The Protagonists Are Murdered by Me
chapter-60

Chapter 60 – Library of the white witches 1.1

Misclean’s eyes were tightly shut as she meditated under the waterfall.

Whenever she emptied her mind and the waterfall hit her body, she felt like her head was clearing up a bit more. Even when Yoo Seo-dam made a stupid remark like ‘Of course, waterfall was a must-go place for practice’ when he saw her sitting under the waterfall, Misclean ignored him.

Misclean originally used a Greatsword as her weapon. A heavy weapon which even a well-trained swordsman had to wield with both hands. But it was a perfect fit for her who had extraordinary muscular strength. Until she realized…

‘Longsword was a better fit for me compared to a greatsword.’

Despite the sudden realization, her body was still sluggish. For Misclean, a Greatsword wasn’t an option for her but a necessity. It was a perfect sword for her survival, so she thought she would use Greatsword for the rest of her life.

However, she lost most of her strength when she fought Adonen. And with the help of Yoo Seodam she was able to regain her strength.

And now, she was able to distribute most of her power at will.

“……”

When she opened her eyes, she saw Yoo Seodam meditating under the waterfall in front of her.

She slowly rose up from her seat and pulled out her sword. It wasn’t the greatsword she had been using for all her life, but a sleek short sword.

Slowly, very slowly, she swung her sword sideways. She could feel that the sword was the lightest among all swords she had wielded in her entire life. It was also the fastest sword.

[Misclean skill ‘Iron-blooded swordsmanship(SS)’ has changed into ‘Iron Wind Swordsmanship(SSS)’]

The waterfall split when she swung.

****

“You have quite a talent for swordsmanship. It was better than those pebbles on the side of the road.”

“…….”

I sat silently while listening to what Misclean had to say. I had no rebuttal whatsoever even when Misclean compared A+Rank Hunter’s talent to be better than a pebbles’s talent on the side of the road.

The reason why I sat silently was because she had much more talent in Swordsmanship than me. Heck, my original talent before the system’s help was at the same level as those pebbles. So I don’t want to argue with her.

“But still, your current level is enough to learn my Swordsmanship.”

She only wore light clothing with her silver hair tied to the back of her head. Her exposed tan skin had no trace of any scar. It made me wonder if that was really the skin of a warrior.

Misclean asked me to demonstrate my swordsmanship to her.

So, I showed it to her. It was simply a repeated swing of swordsmanship without any kind of form. Just, a swordsmanship tailored for myself.

She watched silently as I wielded the sword in the air, and then she opened her mouth.

“How unusual. One can’t easily have the eyes that could recognize which swordsmanship suits them the most. You are blessed.”

“I guess so.”

The truth is, the reason I was able to find the swordsmanship that fit me the most was thanks to ‘White Swordsmanship’.

“But…”

She thought for a moment and then looked at my ether blade. This ether blade’s length was adjustable like a cutter blade. Right now it was only 120cm in length without any energy running through it.

“Can that strange sword’s length be adjusted at will?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why are you using it like that?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“If it’s really a sword whose length can be easily adjusted, you can always use different types of weapon like, long swords, greatsword, shortsword and dagger depending on the situation.”

“That’s right…. But I think it was inefficient to use it like that.”

“No, You’re wrong! That is the most efficient thing for you.”

“What do you mean?”

Misclean pondered for a moment before opening her mouth once again.

“The swordsmanship that you’ve shown me was like a drawing paper, a blank drawing paper. There are some dye stains in a few places to some extent. I will use my presence as a dye to paint you.”

Misclean got up with a shortsword in her hand. Then, she prepared her stance.

I could only marvel at her stance.

The impression she gave was akin to someone who held a heavy, big sword. When she swung her sword, the air cracked heavily.

After that strike, she showed me several other swordsmanship. Sometimes it was fast, sometimes it was slow. Sometimes it was heavy, sometimes light.

