Ch.519519. Sparring with Hanelrn (1)

The Status Window had been working hard to restore my abilities in various ways. Lately, though, the frequency and rate of improvement had decreased significantly compared to before. Infusing mana into my once-inadequate body didn’t cause pain at all. Rather, it made me feel a surge of vitality.

“Mana is raging inside…!”

Just as Sione said.

As soon as I absorbed the Divine Power, the mana began to surge inside my body, bringing intense pain.

Suppressing my panic and quickly sensing the changes in my body, I could understand why this pain was occurring.

‘My body is going to return to how it was before I died.’

In the end, I had only reached A-rank. What I lacked was conquering the highest-grade dangerous dungeons to be fully recognized as S-rank. My personal abilities had already surpassed the S-rank barrier.

‘Not just the amount of mana, but all the pathways for mana are being forcibly expanded.’

The mana was filling my heart, and the Divine Power was being prevented from escaping my body.

If you can’t remove it, you must accept it. The mana that once allowed me to control two top-tier spirits was now forcibly transforming my body.

The problem was—

“…You need to stabilize the mana, right? I’ll help you.”

The fact that my current body’s talent for mana was incomparably lower than my original body.

I wondered just how much Divine Power had been contained in that jewel to cause such a dramatic change all at once.

But right now, what mattered was stabilizing the mana as quickly as possible with Sione’s help. I worked to regulate the turbulent energy that was randomly coursing through my body.

‘Starting from the heart, all the way to the fingertips.’

I’d reached this state once before.

Just as I had done in the past, I governed the inside of my body. After focusing intensely on preventing the forcibly widened mana pathways from being damaged by the torrent, I don’t know how much time passed.

My pounding heart calmed down, and instead of pain, an overflowing vitality began to tickle my body. Finally, I took a slow, deep breath and opened my eyes.

“…Done.”

It seems I’ve used up all that Divine Power to raise my level.

‘At this rate.’

At least I shouldn’t have to fear the legion of corpses led by the Lord of Decay more than necessary.

When I actually conquered that dungeon, dealing with such legions was my role anyway.

Just as I was about to put aside my past frustrations with this body’s weakness…

「Your vessel for Divine Power has expanded.」

「Your abilities as a proxy are now unlocked.」

Just as I was about to cheer at the news that I had gained additional special abilities I could use…

Sione, who had been watching her husband lying there with only his eyes open and smiling to himself, spoke cautiously, filled with worry that her husband might have finally lost his mind.

“From your mana to your aura, everything’s gotten much stronger than before. I was really shocked when you were in pain… but you seem fine now. How do you feel?”

“Someone helped me control my energy. Of course I feel great.”

“Heh, glad my efforts paid off.”

It was definitely thanks to Sione that I was able to put the brakes on the wildly flowing mana.

Sione, who had been quietly helping me all along, still had visible beads of sweat on her face.

I carefully wiped her sweat with my sleeve, and she leaned against me. I was a bit worried about my smell after breaking into a cold sweat, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I was right to tell you to use that jewel. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah. Who knew absorbing the Divine Power from one jewel would make me this much stronger.”

“So… how much stronger did you get? What I felt while helping you was quite extraordinary. Can you compare yourself to me?”

She must have snuggled up to me just to ask this.

Since she had surpassed the Master wall before me, she’d been somewhat smug like a disciple who had surpassed her teacher.

Unfortunately for Sione.

“I don’t think I can compare myself to you.”

“…Why?”

“Because you’d need to be at least at your mother’s level to be comparable to me.”

Unless you’ve killed at least one dragon, it’s not easy to compare yourself to me.

The world is vast and there are many skilled people, but how many can face an archer who controls two top-tier spirits?

However, I was ultimately caught by Sione’s next words.

“Come on, that’s a lie. My archery skills are almost as good as yours now, Ray!”

“……”

“Stop that and tell me properly. I’m curious.”

I was well and truly caught.

