Lea unwrapped the black cloth from around the elongated object she had been carrying ever since I first saw her.

It was a long, single-edged sword. The shape was different from any sword I had seen before, and the body of the blade was very thick. She removed the sheath and held the sword with both hands.

"I'm sure you're not stupid, but don't hold back." Lea said.

"I don't plan to." I replied. Since Ur chose her, I didn't think she was weak. In fact, I was assuming that she was stronger than me.

I unsheathed my one-handed sword and let my mana flow through the blade.

Lea took a step toward me.

I only saw her first attack as a blur. She swung her sword so fast that I could barely follow with my eyes. Since she was far away, the blade barely missed my head.

Lea was much faster than I expected. I jumped back to get some distance and enhanced my eyes with mana. I wouldn't be able to keep up with her movements without doing so.

She was at an advantage even from a distance. Since I was using a shortsword, her reach was much longer than mine. I would have to find an opening before I could even get close to her.

She swung the sword once again. From the force of the swing, I could tell that the sword was heavy.

She was swinging it extremely fast, but there was about a second of delay between each attack when she stopped the momentum of the sword before swinging the sword in another direction.

If I could make use of that delay, I could get close and land an attack. In close quarters, I would be at an advantage with my shortsword.

Lea took a step closer and slashed. I enhanced my legs with mana, dodged, and dashed to her the very moment her hands stopped. However, she was ready. She immediately swung the sword again. There was almost no delay this time.

I was too close to her to dodge her blade. I blocked with my one-handed sword.

The impact knocked me back a few meters. I realized that the delay between each of her attacks had been intentional. She hadn't been using the full strength of her arms and hands until now.

Lea rushed straight at me and released a flurry of attacks with the sword.

The huge sword rained down slashes on me without pause. It took all I had to block her attacks.

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My arms and chest were covered in cuts. Even though I could read Lea's movements, my body couldn't keep up. I endured the pain and continued to dodge, block, and parry. I needed one moment. As long as I could find a gap in her attacks, I could land an attack of my own.

It felt like an eternity had passed. My blood formed small puddles on the ground. I hadn't received a wound that would affect my movements, but it was only a matter of time. If that happened, I was sure to lose.

Then the moment I was waiting for came. Lea's movements finally slowed down. It was my chance.

I immediately closed in on her and swung my sword as hard as I could.

Lea released her grip on the sword and kicked right at my chest.

Huh? I felt the air leave my lungs. I was thrown to the ground. An intense pain spread through my whole body.

"Is that it?" Lea asked.

"Florence!" I could hear Julian screaming my name.

My eyes were blurry, and I could barely see Lea standing over me.

My ribs might have broken from the blow. I coughed and tasted blood in my mouth.

"I won. Now will you fight with me?" I could hear Lea talking to Ur.

"Of course," Ur replied.

Am I really going to give up on challenging the Trials? After coming this far?

No! No! No way!

I gritted my teeth. I had no time to take naps on the ground. I needed to get stronger.

I pushed away Julian, who was trying to check if I was okay, and forced myself to stand up.

"It's not over." I said.

Lea turned to look at me. She didn't say anything after seeing the state I was in. She picked up her sword and faced me.

Now that I was barely hanging onto consciousness, I had to take a gamble. I focused all my mana on my right leg.

Lea swung her sword vertically. At the same time, I took a half-step back.

The blade cut through my chest, drawing blood. However, the wound was shallow.

I endured the pain and lunged at Lea.

"HA HA HA Amazing." Ur praised.

My eyes were too blurry to see clearly, but I knew that my sword was pressed against Lea's neck. Then my consciousness faded.

Lea placed the soup made with hare meat and vegetables into the small bowls.

"Thank you." The young man named Julian took one of the bowls from her.

Julian had easily won over one of the young men from her tribe and had received permission to enter the cave. But he had said he wanted to wait for Florence and was currently looking after the unconscious young man.

It has been two days since then. Florence showed no signs of waking up yet. The injuries he had received weren't fatal, though. Ur had also allowed Lea to use a special medicine made from rare herbs that only grew in the Mountains to treat Florence's wounds. Most of the cuts on his body had already healed.

Lea didn't think she had lost against Florence because she was weaker than him. She had underestimated him, but at the same time, he had exceeded her expectations. In that last moment when he lunged at her, Florence had exceeded his physical limits. As someone who aimed to improve her skills with the sword, she was glad to have fought someone as interesting as Florence. She had learned a lot from the battle.

It was a shame that she hadn't gotten that chance to fight her father, Ur, but she would get plenty of chances in the future.

She glanced at the young man sleeping on the wooden bed. Everyone living in the mountains called the cave the two young men wanted to enter "The Cave Leading to Hell". She wondered if they could come back out alive.