Blooming
From behind Bellatrix as she climbed the mountain, Isolde watched her carefully.
Saying she wouldn't help was one thing. If Bellatrix truly found herself in danger, of course Isolde would step in.
No matter how little she cared about other people's opinions, there were still limits.
Bellatrix was the eldest daughter of Isolde's master, Valentis — and the daughter he cherished above all others.
If anything happened to her, Isolde would face more than mere trouble. At worst, she might make an enemy of the entire Berce family.
Nothing terrified Isolde more than that, so she had only goaded Bellatrix's competitive spirit with words.
As long as nothing went wrong, Bellatrix would never even know Isolde was watching.
No matter how gifted Bellatrix was, there were natural limits she could not yet cross.
The realm of Blooming was something those who had never achieved it simply could not comprehend.
Bellatrix pressed on up the mountain without hesitation, as if this treacherous Skadir Mountain were her own backyard.
The monsters, if anything, were cowed by her presence. The ones she had hunted at the mountain's entrance had been formidable enough that the rest dared not approach a human reeking of their blood.
They must have felt fear. She had carved through every powerful predator that claimed the lower slopes as its territory.
Even the fact that she had dispatched monsters of that caliber so easily — without having Bloomed — was proof enough of how monstrous her talent was.
Ordinarily, anyone thrown into real combat for the first time would end up badly hurt, or worse.
Most people lost their composure, got carried away by the heat of battle, and made fatal mistakes.
But Bellatrix had remained calm, analyzing the situation with cold clarity as she cut them down.
That innate composure and her instinct for reading an opponent — those were talents optimized for survival itself.
Honestly, Isolde thought, even if she left her alone, Bellatrix would probably stroll all the way to the summit and back down without breaking a sweat.
She had said until sunset… but the way things were going, Bellatrix looked ready to set up house up there if she felt like it.
That was how much she seemed to be enjoying this extreme situation.
If anything, Isolde might have to drag her down because she refused to come back before nightfall.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Isolde clapped her hands as if something had just occurred to her.
"…Ah. I should have told her not to go to the summit."
Something truly dangerous lived at the top of the mountain.
Something far beyond what Bellatrix could handle in her current state.
It never came down from the peak, so Isolde had never considered it much of a threat and left it alone — but now it might be a problem.
And yet… for some reason.
Isolde decided to wait and see.
"Still… it's not like I'm looking away. I'll just keep watching. Somehow, I feel like that girl might put on a good fight against that thing."
This is fun.
A hum rose unbidden to my lips. Confirming the sword I had forged with my own hands — I never knew it could feel this good.
The monsters came at me with everything they had, and I took my share of wounds here and there, but I stayed calm and sent them back to nature all the same.
I wasn't sure how long I'd been at it, but a fair amount of time had clearly passed.
The sun was high overhead.
Even in a region buried under snowfields, the sun still rose just fine.
And right now, it was telling me exactly what time it was.
Just past noon, maybe.
Well, it didn't matter either way. I still had time.
The monsters were beginning to grow wary of me — or outright afraid.
Of course they were. Some human had suddenly appeared and started slaughtering every predator on the mountain. How could they not be afraid?
Monsters were animals warped by mana, after all, which meant their sense of smell was razor-sharp. Walking around reeking of the blood of predators stronger than themselves, I was bound to inspire terror.
I kept walking. What was waiting at the summit, I wondered.
There might be some truly enormous monster up there.
It might be wiser to turn back while I still could… but that was half-hearted thinking.
With that kind of mindset, you never accomplished anything.
Call it recklessness if you want.
But sometimes recklessness was exactly what you needed.
Blooming was a realm some people spent their entire lives chasing and never reached.
There was no law that said I wouldn't be one of those people.
Talent with the sword and talent for Blooming were two different things, after all.
Blooming only happened when the body reached completion — only then did mana flower within the flesh.
In other words, whatever you did, you had to give it everything you had.
Half measures would never let mana's blessing take root in your body.
The sun was still up, but I could feel the cold deepening.
Naturally — heading higher up the mountain meant the temperature would drop.
But… this was excessive.
It felt as if something was actively pulling the temperature down.
