Ch.34Warrior (1)

Owl Bear.

It was a magical beast. Not a natural being.

Whatever its origin, in this Grim Darker, that monster was a form that shapeshifters couldn’t take.

The monster was a fake created by the Three Tribes. But I didn’t dispute the fact that the shapeshifter before me was an Owl Bear.

Shapeshifters are part of the Three Tribes, the Owl Bear is a creation of the Three Tribes, and the enemy before me is a soldier of the shapeshifters.

It’s not impossible. I simply calmed my mind.

The Owl Bear’s characteristics: razor-sharp claws and strength surpassing a bear.

The agility and vitality unique to avian beasts.

It’s my superior version. In raw power, it has the advantage. But in agility and vitality, I’m still ahead.

Its attack power is not lacking either. I realized this as I gripped my flaming blade.

My advantage lies in not confronting it with brute force.

That’s what I thought, but the battle flowed differently than expected.

The deck splits. The massive body charges, scattering sharp wooden splinters.

Its attack is a downward strike. With its front paws. The speed generated by its immense strength made the attack invisible.

I can’t see it, and the area is too wide. It’s deliberate. Sensing I couldn’t dodge, I blocked with my sword.

With a cracking sound, my body was sent flying.

My head shook, my front teeth broke, and I couldn’t breathe.

If I weren’t a homunculus, I would have lost consciousness.

My flying body shattered the railing and nearly fell. I barely managed to grab the remaining railing, as wooden fragments fell around me.

As I heard something splash into the sea, I pulled myself up to see the Owl Bear surrounded by Imperial soldiers.

“Form ranks!”

Following the sharp cry of someone who appeared to be a sergeant, the Imperial soldiers rallied. Despite the sudden appearance of the enemy and their fatigue, they continued the battle.

They thrust hastily assembled pikes, and the mage formed hand signs to cast simple spells.

A beam of light and numerous pikes illuminate the dawn. Light glistens on the pike tips, but none of the attacks connect.

WHOOOOOOSH!

Its feathers were as hard as steel. Between deflected attacks, the Owl Bear lowered its head to avoid the light and then roared.

The roar had a paralyzing effect. Imperial soldiers fell without even uttering death cries. The Owl Bear raised its front paw toward the mage, who seemed most threatening.

Smart. I would do the same. I ran to save the mage, but it was impossible to reach him before the paw.

It was Isla who saved the mage.

SPLASH, THWACK!

The Owl Bear’s head was struck by a flying stone. The lead bullet penetrated even the steel-like feathers and delivered its impact before falling into the sea, but Isla had no time to worry about that.

Her exposed hand had transformed into that of a beast. There was no time to hold back.

Thanks to her, the mage survived. He quickly completed his hand signs.

Then flames filled the dim night air.

“—!”

With an unintelligible incantation, flames pushed back the Owl Bear’s massive body. The ship rocked violently, and the Owl Bear, after being thrown back, landed and struck down a nearby soldier with its beak.

CRUNCH!

What followed was predation. The Owl Bear instantly regenerated its singed fur and threw the devoured human toward me.

A flying corpse. I twisted my body to avoid it as the tilted ship returned to its original position. Ignoring the swaying deck, I thrust my sword with both hands.

It didn’t connect. Just an inch short. The Owl Bear raised its front paw to block, then lowered it.

SCREEEECH!

Flames shot along my sword strike and pierced its eye. An unexpected attack, an unavoidable strike. But the effect was minimal. Rather, it backfired.

I didn’t see the Owl Bear’s front paw shooting through the flames.

My world shook again. For a moment, my body wouldn’t move. My spine must be injured.

Blood leaked from my mouth due to damaged internal organs, and the attack that I couldn’t block dented my armor’s surface, pushing me back.

But I couldn’t be pushed back. I planted my feet firmly on the deck, and instead of being pushed back, I ground to a halt by tearing through the deck.

I had to attack. From below upward, the Star Blade surging through the deck.

It was a sharp slash, but it didn’t connect. Instead, the Owl Bear flexed its back flexibly like a human to avoid it.

Gurk, grinding the blood leaking from my mouth, I took a step forward. And thrust. Even that doesn’t connect. I’m pushed back after hitting the Owl Bear’s front paw, the part corresponding to the back of a human hand.

In the gap created by being pushed back, there was a counterattack. When the front paw falling toward me pounded my body.

For a brief moment, I felt like I was run over by a car.

Crushed. Pulverized. My spine breaks, and my ribs slice through my lungs. My body twitches in pain, but I desperately moved my arm.

Thunk, the sensation of cutting through flesh. The Owl Bear roared as my sword pierced its front paw, and it raised both front paws high before bringing them down.

