- VOL 1 – THOSE UNITED BY THE FATE -
Chapter 4: Laying The Foundation (3/9)
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"Huff... Huff..."
The short, dark brown-haired woman was trying to catch her breath. She looked very exhausted. There were only traces of mud and dirt on her body to show it. But what really revealed her tiredness was her trembling body.
"Hahahaha! I see you're finally getting tired!"
The man with a large, molded body said these words. He was right in front of the short woman, holding a huge iron club in his hand. He was not out of breath like the woman, but unlike her, his whole body was covered in wounds.
"It's time to give up. After putting me in so much trouble, you should know how to entertain me!"
He only laughed in response to the woman's sarcastic and slightly worried glare and seemed to care little about the state of his body. Even though he was not deeply injured, he must have been also tired after so many blows. At least that's what Rina thought.
"How long do I have to cut this fucking pig? He acts like he's fine, but he has lost a lot of blood. He has to fall soon!"
Until now she had always waited for the other man to strike, but now for some reason, she felt the need to attack first. She held her sword straight and drew it towards her while she aligned her free right arm against her opponent as if it were another sword.
Then she took a deep breath and suddenly jumped out of her position, lunging at the big man.
"Heh, so you're finally attacking, little squirrel. You're coming to the right place, Daddy's have the nuts you want!"
The man licked his lips with a lustful expression as he held his stick tightly against the woman running towards him. Then he took a pose for the oncoming attack and exclaimed.
"COME HERE, MY FIERY WOMAN!"
Rina's temper flared as she closed the distance with quick steps and suddenly formed a series of attacks with her sword. At the first thrust, she tried a stabbing attack aimed directly at the heart. When that failed, she continued her attacks in a seemingly erratic style of slashing, chopping, stabbing, and different sorts of sword swings.
In fact, it couldn't even be called a style as each attack was independent of the other, but the attacks had one thing in common. They forced the opponent to block them without even allowing them to catch their breath.
"Die, you pig!"
Rina must have been really irritated because, in the midst of these disorganized and complicated attacks, she was able to concentrate on talking. The other man, unfortunately, did not have enough free time to do so. For a while, they clashed weapons non-stop.
The club in the man's hand was too big for him to move it easily, but he could still easily control it with one arm.
His other arm was not idle. He used it to support his bat at times, and the rest of the time he parried the woman's punches, unable to find the space to attack.
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It was a scene that might have seemed comical to someone watching from a distance. The big man was being pushed backward by this short woman. Even though he was fully focused on his defense, he continued to receive light cuts.
"Now you are finished!"
Rina shouted as the big man finally had nowhere to go and drew her sword, thinking of ending the long fight with a single, planned swing instead of those inconsistent attacks.
With his back against a building, the man had nowhere to dodge. He realized that even if he could somehow parry this last attack, it would soon be the end of him. So he thought not to defend the attack, but to counter it with another one.
He was slow. While he tried to hold the club in his right hand with all his strength, his other arm was blocked by the woman's hand, which he extended against the incoming blow to at least reduce the severity of the damage.
"Kahh!!!"
A huge gash appeared across the man's entire chest. Rina did not stop and immediately drew her sword, preparing to deliver another blow. The big man, on the other hand, took advantage of the greedy woman's mistake and punched her in the left side, which was left defenseless.
"Pohhkk..."
It was the first time in the entire battle that Rina had received such a clear blow. Her sword flew out of her hand and she herself flew in another direction. For a moment she lost her temper and focused all her attention on the attack, which ended badly for her.
The blow sent her flying into the barrels on the side of the street. These barrels, filled with liquid, were completely shattered by Rina's impact and spilled on her.
"Cough, cough..."
Rina was having trouble breathing. She tried to get up but lost her balance and fell down again.
"Huff... Huff... Pleehk."
She made a sound as if she was choking and suddenly vomited blood. Even though it seemed like she hadn't taken a fatal blow, she was out of this fight now.
"Hehe... Bluhk."
The big man who had struck her with this punch laughed slyly as he looked at her. But his pleasure did not last long. He vomited blood, as did she. His face grimacing, he bent his body and held his bleeding wound. The last wound in particular was bleeding profusely and it was clear that he was in worse condition than the woman on the floor.
"You son of- Kohh... YOU WHORE WOMAN!"
Rina tried to look at the man shouting angrily at her. Her head was so dizzy that it looked like there were two of him. She tried to stand up slowly. She had to stand up and take her stance because the big man was coming towards her, albeit slowly.
"Fu-ck, damn it!"
Rina tried to hold on to the shattered barrels as she cursed her predicament. With support from the building behind her, she managed to stand up. As the big man staggered towards her, Rina looked around and searched for her sword.
"Cough-cough... You idiot, throw my sword, quick!"
It was hard to look around while her head was spinning, but at least she was lucky that her sword landed in front of the auburn-haired man sitting on the ground. Apparently, she herself had flown close to him.
"What are you waiting for?"
Realizing he was being called, Minato looked at the sword in front of him. Then, without moving, he turned his head to the woman who was struggling to stand.
"You can't fight like this! You must run now!"
For some reason, his body was shaking more than Rina's. Even though he had been sitting the whole time.
"What are you talking about? Stop talking nonsense and give me my sword. I have to kill this pig."
She couldn't even put on her angry demeanor in this state. Her voice sounded tired as she took one last look at the sword in front of Minato.
"Good. Let's get this over with."
She smiled slightly when she saw the young man holding the sword. The young man had to be quick as there was not much distance left between him and the burly bandit. But when Minato saw the bandit's figure, his hand trembled and he dropped the sword.
"What are you doing?! Hurry up!"
Even though the young man had dropped the sword, he did not let go of Rina and rushed to her side, grabbing her shoulder.
"Let go of me! Don't you know what will happen if we don't kill him?"
Minato looked like he was about to cry. He was sweating profusely with worry. Apparently, he had not been able to watch the minutes of struggle properly, nor was he aware of the situation. His voice trembled as he spoke.
"I-I know! But this was already my concern. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, okay? Just forget about it and forget about what Shin said!"
Minato tried to drag her away with all his strength, but even in her injured state, his strength was insufficient. As the two argued, they were joined by their real problem, which they had forgotten for a few seconds.
"Yes, hold her tightly for me, Minato. I'll reward you later."
The owner of this eerie voice, which Minato felt just behind his neck, was wielding a large club and stretched to swing it with both hands.
"Get away!"
Rina pushed the young man holding her aside with the last of her remaining strength, but unfortunately for her, she had no time to escape.