* * *

Sione, having assisted me, had a rough idea of how much my mana had increased.

Whether it was denial of reality or not, she wouldn’t believe my well-founded confidence.

Now that I had regained the mana of my prime, I needed to test my current abilities.

‘It would be more fun to spar with Sione, but…’

Unfortunately, the baronial estate didn’t have a special arena for archers like us.

Arrows that explode upon hitting targets couldn’t be fired recklessly—one misfire could cause a major accident. Besides, battles between Masters were famous for devastating the surroundings.

While it might be entertaining to watch Sione, excited to prove herself superior to me, and me, irritated by her attitude, engage in a no-holds-barred duel, we should avoid shooting arrows in urgent combat without paying attention to our surroundings.

Therefore, a knight of suitable skill would be perfect for adapting to my sharpened senses and recovering my old instincts.

‘If this were the count’s estate, I’d immediately challenge Captain Diolia to a match.’

But unfortunately, this was a baronial estate.

In the absence of my usual sparring partner, I chose her junior instead.

“Sir Hanelrn, I look forward to our match.”

“It’s an honor to spar with the head of the family who has achieved such growth. However… I wonder if I can be a worthy opponent for you, my lord, who was already strong before…”

Well, considering he’s sparred with Diolia and piled up mountains of monster corpses around him.

I remember him displaying relentless offensive and defensive combinations, true to his Northern heritage. That should be enough.

“I’m concerned that I might be intruding on the baroness’s place, as she is a Master.”

“Don’t worry about that. If spouses exchange blows and end up having a falling out, that would be more concerning, wouldn’t it?”

I was trying to avoid this issue too.

“Of course, I wouldn’t mind if my husband hit me. But since he’s being like this, there’s no choice. Sir Hanelrn, I’d really like you to win on my behalf.”

“Hmm… I’ll try my best.”

After Sione’s passive-aggressive attack for not sparring with her…

Hanelrn and I each prepared for the duel.

‘There are a lot of spectators.’

The main and reserve mage corps, the special assault team, the knights, and even some eager estate guards who gave up their rest to watch.

Well, it makes sense—this is a match to determine the winner between Hanelrn, who was considered the family’s greatest military asset before my arrival, and me, who had a reputation for fighting in wars at the count’s estate.

‘I might as well use this opportunity to reassess our family knights’ skills.’

Instead of the special unit armor from the count’s estate, I wore armor bearing the baronial insignia. With a sword at my waist and a bow in hand, I gathered my momentum.

I wasn’t underestimating Hanelrn, but it didn’t seem right to summon spirits from the start.

Heart hot, head cold. As we maintained our distance and locked eyes, we could feel that each other’s preparations were complete.

“Duel… begin!”

As the referee’s resounding voice filled the arena…

“Here I come.”

Hanelrn’s form flickered.

‘So he won’t give me any distance.’

Most knights focus on dodging or blocking an archer’s arrows with their superhuman physical abilities.

Having seen me directly on the battlefield, Hanelrn clearly intended to deny me the distance to shoot.

I fired my bow at her as she approached with terrifying speed.

Paang—!

‘One shot.’

An arrow with simple mana infusion.

Hanelrn naturally avoided it with elegant movements and pointed her sword at me.

‘A knight full of chivalry would meet this head-on.’

But I’m not a knight obsessed with the romance of this world—I’m a Hunter who uses every means available to face enemies.

“……!”

Shwik…!

We were still just testing each other without using much mana.

However, after narrowly avoiding a sword strike so fierce it seemed like it could slice off a part of me…

Whik—!

“…An arrow?”

I threw one of the arrows made by the Kallia Marquisate onto the ground and drew my sword.

“Sir Hanelrn, you’d better be careful.”

The magically inscribed arrows could fly in any direction in response to my mana.

Nevertheless, she chose to approach and subdue me.

Tsuzu—!

As our swords clashed, a struggle began, looking for subtle openings.

