56

Chapter 56: The Battlefield War

The moment the forty masters appeared, Subin understood that the trial had finally stopped being a sequence of individual examinations.

This was war.

The enormous battlefield stretched across mountains, forests, rivers, cliffs, and floating platforms. Forty masters stood throughout the terrain, each occupying a position that suited their weapon. Some carried swords and spears, others wielded axes, halberds, bows, chains, hammers, shields, and unfamiliar weapons Subin had never encountered before. Their levels ranged from 60 to 68, placing every one of them well above the opponents he had fought earlier.

The system appeared before him.

[Weapon Battlefield — Advanced Stage.]

[Battlefield War.]

[Opponents: 40.]

[Level Range: 60–68.]

[Special Condition: All opponents will engage simultaneously.]

[Environmental Coordination: Active.]

[Defeat condition: Survive and defeat all opponents.]

Subin read the final line and slowly tightened his grip around Simple Edge.

His Sword God Foundation had reached 99%.

Only one percent remained.

Yet strangely, he wasn't thinking about completing it.

He was thinking about surviving.

The forty masters began moving.

The first wave came from the mountains.

Six archers positioned themselves on different elevations and immediately began firing. Their arrows weren't aimed directly at Subin. Instead, they targeted the paths around him, creating a cage of attacks that restricted his movement.

At the same time, three spear masters advanced through the valley while shield warriors moved ahead of them. Behind that formation came axe and hammer wielders, while swordsmen and dual-blade masters spread toward both flanks.

Subin didn't rush forward.

He watched.

The battlefield had become enormous, but the principles remained familiar.

The archers controlled space.

The shields protected advancing units.

The spears exploited openings.

The heavy weapons created pressure.

The swordsmen waited for the moment someone became isolated.

The chain users were positioned farther back, ready to restrict anyone attempting to escape.

It was a complete military formation.

Subin's eyes moved across the battlefield.

"Forty people shouldn't be this difficult."

A dozen arrows descended toward him.

Instead of retreating, Subin advanced.

His body moved through the gaps between the arrows while Simple Edge deflected the few that threatened his path. He didn't try to destroy every projectile. Most of them could simply be avoided.

The moment he entered the first formation, three spear masters attacked together.

Their attacks were synchronized.

One targeted his chest, another his thigh, and the third covered his escape route.

Subin recognized the structure immediately.

They weren't attacking him independently.

They were forcing him into the shield formation.

He allowed the first spear to approach before shifting his body just enough for it to pass. The second followed, but Subin redirected its shaft with Simple Edge, causing it to collide with the third spear. Before the formation could recover, Subin stepped between the two shield warriors and entered their defensive space.

The shield masters tried to close around him.

That was their mistake.

Shield formations were strongest when facing an external threat. Once an opponent entered their center, their large shields restricted their own movement.

Subin rotated through the gap and used the momentum of one shield against the other. A controlled cut struck the first master's chest, followed immediately by a second cut against the other.

[Weapon Master 61/100 defeated.]

[Weapon Master 62/100 defeated.]

The spear masters reacted immediately.

Subin had expected that.

He stepped backward rather than pursuing the defeated opponents. Three spearheads entered the space where he had been standing a moment earlier.

A chain suddenly appeared from behind.

Subin felt the movement through Predator's Sense and turned his body before the chain could wrap around him.

The weapon passed behind his waist.

He caught the chain with his free hand.

The Chain Master pulled.

Subin didn't resist.

Instead, he stepped toward the opponent.

The sudden reduction in distance disrupted the Chain Master's control. Its weapon had been designed for maintaining space, not fighting at point-blank range.

Subin's sword moved once.

The Chain Master disappeared.

[Weapon Master 63/100 defeated.]

A hammer came down from above.

Subin released the chain and moved.

The hammer struck the ground with enough force to fracture the stone beneath him. The resulting shockwave spread outward, throwing several smaller rocks into the air.

Subin used the broken terrain to change direction.

The Hammer Master followed, apparently confident that the damaged ground would favor its fighting style.

Subin saw the opposite.

The hammer had destroyed its own stable footing.

He waited until the master committed to another heavy attack before stepping to its blind side. The hammer struck empty ground, and before the opponent could recover its balance, Simple Edge completed a short horizontal cut.

[Weapon Master 64/100 defeated.]

The battlefield immediately responded.

A section of the mountain collapsed.

Subin looked up.

The falling rocks weren't random.

The mountain master had been connected to that terrain.

Now that the master was gone, the terrain had lost its artificial stability.

Thousands of tons of stone began sliding into the valley.

The remaining masters adjusted their positions.

Subin smiled.

"Every victory changes the battlefield."

He finally understood the deeper purpose of this trial.

The battlefield wasn't a fixed arena.

It was an evolving combat system.

Every defeated master removed one influence from it, but that removal could create entirely new dangers.

The mountain collapse forced the spear formation to retreat.

The retreat opened a path toward the forest.

Subin entered it.

Immediately, the environment changed.

The dense trees restricted his sword's wider movements.

The forest masters had been waiting.

Two dual-blade masters attacked from opposite sides while a staff wielder controlled the ground beneath them.

Subin recognized that the forest was their domain.

He didn't try to fight them according to its rules.

Instead, he moved toward the trees.

The first dual-blade master followed.

Subin deliberately brought the opponent close to a narrow space between two trees. Its weapons became difficult to swing, and Subin exploited the restriction with a precise thrust.

