Chapter 93
The Understanding of Perfection
The first thing Yuuji did when he went to battle was always to use Analyze. So that he could exploit the weakness of his opponent. And this time was no different.
“Analyze!!”
With the Analyze Skill at full mastery, it earned him a glimpse at Connie and her allies’ real status despite the former’s amulet. And the very first number he saw was the number ‘5’. But before he managed to finish reading, Chen had already released a barrage of slime tentacles at his direction attacking madly and causing a number of unfortunate trees that had survived for many years to topple.
"Chen! To Nick!" Connie ordered as she approached Yuuji swiftly.
“She’s disguising her level. She’s just a level 5!” Yuuji cried out. His confidence soared after knowing the vast difference of levels.
He quickly drew his Katana and confidently pointed it at her. “You’re overestimating yourself! Draw your weapon!”
“Hmh,” Connie ignored the mocking cry and launched two blades of Energy with two successive roundhouse kicks.
This sudden attack surprised him, but with his Reflex at maximum, he could quickly react and unleashed a Skill.
“Raging Blade!”
A blade of wind neutralized the first attack, but the second one hidden behind the first managed to hit him, pushing him back five steps.
A rain of golden leaves obscured the girl from Yuuji's sight, but he could feel her gaze.
“I – impossible. Executing a Skill without a declaration?”
“It’s not just you that have a few things inside his sleeves, boy,” Connie said as she flung her sleeves.
“You. Are you also an Otherworlder? Is that your ‘cheat’?!” realization dawned on him. Everything came together in his head and he came out with a conclusion. “Doesn’t matter. My cheat is ‘perfect’. My Skills, all my weapon mastery and all my physical attributes are all at maximum value! You won’t be able to touch me!!”
“Hoh, then let’s see how many you can take!” Connie launched herself forward and swiped her sword hand. Not just claw, but also beak, hammer, pick, needle. All form of the hands attacked at rapid succession.
He is not poisoned. Connie frowned inwardly as she evaded an overhead slash. She elbowed him on the chest, causing him to retreat one step back. And none of his party members are poisoned.
She had no intention for a fair fight anyway. Not with people like them. The poison was a slow-acting one which would have reacted upon contact with the skin. Strong enough to hinder a man, but not so strong that it immobilized its victim. Yet she saw no sign of nausea or vomiting; on him or the women.
“So, it comes to that, eh?” Connie formed her right hand to a claw, focused her Energy into it and attacked his chest.
“GAH!!”
He withdrew a few steps back and touched the leather armor covering his chest. It was made of Orc skin and could even withstand most attacks below Level 30 monsters, yet that swipe just now managed to shred halfway through it.
It was less than a minute, but the two had traded blows more than a hundred times. Each had formed an opinion on each other’s strength. And his ‘cheat’ was very troublesome. But more than that, she was curious about the sword.
Connie had never seen that type of sword before. Slightly curved with a one-sided edge. Judging by the form, the sword’s main method of attacks is likely slashing and thrusting. She did not know what the weapon’s name was, but she could guess that the weapon itself was a rare treasure beyond the Hero’s means.
“This is madness, why can’t I kill you?! My mastery has already exceeded Master Kamiya’s!”
“Perfect? That was a perfect swordmanship? One thing I know is that it is far from what I consider perfect,” Connie said mockingly.
“You won’t spout that shit again.” Angrily, he threw all caution to the wind and sheathed his Katana. He planted his legs firmly, right leg bent in front and left leg scraped the ground behind him.
“Lightning Speed Slash!”
The moment he declared his Skill. A bright blue flash went past Connie and he appeared behind her; sword drawn and crimson blood dripping from the tip, staining the golden leaves below with red. A few thin trees on his way also fell from the cut, toppling slowly to the ground.
“Urgh!!” Connie felt for her left abdomen and felt hot wetness. That move of his had cut into her waist, cutting through her robe and chainmail. “Now that was a heavy one.”
“You should have just resigned yourself to love me, then we wouldn’t have to kill each other,” he said as he swung the sword to rid it of blood. Confident of his victory. "But you've gone too far in provoking me."
“Love, you say? What you guys have cannot be called love,” Connie tilted her head slightly to the right to assert her point as she turned to see him. As if the pain was nonexistent. “You love them the way a man love a prize. To you they are trophies to be enjoyed. Wonderful aren’t they? Obedient. Loyal. And without free will. They cannot reject you. Oooh yes, but that’s the ticket isn’t it? They cannot reject you!”
