“Whirlwind Fire!”
Flames began to erupt from Richard’s great sword.
“That damn flame again!”
Sataniel’s voice oozed irritation as he watched.
Those flames he had seen before were the result of the swordsman’s newly developed Mana Training Method, created to combat Night’s Kin.
Even the kin who could regenerate their wounds would struggle to recover from cuts inflicted by a sword surrounded by those flames.
Of course, that was only the case for ordinary Dark Elves; it didn’t have much effect on Sataniel.
Only the swordsman could wield flames potent enough to leave scars on him.
“This time, I’ll end your life, not just leave a scar.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Richard charged towards Sataniel.
Clang!
“Still not as good as your master, are you?”
“You seem weaker than back then, though?”
The sound resonating wasn’t quite what you’d expect from nails against a sword; it was a dull thud.
But despite the sound, the force behind it was formidable enough that the surrounding area vibrated and the ground trembled.
Whoosh!
Great swords were originally designed to fight knights.
Plate armor, commonly known as full-body armor, could not be pierced by ordinary swords or spears; hence, the great sword emerged to perform the role of a blunt weapon.
That great sword had its advantages—certainly a long reach and strong strikes—but its weight and thickness made it weak against agile opponents.
“Tch, still as brutish as ever!”
Yet, Richard swung the great sword like it was a mere stick, making it hard for even Sataniel to slip past.
‘Back then, he was just a strong rookie, but he’s grown so powerful in just a few years?’
Sataniel, dodging the great sword and looking for an opening, was slightly surprised by Richard’s unexpected strength.
The humans he thought of were just numerous but typically weak, a standard lower race.
Their bodies were absurdly frail, and with lifespans much shorter than other races, they were riddled with flaws.
Yet strangely, among those humans, there occasionally emerged incomprehensible beings.
The swordsman who had threatened his life, despite living a period so much shorter than his own centuries, was one such example.
And the Richard standing before him was undoubtedly trash not even worth considering a few years ago.
He had somehow grown strong enough to stand as his equal.
‘This is why I hate humans!’
“I hate those human guys!”
Since those beings achieved what was beyond his common sense, Sataniel constantly guarded against them while pretending to ignore them.
Perhaps that’s why he was so obsessed with the Blue Flower.
To erase his anxiety towards humans, after all.
“Try to block this!”
After dodging Richard’s attacks for a while, Sataniel suddenly took a stance and charged.
At the same time, he extended his arms toward the great sword wielded by Richard.
Swish!
As expected, Sataniel’s arms were sliced away effortlessly.
However, from the area around Sataniel’s shoulder blades, two new arms sprang forth and flew towards Richard.
An attack only Sataniel, with his amazing regenerative powers and the ability to manipulate his body freely, could perform.
But,
“Haah…”
Richard pulled the great sword back toward his chest and assumed a formal stance.
At a time when he could barely defend, this seemingly pointless action was crucial.
– There’s a sword technique used by Eastern warriors called ‘drawing the sword technique.’
In a split second, Richard recalled the words of his master, the Sword Master.
– Isn’t it faster to swing it directly than to draw it from the scabbard? You’re right.
The drawing sword technique mentioned by the Sword Master was indeed an odd one.
To swing the sword rapidly, one must sheath it first and then swing it.
In Richard’s view, this was an incredibly inefficient action, and the Sword Master had also agreed it was inefficient.
“But by performing that meaningless action, they can actually cut faster than if they just swung it.”
The Sword Master taught Richard that there are things in swordsmanship, and indeed in the world, that cannot be grasped by mere rationality.
And when people are trapped in such constraints, they can unleash powers greater than their own.
So now, even as Sataniel’s unconventional attack approached, Richard stood ready with his great sword and countered.
Whoosh!
With the sound of slicing, Sataniel’s arms were cut again.
“Gah!”
Of course, as he was already regenerating, it couldn’t be considered a fatal wound, but the ambush attack that he was quite confident about had been thwarted, and Sataniel’s surprise was apparent.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Richard was acutely aware of the danger when the gap closed or when the attack missed while handling a weapon as large as a great sword.
Using the technique ‘Spirit of the Swordsmanship’ that he had created from the teachings of his master, the Sword Master,
he engaged in this incredibly simple action of assuming the basic stance and then executing the next move, repeating it every single day since the day his master died until his hands trembled and wouldn’t move anymore.
He repeated the motion, which was so simple that it hardly qualified as a technique, day after day without fail, until his hands trembled and refused to move, ever since his master had died.
