The Return of the Limited-Time Sword Master

Chapter 54: Longing for Freedom (4)

Since it was broad daylight, the Brightner Estate bustled with activity, filled with knights and servants busy with their duties.

Yet, not a single person noticed.

Martin was leisurely wandering around the estate by himself.

‘The problem is, where could the map be?’

The more complex the mine’s tunnels, the more valuable the map becomes.

Furthermore, Fratel City was renowned as a mining city, with numerous and vast mines.

Naturally, the map would be considered precious and would surely be guarded with utmost care.

Tap.

Martin placed his right hand on the estate’s wall.

A golden light flickered and spread throughout the entire estate.

Normally, the light would have shone much brighter, but he had dimmed it to match the level of sunlight, just enough to avoid drawing attention.

‘I have to go through some trouble, though.’

He had already bent the light to conceal himself.

On top of that, using spatial detection added more strain on his body, but he had no choice but to endure it.

It was far more efficient than manually searching every room.

Martin focused on examining the structure of the estate as he pondered.

‘It’s not the lord’s office or the storage room.’

He had already checked both the lord’s office on the third floor and the storage room in the basement, even thoroughly searching them.

Thus, he excluded those two places without hesitation.

He also dismissed areas with heavy foot traffic.

Considering the importance of the map, it would only be accessible to those of high status.

Naturally, there weren’t many such places.

After about 20 minutes had passed,

‘It’s not the basement, first floor, or second floor.’

The only place left was the third floor.

Martin heightened his concentration and scanned all 12 rooms thoroughly.

Another 10 minutes passed, and he frowned.

He had found the room where the map was likely kept.

It was a room in the center of the third floor, where an immense amount of mana had gathered.

It was clear that a barrier had been set up there.

But that wasn’t the real issue.

‘A 7-circle mage in the Brightner family? Who could that be?’

The most powerful person in this place was the head of the household, Jurgen von Brightner, but he was known to be only a 6-circle mage.

Moreover, the opponent was a mage.

At a distance, they might be tricky, but in close combat, a one-on-one fight would have been simple.

That’s why he wasn’t worried.

Yet, who would’ve expected that a 7-circle mage would be by the head’s side?

Although their presence was concealed and their aura suppressed, it was impossible to fool someone of the same level.

‘I might get caught if I’m not careful.’

Martin hesitated for a moment, but his hesitation didn’t last long.

He had come too far to retreat now.

If worse came to worst, he could always escape using teleportation.

After reaching that conclusion, he withdrew his spatial detection and moved toward the room in the middle of the third floor.

The door was firmly closed.

However, Martin wasn’t fazed at all and waited until people had left the area.

Woooooong.

When the third-floor corridor was finally clear, he immediately twisted space and entered the room.

But he soon shook his head with a wry smile.

“Damn.”

A large map was spread out on the desk by the window.

However, he couldn’t approach it.

A triple-layered barrier made of light was blocking his path, preventing him from getting near the map or even seeing its contents.

Magic traps were scattered across the floor, and sensor spells covered the ceiling.

‘Even manipulating space won’t work here.’

The magic cast in this room was designed to react the moment foreign mana touched it.

Breaking through the barrier head-on might work, but bypassing the magic altogether was impossible.

“Hoo.”

Things had become more bothersome than expected.

But there was no turning back.

He needed the map to find the drug farm and tighten his grip on the Brightner family.

Letting out a low sigh, Martin pulled a camera out of his subspace.

Then, he clenched his left fist tightly.

“Haaaap!”

With a strike that followed the breathing techniques of the Rothar Martial Art, imbued with the power of Omni Distortion, he unleashed a powerful blow.

Kwaaaaaang!

Golden energy burst out, shattering the barrier and every magic trap in the room, even causing the wall next to the window to collapse.

Beeeeeeep!

Almost simultaneously, a deafening alarm rang throughout the room.

“There’s an intruder! An intruder has appeared!”

“Catch him immediately! Don’t let him escape!”

The shouts of knights and guards echoed from downstairs.

But Martin paid no heed as he approached the map.

The intricate tunnel system was drawn in great detail.

While the location of the drug farm wasn’t marked, the lake illustration gave him enough clues to find it.

Click, click.

After quickly taking photos of the map, Martin put the camera back into his subspace.

Now, all that was left was to teleport out of there.

But then, it happened.

Flash!

A radiant light surged across the entire estate.

Then, dozens—no, hundreds—of beams of light shot up and intertwined together.

It was a barrier.

And unlike the one surrounding the map, this was no simple barrier.

The space around the Brightner estate had been distorted, completely severing it from the outside world.

It had transformed into a realm akin to a different dimension.

In this situation, teleporting out was impossible.

The only way out was to break the barrier head-on, just like he had done earlier.

‘They really underestimated me. Considering they had something like this, the battle we fought back then seems laughable.’

Before his regression, Martin had clashed with the Brightner family’s army on the outskirts of Fratel City, and he had personally beheaded Jurgen von Brightner, the head of the household.

He hadn’t known about this barrier within the estate at the time, but now it had come back to haunt him.

Pop!

Martin immediately dashed toward the broken wall.

“The intruder is escaping! Attack him, everyone!”

“Don’t let him live!”

Ten or so knights, accompanied by hundreds of guards, surrounded Martin.

‘I’ll break through as quickly as possible!’

The fact that there was an unknown 7-circle mage still bothered him.

If the head of the household joined the fight, it would become even more troublesome.

Determined, Martin channeled his mana to its maximum and charged into the crowd.

—

Bang! Bang!

The guards fired their mana rifles all at once, and a hail of bullets stormed toward Martin.

