[Vol. 8] Chapter 101: Swallows in Flight
Rudolph had already made up his mind, if the girl's strength was not as scary as it seemed and she was just pretending to be strong, then he would have her killed on the spot to avoid future trouble.
But if she really was powerful, then he would only try to push her back with full force, to both save his own strength and avoid making a deadly enemy of the Sword Saint, leaving room for future negotiations.
The two sides were already very close. In a flash, over ten of the family's strongest fighters moved into action. Some charged at her head-on, others used the rice fields as cover to attack from the sides, and some dived down like hawks from above. In the blink of an eye, they had reached her.
Blades were drawn, cold light flashed across the field, and the sharp glow of weapons lit up the girl's calm and quiet face. But she stood still, completely unmoving.
It looked like things had happened so fast that she didn’t have time to react. Or maybe she did notice the danger, but her body was too weak to respond quickly enough compared to these elite warriors.
It almost seemed like all the pressure Rudolph had felt from her before was just an illusion. Something that would vanish the moment it was touched.
But strangely, even as he saw this scene, Rudolph frowned slightly.
They clearly had the upper hand, but for some reason, he didn’t feel even a little bit relieved. The invisible pressure that had been weighing on him from the start only grew stronger...
And at this moment, it suddenly reached its peak!
As if he finally realized something, Rudolph’s face changed completely. He shouted a warning without thinking.
"No! Get back—!"
But… it was already too late.
At some point, the girl had already placed one hand on the sword at her waist. Her body lowered slightly, and in a clear and calm voice, she softly chanted:
“Absolute Sword: Swallows Fluttering.”
Time itself seemed to freeze in that moment. Countless shadows of swallows and birds burst into the air around her, wings cutting graceful arcs through the sky.
It was the light of her sword!
Each streak of light, each feather of those birds, was the trace left by her blade as it cut through the air. In just a single instant, she had drawn her sword and slashed many times. Thousands of strikes followed one after another like shadows, like a roaring storm, like a flock of flying swallows. The shining sword light was so thick that it hid her slim figure completely and covered all the Lombard family warriors within several meters around her.
Then suddenly, all the sword light vanished like birds scattering in the wind. Time seemed to slowly return to normal. When everything became clear again, the sword was already quietly back in its sheath at her waist, with her hand gently resting on the hilt, like she had never moved at all, and all that had happened before was just everyone’s imagination.
But…
“Thud.”
With a dull sound, the figure closest to the girl, whose claw-like weapon had almost reached her, fell from the air, unmoving. Then one after another, all the Lombard family warriors who had charged forward and were caught in the storm of sword light collapsed to the ground.
None survived.
Bright red blood flowed from their necks, soaking into the soil and the golden rice fields. Looking closely, one would see that each of them had a clean cut across the throat—each one exactly the same in length, angle, and depth.
They were all killed instantly.
The surreal and unbelievable scene shocked everyone in the Lombard family. The remaining guards, including the core family members, were all terrified. Some gripped their weapons with trembling hands from fear and tension. A few of the more sheltered, inexperienced ones even fell to the ground in fright, their legs shaking uncontrollably.
What made it worse was that many of them had met those top fighters before and knew how terrifyingly strong they were after being enhanced by secret techniques. That’s why this sudden outcome felt even more shocking and unbelievable.
Maybe their understanding of sword skills and battle tactics wasn’t perfect, but when it came to pure physical strength and speed, those fighters were truly the Legendary level fighters. While they couldn’t be compared to top-tier legendary masters, they were still strong enough to take on three or four normal legendary warriors and hold their own for a while.
But just now, all of them had been wiped out instantly by that girl, in a single attack. Not only were the fighters themselves killed, even the people watching couldn’t see how or when she drew her sword. Her swordsmanship was so perfect and beyond comprehension that it couldn’t be described with the word "Legendary" anymore.
“Transcendent... could it be… you’re transcendent-level…?”
Rudolph, the head of the family, finally spoke, his voice filled with shock and disbelief. The death of over ten of his top warriors was a heavy blow. But more than the loss, this experienced and cautious old patriarch was focused on the information revealed through this fight.
Meanwhile, the girl still looked completely calm. It was as if killing those ten elite fighters had been as easy for her as slicing vegetables. Blood soaked the ground beneath her feet, turning the earth dark red. Her eyes once again looked at the crowd in front of her. Then, she repeated the same words she had said earlier.
But now, those words carried a completely different weight.
“Will you kneel and surrender, or shall I do it myself?”
“Ahh!”
Someone in the group let out a scream of terror, and Rudolph’s face turned even darker.
He had already taken this mysterious girl seriously, but her attack just now. Clearly at the “transcendent” level, still far exceeded everything he had imagined.
This was real trouble. Her threat level was no less than a full army of a thousand Holy Knights, and maybe even worse.
The difference between the “legendary” level and the “transcendent” level might seem small, like just one step. But in reality, it was like a giant canyon between them. This was the kind of power that could change entire wars.
Even in the whole Austre Empire, there was only one publicly known transcendent-level person, the Wind Sword Saint. In the more powerful Holy Empire, there were just two angels, the terrifying Holy Pope Edwina, and the three Saintesses with divine weapons who had reached that level in total strength.
So how could someone like this… a young girl… suddenly appear on the roadside to fight them?
Wait… come to think of it, people say that once someone reaches the transcendent level, their appearance no longer changes with age. Could it be that this girl… only looks young on the outside?
Rudolph quickly searched his memory, trying to recall all known sword-wielders above the transcendent level. He wanted to guess her identity and see if there was any way to escape alive. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of anyone who matched both her looks and skills.
The world is vast, and people at the transcendent level often live for hundreds of years. Even if you don’t count the mythical-like beings, there must be more of them hidden across the land. Most of them have been living quietly in hiding for many years, some in cities, some in forests. Even with all the Lombard family’s connections, it would be almost impossible to meet one of these hidden masters, let alone know anything about them in detail.