The master disappeared.

The second came from behind.

Subin turned and used the trunk of the tree as a pivot, allowing his body to rotate around the attack while Simple Edge continued along the natural arc.

The second master vanished as well.

[Weapon Master 65/100 defeated.]

[Weapon Master 66/100 defeated.]

The staff master changed tactics.

Instead of attacking Subin directly, it struck the ground.

Mana spread through the forest.

Roots erupted from beneath the soil.

Branches twisted downward.

The entire forest began closing around Subin.

Subin stopped.

He could cut through the roots.

But there were too many.

Destroying them would waste time.

So he looked upward.

The branches were connected to the staff master's mana.

The forest wasn't merely growing.

It was being controlled from a central point.

Subin jumped.

He landed on a thick branch and followed the mana connection.

The staff master noticed him and attempted to retreat.

Subin accelerated.

Fang Step carried him through the trees.

The staff master raised its weapon.

Subin's sword arrived first.

[Weapon Master 67/100 defeated.]

The forest became still.

But there was no time to rest.

A massive roar came from the eastern side.

Five heavy weapon masters had begun advancing together.

Their levels ranged from 63 to 67.

An enormous axe wielder walked in front, followed by a greatsword master, two hammer users, and a halberd master.

Unlike the earlier formations, these five didn't rely on shields.

They relied on overwhelming physical pressure.

The ground trembled beneath their steps.

Subin looked at them.

His expression became serious.

These opponents were designed to test his ability to fight stronger physical combatants.

The axe master attacked first.

Its weapon carried enormous momentum.

Subin didn't block it.

He moved sideways and allowed the attack to destroy the ground.

The greatsword master immediately attacked the opening.

Subin raised Simple Edge.

The collision pushed him backward.

His boots carved lines through the stone.

The halberd followed.

Subin redirected it, but one of the hammer masters was already approaching.

The hammer struck.

Subin barely avoided the impact.

The shockwave threw him several meters.

He landed near the edge of a cliff.

The five masters advanced.

Subin looked behind them.

A deep ravine.

Then at the floating platforms above.

He smiled.

The masters charged.

Subin ran toward the cliff.

The axe master accelerated.

The greatsword master followed.

At the final moment, Subin jumped from the cliff.

The masters expected him to fall.

Instead, he landed on a floating platform below.

The platform immediately began descending.

The five masters followed.

Subin waited.

The greatsword master landed first.

The platform tilted.

Subin moved.

The master attacked.

Subin redirected the blade.

The axe master landed behind him.

The platform tilted further.

Subin used the changing angle to accelerate.

Simple Edge struck the greatsword master's chest.

[Weapon Master 68/100 defeated.]

The axe master attacked.

Subin moved around it.

The weapon smashed into the platform.

A crack spread through the stone.

Subin attacked the crack.

Not the opponent.

The platform broke.

The axe master lost balance.

Subin used Fang Step and landed safely on another platform.

The axe master fell.

[Weapon Master 69/100 defeated.]

The remaining hammer and halberd masters retreated.

Subin followed them.

The halberd master attacked across the narrow platform.

There was no room for a large swing.

Subin took advantage of the limitation.

His sword moved in a short arc.

The halberd master vanished.

[Weapon Master 70/100 defeated.]

The hammer master remained.

It jumped from the collapsing platform.

Subin followed.

They landed on a lower platform.

The hammer master swung.

Subin avoided the attack.

The hammer struck the platform.

The structure began breaking.

Subin didn't attack immediately.

He waited.

The hammer master swung again.

The platform fractured.

Subin moved.

The opponent lost its footing.

Simple Edge completed the fight.

[Weapon Master 71/100 defeated.]

Fourteen masters had now fallen.

But twenty-nine remained.

The trial was far from over.

Then the battlefield changed dramatically.

The mountains disappeared.

The forest vanished.

The river widened until it became an enormous lake.

The floating platforms moved higher.

A vast open plain appeared in the center.

The remaining masters repositioned.

Subin immediately realized why.

The battlefield was entering another phase.

The system appeared.

[Battlefield War — Phase Two.]

[Environmental restrictions reduced.]

[Opponent coordination increased.]

[All remaining masters are authorized to change weapons.]

Subin's eyes narrowed.

So the next phase would combine everything he had learned.

A swordsman could become a spear user.

An archer could switch to a blade.

A shield warrior could abandon defense and use an axe.

The battlefield would no longer have fixed weapon roles.

One of the remaining masters threw away its sword.

A spear appeared in its hand.

Another discarded a bow and drew two blades.

A shield warrior replaced its shield with a massive axe.

Subin slowly raised Simple Edge.

He had seen this principle before.

Weapon Transition.

But now he would face it on a battlefield with twenty-nine opponents.

The masters began advancing.

Subin didn't retreat.

His Sword Intent spread through his body.

The seven principles flowed together.

Foundation.

Flow.

Control.

Intent.

Edge.

Continuity.

Adaptation.

And beyond them was the principle he had learned from the Weaponless Grandmaster.

Choice.

Subin stepped forward.

The first group reached him.

He entered the battlefield alone.

For the next stage, he wouldn't simply fight weapons.

He would fight decisions.

And every decision he made would determine whether his sword remained merely a weapon—or became the complete expression of his path.

[Weapon Battlefield Progress: 71/100.]

The war continued.