The Enemy That Cannot Be Defeated (2)

The memory came in fragments. Pages stained with bloody tears and hatred that refused to turn easily. When he forced them apart, that terrifying man was always there. Today was no different.

Young Nathan’s arms trembled like aspen leaves. The man whose face was a map of scars shook his head, clearly dissatisfied. Disappointing him would bring terrible consequences. Their entangled longswords groaned like a warning. But Nathan was losing in strength. The initiative belonged to the man.

When the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man twisted his blade sharply, Nathan’s upper body had no choice but to follow. One retreating step became two, then four. On the fifth backward step, his balance collapsed. Nathan tumbled to the ground once more.

‘Being on the bottom is a disadvantage. Get up. I told you the one striking from above has the advantage.’

Nathan shot upright like lightning, blood streaming from his nose. If he had time to wipe it, he should use it to steady his stance. But the man gave him no such opening.

‘It hurts, it hurts—’

‘Obviously. What enemy would politely wait until you stand up?’

A kick slammed into the arm braced against the ground. The strike came the instant he tried to push himself up. With a dull thud, Nathan lost his grip on the earth. His wrist, kicked by the spiked boot, swelled instantly. He had pulled back just in time to avoid a break.

He rose, staggering backward, but standing changed nothing. A faster, stronger adult would simply crush him again from a higher vantage. He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why he had to live like this. Rolling in the dirt every day, smelling iron from a battered nose—this couldn’t be the life a ten-year-old deserved.

Nathan glared at the scarred man with eyes brimming with resentment.

‘No way to win? Then what will you do? Play dead? Or throw away your sword and beg for your life? That would be a technique in itself, I suppose.’

The rebuke poured out as if the man had read his thoughts. His voice was flat, like someone reading from a book.

‘If he’s stronger than you, flow with it. If he’s bigger, don’t meet him head-on. If he’s faster, cut off the source of that speed.’

‘The best method is to knock him down. All those problems vanish the moment your opponent falls. Just like I’m doing to you right now.’

‘And being on the bottom is a disadvantage. Get up.’

Nathan, head bowed, secretly bit his lip. The man had no interest in a ten-year-old’s pain or sorrow. But this was a memory Nathan himself had chosen to unearth. No matter what he did, he couldn’t change what had already happened. So he had to ask. He had to repeat the question he’d asked that day. It was the only way to escape the man’s grasp. He wouldn’t let go until Nathan found the right answer…

‘Knock him down… how? I don’t have the strength.’

‘If you don’t have it, borrow it from your opponent, son. We’ll keep going until your body learns it.’

He fell. Again. Shoved and rolling. Again. He couldn’t knock him down. That was his problem. The enemy didn’t know about his incompetence. Again.

Finally, Nathan let the longsword slip from his bloodied hand. The kicked blade clanged against the scarred man’s greave. But the man simply tossed the sword back to Nathan’s feet.

‘Again.’

Ten-year-old Nathan thought he wanted to bite the man’s throat.

‘I said I can’t knock him down.’

‘Someone who doesn’t understand fighting relies on his weapon when he holds one. Learning to fight without a weapon isn’t bad. Again.’

‘I said I can’t knock him down—!’

But the man mercilessly assumed his stance. A posture that assumed an unarmed opponent could not defend himself. Nathan stepped back.

‘Then curse him until he falls over.’

A horrifying grin split the face that barely looked human. Wide, ice-blue eyes glared at the young Nathan.

‘If you fail, you die.’

“Thanks for teaching the kid such wonderful things, you heaven-forsaken bastard. And that wasn’t meant for you either. Sorry, Arqueba.”

“Seventy meters to the left. The chimera’s coming, sniffing the air. It’s fine. If we slip up we’ll all die together anyway—what’s a little cursing at a time like this? They say your heart grows wider when death’s near. Guess it’s true.”

Looking back, those days had been utterly hateful. But that brutal training was what would save the current Nathan. The lessons were etched into every crack of his broken and re-healed bones. Of course, the command had been just as difficult then as it was now.

The creature was heavy. Its speed was terrifying. It would be easier to trip a driverless main battle tank.

“Did you freeze it?”

“I froze it, Sapiens!”

“Stop calling me Sapiens.”

A bigger, faster, stronger opponent. A monster that ordinary strength or technique could never touch. So what should he do?

‘Use the opponent’s power against them.’

‘Curse him until he falls over.’

Fortunately, today Nathan had something better than a curse.

