Frustration Forges a Fighter - 5 (Revised)
I felt a sense of déjà vu. In countless sparring matches with Professor Baek Seol-hee, I had been mounted by her more than once.
"What do you do when you get mounted?" Professor Baek Seol-hee had asked while sitting on top of me after beating me down.
The mount position was extremely disadvantageous for the person on the bottom. Escaping as quickly as possible was the best way to stay safe—provided the opponent wasn't locking your body down like a vise. That day, I had never managed to break free from Professor Baek Seol-hee's mount.
...
The creature grabbed my hair and rained punches down on me. The forest echoed with the dull thuds of fists slamming into my face, one after another. Its mount was sloppy. It had severed the tendons in my arms, but it never bothered to control them. It simply pressed down on me from above. The only weapon it seemed to possess—a dagger—had been driven into the ground beside my head. Most of its attacks focused on my upper body, leaving my lower half untouched.
In hand-to-hand combat, the lower body was everything.
"───?"
Only then did it notice my complete lack of reaction. It stopped its barrage of punches. Did I kill him? it seemed to wonder, releasing my hair. My head dropped limply onto the dirt. I felt the hard stones against the back of my skull, but thanks to the lingering effects of Rigid Body, it didn't hurt much.
While waiting for my tendons to heal, I tested my arms with small movements. Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the creature's dagger was razor-sharp. Its plain, straight blade had sliced cleanly through muscle. That was good. The cuts were so neat that my enhanced regeneration would knit them back together in no time. If the blade had been poorly maintained or carried some kind of gimmick, the damage might have exceeded what I could self-heal.
I could feel my strengthened recovery ability working on the shoulder tendons. The damage from the punches to my face was also fading. This must be what it feels like for a troll, I thought, even though I'd never seen one regenerate up close. My second special ability, which had only shown vague shadows before, was beginning to bloom.
Just wait a little longer.
Simply putting weight on an Awakened wouldn't subdue them. With a bit of training, most Awakened could bench-press a thousand kilograms. The weight pressing down on me was probably around fifty to sixty kilos. From what I'd experienced, the creature was skilled with its dagger but lacked proper unarmed technique. If Professor Baek Seol-hee had been the one mounted on me, my head would have been smashed open before I could even think of resisting.
Its speed was quick, but I could track it. Its strength was decent, but nowhere near that of a trained Awakened. On top of that, it had thrown away its speed advantage by clinging to me at point-blank range. That was the opening I needed.
The creature had no idea what destructive power centuries of human combat techniques could unleash when combined with an Awakened's body. I hadn't used any real techniques on it yet—just a bit of joint manipulation and one counter.
The blood flowing from my shoulder had stopped. I could feel the torn tendons in my hands knitting back together.
"─────?"
The creature, checking my condition, let out a sound as it realized my shoulder was nearly healed.
Now!
I lifted my neglected lower body and wrapped my legs around its neck, squeezing like a starving viper striking at its prey. "I've got some flexibility too, you bastard!"
"Kehk!?"
Its body was yanked downward as if being pulled to the ground. At the same time, I rolled over, pinning it beneath me. The tables had turned. Now it was my turn to teach it the true essence of grappling from above.
Its lower body was trapped under me. Choking and in pain, it thrashed its legs. I grabbed one flailing ankle and twisted it backward toward its back.
"Kek, kuhk. ─────!!"
Its agonized screams filled the forest. As long as it had a humanoid body, there was no resisting a joint lock from behind. Its nails scraped desperately at my legs, leaving scratches, but I only tightened the choke with my legs.
An elf's physiology wasn't much different from a human's. They had hearts and blood vessels just like us. If a human's carotid artery was forcibly compressed, they would lose consciousness from oxygen deprivation in seconds. Ignoring its struggles, I increased the pressure until its resistance gradually faded. When the dust kicked up by its thrashing body finally settled, I released the hold.
Its legs, which had been pointing skyward, dropped to the ground. The creature lay completely still.
"Hoo, hoo……."
Applying a technique took stamina too, especially when the opponent fought back. Catching my breath, I checked its condition and noticed the dagger lying nearby. Its hand was stretched toward the weapon, as if it had tried to reach for it right before losing consciousness.
I pulled the dagger from the ground. Even after being embedded in the dirt, its blade still gleamed with a cold, blue edge. It was no ordinary weapon.
The dagger was now in my hand. The unconscious female elf lay at my feet.
I placed the blade against her neck, then paused. As far as I knew, no elf had ever been captured alive. Every elf that had appeared on Earth so far had fought to the death or committed suicide rather than be taken. With the frequency of gate appearances decreasing after the Great Awakening, elves themselves had become extremely rare.
……..
What would happen if I handed her over to the Hunter Association alive? It would be the first time an elf had been captured. Wouldn't that bring me some kind of reward?
Instead of slitting her throat, I cut off a length of her long hair and used it to bind her hands and feet. The strands were strong enough to serve as makeshift rope—they wouldn't snap easily when pulled. The white hair I'd cut gleamed brightly, untouched by the dirt and violence of the fight.
...
The aftermath of the incident.
The elf never regained consciousness. The uncle, who had gone ahead of me, returned with several hunters. When he saw the devastated surroundings and my battered body, he burst into tears, thanking me over and over. I had to work hard to calm the burly middle-aged man's sobbing.
The hunters took one look at the subdued elf and seemed to decide the situation was beyond their jurisdiction. After making a call, people in white hazmat suits arrived and took her away. It was the first time they'd seen a living elf, they said—most encounters ended with either the elf or the witness dead.
Someone from the Association explained that the elf would likely be sent to a research facility. Since this was the first live capture, they needed to hold an internal meeting to determine compensation and asked for my understanding. I nodded. The elf would probably spend the rest of her life in that facility.
Only then did I feel a sense of relief. My first life-or-death battle was finally over.
Lastly, the dagger I'd used to cut the elf's hair became mine. When I asked the hunters if I should hand it over, they told me that loot found inside a gate belonged to whoever obtained it. I sheathed the blade in the elf's discarded scabbard and tied it to my waist. The image of a ragged vagrant carrying a dangerous dagger was complete.
When Jia heard that I'd stayed behind alone to capture the elf, she buried her face in my chest the moment I returned in my tattered state. Even though the wounds visible through the rips in my clothes had already faded to faint traces, she traced them with her fingers as if redrawing them.
"I'm sorry. I should have stayed with you……."
Her voice trembled. Annoyed that she was acting like it was her fault, I roughly tousled her hair. Staying behind to face the elf had been my choice alone. There was no reason for her to blame herself.
"Don't apologize for nothing. I did it because I wanted to."
I flexed my pectoral muscles on purpose. Jia let out a small laugh at the sight.
"What was that? You completely ruined the mood."
"It just means I'm fine."
Jia giggled and continued running her hands over my chest.