As a result, he could swing his great sword faster than the swords wielded by regular knights.
The way he moved was so natural and quick that it seemed like he wasn’t moving at all, and that’s how he got the name Spirit of the Swordsmanship.
“You arrogant human!!!”
Of course, Richard’s opponent, Sataniel, was no pushover either.
Perhaps frustrated that his attack had been blocked, he started to sprout even more arms and charge in.
No matter how skilled Richard was with the Spirit of the Swordsmanship, facing dozens of arms coming at him was dangerous.
‘How could I be reduced to this ugly form!’
Sataniel, who could freely transform his body, was reluctant to use it.
After all, he could take care of most foes without needing to transform.
Above all, he disliked how he looked like an ugly monster once he transformed his body.
“Forget dying nicely, you bug-like human!!!”
Sataniel’s attack, which he so hated transforming for, was certainly fierce.
Richard was busy defending against attacks coming from all directions, even from angles he didn’t anticipate.
At least because he could use the Spirit of the Swordsmanship, he was able to defend himself; if it had been the old Richard, he would have been pierced through and dead by now.
‘Endure, I must hold on for now.’
Richard steadied his increasingly ragged breath by focusing solely on defense, carefully blocking each incoming attack without panicking.
Even Sataniel, with his exceptional regeneration abilities, couldn’t maintain such brutal attacks for long.
Surely, he would show a brief opening to catch his breath.
He had to be patient and wait for that moment.
*
“Whirlwind Fire!”
“Cough… You’re not human, are you… How could you use magic like this… Yes, you’re a witch, a witch of fire…”
Crash.
Dread’s body, already engulfed in flames with only ashes left, turned into dust in the wind with just one kick.
“Rudeness? I’m a hero.”
The one who defeated Dread was none other than Jenia.
It was a lost cause for Dread to face her, as she had significantly improved her magic skills battling with the allied forces.
Pop!
Jenia raised her staff and blew away the remaining ashes with the wind.
The term “witch” that Dread uttered just before he breathed his last greatly irritated her.
‘Red hair? Tch, how annoying!’
‘She’s definitely cursed, so she must have survived by begging for her parents’ lives, right?’
‘Isn’t that just ridiculous?’
‘Why does she have that childlike gaze? It’s unsettling.’
Jenia, who lost her parents in a childhood accident and was raised by her uncle, absolutely despised being called a witch.
She hated the townspeople whispering about her red hair and the family of her uncle that hit her, calling her the girl who ate her parents.
At one point, she thought about getting revenge on all of them, but not anymore.
“I’m the protagonist of a fairy tale.”
Looking at the books drawn by Rupert, she realized she was a special person, and every misfortune she was experiencing was a trial prepared for a happy ending.
That allowed her to forgive everyone.
So Jenia wanted to become a hero.
“Because he is watching over me.”
She figured that if Rupert, the one who had given her hope in her darkest days, saw her now, he would surely be surprised.
The thought that Rupert was watching filled Jenia with renewed motivation.
“I’ll help you!”
Right now, everyone else was fighting against seemingly strong enemies, and among them, Richard was fiercely battling the enemy leader, Sataniel.
Sataniel had grotesquely transformed, attacking with dozens of hands, and Jenia noticed Richard barely managing to fend them off.
With Dread taken care of, Jenia thought that if she joined, it would greatly help Richard, so she began to prepare her vision magic along with her acceleration magic.
“What’s this? I feel like I have more leeway now.”
As Jenia prepared her magic, she felt a bit more relaxed than usual.
Until now, even with her cognition pushed to the limits, controlling a dozen fire beams had been taxing.
Now, she was confident that she could use even more fire beams than that.
Wriggle.
And unbeknownst to her, Jenia’s body was undergoing rapid growth again.
Her red hair had grown long enough to reach her waist, and her robe was snug against the curves of her newly formed body.
Jenia’s body was shifting to the optimal state for casting magic as her master’s request.
And Rupert, who was watching this scene from the mansion’s office window.
“The Witch of Crimson Flames…”
Seeing her distinctive appearance, Rupert finally recognized Jenia’s true identity.
That eerie sense of déjà vu he felt from the first time he saw her.
Until now, he hadn’t been able to piece it together, but Jenia, having rapidly matured, looked just like the Witch of Crimson Flames, Ignisia, who had been a major antagonist in the original story.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
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That’s rude MC, that is one of your wives.
This comment is so good
Snugly accommodating her curves is it ?
Jenia is quite the interesting character, a crazed yandere just waiting to blow, really want to see more of her.