I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

Sword Emperor Mountains.

A mountain range that runs along the spine of the Korean Peninsula.

Among them, The sword Emperor lived on a mountain in Gangwon Province that had once been revered as the sacred mountain of the nation.

It was also the site of a Gate explosion long ago, where a Drake had established its territory. While they were a subspecies of the dragon race, Drakes lacked wings and resembled dinosaurs in appearance.

They possessed formidable strength, but their numbers were not particularly high, and as long as their territory was not invaded, they did not venture down from the mountain.

And crucially, just like the Fire Dragon mentioned by Utopia on the broadcast, which still lingered in people’s memories, they did not provide any useful materials, so hunting them one by one in the mountains was not worth the effort.

As a result, there was an unspoken agreement that raiding them was like poking a sensitive beehive, and mountain was tacitly acknowledged as the Drake’s territory, with humans choosing to coexist. T

hus, a decade had passed since people stopped visiting the mountain, and at the foot of the now deserted mountain stood a surprisingly large tile-roofed house.

Surrounding the spacious training hall was a white cloud, giving the place an air of mystique as if it were inhabited by an immortal.

On the porch lay a woman in her early thirties, boredly resting her head on her hand. With a smoking pipe lightly held in her mouth, she looked quite young.

She had a beauty mark at the corner of her lips, and her hair was styled in an alluring bun. Once upon a time, people had praised her loudly. The world’s strongest swordsman. Master of the Sword. Emperor of the Sword. The Sword Emperor. Hoo─ A lazy sigh escaped her lips, along with a white puff of smoke.

Then.

“Hmm…?”

Suddenly, she furrowed her brows.

“Are we expecting guests…?”

For some reason, she had a feeling. Her intuition was usually quite accurate. In the past ten years, the only visitors to her home had been Mage Emperor Lina, that magic-wielding brat, and the emotionless sword-wielding brat she had brought along.

“Hmm, but this time it feels a little different…”

Hmmph.

She groaned as she got up from her reclined position. Then, she called out to her granddaughter.

“Malsook—”

Then. From behind a tree, a girl appeared.

White hair. Blue eyes. And an aloof aura. She puffed out her cheeks in displeasure and said in a small voice,

“Grandma, I told you not to call me that.”

Ha. The Sword Emperor let out a dry laugh.

“Malsook is Malsook. So, what do you want me to call you?” “………Alice.”

“Alice, my foot…”

The Sword Emperor frowned at her granddaughter’s words. Kim Malsook. Although they were not blood-related, the Sword Emperor had raised her as if she were her own granddaughter.

She used to have brown hair and brown eyes, making her quite a beauty. But when it was decided that she would be sent to the Academy next year, she suddenly dyed her hair white, like an old woman, and wore blue circle lenses to change her eye color.

Now, she even wanted to change her beautiful name, ‘Kim Malsook’, to the bizarre ‘Alice’. Born with a timid personality, she had been an easy child to raise, but as she grew up, her stubbornness became more pronounced.

“Have you finished today’s training?”

Nod.

“Used the sword. Used the spear.”

“………Sword.”

Squeeze. The Sword Emperor rubbed her temples.

“Your specialization is the spear, yet you keep using the sword. Why?”

“Because you’re the Sword Emperor, Grandma…” ………Fortunately, even though she had grown up and was old enough to enter the Academy, she still followed and admired her, which was somewhat heartwarming.

Even though she had strayed a bit, the fact that she wanted to be like her and chose to use the sword didn’t make her seem so bad.

‘But Malsook should be using the spear.’

Alice had absolutely no affinity for the sword, to the point of being nonexistent.

‘Hmm, how can I get her to use the spear…?’

As she pondered, she sighed and shook her head.

“Haa, never mind… It’s too much trouble anyway.” She was inherently averse to anything tedious.

‘Well, that magic-wielding brat, Lina, will take care of it when she enters the Academy next year…’

In the end, it was a matter of passing the buck. Then, she remembered what she had intended to say earlier.

“Ah, and it seems we’ll be having guests soon, so could you prepare to receive them?”

At that, Alice’s eyes widened, and her pupils quaked.

“………What!? So, so, so, guests…!?”

.

.

.

