Goblin vs Oni(2)

“Hey, you fucking bitch. I asked you first. Is she alive?”

At my words full of emotion, Ryoka closes her mouth for a moment and looks at me with a blank expression.

A reaction as if she didn’t understand that she had just been cursed at.

But soon Ryoka burst into a bitter laugh and answered me with a face that seemed to say ‘how absurd’.

“Of course she’s alive. I took her as a hostage, if I killed her, she’d lose her value, wouldn’t she?”

“……”

It’s not a lie.

Looking at Ryoka and making that judgment, I inwardly harbored suspicion at her unexpectedly straightforward answer.

Whether the reason she told me this was simply because she was straightforward and simpleminded, or because she thought it didn’t matter to tell me this much.

Probably the most likely possibility was that now that the fight she so desired with me had been realized, she no longer felt much importance in the hostage.

But anyway, now that I had confirmed Neon’s life or death, I let out a sigh of relief at the words that Neon was alive.

And now that I had confirmed that, I opened my mouth again to enter into the battle that could be called the main purpose.

“Of course…”

No, I was about to open my mouth.

However, before I could open my mouth, Ryoka’s voice reached my ears first.

“That kid, she’s alive, but I’ve crushed all her limbs. Just in case she resists, it’d be troublesome, so I broke them one by one. It’s a bit of a shame… Well, should I apologize?”

Ryoka spits out those words along with a giggling laugh.

That provocative addendum enters my mind, painting a vivid image.

Words that anyone could see were meant to provoke me.

It was a provocation with such an obvious intention. Probably in a normal situation, it would have just been unpleasant and nothing more.

But at least at this moment, that provocation had a very big effect, so I almost wanted to praise her.

“Ha……”

A bitter laugh bursts out of me involuntarily as I hear Ryoka’s provocation.

At the same time, the emotions I had been suppressing on the aircraft carrier surge up like an active volcano erupting.

And unable to control the strength of those emotions, I gripped the handle of Hwa-gon tightly.

Creak—

The sound of friction with Hwa-gon’s handle echoes fiercely on the rooftop of the building.

I feel like I want to unleash all the things contained in this emotion called anger right now.

However, even though such a desire arose, I didn’t rush in full of openings, dominated by emotion.

『…Shin-yeon.』

‘I know, so you don’t need to say anything.’

In the first place, acting emotionally in the current situation wouldn’t yield any results, so I shouldn’t do that.

What I needed to do now was to hold onto my reason and give Ryoka pain that would completely consume these emotions rising up inside me.

And only by putting a period at the end with death would this feeling that seemed about to burst from frustration be resolved.

Therefore, as I looked at Ryoka with eyes that were calm to the point of being cold, she saw my slightly trembling hand and smiled, showing her teeth.

“Looks like you’re finally in the mood to fight?”

“…I came here originally to crush that filthy neck of yours.”

“You’ll kill me? Kuhahahat!!! That’s right!! A fight should be life-or-death after all!!!”

As if very satisfied with my answer, Ryoka bursts into laughter and takes out a sword hung on her back.

Shing—

“If it’s a weapon fight, I’m confident too!”

“You’re noisy… shut that mouth and come at me now.”

“Ah, wait. Before that, there’s one thing I need to hear?”

But just before the curtain of the fight rose with my words to come at me, Ryoka postponed it for a moment and rested the sword she was holding on her shoulder.

Ryoka, who postponed the opening saying she needed to hear one fact from me before the fight started.

The question that came from her mouth was truly insignificant.

“You, what’s your name?”

A simple and clear question asking for my name.

That is uttered from Ryoka’s mouth.

And hearing that trivial question, I let out a bitter laugh for who knows how many times, and then reopened the fight that Ryoka had postponed.

Tap—!

A short sound of kicking off.

Then Ryoka, who had been far away, appears right in front of my nose in one step.

Then I swing Hwa-gon with all my might towards Ryoka’s head and open my mouth.

“Remember the name Shin-yeon.”

Along with my brief answer uttered like that.

Finally, the fight began.

---

A sudden surprise attack.

The bat of the girl who introduced herself as Shin-yeon is swung towards Ryoka’s head.

Whoosh—!!!

The bat approaches with an ominous sound, with such strong force behind it.

However, Ryoka, who had already prepared for a surprise attack, avoided the attack by leaning her body backwards.

Planting her feet firmly on the ground and leaning back vigorously, the bat passes by, grazing Ryoka’s bangs with a whoosh.

“That’s vicious!! If I hadn’t dodged, I would have died on the spot!!”

“……”

Since she had her sword resting on her shoulder, she couldn’t counterattack, but Ryoka expressed pure admiration at the perfectly timed surprise attack.

However, there was no answer in return.