Monster or otherwise… something strong enough to influence the environment itself was up ahead.
I smiled.
This might make for a fine challenge. The thought that I might die crossed my mind as well.
But I had no intention of dying easily.
If I was going to die, I'd at least put a blade in its throat first.
The moment that thought formed, a crushing pressure rolled down from above where I stood.
A tingling sensation ran through my entire body.
It wasn't on the level of my master — but it was more than enough to tell me this was no ordinary "monster."
—Grrrrrrngh——!
It was a wolf.
But it was so massive that the wolf-type monsters I'd seen below couldn't even begin to compare… and the killing intent rolling off it was bottomless.
I'm going to die.
That was the emotion that hit me the instant I faced it.
For a split second, I felt as if its jaws had already closed around my throat.
I reached up and touched my neck without thinking. It was still attached, thankfully… but the moment I fought this thing, there was no telling when my head and body might part ways.
My lips trembled as if seized by a spasm.
Was this fear, or exhilaration?
Probably both.
I wanted to win. I wanted to tear out its throat and claim it as a trophy.
A cruel, irrepressible instinct surged up from somewhere deep inside.
The instinct of someone who loved the sword was, in the end, an instinct that could only harm others.
It was a sensation I could get addicted to.
I'd always thought I was crazy, but looking back now, "crazy" didn't even begin to cover it.
To feel joy even in a situation like this.
But I liked it.
I fixed my gaze on the creature with absolute calm. And as I did, things I normally wouldn't have seen came into focus.
How it would move. Where it would go. From which angle its attack would come.
Would it try to crush me in its jaws? Rip me apart with its claws? Or slam me into the snow with that thick, powerful tail?
In a span of time barely longer than a blink, countless possibilities resolved themselves before me.
And from among them, I seized one.
I stopped the foot that had been about to spring forward.
In that same instant, the creature's maw filled my vision. One more step and my head would have been crushed whole between its teeth.
A crooked smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
I'd read it.
The head looming right in front of me was as large as my entire torso.
Where had a monster this enormous even come from?
Its eyes met mine. And that was where it began.
As the beast swung its foreleg, I deflected the blow with my blade.
I'd already practiced redirecting a beast's limbs on the way up.
Of course, the pressure this time was on an entirely different level. If the angle had been off by even a fraction, those claws would have pulverized my whole body on the spot.
But I'd blocked it, so it didn't matter. That razor-thin tightrope walk continued without pause.
The creature, desperate to devour me, moved faster and faster.
But with that increased speed came a growing impatience I could feel.
My blade skimmed past its face. It was a strike sharp enough to split stone, yet the beast refused to fall for it so easily.
The instant the edge so much as grazed its face, it twisted its body on pure instinct and slipped free of the blade's path.
This thing wasn't an ordinary monster. It deserved to be called a spiritual beast.
Fun. It felt almost like facing a swordsman who had reached the peak of their craft.
Regardless, the killing intent pouring off it never wavered. At the same time, I caught a subtler feeling as well.
A gaze that looked at me the way one might look at an amusing toy.
Fine. You and I — if we're toys to each other, that's enough.
Like a child twisting the head off a doll, a relationship that ends the moment one of us finishes the other.
The cruelty inside me was still there, and the creature was no different.
Until one of us died, the fight would not stop.
The fatigue I'd accumulated climbing the mountain burned away. Vitality flooded back into my limbs.
My spirit soared, and the edges of my awareness expanded.
Something had changed, though I couldn't yet name it clearly.
But more than before… the creature's movements stood out in sharper relief.
The afterimages that had trailed its body as it moved settled down to something almost ordinary.
Which meant my dynamic vision had improved that much.
The speed at which I registered its actions began to outpace the beast itself.
A beast's methods of attack were varied yet consistent, but this one had a habit of hiding something unique inside that simplicity — and even those patterns were starting to open themselves to me.
The moment I felt that something within me had shifted, raw power surged up from my body.
KAAANG—!
I smashed its fangs aside with my blade, and for a brief instant the fight fell still.
Without thinking, I ran a hand across my chest…
And there, floating semi-transparently over my heart, I could see a single flower petal.
…I never expected to reach it this fast.
Stage 1 Blooming.