A loud roar followed by a swing of two halberds caused an earth shattering blow where Hyakuren once stood. The monster; a large armor wearing monster wielding two halberds called [Damascus] was our protagonist’s opponent.
As if sensing movement; the [Damascus] swung one of its halberds to the left, nearly landing a fatal blow if it hadn’t been for Hyakuren’s quick back-flips.
Hyakuren landed on his feet and lengthened the gauntlet that he had yet to take off to envelope his whole arms, his chest and neck, only leaving his midriff exposed. “Of all the times to run into a [Disaster Target]…” Hyakuren commented as he evaded another swipe of the mantis-like creature.
Hyakuren proceeded and create two serrated Nodachis and gave them different characteristics as the mantis swung its halberds vertically. ‘Creation: [Vibration effect], [infernal heat]…’ Hyakuren blocked the incoming by crossing the swords above him. ‘Even [vibration effect] can’t cut through its weapons?!’
Pushing the halberds away, Hyakuren disrupted [Damascus]’s balance and tried to pierce the armor by thrusting at the exposed chest but it was deflected by the mantis’s armor-like skin. “Damn it-” Hyakuren got hit by the pole of the halberd and got thrown away.
Hyakuren lessened the impact by spinning himself and landing in a crouched position. “I am glad I managed to increase the armor…” Hyakuren thanked his quick wits as the armor he wore expanded down to cover his midriff.
Hyakuren immediately turned around and tried to get away from the enemy but to his surprise; despite its large size it was fast. Like a cheetah running after it’s pray.
“What the… fuck!” Hyakuren evaded the thrown halberd [Damascus] had thrown which was a good idea because the halberd pierced the ground after missing its target burrowing itself deep… really deep.
Hyakuren looked behind at the mantis which he could have sworn was grinning in victory and triumph as it crossed its arms and puffed out its chest. “That is really annoying…”
‘This is bad… that thing can outrun me if it wants to and its strength is not like anything I’ve ever seen… not even Zelkova can match its strength.’ Hyakuren got into a position where one of his swords was ready behind him and the other in front of him (note: Imagine chief Nyanta of Log Horizon). His demeanor now changed from flight mode to fight to death mode, Hyakuren strained his senses to counter any movements.
Hyakuren’s body, now fully covered in adamantium armor that hugged his body as if it were like bandages, exuded a killing intent potent enough to cause normal people to kill themselves but seeing as the opponent was a demonified mantis called [Damascus]; it only caused the [Disaster target] to become cautious.
The two glared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move as Hyakuren’s blade became scorching red.
Hyakuren held the sword behind him in a reverse grip and bolted towards the enemy, letting it hang behind him as the other sword pierced forward.
‘I knew you were going to do that…’ Damascus the demon mantis thought cheerfully and deflected the blade to the right but failed to realize the true intentions of the attack. ‘What!’
====================================================================
Hyakuren, who had his sword deflected to the left, used the momentum of his spinning body and used his left sword to slash at the mantis’ foreleg and cleaved it clean off the monster.
Roaring in pain, the mantis swatted the human away with its left hand and stabilizing itself with its weapon.
Hyakuren, at the last minute of his attack, had increased the ranged of the blade five more meters and cleaved two of the three left legs of the mantis. He was grateful that adamantium existed in this world. If not, he would have from blunt trauma from the last attack.
“Not so cocky now, are you… [Damascus]?” Hyakuren taunted as he stood up after being swatted away.
Without waiting for the boy to continue his taunt, [Damascus] charged at the boy. Even after losing two of its legs; the monster was still as fast as before and delivered consecutive strikes, each one heavier than the last.
Hyakuren cannot even try to counter the onslaught of attacks as he tried desperately to block and parry each attack. ‘Every hit is getting heavier and heavier…’ Hyakuren thought as he parried another hit from the large mantis.
[Damascus] raised its halberd up high and brought it down with every fiber in its being to kill the young male.
“Crap!” Hyakuren desperately tried to block the attack but was sent flying backwards as the strength of the attack was too much for his swords, causing them to break.
Dust filled the area, obscuring the view. Hyakuren felt himself hit several boulders with his back. ‘Even adamantium cannot absorb all the shock!’ Hyakuren felt each boulder he hit.
Hyakuren did not know how much time passed but when he stopped hitting boulders; the dust had subsided; showing the bleeding form of Hyakuren and the crippled form of [Damascus] without two of its legs.
Hyakuren stood up with struggle and conjured a pair of short swords. ‘Vibration effect, infernal heat and armor penetration’ Hyakuren held the two short swords in a reverse grip and again: the two opponents glared at each other.
