Book 4: Chapter 25

Perhaps she judged my words to be a prank, as her sword speed increased.

「So fast! Since you were casually swinging the sword earlier, I thought you were completely dependent on the skill orb. But it seems like you’re quite skilled at swordsmanship!」I said, while jumping over and dodging the incoming slashes.

「Tsk! So noisy!」

Sumeria’s sword speed increased further as if she was frustrated.

But it wasn’t a problem for me. Her attacks were much easier to dodge than it was to block.

「—H-Hey!」

「—Sumeria! Are you out of your mind!? Don’t aim towards us!」

Since I was running around, it seems that some of the slashes flew towards the underground soldiers.

「Noisy, shut up, hah hah… noisy, hah… shut up, hah… shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!」

A horizontal slash came my way. I nimbly jumped over, and just as I was about to land–

Sumeria rushed at me with a fierce dash.

「HAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

Her sword swing from an overhead position was pretty fast.

But speed was the extent of her skill. Her handling of the curved sword like a scimitar was quite applaudable, but I have learned swordsmanship by watching the training of the top level knights of the Kruvan Holy Kingdom. And I have also gone through my fair share of life and death battles.

「—Wow, that guy is amazing!」

「—But Sumeria is called the “Sword Prodigy”, right?」

「—She was called that before she even got her skill orb. But that guy is dodging her every attack. Who the hell is he even…」

Her consecutive slashes unleashed one after another were very troublesome due to the nature of dual wield. However, I can still see through her every movement. Her sword reach, stepping-in speed, rhythm… by reading those, I dodged around her like performing dance steps.

「HA! HA! Hah hah…」Sumeria was running out of breath.

「Don’t tell me this is everything you’ve got? Show me your true power!」I shouted.

「!!」

With an agonized look on her face, Sumeria sped up more and more. I had activated the【Dancing Sword Technique ★★★】skill. As the name implies, this is a sword technique that is used to fight in a dancing manner. The higher my speed, the sharper my steps.

「—W-What is going?」

「—What are we witnessing?」

I heard the astonished voices of the underground people who couldn’t get close to us. And even a few soldiers calling out “Marshal!”, were mixed in.

Marshal—does that mean a big-shot of the military has appeared?

(Then, I guess it’s time to finish this.)

Right when I stepped into her range–

「!!」

I side-stepped the blow of her right hand scimitar that came from overhead, but the moment I dodged it, the sword came to a perfect stop.

「Fuh.」

Drenched in sweat, Sumeria smiled – no, the corners of her lip curled up so very slightly, but she was undoubtedly smiling.

「Die!」

I wanted to say, is that really a word you should be saying with a smile, but the scimitar in her left hand was already heading towards me, containing her skill’s powerful slash.

She can unleash a wide range of attacks at this point-blank range. I have no choice but to take the attack directly.

She has noticed that I haven’t stopped her attack with my dagger since that one time at the start.

My dagger won’t survive a second attack.

And I can’t stop her with magic either.

(Amazing. This person is smart as she is skilled—)

However, as I said to her earlier.

I can clear both the unfortunate things that happened to her

Understanding her ability and being more capable than her.

「I can use it too.」

Innumerable minute slashes clinging to my dagger were launched as a slash of single mass as I swung it. It was exactly the same as her slash.

「!?」

Sumeria’s face was dyed with utter astonishment. The moment the two slashes collided with each other, as if countless explosions occurred at the exact same time, a tremendous shock wave was produced.

The surrounding air trembled following a deafening explosion.

But both of us were already more than 10 meters away from that spot.

「Fuh…」

「!?」

The gust of air caused by the shock wave blew off my hood and exposed my face.

I stretched an ivy with my【Flower Magic】and moved to a nearby ruin – a warehouse destroyed by Sumeria – just before the explosion occurred.

Sumeria had completely let down her guard due to the shock, so it was easy to grab her neck and move her with me.

The girl was standing still in utter shock. I grabbed her head with both hands, and said.

「Ready yourself.」

I focused all my nerves on Sumeria.

I imagined pulling the skill orb out of her body.

I felt the sensation of having grabbed the skill orb. I thought all I had to do was pull it out.

However—

「Aa, Aaa, AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!」

She screamed. Drool dripped from her mouth. The white of her eyes showed.

Hard. It’s as hard as pulling out a rooted tree.

「AAAAAAHHH!」

She dropped her weapon, and tried to wrestle my hands away from her head, her nails sinking into my flesh. It hurt like crap.

Little by little, a skill orb appeared out of her forehead.

It was a rainbow-colored skill orb that looked like it was dropped in a stagnant puddle of oil.

(Sorry. Please endure it.)

I apologized in my heart, and pulled it out further.

A while ago, when I imitated her skill orb and launched a slash — I felt the recoil of this crappy power.

I felt sharp pain and intense discomfort, as if someone took a chopstick and stabbed it into my brain.

According to【World Ruler】, it leads to “memory loss.”

However, because of【World Ruler】, I have an “unforgettable” memory constitution. So my body strongly rejected the skill orb’s recoil, which led to the pain earlier.

If【World Ruler】hadn’t been present, the skill orb would have given a sense of euphoria it seems.

(A skill which robs the human nature of a person is nothing but poison.)

The more you use it, the stronger you will become. But what would be left of you at that point?

「UOOOOHHH!」

「HAAAAAAAAA!」

I completely pulled out the skill orb—and it was written【Insane Blade ★★★★★★】.

The fainted Sumeria slowly fell forward. I supported her body, and laid her on the ground.