Battōjutsu拔刀術.
If you took the name literally, it would mean something like “the art of drawing the sword.”
Put more naturally, perhaps it was a sword art of drawing the blade to attack and defend.
Where I came from—no, even in this other world, battōjutsu was a sword art with little use unless employed for a surprise attack.
On Earth, there was the loss of speed from friction, unnecessary movement, and the risk of damaging the sword or the body. It was similar in this other world as well.
In other words, it was a sword art there was no particular reason to use.
At least, until one man appeared.
Clack.
The sword returned to its place, breaking the silence.
The day after I decided to hunt the cyclops.
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: Battōjutsu is an excellent sword art, but if a beginner uses it, many openings are exposed. So think of it as ending things in a single strike.
Outside the submersible, I was receiving instruction from the Sword Saint.
Assume the stance, draw the sword, cut, then sheathe it again.
I repeated that over and over.
Since I was not using mana, just this alone left me gasping for breath.
There were only about four people chatting in the broadcast, but the number of viewers had gone past several thousand.
I had no idea what was so entertaining about watching a broadcast where someone drenched in sweat just kept swinging a sword.
ㄴTruth Scholar: …Have you perhaps exercised a lot?
ㄴTreatment Is Violence: Be quiet, I’m appreciating this.
ㄴTruth Scholar: …I only said one thing.
ㄴTreatment Is Violence: Now it’s two things.
Comments kept popping up, but I had no mental room to read them.
“Haa… ugh.”
Battōjutsu was harder than I had expected.
I thought I just had to draw quickly and cut, but in practice, it was completely different.
Of course, since I had to be able to use the sword art in any situation, I had to draw from all kinds of postures, and the strength behind it had to be controlled with precision.
Following the flow itself was easy. I naturally came to understand it, as if realizing the flow of the sword.
But making my body follow that was extremely difficult.
It was like a master artist showing me a very easy way to draw, only for my own hand to produce something warped.
In any case, after I had repeated drawing and sheathing the sword about a hundred times, a comment from the Drawing Sword Saint told me to rest.
“Uaaah…”
The sand beneath me was cold and uncomfortable, but I had no energy left to care, so I collapsed right there.
As I personally experienced the joy of oxygen, the comments finally entered my eyes.
ㄴTruth Scholar: There aren’t any mods, right? I feel like this would get me banned if I got caught…
ㄴTreatment Is Violence: Since it’s hot, maybe roll up your sleeves just a little more…
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: Seeing it like this, I understand a little better. There’s no excess.
“What do you mean, no excess?”
Among the incomprehensible comments, the Drawing Sword Saint’s comment stirred my curiosity.
As if it were nothing special, the Drawing Sword Saint continued explaining.
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: When you eat, do you not feel mana circulating through your body?
“Uh, yes. That’s right.”
I answered in surprise at his words. After all, the first time I had felt mana was after eating jerky.
As though he had expected as much, the Drawing Sword Saint quickly posted another comment.
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: Your body absorbs energy like mana to an excessive degree. Even just looking around you, the mana nearby seems a little thinner.
To summarize what the Sword Saint said afterward, it was this.
I would become stronger even if I stayed still.
That was good news for me.
Since surviving here inevitably required force, I was about to do a celebratory flip in the air, but—
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: Instead, if you fail to control it, the mana will wreck your body and kill you.
“Ah…”
…Why is there never anything simply good in this place?
Feeling as though gaining one thing meant losing another, my uplifted mood cooled at once.
Still, those words meant that as long as I controlled it properly, I would grow stronger even by doing nothing.
I decided to think positively.
Deciding I had rested enough, I picked up the sword again.
There was no time to dawdle.
As if confirming my resolve, the Sword Saint immediately moved on to the next step.
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: This time, use mana. If you advance correctly, you will be able to cut through anything.
Using the Drawing Sword Saint’s words as a lamp in the deep sea, I moved my body.
The flame did not touch me, but its light alone guided me.
I planted my feet as though they had become one with the ground.
Battōjutsu was like an explosion. If I failed to control it, I might be the one sent flying.
I brought the sword to my waist so that I could draw it swiftly.
The scabbard was the launch pad, and the sword was the light that would advance.
I stared straight at the dark rock before me.
Now that the target was set, all that remained was to move forward.
The first advance would be with battōjutsu.
Heizen Style, First Form.
Flash Severing in Two閃光兩斷.
A sword meant to cut down even light unfolded in my hand.
The blade advanced like unobstructed light, like a person with a clear goal.