[Misclean used ‘Sword of swiftness(S)’]

[Misclean used ‘Quick Sword(S)’]

[Misclean used ‘Heavy Sword(S)’]

[Misclean used ‘Lightweight sword(S)’]

I was stunned by the fact that Misclean could use different swordsmanship with only one sword.

“This is the ‘paint’ that I will teach you.”

A-rank talent. A talent that appeared once every hundred years. Obviously, my sword talent was genius among geniuses.

But how much could I develop a swordsmanship by using the white swordsmanship which had only been stealing other people’s swordsmanship without being properly taught?

In histories of countless worlds out there, many geniuses were born. Some of them had far more superior talent than mine. Would it be possible for me to catch up with the swordsmanship which was efficiently reorganized and developed by another genius?

Absolutely not.

Misclean’s swordsmanship in front of me had turned all of my swords into scraps of garbage.

“You must have been very shocked. Don’t worry, your foundation is very solid. As I said before don’t worry about this swordsmanship because it will be your colour.”

“……..”

When I thought that I could learn swordsmanship that Misclean just did,

lights started to fill my head.

“Rise.”

“Yes.”

“From now on you will spar with me until you learn all these swords.”

“Pardon?”

With a face devoid of any laughter, she said something that felt like a joke without joking.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever taught anyone. So, I’ll color you myself.”

“…..Yes?”

After that day, the gates of hell were opened.

***

Chapter 60.2 – Library of the white witches 1.2

[The second stage of the skill ‘White Sword (S)’ is about to open.]

The first form of the white swordsmanship was self-reflection. I thought of myself as a drawing paper and figured out my limitations. Then, I chose which swordsmanship fit me the most, which type of sword to use, which steps to use and what kind of breathing I need to do. The moment I have a complete grasp of all of that, the second stage will open up.

The average sunrise time on the Rostislav continent, the world where the sword was everything, was one hour later than on Earth. I always woke up and went out to the yard every day, two or three hours before the sunrise to wield a wooden sword.

We were in the mountains, quite far from the city. This small cottage was said to be Misclean’s home when she wanted to rest. Of course I did all sorts of work like carrying water from the river, chopping firewoods and many more. It was like I had become a discipline of a master in a martial arts story.

“……..”

As I wielded the wooden sword, I looked back at my experiences from the last two months.

I got hit really, really hard.

I was always beaten to pulp.

And my current level was 49.

<Yoo Seodam>

[level: 49]

*Status*

[Strength 46] [HP 45] [Agility 49] [Energy 1] [Magic Power 50]

*Talent*

[Swordsmanship A+] [Hunting D+] [Shoot C] [Cooking D-] [Intuition A] [Shrewdness A]

[Others,··]

*Skill*

[Protagonist hunter Lv.3]

[White swordsmanship(S)]

[Sixth sense(F)]

[Araceli mana circling method(SS)]

[Library of the white witch(F)]

[Inventory(B)]

[Running like the wind(A)]

[Concentration(S)]

To my surprise, only two months had passed, and there was only one status that had not reached the limit, but it had gained some level for the first time. The Mana Stat went as far as to break past the limit of my level.

All of that was thanks to Misclean.

‘Why did you use magic like that?’

‘Why? I think I’m using it pretty effectively, no?’

‘What kind of bullshit are you spewing? You should’ve thought of burning the mana and moving it, why do you just let it go?’

When I think about what Misclean said. It was such a simple problem to solve.

A superhuman uses an unknown energy called ‘Ether’ to strengthen their body. But I didn’t strengthen my body with ether nor mana, but with pure ‘ability’ alone. So what will happen if the unknown energy of mana were added to my body? Of course my output would increase by several fold.

Of course, spreading mana to my whole body to enhance both my power and speed wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I would have done that if it was that easy.

[Skill ‘Concentration(S)’ has been activated.]

Well, it would be hard without this skill.

While looking at the scarecrows a few distance away from me the world started to slow down as soon as I activated the skill.

