Ch.39Chapter 39. What Matters Is an Unbreakable Spirit

Annoyance.

The biggest obstacle to fulfilling desires, yet ironically, that emotion itself is a byproduct of all kinds of desires.

Every being with self-awareness craves safety, and thus instinctively finds comfort in not having to do anything.

-Ring-a-ling~♪

So I didn’t want to do anything.

If I could convert such feelings into power, I would want to do nothing even more intensely than before.

At this moment, as faint music sounds from across the valley, Sloth felt himself being swayed by such desires more than ever before.

Even though that sound somehow felt familiar, he gave up on tracing those memories completely.

“…Sloth.”

A low voice reaches him as his eyes begin to close from the strengthening desire.

Guided by it, he turns his gaze to see an orc standing guard with a mace planted in the ground.

Hellcry. The new executive of the Demon Lord’s army who killed the previous captain and took his position while he was sleeping.

“This duel won’t end until one of us dies.”

Although just an orc, Sloth had no particular thoughts about him.

He simply belonged to the Demon Lord’s army, and as a mere soldier, he had to follow the captain’s orders…

No matter how lazy he was, he wasn’t so unaware as to forget such responsibility.

“Yes, I understand, Captain.”

Yes, just the minimum responsibility.

The only reason Sloth began to move his heavy body from this spot was precisely that.

Without respect or regard for his opponent.

Simply because he knew this was the only way to be free from annoyance.

“I’ll commend you for not going down in one hit, but that’s all there is to it.”

Having absorbed an impact equivalent to being hit by a carriage moving at full speed, it would certainly be impossible to move any further.

So this would end with this strike.

-Boom!

The attack he swung after creating distance merely struck the wall powerlessly.

It was quite some time after that when he noticed the target had moved from its position.

“…Huff, huff.”

It couldn’t be called a particularly fast movement.

A body so exhausted it was practically crawling on the ground.

His nerves were simply too slow to react in time.

“What annoying resistance.”

The crawling figure was heading toward the spear he had thrown.

He understood why the man was clinging to that weapon as his only means of attack, but that understanding didn’t translate into respect or consideration.

Even now he could feel his desire strengthening with the music playing.

Why was this person struggling so desperately, avoiding the path where both could be comfortable?

“Why do you endure such pain? The result won’t change anyway…”

Following the desperately crawling figure with slow steps, his fist tightened as the distance closed.

The spear was still some distance away from the man.

Though it had taken some time, such a delay wouldn’t lead to a miracle.

This fight would end here.

“Don’t drag this out any longer. It’ll just be more annoying.”

-Swoosh!

A rushing sound erupted at the moment of certainty.

Though his nerves were on edge, it was several seconds before he looked toward the source of the sound.

He didn’t know the process of what had happened.

He could only barely see the result.

Somehow the spear that should have been far away was now gripped in the man’s hand and being swung at him.

-Crash!

As the spear cut through his shoulder before his fist could complete its arc, the attack veered off course and crashed into the side, sending fragments flying violently.

In that moment when the ground trembled from absorbing the force of the massive impact.

-Crack, crack!!

Taking advantage of that opening, two consecutive strikes destroyed his balance, and afterward the human who had created distance reached into his chest.

Was he still looking for a means of resistance?

Staring blankly at that sight, Sloth quietly began to examine his own chest, cut by the spear.

Though his carapace would regenerate even if cut, the bleeding that had already occurred wouldn’t disappear.

He hadn’t suffered vital damage like organ injury yet, but if these small wounds that penetrated his defenses accumulated, it could become truly dangerous.

‘But the same applies to him.’

No, the opponent’s condition was actually more serious.

A human without regenerative abilities, even if he had the strength to wield a spear.

If he could use magic there might be variables, but there was no sign of such ability in his opponent.

So if the fight continued, the one who would collapse first would clearly be the opponent.

-Clang!

As if to overturn such expectations again.