Ah, I can’t dodge this.

By the time I realized, it was too late.

BOOM, CRASH!

I’m smashed through the metal-reinforced solid deck into the lower deck. The world spins roughly, shakes, and trembles. Unable to hold back my nausea, I vomit, filling my helmet with the smell of iron and blood.

WHOOOOSH…

Amid a ringing sound, I hear a thunderous noise. Desperately throwing my body aside, something plunges down where I had been.

I thought it was a meteorite. Until I was blown away by the explosive pressure.

It was the Owl Bear. It had tried to crush me to death using its entire body weight. Realizing this didn’t make me happy, but I was relieved that my reason was still intact.

I shouldn’t confront it with brute force. I need to fight with my strengths: attack power, agility, and vitality.

But how?

There weren’t many options. Countering strength with technique or speed wasn’t realistic. It was fantasy.

I’m not a master capable of such feats, and even a master couldn’t subdue such a massive body with speed or technique.

I felt this way even as I barely managed to stand. I gripped my sword with the same skepticism.

It was then that the snow leopard leaped toward the Owl Bear as it approached me.

ROAR!

Isla charged with a roar unique to feline predators. She bit the Owl Bear’s nape, but the Owl Bear twisted its body and threw her off as if it were nothing.

And the Owl Bear didn’t even bleed. As I reflexively caught the thrown Isla, my body was sent flying again, crashing into the crew’s quarters.

At that moment, when the room was filled with feathers from broken pillows and bedding.

Isla, now in a form closer to a human snow leopard than a pure snow leopard, aimed and fired her hand crossbow.

Twang, thud!

Perfect aim. Incredible marksmanship, firing immediately after being thrown.

But the arrow didn’t connect. The Owl Bear raised its front paw to block the crossbow bolt and then looked up at the arrows raining down from the upper deck.

“Fire!”

A volley of arrows. The rain of arrows would have been overwhelming even for me, but the Owl Bear quietly raised both front paws to protect only its face.

The arrows that stuck into its fur couldn’t penetrate its body, and when the rain of arrows ended, the Owl Bear spread its front paws.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The third roar. A low-frequency curse that paralyzes listeners. As the mage extended his hand to counter it, the Owl Bear had already leaped up.

What happened wasn’t clearly visible, but it was obvious.

CRUNCH!

The deck shattered, and crushed pulp dripped down to the lower deck.

Seeing that, I instantly knew. The mage, the Empire’s greatest asset, was dead.

Only Isla and I remained. The regular Imperial soldiers couldn’t inflict effective damage on the Owl Bear. I pushed Isla’s body away and ran.

ROAAAR!

Isla, in what should be called a snow leopard-human form, swung her front paw to slash.

And as the Owl Bear’s gaze momentarily turned to Isla, I swung my sword, aiming for its front paw.

SLASH!

I had intended to cut it off completely, but that didn’t happen. One severed toe rose up and fell onto the lower deck.

And before that toe even landed, the Owl Bear’s hind leg shot toward me.

A kick. A movement the Owl Bear shouldn’t naturally be able to do.

It was possible because it was a shapeshifter. I realized my mistake too late.

I tried to duck, but I knew I couldn’t dodge it. The attack covered too much area.

So I had to block. My consciousness, which had been cut off the moment I raised my sword, returned as I crashed through cargo.

Am I alive? For now.

What about Isla?

Raising my head, I saw Isla growling as she fought the Owl Bear.

She jumps, ducks, and changes form fluidly to avoid each swipe of its front paws.

She’s also squeezing in attacks between dodges, but they’re not effective.

It was clear that Isla had the advantage in instantaneous speed and reflexes.

Thanks to that, she could hold out. Just hold out.

It was certain she couldn’t hold out for long.

The Imperial soldiers?

Looking up, I only saw those still paralyzed on the floor. Many were dead.

So it’s up to me. I had to do it. So I tried to put strength in my legs, but.

FLOP!

My body wouldn’t obey my will.

As I lay sprawled on the floor, observing my own body, I saw:

[Mourning 2/3]

[Time Remaining: 0 seconds]

The mourning was over.

Breathing was difficult. My body instinctively curled up from the overwhelming pain.

The expression “mangled all over” perfectly described the pain. My legs were so twisted that my feet pointed behind me.

My arms were bent backward, pinned to the floor, and with each breath, the smell of blood filled my mouth.

The smell of blood. Even with the effects of holy blood and armor, these were fatal wounds.

A human would already be dead.

Even as a monster, I was reduced to rags.

Only then did I understand the true meaning of that shapeshifter’s proposal.

He said he was a soldier.

He said the Three Tribes had even worse monsters.

Surely, he must have despaired.

