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SMSK 03

SMSK

Chapter 3. Underground Arena (2)
(from One-Hit Kill Swordmaster)


VIP Room.

Top floor of the underground arena, offering a panoramic view of the battleground.

A man wearing an eagle mask looked down at the arena with a disinterested gaze.

His name was Karayan.
Master of the “Ruins Merchant Guild,” which ruled the black market, and the headmaster overseeing this underground arena.

‘This match is painfully predictable.’

Karayan clicked his tongue in annoyance.

This match was rigged from the start.
The slaves were starved for days in prison. The only weapons given to them were old, rusted junk.
Their chances of surviving against Barva the Butcher were practically zero.

‘Even the audience knows that.’

Underdog effect? Please.

No one watching this match was rooting for the slaves.
What the crowd wanted was a one-sided massacre.
The role of the slaves here was nothing more than moving, breathing targets.


—Only four left! Just four slave gladiators remain! How will Barva finish them off…?!

BOOOOOOOM—!

Maybe that’s why no one saw it coming.

A completely unforeseen event shook the arena.

—…Huh?

Sudden silence blanketed the entire coliseum.

“What the…?!”

Crash—!

Karayan shot up from his seat.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared down at the arena.

Dust and sand slowly settled.
At its center stood a scrawny slave, holding a one-handed sword.

Drip. Drip.

And at his feet—
The decapitated body of Barva the Butcher, neck sliced clean off.

Shing.

THUD—!

The massive corpse hit the ground with a dull thud, and the entire arena froze.

No one even dared to breathe in the overwhelming stillness that followed.
It was as if time itself had stopped.

“……”

What had just happened?

No one could comprehend what they had just witnessed.

Something flashed.
A violent gust swept the arena.
And by the time people could open their eyes again, Barva was already dead.

That was it.
Nothing more.

The crowd stared in blank disbelief, unable to explain the surreal scene.

Roll…

Thud—!

A hollow sound echoed through the arena—Barva’s severed head hit the wall and bounced off.

“Ah…”

Only then did Karayan fully grasp what had happened.

‘Barva… is dead.’

So suddenly. Without even a chance to react.

“……”

Sshk—.

Karayan slowly turned his gaze to the slave who had done it.

A gaunt body. Hollow, lifeless eyes.
At a glance, he looked no different from the other slaves.

But the movement he’d just displayed was something no ordinary person could possibly replicate.

His speed—it was unnatural. As if he had vanished for a moment.
Only someone at the level of a high-ranking knight, or beyond, could move like that.

‘So why would someone that powerful end up as a slave in this arena?’

It didn’t make sense.

The slaves here were debtors who couldn’t repay their loans to the Ruins Merchant Guild.
Most were addicts or gamblers who’d ruined themselves.

But this man was different.

A fighter on par with a high-ranking knight.

With that level of skill, he could’ve secured a place anywhere on the continent.
There was no way he couldn’t pay back a loan.
In fact, there was no reason for him to be in debt to the Guild in the first place.

In a world where power was everything, someone like him wouldn’t be short on money.

‘And even if, for some absurd reason, he did owe the Guild a debt…’

There’s no way someone capable of killing Barva in a single strike would be captured by the Guild’s debt collectors.

‘Which means…’

Gulp.

Karayan swallowed dryly.

There was only one logical conclusion.

‘He came here on purpose.’

But why?

“……”

After pondering for a moment, Karayan murmured softly.

“Loren.”

“…Yes, my lord.”

Even before the name was fully spoken, a figure emerged from the shadows.

“What do you make of it?”

The man in a dark robe hesitated.

Then finally spoke, voice tinged with confusion.

“…I couldn’t react either.”

Karayan’s expression darkened.

This man was Loren, Karayan’s personal bodyguard.

He was the strongest swordsman in the Ruins Guild.
He’d once held his own for four minutes against one of the continent’s twelve Swordmasters—the “Violent Dragon Swordmaster.”

His skill was unquestionable.

And yet, even Loren couldn’t track the man’s movements.

“…Hah.”

Karayan let out a dry chuckle.

His opinion of the slave who killed Barva had skyrocketed.

After a moment of contemplation, Karayan gave an order.

“Prepare a meeting, Loren. I need to speak with him directly.”


Waiting room, after the match.

I glanced forward and saw a full-body mirror.
In it, the face I hadn’t yet had time to look at revealed itself.

For the first time, I saw my reflection—and let out a relieved sigh.

“Whew…”

Dark navy hair hanging slightly over my eyes.
Golden irises peeking through.
Skin so pale it looked nearly translucent.

‘Good thing I stuck with the default appearance settings.’

It was the default protagonist design from the original game’s title screen.

I was a bit gaunt, with sunken eyes giving me a somewhat eerie look, but underneath it all was a youthful, handsome face.

Thank god I didn’t use my usual over-the-top character customization.
Otherwise, I might’ve been mistaken for a monster and executed before even reaching the arena.

‘Still…’

I clenched and unclenched my hands, still dazed.

‘That sensation…’

It still lingered.
The electric thrill that surged through me the moment I activated the skill.

How should I describe it?

It truly felt like I could cut down anything with a sword.
As if nothing in the world was beyond my blade, so long as I willed it.