The man began smashing glass bottles from his chest against his head one after another.

-Clang, clang.

The medicine inside poured over his head and various parts of his body, and as it seeped into his wounds, it made a hissing sound.

Enduring this process, he gripped the spear shaft tightly and clenched his jaw.

“Kha, aah… ugh!!”

Healing potion.

A substance that burns wounds to quickly stop bleeding and promotes rapid recovery from fractures and abrasions by enhancing healing power.

As long as it’s not an amputation, it can even revive paralyzed nerves, making it an excellent emergency treatment for injuries that prevent movement.

If one can endure the terrible pain that accompanies it.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!”

But terrible pain tends to break the mind and destroy judgment.

That’s why it’s never something to use during combat, yet he was enduring it with his body while screaming.

A howl that could be either a scream of pain or a battle cry to exert full strength.

“What on earth…”

“Kuaa, aaaaargh!”

With that, the violently swung spear scraped his skin, and as those attacks continued in succession, they began to push his body back.

And at the end, a full-power spear thrust executed through the gap created by the increased distance.

-Bang!

When that attack exploded into his body.

Sloth gritted his teeth as he felt the tremor emanating from the spear.

‘A self-moving spear… a weapon with a soul?’

Having just realized that the weapon that had been far away came to the man’s hand because it had awakened such self-awareness.

Before he could pull it out before it tore through his body, the spear pulled itself out and flew toward the man first.

Drip, blood flowing from where the spear had been pulled out.

As the accumulated damage progressed from minor to serious injuries, Sloth began to glare at him with glowing eyes.

“Why on earth…”

Even feeling pain is annoying.

He’s so indifferent to death that he wouldn’t blink even if his heart were targeted.

Yet the frustration he felt at this moment was clearly due to his inability to understand his opponent.

“Why do you fight so desperately? Why, when you’re suffering so much…”

-Bang!!

As the spear in his hand pierced his body again.

As the throwing power of the spear’s consciousness strengthened, he felt a destructive force through his body that pushed his footsteps backward.

“Don’t get cocky, you lazy bastard.”

The man who threw that spear answered with gritted teeth to his frustration.

“You may have disgusting strength, but your speed is pathetically slow… Your posture is a mess and your punches lack focus. Don’t you think it’s too greedy to expect a fight to end with such carelessly swung strikes?”

Despite feeling his body burning from the healing power of the potion, the weak human stared at him with clear eyes while enduring even that pain.

His attacks were certainly destructive, but even now his trembling limbs showed that he was like a candle in the wind.

“That’s rich coming from someone who can barely stand after those carelessly swung strikes.”

So just one more hit.

If he could land just one more hit.

-Crash!!!

A stomp filled with that determination flipped the ground, destroying the opponent’s stance.

It was natural for him to jump from his position to escape such precariousness.

Realizing that an unavoidable situation had been created, Sloth focused his gaze on him and put strength into his body.

“With a body already reduced to rags, stop annoying me any further, human…!”

Bang! As his fist turned into an afterimage with his leap.

That strike could be compared to a cannonball without exaggeration, but even so, there was no fear drawn on the man’s face.

Was it because he hadn’t realized that the attack was aimed at him?

‘No, that’s wrong.’

Before his fist could pierce the man’s head, Sloth could clearly see it.

Those wide-open eyes.

Not turning away from the fist aimed at his head for even a moment.

-Swoosh!!

At the moment when he managed to dodge the incoming projectile by focusing on it until the critical moment, achieving it through will rather than luck.

The man’s hand, having preserved his life by the narrowest margin, was gripping precisely the spear that had been embedded in his body earlier.

-Crunch!!!

Flesh being torn away along the trajectory of the pulled spear. Carapace shattering into pieces.

Taking advantage of the gap created, the man repeatedly struck his body, putting his weight on his two feet planted on the ground.

‘Strange. How on earth…?’

Moving a body that’s only received emergency treatment would only worsen its condition.