Hyakuren again moved first and was soon followed by [Damascus]. The two got closer and closer and as soon as Hyakuren entered its range; the mantis swung its only halberd horizontally but was surprised as its opened got down and slid on his knees, avoiding the swing and went under the mantis.
Taking the chance; Hyakuren lengthened his short swords again and cut off the last remaining left leg and the backmost leg of the mantis, causing the mantis to lose its balance and fall.
Hyakuren got as far away as possible, worried that the mantis might attack him again.
The mantis supported itself with its weapon and glared at the young teen with its compound eyes. It began to chant magic in a language that Hyakuren had never heard before.
oh wind, lighten my body and let me cleave my enemies in half with your fury.
Wind began to pick up as the mantis continued its chant.
thou art the one who guides and thou art the one who gives devine retribution of the sky, allow this one o cleave thy enemies in half
Hyakuren knew something bad was about to happen and charged forwards in an attempt to stop the mantis.
Wind scy--
With a war cry; Hyakuren thrusts his swords out, leaving a trail of red and a loud hum as the blade pierced the mantis’ torso causing the mantis to stop chanting.
“Not yet!” Hyakuren cried out as he pulled the swords out and continuously slashed at [Damascus]. Though each strike only made three centimeter slashes, it began to deepen as Hyakuren attacked the same spot over and over.
wind...
“Like hell I am going to let you finish that chant!” Hyakuren screamed out and delivered the final blow as [Damascus]’s head finally came off its body, spurting out green blood. But even then Hyakuren did not stop and continued to attack its abdomen just to make sure it will really die.
Hyakuren pierced the tough armor-like exoskeleton as the body finally stopped trying to claw at him.
=====================================================================
Hyakuren panted heavily as he stared at the unmoving mantis. He looked at the head that flew off and was now on the ground.
“I… hah… hah… knew insects had exoskeletons for protection… hah… hah… but this is absurd…” Hyakuren whined in between pants and got off the [Disaster target] called [Damascus] also known as the [Fortress].
Hyakuren dropped to his knees and examined the body of [Damascus] using his ability [Transmutation: Material analysis] and gained info on the material encompassing the over-sized insect.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Damascus steel skin: Skin of the disaster target named Damascus. The exoskeleton, morphing due to the over-consumption of mana, is harder than even adamantium and Mithril. Even effects of lightning and wind based attacks cannot pierce this skin unless the attacks are concentrated on one spot continuously and perfectly.]
Hyakuren gasped at the information. “No wonder normal attacks had any effect…”
Hyakuren remembered that his first attack had been repelled by the skin without any help with magic. “This thing...” Hyakuren put his hand on the exoskeleton and used his skill [Transmutation: Deconstruction] and collected the tough armor, exposing the disgusting flesh of the insect.
The metal was reputedly the best metal for sword making as it was hard to break and could be honed into sharpness perfectly. Not only that, Damascus steel was one of the few metal that could not be replicated with modern science no matter how much people tried.
Hyakuren turned the [Damascus steel skins] into 15 fist-sized metal balls and used one of the newly created [Damascus ball] as a thick layer over his adamantium armor. Hyakuren could feel the heaviness of the skin. “It could move that quickly with all of those Damascus skin?!” Hyakuren could not help by crying out. So, using his skill [Transmutation: reconstruction]; Hyakuren gave it the characteristics [Self-repair], [Elemental immunity], [Flexibility of clothing] and [lightweight].
Feeling the weight of the [Damascus steel] fade away into nothingness, Hyakuren felt light. So he used another [Damascus ball] and turned it into [Damascus leggings] above his now black trousers. Hyakuren thought of removing his shoes but went against the idea and wrapped [Damascus steel] over it and reconstructing the shape to look less odd with his now legitimate [Damascus steel armor].
Unlike the [Adamantium mail] he wrapped above the leather armor, the [Damascus steel plate] was shaped just like real medieval armor like in RPG games. “Now I look even more awesome than before!” Hyakuren praised himself but his sense of happiness was soon replaced by a feeling of fatigue and weariness.
“Adrenaline finally wore off…” Hyakuren managed to say before collapsing near the carcass of [Damascus]. This was seen by a familiar looking orange-blonde man and a black-haired scavenger.
—Few hours later—
Hyakuren woke up seeing a dark sky filled with stars.
“How did…” Hyakuren remembered that he had collapsed after fighting [Damascus] and then… “And then…?” Hyakuren could not remember anything else after that. He heard the crackling of fire and the smell of cooking meat.
