Chapter 493, Section 492: Elwin Slaine
Sword Saint Elwin.
A name that resounds throughout the continent.
Before him, the last person to comprehend the "Ultimate Sword" was Link, the former hero who saved humanity three hundred years ago but also brought profound disasters to the various races of the continent.
However, Elwayne was not born with such extraordinary strength.
In fact, before the age of twelve, he was just a farm boy who had never even held a sword hilt.
His father was not a hardworking man, and although Elwin started helping in the fields at a young age, the family still struggled to make ends meet.
Their ancestors were said to have been nobles, but by the time it came to them, father and son, they had nothing left but the empty surname "Slaine".
Elvien's father was also an adventurer in his youth, and it was during those wandering years that he met his mother.
Unfortunately, like most low-level adventurers, his talent limited his future.
No matter how hard he tried, he remained a silver-level adventurer throughout his life.
During a mission, he permanently lost his left leg and was unable to afford expensive limb regeneration drugs. In the end, he could only return to the countryside with his meager savings and become a farmer.
This man often complained to those around him about the unfairness of fate, lamenting how talent divides people into different classes.
When Elwin was ten years old, these complaints gradually turned into drunken violence.
The drunken father often beat his wife and children. At that time, young Elwin's greatest wish was to grow up quickly and protect his mother.
However, one day, the father suddenly changed.
He quit drinking and stopped hitting his family.
Although he still often goes out and is not attentive to farm work, for young Elwin, these days are much better than before.
Until one night when he was twelve years old.
Elvein only realized what was happening when her father knocked her mother unconscious with a candlestick and dragged her toward the shoddy ritual circle drawn with inferior materials.
My father never got better; he just fell into a deeper abyss of darkness.
The hand that carries the dead.
Unlike today, when it has almost disappeared and many ordinary people are unaware that such a cult even exists.
In those days, the name of this cult was feared by all. They operated with impunity throughout the kingdom, and even some high-ranking nobles, including dukes, secretly worshipped before their altars.
Elwin's father's constant complaining and blaming finally attracted the attention of the cult, the Hand of the Dead.
These seductive cult members easily recruited this disillusioned man as an outer member, filling his empty heart with illusory promises of an afterlife.
Driven by the promise of glory in the afterlife from the cult and a desire to advance further within this dark organization, this bewitched father decides to sacrifice his wife to the Grim Reaper to prove his piety.
The boy who witnessed this scene realized that only he himself could save his mother at this moment.
He trembled as he drew his father's treasured adventurer's longsword, its blade pointing directly at the man he called father.
Although her father's legs were weak and his strength was not what it used to be, he was still a silver-level adventurer.
At first, Elwayne's sneak attack was easily thwarted, and he was instead kicked away.
However, the boy's swordsmanship improved at an astonishing rate. From being forced to dodge his father's axe, he was able to parry the attacks head-on, and finally, with a single stroke, he pierced his father's throat. The entire process took only a few minutes.
Elvion was exactly the kind of genius his father had resented his entire life.
After that, Elwin became an adventurer. He was very talented, and as his strength increased, his income grew. However, some wounds could not be healed by money.
The father's betrayal completely shattered the mother's spirit, and this poor woman died of depression when Elwayne was fifteen years old.
From then on, the boy gained power, but he also lost what he wanted to protect.
He left the place of his sorrow and devoted himself entirely to the way of the sword. He traveled throughout the kingdom, carrying out all sorts of missions, slaying demon spies in the army, serving as a guard on merchant ships, and even surviving a terrible shipwreck.
A mermaid saved him.
Unlike other mermaids who sang seductive songs to drag Elwin to the bottom of the sea to drown and eat him, she led him to a deserted island.
In the days that followed, Elwin taught her to speak Common, and she brought back many strange and wonderful things from the seabed for Elwin, and the two became good friends.
Unfortunately, after Elwin realized that she wanted to keep him on this deserted island forever, he managed to catch a passing ship and escape.
However, this relationship did not end there. Soon after, he discovered that he was cursed.
After that, whenever he boarded a ship and went out to sea, he would be followed and attacked by sea monsters. After realizing that it was his own fault, this future sword saint had no choice but to resign himself to returning to the mainland.
