Chapter 65
Karen looked terrified. "Uweeeek."
"I thought you were smart, but you're slow on the uptake," I said, watching her vomit stomach acid onto the ground.
We'd been sparring for what felt like the umpteenth time already, but the results never changed. Every round, she fell for the dirty tricks I pulled, getting punched in the gut and collapsing to the floor. The only improvement was that she no longer whined about how unfair it was.
"Who fights fair in the middle of battle? If you keep that up, you'll get taken out by some stray arrow."
"...Ugh, why do you always hit my stomach?"
Even as I smirked at her, Karen stared at me like she couldn't comprehend it. Her curiosity burned bright amid the agony twisting her body. I answered her puzzled gaze.
"No real target, right? Limbs don't do much damage, and I can't just punch a girl's face."
Of course, that wasn't the only reason. The way her soft belly cushioned my fist felt oddly satisfying. But no need to admit that, so I left it at that and waited for her to get up.
"Hoo. Fine. I get it now. And I think I'm starting to understand what you mean by 'fighting'."
Karen staggered to her feet and immediately hurled a spell at me. Her first ambush after all our spars. But while she was still clumsy, I'd fought in every dirty brawl imaginable. I leaped lightly into the air, dodging the wind spell aimed at my waist.
"Got you!"
She'd anticipated that much, it seemed. As my body hung in the air, she unleashed a barrage of fire spells into the open space. Blazing heat that could incinerate anything spread through the sky, closing in on me.
She'd put some real thought into this one, unlike before. But she was still miles from challenging me. I hurled my sword straight at her forehead. She threw up a shield spell just as it flew toward her face.
Clang—
My thrown sword clattered against the translucent barrier floating in the air and dropped to the ground. I crouched low, slipping out of the fire spell's range.
"Earthquake."
Her low voice rang out, and the ground beneath my feet began to shake. Off-balance, I staggered, and in that instant, she'd finished her next cast. Sharp ice shards hurtled toward me in staggered waves, ready to pierce my body.
Not bad.
She wasn't hopeless in a fight after all—her spells were starting to link up organically. I flashed a grin and stomped the quaking earth.
"Jibo."
A shiver ran through me at the familiar sensation after so long. Using the mercenary empress's technique, the tremors felt like nothing. My body moved faster than I could control, and Karen's eyes shook as she lost track of me.
"Blink?"
She muttered in shock as I appeared right in front of her. To her, it must've looked like a short-range blink spell. But the mercenary empress's pure step was a whole different beast.
I smiled brightly and thrust my fist toward her belly again. She flinched and clutched her stomach with both hands, but my movement outpaced hers.
"Guhk!"
I burst into satisfied laughter at the sight of her doubled over, clutching her gut. Tormenting Karen Cross like this just felt good.
"Good. Much better than before."
"...Ugh, that 'praise' doesn't make me happy at all."
And this wasn't just bullying—it was training. With that perfect excuse, I could beat her without a shred of guilt. It'd definitely boost her odds of surviving the next battle, too.
"Get up, Karen."
"Ahh, I... I can't... do anymore."
At my words, she looked up at me with teary eyes. The girl who'd seemed utterly emotionless actually felt pain just fine. But I had no intention of going easy. I kicked her ass where she lay sprawled on the ground.
"What? You gonna say that to the Demon King's army too?"
"Y-You're not the Demon King's army. And training like this is so barbaric... Uweeeek."
She protested, only to start retching again. Her body was completely out of her control—unknown fluids leaked from her mouth and even her nose. I stared blankly at her wrecked face and beckoned with my hand.
"Get up. We're not done."
"Hic."
In that moment, an unbelievable sound escaped her lips. If my ears weren't deceiving me, that was a sob.
Unbelievable.
I let out a hollow laugh at the sight of tears streaming down her face. The woman who'd casually tried to slice off other people's limbs was crying over a few gut punches.
"Get up, Karen Cross. Keep this up, and you'll actually die."
"N-No! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
She screamed at me, completely lost in confusion. Not just words—she was even crawling backward on her butt, desperately trying to put distance between us. I clicked my tongue in disappointment. It wasn't anger so much as utter deflation.
"You'll get used to the pain. Don't believe me? Test it yourself."
"Test?"
"Yeah. Hit enough times, and the pain becomes familiar."
Curiosity sparked in her eyes at my words, but it faded fast. She glanced at my hand and screamed in horror.
"Liar! No way something like this gets familiar!"
"It's true."
Crack.
I held out my hand in front of her face and deliberately snapped one of my fingers. Her face went pale at the grotesquely bent digit, but my hero's body was already regenerating the bone.
"Believe it or not, even with an Immortal Body, the pain's real. But I've gotten used to this level. You can do it too, Karen."
"N-No! I don't wanna get used to crap like that, you psycho!!"
She shrieked and bolted away. I could've grabbed her easily, but I let her go. We'd be traveling together to the Dwarf City anyway, and we had plenty of time. Sure, she might flee back to the Magic Tower, but a girl that fragile was better off gone.
"This is... kinda bittersweet."
I muttered at her retreating back. Seeing this new, emotional side of the machine-like Karen from my previous regression dragged my mood down oddly.
Come to think of it, she'd never truly felt pain back then. She always massacred enemies with overwhelming force and never faced foes beyond her. She called it efficient, and I'd bought it. Even on blood-soaked battlefields, her clothes stayed pristine, her body free of scratches.
And I'd handled all the leftovers.
Confirming she was just human wasn't bad, but it left a strangely bitter taste. Though I couldn't deny she was still way more useful than Marian.
**
"H-Hero?"
In my foul mood, I headed straight for Jena's office. No way I'd sleep like this. She blinked in surprise at my sudden arrival, still holding the whip and gag she'd modified herself. It was amusing—and a welcome sight.
"Jena, let's use those."
"Y-Yes? Oh, yes!"
She nodded eagerly, her face lighting up. She'd changed a lot from her old self too, but unlike Karen, it made me happy.