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We were running through the Dioral castle's escape route and encountered an enemy group.
Among them, one of the three heroes that challenged the king and was defeated, the hero of the【Axe】, was there.
I tried to see his status with my【Jade Eye】, but I couldn't.
It seems this kind of thing can happen when the black miasma is too dense.
When I reunited with the hero of the 【Gun】, I couldn't check his status either.
… Making Setsuna and the others fight this powerful enemy whose power I can't even grasp, is dangerous.
They're major parts of my fighting power, and my important property (pets).
It seems there's no choice but for me to take him on.
"I'll fight against the hero of the【Axe】. Setsuna and the others, deal with the rest for me." (Kearuga)
I quickly shout.
That's the optimum solution for our current party.
Freya and the others take up their own weapons and nod.
Guren's flames coil around my sword.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuu." (Hero of the Axe)
The hero of the【Axe】seems to have forgotten how to speak.
Raising a disgusting groan, he glares at me.
He's so big, even bigger than Bullet, that I need to look up to see him and his whole body is covered in muscles.
It's disgusting how unbalanced his body is since his upper half is strangely swelled up, but his lower half is hardly comparable.
And it also feels uncomfortable, since his face looks like an extremely graceful boy.
Those pupils were probably overflowing with energy before he was killed, but now they're blank, like the eyes of a dead fish.
His weapon is a halberd of my height.
I didn't think you could use something like this properly, but he should be able to use it with those muscles and physique.
A halberd is a weapon that is both a spear and an axe so it can strike and slash, and there are many attack patterns you can use.
However, there is a demerit. Because there's both a spear and an axe, the weight is increased.
Of course, since it's a huge weapon, using it is extremely difficult and the swings will be slow.
The weight is a merit for the power side, but there's no problem if you just dodge it.
I'll constantly take the first move and overpower him.
Thinking that, I stepped forward, and shuddered.
"Wh." (Kearuga)
As if he teleported, the enemy shortened the distance with incredible speed.
It was several steps above my assumption, and it wasn't just his stepping in that was fast. It's also the swing of his arm.
With that large build and weapon, he's still faster at swinging than me.
Evading is impossible, so I slant my sword and try flow it away.
The hero of the【Axe】roars.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" (Hero of the Axe)
The air shakes.
I perfectly flowed it away, making the halberd slide down my slanted sword and strike the ground, bursting the land and blowing it away.
I thought I might be able to follow it up with an attack but to think he would attack like this.
"I knew you were stupidly strong, but to think it would be to this extent." (Kearuga)
Even though I killed around 90% of the impact by flowing it away with my sword, my shoulder dislocated and my arm broke.
【Automatic Recovery (Auto Heal)】supported me, but without【Automatic Recovery (Auto Heal)】, I probably would have been crushed.
The hero of the【Axe】smiles.
Then, he slashes sideways with his halberd.
He still has his extreme speed, but I have already seen this speed so I won't be careless anymore. Jumping up, I twist my body in the air and drive a kick into him.
That blow was supposed to break his neck, but it stopped at his muscles.
Since he caught my leg, I took distance by using my other leg to kick off of him.
I jump back, but the enemy's rush was fast. Furthermore, this time he's doing a charging thrust, making use of the halberd's properties. Even if I dodge the spearhead, he can just switch over to a sideways sweep with the blade of his axe.
There's no time to even take a breath as the attacks keep continuing.
At this rate, this situation will just get gradually worse.
While warding off his attacks, it just keeps becoming more disadvantageous for me.
Not good, with this distance and speed, I won't even properly be able to take his next one.
… I'll have to be a bit unreasonable.
This guy will be my practice partner for when I fight against Bullet.
"【Limit Breakthrough (Limit Break)】" (Kearuga)
I use the magic I developed to counter Bullet.
Until now, I specialized my parameters to speed when I raised my speed, but it's too risky to abandon my defence against Bullet, who carpet bombs with wide range bullets of light.
To fight against him, I'll need to become fast without changing the distribution of my parameters.
That is exactly what【Limit Breakthrough】is.
Just like its name, it removes the limiter in my brain, discharges narcotics inside my brain, and makes my body work to the limit.
