Five years.
For races like humans, that was a considerable length of time.
But for monsters, it was only a brief span, and as a monster myself, I had spent most of those five years on nothing but [Growth].
*
Guy's training was simple.
'Sparring that felt like real combat.'
An uneven kind of sparring where the other side was allowed to use killing intent, hidden weapons, ambushes, lies—every trick in the book—while he himself fought fair and square.
It was high-risk, high-return training that let you grow quickly, but came with just as many problems.
That was Guy's method.
At first glance, it sounded like he valued proper, honorable sparring.
In reality, it was the opposite.
What he really meant was, "Nothing works on me anyway, so use every trick you have and entertain me."
Since he stood at the very pinnacle of this world, it was less arrogance and more a kind of permission—cheating, cowardice, underhanded methods, none of it mattered.
And the problem was that it wasn't [Arrogance].
It was reality.
*
Boom!!
"...!"
Killing intent.
A savage killing intent that only a monster born strong could unleash.
That killing intent pierced straight through my skin.
"Is that all? If this is the best you've got, you're boring me."
The monster at the center of that bloodthirst was Guy Crimson.
My master, and my teacher.
'...What kind of punch was that...?'
He had only thrown a single punch without even using an Extra Skill, yet a massive crack split across the sparring ground as if he'd fired off [Nuclear Magic].
Considering this training ground had been formed out of Velzard's demonic aura, it was easy to understand just how terrifying that punch really was.
"Stop getting distracted and focus."
The instant my mind wandered, a sharp rebuke came with another barrage of punches.
Guy kept throwing fist after fist, never giving me even a second to catch my breath.
"Tch...!"
Clang!Clang!
At least my five years of experience hadn't been for nothing. Thankfully, from the second strike onward, I managed to get the feel for defending with my sword.
"Oh? Your instincts really are sharp. That last one was the hardest I've hit you so far, you know."
Just as Guy said, that punch had been on a completely different level from the ones before it.
If my beloved blade, [Sword of the Conqueror], hadn't possessed the power of indestructibility, and if I hadn't caught on just now, I probably would have been split in half along with the sword.
That was how hard Guy was pressing me.
"...You really don't plan on going easy on me?"
This wasn't a real battle. It was training—a sparring match for practice.
But Guy's attacks right now were on a completely different level from the training we'd done up until yesterday.
So much so that if he said he was trying to kill me, I would have believed him.
"Of course not. Once this spar is over, we won't be able to do this for a while, so I intend to be at least a little serious too."
As soon as he finished speaking, Guy settled back into his stance once more.
Thoom...!!!
Then he charged.
A headlong rush built for nothing but offense, with no thought given to defense at all.
"Tch...!"
The attacks were even faster than before.
Guy's body had been trained far beyond mine, and the sheer speed of that overwhelming physique meant I couldn't block everything.
In a disadvantageous situation like this, there was only one thing I could rely on.
[Answerer].
'[Answerer]! Is there any way to deal with this?'
Maybe because the situation was so dangerous, [Answerer]'s reply came faster than usual.
[Answer. After searching in conjunction with [Seeker of Learning], the opponent's capabilities have been determined to be abnormally high. A short decisive battle using the Ultimate Skill [Ru-Lawather], [Arbiter], is recommended.]
[Ru-Lawather], [Arbiter], which I had created earlier through evolution by combining [Sword Demon] and [Fighter], retained all the abilities those two skills originally possessed.
'Got it.'
Following [Answerer]'s advice, I activated [Berserk] from [Ru-Lawather], [Arbiter].
[Report. Activating Ultimate Skill [Ru-Lawather], [Arbiter]. All basic attributes will be enhanced for approximately thirty minutes. In addition, rational thought will be temporarily consumed.]
As the Extra Skill evolved into part of an Ultimate Skill, [Berserk], whose original time limit had been ten minutes, had increased to roughly three times that.
And because the enhancement itself had grown stronger, I could feel my magic power raging through my body and making me stronger in real time.
At the same time, my field of vision narrowed and the sensation of my reason slipping away intensified, but it was still manageable.
"...Then I'll come at you again too."
I said it as sharply as I could, but Guy only gave a snort, like he was humoring a child.
"Ha, good. Let's see what you've got."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register