Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: A Lesson in Humility
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Hector was in a sorry state.
Covered in blood, it was hard to recognize him at first glance, but the bigger issue was exhaustion rather than his wounds.
The wolf carcasses strewn about were proof that he had been swinging his sword for nearly the entire day.
*Yelp!*
I threw a punch at the charging wolf.
*Crack.*
My flame-wreathed fist slammed into the wolf's lower jaw. I could vividly feel its jawbone and even its teeth shattering.
Immediately after, I grabbed the massive mane of the wolf with the broken jaw.
Feeling the coarse fur, I hurled the wolf behind me.
The wolf I threw crashed into two other wolves that were charging in.
The beasts, their jaws wide open, ended up biting down on the carcass of their own kind.
Watching the staggering wolves, I unleashed my Right Palm.
White Sun Eclipse, Second Form.
Fire Wheel.
Was it thanks to my diligent training with the Spirit Jade?
A Fire Wheel, twice the size of the last time I'd used it, exploded against the wolves.
‘The rest of them…’
There seemed to be four or five left, but I didn't need to take care of them.
My teammates had already succeeded in dealing with the wolves.
*Crack!*
Charle swung her mace, shattering the spine of a struggling wolf.
“…Phew.”
Watching Charle let out a deep sigh, I smirked.
“Good thing you listened to me, right? It's nice to get out and relieve some tension. Good exercise, too.”
“Is this really the time for that?”
Charle scurried over and supported Hector, who looked like he was about to collapse.
“Sir Hector, are you alright? Good heavens, look at these wounds…”
She immediately tried to pull out a potion, but I stopped her.
“Charle.”
“What is it now!”
“That was bought with our team's points. You can't just use it recklessly.”
“Is this a time for jokes?”
“Does it feel like a joke to you?”
The potion was an item bought with our team's points.
It would be one thing if one of us four were injured, but using it on a member of another team was a completely different matter.
“…”
Charle bit her lip hard.
She wasn't an idiot, so she must have understood the underlying meaning of my words.
“But… at this rate, Sir Hector will…”
“They're not even serious wounds.”
“What?”
“He's covered in blood, but most of it isn't his. At this rate, a good night's sleep will fix him right up. Right?”
He's a noble who's been fed all kinds of spirit elixirs since he was a child.
That means the quality of his muscles and bones is on a different level from an ordinary initiate.
“…Ruan is right. I'm fine.”
Hector said, gently pushing Charle away.
Then he sighed and looked at me.
“I owe you one, Ruan. This debt…”
“You'll be sure to repay it next time, won't you?”
“…Yes.”
I chuckled, then looked up at Karone in the tree.
“Let's talk about that later. First, I need to have a word with that guy.”
*Tap.*
Surprisingly, Karone came down from the tree without any fuss.
And he glared at me.
“Why were you just watching?”
“Are you suggesting I should have saved Hector Bednicker?”
“If you had no intention of helping, you should've just pissed off. I'm asking why you were just sitting comfortably in a tree watching.”
“I offered him a deal.”
I had arrived in the middle of it, so I didn't know exactly what had happened.
However, from Hector's attitude at the end and Karone's words, I could guess the general situation.
“To think you'd pull that crap with points in a situation like this.”
“Hector's crisis was an opportunity for me. I'm not the kind of fool to kick away an opportunity that walks right up to me.”
“Do you even know what's going on in this forest right now?”
“A demon has appeared, I hear.”
“…”
I was dumbfounded.
So, he knew all that, and he still used points as leverage to threaten Hector?
“Ruan Bednicker, I've known for a while that you've been hiding your strength. You deliberately acted weak, putting on a detestable act and slacking off in every class.”
“That's a misunderstanding.”
I wasn't hiding my strength.
And I never slacked off in class.
I was just struggling because I wasn't using my internal energy, but this guy seemed to have mistaken that for me training half-heartedly.
“But you're not the only one hiding his strength. This training retreat must have been a painful place for all of you. For me, it was the opposite. I've never stayed in a place so comfortable in my entire life.”
“…”
“Heirs of the Great Families are nothing but hothouse flowers, trained under the protection of their families. You and I are on different levels.”
The guy had a strange sense of pride.
If I had to put it into words, it was the kind of thinking you'd expect from an old geezer.
‘Back in my day, it was several times harder than what you have,’ or ‘Compared to what I've been through, this is nothing…’
Guys who spout this kind of nonsense are, nine times out of ten, rotten to the core.
“Then should I try seeing things from your level?”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm talking about points.”
At my words, Karone's eyes lit up.
“Are you proposing a bet with points? Or a duel?”
“No. Just hand over your points. All of them.”
I said, beckoning with my hand.
“Or you can get the shit beaten out of you.”
* * *
Karone looked at me for a moment, then twisted his lips into a sneer.
“I'll take that as a challenge to a fight.”
“W-wait. A duel in a situation like this? This isn't the time—”
The moment Evan uttered those perfectly sensible words, Karone drew a dagger from the sword holder strapped to his forearm.
