Chapter 10: Kin of Twilight – 14
“Alright, let’s get started. At this moment, I declare the beginning of our battle!”
With that shout, Zaikal began to walk towards me, swaying his slender body from side to side. At first glance, his movements seemed careless, but it was clear they were backed by confidence.
I too took a stance and advanced cautiously. Given our builds, Zaikal had the longer reach.
“Hyuu!”
With a breathy sound, a tremendous strike came from my right side. I couldn’t see the start of the technique; it was probably a punch from his left arm.
Next came a blow aimed at my left temple, and my guarding arm creaked under the pressure. Then, a straight punch aimed at my face. I saw this one coming and slipped past it, diving into Zaikal’s range.
In that instant, a tremendous impact struck my jaw—likely his knee. Was this his trap? But such a blow wouldn’t stop me.
I retaliated with a right hook aimed at his body. However, I swung at nothing but air as he skillfully bent his slender body to evade. Then I aimed for his legs, attempting a low kick to break his thin stance, but again, I missed and instead took a hit to my abdomen.
We were locked in a brawl, our feet nearly planted, but it was clear that Zaikal had the upper hand. I was taking hits left and right, while my own punches and kicks merely sliced through the air.
“Not bad! This is fun!”
Zaikal’s excitement grew. It seemed that simple hand-to-hand combat wouldn’t cut it. My regeneration was starting to lag behind, and the strikes that bypassed my Adamantine Body were formidable, but I could tell he wasn’t fighting at full strength. For him, these blows were likely just a warm-up.
How many hits had I taken? My eyes were starting to adjust. Though his speed was impressive, his attacks were becoming predictable.
I deflected a right hook with my left arm. In terms of raw strength, I had the advantage. His slender arm was knocked aside, and Zaikal’s expression shifted for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, I stepped in and launched a jab that grazed his chest, but the power of my punch seemed to have made an impression.
“Oh? So you’re not just defending, huh? But—!”
Zaikal used Swift Run to create distance, then lashed out with his long arms like whips. Though he was out of striking range, something was unleashed from his slashing hand.
A skill that sends out cutting strikes? An invisible blade sliced through my guarded arms.
“Ku-kikekeke! I intended to cut you in two, but it seems you have some resistance skills!”
It seemed my recently acquired Iron Wall had come in handy. Just how diligent was that Bad Luck skill of his?
Zaikal began to dance around me, launching a series of slashing attacks. I couldn’t afford to take them all; I had to counter with my own skills. I charged forward, channeling Shockwave into my fist to shatter the incoming blades.
“Disappear!”
Zaikal’s figure blurred. The next moment, a pale face appeared right in front of me, and a sharp pain shot through my shoulder.
His hand blade had sunk into my shoulder. I retaliated with a punch, but Zaikal was already gone from that spot.
“Shall I finally get serious? ‘Dream Phantom Blue Flash,’ this is the name of the technique that will slay you!”
“Dream Phantom Blue Flash?” What a flashy name. Was this the taste of the Kin of Twilight?
Zaikal began to whip his arms around like whips. Gradually, his spinning increased, and even my enhanced Dynamic Vision struggled to keep up with the movement of his hand blades. Within seconds, a terrifying zone of hand blades formed around him.
“Hyuu!”
Zaikal closed the distance with Swift Run. The moment he entered striking range, a barrage of slashes pierced my body. His hand blades spun like a tornado. This was something else—a technique straight out of a manga, but it certainly packed a punch.
I tried to escape the range, but I couldn’t match his mobility. No matter how I approached, he expertly maintained his distance. Damn it, I was being sliced apart, and it felt like fire coursing through my veins. If this continued, I’d be sent to the afterlife in a single stroke. But that was fine; I welcomed it. No, wait, that’s not right. It’s not fine. But maybe it is. What am I—
“Oh!”
My vision turned red. This was it, this sensation. It felt like the liquid in my body was boiling.
In this crimson haze, Zaikal’s movements suddenly slowed. No, it wasn’t that; I was just seeing better. Why was he so slow? I focused on his right foot, left cheek, right elbow, left chest… here!
“Ku-kikekee!?”
Zaikal’s right wrist was now firmly in my grasp. I had the Grasp skill. He shouldn’t expect to escape.
“Hyuk!”
His remaining hand blade aimed for my neck. Targeting my weakness in a pinch? Such shallow thinking.
That arm was also within my grip. Now we were even. Even? No way!
“Uoooh!”
I yanked his slender arms with all my might and slammed my head into his pale, elongated face. One hit, two hits, three hits—oh, a kick from that position? That hurt, huh? Then let’s do this.
“Hyigya!?”
I poured strength into my hands. Just how much power did the grip enhanced by Herculean Strength possess? I crushed his slender arms to the bone.
With my left hand, I seized Zaikal’s neck. It was a long neck; should I crush it? No, a strike would be better.
“I don’t need a name for the technique that will bury you!”
Drawing back my right fist like a bowstring, I slammed it right into the center of Zaikal’s pale, elongated face.
Before my eyes lay the corpse of the Kin of Twilight, its head now missing.
It seemed I had won. But how? I should have been on the verge of being toyed with.
No, I faintly remembered. That skill had activated—the self-enhancement skill known as Excitement.
Looking around, I saw that all the Twilight Hounds had been defeated by the adventurers. This was indeed a town filled with C-class adventurers; they were impressive, to say the least.
“Soushi-sama!”
“Soushi!”
“Soushi-san!”
Freinir, Larni, and Sfenia rushed over to me, with Mariane trailing behind, keeping an eye on our surroundings.
“Soushi-sama, I’ll heal you!”
Even though I would probably recover on my own, I decided to leave it to Freinir. She wouldn’t be satisfied unless she did something.
“I thought you were done for halfway through! Please don’t fight like that again!”
Larni said, a hint of anger in her voice. Well, she had every right to worry this time.
“Soushi-san, that last part was rough and… not wonderful, but it was a splendid victory!”
Sfenia alone wore a look of ecstasy, but it seemed she had misunderstood. That was just a skill that made me thrash around like a beast; it certainly hadn’t been a splendid fight.
“I’m sorry for worrying you. But hey, I won, so forgive me. By the way, Mariane, is it alright to leave this corpse here?”
When I called her name, Mariane approached and looked down at Zaikal’s body.
“Well, yes… I believe I’ve heard that we need to extract the Magic Stone from it.”
“Magic Stone? I thought he was human; does he even have one?”
Still, the fact that we needed to extract it suggested there could be complications if we left it alone. Perhaps he could regenerate and come back to life… that seemed all too likely.
As I peered down at Zaikal’s corpse, I felt it twitch slightly. Could it really be coming back to life?
It was too dangerous to confirm, so I drew a dagger and sliced open his chest. I didn’t feel great about it, but it was necessary. As I probed around the heart, I felt a hard texture. When I reached in and pulled it out, a Magic Stone shaped like a heart appeared.
“Is this good enough? But what an incomprehensible being this Kin of Twilight is.”
“Indeed. But more importantly, Soushi-san, have you noticed?”
“What do you mean?”
When I asked, Mariane let out a light sigh.
“You’ve just become the hero of this town. You are now known as the one who defeated the Kin of Twilight, the ‘Twilight Slayer.’”
As I looked around, I noticed the townsfolk were surrounding us, their expressions filled with excitement, as if they were about to explode.