“Tomu── Tohgwon───!!”
Zwoooooosh─!! Zwoosh!
With a step onto solid ground, Arang pushed the opponent back lightly and landed a decisive blow.
‘Wow! So that’s the technique? I couldn’t fight properly against the Dwarf because of the swamp terrain back then.’
The Rabbit’s Dance, which requires solid footing, showcases incredible speed, able to catch up to the Dragard flying away after taking damage.
It was an amazing movement technique that could rival the Ilseom Guild’s [Lightning Step].
– Kehuk-! Cough!
For dozens of seconds, Marshall Dragard played the role of a punching bag.
In that brief moment, his body swelled in various places, and his face was bruised and blue.
– Wadaa!
Nonetheless, he didn’t step back at all. Instead, as if he realized something while getting beaten up, he waved his palm, provoking Arang.
‘… This is a dangerous point. Is the drop in stamina a chronic problem of Rabbit Beastmen?’
It was the moment when Arang’s lethal movement technique began to wane, while Marshall Dragard prepared to counterattack, wringing the strength from others.
Thud! Smack!
After a series of exchanges, Arang finally allowed a hit to the face and staggered heavily.
In that instant, the gaze of the two beings crossed, as if time stood still for a moment.
‘Is that it…? The special something of Marshall Dragard?’
Time flowed differently around the two of them. Since I had spent a long time in the space of Master ‘Azamun’s’ technique, I recognized it right away.
‘Is it teaching me something…?’
After that moment of pause passed,
Thud──
When Arang knelt, staring blankly at the ground, Marshall Dragard faded into nothing like a mirage.
‘The first time’s just a show of mercy.’
After the first battle, it is said that the real fight begins from the second round, where lives are at stake.
It would become a true bloodbath where someone has to die for a victory to be established.
“The leader lost…”
“I’ve never seen Arang getting beaten like that before.”
Naturally, the defeat of party leader Arang, who they thought would win easily, was quite shocking to the Beastmen.
‘Considering that we went through two hunting grounds, it wasn’t bad. I was just technically overwhelmed… Recovering my stamina and I’ll definitely win next time.’
The battle lasted an impressive five minutes.
For beings of A-rank caliber to fight for five minutes is an unimaginable expenditure of energy for an ordinary person.
“Heh- Heh-”
Arang, panting with her tongue hanging out, still had a vacant look in her eyes.
“Please don’t disturb me. I’ll need some time to reflect.”
“Indeed…”
“Oh, another one has arrived!”
‘How nice of them to come one by one… Such grateful beings.’
Looking at Marshall Dragard made the purpose of the dungeon clear.
‘What could be the ultimate purpose of nurturing the Awakened Ones?’
– Wadao!!
With the Snaked Beastman, nominated as the second strong figure, starting to crawl on the ground, Dragard rained down on the Beastmen for a while.
* * *
‘Finally, it’s my turn.’
Except for me, all the Beastmen had finished their one-on-one battles with Marshall Dragard.
After the initial battle, Rabbit Beastman Arang and Snake Beastman ‘Lee Hae-jin’ were meditating after regaining consciousness, while the others were still digesting the teachings given to them.
Surprisingly, the Snake, Horse, Tiger, and Sheep Beastmen all emerged victorious in their matches.
Of course, it was only possible because the opponents were slightly weaker than Dragard, whom Arang faced, but the other Beastmen had many abilities that I still had not seen.
Either way, teaching was given regardless of victory or defeat, and everyone was deep in training.
In other words, I was the only one with a clear mind.
‘Just in case, should I set up a guard?’
In the area dominated by Marshall Dragard, no monster other than the large species like Hellacne dares to appear.
And Dragard didn’t resort to cowardly actions like ambushing those who were in training.
They truly deserved to be called honorable fighters.
[Creek-]
“Tap tap tap!”
Even so, I had called upon all my minions, as small gates could still potentially open here.
And though the odds were low, Hellacne might appear.
‘If anything happens, protect the Beastmen. You ‘Traces’ don’t overdo it. You absolutely must not die.’
My skeleton soldiers saluted, each straightening up with precision.
No, they were no longer skeleton soldiers.
My children—Ainz, Zweihander, and Dry—all succeeded in their second job changes.
‘I wanted to see their job changes. But they already did it in the Void.’
For a moment I felt disappointment.
But upon reflection, I realized that I too had conducted my job changes within Dark Space.
Anyway, Ainz changed to the class ‘Dreadnought Bongard.’
Dreadnought Bongard
– Permanently damages enemy defenses and can attract the enemy’s attention with powerful provocation.
– Gains the possibility of evolving into Colossal Bunker Crusher.
When I asked why he chose this, Ainz said he liked the part about ‘permanently damaging enemy defenses.’
‘As expected, you enjoy tormenting others.’
Clinking- Clink-
What kind of thoughts does he have as he hugs the great sword and shakes his shoulders?
He’s really incorrigible.
‘Gaining provocation abilities isn’t bad either.’
Then there was Zweihander, born with wings, remarkably changing to ‘Shadowborn Infiltrator.’
A class that provides numerous advantages in shadow cloak form.
Imbued with the specialty of thrusting with a white spear, Zweihander appeared to want to ambush more swiftly and stealthily.
‘Guess he wants to go the stealth route like me.’
Lastly, Dry made a rather safe choice by changing to Skeleton Knight.
Skeleton Knight
– Having realized new talents with swords, you gather new will to enter the realm of martial arts.
– There are constraints on the growth of magic power.