…Though the effect lasted only 0.01 seconds.


━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Active Effect]
While the skill is active, you reach the pinnacle of mastery.
━━━━━━━━━━━━


‘At least now I know exactly how the skill works.’

At first, the abstract name and description gave me no clue.
“Soul of the Swordmaster”? “Pinnacle of mastery”? Vague nonsense.

But after using it, I immediately understood.

‘While the skill is active—I become a Swordmaster.’

A Swordmaster.

The highest level a human could achieve.

According to the game’s lore, only twelve existed on the entire continent.

They were so rare that even a once-in-a-century genius knight had to risk their life to attain that rank.


━━━━━━━━━━━━
You possess the most exceptional talent among the millions—no, billions—of Swordmasters.
━━━━━━━━━━━━


And I…
I was a one-of-a-kind genius even among those Swordmasters.

‘The greatest among billions.’

At least during that fleeting moment, I was the strongest being in this world.

If only that moment lasted longer than 0.01 seconds… but I’m sick of complaining about that.


【Lv. 1】

‘Still… even after killing Barva, no level-up, huh?’

Well, that made sense.

“Lost Elder” had a very different leveling system from typical RPGs.

More accurately—

Knock knock—

“…?”

A knock came at the door.

Soon, a woman in a maid outfit carefully opened the door and stepped inside.

“The Guildmaster of the Ruins requests your presence.”

The Guildmaster.

In other words, the headmaster of this arena was summoning me.

‘Knew it. I figured this would happen.’

I’d expected as much.

I rose and followed the maid leading the way.

Toward the topmost level of the Ruins Merchant Guild—
A place crawling with monsters who could end my life with a flick of their fingers.

“……”

And yet, I stayed calm.


━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Passive Effect]
Your [Mental Strength] stat is always at MAX.
━━━━━━━━━━━━


…Thanks to Soul of the Swordmaster, probably.


Maybe it was the blood-soaked match after five days in prison,
But I looked worse than a sewer rat.

Covered in dust and dried blood, I reeked horribly.

Even the maid must’ve thought I was too foul to meet the Guildmaster like this—
She took me to a small bath first.

Ssshhh—

After a quick rinse and a change into clean clothes, I resumed following her.

As we walked through the dim corridors of the underground arena, I recalled the lore of the game.


【Ruins Merchant Guild】

That’s who I was about to meet.

They ruled the continent’s black market.

No matter how generous you wanted to be, they weren’t good people.

They trafficked humans, sold drugs, and ran all kinds of illegal operations—all for profit.

Just looking at the arena alone showed how vile they were.

‘The headmaster is Karayan.’

Karayan—
A titan who seized control of the black market through sheer insight and business acumen.
In Roel’s world, where strength usually dictated status, he was the one exception who rose through wealth.

‘That’s all the official lore known to players of Roel.’

Before I knew it, we had arrived.

“We’re here.”

The maid gently opened the door.

Creeeak—

Rusty hinges squealed.

The first thing I saw was a translucent level window.


【Lv.84】


Level 84.
That meant this person was among the continent’s strongest.

I looked down.

A man in an eagle mask was seated, eyes boring into me.

“So.”

“……”

“You’re the gladiator who killed Barva?”

A chilling male voice emerged from the mask.
The servants in the room flinched from the pressure.

But oddly enough…

Even though this should’ve been a tense moment, I felt completely at ease.

Maybe because Karayan was acting exactly as I’d expected.

“I’m not interested in talking to a puppet.”

“…What?”

Karayan’s voice wavered with surprise.

I ignored it and looked once more at the level window above the eagle mask.


【Lv.84】


I already told you—

Karayan was a businessman.
He climbed to his position through wit, not strength.

‘There’s no way Karayan is actually level 84.’

He got here by reading the flow of money, not by brute force.

Which meant the monster sitting here at level 84… wasn’t him.

‘Most likely his bodyguard—the Shadow Knight, Loren.’

It wasn’t strange.
Even in the original game, Karayan always hid behind a puppet.

And more importantly—

“If you summoned me, show the proper respect, Karayan.”

“……”

“Don’t speak through a puppet. Say it yourself.”

…After 200 playthroughs of Roel, I knew Karayan’s true identity hidden behind the mask.

Sshk—

I turned toward the figure behind me.

Specifically—the “maid” who’d guided me here.

“Don’t tell me you’re still going to play dumb after everything I’ve said.”

“…!”

“…!”

The moment I finished speaking, everyone in the room visibly flinched.

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Sword Master With One Strike Kill

Sword Master With One Strike Kill

일격필살의 소드마스터
Score 9.9
Status: Ongoing Type: Author: Released: 2025 Native Language: KOREAN

~Plot~

A story about a man who wakes up in a world heading toward destruction!

『One-Hit Kill Sword Master』

Gaon, a veteran player of Lost Elder with 200 playthroughs,
is reincarnated with nothing but a single skill!

But the state of that skill?

[Soul of the Sword Master]
Grade: ★★★★★★★★★★★★ (12-Star – Mythic Tier)
Mana Consumption: 100 mana per second
Mana Possessed: 1

“…I’ll end everything in 0.01 seconds.”

The moment he draws his sword,
Heaven and Earth fall silent!

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