Elwin, back on land, continues his pursuit of swordsmanship.
He sought out renowned sword masters from all over the country, sometimes humbly seeking their guidance, and sometimes drawing his sword against them.
As each match came to a close, the name "Twin Swords Elwayne" began to spread throughout the taverns.
Until he encountered the cult that changed the course of his life again.
At this time, the Hand of the Dead was at its peak. No longer satisfied with sporadic secret sacrifices, they attempted to use the entire city's residents as sacrifices!
The elven delegation that happened to be passing through the area also became involved in this crisis.
Before the blood-soaked altar, Elvahn rescued Galadriel Twisting from the Death Priest.
The two fought side by side and ultimately thwarted this shocking conspiracy.
This battle shocked the kingdom's leadership with the threat posed by the cult, prompting them to launch a full-scale crackdown.
As a result, Elwin gained the friendship of the elves, entered the Elf Forest, and even had the opportunity to be personally taught swordsmanship by the Elf King.
There he learned many things, including swordsmanship, and his favorite technique, "Moonwalk," was also taught by the Elf King.
In the moonlit elven courtyard, one could often see the young man sparring with the daughter of the Elf King.
Unfortunately, his good fortune didn't last long. When Galadriel's eyes began to flash with the same look as the mermaid girl's from years ago, he took an opportunity to leave the Elf Forest so as not to affect his speed in drawing his sword.
For the next few years, he traveled to towns and cities throughout the kingdom, relentlessly hunting down cults.
Until one rainy night, in an abandoned monastery, he personally beheaded the High Priest of the Hand of the Dead.
It was in this life-or-death battle that he finally mastered all his knowledge, his sword cutting through evil magic, and comprehended the legendary "Ultimate Sword Technique".
That year, Elwayne was only 27 years old and a Hall of Fame player.
As cults gradually declined, the title of "Sword Saint" began to resound far and wide.
After finding it increasingly difficult to locate the cult, Elwayne took in dozens of orphans who had lost their parents because of it.
Most of these children eventually chose to become craftsmen or scholars, with only a few disciples who showed talent in swordsmanship following him to learn from.
However, swords have no eyes, and in the end only Fifteen survived.
...
His body was pierced by several blood-red crystal spears, and the wind howled in his ears as he fell.
In the final moments of his life, Elwin's life flashed before his eyes.
"What a pity..." the Sword Saint thought as his consciousness gradually faded. "If his power were 20% greater, that claw would definitely have been able to sever the head of that vampire emperor."
But the human body has its limits, and even the werewolf potion is just an enhanced version of the berserk spell.
In this final moment, Elwin inexplicably recalled his father's complaints from years ago: this world is indeed unfair.
But at least, he did his best.
As consciousness sinks into boundless darkness, a strange sensation arises. It's as if waves are washing over you, gradually dissolving something heavy within you, making you feel as light as a feather.
Is this what death is?
Not bad.
...
"Finally! Our mushroom clan is about to have a new member! The mushroom master said that number fourteen has extraordinary potential, and it just so happens that number four is being transferred. My subordinates need such talent!"
"What do you mean by 'under your command'? Did you ask Number Fourteen for his own opinion?"
"Number Two, what do you mean?"
"What do you mean? Our squad made the biggest contribution in the last battle, so if Number Fourteen is to join, we should be given priority!"
"What credit? Those things just killed them all when they hit you, what's the difference?"
"At least it proves that I am a better commander and more suitable to lead the Mushroom Clan!"
A cacophony of voices suddenly entered my head.
Read aloud?
I didn't die?
Who is it that argues by reading words aloud...?
Elwin felt as if he were covered by something heavy, like a blanket.
With a little force, the mycelial cocoon covering the outside was pushed open.
Then, I saw a bunch of... pfft?!
The Puji, who had been wrestling, all stopped what they were doing and rushed over to gather around.
"Look! It's out! It's out!"
"They're finally out! We've been waiting for ages!"
Number One and Number Two came over together: "Welcome to the Mushroom Clan family, Number Fourteen! From now on, you'll be our little brother!"
Elvein stared blankly at the mushroom monsters, then lowered his mushroom cap, feeling his two short legs and four tentacles.
What the heck?
Do people turn into poop after they die?
(End of this chapter)
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