– It is the class with the fastest growth among the presented options.
‘Perhaps being the last to be born has made him crave growth more than others.’
The job change options presented to them were visible to me as well, and upon reading it carefully, I noticed some descriptions were slightly different or fewer options than what I had seen at the job change stage.
‘Even amongst the same class, subtle differences align with the Hunters.’
I suspected they had limitations in presented choices because they hadn’t experienced as much as I had.
‘Anyway… How about we get started soon?’
– Adadada!
Now, I was the only being capable of instigating a fight.
The unique condition of facing the second strongest opponent no longer applied.
‘That guy seems pretty tough… He might be the strongest among those I’ve faced so far but with a different hue.’
He was a creature with emerald blue scales highlighted by red, now with an added dark stripe.
Not quite a mutant, but perhaps just an exceptionally gifted individual?
“Huuh──”
Though he looked like he was rampaging without distinguishing between heaven and earth, he paused to catch his breath, preparing for any possible ambush.
‘Is it about the difficulty of facing two at the same time?’
In the absence of ambush, he was certainly a rather tricky opponent.
“Clap clap clap.”
As I gestured for him to come in, he bounced a few times on the spot, swiftly sidestepped, and charged in with a spinning kick.
Whooosh──!
‘Dang, if that connects, my armor will take quite a beating.’
A chilling sound whizzed past my ears.
I temporarily placed my great sword in the void.
And I faced him using only combat experience and pure physical strength I had built up until now.
Thwack-! Smack smack!
Marshall Dragard’s hand crossed with my fist dozens of times, and while occasionally my strikes grazed his scales, they failed to deliver any meaningful impact.
Even so, I was confident of victory.
[Curse of Stone]
[Dreadful Land of Chaos]
A fantastic skill that consumes 50 magic power to inflict partial petrification on an enemy that evades my attack.
And a floor-filling skill spread over the area.
– Adaho!
He looked at me with a considerable expression, jerking his chin.
With an overly relaxed demeanor, yet his fingers turned as hard as stone, leaving only his index finger aimed at me.
‘I know it wasn’t intentional, but it gets me fired up.’
[Lightning Step]
──?!!
In an instant, I sensed he missed my movement.
To think I had inflicted several status ailments and just from the blood flowing from his eyes and ears, it was clear the drain on his stamina had been substantial.
Whoooosh──!
Yet, it was astonishing how he instinctively received my punches and attempted to counterattack.
[Bran]
I succeeded in dodging his attack with fluidity.
The absolute evasion skill activated perfectly, and his balance was utterly destroyed.
– Uda-dat?!
‘Bad luck, huh?’
Crash!
With my chin properly struck, Marshall Dragard eventually knelt, his proud head bowed.
In less than a minute, the outcome was decided.
Yet, that tension was as taut as when facing a Grim Reaper. It was no easy contest.
‘Is nothing going to happen?’
I paused, recalling the moment when the earlier Beastmen interacted with Marshall Dragard, but nothing occurred for me.
‘Hm…’
[Living Blood Transformation]
Puhwa!──!
If nothing happened, then it’s better to take some action.
?!!
– Strength +1
– Agility +1
– Health +1
Marshall Dragard’s viscous fluids seeped into my bones.
‘Only a measly 3?’
It wasn’t going to increase any further.
Though I subdued him easily, considering physical capability, it didn’t seem like a huge gap between us, and the reward felt surprising lesser.
Yet, it was indicative of my growth.
‘Even if it’s just 3, it’s still an increase—huh?!!’
Suddenly, the sense of space grew hazy, and the surrounding area transformed into an immaculate white space like fresh snow.
‘Where is this…? The realm of nothingness?’
It felt similar to the space I had often moved through, but the flow of mana was subtly different.
Could this be the realm of nothingness used by Dragard?
“Welcome!”
“Ah? Who are you?”
Even in a skeletal state, he was able to speak.
Impressive.
“The flow of magic feels peculiar; indeed, you’re not human?”
Just moments ago, Dragard, who had crumbled into a bloody mess before me, now conversed with me. I knew he was intelligent, but it felt odd to hear him talk.
He showed no signs of the injuries inflicted on him and appeared revitalized as if just born.
“Marshall Dragard…”
“Pawilrun, at your service.”
“Pawilrun… So, what brings me to this place?”
With my question, the Marshall Dragard named Pawilrun scratched at his scales, looking a bit sheepish.
“To be honest, I don’t know myself.”
“… What?”
“It’s not uncommon to lose when challenging someone in a duel, but to lose so thoroughly is beyond expectation. What could I possibly teach you?”
“That means… you’ve given teachings to others too. Why? Why do you do such things?”
He spoke of dueling, yet we treated them like monsters, attacking as if to kill.
The gap in that perception was truly immense.
Dragard had fought with us while having already given us the advantage. Of course, that would change in subsequent battles.
“Rarely does one with such questions come seeking me. To answer that, one must delve into our roots, which isn’t an easy matter, you know? It’s simply the path we walk as we were born. The given duty is profoundly noble.”
“……….”
“Few beings like you, who forge their own path, exist.”
“……….?!”
“Hmm… How about we reflect on our recent duel?”
“Sounds good.”
We began to reenact the events of the battle one by one.
Moving slowly, we took time to consider and evaluate each other’s moves.
‘Indeed… Was this attack intended for that purpose?’
I realized abundant essence and variance in the realm of nothingness, gradually understanding that Pawilrun’s earlier statement was excessive humility.
‘In terms of teaching, he seems much easier to understand than Master.’
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