In this state, I could feel everything clearly. I could feel My breath, drop of sweats, and even the breeze that caressed my skin.

I moved the mana which circled violently around my heart to my hands. And then, I swung my wooden sword towards the scarecrow as hard as I could.

Fwoosshh!!

The scarecrow split in half, as if it was cut by a sharp blade.

[Skill ‘Concentration(S)’ has been deactivated.]

“Huff, Huff.”

After striking in that manner, my stance quickly collapsed due to the unbearable pain I felt in my arms. My head was also burning and I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly.

To be honest, when I first got the ‘Concentration’ skill, I didn’t understand why it was a S-rank skill. It was only a skill that boosted my concentration. I had much better skill than ‘Concentration’ that only ranked F in terms of efficiency on my skill list. But then, I realized. The ‘Concentration’ skill synergized beautifully when someone had mana on their body.

Like that, when I forced myself to use the mana, it began to swirl all over my body. Moreover, the law that the system said ‘status can’t ever be higher than levels’ had been broken.

The law was broken only because it was Mana stats not physical stats. In the first place, the amount of mana inside my level 49 body was enormous.

Since then, I’ve never skipped a day without moving the mana that surrounds my heart using the Araceli Mana circling method until all the mana dried up with no single drop left.

[Skill ‘White swordsmanship(S)’ has been activated]

[Skill ‘Concentration(S)’ has been activated.]

Sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Sometimes it’s heavy, sometimes it’s light.

I was able to use Misclean’s swordsmanship now. It wasn’t perfect yet, but I was able to freely draw my own paintings with any kind of sword that exists in the world.

Just the other day, I had to hold a sword that was right for me to open up the possible swordsmanship, but now I can fit any swordsmanship with any sword.

At this rate, it was safe to say that the development of my swordsmanship was quite tremendous. All the materials I had bought in order to learn many kinds of swordsmanship before meeting Adonen had become garbage.

The sun was rising when I looked up to the sky.

The sunrise of B1’s world line, where the influence of regression had completely disappeared was just the dawn of a new day.

As I slowly tried to get up from my seat to wash my sweaty body, the flower pot started talking.

-Hey, Magician….

“Yeah?”

-I’m bored…

“Just go read some books in the library.”

-I’ve read it all…

“All of it?”

That’s crazy. I don’t think I’ve read even 10 percent yet. I don’t know if it’s because the flower pot was a spirit but she was a fast reader.

“Wait a little longer, I’ll finish practicing the last swordsmanship before going back.”

-Even if we are going back, I’ll still feel bored…

“Well, that’s true I guess? So, what do you want? Should I give you some alcohol?”

-Noo…

The pot agonized for a moment, and soon carefully opened its mouth.

-Please open the door…

“Door? Don’t tell me, are you talking about the E-rank access to the library?

-Eung.. [T/N: it is a ‘yes’, but in cuter way)

“Hey, are you crazy? I’ll be in big trouble if I open it.”

I tried to scold it more, but the pot spoke faster than me.

-Why is that?

“I’ve explained it to you last time, so, I’m not going to explain it again-“

-You can open it now…

“Whaaat?”

-Magician, open the door…

What is this nonsense all of a sudden?

Only

From time to time, the flower pot would whine like this. But I’ve never seen it this obstinate. When I said no it would just keep its mouth shut and say yes.

Even though I was reluctant to do it at first, but, I decided to summon ‘The library of white witches(F)’.

[Skill ‘Concentration(S)’ has been activated.]

The once translucent border of the library had become more vivid this time. It was as if i’m inside a real library. When I stretched my hand out, I could feel the roughness of the bookcase.

When I took out a grimoire and unfolded it, the feeling of the cover made of leather and the feeling of the dry paper was clearly felt on my fingertips.

Everything felt so real.

“This is crazy! What in the world is this….”

The reality where I once stood on had disappeared. When I came to my senses, I had arrived in the Library of the White Witch.