Wade had heard of Sword Saint Gapar before.
The first time was after the Sein Dungeon went berserk. From the Guild, he learned that Leon had once trained under Gapar, which explained why his strength had skyrocketed so dramatically during the Knight trial.
Though, in Wade's opinion, Leon's victory back then came largely from spamming Swift Slash and stacking an absurd amount of snack buffs. That fight didn't fully represent Leon's true growth.
Speaking of Leon… Wade hadn't seen that brat in a while. Where had he run off to? Did he fall in love with some other dungeon?
The second time Wade heard Gapar's name was two days ago, when the Sword Saint appeared alongside the professors of the Magic Association, making a grand entrance at the climax of the Battle of Val City.
The entire city had been thrown into an uproar. It was the first time they had seen such a powerful figure—an honest-to-goodness legendary Sword Saint.
Even Count Charon rushed over to meet him, only to discover Gapar had disappeared without a trace.
Now it was clear where he'd gone: straight to the Sein Dungeon.
"No idea when he entered… I've had too much going on lately," Wade muttered, rubbing his brow. "A person really only has so much energy."
He refocused on the crystal ball—and on Gapar's battle.
Gapar was clearly one of this world's top-tier combatants. Maybe the top. Definitely worth studying.
(***)
Farron Keep
Gapar stood atop the swamp water using some unknown technique, not a single droplet of filth staining his boots.
Raging Ghrus closed in around him, several Elders Ghrus casting spells from behind them—an extremely dangerous situation for most people.
The fact that he wasn't knee-deep in the cesspit already made Wade wary.
A Sword Saint! My toxic swamp is a masterpiece—why do you refuse to sink into it!?
As the Elders' magic flew toward him and the frenzied Ghrus lunged, Gapar finally moved.
He drew his sword.
Unlike standard straight swords, his weapon was thin and elongated—like someone had pulled a longsword until it was almost katana-shaped, though still double-edged.
Gapar stepped lightly, and a circular aura burst outward from his body, spreading across the swamp in an instant.
His sword swing looked plain—almost effortless.
The nearest Ghru was instantly decapitated.
The others were already too close for him to dodge… yet one second later, every monster inside the circle appeared with fresh sword wounds.
Arms severed. Legs sliced. Bodies split cleanly down the middle.
Even the Elders' spells were severed in midair and dissipated into harmless motes.
A dozen monsters collapsed at once—the Sword Saint had erased the group.
Beads of water glimmered on his blade, washing away the blood by themselves. Gapar flicked the sword dry, sheathed it with practiced ease, and continued forward.
Is your sword secretly named Muramasa or something? Wade grumbled internally.
He still had no idea whether that "circle" was a skill, magic, or innate talent—but it was undeniably powerful. Everything inside its radius suffered a sword strike simultaneously.
Gapar's swordsmanship didn't look especially delicate. It felt more like pure mechanics backed by monstrous stats.
Gapar advanced steadily. Every monster he encountered died in a single slash. When their numbers exceeded ten, he deployed the "circle" and wiped them instantly.
Wade tossed a Darkwraith ahead of him. When it clashed with Gapar, a brutal fight erupted.
It took four exchanges before Gapar brought it down.
"Alright… so he can't one-shot absolutely everything."
Wade began slowly raising the difficulty—from D-rank monsters to C+—alternating humanoids and beasts, giving Gapar almost no time to breathe.
It quickly became clear that Gapar excelled most against humanoids. With his longsword, he could even perform parry-like techniques. Ordinary monster Knights didn't stand a chance.
No wonder actual Knights have such weak parries…
But when facing humanoids of equal rank—ones without parry weaknesses—Gapar needed dozens of exchanges. A real fight.
So the Sword Saint was strong, but not absurdly broken.
Against beasts and non-humanoid monsters, he needed several hits to identify weak points before finishing them.
Regardless of whether the enemy was aggressive or sluggish, he never dodged—always blocking with that strangely durable longsword, which somehow survived blows from massive beast claws.
His technique truly was impressive.
A quirk became obvious: call it habit or personality—he simply did not dodge unless absolutely necessary.
When he did evade, it was minimal, never a roll or anything dramatic.
Was it because the monsters weren't strong enough to force him? Or was he one of those anime-style tough guys who refuse to dodge?
Probably not—he did dodge the Darkwraith's grapples.
But against the Ghrus? He didn't even bother. When they tried to douse him with swamp sludge, he casually grabbed their heads and tore them off. Their claws barely left faint white scratches.
