direction of stronger mana, continuing his search for the Celestial Demon God.

Flash. Flash.

[…As expected, you are strong.]

“Arashiel. You again?”

Kaylen looked ahead with an exasperated expression.

This made it the fifth time now.

Wherever the mana was concentrated, Arashiel—taking Kaylen’s form—would be waiting there.

[But this time will be different!]

Flash!

A pure-white beam of light poured down from a solar stone in the sky like lightning.

It was much faster and stronger than the last time they fought.

“Stop bothering me already.”

But Kaylen didn’t even bother dodging the beam anymore.

Ssssss—

The attack was pulled straight into the golden vortex behind him—

Chiiiik—

[Aaaargh…!]

With a single strike from Kaylen—

Arashiel was dismantled once again.

Now completely used to it, Kaylen calmly absorbed the fragments into the Bottomless Pit and lowered his gaze.

‘The Celestial Demon God’s intent is obvious.’

He was stalling for time.

Even though Kaylen had come to his home turf, the Celestial Demon God had no intention of facing him head-on, instead sending out Arashiel over and over just to delay him.

‘At first, I thought he was trying to wear me down…’

Unlike the fight on Earth, here Kaylen couldn’t receive mana through Infinity.

The Celestial Demon God likely assumed that the more Kaylen fought, the more his mana would deplete—and was playing the long game.

‘But by now, he should’ve realized that someone like Arashiel can’t drain my mana at all.’

Arashiel, who shatters from a single strike—

Even if he were summoned a hundred times, he couldn’t put a dent in Kaylen’s mana.

On the contrary, by absorbing solar stone, Kaylen’s mana only increased.

In the end, this kind of battle of attrition wasn’t a burden to Kaylen at all.

It only resulted in the Celestial Demon God losing more solar stone—suffering a heavy loss.

‘…I need to completely revise my approach.’

Kaylen decided to change his thinking, taking a completely different direction from before.

Heading toward where the mana gathered only brought scraps of Arashiel.

Instead, he should go where mana was barely detectable.

Toward the direction where the solar stones—radiating brilliant presence from all around—were few.

That’s where he decided to go.

‘Yeah. Toward the darker side.’

The mana felt from the moon—

Was merely the mana of light emitted by the solar stones.

Now, determined to completely ignore that, he chose to move toward the darkness.

Kaylen advanced quickly.

[Kaylen…! Where are you going!]

When Kaylen started behaving in a completely different manner than before—

Arashiel, who had only lingered where solar stones were densely gathered—

Instead began to pursue Kaylen.

‘So I was right.’

Her pursuit only confirmed Kaylen’s deduction.

[What a coward…! Are you running away without even fighting me!]

Kaylen completely ignored her provocation.

‘I won’t bother with scraps anymore.’

Six Sword Path

Second Sword

Sword Wind

Raising a wind with his sword, Kaylen maximized his speed—

And continued moving toward the place where no light mana could be felt.

[Kaylen!]

[Kay… len…]

And then—

The voice of Arashiel, who had been chasing, grew quieter.

The moon, once as bright as midday, gradually darkened.

The number of solar stones that had filled the sky steadily diminished.

[Ah… I can’t see Earth from here…]

When the Water God embedded in the Water Sword let out a small exclamation, Kaylen looked up.

Just like when he looked up at the sky from Earth and saw the moon—

Now, from the moon, when looking up at the sky—

He used to see the massive Earth.

‘It really… can’t be seen.’

But now—

In this place he had arrived at using Sword Wind, where solar stones were extremely scarce—

He could no longer see Earth.

[This is… the far side of the moon.]

Then, a fragment of the Earth God, dwelling within the Earth Sword,

Spoke respectfully to inform Kaylen about this location.

“So this is the far side of the moon…”

[Yes. The far side of the moon, which can never face Earth. Here, I can feel Theia’s dark mana.]

Just as the Earth God said—

Upon arriving on the far side of the moon—

The dark mana of the moon, which Kaylen had once felt from the Earth God, began to truly manifest.

‘I should stop here.’

Having entered the far side of the moon, Kaylen halted the Sword Wind technique—

And raised his guard.

Until now, he had only dealt with the weak Arashiel.

But the one he would face on the far side of the moon—

Would not be someone like Arashiel.

And then—

[You came sooner than I expected.]

The gray earth beneath Kaylen’s feet was instantly dyed in darkness.

[Let’s bring it to an end here.]

From within that darkness—

Came the low voice of the Celestial Demon God, the very being Kaylen had been searching for.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]