“You finally awake, newbie?” the familiar voice of Zelkova caught the attention of the recently awoken male.
Hyakuren turned towards the owner of the voice. “Zelkova…? What are you doing here?” Hyakuren questioned the elder male with a confused look.
“I could ask you the same thing but then again… you did say you were a traveller before this so I guess it’s in your nature to travel…” Zelkova smiled. “To answer your answer: I was bringing some of our new recruits to Sofia city.” Zelkova mentioned to his left where three other people were sitting.
“Oh, it’s the scavenger from Eclana.” Hyakuren immediately recognized the black haired girl.
“Hey! I have a name given to me by my parents you know!”
“Yes, yes Kili… next-” “Don’t dismiss me so easily!” “-we have Ernest Lyell. He’s a promising new recruit we have. Though I guess he needs to work on his magic as you do Hyakuren.” Zelkova ignored the, now, sulking Kili as he introduced an elf with red hair.
“Nice to meet you…” the young elf bowed to his senior. “I hope we can work together in the near future.”
“The name’s Ichiharu Hyakuren. Ichiharu is my family name. I expect a lot from you in the future, Ernest.” Hyakuren smiled at the formal elf.
“It seems you both are getting along well…” Zelkova commented as he stared at the two.
“Last but not least we have Irelia Wolfswift: A fine marksman who excels in magic and archery. She also came from Asvarre.” Zelkova pointed towards a blonde elf with slightly tanned skin.
“I heard a lot about you, Hyakuren-san. You fought off all those monsters single-handedly until reinforcement came.” Irelia beamed at the person she had wanted to meet. “Ernest even tagged along when he heard you were off to the west.”
“I did not! I merely wanted to get some new equipment!”
“Right~”
“Oh and speaking of new equipment: where did you get that armor from Hyakuren?” Zelkova inquired the 19 year-old. “You didn’t have them on yesterday and I doubt Eclana had something so well made…”
Hyakuren merely smiled. “Would you believe me if I told you I got it from a [Disaster Target]?”
=====================================================================
“… And that is how I got the armor. I used a personal magic that I was born with and got it off from [Damascus] otherwise known as [Fortress]…” Hyakuren finished explaining on how he got the armor.
“You fought [Damascus]!?” Everyone except Ernest shouted in disbelief after hearing the story.
“He was said to be one of the toughest [Disaster target]! Not only that; no neither normal attacks nor magic attacks worked on him! How the hell did you kill him?!” Zelkova shook
Hyakuren by the shoulders.
“Stop shaking me… I feel light headed as it is without you butchering my brain!” Hyakuren pleaded as he felt his brain shake in his head.
“Oh… right…” Zelkova instantly stopped his actions and let go. “How did you kill him?”
Hyakuren held his head in his hands. “God… my brain hurts…” Hyakuren whined under his breath. Taking in a deep breath, he explained how he defeated [Damascus]:
“I used magic to endow my weapon with [armor penetration] and struck the same place consecutively without stopping, chopped off his head and pierced his abdomen. It wasn’t easy… not even adamantium could absorb the shock from his weapon…”
The four people stared at Hyakuren incredulously.
“You struck the same place…”
“… Without stopping or missing…”
“… Then chopped off its head…”
“And stabbed its abdomen?”
The four finished each other’s sentences.
“You really are a surprising person… just yesterday you were lost after getting attacked by [Al-Miraj]. Now you’re soloing [Disaster Targets]? Just what are you?” Zelkova leaned back on his two-handed broadsword as he stared at Hyakuren with respect.
“I did train during my travels before I came here…” Hyakuren deadpanned the elder male.
“It’s getting late and I am still tired from my last fight. Good night.” Hyakuren lay down on the grass with his arms crossed behind his head and fell asleep almost instantly.
“Zelkova-sama, you have a really odd friend…” Ernest commented as soon as he realized Hyakuren was really asleep, earning him a nod from his senior and a slap behind the head from Irelia and Kili.
“You can’t call a hero odd while they’re asleep.” The two female scolded the redhead together.
“He may be odd but his prowess in battle is amazing. He held of more than 500 monsters on his own and coordinated with me to fight the [giants] when we had met for only a few hours. It makes me feel uneasy if by some chance we are forced to face each other in battle…” Zelkova gave his honest opinion to the redhead. “Now all of you go to sleep. We have only 9 hours of sleep so each person has to keep watch for 1 hour and a half in each shift.”
—End of chapter—