Swoosh-!!
The diagonally thrust wooden sword advanced, tearing through the air.
It’s a sound that gives me goosebumps just hearing it.
Schlüssel.
Daike’s third original secret technique that I mimicked with [Divine Imitation] after asking him a little while ago.
Firmly grasping the sword handle with both hands and thrusting forward from chest height.
‘The fastest thrusting technique.’
Schlüssel also has the meaning of ‘key’, so you can roughly infer what kind of motion it is.
The reason I chose thrusting as my secret weapon.
It’s because I realized something while dueling Lucia.
‘Thrusting attacks are the most difficult to deal with.’
Slashing or smashing attacks are relatively easy to block.
Not only are the motions large, but just by placing the sword on the path, you can block the opponent’s attack to some extent.
But thrusting is different.
The acceleration that comes with rushing in is scary, but also.
‘It’s a point-shaped attack that aims at a single point.’
It’s extremely difficult to block the sharp and thin tip of a sword.
It’s even more so if what you’re holding is a weapon with a thin width like a ‘sword’.
Blocking an attack that comes in with the sole intention of putting a hole in my body with a sword?
It’s impossible. Before you can block, somewhere on your body will be pierced.
‘Even if you luckily position well and block it, it will bounce off and put a hole in one part of your body.’
Of course, someone with Lucia’s skill level might be able to do it.
In fact, there were a few times she blocked my thrusts during the duel.
But the situation is quite different from then.
Currently, Lucia is in a situation where she’s charging in anger after being tricked.
And my thrust is not an ordinary thrust, but a secret technique that boasts the highest attack power among Daike’s techniques.
‘In this situation, it will be impossible to block a thrust!’
Lucia has two choices left.
Thrusting against it or dodging it.
But what I’m using now is a secret technique that even Lucia is seeing for the first time.
She won’t think to recklessly thrust against it.
In other words, Lucia will choose to dodge.
‘I’ll follow in the direction she ran away and finish it off with One Flash!’
The collapsed posture from forcibly dodging the thrust.
If she faces [One Flash] head-on from that posture?
It will be difficult to block with the power of a 6-star knight level.
I can see Lucia’s wavering eyes.
It means everything is going according to plan.
‘Left or right. Please choose quickly.’
The closer the distance, the more destructive [One Flash] will become.
It was when I was concentrating all my attention on Lucia’s movements.
But then.
Clang!!
“…!!”
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
Not because of the sparks that flew in an instant.
‘She blocked this!?’
That’s right. My secret thrust was blocked.
Lucia is currently holding the wooden sword horizontally and firmly supporting the blade with her left hand.
And the tip of my wooden sword is trembling as it touches the center of Lucia’s wooden sword.
Blocking a thrust aiming at a single point with a sword.
Lucia achieved that impossible feat.
‘This damn monster…!’
Lucia’s wooden sword with the steel core slightly exposed due to the impact. Behind it, Lucia’s eyes glowed vividly.
The reason people don’t often use such a powerful and difficult to block thrust despite its fearsome nature.
It’s because of the critical weakness of thrusting, which is that there are many openings after a failed attack.
Bang!
Lucia lightly struck my wooden sword and thrust her sword in a straight line.
A motion so clean that it feels beautiful.
I quickly rolled on the ground to dodge that attack.
Roll roll-.
An evasion as clean as Lucia’s motion.
Perhaps acknowledging that, Lucia lightly whistled.
“Hmm~ Anyway, you’re nimbler than anyone in a moment of crisis. Oh, of course it’s a compliment. A very high praise at that.”
Lucia raised both hands above her head and lightly rested the wooden sword with the exposed steel core behind her neck.
“Too bad. The sword was light. If it were a greatsword, I don’t think I could have blocked it.”
“……”
That’s right. Daike’s weapon is a greatsword, while my weapon is a typical double-edged sword.
But I don’t think this strategy failed because of that difference.
In the first place, if I had brought a greatsword to succeed in this strategy, I wouldn’t have been able to fight properly due to the issue of proficiency, and the speed of [One Flash] and [Sky Splitter] would have greatly differed.
‘Before that, Lucia would have been suspicious too.’
If I had brought a greatsword that I don’t normally use, Lucia would have been on guard, so I wouldn’t have even gotten this far.
So it’s difficult to see my strategy as a failure simply due to the difference in weapons.
Above all.
‘How much groundwork have I laid so far!’
Making Lucia take a step back with the [Fleur Family Style] stance I used to take during personal training.
Provoking anger and using Daike’s hidden secret technique.
I even used psychological warfare using the [Eye Opening] skill.
‘This time, I didn’t use the Eye Opening skill.’
When I first met Lucia, during the month of duels, and even during this 5-minute fight.
I always used the [Eye Opening] skill together when using secret techniques.
There was an intention to make the opponent tense or flustered, but.
‘Zero opens his eyes whenever he uses a secret technique.’
I had that learned. For this very moment right now.
But…
‘Even though I didn’t open my eyes when using Schlüssel, she noticed it was a secret technique.’
That’s right. The reason this strategy failed is simply because Lucia was strong.
Beyond my imagination.
“…Keke, you really have no mercy. Can’t you go a little easy on me?”
“Hmm~? What did you say~? Is it because it’s the words of the weak? I can’t hear you at all?”
“Seeing you do your best against the weak. It’s a very good sight. You’re a role model for the empire, a role model.”