It's a trite way of thinking and is an easy technique to implement with magic, but no one tries to do this because it's a double-edged sword that damages your body.
Using it to just move faster for an instant is the limit, and the worst case scenario is to become unable to move at an unintentional timing.
However, I have【Automatic Recovery (Auto Heal)】.
It can keep healing my constantly breaking body and maintain my speed.
Exactly because it's me, I can perfectly use this flawed technique that's full of demerits.
My body accelerates.
The hero of the【Axe's】attack that was supposed to be right on target, misses. I try to step forward because my sense of reason screams that it's a chance, but my instincts ring an alarm bell, so I stop my legs there.
Without stopping his sideways sweep that missed, the hero of the【Axe】does a full turn on the spot while accelerating. If I had jumped in, I would have been killed.
Furthermore, he stepped forward like that, using his sidewards gyration as a shield.
That attack won't hit me, but the ground bursts when it hits, so stones and pebbles come flying at me. I hit them all away.
"… To think there was a hero with this much power." (Kearuga)
At one glance, it just looks like he leaves it all to his strength, but the hero of the【Axe】actually has splendid technique.
As if the axe was a part of his body, he swings it with all his power.
The surprising part is that that axe isn't a special weapon, it's just a durable axe.
If he was conscious, we could have had the best match where we crashed our strength into each other.
It's unfortunate.
It's about time to end it.
No matter how fast or superior in ability he is, tactics don't exist among the people that are afflicted with the black power. They just try to smash up everything with their full power.
I've already grasped the timing.
If I'm in the【Limit Breakthrough】state, I can defeat him.
For the first time between us, I shorten the distance. A green phosphorescence leaks out of my eye.
Strengthening my【Jade Eye】till the limit, the surrounding scenery slows down because my kinetic vision is at its utmost limit.
I can even see the flash before the hero of the【Axe's】extreme speed.
What the hero of the【Axe】chose, is an intercepting sideways sweep.
Lowering my posture like a cat, I strike up with the handle of my sword from below to deal with his sideways sweep.
A sudden gust goes past my head.
Twisting my wrist, I raise my sword overhead and slash my sword down diagonally from the shoulder, with all my might.
Guren's flames of purification cut apart the black mist and blood spout out.
Aiming at the hero of the【Axe】who stumbled forward, I pierce his heart with a thrust.
I pull out my sword.
The giant falls to a knee.
His blank eyes that didn't reflect anything, gained back their radiance of reason.
His eyes look at me. I thought he was going to reproach me, but instead, he smiled.
"… Thank you. For killing me." (Hero of the Axe)
I'm surprised.
I've cleared away the black mist multiple times with the flames of purification, but he's the first one that regained his sanity.
He's no longer an enemy. I'll heal him. No, it's already too late.
He's dead. As long as they are alive, my【Recovery Heal】can heal any injury or disease, but it can't heal dead people or even take their memories.
The reason he can talk like this is because a fragment of the black mist is still remaining inside of him.
However, that remaining black mist is steadily being exterminated by the flames of purification.
"Tell me, why did a guy of your level lose." (Kearuga)
Although he was strengthened by the black power, I can't think a guy like this who can fight against someone over level 200 like me, would lose to any normal person.
There is a chance that Bullet killed the hero of the【Axe】, but the three heroes challenged and lost against the Dioral Kingdom when I had reunited with Bullet.
In other words, the king has a subordinate that can defeat him.
"The one that killed me, is jouo." (Hero of the Axe)
Then, the remains of the black power inside of him burnt out.
He said 'Jouo', and although it was cut off, I've confirmed that there is an existence like that.
Interesting. I'll defeat that unknown enemy too.
"Kearugsama, we finished." (Setsuna)
"It sure is easy when we have Guren's flames of purification." (Kureha)
Setsuna and the others, who were taking on the other small fry while I was fighting the hero of the【Axe】, came back.
We've dealt with the enemies here, so now we can advance forward.
From here on out, two remaining heroes and the thing that killed the hero of the【Axe】is waiting.
I'll need to brace myself even more than before.
I can see the Dioral king's neck in my head. I want to kill him, even a second faster.
TL Note: I'm not actually sure what the author means by 'jouo,' because it was cut off, so I'm just going to keep it as is until that character is revealed.