But he didn’t even blink as he lightly flicked his left index finger.

Whooosh!

A fierce wind surged, scattering all the bullets in every direction.

‘I need to avoid using spatial manipulation.’

The ability to control space wasn’t exclusive to the Adalbert family.

It’s just that all the masters of this ability had ended up belonging to the Adalbert family.

To hide his identity, Martin wore a mask and relied only on martial arts.

Using his spatial abilities to break through this minor obstacle wasn’t worth the risk of being exposed.

Thud!

Encased in a whirlwind, Martin landed on the ground.

One knight charged at him.

“Die!”

A sharp blue aura wrapped around the knight’s blade as it swung toward him.

But before the sword could land, Martin’s right fist had already smashed into the knight’s solar plexus.

“Guh!”

The knight let out a choked gasp and crumpled to the floor.

Not only had his ribs been shattered, but his internal organs, nerves, and mana circuits had been completely ruined.

He never rose again after that single scream.

Martin grabbed the corpse and used it as a shield.

Then, he surged forward toward the enemy.

“Don’t hold back! Fire at will!”

“Knights, keep your distance and launch aura strikes!”

A barrage of bullets and aura slashes bombarded the dead knight’s body, reducing it to tatters in an instant.

Yet, none of the attacks touched Martin.

Leaping high into the air, Martin spread both arms wide and slashed horizontally.

Kwakakakak!

Ten small whirlwinds erupted, swallowing the ordinary soldiers whole.

“Argh!”

“Ahhhh!”

More than thirty people were torn to shreds in an instant.

But Martin didn’t spare them a glance, his attention fixed on the approaching knights.

Unlike the others, the one at the forefront had already activated his unique ability.

‘A squad leader, huh.’

Kwakakwang!

Just as Martin thought that, stone spikes shot up from the ground beneath him.

Although the unexpected attack surprised him, Martin didn’t panic.

With the combined power of the Rothar Martial Art and Omni Distortion, he lightly stomped the ground.

That was all it took for the spikes to shatter, scattering debris everywhere.

But the attack hadn’t been in vain.

While Martin was fending off the spikes, another squad leader charged in, swinging his sword.

This one was also a squad leader, his blade coated with blue aura infused with the power of ice.

In response, Martin enveloped his arms in wind and lashed out with his left arm like a whip.

Kwahhh!

“What the—!”

The squad leader’s sword shattered effortlessly, and a look of disbelief spread across his face.

Martin smirked at his shaken opponent and stepped forward.

His right palm slammed into the man’s chest.

“Ugh!”

The floor beneath Martin’s feet sank with a thud, and the squad leader was thrown backward.

Just like the first knight, he would not rise again.

“They’re all dead in one

hit! This is insane!”

“What kind of monster is he?!”

While the knights struggled to maintain their composure, the guards were already paralyzed with shock.

Not once had they imagined that even a squad leader could fall in a single blow.

‘Now!’

With the enemy’s morale broken, gaps began to appear in their formation.

Since the reinforcements had yet to form a second line of defense, if he broke through the ones in front of him, he could quickly reach the exit.

Once again, Martin cloaked himself in wind and accelerated.

But he didn’t make it far.

Shwaaaaa!

Suddenly, the shadows of the knights and guards sprang to life, surging toward him like snakes.

In that split second, Martin realized that this was more than just shadows.

Each tendril was imbued with an aura blade.

‘I can’t dodge this.’

This attack was on a completely different level from anything he had faced so far.

There was only one way to counter it—head-on.

Though doing so would cost him the chance to escape, he had no other choice.

“Tah!”

With a sharp cry, Martin summoned his own aura blade, and a golden blade of light extended from his right hand to his forearm.

The wind that had been swirling around him intertwined with it.

Swish!

With a swift slash, the shadowy tendrils were all severed.

While he had successfully blocked the attack, there was no time to celebrate.

Step, step.

A middle-aged man in a red robe approached.

Beside him stood a man dressed in black, his face half-covered by a golden mask.

“I knew the rebels were like sneaky rats, but I didn’t expect them to be this resourceful. To think they’d bring along an expert who can wield an aura blade.”

“Isn’t this a good thing, Jurgen? Your insight has proven to be accurate.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes. He’s a 7-circle. Isn’t that right?”

The masked man turned his gaze toward Martin.

“Sigh.”

Martin let out a small sigh.

Although it was his first time seeing this man, he knew exactly who he was.

The black clothes, the golden mask.

And the unique shadow manipulation ability.

How could he not recognize him after seeing all this?

‘I can’t believe he is involved.’

Criminals who commit illegal activities for profit, such as drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling, loan sharking, and human trafficking, exist everywhere.

No matter how much the nations tried to eradicate them, they had never been completely uprooted. Instead, they had only grown like malignant tumors.

As a result, the underworld had become so prevalent in today’s Cracian Continent that the term “underworld” was openly used.

However, these organizations rarely harmed civilians directly.

After all, each territory had its lords and knights, and clashing with them could jeopardize the organization itself.

Then there was the Adventurer’s Guild, which also posed a major obstacle.

Since the guild prioritized civilian safety, they openly antagonized criminal organizations.

Yet, despite all this, the fact remained that the underworld was still a dangerous place.

And the man before him was one of the worst of them all.

He was a target for eradication in many countries and territories.

As the master of the Assassin’s Guild, which included every assassination organization, including the Blood Sword Guild that Martin himself had taken down, he was a monster who never failed to kill his target.

Among his victims were even those more powerful than him.

Especially in the darkness, where his prowess was said to be unmatched, people had come to know him by a particular name.

“The Dark King.”

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

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