Devil’s Doll Reincarnation | Chapter 7 | Sidewinder

I've always wanted a challenge in life. Day by day, I pass the time taking on difficult requests from people I've never met. Requests that no other would take, knowing that it would be foolish to even attempt them. However, I'm not like those people.

I have the power, and courage, to finish every task I'm given. My perfect completion score astounds others, and they speak of me in hushed voices. Believing me to be some kind of monster, just because I'm far better than they'll ever be.

I take pride in that, and I don't care for the voices. The rumours, stories, and other feats they conjure up about me makes no difference. I only ask for a challenge, yet everyone has disappointed me so far. I've obtained enough gold to buy a castle and live on in peace for the rest of my days in retirement, but I'm only twenty-three.

To retire now would be stupid... especially when I've yet to meet a worthy foe. Well... that's not entirely true. I have met one man able to keep up with my strength, perhaps even stronger than me by now. I suppose that would make sense though, as he was the hero of this country. Summoned from another world to crush the enemies of the empire.

I met him on my travels, just like any other I would've passed by him. But this one stood out from the crowd, his unbridled strength practically glowing amongst the others. His companions were strong, yet standing next him they looked like candles by a bonfire.

Of course, I challenged him immediately, and in front of the whole guild no less.

The boy looked no older than nineteen, and wore simple well-made clothes with no armour. Why would he? It would only slow him down. I recall that the sword on his waist emanated a mysterious power, and now that I think about it, it must have been the holy sword kept by the church. Only the hero could wield something like that.

My own weapon of choice however, couldn't be called outmatched. I made it myself, with the aid of some old Dwarwen friends I met few years ago. Spending at least half my life savings to gather the materials, and pure effort delving into perilous dungeons, resulted in the creation of a device capable of shattering stone, and puncturing steel. No matter the user. In the hands of myself, it could even be called a legendary item.

The hero accepted my challenge, silencing the complaints of his companions and his supervisor tasked with keeping him safe. The look on his face wasn't arrogant like the others. It was full of anticipation and excitement to the battle ahead. As was mine.

We calmly walked to the practice arena behind the guild. Followed closely by a few dozen people who knew of us. While standing in the arena fifty or so metres apart, a crowd of a few hundred people had gathered on the sidelines, watching us intently.

A couple people were betting on who would win, and in my five years of being a mercenary, I knew that many people had heard of me.

Although most called me a monster, many acknowledged my strength, and I'd gained many nicknames over the years. Some were rather embarrassing to be honest.

Invincible Mad Man, The Wandering Merc. To name a few.

However there was one name that always stuck, it was simple, pretty obvious, and complimented my fighting style.

Sidewinder

I didn't use swords, axes, hammers. Nor did I use magic or bows. I used my fists. It was so much more exhilarating like that. My fists were my greatest assets, with my gauntlets being my most prized possessions. A single punch from me was capable of knocking down trees, and my gauntlets amplified my strength to ridiculous levels.

Many people have made the mistake of thinking I'm a slow, heavy hitter, as well. I'm far faster than anyone ever expects. Effortlessly dishing out a dozen or so hits in a few seconds. I can do slower, more powerful hits too, which is where the name Sidewinder came from. I never had to fight people with my full strength before, which is why this fight excites me so much.

A chance to go all out is few and far between. Even when fighting monsters.

As soon as the battle began, I rushed forward to get in close. The hero was paying close attention to my movements, and for some reason not drawing his sword. If I could get up close and personal, he won't be able to use his weapon anyway. Was he planning to fight me in hand to hand combat?

Ending my sprint with a stomp of my left foot, I turned, using my momentum while swinging my right fist towards his face. The boy didn't even take the effort to move, letting my gauntlets send out a concerning creaking noise, as it plunged directly into his grinning face.

He flew backwards, spinning a few times before bouncing, and skidding across the dirt and gravel of the arena floor.

The whole arena gasped and held their breath. The hero's companions looking on in worry, but holding back the urge to rush out and help.

"Was that it?" I asked myself, feeling kind of let down.

"Not at all." A gleeful voice replied.

Returning my attention towards the hero, I saw him crouched down on one knee, pushing himself back onto his feet with one hand. He abruptly shook the dust from his messy hair, and padded himself down with a completely nonchalant demeanour, before turning back to me.

Revealing the damage done. A black eye, a bleeding nose, and a bunch of scars across his face was the result of putting all my force behind one punch, and quite frankly, it amazed me. He should have way more damage after that, that same attack had pierced through hundreds of monsters, and other such things.

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Checking closer, the damage from bouncing off the floor a couple times simply wasn't there. Although he was covered in a thin layer of dust, not much else damage was apparent.

"You... didn't die." Letting my thoughts out by accident, the smile on the hero gleamed ever so brighter.

"Yeah! But it came pretty close. I had to put all my aura into defending my face, then while flying backwards, I had to spread it through my body to prevent any other damage." With his hand on the back of his head, he laughed happily.

Was that what it was? I've heard of aura before, but you'd need a tonne of it to actually use it in any way. So, my punch wasn't weak. His aura just focused onto where I was going to going to hit, and minimised the damage.

Well... If that's the case, lets just see if he can keep up with my attacks.

As the hero drew his sword, I sprinted towards him. The look of surprise on his face brought back my confidence. From my attack earlier, he was now much closer to one side of the arena, with nowhere to go.

