Ch.126Red Meteor (3)

A fierce fighting spirit boils up, ignited by the realization of my combative desire and the intense will to battle.

The “Sword Demon” gene transmits excitement to my brain at the prospect of facing a worthy opponent (warrior) after so long. This desire, transmitted to my brain, connects to electrical signals throughout my body, shifting my slightly stiffened form into optimal condition.

And then…

—Click.

‘…Huh?’

—KWAAAAAANG!!!

What signaled the start of combat was Droop Bazilit, who had somehow already fixed the hand cannon that had been hanging on his back, securing it with his shield-bearing left hand and left shoulder before firing.

The weapon, commonly called a shoulder cannon, had been standing upright on his back armor in a loaded state. He moved the muzzle forward to fire, launching a fist-sized metal projectile infused with aura from within.

A small cannon that fired aura-wrapped shells with no regard for consequences. Upon impact, it would almost certainly cause damage equivalent to instant death at minimum, but I responded to this surprise attack with relative flexibility.

“Hoo—”

—Slash!

I inhale while aiming my sword, swinging an extended virtual blade created by expanding my slash range to cut down the incoming shell.

—KWAAAAAANG!!!

It must have been some kind of explosive or high-explosive shell, as it immediately exploded in mid-air, painting the sky crimson. Through those flames came a flash like a red meteor—

—CLANG!!!

His axe and my zweihander collide with a metallic sound, moving at a tremendous speed that couldn’t possibly be called slow even by intermediate standards—about three times faster than average.

According to my amateur past-life scientific knowledge, destructive power equals mass times velocity. In other words, this guy’s attack, about three times faster than average, means he can strike with something three times more powerful than normal at three times the speed.

‘Is this the mystery behind his weapon technique…!!’

This unique speed, which I can’t in good conscience call ordinary, must be some kind of special ability that this red orc obtained after reaching a certain level of mastery.

Honestly, since it’s still a fragmentary ability acquired at the intermediate level, it doesn’t manifest any particularly magical powers, but there’s simply no countermeasure worth mentioning against such a straightforward and brute force ability.

A powerful strike from an axe that approaches at triple speed, flies at triple speed, and possesses triple power. A series of consecutive attacks as the weapon is retrieved and swung again at triple speed.

—Clang! Chang! Chang!

If I hadn’t significantly boosted my basic specs based on various factors, and if not for the combination of “Ultra Intuition” and “Weakness Detection,” I might have had to sacrifice flesh to save bone by now.

Particularly, this orc’s battle axe is a special magical weapon that glows red and emits intense heat when gripped, likely rendering plate armor or shields largely meaningless against it.

The blade part of the axe also instantly evaporates the acidic liquid flowing from my zweihander’s edge, so I suspect its effectiveness will once again be nullified in this encounter.

But beyond the weapon’s performance, this orc is simply strong. Without needing any convoluted explanation, this orc was just powerful.

Born with a warrior’s physique as an orc, he diligently trained to achieve superior physical capabilities. Not relying solely on brute force, his skill has reached a certain level where he can partially reproduce mysterious principles at the peak of intermediate level.

Taking a step further, it’s undoubtedly because of these solid fundamentals that his mysterious triple-speed ability can perform properly.

However, as I clash with him and his weapon, a reasonable doubt arises in my mind.

Is “moving at three times the normal speed” really something that can be achieved with just the fragments of mystery available at the intermediate level?

While advanced martial arts can create mysterious phenomena purely based on swordsmanship, intermediate martial arts’ fragments typically only enhance what one can already do.

For example, if an advanced practitioner can manifest fiery aura, then at the intermediate level they would only be able to make their aura swirl and cause burning sensations.

Similarly, if there were an advanced practitioner with the mystery of invulnerability (like Achilles’ skin in mythology), at the intermediate level they would merely maximize their defensive capabilities through aura.

Taking this a step further, even my slash extension is merely extending the blade using aura, not cutting something without the sword actually touching it.

