Your Master Was Pretty Damn Good
Above all else, the most important thing was not to panic. I needed to coldly, methodically analyze the situation unfolding before my eyes.
"Hahh... hah..."
Sixth Finger — Fanatic Luman. Power type. Currently the most exhausted of the three, hanging on by a sliver of HP. Taking him out first was the priority.
"..."
Ninth Finger — Tarkan the Crusher. Power type. I had no idea why she'd suddenly turned into a woman, but someone of Tarkan's caliber was an easy opponent. A downgraded version of Luman, with both attack and defense weakened. She still had some damage output left in her, but not enough firepower to kill me outright. If I could land an ultimate dead-on... maybe. Hard to say.
"Hey, the hell you staring at? You think you can look at your seniors like that—"
Seventh Finger — Arin of the Swift Sword. Technical type. An opponent whose fighting style was similar to my own, and by far the most troublesome of the three. Her swordsmanship was a notch below Arhan's, but her innate combat sense and explosive performance had overwhelmed plenty of players. Still...
"She'll be easier to deal with than Arhan, who's already dead."
Arin's teeth ground together with an audible crack.
"Hey. The fuck did you just say?"
She was prideful, and her temper was filthy. Which meant that if I could get her to take the bait, she'd lose her reason in no time.
"Pardon? Which part are you referring to?"
"Take that back. Right now."
"Take it back? Are you talking about Mr. Arhan, whom I already sliced in half with my blade? Or are you talking about yourself — still stuck looking like a brat, with skills that don't even measure up to your master's?"
"Shut up."
"Honestly... Arhan's final moments were genuinely hilarious. What was it he said? 'Where does a weapon of war go in an age when war is over?' For a senile old man's last words, it was pretty pathetic..."
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU GODDAMN BITCH!!!!"
A burst of killing intent exploded off her like a shockwave.
"A-Arin!! Calm yourself!!!"
Thoroughly raked by my Wind Style: Trash Talk technique, Arin let out a shriek and charged at me like a woman possessed.
"Bingo."
Everything according to plan. With this, their coordination would fall apart completely.
"Master and disciple alike... what a pathetic pack of losers."
"I'll kill you! How dare you talk about Master like that...!!"
Blinded by rage, all cold judgment gone, Arin swung her sword with mindless abandon. Steel screamed against steel as I caught the blow.
"...!!"
And because their own swordsman was going berserk, Tarkan hesitated to close in as well. Right now, Arin was in a frenzy — no friend-or-foe identification whatsoever.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"
The impact of her next strike cratered the ground.
"Heh. If you can."
Granted, Arin's sword in her frenzy was plenty rough and vicious. But it was still far more manageable than taking on all three at once.
"Arin!! Come to your senses! That is Ryushia's wicked tongue, meant to shake you!"
"Ah... old man."
As she thrashed about wildly, Luman hurriedly tried to soothe her. Thanks to that, Arin's violent rage began to slowly subside, and she was just about to regain her senses...
"By the way. How old are you, talking down to me like that?"
Nope. Need to throw a little more fuel on the fire.
"Haaah?! I'm a full-grown twenty, I'll have you know!"
"Ah, is that so?"
"...What's with that look."
Even as we talked, I let my eyes roam over Arin's body with a mocking gaze and let the words drop.
"Looking at that flat chest and scrawny frame, I honestly thought you were a little kid."
"...Hah?"
Alright, enough with the stale jokes. Time to go for the flat-chest kill shot.
"How do I put this... looking at those hard little nubs that don't even look like they belong to a woman, it really makes you think. If you ever had a baby, it'd probably starve to death from lack of milk... wait. With hips that size, could you even give birth in the first place?"
I needled her, picking apart her physical complexes one by one. Even though she was an adult, Arin was still extremely sensitive about her underdeveloped body.
...Honestly, I felt a little bad. I genuinely love slender girls and petite types, but right now I had no choice but to verbally beat her into the dirt. Tragic, really.
"You done talking? What makes you so damn special..."
And then she started scanning me with venomous eyes...
"Holy shit. Those tits."
Arin had been about to unload a torrent of insults, but the moment she actually looked at Ryushia's figure, a genuine gasp of admiration slipped out. Those massive breasts, barely contained by a thin scrap of fabric, bounced and swayed with every movement, the flesh spilling out the sides adding a vulgar kind of allure.
"Holy shit. That ass."
And never mind the slim waist — those childbearing hips that looked like they could pop out babies without breaking a sweat, plus that plump, juicy, perfectly rounded ass.
"Tch..."
Arin soon looked down at her own unimpressive body with a defeated expression. She patted her chest. All she got was the sound of knocking on a wall.
"...Got nothing."
An overwhelming defeat with no room for a comeback.
"Well, we're on a completely different level from a boyish type like you. I understand."
The hilt of her sword groaned in her grip as her knuckles went white.
"You're fucking dead?!"
Watching the murderous glint in her eyes and the veins popping on the back of her sword-hand, I couldn't help but smile.
Yes! Provocation successful, round two. I'd offered up my body — and my masculinity — as a sacrifice, but it was more than enough to make her lose her mind.
"Why don't I just grab this bitch and use her as a breeding sow? That'd be way more efficient, wouldn't it?!"