The hero swung his sword towards my neck, while being astonished at how little he was holding back, I parried the attack by angling my fist, leaving him wide open. His face contorted in pain as I shot four quick punches into different spots on his chest, before kicking the sword from his hand.

Just as I was about to hit a couple more spots, I felt myself floating in the air, like an invisible force had grabbed my whole body. Unable to move, a surge of air rushed out of my body as the hero sent both his palms flying into my stomach, sending my body flailing away.

Unlike the hero, I outstretched my arms and stuck the landing safely, by flipping backwards a few times, and mitigating my momentum. A quick look at the hero revealed what just happened.

His aura had stretched outwards from his body, to which it then grabbed hold of me instead, giving the hero an opening to hit me. The voices in the crowd were going crazy over the fight, shouting profanities and encouragements like no tomorrow.

Taking a deep breath, I ran towards him once more, but to my surprise. He was already in front of me, swinging his blade at me after grabbing it at some point.

Ducking under the swing, I stood up, sending an uppercut into his jaw. Even with my gauntlets on, it felt like punching bricks. Knowing that he probably didn't take any damage, I still understood that his aura couldn't stop him from flying into the air.

Taking this opportunity I ran to where he was going to land, letting him bounce off his back on the ground, before plunging my fist into his stomach as he righted himself.

The hero spat blood from his mouth and once again flew across the arena skidding to a halt along the ground. As he stood up again, a satisfied grin was still on his face, even though he was now covered in scratches and bruises.

It seems... he couldn't regain enough focus, to use his aura this time...

Taking a mental note of this weakness, I ran towards him while he struggled to get up. Just as I was a few seconds away from dealing the finishing blow, the hero finally realised he'd lost hold of his sword again, when I sent him flying through the air.

With my fist only inches away from landing now, it stopped immediately as the bell went off, ending the match. As much as I'd like to say I could've won. It wasn't me who stopped my attack...

The crowd left dissatisfied in a huddle of groans. Well... I can't blame em'. After all that betting just for a tie. Such a tease.

The hero looked up with his usual smile. Grabbing my fist lightly with his fingers and pushing it back down.

"My god... that was close."

What are you talking about. You just... completely stopped my attack.

"Man~ You're so strong~ Probably the strongest person I've fought since being brought here. Its been an honour fighting you." He casually said, as if the previous fight had never happened.

Taking a step back, a white light covered the hero, removing his wounds as if they were never there. Huh? Oh, that's right. Wasn't there a powerful priestess in his party?

Plenty of other strong individuals too. Not a big deal to me though.

"Ah! Hey, I didn't quite catch your name. I heard a lot of stuff about how strong you are, but nobody seems call you by your real name." The hero was going on and on, being overly kind as usual. Wait... I never caught this kid's name either.

"My name? Its Eric. Just Eric. What about yours?" Making it obvious to him that I wasn't a noble, I waited for his response to see if he'd treat me any differently.

"Ohhh, Eric huh. The name's Adam." As he grabbed my hand and shook it, he pointed to himself with his thumb.

I sighed and we said our goodbyes. Overall it was a good day, and I decided to continue onward towards the small village half a days walk from this city. It would suck if my perfect score went down after all this, and the village mayor himself gave me the job too.

It may not sound like much, certainly not as difficult as what I'm used to, but I kind of owe him a favour. I grew up there after all. It always surprises people hearing that I used to be a weak debt slave... sold off by my parents.

If the slave cart wasn't attacked by monsters I'd never have escaped to the village where I met that old man. I've never met this manager guy, but he shouldn't be a bad person. After all, the mayor hired the man himself.

On the path to the village there were some weak monsters to keep my mind sharp. I was never really fond of long walks without anything to think about or do, its just really boring.

...

When I reached the village there was a young guard, wearing a helmet that was just a size too big, standing out front of the main entrance. The whole village was surrounded by walls of thick tree logs, with three entrances that had large wooden gates.

Pulling out my commission sheet, I handed it to the guard. After checking over it for a few seconds he called out to someone behind the gate, and it opened a few moments later. With the dull clicking of gears and chains, it creaked open

I guess it was more sturdy than it looked. After moving on through the door I looked back to see the other side of the gate, on this side it had thick logs with metal bands wrapped around them for support that needed chains to remove them. Expanding my view to the wall as well, another row of shorter logs were lined up against the wall, doubling its thickness, and adding a small ledge for archers and the like to stand on.

"Eric my boy... its been a long time, hasn't it?" An old, wizened voice greeted me.

A familiar voice indeed. Looking back to where the voice came from showed an elderly man. Although he has a few more patches of grey in his hair, its definitely Thomas, the village mayor.

"It certainly has been a long time, but I heard you needed some help. So, I came straight away." I answered him without any hesitation, why it felt like I'd only been gone for a few days.

"Well, come inside for a drink then, I've got some things to tell you about."

Turning away, he headed towards his house, and I followed suit. I've only been in his home a few times when I was younger, so I'd be lying if I said it didn't interest me.

Instead of catching up like friends would normally do, we began speaking about the matter of the missing manager. He'd been gone for a few days now, and Thomas decided to organise a search party. However, without any suitable guards, we could only go so far into the forest.

Which is why he hired me. So, with the business finished, I spent the rest of the day organising a trip into the forest with some volunteers.