The Hand Gesture of the Wind
The wind stirred. “Oh, running away?”
“………”
BOOM.
After being hit a few times, I could barely suppress the reflexive shout that tried to escape, but that was the limit. As long as I could hear the voice, there was simply no way to completely ignore those words.
Should I crush my ears? The eardrums could be healed with a priest’s power. Losing one sense would be painful, but it was better than being toyed with like this.
The problem is that I’m wearing the Heavenly Fist… ugh.
Given the sheer size of the Heavenly Fist, the moment I put it on, I couldn’t even bring my hand to my head.
“Coward. Despicable. Pathetic weakling.”
“………”
CRASH.
Even so, if I took it off now, I wouldn’t be able to put it back on. There wouldn’t be any more time to re-equip it.
At least it’s a relief that Diana isn’t being targeted.
Was there some condition that only allowed attacks on people who were awake? Or was she simply securing a means to recover even a little more strength? Whatever the reason, the fact that she wasn’t aiming for Diana while she was still unconscious was pure luck. So while I still had even the slightest advantage, I had to do something—
“Don’t get so impatient. That won’t get you anywhere.”
“You—”
“I’m not reading your thoughts, so don’t worry about that.”
CRASH.
There’s no way out.
With Diana’s awakening time still unknown, I couldn’t just stay on the defensive forever. I steeled my resolve and took a step forward.
“Giving up already?”
The evil god spoke and immediately fired another beam. But I had already taken that step long ago.
CRACKLE.
Thunder Step
Ascending Strike
I struck the incoming beam from below. Will it work?
BOOM.
It worked. The beam that had been shooting forward collided with my fist and bent upward, flying off course.
“That gauntlet!”
Only then did the evil god sense something was wrong and shout, but it was already too late.
“Distant Thunder.”
Far Thunder
The attack that struck through the air hit the evil god directly. It stalled his assault for a very brief moment.
Thunder Step. Ure.
I seized that gap and charged in.
“You didn’t seriously think stomping your feet a few times would let you run faster, did you?”
BANG.
I slapped away the beam of light with the back of my hand.
“You thought everything would be fine as long as you got close? Too bad.”
BANG.
I still didn’t understand the principle. What mattered was that it worked, and that I now had options besides dodging.
“Come a little closer!”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Is this as far as I go?
I kept closing the distance until, with roughly five steps left, the evil god’s attacks grew fiercer. At this rate, unless I took at least one hit, I wouldn’t be able to advance any further.
“Don’t worry.”
Diana had woken up. In her hand was the Self-Heaven Bow.
“I’ll provide cover.”
SWOOOOOSH.
The final weapon of the Annihilation Archer build—capable of firing seven hundred shots per minute, twelve arrows per second—unleashed its devastating rapid fire.
“Ah, this one’s a loss for me.”
“Good that you know.”
“Partner, you only answer me at the very last moment.”
“Why the hell are you my partner?”
Thunder Step
Thundercloud
Fists like lightning hammered the evil god’s left leg like a machine gun.
Splat.
The already weakened fragment of the evil god slammed into the ground and stopped moving. We had finally succeeded in defeating the second evil god’s seal.
* * *
“I’m exhausted…”
“You worked hard.”
Compared to last time, it hadn’t been physically exhausting. The fight at the end had been brief, after all. What had been far more draining was the Fantastic World. True to its nature as mental magic, it felt like it had sucked my mental strength dry.
“Are you okay? It didn’t look like I was the only one who got hit by that.”
“Of course I’m fine. You shouldn’t underestimate the power of a regressor.”
“Ha… Maybe I should’ve been a regressor instead of a possessor.”
“Mm… That’s a bit of a sore subject.”
At Diana’s casual remark, I lowered my head.
“Sorry. That was thoughtless of me.”
One or two regressions might be one thing, but when it reached the point of statistics and charts, it wasn’t something to speak lightly about. Even clearing a game multiple times was difficult; repeating the same life thousands of times had to be an unimaginable amount of stress.
“I appreciate that you understand.”
“Yeah. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
With the evil god dead, it was time to settle the rewards.
“Another magic stone dropped. Since we can leave the barrier, it looks like we can use this one too.”
It had come from the shadow that tried to possess me and failed. I had thought it was a one-time exception last time, but it appeared again.