Instead, what comes back is Shin-yeon’s left fist, extended using the force of her charge.

“A strength contest is good too!!”

And this time, Ryoka had also adjusted her posture, so she likewise extended her left fist to meet it.

Boom—–!!!!!

The goblin’s fist and the oni’s fist collide head-on.

The fists of races that both take pride in their strength. Ryoka too had put her full strength into her punch, wanting to feel the famous strength of goblins firsthand.

After all, which side’s strength was stronger was something Ryoka had been curious about for a long time.

And the result of that collision appeared immediately afterwards.

Crack—!!

“Kugh…!”

Ryoka’s bones crack with a terrible sound.

An unfamiliar pain she hadn’t felt in decades causes a sharp scream to escape from Ryoka’s mouth.

And although she had said the result was unknown, she hadn’t expected to be overwhelmed in terms of strength, so there was also a slight bewilderment mixed in Ryoka’s scream.

However, before Ryoka could deny the reality, Shin-yeon’s muttering, having withdrawn her fist, reached Ryoka’s ears.

“…What? You’re weaker than I thought?”

I was expecting oni to be strong, you know.

Adding that, Shin-yeon’s sneer flies towards Ryoka.

At those words that pricked her pride as an oni and that sneer that stimulated her anger, Ryoka gritted her teeth, feeling that this fight would be interesting in many ways indeed.

Grind–.

“I haven’t shown you everything yet, so don’t be disappointed so soon!”

And grinding her teeth like that, this time Ryoka kicked off the ground first and charged at Shin-yeon.

The bones of her left arm that had already cracked were almost healed thanks to the oni’s excellent regenerative ability.

However, it seemed it would take about ten more seconds before she could properly use it in combat, so what Ryoka swung was the katana held in her right hand.

“From now on it’s my real full power, so let me enjoy it!!”

The katana, made by processing mana stone itself rather than mana alloy, is swung at Shin-yeon, drawing an arc.

A weapon that could cut even mana alloy like paper, which could be called unreasonable.

Swinging such a katana with her own strength behind it, that iron bat would be lightly cut through and an arm would fly off the body.

Clang—!!!

That’s what she thought until Shin-yeon’s iron bat lightly blocked the katana.

“What…?!”

“What are you doing? Didn’t you say full power?”

Ryoka’s katana, which she thought would cut through without resistance, was blocked by the bat with a clear sound.

At the sight of it being blocked without even cutting in slightly, let alone being cut, Ryoka made a blank expression.

What on earth was it made of to block her katana?

No matter how she looked at it, Shin-yeon’s bat wasn’t made of mana stone, so Ryoka couldn’t understand.

However, at Shin-yeon’s sneer asking if this was really her full power, Ryoka chose to move her body rather than try to understand the current situation.

“This is fun indeed!!”

Clang clang clang—!!

Sliding the katana that was blocked by the bat, Ryoka rises into the air and kicks out towards Shin-yeon.

What Ryoka herself had to do was enjoy this fight itself rather than understand some unknown thing.

Unknown information about the enemy could be figured out while fighting, that was all.

So she swings her foot towards Shin-yeon’s head, and simultaneously swings the katana in her right hand towards Shin-yeon’s legs.

Whichever wasn’t blocked would cause great hindrance afterwards.

But both were attacks that couldn’t be easily blocked because their power was so formidable.

…If only the opponent hadn’t been Shin-yeon.

“Hup!”

Lightly jumping up from where she was standing, Shin-yeon grabs Ryoka’s ankle and avoids the katana swung at her legs.

Then, stepping down to pin the katana to the ground, Shin-yeon looked down for a moment at Ryoka, who she had stopped in midair by grabbing her ankle.

“……”

“Wait… this seems a bit dangerous……”

And sensing from that look that an attack was coming, Ryoka tried to somehow pull out her katana to strengthen her defense, but the katana that Shin-yeon was stepping on only rattled without budging.

Thus, about 1 second was wasted in vain.

And that split second moment came back to Ryoka as a very bone-deep pain.

“Dam…!”

“Really……”

In the blink of an eye, Shin-yeon’s knee digs into Ryoka’s solar plexus.

Crack—–!!!!!

The bones that broke with a vicious sound screamed instead of Ryoka’s blocked mouth.

“Ku… ugh……”

And what reached Ryoka’s ears as she exhaled rapid breaths was Shin-yeon’s words that continued, mixed with a disappointed sigh.

“…You’re weak.”

That single word, as if no other words were needed.

However, with just that one word, Ryoka felt something she had bound up being released.

Wouldn’t it be okay to use it against an opponent of this level? Such a question flashed through Ryoka’s mind for a moment.

And it was an instant that she answered that question.

Immediately after, black mist began to rise from Ryoka’s body.