—

It had always been a predator. The alligator-headed chimera was proud of what it was. Ever since the long-eared creatures had remade it, it had never once met its match.

But now it was afraid. Afraid of a tiny creature that couldn’t weigh even a fraction of its own mass. The price of hesitating in fear at the last moment had been steep.

The monster’s jaw had been caught in cold steel. The chance for the revenge it craved had come the very next day, delivered on its own feet. One of the enemy’s kin had invaded its territory. It must have looked laughably weak.

The enraged monster showed its true nature. Camouflage, ambush, charge. The intruder collapsed without resistance. The fact that he hadn’t burst into a fountain of blood was impressive. He was surprisingly sturdy.

Confidence restored, the monster tried to return to its cave in triumph as always. The corpse of a powerful enemy abandoned in the middle of its habitat—the ultimate display of strength and dominion.

But the door wouldn’t open. Strange. After a fight it should open as usual. The steak and raw fish in the feeding trough should be waiting eagerly. A body this large needed a lot of energy. It was starting to feel hungry.

From the spot it had just passed, the fragrant scent of lizardman blood wafted up. The monster turned back with a frustrated growl. It didn’t like dirt-covered food, but it looked like it would have to eat out today…

Then, the moment it turned, the chimera noticed something astonishing. The pressure sensors in its alligator snout detected vibration. The intruder it had rammed was still alive. This had never happened before.

Rage. Hunger. And—though it refused to admit it—a sliver of fear. Carrying every ounce of irritation rippling through its massive body, the monster prepared to charge again.

But just as it locked onto its target and lunged—

“Grrrrk—gueh?”

—

A massive weight staggered upright. Nathan crouched low, exultant. A horrifying creature stitched together from countless animals. Yet each part of its body still carried the instincts of its original owners.

It kicked off with the legs of a giant spider. It absorbed the recoil with a tiger’s erector spinae. It bit with an alligator’s jaws. A meaningful combination of creatures that hunted by leaping.

But while tigers and spiders could leap, alligators could not push off the ground and jump. And its head was that of an alligator.

Once on the sand. Twice in the rainforest. The previous three encounters had left physical hints. While running, it habitually planted its feet on the ground. Exactly like an alligator walking. Or as if it were uneasy about mismatched feet.

‘The platform it tries to jump from can’t be frozen. If it’s slippery, it won’t leap. Even if it slips, it’ll try to regain balance with its front legs and look for another spot to jump.’

‘Then it’s useless! Hey, Ice Cube. Can you freeze everything within ten meters?’

‘The range I can freeze solid is less than half of that—what did you just call me, lizard? I matched your polite speech when you asked, and now you treat me like—’

‘Focus. Just freeze it exactly where I tell you.’

In a straight line, from seven meters away to right in front of Nathan. Make it slip when it lands on its front legs after the leap.

Grrrrk—gueh—?

The massive body slid spectacularly. It seemed so startled it even swallowed its growl. Nathan cheered inwardly.

‘It worked.’

He had frozen it hard, but the ice shattered impressively under the creature’s weight. The Eleim girl clenched her teeth and focused entirely on freezing. The monster kept frantically trying to plant its feet on the slippery ground, but it was no use. Honest acceleration was delivering it straight to Nathan.

Its camouflage, which had been shifting to match its surroundings in panic, dissolved completely.

‘This just got easier.’

Nathan contracted every muscle in his body.

“Now—!”

His body, squeezed to its limit, sprang forward like a steel spring. A rising cut from Peres-style swordsmanship aimed at the boneless spot beneath the alligator’s jaw.

The monster remembered yesterday’s pain vividly. The tip of its jaw that had been severed for underestimating a human knight. And now the same shock was about to repeat—only far more sensitive, far more lethal, and with far greater force.

In the end, the blade sliced vertically through muscle and invaded. The jaw, packed with countless nerves, burned. Steel dug into flesh and shook the pressure-sensing organs. A dizziness like blindness. Fear flooded the monster’s mind.

Only then did the creature realize. The one who would win today was not itself. The final moment it had granted to so many prey was now coming for it.

Sensing its imminent end, the monster squeezed its eyes shut.

“It’s not over yet, you monster bastard.”

A laugh slipped between Nathan’s teeth.

The little one who had been watching with clenched fists had eyes so wide he actually fell over. Arqueba, who had been sniffing the air, shouted anxiously.

“Hey, Nathan! Ice Cube! What’s happening? How’s it going? Please tell me you didn’t get eaten. Is there really such a thing as getting attached and then leaving first?”

