I'm Actually Not Overpowered! Chapter 25 That Was A Close Call

"It's okay, Lucy."

Before she realized it, the Hero closed his distance and locked her small fra into his warm embrace.

"A-ah…?" She yelped in surprise.

She was beyond shocked by the sudden action of the Hero that her heart jumped by leaps and bounds. It raced beyond anything she had ever experienced.

"H-Hero, the flas…!!!" Soone from the audience called out, but he ignored those words.

Despite the violent flas around her, the Hero didn't let go.

He kept her close, ignoring the irrelevant bursts of fla that singed his body and outfit.

As expected of the Hero… even flas didn't bother him in the slightest.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!" Lucy bawled as she tightly embraced him as well.

Her hot tears kept falling as she cried, but the Hero never let her go. He simply hugged her in silence… comforting silence.

Still, silence provided more than enough comfort, the mont was pure bliss for Lucy.

Just as the legends said, a Hero would descend from the Heavens to save the world. Lucy thought everything to be utter bullshit and poppycock.

However, as she was being comforted by the powerful being in her embrace, Lucy found out that the legends were actually true.

The Hero had just saved her from the shackles of her pride… and solitude.

And so, if he could do that, then saving the rest of mankind wouldn't be too hard for him.

'I-if it's him… if it's the Hero… then I'm sure he can do it!'

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'Sweeeeeeetttt!!!' I squealed in excitent.

My heart had been racing uncomfortably back then, but I was glad everything was finally over. That was the most intense mont of my life, to be quite honest.

'I thought I would have a heart attack!'

My body shivered when I recollected various monts during the battle when Lucy's imnsely powerful strikes almost got .

'I think I have PTSD!' I still felt the aftershocks of the imnse fear I had felt earlier.

Was this ferocious lady actually trying to kill , or sothing? Throughout the match, she kept glaring and angrily charging at . I could tell that she was out for blood.

'I don't even know who you are!' I wailed internally, was this so kind of personal beef or what.

Fortunately, it seed like I didn't have to worry about being sliced into two. Even with that, I planned on staying far away from such a psychopathic Loli. She was definitely bad news.

'Haa… we had a close call back there, didn't we? Thankfully, everything worked out fine!'

Now here's the question of the decade… just how did I pull this off?

I was quite surprised by the outco as well. But, once I realized what I had to do, the rest simply played out as a result of convenience and sheer diligence.

For one, I utilized my Skills in this battle.

Using [Freedom Of Expression], I was able to stay calm and calculated at all tis—at least externally. I was totally freaking out within.

Then, there was the Skill [With Great Responsibility Must Also Co Great Power]. Due to its effects, I was able to utilize one Skill each from three of my already established subordinates.

It sounded nice and all, but in the whole village, there were only three fairly competent people around;

Sarah.

The Village Chief—I always forget his na.

Lucy.

Fortunately, I had Sarah and Byron—yep, I rember now—under my rule. As a result, I took a Skill from each of them. For Sarah, I obtained a Blessing for Mana Recovery, [Blessing Of Recovery]. As for Byron, I got a boost in Defense [Warrior's Skin].

To be honest, increasing my strength with a buff would be aningless, considering the huge gap in my ability and Lucy's, so I didn't even bother. I never intended to attack, to begin with.

The minute I obtained those Skills, I knew figuring out the next thing to do was going to be quite dicey.

Fortunately, I had the perfect skill set to overco my troubles.

[Insight] allowed to get a good grasp of my surroundings. It also let pay close attention to an object of focus. Utilizing it in a battle where I had to be on the constant defensive and consecutive evasion was indispensable. It basically gave impeccable focus.

But, the most important Skill of them all was [Five Seconds Rule]. By seeing five seconds into the future, I was able to see the next course of action my opponent would take before they made it. Precognition at its finest.

Five seconds were enough for to tell that Lucy was really going to kill if I wasn't careful. Every slash and strike she made was seen by beforehand. It was a most convenient Skill. Unfortunately, it cost quite a bit of MP to maintain.

'3 MP is a fortune to a Level 5 noob like !'

It was a good thing I had Sarah's Skill that restored my MP, so I never had a drawback from using [Five Seconds Rule].

The duration of her Blessing wasn't long, though, and the Cooldown was also an eternity. That ant I had to end the fight fast! To do that, I needed to give a flawless performance to break Lucy's will to fight.

Still, despite all my available Skills, I couldn't make up for the difference between and Lucy. Our physical abilities were too far apart. That was why I threw everything into Agility. There would be no point in seeing her future actions if my body could not act in response.

This was also when my most convenient Skill ca into play.

[Freedom Of Expression] was a Skill that didn't just give the power to display whatever emotion I wanted. It actually allowed to perform any course of action as intended. Even unrealistic moves from Ani and movies, as well as coordinated movents that I spent a lot of my ti watching—but never replicating—were now possible through the use of this Skill.

Thanks to that, I was able to move fluidly and respond to Lucy's unrelenting assaults.

'Haaa! I'll be forever grateful for this Skill!'