The path up to the Sword Emperor’s Mountain was treacherous. With no human presence, the trees and vegetation naturally obscured the way, and the terrain had been altered by monsters vying for territory.

The saying, “A decade is enough for the rivers and mountains to change,” rang true.

Chairman Lina had given me a compass, saying it would be necessary to find the way.

So, I was following the direction indicated by the compass, but… The path it led to was more like a sheer cliff than a trail. Of course, even a sheer cliff wouldn’t be much of a challenge for an Awakened one who had transcended human limits. That was what it should have been.

“Haa, haa… Jin Yuha! This place feels strange…!”

“Hmmph! I feel the same… Hmm, it’s as if my body isn’t responding as I want it to.”

Lee Yoo-ri and Kang Do-hee, clinging to the cliff’s side, called out to me, their faces glistening with sweat.

Kang Do-hee was in the lead, followed by me, and Lee Yoo-ri brought up the rear. While Kang Do-hee was making steady progress, Lee Yoo-ri seemed to be struggling a bit.

‘Hmm, it does feel odd…’

Just as Soup and Puppy had said, the flow of mana seemed to slow down as we ascended the mountain, and our physical abilities seemed to be somewhat suppressed as well. I wondered how Ichika would fare in this situation, but… ‘The disrupted mana flow would probably affect Ichika too… If we encounter a Drake now, it’ll be troublesome since we’re stuck on this cliff.’

At that moment. —Kreeee… An ominous sound reached my ears. Ha. I looked up and let out a dry laugh.

‘This is why you shouldn’t set up flags.’

A pitch-black dinosaur poked its head out from the top of the cliff, drooling.

—Keeeeeaaaaaak!!!!

The Drake opened its mouth wide and began running down the cliff.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With its thick claws embedded in the cliff, it descended vertically, its large head and sharp teeth looking menacing. “Everyone, get ready for battle!”

I immediately shouted to the party members.

“Huff!!!”

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

Kang Do-hee started climbing the cliff even faster.

Lee Yoo-ri, still clinging to the cliff, looked confused, unsure of how to use her shield in this situation.

When I looked down and saw her expression, I realized my mistake.

‘Ah, I should have given her a command.’

What should I do now? I quickly racked my brains for the best course of action in this situation.

I turned my head down and shouted,

“Lee Yoo-ri! Throw all your spare shields and embed them in the cliff! ”

“Spare shields!? Yes, can I do that? We’re creating a platform for us to fight on!”

Upon hearing my explanation, Lee Yoo-ri, who had been panicking, nodded.

“Okay!!!”

Ever since her shield had broken during Master’s test, she always carried spare shields with her, just in case she lost or broke the one she was using.

“Eek…”

Lee Yoo-ri put all her strength into her hands gripping the cliff and lifted her legs up. Her forehead glistened with sweat. Thud! Thud!

Then, with all her might, she kicked the cliff, embedding her legs into it, imitating the Drake’s descent.

Even with the disrupted mana flow and suppressed physical abilities, she was still Utopia’s tanker. When it came to planting her feet and holding her ground, she was confident that no one could beat her. With both feet embedded in the cliff, Lee Yoo-ri slowly stood up.

“Hoo…”

She let out a soft sigh and took out a round iron shield from her subspace tattoo. Now, Lee Yoo-ri stood horizontally on the cliff. Whoosh— A gust of wind swept through her hair. She gripped the shield tightly and twisted her body, like a baseball player putting all her strength into a pitch.

“Huff!!!”

Swish— Thud!

Then, diagonally embedding the shield in the cliff, she continued to throw her spare shields one after the other. Swish— Thud! Swish— Thud! Swish— Thud!

In the meantime, Kang Do-hee, climbing the cliff, and the Drake, descending it, were getting closer.

“Throw one my way too!”

I called out to Lee Yoo-ri.

“Yes!!!” Swish! Thud!

A shield embedded itself in front of me.

‘Good.’

I assessed the distance between the sparsely embedded shields and calmed my mind.

‘This should be enough to use as a platform. As expected, Yoo-ri is reliable in these dangerous situations.’

I landed on the shield and immediately drew my sword, kicking off from it.

Thud!

The shield fell back down in reaction to my kick.

“My… My 729,000 won shield…!!!”

Lee Yoo-ri’s shocked voice echoed up the cliff.