She said that she only sought him because she wanted to avenge Illumca, but she could not deny that there was a small part of her that abhorred the very thought of someone being brainwashed to love another. For she was once saved by true love. Even if it only lasted for a few brief years, she would not have traded it for the world.
“Look at you. You are handsome. Yes. But you are handsome the way a statue made by an amateur without the understanding of the beauty and ugliness of men is. Artificial. Soulless. Empty. Just like that swordmanship. Only looks good in on the outside, but without depth.”
She crunched on a Pill as she spoke, healing the wound. She managed to react at the last second so the Katana did not cut into her spleen.
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The man roared as he shed all pretense and proceeded to take another stance, but this time Connie did not let him do it and attacked first. Surprised, he had to fall back before retaliating.
“Perfect is relative. Just like how there is no perfect wine. What you call perfect swordmanship is nothing more than a child’s understanding of the sword,” Connie said while evading two successive sweeps of the katana by bending backward and kicking the ground with her toes, sending leaves into the air.
Trembling, Yuuji took out a High Potion from his Item Ring.
“You think I’ll give you a chance to drink a Potion?” the blonde-haired girl kicked the priceless glass bottle away with a roundhouse kick and finished with a strong middle kick to the stomach, causing the Hero to roll helplessly on the ground.
Her claw changed into a powerful beak which aimed straight under his armpit. He could not react fast enough for something that he could not see.
The pain from that attack made him lose strength in his left arm. Quickly he switched the sword to his right and bellowed. “Raging Slash!”
Connie leapt to the left out of the direction of the Skill. Evading it completely.
Yuuji shifted his grip after the failed Skill and thrust with all his power, aiming at her chest. If it hit, it would be a fatal blow.
Sensing the shift of the blade and the tensing of his front leg, Connie jumped lightly then slammed her right foot down on the blunt side of the katana. The force of the thrust was redirected and the tip of Raikiri sunk a few centimeters into the dirt. On the same breath, Connie’s right hand shot towards his face. Yuuji made a desperate move of tilting his head back and lowering his stance, making the attack miss him by mere inches.
He then released his grip on his katana and launched a retaliation. “Double Hammer Fists!!”
Connie lost her stability from the move and could not dodge the attack. She jumped back and took the attack head on. Two large fists made of light sent her flying back.
She regained her posture after taking three wide steps back to kill the momentum. Her chest felt a bit sore and she spat out a bit of blood. “Pah…Not just sword, I see.”
“See that! You can’t defeat me!! I have more than swords!! I’m also as good with my fists!”
“Ah,” Connie made a show of dropping 2 bloodied pieces of cloths from her hands that were now emanating a rusty red glow. “With those arms?”
Once he saw those deep brown sloths, Yuuji took a glance at his arms. He saw that four deep red lines had been carved into his forearms from where Connie had dragged her claws while receiving the hit. He only felt the pain after looking at them.
“AAAH!!! SHIT!!” Yuuji could not believe that his pristine skin could be pierced by the bare hands of a mere girl.
With his quick thinking, Yuuji had to choose between taking a High Potion from his Item Ring or taking the katana. The latter had the biggest chance of success.
Quickly, Yuuji moved to grab his katana, but the pain from the wounds that had reached his muscles made it hard to move fast. And how could Connie let this chance escape?
She ran to him and stepped on the katana with her right leg. Stopping Yuuji from lifting the hilt. “You have reflex, but no tolerance to pain. Good Hero!”
She launched a kick into his chest with the same leg, making him back up a few steps until he was stopped by a dead tree. But it did not end there, Connie kept her pursuit and a claw attack surged forward towards his neck.
With his perfect reflex, Yuuji rolled to his right and Connie’s claw dug into the tree. Yuuji’s pounding heart celebrated his escape from certain death. Unfortunately for him, a dead tree was no challenge to an Energy infused claw and instantly exploded.
The sudden explosion staggered the black-haired Hero. The next thing he knew, he felt a tug on his arm and a sudden searing pain on his left eye.
On Connie’s hand was a single eyeball with a piece of muscles still attached, dripping with blood and mucus.
Wordlessly she crushed it within her palm.
“MY EYEEE!!!”
She grabbed him by the neck with her left hand still dripping with viscous liquid. Yuuji struggled for breath as her claws dug into his neck and started to crush his windpipe.
