The Slit-Eyed Counterattack Character Crushed the Gem and Triumphed

Just as I was about to strike, I smashed the beautiful orb I held in my hand with a crack!

A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠voice echoed through my mind.

While earlier I had shamelessly browsed the achievement shop while taunting Letios, I quickly purchased one of the usable traits that remained available. The name I gave it was Accelerated Thinking — quite simply, a trait that granted me rapid thought processes over short periods of time.

I could have been annoyed at myself for not choosing an attack trait instead, but I already had a plan in place.

First, I would provoke Letios until she unleashed her ultimate power. Second, the instant she cast it, I would activate Accelerated Thinking, then rest my hand on the sword hilt at my waist and wait for the perfect moment. Third, I would trigger a flawless Counter to send her flying.

Letios was a rare elite monster with low defense but exceptionally high charm and magic power. In other words, she was the type of opponent rare enough to count on one hand. If I managed a perfect counter, she would be absolutely obliterated.

Of course, if I failed, I would be the one lying dead.

Failure meant death, but this was the only way to survive. After all, it was impossible to kill her with the 300 achievement points I had. Besides, even if I became a demon, I would die in days anyway, so I might as well gamble.

I cleared my throat and continued speaking.

“Now your beauty has been shattered. The orb you once boasted about is gone. Is there really no difference between your appearance and these broken shards? Yes, of course there is! This piece is hundreds of times more beautiful than you — at least in my eyes.”

“Th-this…!”

“W-well, it’s just my personal opinion, so don’t take it to heart. If you think you’re beautiful, that’s the greatest thing, isn’t it? Haha. I’ll be cheering for you.”

Letios, who had forgotten to keep her expression neutral, twisted her face into a mask of fury and clenched her fist. A massive fire orb formed in her hand.

The heat reached me vividly despite the fifteen meters between us. Who among us could survive a direct hit from such scorching magic?

But it wasn’t enough.

“Oh, I seem to have overestimated you. If that’s all your power is, you might want to reconsider whether you should even try attacking again.”

I watched her flame orb and offered her advice with a faint, mocking smile.

“Even the weakest fangs still show teeth when you bare them, so I have no choice but to answer in kind.”

I opened my eyes wide.

Letios’s face gradually turned deathly pale.

“Who… who are you?”

“Me? Just a normal student at Luin Academy. Didn’t you know?”

Opening my eyes after they had been closed for so long was enough to instill fear in her.

She hardened her expression and began channeling more magic power, creating an even hotter and fiercer flame sphere.

“You… are a dangerous creature. I should kill you right now.”

She seemed to have fallen for the trap, judging by her sudden misunderstanding.

All that remained was for me to finish her.

Some text appeared, but I casually ignored it and focused.

I steadied my breathing and maintained an expression of ease as I faced her.

Crash! Crash!

Letios staggered from overusing magic, and at the same moment, hellfire came roaring straight at me.

Immediately, I activated Accelerated Thinking.

The world around me slowed dramatically.

My racing heartbeat, the sweat trickling down Letios’s cheek — everything approached at a snail’s pace.

I focused my senses, perceiving only the coming catastrophe while erasing all other elements from my mind.

I stopped breathing and gripped the sword handle in its sheath at my waist with all my strength, treating it like a lifeline.

Here it comes.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Now!

With eyes squeezed shut from the unbearable heat, I drew my sword from the sheath.

And triggered Counter Attack.

Bang!

“Ouch~!”

The most cheerful sound ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the world rang out.

My weak blade met the hellfire, and like magic, it reflected the terrifying disaster straight back to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its owner.

Perfect timing.

“Impossible…!”

Crash!

Letios’s shield of compressed remaining magic power collided with the hellfire.

Shatter!

Soon the shield was completely destroyed. The magic she created to doom her enemies had instead doomed herself.

“Ah…”

Fwoosh!

A horrific inferno consumed Letios’s beautiful body mercilessly.

The only remains were charred and blackened ashes floating in the air.

At the moment of her death, the space that had enveloped me began to flow away like melting snow.

“Did I… succeed?”

