171. [Avatar of Cronus]
171. [Avatar of Cronus]
─Kwajik!
"Kkeuk....?!"
A burst of rupture felt through the hand.
The sound of flesh splitting, skin tearing,
and decisively, the bones being completely crushed.
'...As I thought.'
He had known it would come to this.
The distance that had been narrowed without a sound.
He had put all his speed into it, so the speed could not help but be fast.
And naturally, if the speed and acceleration were fast, the force that followed would also be great.
"...You attacked first, didn't you?"
"You bastard..."
The force meant to beat him to death.
He returned it just as it was.
A so-called counter.
However, since he did not use the [Counter] skill but did it manually, some penetration damage came through──but at least it was better than the person who had one hand crushed, wasn't it?
"Let's see just how low you can go!"
"Hup... huh, uh?"
The man, seemingly unfazed that his right hand was crushed, immediately raised his left hand.
He quickly tried to pull out the dagger to block, but the dagger embedded in his right hand would not come out.
'No way.'
'Is this guy serious?'
His right hand with the dagger lodged in it.
Even if he pulled it out right away, I doubted it could be stitched back together—he was applying force again to that crushed hand, holding it so the blade could not escape.
Durability beyond human.
Endurance beyond human.
And──a simple-mindedness utterly unimaginable for a human.
"No wonder he's Mars' dad."
His actions were a superior version of Mars.
Anyway, if it went on like this, he would get hit; what should he do?
There was no real problem.
─Tuwung...!
"───Kkeuk...!!"
"[Counter]"
He drove his fist right into the man's punch and deflected it.
He used the [Counter] he had not been able to use earlier.
Thus, the damage he took was zero. However, the man's body lost balance from the counter punch, and naturally, the force of his right hand that had sealed the dagger also released.
'Now'
Now was the time to continue attacking.
He consecutively drew his dagger and accelerated time.
[Triple Excel][Triple Step]
At triple speed, he leaped three times faster.
─Seugak...
"Euk...?!"
Right ear.
─Seugak...
"Wh,at...."
Left cheek.
─Seugagagagagagak!!!
"Kkeu-eu-euk...!!"
Right elbow.
Inner thigh.
Both sides of the external oblique muscles.
Shoulder. Knee. Buttock.
Inner calf muscle on the shin.
Following along it upward, the inner thigh line.
Temple. Moving behind the back, between the ribs.
─Pushyuuuuk!
"....You mangy bastard...!"
Places where blood vessels passed.
Places where large blood vessels flowed.
Shallow cuts were fine; deeper ones were even better.
But he had learned from cutting him earlier.
This man could not be cut normally.
His skin was thick like an animal's hide,
and his muscles were as hard as rock.
Therefore, he targeted his weak points—easy and common 'weak points.'
"....At this rate..."
As a result, his whole body was drenched in blood.
He was regenerating slowly like before, but this time, I had no intention of watching idly.
"Normally I would have raised it, but I had to subdue him."
He lowered his blood pressure, the speed of his blood flow.
If he intended to send him off with pain by tearing his blood vessels, he could just increase the blood flow.
If he simply wanted to kill him without pain, he could just stop the blood flow altogether.
But for subduing. Only for subduing....
─Dukhung! Dukhung! Dukhung! Dukhung!
"I'll lower it by about one-quarter."
The wounds made by Squite.
He adjusted the time of those wounds, of the blood that had been shed.
─Dukhung! Du......kuung..........kuung.......
"Kkeuk.....?!!"
He collapsed to the floor with a thud.
He grabbed his heart, breathing roughly.
A sudden decrease in blood flow volume. Dizziness from lowered blood pressure.
A typical example of what is commonly called 'low blood pressure' symptoms.
Especially since his heart had to be strong and his blood pressure high to sustain that large frame, if the blood flow was forcibly reduced──that massive body would inevitably sink like a car with a blown engine.
A determined future.
An undeniable physical response.
"Did you think I... I would fall for such a cheap trick!"
"Huh?"
And what chewed that up and overcame it was,
─Kwuung! Kkung! Kkung! Kkung!
"Beat, my heart! Don't be toyed with by such sorcery!"
"No... um... eeeek....??"
Human will.
More precisely, human 'ignorance.'
If the heart goes wrong, you just pound it?
Since it seems to have stopped, you'll make it beat with sheer force?
He wondered how such bullshit could be possible, but apparently it had some effect, as his face, which had been pale until a moment ago, gradually returned to normal.
'What kind of... no, wait, that's not it?'
What he had stopped was only 'the things cut by Squite.'
So if the man pumped out more blood flow than that, he could withstand low blood pressure as long as his blood vessels could endure.
"He's so ignorant, there's no countermeasure."
That was basically self-cannibalization.
