Ch.70April, and the Dungeon (8)

FWOOOOOSH-!!!

Jack’s charge was incredibly fast.

However, to me in my state of extreme concentration, it looked painfully slow. This applied to my body as well. My movements also felt like they were in slow motion.

WHOOOOSH-!!

I could clearly feel the trajectory of my sword intertwining with Jack’s armor.

‘I can see it…..’

Finally, I understood what a flash strike truly was.

The flow of air around me was clearly visible to my eyes.

“Huff….haa……”

Even while charging in his armor, Jack was breathing.

I could see through his armor as if it were transparent. I clearly saw the oxygen traveling down Jack’s throat, circulating through his lungs, and spreading throughout his body through his blood vessels.

‘So that’s what it means to read breathing…..’

No living being exists without vulnerabilities. Yes, all living things breathe, and in the moment of breathing, however slight, a weakness appears.

It’s a completely unscientific theory, but even inanimate objects breathe.

The weakness created by Jack’s breathing had spread to his armor, making it pulse with vulnerability. There, I could see the gaps in the armor. Lines appeared all over the armor, showing me exactly where to cut. The weaknesses possessed by living beings had the property of spreading to nearby inanimate objects. Living beings and inanimate objects were more deeply connected than one might think.

‘So this… is the nature of the enlightenment I felt.’

At that moment, I truly understood the flash strike. I had a definite sense of knowing something tangible.

I felt certain that I could cut through that supposedly impenetrable armor.

SWIIIIISH-!!

Hesitation is weakness. I immediately swung my sword with full force.

The tomato-red blade sliced through Jack’s armor.

SPLAAAAASH-!!!

The sword cut horizontally across Jack’s body. I perfectly executed the basic side-slash technique, cutting at the waist while running sideways.

FWOOOSH-!!!

Jack and I ran in opposite directions before coming to a stop.

“Hehahaha…. You missed. Whatever. With my next strike, I’ll really end…”

Jack continued boasting, not even realizing he’d been cut. But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

SPLAAAASH-!!!!!!!

The armor all over Jack’s body slowly began to split apart.

“What…. impossible…. physical attacks should be… perfectly defended against…!!”

Jack stared in shock at the cross-section of his sliced armor.

CLANK-!!!!

Before Jack could finish speaking, his armor shattered into pieces.

“Im-impossible!!! How?!! How?!! Huh?!!!”

Jack shouted loudly.

“It wasn’t just your armor that was cut.”

I said as I sheathed my sword. The fight was over. It was a confident gesture showing that a conclusion had definitely been reached.

“The match isn’t over yet!!!”

Jack shouted with veins bulging in his neck. My calmly sheathing my sword had clearly wounded his pride.

But Jack’s anger didn’t last long.

SPLAAAASH-!!

Clear sword wounds appeared all over Jack’s body. Then, blood gushed from his entire body. Well, this was a strike from a real sword, not a psycho-robo attack. In this other world or whatever, when you get cut by a sword, you bleed.

“Kuheuuuugh?!!!!”

Jack collapsed face-first onto the ground.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t kill you. I don’t want to be a murderer. And I don’t want to do something like that in front of my beloved girlfriends.”

I had cut just shallow enough that he wouldn’t die. Just deep enough that some antiseptic would heal it. Antiseptic is universal, after all.

I hadn’t deliberately calculated the damage. I just knew. Thanks to being able to read his breathing, I could see exactly how deep to cut without killing my opponent.

I didn’t kill him, but his fighting spirit was completely gone.

The message was clear: he could be killed at any moment if I wished it.

“He was… supposed to be a weakling… to grow this much in such a short time…”

Jack staggered, trying somehow to tend to his chest wound.

“He really… has talent… I hate it…”

Perhaps his mental strength was depleted from experiencing such overwhelming killing intent. Jack immediately rolled his eyes back and fainted.

WHOOOOSH-!!

Perhaps because Jack had retired, the Colosseum zone immediately dissolved.

“SHOTA!!!!”

“SERIOUSLY!!! YOU SCARED US TO DEATH!!!”

Umi and Taiga immediately rushed toward me. Both were crying profusely.

Honestly, I was quite happy to have lovers who worried about me this much. It felt healing, in a way. I comforted Umi and Taiga, stroking their heads.

“Really… Shota. You need to take responsibility for making me so anxious.”

Once she calmed down, Umi suddenly revealed her true colors.

“Uh… yeah?”

Such a sudden change in attitude?

“This won’t do. A frightened heart must be healed with love. Tonight, let’s build the Great Wall.”

Taiga said. Her eyes contained nothing but desire. Even the First Emperor of China probably wouldn’t have looked this vicious.

“We’re not letting you sleep tonight. I need to feel certain… that Shota is alive by my side.”

Umi looked at me with lustful eyes.

This… it seems I won’t be getting any sleep tonight. I was certain of that.

“Ah! Should I stay at Sasith’s place tonight? To strengthen our male friendship.”

I immediately asked Sasith for help. Yes. Just for today… let’s stay at Sasith’s house. I needed to escape from these sex-crazed beasts. My survival instinct was screaming at me to do so.

“Sasith. You know how to answer properly.”

Taiga immediately glared at Sasith.

“Sasith likes being alone, right? Having a noisy guy like him would just be a bother, wouldn’t it?”

