Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Fixing the Dantian (6)
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20 minutes.
I thought to myself as I approached the Griffon that I had to finish this in exactly 20 minutes.
“Uh… Hey! Run away! This isn’t a monster a plump guy like you can handle!”
I ignored her words coming from behind.
I steadied my body, burning like a fireball from the drug’s effect, and slowly raised my sword toward the Griffon.
“Krirurururu-!”
The Griffon let out a terrifying screech that tore through the air as it swung its front paw.
-Shwoosh!
“Gasp-! No-!!”
At that moment.
I moved my explosively enhanced body, stepping nimbly aside.
The Griffon’s front paw, meant to rip me apart, sliced through empty air.
“Wha, what…?!”
“Kriruru-?!”
Aria and the Griffon were both stunned by the unbelievable sight.
The Strengthening Herb’s effect lasted 30 minutes.
I’d exceeded the safe dosage and crammed every last bit into my mouth, so the side effects crashing down afterward would be immense.
I had to settle this in 20 minutes and escape within the next 10.
“Krirurururu!”
The Griffon lifted slightly into the air and beat its wings furiously toward me.
-Whoosh!
“……!”
“Ugh…!”
Aria, crouched behind me, squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her arms against the fierce wind blasting toward us.
It was the Griffon’s strategy to blind us with the gust and attack.
‘Not going down as planned…!’
I charged straight at the Griffon, facing into the blowing wind.
“Krirurururururu!”
The Griffon halted its wingbeats, descended, and pointed its head at me.
It looked like it planned to gore me with its horn.
‘Thunder Sword Arts, Second Form… Rotating Slash!’
The swordsmanship Iris had taught me.
I dodged the straightforward incoming attack once, then spun like lightning to vertically slice off the opponent’s arm in a flashy display—the Thunder Sword Arts’ Second Form.
-Shing!
With the Strengthening Herb boosting me to explode my body’s original potential, my reactions were astonishingly quick.
I narrowly evaded the Griffon’s horn charge, then spun in the direction I’d dodged.
-Whirl!
The follow-up form came swiftly.
I unleashed the Second Form’s vertical slash, amplified by spin, straight at the Griffon’s horn.
-Clang!
‘…! So it doesn’t work after all!’
Without mana coating my sword, I couldn’t pierce a high-rank monster’s body, huh?
My desperate strike bounced off the Griffon’s horn, unable to overcome its toughness.
-Hummm!
The recoil from the slash transmitted straight to my wrist.
‘Fuck… that hurts like hell.’
Even knowing the Griffon’s weakness, this shitty possessed body couldn’t do a damn thing.
The Griffon’s weak point was its horn. All its nerves connected there, and damaging it would make it lose its sense of direction temporarily.
That was your chance to take down this quasi-boss monster for sure… but my current body couldn’t even dent its hide.
So I’d planned to damage the horn, make it lose its bearings and thrash madly, then flee…
“Krirurururururu!”
But I couldn’t even scratch the horn—a total blunder.
“How do I even fight this thing….”
“H-Hey! You, nameless swordsman!”
Aria called out to me from behind as I muttered to myself.
“Right leg! Look at the Griffon’s right leg!”
Right leg?
Hearing Aria, I glared at the furiously flapping Griffon’s right leg, anger boiling over.
‘……!’
Bleeding?
A faint trickle of blood seeped from the joint on the Griffon’s right leg.
The moment I spotted it, Aria followed up urgently.
“I landed a strike on its nerves! That Griffon took damage to the joint nerves—its right leg has to be moving awkwardly!”
Bingo.
My mind raced. Dozens of ways to break through finally came to me.
But a question arose.
I shouted back at Aria behind me.
“Got it! But can you damage the Griffon’s body?!”
“Yes! If I focus, just once…!”
“Then I’ll create the opening! Recover and get up quick! I’ll signal you!”
“…! Understood!”
Aria struggled to her feet, seeming to concentrate her mind. It looked like she was drawing up mana from her Dantian.
“Let’s have a little date for a bit, Mr. Griffon.”
“Krirururururururu-!”
The enraged Griffon charged at me with another horn attack.
I threw my body to the right with all my might to dodge.
-Boom! Crunch!
The Griffon’s horn impaled an innocent tree.
“Krirurururu?!”
The flustered Griffon froze momentarily.
‘Now!’
I dove swiftly under the Griffon’s body.
Sure enough, blood oozed from the muscle of its right leg.
If the skin was torn and wounded there…
‘I can land a hit too!’
Thunder Sword Arts, Third Form. One Stroke, Two Cuts.
The First Form was a thrust. Second was vertical slash, Third a horizontal one.
As basic swordsmanship based on the foundational Three Fundamental Sword Techniques, the Thunder Sword Arts.
I executed it precisely as Iris had taught.
Normally, the Third Form required enhancing your body with Dantian mana to perform fully…
But with the Strengthening Herb hack boosting my body, I could mimic the motions, even if clumsily.
“Raaah!”
Plus, having drilled the Three Fundamental Sword Techniques 10,000 times each synergized, making my movements far more precise.
I spun flashily, slashing horizontally across the Griffon’s massive leg muscle with the momentum.
-Whirl! Slash!
“Krik?! Krirurururu!”
“……!”
…A resounding success.