His eyes couldn’t see. The monster’s presence was right in front of him, yet he heard no sound of it collapsing. Even the spectators had stopped breathing, so the sudden silence must have been unbearable. From Arqueba’s perspective, it was enough to make him panic.

But the spectators’ fear was almost comical. It was a gamble—losing was always possible. If they had planned to stab others in the heart and laugh, they should have been prepared for karma to come around.

The elf girl, unlike Arqueba, had perfectly working eyes, and unlike her kin, she hadn’t placed any bets. Yet even she was seized by shock.

“You… you…”

I didn’t think it would actually work this easily.

That was what he wanted to say, but to hold his stance he had to keep his jaw clenched tight. The monster seemed to have lived quite a pampered life. He didn’t know what that pig bastard had been feeding it, but it was so heavy it was burdensome to hold.

“You really are a Sapiens…?”

He was supporting it with the embedded blade and his shoulder. An eight-meter-long monster from head to tail, thrashing and gurgling. If it hadn’t cooperated with its own strength, he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could never have lifted it this high.

The moment he stabbed, a powerful intuition had struck him. There had to be a better way than simply flipping it over and pinning it. His head felt like it would burst from all the blood rushing to it, but he had done it exactly as planned. Then this should work too.

Nathan exhaled slowly and lifted his front leg. Even though he stepped on relatively dry ground, his feet sank deep. An absurd weight pressed his body down into the earth. Still, trembling, he moved with stubborn persistence. Only a few steps remained to his destination anyway.

The rock that had once ground steel fragments to dust wasn’t going anywhere. It was large enough to lie on with his back, and hard enough to grind metal. A perfect substitute anvil to replace wet ground.

Use the enemy’s power against them. In a way, weight was also the enemy’s power.

Screams and shouts clashed among the spectators who had finally released their held breath. For a moment, the odds he had seen on the electronic board flashed through his mind. Zero percent and 99.9 percent.

‘My god, this is so sweet.’

New strength surged into muscles that had begun to slacken. Nathan pulled the cargo on his shoulder. The center of gravity slowly shifted forward. And when the moment came, he swung it.

Carefully. Violently. For the monster, it must have been the first time in its life falling in that direction.

Vertical.

The thunderous crash at the moment of impact sounded less ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like a skull shattering and more like a building collapsing. The terrifying sensation of the ground itself lifting. Arqueba flicked his tongue in a hurry. He couldn’t close his gaping mouth.

The stench of blood hit like a wave. It reached not only the elf child, whose nose wasn’t as sharp as Arqueba’s, but even the distant spectators. Everyone could smell the scent of the finale.

Reptilian blue, mammalian red, insectoid yellow fluid. Every color of the chimera’s blood poured from its crushed back and pulverized head.

“Peres-style Full Moon Slash. This is what the stance means. The second-best outcome is to force a retreat. The best is to sever with a single cut. And the worst, most brutal method is to smash ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it into the ground.”

At Nathan’s feet, where his ribs heaved with ragged breaths, the monster’s life pooled like a swamp. Nathan panted and muttered.

“Aspen taught me that.”

A technique learned after being thrown dozens of times by Aspen. Originally, the point was to slam the opponent down roughly, damage their bones, and then carve up an enemy who could no longer stand as easily as cutting cake. But a finishing move seemed unnecessary for a monster that had already died crushed under its own weight.

Nathan, who had been breathing in desperate gasps, straightened his body and calmed his aching lungs.

“This is what happens when you mess with someone like that, you pathetic little wild beast.”

Arqueba let out a cheer from where he sat. The elf girl tried to stand and only then realized her legs had given out.

‘Two patients now. I can’t afford to collapse too at a time like this.’

Feeling mortified, Nathan flopped to the ground. The dirt was cold. It felt good, cooling his boiling blood.

“Three people need support and there’s not a single person to lean on. How pitiful. Should I ask those spectators who’ve lost their minds? Maybe one of those big-eared bastards will stop screaming long enough to listen to us.”

With tension released, nonsense poured out without filter. Arqueba answered Nathan’s empty babbling with cackling laughter.

“The enemy that cannot be defeated—cough—should be knocked down. Just like you said, knocking it down really does solve a lot of things. Thank you for the lesson, Father.”

Whatever the original meaning had been, it probably wasn’t that. The elf child moved her lips as if to say so, then simply gave up. She flopped onto her back.

What did it matter? They had survived.