Chapter 171: The Desire For Revenge Burns As Fiery As Hell Inside The Chest V
「Evetta-san, what's the plan?」
「Souya, dimu-sama has lost his head. There's only one way to bring him back to his senses」
And what's that?
「Until he cos back to his senses, give him a good beating」
So you're not going to suggest persuasion, magical ans, or convenient items, huh?
「Well then, leave him to 」
Worst case scenario, I'm prepared to lose one of my limbs.
「That's right. It's the leader's job to clean up his party mber’s ss. Then I'll take the one in the back with the long horns」
Evetta-san pointed her mace at the Horns with two horns.
Perhaps she saw it as a challenge, but the two-horned Horns pointed her oversized sword back at her in the sa manner.
dimu stepped in between the two won.
「Evetta, I'm sorry, but………」
「Then don't get in the way」
I was the first to move.
Sparks flew as katana t katana.
I locked our katanas together and forcefully pushed dimu away from the Horns.
Evetta-san charged at the two-horned Horns. There was a high-pitched screech as the mace and the oversized sword ca together.
I won't let anything get in her way.
With the won's fight behind , I took a few more slashes at dimu.
「Hmph!」
Three attacks in an instant. All of them aid to kill.
This wasn't an opponent I could afford to go easy on.
As if to prove my point, all three were dealt with easily. Not a single spark flew. Even the impact of the blades eting each other felt light.
At my fourth slash, my blade cut through empty air.
I heard the distinctive sound of a katana clicking back into its scabbard. After ducking under my slash, dimu had dropped to one knee and sheathed his katana.
This is bad.
A chill ran through .
From close quarters, I sprung away from him.
Even I didn't quite comprehend what I had done. When I landed and ca to an abrupt stop, I stumbled. My head spun for a mont. It felt like all my blood had gone to my toes. It appeared that I had done a backflip like so kind of acrobat to get away from him.
After a brief mont, I felt my left cheek flap open.
As usual, I was unable to see anything from the drawing of the katana to the actual slash itself.
The regeneration point closed it back up, but the healing it provided wouldn’t make the blood return to my body.
I wiped the blood from my cheek and regrouped.
dimu sheathed his katana and took the stance for performing an iai-draw once more. I raised my katana and held it above my head.
We were both at the edge of each other's blade's range.
「………………dimu, let ask you sothing. Why didn't you kill Shuna?」
「He didn't need to be killed. That's all there is to it. Don't waste your ti with this nonsense. Just leave behind and move on」
「I refuse」
Just like how you don't care about my circumstances, I don't give a damn about yours.
I held my breath and slid closer to him without lifting my feet off the ground.
He's right. I shouldn't waste my ti with this nonsense.
I'll decide it in the next exchange
Our katanas are brother swords made using Lola's claws.
Even if our weapons are the sa, I'm nowhere near as skilled as dimu at using them.
「Souya, you can't see out of your left eye, can you?」
「No, I can. Well, maybe not. Take that any way you like」
On top of that, due to the blurred vision out of my left eye, my sense of distance is off. My simple attempt at mind gas probably won't do any good either.
But when it cos down to it, spirit and guts are what matters most in fights.
「UUOOOoooooo!」
I stepped into range and swung my sword down with a spirited cry.
It's a very simple and transparent attack, but it won't lose to an iai-draw in terms of speed.
My target is the kashira(poml) of his katana, which is the starting point of the iai-draw.
Despite my wonky sense of distance, my blade struck the kashira, stopping him from drawing his katana.
That went as planned, so I will now――――――went as planned?
「Not good enough」
dimu had intended to take my attack with the kashira from the start. Things had gone as planned not for , but for him.
I was hit with a terrifyingly keen foot sweep.
My world spun sideways and I landed headfirst into the ground. As a follow-up attack, the butt of his scabbard was thrust into my abdon.
「Urgh」
Perhaps he had driven it into so sort of tender spot, but it hurt like hell when he put his weight on it.
「This is how it is. Now that you understand, beat it」
「You're the one who doesn't understand」
I had gotten used to this level of pain. I grabbed his katana's scabbard and kashira.
As I am now, I'm just as strong as any monster. A re human won't be able to draw the katana one iota.
「You………what's that light?」
My regeneration point glowed with a suspicious light. dimu let go of his katana and kicked , using it to launch himself backward.
As expected, he has excellent judgnt.
But with this, he no longer has a weapon………………my katana is missing.
「I had figured it would be a little different, but it’s completely different, I see」
dimu had my katana.
He was making a few light swings to gauge the difference in feel.
「Youu」
I had forgotten, but adventurers are notorious for having sticky fingers.
I'll defeat him before he can get used to it.
Lowering my stance and launching myself at him, I imdiately closed the distance between us.
I'm going to use the katana I snatched from him to do an iai-draw. It's easy for to copy a technique I've just seen.
「About this technique of unleashing it from the scabbard………it has a fatal flaw」
Its sharpness.
Its speed.