Because it was no different from deliberately creating hypertension to overcome low blood pressure.
Ultimately, it would consume stamina and be mentally exhausting──but his base stamina was superhuman to begin with.
So this much was nothing to him.
Since further suppression was impossible, he could not waste time, so the moment he released his power, the man grinned at him and glared.
"Now... show me more. Prove your strength to me!"
"....Haaaaa.."
'Do I really need to burst a cerebral artery?'
'Since he has a divine blessing, one hit probably won't do him in.'
Just as he was inwardly agonizing whether to switch to 'lethal mode'──a voice came through the speaker on the ceiling of the underground arena.
[Ah, Mai-keu test!]
"".....??""
A Mai-keu test.
And then,
[Come to think of it, I haven't told you the penalty for the test, have I?]
"Huh?"
Penalty? All of a sudden?
'What the...'
...No, let's not jump to weird conclusions.
For example, it could be something like this.
Like, if you fail this test, you have to undergo training to become Mars' husband.
Isn't it just a so-called 'training event'?
Thinking that far, it became an acceptable penalty.
Right.
If it's that, I could just do it half-heartedly, receive training, grind stats, then──
[If Chrono loses~~ I'll have Mars engaged to the top-ranked contributor of Ares Guild!]
".....What?"
──it was not that.
[Come to think of it, this quarter's top ranker is... Jupiter? A fellow academy student cadet, I see?]
"............"
Somehow, he felt like he had heard something strange.
Mars Mama's words were so outrageous that he did not even feel like fighting anymore.
As he stared blankly at the speaker in the air, the voice continued from the speaker.
[Oh, right, if Papa loses, as per the 'promise' earlier──if he somehow loses, I'll go and embrace Chrono, so just know that.]
"Ha! Do you think I'd lose to some chump like him!"
"No.... no, what the...."
Seriously.
His reason could not keep up with the situation.
'So... that...'
What was that. What did he just hear?
It felt like his brain was automatically refusing to think.
In the midst of his daze, only one man was spinning his greatsword and swinging it.
"Now... things have come to this, from now on I'm going all out!"
"Wait... just a moment...."
Why.
How come.
Why could he not feel anything strange about those words?
He kept talking while dodging the incoming attacks.
"Is this right? Is this really right?"
"Your tongue's too long while fighting!"
"No.... noooo....!!"
I mean,
this isn't right.
This... this shouldn't be happening.
"Mars, your daughter—are you okay with her fiancé being decided like this? She's your daughter. Your one and only daughter!"
"....What a noisy little shit."
The man looked at him with indifferent eyes and said.
"We~~~~ell, it's not really my intention, but if she's a child who came out of my embrace, wouldn't any parent want to hand her to a strong guy?"
"...You're not considering Mars' feelings?"
"She'll understand later, thinking 'Daddy had his reasons.'"
".........."
He,
he, I mean....
***************
[You... I thought you'd be different.]
"....Was I too harsh?"
"Not a little harsh, way too harsh... agh! That's not the point—hurry up with the Mai-keu! Even now!"
Quickly!
Hurry!
Hurry....!
Mars hurriedly tried to grab the Mai-keu, but Mars Mama brushed her hand away.
"Mama.... this is no time for jokes!"
"Then defeat this Mama first."
"Fuck, really!"
Mama did not know.
She had no grasp of what this situation was.
And just as Mars predicted──
"Fufuf...♩"
'Yes... show me a little more, a little more of "you"...!'
─Mars Mama had absolutely no grasp of Chrono.
Perhaps it was only natural.
No matter how outstanding Chrono's skills were, the figure he had shown during the sparring had been nothing but passive.
Although he had gradually shown his ability and responded in kind, the moment Mars Papa got serious, they were nothing but 'weak attacks' that would become meaningless resistance.
That was not enough.
That paltry level was not enough.
To become Mars' husband, he had to show more than that.
The 'nature' he possessed. The innate 'instinct.' The 'fighting spirit' he had kept tightly hidden until now—Mars Mama wanted to see it.
And
therefore,
because they were beings born and raised as 'strong ones' who enjoyed fighting.
'[You too... you, all of you, are all the same.]'
"This is...."
They did not know.
They were too ignorant.
An unusual presence.
Rather than hot, it was cold.
Rather than blazing, it was sticky and viscous.
"....No way."
Her spine went cold. Her heart slowed.
Without realizing it, her two eyes were fixed.
She became wary even of the positions of his fingertips and the tips of his feet.
This feeling. This sensation.
A presence entirely different from fighting spirit.
[Descent]
A heavily condensed presence.
When it finally exploded and revealed its true form,
[Incarnation of Cronus]
"................"
Mars Mama's two hands were trembling.
Not from the joy of meeting a strong opponent──but from the 'fear' of encountering death.