Case closed—he relied on raw durability to tank weak hits.
High stats, strong swordsmanship, solid technique… Was there really no way to counter this man?
Gapar kept advancing leisurely, almost like he wasn't trying to clear the dungeon—just slowly filling out the map.
Wade didn't care about the massacred monsters; the mana leaking from Gapar made up for everything.
No, what bothered him was Gapar's expression—it never changed. Completely blank. As if nothing inside the dungeon was interesting.
For a dungeon designer, this was the ultimate insult.
"Whatever it takes… I'm going to make this man change expressions."
After watching for a while longer, Wade noticed something: Gapar always cleaned his blade carefully after every kill.
A true sword lover.
Wade tapped the Available Monsters list and steepled his fingers like an evil mastermind.
Then he sent them in.
[Rust Monsters]
Gapar soon encountered creatures he'd never seen before.
Giant insect-like beasts—larger than humans—with long feather-like antennae.
They fed on the heat created by metal oxidation. When someone struck them with a weapon, the rusting process accelerated.
Those antennae dramatically increased corrosion.
Terrible news for melee fighters.
They weren't native monsters—local adventurers wouldn't recognize them.
Gapar, having heard rumors about Sein Dungeon producing never-before-seen monsters, wasn't surprised.
"More fresh blood to make you happy," he murmured to his sword, running a fond hand along its blade like greeting an old comrade.
Even if he dreamed of being a mage someday, he genuinely loved weapons.
This longsword was one of the best in his collection. It had no enchantments, but it could clean itself of blood—very convenient.
He treasured it dearly.
As the Rust Monsters charged, Gapar unleashed his domain again.
He swung once.
His "circle"—what he personally called the Severing Domain—was his innate unique talent.
It functioned like spatial magic. After one second, his sword strike landed on everything within the domain simultaneously.
A physical multi-hit across all enemies.
Shing!
One Rust Monster split cleanly in half.
A second later—so did the rest.
Everyone knew that once a weapon touched a Rust Monster, corrosion began instantly. The more contact, the worse it became.
So what would happen if a weapon struck an entire swarm at the same time?
The Rust Monsters collapsed in a clattering heap. Satisfied, Gapar prepared to flick off the blood.
…Hm?
Why did his sword feel so light?
He looked down.
Only the wooden hilt remained in his hand.
The blade was completely gone.
Gapar froze.
He stood stiff as a statue, staring at the hilt for a very, very long time—long enough that a pack of ghouls reached him without prompting any reaction.
When he finally processed what had occurred, his face flushed red—rage rising visibly.
M–My sword…
Gapar's expression twisted with despair.
Finally. No more expressionless face.
This is the face I wanted to see! Wade felt revitalized—like he'd just taken a soul-level coffee shot.
Gapar's Mana surged wildly—equivalent to several adventurer deaths—and it continued climbing.
Ghrus circled him uneasily, none daring to approach.
Gapar suddenly glared at them. His white hair bristled like an enraged old lion.
"I… I…"
He slapped a ghoul's head off with one blow and roared:
"I'LL PULVERIZE YOU ALL!!"
Wade watched as the fuming Sword Saint became a full-on boxing champion, smashing monsters apart with fists the size of boulders.
Consumed by fury, he stopped caring about dirt entirely and stepped directly into the swamp, pounding monsters into the mud in mourning for his broken blade.
Strangely, the swamp's deadly poison didn't affect him in the slightest.
More monsters rushed forward like they'd been summoned. The angrier Gapar got, the fiercer he fought. Now he didn't dodge anything—one punch, one kill.
But the consequence of not dodging became obvious: wounds began appearing on his body. So his defenses could be broken.
Yet abnormal statuses—poison, freeze, burn—had no effect on him at all.
"Immunity to abnormal statuses…?" Wade muttered.
He lowered his head to browse through the monster list again.
But when he looked back—
…Huh?
Why was Gapar lying on the ground?
After focusing the crystal ball, Wade finally understood.
Black thorn-like growths pierced through Gapar's body. Swarms of insects circled him.
That familiar visual effect—that was…
Curse.
Beside the Sword Saint's corpse, several Basilisks happily flicked their tongues.
Even Wade was stunned.
A man as mighty as the Sword Saint… dying just like that?
So in the end—
Even though he was immune to abnormal statuses…
He wasn't immune to curse-type effects that didn't exist in this world.