I managed to replicate his technique of cutting space itself. But I didn't even co close to scratching him.
「The path of the slash can be read from the angle of the scabbard」
My return slash was fatally slow.
I felt an instant of coldness followed by a gush of heat. I had been slashed open from my right shoulder down to my left ribs. My nerves must have been severed because my body stopped listening to and crumpled to the ground.
Oddly enough, there was no pain. But I knew that the cut was very deep from the amount of blood that had sprayed out
「It's just short of a mortal wound. Given how tough you are, you'll survive」
「………………What a sha」
You've left yourself open for the first ti.
「What?」
I gritted my teeth against the pain racking my body and tackled Otou-san.
Not even the father of adventures could have anticipated the speed at which I could regenerate.
Hooking one leg with one hand and grabbing his shoulder with the other, I slamd him back into the wall of the throne room. Because of how badly I had been hurt, any consideration I had for his aging body or the fact that he was my party mber evaporated.
I took the mount position.
With my knee planted on the hand that was holding the katana, I brought my fist down on his head. Fist after fist, I delivered each blow with the intent to kill.
You, you, you stupid father!
「Hey………………」
I gradually increased the speed of my fists. I rained blows down on his head like a jackhamr.
「Hey………hey」
Otou-san seems to have sothing to say, but I couldn’t care less.
To cap off the barrage, I clenched both fists together and raised them up――――――
「I don't think I can take much more without dying」
Otou-san landed a kick. I was knocked off of him and tumbled to the side. But I imdiately got back up and swung at him. He blocked my right punch, though not easily.
「No, just die」
「I won't resist. I've lost」
「Is that so?」
He looked like he still had so fight left in him though.
I turned a bit of my attention to Evetta-san's fight. It was an intense back-and-forth battle. Despite the size of the weapons both of them were wielding, their speed was unbelievable. The aftershocks of their clashes made the throne shake. The wind whipped up by their swings made my blood run cold.
「Or would you prefer I say that you brought back to my senses?」
「You never lost your head in the first place, did you?」
That's the reason why my anger had boiled over.
「Go ahead and laugh. In the end, this is the kind of man I am」
I don't find it funny. It pisses off.
So this is what beca of the man who was unable to forget about his party mber who had disappeared and continued to search for her for three whole decades. Even after gaining new party mbers and going on new adventures with them, for him to still cherish the mories of the past more......
It's really annoying.
「I'll say it again. That's not Lanseal's mother. It's no more than a monster that looks like her」
「Even if that thing called by my na?」
What did you say?
「That thing called by na. I didn't imagine it. It definitely said my na」
「No, it's all in your head. Your party mber, Lanseal's mother! Died a long ti ago on this floor! She beca famous and lived on through the stories told about her! Are you trying to destroy that?!」
「I know. Yeah, I'm well aware of that. ………………But」
「There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That's an enemy, and you were misled by it. Accept that right now. If you can't accept it, then as your leader, I'll have no choice but to kill you」
Otou-san had a worn-out look on his face.
It wasn't because he was getting old, but because he was ntally exhausted.
「I learned sothing from the fight with you. ………Fighting a fellow party mber………is so damn taxing」
「Oh, I see」
It kinda doesn't an anything when an elderly person says sothing like that though.
「It has been more than thirty years since I beca an adventurer. After helping countless young ones, people started calling the "Father of Adventurers". I tried to stay humble, but I'll admit to taking the slightest bit of pride in it. My reputation, that is. But look at the fool I’ve beco」
I feel angry. Really angry. This is all I've been feeling ever since I stepped foot on this floor.
No, could it be that I'm just jealous because Otou-san chose his old party mber over us?
「You're not a fool. I'm pretty certain that if a monster took on the form of a party mber I had lost, I'd be misled too. I'm sure I'd stop and let myself be seduced by that sweet dream. But I'm the leader of the party. I have the responsibility of making sure everyone gets back safely. Next ti, no matter what phantoms appear before you, be sure to prioritize your current party」
「………………Responsibility, huh?」
It's not easy to shoulder, but it's sothing I have to bear.
「How truly laughable. Who'd have thought that the man called the father of adventurers would have none of the qualities needed to be a leader………」
That's true
In short, that's just how it is.
「Well, that's it then. Please take a short nap」
I struck Otou-san in the jaw and knocked him out.
I feel like Souya kinda uses the principles of Jigen-ryu when he fights. The focus on the one killing swing and the ear-piercing yell during it. The practitioners of Jigen-ryu used to actually practice the yelling, as it’s ant to be so loud that it disorients the enemy for that one decisive mont when they attack.
Just in case the “It kinda doesn't an anything when an elderly person says sothing like that though” was confusing(it took a while), Souya is saying that everything is taxing to an old person so Otou-san isn’t exactly saying much by telling him that it’s taxing.
Well, it’s short, but with the end of Souya vs Otou-san, that’s it for this arc! One more to go! How will this volu end?! Stay tuned!
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