He couldn’t have been in that form from the beginning, and he wasn’t always a soldier.

When he talked about becoming a local collaborator to a soldier, there was a strange persuasiveness. It must have been his own story.

From a seasoned warrior to a soldier of the Three Tribes. From master of his own fate to a mere pawn.

As I contemplated that trajectory, I gritted my teeth.

[Mourning]

[Time Remaining: 60 seconds]

Isla was holding out, but she was reaching her physical limit. Her transformation was gradually fading, leaving her as a human with only beast-like limbs.

“Kuk, uh, huh, hoo.”

At this rate, Isla would die. I didn’t want that. Panting, with legs giving out, she sat down several times but got up again.

Isla’s attack power couldn’t inflict fatal wounds on the Owl Bear. Isla herself knew this, and so did the Owl Bear. It looked at me with an annoyed expression.

Had it realized Isla was buying time? It no longer paid attention to her.

Arrows and thrown stones weren’t effective against it.

There weren’t many beings who could face such a monster.

Now I understood why the intelligence unit that had been trying to land was annihilated.

Because such a monster was guarding.

And to such a monster, the most threatening being on this ship was me.

A similar monster, Ruwellin, a homunculus and the man-eating baron, the Star Blade, slayer of the black mage.

The hero of Servan.

As I met the Owl Bear’s bright yellow eyes staring at me, I thought:

I don’t know how to win.

Of all the experiences I’ve had, this was the one where the possibility of death felt most vivid.

My hands trembled involuntarily with fear. As I forcibly steadied them, the Owl Bear took a cautious stance.

That’s the kind of being it was. Not a monster that recklessly charges in drunk on power, but a warrior who cautiously responds with full force.

It understood and used its strength properly.

It was stronger than me.

More skilled and experienced than me.

I didn’t know how to win.

But I steeled my resolve. I forcibly moved my trembling arms. Just as I gripped the sword hilt with my regenerated elbow, something flashed through my mind like a panorama of memories.

Words I had seen somewhere came to me.

The saying that dying people see such things not to reflect on their lives but to find a way to survive.

So I surrendered myself to the flood of overflowing memories.

Tender memories, sad memories, happy memories.

Amidst them, something clear reached me.

‘Martial arts is the way of handling weapons.’

A voice chirping like a bird.

‘Furthermore, it’s the way of controlling the body that holds the weapon.’

And those whispered words.

Teachings I had buried in my memory because I didn’t understand them.

Now I finally understood.

That teaching mixed with the martial arts ingrained in my brain.

If you’re strong, you can hit your enemy hard.

But that’s not all.

Strength can also be used to control your body.

It was the same in the game. When strength increased, not only did attack power increase, but accuracy did too.

That must be what it means.

I moved my body according to the posture etched in my mind.

Unlike before, when I just unleashed overflowing power to pound enemies.

I tightened my muscles to fix my twisted legs and broken spine in place.

That’s how I stood straight.

For the first time, I achieved a proper “stance.”

A sense of stability greeted me, along with a vague feeling that I could do something.

The power of muscles tightly binding even broken bones. I channeled that tremendous strength completely inward.

The movements didn’t need to be large.

When swayed by great power, movements become larger and create openings. That’s normal.

So I suppressed with strength and used power efficiently.

Just as I aimed my sword with my newly found stance.

ROAAAAAR!

The Owl Bear charged. It approached me with a lowered stance.

An attack. But my blurred vision couldn’t see it. Nevertheless, I remained still with my sword aimed.

Even if my eyes could see, it was too fast to be visible. Surely.

But its massive volume, its clear trajectory, its definite path.

Made me anticipate its movement.

I predicted the charging attack and moved quickly. My agility made this possible.

I twisted my body and bent my waist sideways. Even as I lowered my body close to the ground, I didn’t collapse.

I endured with strength. The power coursing through my entire body made this possible.

All that remained was to extend my sword. I placed my sword along the trajectory I had read.

SLASH!

With the sound of cutting, a thunderous noise extended behind me.

Walls breaking, floors being crushed, cargo being pressed under massive weight.

And still not enough, the sound of something crashing through the lower deck, burying itself deeper, then crawling back up.

I ignored all of that, just intoxicated by the feeling flowing through my sword hilt.

Finally, I realized.

This is swordsmanship.

And I also realized that I could do more now, that I could do better.

Ideas flowed along with a sense of achievement.

That exhilaration pushed me, and I took my stance again.

As I aimed my sword toward where the Owl Bear had flown, the Owl Bear with a large gash in its side gasped for breath.

The Owl Bear quickly erased its confusion and took its stance again.

The moment our eyes met, I swung my sword toward the charging Owl Bear.