The pain from the medicine soaking his body must be tormenting his mind even now.

-Rumble, rumble

But it was still too early to say that the opportunity he had seized had borne fruit.

The opponent was a demon who converted laziness into power. The toughness cultivated by that wouldn’t be defeated by just a few spear strikes.

So he needed to confirm the kill.

Before something more outrageous appeared, with his own hands.

-Crash!!

The pile of rocks exploded as he moved forward to do so.

Immediately after, something passed by his side and collided with the cliff on the opposite side, making his nerves stand on edge and his breath freeze.

“What on earth…”

Something had passed by.

Despite his concentration, all he could follow was a red afterimage.

“Ah, aah… annoying.”

As that being pulled its body out from the rock wall it had collided with, it slowly opened its mouth lined with sharp teeth and began to speak.

With the same voice as the Demon of Indolence he had been driving back until now.

“Still, if I put it off, it’ll be more annoying, so I should finish this as quickly as possible…”

Yes, his appearance had changed.

As all the thick carapace covering his body fell away, revealing the black flesh inside.

As light emerged from the cracks that had formed here and there, the smile that had formed on my lips upon realizing the previous afterimage gradually stiffened with tension.

“You… have you been hiding your strength all this time?”

By removing his outer shell to lighten his weight, his speed had also increased.

He had moved surprisingly before, but even then it was at a level where I could react with my eyes.

But now his movements were so fast they left afterimages.

If he had been able to adjust that speed and change direction, it wouldn’t have been strange if my body had been torn to pieces in the first rush.

“I’ve been at full power from the beginning. I just decided that I shouldn’t drag this out any longer, so I need to finish it quickly now.”

“Shit, what are you, a high school kid cramming the night before an exam?”

To slack off the whole time and then feel rushed at the end and try to cram.

Isn’t that laziness itself from beginning to end?

“Your thoughts don’t matter. What’s important is that you’ve annoyed me more than anyone I’ve ever met, and if I get more annoyed, you’ll have to feel greater pain.”

Facing me as I felt astonishment, he calmly spoke while quietly taking his stance.

Nevertheless, what was drawn in his gaze fixed on me was clearly something that could be called fighting spirit.

“So if you want to be comfortable, stop anytime, human.”

“If you stop for just one moment, I’ll end your life without giving you time to feel pain.”

There was no consideration in what came from his mouth, but even that seemed merciful to me now.

What awaited afterward was a tightrope walk with a body that found even breathing painful, where allowing even one more attack would end it all.

The pressure I felt from him in that situation was enough to break my body that was barely hanging on the edge of its limit…

“Thanks for the concern, but it’s unnecessary meddling.”

Nevertheless, I had no thought of giving up here.

I had a weapon that could kill him, and with music making my mind clear.

I keenly felt that utilizing my greatest weapon would secure this moment’s advantage.

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Unique Ability: Existence Imprint

Aptitude Values

Physical: C+++ Skill: C++

Intelligence: C- Perception: C+

Mental: A Mystical: F

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“…My only strength is that I survive well no matter where I’m thrown.”

Yes, isn’t it clearly shown on the status window activated at this moment?

Both the mythril ego-weapon and the mental elevation are ultimately just aids.

In the end, what needs to be established is overcoming the pain felt at this moment and the fear of death waiting just ahead.

[Remember. No matter what opponent comes, what’s important is not doubting that you will win.]

If Irie’s prophecy is truly real, and if everything that makes me who I am at this moment is a necessary condition.

I’ll just do my best to face it, using the future she foresaw as a guide.

“So prepare yourself from now on, you monster who’s only cocky because of your birth advantage.”

So I fight without giving up.

To prove that the reason I’ve been able to survive in this crazy world isn’t just the result of luck.

“From now on, I’ll show you just how annoying a human you’ve underestimated can be.”

With the single belief that if he can’t kill me, I’ll eventually win.

Sharpening that one belief more keenly than the spear in my hand.