In short, the mysteries that can be manifested at the intermediate level still maintain some connection to reality. The ability to maintain a speed about three times faster than normal, like the opponent before me, clearly falls into the realm of supernatural powers.

Of course, it might not be purely his own ability but could be the result of some externally attached special ability… Nevertheless, I shouldn’t let my guard down, right?

—Clang! Chang! Clang! Clang! Chang!

‘…Oh?’

As I continued exchanging fierce blows while pondering, I suddenly noticed something off about his movements…

‘For triple speed… it seems fast, but somehow lacks weight?’

The fact was that the power of this orc Droop Bazilit’s attacks seemed somewhat less threatening than expected.

In fact, even with basic arithmetic, the power of his attacks should generally exceed triple. After all, in Droop Bazilit’s current movements, all elements are operating at triple speed.

His charging speed, weapon swinging speed, and judging from how he blocks my attacks using intuition and weakness detection, his reaction speed is also about three times normal.

But if both his charging speed and weapon swinging speed are tripled, then the power of his attacks when charging after creating distance should… at the very least, easily exceed triple, shouldn’t it?

Therefore, based on this information, the conclusion I could draw was almost predetermined.

It’s not that his actual speed value is exactly tripled, but rather that his action speed is fixed at exactly three times normal.

‘…Like fast-forwarding a video?’

To explain it simply, it’s not that his “agility” stat is amplified by three, but rather like using a video player’s fast-forward function to fix the speed at triple.

Unlike tripled agility, he moves normally in a world that has slowed to 1/3 speed for him, so his reaction speed and such are all tripled, but in exchange, his offensive performance is relatively lacking.

Though they seem similar, the subtle differences in characteristics ultimately diverge, which is why I haven’t been able to achieve results despite moving with the assumption of triple speed until now.

‘In that case…!’

Just as I was quickly trying to adjust my movements to match his ability, it wasn’t only me who wanted to break this stalemate. Surprisingly, “Red Meteor” Droop Bazilit made the first move.

Inside his rectangular folding shield—with a military design reminiscent of a bulletproof plate—there was a blade mechanism, and that’s precisely the ability he was aiming to use.

As usual, he disguised it as a charging attack with his shield forward, planning to surprise me with the blade that would spring out from the front of the shield.

If I had been completely unaware of this surprise attack, I might have allowed an effective hit from the blade that sprung from the shield.

‘…Too obvious!’

But from the beginning, I knew about the mechanism hidden in that shield through intuition and weakness detection, and moreover, having noticed his intention to surprise me, it would be strange if I couldn’t block it.

“What—”

“Fall back!”

—KWAAANG!!!

In other words, I was able to take the initiative.

A blunt weapon I carried in case I encountered enemies immune to slashing attacks. A witch-enchanted electric oak club with purple lightning crackling around it.

As a result of unleashing the club’s power, which tears through enemies with physical lightning strikes, the shield—whose durability had decreased due to incorporating various mechanisms—was mercilessly torn apart and destroyed…

[Turn to stone…!!]

Clearly, I didn’t need to worry about the aftermath. I surreptitiously activated my evil eye, placing a petrification curse on his body, and charged toward him maintaining my speed.

Of course, my petrification evil eye isn’t very potent, and even with enhancements, it’s questionable whether it would work on intermediate-level opponents. Simultaneously, Droop Bazilit’s body, moving three times faster than normal, would recover from the curse at least three times faster.

In short, no matter how much magical power I pour into my evil eye to manifest magical power, the effect on him would be minimal, perhaps just making him flinch momentarily…

But that brief opening has more impact in combat between superhumans (intermediate level) than ordinary people might think.

“…It’s over.”

—Swoosh…

My zweihander stopped just before striking his neck.

As I declared this with my ivory-like blade held next to his neck, he seemed to realize that I could cut him down if I wanted to. He withdrew his fighting spirit as he was about to draw his sword from behind his back…

“I acknowledge my defeat.”

With a humility that was not at all servile, he calmly acknowledged his defeat and bowed his head to me, accepting his submission.

‘…Yay!!’

In other words, it was my victory, undeniable no matter how you look at it.