“I’m not doing my best at all? I’m only using the power of a 6-star knight level!”
“Huh? Did you hear what I said? Then I guess I’m not weak.”
“…Anyway, I should smash that tongue or something.”
Lucia grumbled.
Her tone is calm, but currently my insides are bursting with anger.
‘This damn trashy game!’
Didn’t I show enough! What do I have to do to be recognized!
I don’t see any path, any breakthrough to victory at all.
Is this really a quest made to be cleared?
“Enough. The test ends here.”
While I was inwardly venting my resentment, Caron appeared near us.
“You’ve wasted too much time. There’s a test for the next team, so let’s end it here.”
The end? Is the quest ending so anticlimactically?
“…What about my score?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’ll be given a perfect score. Not only is it surprising that you endured alone against a 6-star knight, but you also drew out the power to the limit of 6-stars.”
“No? I only used the power of a level that just reached 6-stars?”
“You don’t even know how much power you used now? I guess you’ve gotten old.”
“Wh-Who are you calling an auntie!”
“…I don’t remember saying that.”
Lucia climbed on Caron’s shoulders and ruffled his hair wildly.
It’s a situation that’s quite entertaining to watch, but not for me right now.
“I can’t accept this.”
“You can’t be satisfied even with this? You’re too greedy.”
“Yeah, why don’t you just give up now? You did incredibly well to this extent. He even says the score is perfect.”
“Giving up also takes courage. Not knowing that line is just recklessness.”
…Give up?
Suddenly, my life on Earth came to mind.
A life that started as an orphan. Since then, life has been a series of giving up for me.
From elementary school days when it was hard to even snack, to middle and high school days when it was hard to have a book I wanted to read.
Studying to win scholarships, working part-time to make a living, my college life ended in between.
The world of society that I finally reached after hardship.
But even there, it was full of things to give up.
The only thing I didn’t give up on until now.
‘Is just this one game.’
“Hero of the Academy” that I came across by chance in elementary school.
This game… no, this world was the only one.
So I can’t give up. At least not on this world that I love.
I never wanted to give up.
“I’d rather you knock me down.”
“Is there any need to go that far?”
“Keke, you can’t proceed with the next test. I think that alone is enough reason to knock me down?”
Lucia, scratching her head as if annoyed.
Soon she shook her head.
“Sheesh, fine. But don’t complain that it hurts.”
The fight with Lucia started again.
Swinging, blocking, using secret techniques, using tricks.
Lucia blocks my attacks way too easily.
Bam!
Lucia’s wooden sword hit my body.
It hurts. I want to lie down right now and say ‘the teacher is hitting a person’.
But I can’t collapse like this.
“Want to do more? I can’t go easy on you anymore either.”
“…Keke, that’s what I want.”
“Don’t regret it.”
The wooden sword kept pounding on my body.
I tried my best to avoid fatal injuries.
Because if I get hit properly somewhere, Caron will stop the test, saying it’s instant death.
Bam!
She’s a monster.
Secret techniques, artifacts, psychological warfare, tricks, and even the veteran knowledge I was so proud of.
None of it works.
Efforts are denied.
It’s as if the world is whispering that all the time I’ve spent, everything I’ve built up until now.
Was meaningless.
-Yes, efforts don’t always lead to good results. Rather, they more often betray me by mocking me.
Is it because my stamina is low, because my mental strength is exhausted, or because Lucia is beating me up.
I hear a voice.
-The world doesn’t revolve around you. But someone is watching you closely. Isn’t that enough reason to live in this world?
It’s a voice I’m hearing for the first time, but I could immediately tell who it was.
It’s ‘their’ lines.
I’ve seen it so many times that I can tell the ending line just from the first sentence.
-Opportunities don’t end with just this one time. Repetition of failure and success. Isn’t that what life is all about?
Those who were called heroes in the game.
And those who met their end without becoming heroes.
The outcry of the heroes I only know, who sacrificed in places no one knows.
It swirls around my ears, becoming pieces and fragments.
Creak-.
I straightened my sword and stood upright.
Yeah, what’s wrong with failing? In the first place, it’s not a quest where you die even if you fail.
A Hidden Piece and quest I saw for the first time from the beginning.
It might be my greed to try to clear it from the start.
‘I’ve experienced failure dozens, hundreds, thousands of times!’
Yes, I know.
Everything I thought was a failure.
They are pieces that lead to success.
This game.
This damn world.
You guys.
‘You’re the ones who taught me that!’
So to me.
Don’t dare urge me to give up!
“Haaaaaah!!”
Clang-!!
A sound so clear that it feels futile.
My vertically swung wooden sword was touching Lucia’s wooden sword.
A simple swing.
It was a blow that wasn’t even worth blocking.
But for some reason, Lucia was smiling faintly behind the wooden sword.
Soon, Lucia and Caron’s mouths opened at the same time.
“Pass.”
“…You pass.”
Words I can’t make sense of.
At the same time, several information windows popped up in front of my eyes.
[Congratulations! You have achieved a special condition. A special reward will be given.]
[Calculating a reward suitable for the current situation. Please wait a moment.]
[…..]
[…..]
[Congratulations! Your exclusive skill is blooming.]
[Zero Original F]
First original secret technique — Sincere Downward Strike
–TL Notes–
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt
Kyaaaaaa!!!