"As for you... well. You have zero value as a woman."
"Fine. Let's see who dies first."
With those words, the real fight began.
I surged forward, wrapping my blade in the now-familiar power of moonlight, and thrust.
Arin swung her sword with a serious expression, and a gust of wind whipped up around us. Our blades met in a screaming, drawn-out clash of steel.
"You've grown a lot, huh?"
"Can't say the same about you."
"You little...!"
Even in the middle of combat, the trash-talking never stopped. Her blade came screaming in, but I shifted my footing, quickly opening the distance and dodging.
Because...
The ground detonated where I'd been standing a heartbeat ago.
"I can see everything you're doing!"
Uninvited guests like Tarkan would try to crash the party like this. So I dodged in a flash and drove my elbow into her solar plexus. A groan burst out of her as her stance crumbled — the perfect opening for a killing blow.
But the technique I'd aimed at Tarkan's opening was intercepted by Luman jumping in. My Half Moon Slash got cut off mid-swing, and the clash of sword against fist rang out like a struck bell.
"Oh, come ON!"
"If you believe you can defeat us so easily, you are gravely mistaken."
"Ganging up is so cheap!"
I was in the middle of cursing them out for fighting so dirty when a shadow fell over me. I frantically looked up.
Right on cue, Arin came dropping down, sword poised to pierce. Abandoning all dignity, I rolled across the dirt and barely managed to dodge. Her blade punched into the earth where I'd been standing, carving a ragged trench through stone.
"This bitch has pretty good instincts, huh?"
Arin, who'd slammed down right where I'd been a second ago, wore a savage grin as she yanked her sword free.
"...If I didn't, I'd be a kebab by now."
I shot back in a low voice at Arin, who was cheerfully pulling her blade from the ground with a bright smile.
...This is dangerous.
My instincts kept sounding the alarm. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, and the sword hilt began to tremble ever so slightly. I was holding on for now — but could I actually finish this?
Those thoughts lasted only a moment before Tarkan unleashed a barrage of fist strikes like a meteor shower, each blow detonating against the ground in a rolling chain of explosions.
"Alright. I'm killing you first."
I locked a murderous gaze on that annoying demon-spawn leftover. Tarkan's eyes flashed in apparent surprise as she threw punch after punch, but I used Moon Step, twisting my body to dodge left. I leapt into the air, then closed in, grazing past her by a hair's breadth as the next volley of fists cratered empty space.
"S-so fast!"
"Die."
Without so much as a glance at the startled Tarkan who'd appeared in a flash before me, I honed my killing intent solely on ending her. I drew my sword from its scabbard in silence. Not too fast, not too slow... just quietly.
Striking Kill
"Hah..."
"I'm going to need you to lie down for a bit."
I appeared behind Tarkan in an instant, and a spray of crimson blood fanned through the air.
"TARKAN!!!!"
The moment her comrade was in mortal danger, Arin came charging toward me in a single bound.
At last, the fiercest strike in her arsenal came crashing down like a flash of light.
So I charged up a technique just as powerful to match. At this point, all or nothing. I'd kill both Arin and Luman right here and go home.
Our blades collided with a thunderous roar — and then, a sharp, brittle crack.
"Huh?"
Of all things, my sword broke first.
"For the crime of insulting my master! Take this!!!"
Her blade carved a diagonal line across my chest. Muscle and flesh tore, and the wet crunch of ribs shattering rang out. I'd been cut by Arhan too — master and disciple both, neither of them made it easy. God, this actually hurt like hell.
Blood poured down my front as I clutched the wound, staring at the broken sword in my hand.
...Damn it. A 4-Star Elite bargain-bin blade. If I'd had my signature weapon, I would've already wrecked them and then some!
"Hey. Meeting you sucked ass. Let's never do this again."
Arin sneered, mocking me as I stood dying right in front of her face.
Yeah. Going out like this would still be too boring.
"..."
I tossed aside the hunk of scrap metal in my hand. It clattered against the stone.
"What? Suddenly throwing away your weapon? Finally decided to die quietly?"
I quietly approached the dumbfounded Arin. And then...
"Huh?"
I seized her tiny skull.
"You wet-behind-the-ears little shit..."
I slammed my forehead into hers.
The impact cracked like a gunshot.
"A-AAAAAAAGH!!!!"
"Get over here, you mouthy little bitch."
I grabbed a fistful of Arin's hair as she writhed in pain from the vicious headbutt, and spat the words through gritted teeth, tightening my grip until her scalp screamed.
"L-let go!!"
"Not a chance. You think I don't know how to cuss people out?!"
"What the hell are you talking about! You were plenty good at roasting people yourself..."
"ONE MORE!!!"
She kept screaming her head off, so I rammed her again. Another sickening thud of bone on bone.
"AAAAAAAGH?!"
And I unleashed all the pent-up frustration from countless haters and insults.
"Do you have ANY idea what it's like being a narrow-eyed character?! How annoying it is to keep forcing polite speech and pretending to be well-mannered!!"
"W-what the hell is this bitch doing all of a sudden!"
"...What the hell."
Luman could only stare blankly, trying to make sense of the sudden trainwreck unfolding before his eyes.