“We’ll have to examine its effects to know for sure.”
“It must be related to the Heavenly Fist.”
“…The regeneration was unavoidable to manage the Heavenly Fist, but shouldn’t we just destroy this one?”
“Ugh… You’re right, but… I have a feeling about it.”
After talking with it this time, I had vaguely realized that the evil god was quite good at temptation. The magic stone we received this time would surely hold a power I couldn’t easily ignore. After all, investment always began with an offer the other party couldn’t refuse.
“And in the end, we have to defeat the main body of the evil god anyway. Don’t we need powerful strength for that? Since I’ll clearly end up dying to the evil god, judging by the fact that I can’t survive.”
“…Still, I’m not sure if it’s right to fight using power given by the evil god.”
“When you put it that way, it does feel a bit off… Let’s decide after I absorb the emotion first.”
“Very well.”
The biggest reason was still that I had no idea what the evil god’s goal was.
If I grow stronger from this, it seems like the evil god gains something from it.
In the end, it would probably harm me.
“Either way, that guy is the enemy. So I just need to become strong enough to crush all his schemes completely.”
“…That makes sense too.”
“And if things go wrong, you can just regress again.”
“…Didn’t you just say you’d watch your words?”
“Sorry. This time I really, really mean it.”
“Honestly…”
Diana let out a light laugh.
“Then come over here.”
“You’re not going to hit me, right?”
“Who knows? Depends on what you do.”
I stood up and followed Diana.
“That was quite an impressive statement. Even if there’s a trap, just become strong enough to trample it.”
“I know it sounded too simple.”
“It did. You’ve never seen the evil god in person, after all. But at the same time, I realized I’ve been shrinking back too much. I already know that the advantage of regression is being able to experience far more things firsthand.”
She spoke lightly, but I didn’t think it was an easy thing to do.
“So what are you trying now?”
“A new attempt. It’s also something that caused you to explode and die about five times.”
The place she led me to was near the entrance. Something familiar was there.
“…Did the remnants of power keep me from seeing it before?”
“Yes. And only after those remnants disappear can we attempt this. You could call it the clear reward.”
“Ha, that’s an incredibly easy-to-understand analogy.”
There, I saw white bones and a soul clinging to the space. It was a familiar sight. It looked exactly like the successor of the Ancient Martial Arts who had possessed the Thunder Step.
“You didn’t think walking was the end of the technique, did you?”
The clue to learning the next technique was right there.
* * *
Hummmm.
Separating the soul from the space wasn’t difficult. What worried me more than last time was that the area had been filled with the evil god’s energy, so I feared there might be some kind of contamination. Fortunately, the soul was clean.
Where to wrap it…
Once again, a clear intuition struck me. Was it inspiration from the soul? Or perhaps a signal from my past lives that had died five times already?
Swish.
From my fingertips to my shoulders. It felt like I was wearing long arm guards.
Hummm.
With just that, the soul stabilized. It hadn’t been a particularly difficult task.
“…That’s unusual. I died at this stage four times.”
“Really?”
Since wrapping the soul itself hadn’t been hard, it was highly likely the problem had come from wrapping it around the wrong area.
“If there’s a next time, tell me to wrap it around the arms.”
“…Understood.”
I didn’t know why this intuition was given to me, but since I had it, I might as well use it well.
Hummmm.
After the settling was complete, I waited a moment and a reaction soon began. My body started resonating with the soul. Instinctively, choices appeared.
Memory, or ability?
This time too, the choice was easy.
Ability.
Immediately afterward, the change began.
The body is the foundation of everything. Our intelligence developed because we used tools. Our stamina increased because we lost our fur. Our field of vision expanded because we stood upright. In other words, the body determines capability.
Among them, the arms can be called the foremost organ. Thanks to using our hands to advance our minds, we were able to surpass other species. So remember this.
Even if you can use your entire body correctly, the most precise movements come from the hands.
Find the correct posture, maintain it, and embody it.
Maintain it correctly.
That is the foundation of everything.
It was content somewhat different from what I had learned before, yet in the same vein. However, my body was already standing correctly, and my hands were no exception. As a result, the soul settled into me without any further change.
I had obtained the Ancient Martial Arts technique: Wind Hand Gesture.