Aria stared in shock at me pulling off the Third Form without mana release.
No wonder. This was my first time succeeding with it either.
I hadn’t severed the nerves, but it was enough to seriously impair its movement.
As expected, the Griffon writhed in agony, groaning in pain.
“Krirururururu!”
“Hey! Now! Hit the horn with your sword strike!”
“…! Got it!!”
Aria gripped her lowered sword and charged forward unsteadily.
‘…Is that mana?’
A blue aura matching her eye color rose from her fair skin and black hair.
Like heat haze, the energy cloaked her sword as she closed in and raised it overhead.
“Yaaah!”
“Kriru?!”
The perceptive Griffon tried to flee, straining its right leg.
Too late.
-Kwaaang! Slice!
Aria swung her mana-clad sword mercilessly, cleaving the Griffon’s horn—untouched by my earlier strike—like tofu.
“Kri… krirurururururu!”
“Done. Hey! Time to run!”
“What? Wait just… Kyaa!”
The instant the Griffon lost its sense of direction and vision, I scooped up the panting Aria beside me in a princess carry.
And bolted from the spot.
“Wh-what are you doing…! Where do you think you’re putting your hands?!”
“Stay still! The Griffon’s defenseless state is only temporary! Once it recovers, it’ll come after us again!”
“……!”
Aria, who’d been pounding my body with her fists while held, froze in surprise and went still.
I fled swiftly back toward where we’d found the Griffon, grabbing the decapitated body of the baby Great Eagle I’d killed earlier with one hand.
Headless corpse. The blood was still usable. Since it hadn’t been dead long, it’d be fine if used within a day.
‘I came here for this in the first place—can’t let it go to waste!’
Aria eyed the corpse curiously, wondering why I’d grab such a thing, but I had no time to explain.
The Strengthening Herb’s effect would wear off soon. Felt like 20 minutes had passed already.
That’s when it hit.
“Urk-?!”
Mid-run, my muscles and bones screamed in unison.
Excruciating pain. The worst I’d ever felt in my life.
“Ugh… No way. Already 30 minutes…?!”
“…? What’s wrong…! Kyaa!”
Once we’d put some distance from the Griffon’s territory.
I roughly dumped Aria and the baby Great Eagle corpse onto the thick grass.
Startled by the sudden drop, Aria sprang up in fury.
“Wh-what is this?!”
“Hey! I can’t run anymore! You at least—head to the village first!”
“What…? What are you saying?! You’ll get swarmed by monsters if you stay alone! You want to die?!”
“The battle with the Griffon scared off nearby monsters—they won’t come for a while! Go to the village and get people!”
With those final words, I steeled myself against the surging pain and sat in lotus position.
If I passed out now, I’d be out for at least two days. All this effort and purpose would be wasted.
I gouged the headless baby Great Eagle corpse with my sword, coating the blade in blood.
-Splat!
“Guh-!”
With the bloodied sword, I lightly sliced the muscles around my Dantian.
The Great Eagle’s blood seeped into the small wound.
“Wh-what are you doing?! Trying to ruin your Dantian?! Great Eagle blood is deadly poison to the Dantian!”
“I know! Hurry and run—get people!”
“What…!”
No time. Ignoring Aria’s chatter, I reached into my pouch.
I pulled out a mid-grade spirit pill glowing pale pink.
A Lotus Pill. I’d swiped about eight good ones from the ducal territory’s pill storage.
One or two a day strengthened the Dantian, but five or more could cause backlash and endanger your life.
I dumped all eight into my mouth and swallowed.
“…Gulp.”
“Kyaaa! Y-you lunatic! You must want to die!”
Ignoring Aria’s hysterics, I focused and entered meditation.
-Shuuu!
I felt the ambient mana being drawn in alongside the Great Eagle’s deadly poison rapidly seeping into my Dantian.
At the same time, the energy from the eight swallowed Lotus Pills swirled wildly within my Dantian.
“Grgh…!”
Now, make these two forces clash.
Ever heard of fighting poison with poison?
One poison might be lethal, but two compatible ones could neutralize into medicine.
A technique from Eastern medicine, also present in Ariel’s game world.
Some foreign story dev must’ve been a fan of Eastern dramas or something.
One such method was the ‘Dantian Reconstruction Technique’ I was using now.
Melt the flawed Dantian with deadly poison, reverse the flow with spirit pills, repeat to rebuild a sturdy, normal one.
It was well-known among veteran players in the know.
Aria’s reaction suggested most natives of this world didn’t know it, though.
She’d already tired of freaking out and fled to the village long ago.
I endured the Strengthening Herb’s brutal side effects through meditation for about an hour.
“Grgh…! Grrrk….”
Unbearable agony. This method already tanked character condition with pain, per vet tips—and now piled with the herb’s backlash…
But I couldn’t lose consciousness.
This was the fastest way to power up short-term.
Me, who one-shot a Wyvern barehanded before, struggling against a mere Griffon? Unacceptable!
…I’d get stronger no matter what. Couldn’t live feeling this wronged.
Clenching my resolve, I endured the Dantian’s churning reversal for a while longer.
As the turmoil gradually calmed, I sensed something approaching from the thicket.
“Krirururururururu-!”
It was the hornless Griffon, consumed by rage, charging toward me.