And charged straight at me.
‘Close combat?’
This couldn't be his specialty.
In any case, this development wasn't bad for me.
It was in that instant that Karone swung his blade.
We were still more than ten paces apart, a distance that not even a spear, let alone a sword, could cover.
*Whoosh!*
Something shot out from Karone's dagger.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
It wasn't sword ki.
Launching a slashing attack is a skill only possible for a swordsman who has reached the master level.
It was impossible for someone at Karone's level, who was first-rate at best.
In other words…
‘A Blessing.’
The attack was hard to see because of the surrounding darkness, but the sound was so loud that dodging it wasn't difficult.
After dodging the sword strike, I looked ahead to find Karone had vanished.
*Swish!*
Then, I heard the sound of air being torn apart from behind me. I knew it was an arrow without even looking.
I snatched the incoming arrow out of the air with my bare hand.
“…!”
I could feel Karone, who was hiding somewhere in the bushes, flinch.
The moment I threw the arrow I'd caught in his direction, Karone's presence vanished again.
He hadn't hidden his presence through stealth.
This guy was teleporting short distances.
‘That must be a Blessing, too.’
Short-range teleportation is surprisingly common among Blessings.
The Iron-Blooded Duke has something similar, as does Seren.
That guy must have a similar ability.
‘He probably has about three or four Blessings?’
If he had received five or more, he would have been the talk of the town long ago.
Loudly enough for even me to hear about it.
Besides, there are an enormous number of types of Blessings.
The probability of all four being combat-oriented is low, so for this fight, I should probably consider two Blessings: the sword strike and the short-range teleportation.
Karone's presence appeared and disappeared all around me repeatedly.
It was a futile attempt to dull my senses, but to be frank, it had no effect.
*BOOM!*
I stomped my right foot on the ground, creating a tremor.
The wolf carcasses were thrown about, disturbing the surrounding terrain.
“…!”
And Karone's presence, having just completed a short-range teleport, faltered for a moment.
One of the tricks I learned during my mercenary days.
The disadvantage of techniques like teleportation is the slow acquisition of information about the surrounding terrain.
Because you're not moving and observing your surroundings directly, a delay occurs if the scenery after teleporting is different from the information in your memory.
It was a brief discrepancy of less than a second, but…
One second is more than enough to decide a fight.
*Smack!*
“Guhk…”
Karone staggered after taking a hit to the face.
Even so, the dagger in his right hand aimed for my vitals.
Seeing this, it's clear his practical combat experience is above that of an initiate, but…
…he's still just a kid.
He's far inferior not only to a first-rate mercenary but also to the cult assassins I fought in the Jewel Mountains.
*Thwack.*
I blocked the dagger's assault on my neck, then kicked Karone in the stomach.
“Kuhk…!”
Karone gritted his teeth and swung his left hand again, but most of his attacks were blocked by me.
“What's wrong? Is this all you've got?”
In that moment, Karone's expression changed.
Killing intent washed over his eyes and face as he attacked me, disregarding his own safety.
It was a reckless attack fit for an assassin, and the sharpest one he'd shown so far.
I could pretty much see what he was thinking.
Someone without experience would flinch at this attack.
Even with combat experience, feeling the direct pressure of death is a completely different story.
I blocked the dagger with my palm.
“…!”
Karone's eyes widened as if they would tear.
He seemed more shocked than at any other point so far.
With my left palm pierced, I slammed my other hand into Karone's face.
“Ugh…”
“Who taught you to attack like this? This isn't a technique an initiate should be using. Was it your father?”
“Sh…ut up!”
“No.”
Without imbuing it with internal energy, I slapped both of Karone's cheeks with my palm.
“No, no, no, I said no.”
*Slap, slap!*
With each strike, Karone's head snapped to the side.
Honestly, since he didn't have much flesh on his face, the slaps weren't very satisfying, but I deliberately only hit his cheeks.
For two reasons.
First, a guy like him who lives and dies by his pride has less tolerance for humiliation than for pain.
Second, concentrating my attacks on one spot was my specialty.
“I'll kill you…!”
At first, Karone resisted, his eyes glaring defiantly, but…
*Slap, slap!*
“S-stop… Let go of me…”
After more than ten slaps, his resistance had softened considerably.
*Slap, slap!*
“I… I lost…”
After more than twenty, he admitted defeat.
Of course, aside from his swollen face, his stamina was still fine, so I didn't stop slapping him.
*Slap, slap…!*
By the time it reached thirty, then forty slaps…
Karone was barely resisting, only mumbling with his mouth.
Around then, I stopped my attack.
And I leaned in to listen to what the hell he was muttering.
“…zy bas…”
“What was that?”
“Cra…zy bas…tard… Crazy bastard…”
“Aha.”
And then he passed out.
Only then did I let Karone go. A strangely similar incident came to mind, and I glanced over at Hector.
“…”
Hector had his eyes squeezed shut.