Umi also exerted strange pressure on Sasith.

“………”

Sasith eventually succumbed to the pressure. Our leader… pathetically weak.

“Well, Shota. Hang in there. This is for the sake of club harmony.”

Sasith sold me out for the sake of club unity.

“SASITH!!!!”

I roared with a sense of betrayal. Sasith deliberately avoided my gaze.

“Then let’s finish up and go home, okay?”

Umi hurriedly tried to end today’s club activities. She seemed feverish with desire to get home quickly.

Well… today’s activities were finished anyway. We’d eliminated the dungeon and rescued the souls of those who had become shut-ins. A clean job.

“But what do we do with this guy?”

Taiga poked the unconscious Jack.

“You bastards… you’ll regret this!! The organization I belong to is powerful!! My comrades will come… and deliver hell to you all!!”

Jack, having just regained consciousness, shouted loudly.

In games, people usually reform after losing… but not here. He was rotten to the core.

“Should we just kill him? If we throw him among monsters to be eaten, he’ll die of a heart attack. Perfect crime, right?”

Taiga made an ominously disturbing suggestion.

“Taiga… I’m surprised you’d think of something like that…”

Sasith looked at Taiga with eyes full of terror.

“As expected of a delinquent… your thinking is different.”

I couldn’t help but acknowledge that point.

“I’m not a delinquent anymore?!! I’m a FORMER delinquent!!!”

Taiga flared up angrily.

“Anyway, I don’t really want to commit murder… but if we let him live, won’t he really bring his comrades?”

Umi seemed worried about that.

It was a dilemma. Sasith also wore a slightly troubled expression.

After a brief silence, I finally spoke up.

“No. We won’t commit murder. We’re doing this activity to save people, right? Killing would be putting the cart before the horse.”

I said firmly.

Humans have a line they shouldn’t cross. Once you cross that line by committing murder, you can never return to your original world.

“If we were to get married someday… and even have children.”

I said, addressing Umi and Taiga.

“We’re going to have children?!!”

Umi’s face immediately lit up.

“Great. Whoever gets pregnant first becomes the wife! It’s a competition!!”

Taiga also responded immediately.

“No, it’s hypothetical!! Hypothetical!! Anyway, if we become parents! We’d want to be parents our children can be proud of.”

I cleared my throat as I spoke.

“That’s… true.”

Umi nodded.

“Hmm… a child wouldn’t want a murderer as a parent.”

Taiga seemed to agree as well.

“For the sake of our future, let’s not commit murder.”

I said.

“Shota’s right.”

Sasith agreed with me.

“So we’re just going to let him go? Honestly… thinking about how this bastard almost killed my boyfriend makes me a little angry.”

Taiga seemed unable to suppress her temper.

“I feel the same way.”

Umi agreed, picking up a stone staff.

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be bad to threaten him a bit before letting him go. Just enough so he doesn’t underestimate us.”

Sasith spoke ambiguously, guiding us toward a conclusion.

“Then let’s do this.”

I clapped my hands, summarizing our discussion.

“Since we have a good punching bag now, let’s beat him up just enough that he doesn’t die before sending him back. It’ll be good stress relief, right?”

Honestly, that seemed like it would help release some tension. My heart had dropped thinking I might die too.

“Ohhh… that sounds good. As expected, I can communicate well with this guy.”

Taiga chuckled and threw aside her weapon. She was restraining herself since using weapons might kill Jack.

Crack!

Taiga immediately cracked her knuckles. She was already fully prepared.

“Alright!! Let’s stomp him!! Guys!!! Let’s show this old man the terror of Generation Z!!!”

Just for today, I was a juvenile delinquent!!!

“Uwahahahaha!!!”

Taiga burst into laughter and immediately kicked the fallen Jack.

THWACK!

The kick struck Jack directly between the eyes. Wait… no matter how you look at it, there’s no hesitation there. She’s truly scary.

“Kiheheheheheh!! Die!!!! You dare try to kill my boyfriend?!!!”

THUD-!! THWACK-!! WHAM-!!!!

But surprisingly, the one who really got into the mood was Umi. Umi was enthusiastically kicking Jack.

Because of me… Umi had become a weirdo. She wasn’t originally this strange.

I really had to take responsibility. I reaffirmed my determination.

Sasith observed from behind, but eventually, wanting to join in the fun, he squeezed between us and delivered a powerful kick.

“GEN Z PUNCH!!! GEN Z KICK!!!!! GEN Z CIDER CUTTER!!!!”

I also beat Jack with gusto.

Feel the terror… of Generation Z!!!

“UWAAAAGH?!! SAVE MEEEEE!!!!! KYAAAAAAAH!!!!”

Jack’s pitiful screams echoed through the disappearing dungeon.

And so, a deep fear of Generation Z was imprinted in Jack’s soul.

Ding-!!

Around the time Jack became a bloody pulp, my status window vibrated. Taking that as a signal, I made my companions stop the group lynching. Any more and he might die.

‘Level: 20’

My level had risen to 20 in one go. It must have increased significantly due to defeating an opponent in his 30s. The reward for giant killing was substantial.

‘You have learned a new skill.’

‘Flash Strike Style Zero: Armor Breaker’

It seemed I had also learned a new skill.

The reward for cutting down Jack was quite excellent.