Chapter: 276
It began to spread divinely through my entire body along the blood vessels of my heart.
As if returning to their rightful places, the organs that had strayed began to heal what had been broken.
The broken bones fused back together, regaining their previous sturdiness.
Torn and bruised muscles returned to their form and bound together strongly.
Of course, the quick recovery isn’t just all good news.
Because the forcibly expedited natural processes filled my mind with excruciating pain.
Just when I could no longer endure the suffering and my consciousness flickered on the brink of obscurity, my body had already regained its completeness.
Along with the various unpleasant sensations that had been forgotten in the engulfing fear.
Seriously, having to face a corpse while trying to keep my eyes closed? Isn’t that just too much?
Letting out a long breath, I opened my eyes, disregarding the dead face in front of me, and surveyed my body.
Thanks to my tight grip even while getting thrashed, Ankir was still by my side.
It seemed Ruel’s mace had flown off somewhere, but that was okay.
As long as the mace is mine, it must respond to my call.
I opened my right hand, and shortly after, my grandpa’s voice reached my ears.
[Are you okay?! Are you coming back to your senses?!]
His voice was slightly hoarse and dripping with moisture.
He must have called my name like he meant it after I dropped the mace.
“Grandpa, you were that worried about me?”
‘Grandfather.’
[Oh! Thank goodness! Really, thank goodness!]
As I replied, Grandpa started fussing over me.
[How does your body feel?! Can you move?!]
‘Yeah. I can move just fine.’
Having received Armadi’s mercy, my body was almost completely healed.
Although using all my divine energy for recovery left me practically with none to use right now, that wasn’t a massive issue.
As long as I had enough divine light to illuminate Ankir, I could face Nakrad.
I heard footsteps approaching from a distance as I rose to my feet.
[Just now, considering you got ambushed, did you lose your hearing as well?]
‘Not quite.’
Thanks to Ankir’s ability, my hearing remained intact.
I just didn’t know what trick Nakrad had used to conceal his sound.
[He concealed his sound?!]
‘Yeah.’
[…Damn it. There’s no way you can fight without your senses! For now, retreat.]
‘It’s fine, Grandpa.’
[What do you mean, it’s fine?!]
‘I’ve kind of done something similar before.’
Naturally, I meant this was back when it was still a game.
But right now, I felt like I could recreate that experience here.
A few months ago, I had to crawl on the ground against Nakrad without being able to do anything.
There had been quite a gap between us back then.
Even now, a clear difference exists between Nakrad and me.
No matter how rapidly I’ve grown over the past few months, what can a divinely powerless me do against a pervert who had no small thoughts of tormenting me without any strain on himself?
However, that gap is not nearly as large as it was when we first met in the back alleys of the academy.
It’s more like the difference between a child and an adult—not the gap of a helpless ant that must die from being stepped on.
That difference isn’t insignificant, but for me—
For this rotten water—
This much difference is enough.
As long as struggling is allowed, that’s all I need.
“So trust me and watch.”
[Are you confident?]
‘Yeah. Of course.’
[Well then… I understand.]
Completely ignoring Grandpa’s hesitant response, I fully stood up.
Right then, the footsteps stopped, and the disgusting sounds of rubbish flowed forth.
“Oh, look who’s trying to struggle. With that power, you might as well have just bitten your own tongue.”
“Then why don’t you?♡ Instead of being a perverted punk who’s harassing a girl, wouldn’t it be better to die and guard your pathetic, shut-in master?♡”
With every remark I made, the fear that had settled before started being replaced by a growing sense of triumph.
The enthusiasm was telling me something clear:
The sanity of the guy standing in front of me was gradually dwindling.
“Heh, chatter all you want. The angrier you make me, the more intense the thrill will be when I hear you squalling in the future.”
“Wow~♡ The thinking of a twisted pervert who’s chosen a creepy shut-in life is distinctly different from us normies♡ It’s too gross to even think about following suit!♡”
Even though the sense of triumph was growing, no rebuttal came back.
The reason was clear. He probably kept his mouth shut because he was sure he wouldn’t win this verbal battle.
Just pathetic. Once he senses a victory, he’ll probably be frolicking about in joy.
“Strange?♡ Why so silent?♡ Just a moment ago, I heard that disgusting voice nearby, right?♡”
I kept on moving my lips, drawing in the sensations.
Even when I’d been caught off guard and my hearing had been neutralized, my wall still maintained its purpose.
It always warned me of dangers heading my way.
It’s just that I couldn’t keep up with it then.
So, this time, I would only focus on the voice of my wall from the start.
Ignoring all the trivial things, I would solely follow what the wall was saying.
‘Right in front.’
Moving my body as commanded by the wall, I suddenly realized how messy I had been just moments prior.
This body could move so lightly.
Haha, so that’s why I couldn’t keep up with what you were telling me—turns out, I was in a wreck!