‘…This feels definitely different from the count’s knights.’

While the count’s swordplay has a rough, crushing pressure meant for monster subjugation, with hidden cunning to create weaknesses in opponents…

Hanelrn’s sword contained the explosive power of the cold north, hidden within concise, practical movements learned at the academy.

‘The sword is just my secondary weapon. If possible, I should create distance as quickly as possible.’

Neither of us had infused our weapons with mana yet. We were just using the minimum physical strength at a tense level.

The tip of Hanelrn’s sword gradually aimed for my neck, coming downward.

‘She’s not going easy on me just because I’m the family head.’

Why is she aiming for my neck first?

As I twisted my sword to block her subtle advance, Hanelrn smiled as if she knew it wouldn’t be easy.

‘Oh? Now she’s smiling?’

This is a space for me to test my strength.

Not for Hanelrn to test her family head’s military power.

So I said to our knight commander, whose shoulders were raised confidently:

“It might be good to start using mana now.”

“How could I use mana before you, my lord?”

“I hope you won’t regret those words.”

You’re about to taste something spicy.

And at that moment…

Tsuzu…! Chang—!

I strengthened my body to instantly break the balance of opposing forces and strongly deflected the fallen blade.

As Hanelrn’s sword shot up into the sky, creating a perfect opportunity for the sharp end of the handle to strike down on my head…

Instead of creating distance, I quickly moved to the side, still within her reach.

Wheeik—!

I grabbed the arrow that instantly returned to my hand and swung it toward her wrist.

“……!”

Knights excel at close combat.

If I let my guard down after momentarily confusing her, her sword would eventually find its way to me.

When she’s shaken, the only option is to shake her further and create distance.

‘I need to seal off her sword as much as possible.’

I could clearly see Hanelrn’s eyes rolling as she realized the scattered arrows were targeting her from behind.

If I just tried to create distance, she would dodge or block everything and look for a counterattack.

‘It’s time to start using mana.’

I pumped my heart faster and layered mana onto my sword.

Noticing the change, blue energy began to appear on Hanelrn’s sword.

I struck down with my sword, now more densely materialized.

Bang—!

I attacked with enough force to drive my sword into the ground. But as expected of someone at Diolia’s level…

Though her eyes widened in surprise, she instantly moved her body to block all the arrows with the flat of her blade.

‘Hanelrn is a monster too.’

Nevertheless, this gave me enough time to create distance.

The first arrow I had fired.

Retrieving it and immediately nocking it to my bowstring, I finally had the opportunity to use my increased mana.

“Sir, you’d better draw out more mana.”

“…I’ll try to withstand it once.”

Instinctively, I wove wind and flame into the arrow.

As I used the pinch-grip method with my index finger and thumb for quick firing, I felt the arrow become heavier due to the magic.

Paang—!

The arrow left the bowstring and rushed toward Hanelrn.

‘Indeed, the density and operational speed of my mana have returned to how they were before.’

The moment I sensed that the arrow carried even more power than I had thought…

Peong—!

The arrow that tore through the air made contact with Hanelrn.

‘She should be able to withstand it.’

Flames erupted and dust rose thickly.

As a blue sword energy sharply swept through it, the view cleared from just that one slash’s wind pressure.

“As expected of the family head. You’ve become faster and heavier than what I saw during the Winter War.”

And Hanelrn, who emerged from the dust…

As befitting her reputation, she had barely a scratch and was in a slightly lower stance, exhaling a low, heavy breath.

She still seemed to have some leeway, which suggested we could continue with a somewhat more intense duel.

Now that we had finished getting a taste of each other’s styles, I drew up more mana to test my magic and archery in earnest.

“…Would it be alright if I get a bit rougher from now on?”

“I was about to ask the same thing.”

At that moment, Hanelrn displayed the same Northern competitive spirit toward me that she had shown to Diolia.

She was revealing the competitive spirit of a Northerner who couldn’t stand losing to me.