When the tip of the black sword arrived at its destination,
the rock, as the sword intended, was severed into upper and lower halves.
It happened in an instant.
A speed similar to the cyclops’s.
The problem was—
“…I think my shoulder is dangling.”
ㄴDrawing Sword Saint: It hasn’t come out. Though it does seem to hurt a bit.
ㄴTruth Scholar: …You definitely used mana in moderation, didn’t you?
ㄴKkukku: This feels like something beyond a flex, yon. I’m not jealous, at least, yon.
Mana was good. It had strengthened me, someone who could not even cut down a tree, let alone a rock.
The only problem was that whenever I used mana, my body became tattered.
Just as I was thinking that I might need to learn some method of control, an unpleasant creaking noise rose from the city.
Beneath a streetlamp, a red lump of flesh stood out clearly.
The cyclops, the target I had to cut down within a week.
However, I did not necessarily need to fight it right now.
The trait of the cyclops I had observed so far was that it could not hear sound.
Since it only had an eye, it was obvious in a way, but in any case, that meant I did not need to be scared and crawl into the submersible to tremble.
I walked into a blind spot where the cyclops’s gaze would not reach and continued my training.
The results of my training were immediate.
I discovered the amount of mana that would not injure my body.
Also, as I kept swinging the sword, battōjutsu began to settle into my body.
I became able to plant my feet naturally, and the sensation of drawing the sword felt as familiar as my own limbs.
Everything felt familiar, as if I had been using the sword since long ago.
After splitting a few more rocks like that, I turned to head back to the submersible.
As I walked while looking at the ground, not wanting to look at the sky—
Squish.
A repulsive sensation, like stepping on jelly, came from beneath the sole of my foot.
At that spine-chilling feeling, I immediately stepped back and checked.
Splurt, splat.
A blue-glowing creature—a jellyfish—was gradually multiplying.
Its size doubled, quadrupled, octupled, continuing to swell larger and larger.
At this rate, it would surely meet the same end as the cyclops.
Before that thought had even fully passed through my mind, my sword spewed green mana and severed the jellyfish in two.
“What the…”
It was a bewildering situation. A jellyfish had suddenly sprung up from below.
Perhaps because my attack had struck it directly, the jellyfish no longer multiplied.
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief at the sight, but—
Chrrk.
…The cyclops in the city was looking straight at me.
My eyes saw the slash mark that led toward the cyclops.
After cutting through the jellyfish, the sword strike had continued onward, and of all things, it had gone toward the cyclops.
In other words…
Chrrk.
It meant the cyclops was attacking me.
I immediately rolled across the uneven ground.
When claw marks were carved vividly into the spot where I had been, a chill ran down my spine.
A pressure that made the hand gripping my sword feel like it might tremble.
It would be good if the cyclops died to the jellyfish like last time, but—
That could not happen.
If I kept relying on such luck, the day would someday come when I had to settle my karma.
And at the moment, even returning to the submersible would be difficult.
Slash!!
Once again, a slash flew toward where I had been.
I immediately moved erratically, making myself hard to hit as I searched for a weakness.
But—
“Shit, what kind of eye is that…?”
Whoosh!!
A slash grazed past over my head.
Even though I had taken such dizzying risks, the cyclops’s eye showed no opening.
My heart pounded, and my field of vision narrowed.
Weakness, weakness, weakness. Every part of my body moved toward the path forward.
In the sensation of time slowing down, I saw the way.
Slash!!
I twisted my right shoulder to avoid the slash.
A bit of my shoulder was shaved away.
Fear faintly drifted through me, but I ran forward.
As if deciding one hand was not enough, the cyclops swung both arms.
An unavoidable attack that blocked my escape route.
I immediately gripped my sword in a reverse hold and thrust it forward as a shield.
Pshuk!
“Ghk…!”
My left arm and side were badly gouged away, but I ran forward.
The cyclops tried to swing its hand again, but—
“Release!!”
My attack came first.
Mana flowed out from my hand, and a bright cluster of light like the sun struck the cyclops’s eye.
A horrific burning pain ran through my nerves, but this was my chance.
Clack.
The sword returned to its home.
A path forward had opened.
I poured vast amounts of mana through the sword.
The mana moving along the flow soon revealed itself in the form of a bright, glowing mana blade.
I could see the cyclops with blood streaming from its eye.
A target had appeared.
Now—
It was time to advance.
The sword drawn as silently as the deep sea—
Thuk. Thud-thuk.
Severed the creature of the deep in two.
That sight was exactly like the meaning of the sword: Flash Severing in Two閃光兩斷.