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Not far from there Nick had used his skill, Provoke, to lure the wolves away from the others. Seine heard the declaration and was about to use a Skill, but Chen was attacking relentlessly, hindering her.
“After me, you mangy mutts!! HAHA!!” Nick shouted while banging his shield.
With a grunt Seine had to make a quick decision and followed her wolves. A Beast Tamer’s power could only be complete when working with Beasts. It was the basic taught to her by her parents. So, no matter how much she wanted to stay, she needed her wolves to be able to help the others.
Nick sprinted away, with wolves pursuing him. No matter how much stamina he had, he was still wearing heavy armor and could only manage to run for about 10 meters before being surrounded.
“Rank C Grey Wolves,” He muttered, his eyes darting around his enemies.
The largest wolf lunged at him with its large maw gaping opened. Nick managed to raise his shield in time.
“OOF!! That does not feel like a rank C!!” Nick grunted as the weight of the wolf pushed him one step back. He looked at his shield and saw the fearsome wolf biting into the top of his shield.
“Shield Bash!!” the veteran used his Skill and sent the wolf rolling on the forest floor.
He took this chance to inspect the place where his shield had been bitten and saw that the bite left quite a mark on it. “And that…is a very strong Rank C!”
The wolves circled around him and attacked in succession, harassing him. But Nick was anything but docile. He kept moving around, smacking and swinging around his sword to fend them off before spotting his opponent running in.
“Boost Strength! Boost Speed! Boost Defense!” he heard the small bodied Beastfolk girl shouted. Red, Yellow, and Green lights sprouted from the wolves and their deadliness were amplified.
“Oh, shit. I think I took the wrong opponent to piss off.”
“Kia, Mai, Ton! Take the slime!!”
Three wolves glanced briefly at their Tamer and let out growls of acknowledgment before surrounding the Purple Slime.
That left two wolves on him. A large, grey wolf with a medium sized one. But that did not make Nick complacent. If all else, with their Tamer with them, they became more dangerous. Seine was on all fours. Mimicking their movements; judging their prey.
She did not like this man that had humiliated Yuuji and she intended to make him suffer for it.
“Gin! Attack!”
“Haaah!” Nick blocked the smaller wolf that lunged at him and pushed it back with a swift hit with the edge of his shield. “Ngrh! Dammit, I have to fight a little girl? Even with wolves, it's still gonna leave a bad taste in my mouth!”
“I’m 16!!”
Nick made a mocking grin. “Yeesh, you gifted youngsters. How’d we normal people could ever manage to catch up to you?! It took me years just to reach my current level,” he swung his sword and it hit the smaller wolf, but it only managed to scratch it. The Defense boost was not light.
“I guess you are about 40-ish? Judging by the strength of your pets.”
Play defensive, Nick. You’re a Paladin.
“I’m 49 by the way. Almost reaching my limit,” Nick could not boast about being strong at attacking. But when it came to defense, he sure as anything could hold his own.
“I don’t need to know that! I’m going to finish you off and then help Yuuji.”
“No can do, little girl. You’re gonna have to keep me company a bit longer,” the scruffy man gritted his teeth. "But we mediocre people also have our own way of catching up,” He took out three thin glass bottles from the pouch on his belt and threw it onto the ground. At the very instant the bottles broke a horrendous smell like rotten egg quickly spread.
For Nick, it was just very stinky; for the wolves and their Master, it was pure agony.
“Ngah!! It stinks! It stinks!!” Seine covered her nose and eyes to stop the smell from overpowering her; tears of pain fell down from her eyes. The wolves flailed wildly, unable to process the stench.
“Shield Throw!!”
The shield flew fast, creating a fearsome sound as it cut through the air from sheer weight and conked the large wolf in the head. As it was disoriented from the mix of sensory overload and concussion, Nick ran up to it, held it by its head, and thrust his sword into the bottom of its neck. However, due to the Defense Boost and its own toughness, his sword did not manage to go through the first time. Nick roared as he put his weight into his sword and thrust it once more. Warm blood dripping to the handle.
He felt a sting at the side of his ribs. The wolf had used his final moment to land a wild attack that managed to hurt him. It was just a bit worse than a graze, but it still managed to make him flinch.
He glanced to the side, where Chen had managed to pierce through the head of one of the wolves and then enveloped it fully. Even through the dark color of its body, one could see the body of the wolf being slowly digested.
He tried to ignore the sting in his rib and eyes as he grabbed his shield and ran towards the girl, sword in hand.