Ossan Saikyō Chapter 10 Part 14
“Excellent. Then let us begin. At this very moment, I declare the battle commenced!”
With that shout, Zaikal slowly began walking toward me, swaying his slender body from side to side.
At first glance, his approach looked careless.
In reality, he was full of openings.
Yet it was obvious those openings were backed by absolute confidence.
I also advanced little by little with my guard raised.
Judging by our physiques, Zaikal had the longer reach.
Hyuuh!
With a sound like an exhalation, an overwhelming blow struck my right side.
I hadn't even seen the attack begin.
It was probably his left arm.
The next strike hit the left side of my head.
The arm I'd raised to block creaked under the impact.
Then came a straight punch aimed at my face.
That one I saw.
I slipped inside his guard-!
A tremendous impact slammed into my jaw.
A knee.
So getting inside had been a trap.
Still... That level of impact wasn't enough to stop me.
I answered with a right hook.
I'd aimed for his body.
It hit nothing but air.
He'd bent his thin body backward with incredible flexibility.
Then I'd take his legs.
I threw a low kick to snap those skinny limbs-!
It missed as well.
Instead, I took a solid blow to the stomach.
We traded blows almost without moving our feet.
But the advantage was clearly his.
His strikes landed all over my body, while every punch and kick I threw merely sliced through empty air.
“You're tough! That makes pounding you all the more enjoyable!”
(E/N: Wording buddy! 😂 And don't worry, Ossan's poun*ing is once and instant!)
Zaikal's pace increased.
As I'd thought...
A straightforward fistfight wasn't going to cut it.
Little by little, even【Regeneration】was starting to fall behind.
The fact that his blows could penetrate the defense of【Diamond Body】was astonishing.
And yet...
I could tell he still wasn't serious.
To him, these punches were nothing more than a warm-up.
How many hits had I taken?
After dozens of them, my eyes gradually began adjusting.
He was incredibly fast...
But his attacks were becoming predictable.
I swept aside an incoming right hook with my left arm.
In terms of raw strength, I had the advantage.
His thin arm was knocked away, and his expression changed for an instant.
I immediately stepped in with a straight punch.
It only grazed his chest...
But apparently the destructive force behind my fist was more than enough to get the message across.
“Oh? So you're not just good at defending! However!”
Zaikal instantly widened the distance with【Dash】before snapping his long arm like a whip.
He was far outside striking range.
Yet something blade-like flew from the hand he swung.
A ranged slashing skill.
Invisible blades carved into both of my raised arms.
“Keh-heh-heh! I meant to slice you clean in half! To think you even possess resistance skills!”
Apparently the【Fortress】skill I'd just acquired had already proven its worth.
Just how diligently was my【Bad Luck】skill doing its job?
Zaikal began circling me as though dancing, sending one invisible slash after another.
I couldn't afford to simply take them.
If he used a skill...
Then so would I.
I wrapped【Shockwave】around my fists and shattered each incoming blade.
“Kieh!”
Zaikal's figure blurred.
The next instant, his pale face appeared directly before me.
A sharp pain tore through my shoulder.
His hand blade had sunk deep into it.
I countered with a punch...
But Zaikal was already gone.
“I suppose it's time to become serious.【Azure Mirage】... that is the name of the technique that shall kill you!”
**Azure Mirage?
Quite an elegant name.
(E/N: 夢幻蒼茫 (Mugen Soubou), the raw of Azure Mirage, is itself a poetic expression that can best be translated to English as Ethereal Vastness/Dreamlike Infinity/Hazy Dreamscape. Mugen - Dreamlike, Phantasm, Soubou - a hazy Azure gleam, used to describe sea, sky or misty plains. Thus the reason why Ossan called it elegant.)
Perhaps all of the Twilight Kin had that sort of taste.
Zaikal began whipping both arms around like lashes.
Their speed increased with every rotation.
Even my enhanced dynamic vision could no longer follow the movements of his hand blades.
Within mere seconds, an impenetrable sphere of slashing attacks surrounded him.
“Hyuuuu!”
Using【Dash】, Zaikal instantly closed the distance.
The moment I entered the range of those hand blades-!
Countless slashes tore into my entire body.
It was like being caught inside a tornado of ultra-high-speed rotating blades.
So this was his trump card.
It sounded like something straight out of a manga...
But it possessed exactly that level of terrifying power.
I tried to escape his range.
His mobility completely outmatched mine.
Trying to close the distance only caused him to adjust his position perfectly.
Damn it...
My whole body burned as it was carved apart.