Before the shield could be raised, I felt a shock run through me.
This wasn’t a normal impact; it was the jolt from magic conveying the hit.
‘Back to the front.’
Before I could even judge, the wall warned me again.
And once again, I felt an immense shock.
That bastard Nakrad.
Instead of risking close combat, he’d rather snipe me safely from a distance.
Yeah. I guessed you would do that.
I knew you were lowlife enough to pull off such a cowardly stunt.
“Look at you, you big wimp♡ Afraid to get close because you think you’ll lose?♡”
Having my game knowledge thwarted by that skeleton took a toll on me.
I had been unable to trust the many strategies that swirled in my head.
“Ahaha♡ But yeah, you’re a coward and a totally pathetic weakling too♡”
But upon pondering, I realized one thing: Most of my strategies were indeed right.
As long as my opponent wasn’t aware of my strategies and wasn’t preoccupied with catering to them, my knowledge would hold true.
“If I poke you, you’ll just break, right?~♡ You’d rather dirty and ugly flee than face me♡”
This tendency grew stronger the less rational the opponent was.
The angrier they got, the more their judgment faltered.
At this point, one idea popped into my mind.
As long as I could wipe out his sanity, I could act according to what I had learned from this rotten water.
“I get it~♡ The middle-schooler wimp ran away when his loved one died♡ Compared to that, running away from a girl is nothing at all!♡”
As I kept talking, the wall hurriedly warned me of danger.
Thinking before raising my shield, I was struck once more.
“Did talking about the one you tossed away get you angry?♡”
The wall’s voice continued warning me while impacts rang through from behind the shield.
That impact was far from light, yet I soldiered through and continued to speak.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to do so when your loved one was dying?♡ Ah~! Is that why?♡ Was it because the monster attacking your lover looked scary while I seemed like pathetic trash to you?♡”
“…”
“You pathetic coward♡ Who abandoned his loved one to save himself♡”
“No! I didn’t abandon her!”
KWAAM!
With Nakrad’s scream closer to a wail, an immense shock hit my shield—a massive impact beyond comparison.
It was like an explosion detonating directly in front of my shield.
I was in a state where I couldn’t even attempt a parry, so I had to bear it all, biting down hard to prevent myself from flying away.
“No, I’m not!”
Okay, I think I’ve met my first objective.
Now it’s time to move on to the second.
Time to validate my thoughts.
I needed to see whether Nakrad would follow a predictable pattern.
I grit my teeth and absorbed Nakrad’s onslaught.
At the same time, I engraved his attacks into my mind.
My eyes were still full of the faces of dead bodies.
All I could smell was the stench of blood.
On my skin was the crawling sensation of insects, and all I could hear were Nakrad’s screams.
So all I could rely on for dodging was the wall’s voice and the pain echoing from behind my shield.
It was enough for cracking Nakrad’s patterns.
In a state lost to anger.
In a state devoid of all rationality.
Attacking like a beast according to instinct, Nakrad was just as he had always been—a mid-boss from a game.
The next attack would surely be an area-of-effect move, right?
After waiting half a second, I rolled twice to my right to dodge.
“Looks like the middle-schooler wimp can’t see in front of him as well as I can?♡ Why are you swinging at the air?♡”
“Shut up!”
Now it would be one of two things.
A sneak attack using teleportation or rapid-fire magic ammo from afar.
Since I could hear his voice from further away, it must be the latter.
Step back one step.
Then forward two steps.
Next, a sidestep, sprinting straight ahead.
“Ah~♡ Are you aging?♡ Must be it!♡ You could see your dying lover’s face just fine when you were young, right?!♡”
“Shut up and die!”
With each time I cracked Nakrad’s attack pattern, I was gradually closing the distance where his voice seemed to emanate.
If he had just the slightest sensibility left, he would think he needed to widen the gap.
But that wasn’t on his agenda.
Caught in a frenzy induced by the haunting voice of the brat, he focused purely on trying to shove my mouth shut.
Thanks to that, I continued advancing forward.
“Can’t see me?♡ I’m just a cute little girl?♡”
Without giving him a moment to think, I continued the provocation.
“Are you into dumpy girls?♡ Is that your thing?♡”
“You bug of trash!”
Step by step, inching closer to Nakrad.
“Ah~♡ So that’s it, huh?♡ Then you probably can’t forget your lover’s face either!♡”
Finally, I made it to the place where Nakrad’s voice was right in front of me.
“What do you want?!”
The last time I got this close, what was his attack pattern?
Using Tariki’s energy to push the user off balance.
What’s the counter?
With Ankir’s holiness, dispel the darkness.
“ZEBAAAAL!”
I charged forward.
“Shut that mouth!”
I slammed the mace into Nakrad’s face.
PERRRC!
Just as the thought of breaking something crossed my mind, a harsh sound pierced my ears.
Not long after, the sound of a human body being unceremoniously tossed to the ground followed.
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