I even tried the resurrection spell out of caution, but Letios did not rise again.

“Hah… I almost died from shock…”

A relieved sigh escaped me.

“Ugh…”

Pain surged through my body.

I trembled uncontrollably.

I checked my right hand, where the pain was the worst.

“Umm… It’s my own hand, but it looks terrifyingly bad. Sigh, it hurts.”

The back of my hand had its skin completely peeled away from burns, and even my wrist — though in better condition — was swollen with blisters.

“If I don’t treat it quickly, I’ll regret it.”

Despite my casual words, my entire body, including my arms, shook violently.

The pain was truly agonizing enough to kill me.

I needed to heal, but the pain made it impossible to move.

Should I scream and call for help?

“Save me… Arara?”

Before my survival instinct could fully escape my throat, I saw text I recognized in front of me.

It looked like the reward for defeating Letios earlier.

“Five thousand achievement points… that’s quite a bit. Lucky me.”

Apparently the reward was given because I had defeated an overwhelmingly stronger opponent than myself.

So what if it was? Good things are good.

I immediately opened the achievement shop and purchased two mid-grade healing potions for two hundred points each.

Using my left hand, which was in better condition, I drank one right away, while pouring the other onto my severely burned right arm.

“Ugh… This is so bad it doesn’t even hurt if I lie about it…!”

New skin slowly began to form at the wound. The process was excruciatingly painful, but I couldn’t leave it untreated, so I gritted my teeth and endured.

After soaking the right arm in the potion, I bought another and carefully applied it to the other burning areas.

Time passed like hell. As the wounds began regenerating, the pain started to subside.

“I almost became a recorded case of someone who died from shock during first aid.”

Drained of all strength, I leaned against the wall and stared blankly at the void for a moment.

Ah, breathing felt good.

Too much had happened in such a short time. I needed to rest a little.

Feeling the joy of doing nothing, I slowly let myself be consumed by the vampire…

“Umm, I’m tired, but it’s still too early to sleep.”

I shook my head vigorously to chase away drowsiness.

“I remember getting some reward other than achievement points.”

I opened the status window to check for myself.

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Characters: Shion Frelia

Wearing Title: Ruinous Mouth

Achievement Points: 4900

Special Traits

Counter (Heroic 0.0%) — Details

Deceiver – Heroic: Expert at deceiving and hiding thoughts from opponents. In any situation, can conceal his true self and display any fabricated persona.

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My eyes immediately went to the title at the top, “Ruinous Mouth.”

“Even titles like this exist?”

Even someone who had enjoyed Grand Fantasia for a long time found it unfamiliar. Its tone wasn’t exactly pleasant, but what was its actual power?

“Oh… this is a perfect fit for me!”

For someone whose only attack method was Counter, it was extremely useful. If enemies were provoked, I could use the counter more efficiently.

“First prize is mine. Now, what about the second prize?”

My eyes moved to the evolved trait.

Starting with Poker Face, it had evolved into Deceiver.

“Heroic grade… my heart is racing!”

Grand Fantasia traits were divided into five tiers: normal < rare < heroic < legendary < myth.

Among them, heroic was the third tier. It required a solid understanding of the game and luck to obtain, and was never easy to get.

Yet I now held two of them.

Counter had evolved into Counter.

With the heroic upgrade, damage and versatility had improved, and most importantly…

“It’s a growth-type trait!”

In other words, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

Especially rare growth-type skills starting at heroic grade? Hmph.

“In the future, it might grow into legendary or even myth-tier!”

—Ugh, my heart is pounding so hard I feel dizzy.

I might actually die from happiness.

“Hah, I was so excited I didn’t even notice the time.”

Steadying my racing heart, I checked the clock. It was now 12:30.

Normally I would be eating late-night snacks and happily gaming right now, but I was far too exhausted.

“Well, I can’t just lie face-down on the floor and sleep, right?”

With heavy limbs, I forced myself up and moved toward Shion’s room — no, my room now.

But there was one fact I had overlooked.

“This… isn’t it a little too spacious?!”

The mansion was even larger than I imagined.