At this rate I'd be sliced into minced meat.
Good... That's fine… No, it isn't… No...
This is exactly how it should-!
What am I-?!
“oooOOHH!”
My vision suddenly turned red.
This is it. This feeling.
The sensation of every drop of liquid inside my body boiling.
Within that crimson world...
Zaikal's movements suddenly became slow.
No...
Not slow.
I was simply seeing them clearly.
He's slow.
Ridiculously slow.
Right leg...
Left cheek...
Right elbow...
Left chest...
There.
“Keh-heeh!?”
Zaikal's right wrist landed firmly in my hand.
I possessed【Grip】.
Does he really think I'd ever let go?
“Hikyu!”
His remaining hand blade shot toward my neck.
Targeting a weak point the moment he found himself in danger.
How shallow.
That arm, too...
Was already in my grasp.
Now we're equals.
Equals?
…
Don't be ridiculous!
“GRAAAAH!”
I yanked both of his thin arms with all my strength and smashed my forehead into his twisted pale face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Oh? Trying to kick me from that position?
That hurts.
Then how about this?
“Higyah!?”
I tightened my grip.
Just how powerful is【Grip】enhanced by【Adamant】?
The thin arms crumpled.
Bones and all.
I grabbed Zaikal by the neck with my left hand.
Such a long, slender neck.
(E/N: The beauty of it 🤣)
Should I simply crush it?… No...
A punch would do.
“Unlike you… I don't need some flashy name for the technique that'll bury you!”
Drawing back my right fist like a fully pulled bow-!
I drove it straight into the center of Zaikal's pale, elongated face.
(E/N: Holy mother of Jesus! Lawd have mercy, Amen!)
◇◆◇
The headless corpse of one of a Twilight Kin lay before me.
It seems... I won.
But... How?
I'd been completely overwhelmed.
I should have been tortured to death without ever landing a proper hit.
No...
I vaguely remembered.
That skill had activated.
The self-enhancement skill called【Fury】.
Looking around, I saw that all of the Twilight Hounds had been defeated by the adventurers.
As expected of a town full of C-Rank adventurers.
There was no denying their capability.
“Soushi-sama!”
“Soushi!”
“Soushi-san!”
Freynil, Rani, and Sphenia came running toward me.
Behind them, Mariane approached carefully while keeping watch on the surroundings.
“Soushi-sama, I'll heal you right away!”
I'd probably recover even if she left me alone.
Still...
I decided to let Freynil do it.
She wouldn't be satisfied otherwise.
“I seriously thought you were done for halfway through! Don't ever fight like that again!”
Rani scolded me, sounding genuinely upset.
She was right.
I'd worried everyone this time.
“Soushi-san~... That final attack was so wild... and wonderful... I-I mean... it was a magnificent victory.”
(E/N: Someone's excited alright! 🤣)
Only Sphenia looked oddly intoxicated.
She'd completely misunderstood.
That wasn't some magnificent fighting style.
It was simply a skill that turned me into a raging beast.
At least, I certainly didn't think it had been anything admirable.
“Sorry for making everyone worry. But... I won, so forgive me this once. By the way, Mariane-san... should we just leave his body here?”
When I called her name, Mariane stepped closer and looked down at Zaikal's corpse.
“Let's see... I believe I've heard that it's necessary to remove the magic stone.”
“The mana stone? He looked human. Does he really have one?”
Still... If it had to be removed, leaving it inside probably caused problems.
Perhaps he'd regenerate and come back to life...
That certainly sounded possible.
As I looked down at Zaikal's body...
It twitched.
Just once.
Don't tell me... Is he really reviving?
It was too dangerous to find out.
I drew my dagger and cut open his chest.
I certainly didn't enjoy doing it.
Feeling around where the heart should have been, my fingers touched something hard.
I reached inside and pulled it free.
This is it...
A magic stone shaped exactly like a human heart.
“This should do it. Honestly... the Twilight Kin really are incomprehensible beings.”
“They certainly are. But more importantly, Soushi-san... have you realized something?”
“What?”
When I asked, Mariane let out a quiet sigh.
“Soushi-san... You have just become this town's Hero. The one who defeated a member of the Twilight Kin... the〘Twilight Slayer〙.”
At her words, I finally looked around.
The people surrounding us...
Their excitement had swelled to the point that it looked ready to explode at any moment.
They all stood there...
Staring directly at me.
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E/N:
Another testosterone pumping chapter! Shi was a cold-blooded justified murder and I enjoyed it thoroughly, what about you guys? Comment below!
Stay tuned!
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