Ch.82Blood-Soaked City. Fernheim (9)

# The Time Has Come

The time had come.

We left the waiting room to compete in our final match, and standing before us were three opponents: a battler with a sword and shield, another battler wielding a greatsword like mine, and a ranger who had installed a winch mechanism to hold an enormous crossbow that extended up to his chin.

“Your skill is impressive, battler with the greatsword.”

Even from this distance, their voices were clearly audible.

“Blocking a high-speed bolt from a crossbow, not just an arrow. But I wonder if you can block this crossbow as well?”

They snickered while tapping their massive heavy crossbow with a clacking sound.

Bolts are typically about half the length of regular arrows, but the bolts from that enormous heavy crossbow were slightly larger than arrows from a decent bow, which meant they would be difficult to dodge or block.

“Boasting about equipment rather than skill—I can see what you’re made of.”

“Oh? Handling such equipment is a skill in itself. Just as you take pride in wielding your greatsword…”

“Hmph…”

I didn’t like this.

The reason was simple.

I wanted to retort, but couldn’t think of anything to say.

As my frustration grew, so did my killing intent, and soon my hand gripping the sword began to tremble.

“Then we’ll fight until we’ve shown everything we’ve got.”

“I like that answer.”

As we finished our brief exchange, the announcer who had been watching us carefully shouted loudly to begin the match.

*

Whoosh!

The sound of air being sliced.

The sound of the bowstring pushing against the bow limb to fire bolts.

Mixed with the vibrating sound of the wooden bow limb trembling.

I moved my sword to block the bolt, and the quivering blade and the fallen bolt broke the bleak silence.

“…Shit.”

A curse escaped the ranger’s lips, and Simon immediately used a spell to restrict the ranger’s movements.

“What are you waiting for! Go now!”

“!”

I charged at the battler with the greatsword, while Raisha rushed toward the battler with the sword and shield. They seemed to have the same idea, running straight at us.

Clang!

My sword collided with my opponent’s, and with the metallic friction came sparks as we entered a test of strength.

“Unbelievable. You’re younger than my son yet possess such strength!”

“Your son would have had the same strength as me if he had grown up without you!”

When I said that, his face contorted as he withdrew his sword and struck again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound filling my eardrums was less like swords clashing and more like maces colliding—a metallic timbre—while his deeply furrowed face formed an image on my retina.

And that expression was very familiar to me.

“This is fun.”

“What’s fun…?”

“Everyone who’s made that face at me has died by my hand.”

“You insolent brat! I’ll teach you some manners!”

Enraged people become easy prey.

Their minds become filled only with thoughts of “I’ll kill him!” while all the detailed plans of “how to kill him” fly out the window.

Of course, there were some terrifying individuals who had already calculated everything even in such a state, but they were few, and fortunately, the man before me belonged to the majority.

Clang! Crack! Screech!

The sounds of blades colliding, sliding, and grinding against each other echoed loudly.

He wielded a shorter greatsword than mine, but being an adult, he was much taller and larger than me. I was somehow offsetting my lacking height and strength by using the difference in our equipment.

“Hasta!”

“!”

At that moment, Simon cast a spell, and I suddenly felt strength surging through my body.

He had cast a buff on me.

“Hup!”

Clash!

“Ugh!”

I squeezed out my overflowing strength to strike down his sword, and with a groan, his arms spread wide, exposing his weakness.

I positioned my sword horizontally to thrust at him, but he gritted his teeth and rolled to recover his stance. However, I could prepare multiple marks faster than he could ready his counterattack.

I pushed him back with Tuta, then used Tuta again to lift him up, spewed flames at him with Ignatus, bound him with Behde, and then accelerated my body with Aksen to slash at his waist with maximum force.

When pushed back, he tried to regain his stance through gritted teeth, but I pulled his body toward me faster. When I burned him with Ignatus, fear seeped into his eyes.

When I bound him with Behde, his expression said “impossible,” and when I accelerated with Aksen, fear was evident on his face.

Crack!

“Arrrgh!!”

“Ha! You fly well!”

I thought Behde would hold, but unfortunately, the black tentacles extending from the ground couldn’t withstand my strike and snapped like reeds.

There was a reason I didn’t aim for his head—using Aksen made my body so fast that targeting the head became extremely difficult.

So I swung my sword with enough force to crush his relatively vulnerable waist, and the battler with children was sent flying far away with a scream that could tear his lungs, after being “pummeled” by my blade over two meters long.

Arms or legs might have been different, but having taken a direct hit to the spine, which could cause full-body paralysis if struck wrong, he lay limp, unable to move. I could barely see that only the part above his neck was moving slightly.

I approached him, pressed my blade against his heart, and before killing him, I asked:

“Tell me. What’s it like to be a father?”

“It means having someone who will inherit my name. And having someone who will live on remembering me.”

“I see.”

Thrust!

“Guh…”

So being a father means having a successor and heir?

I had never seen my father’s back or been held in his arms, so I could never understand his words.

If I ever become a father someday, will there come a day when I can nod in agreement with his words?

*

Hissss…..

“Wow.”

While I was exchanging blows with the battler, the ranger who had used the crossbow was completely pulverized, with only the crossbow itself remaining intact.

Literally, his body was so crushed and melted that his facial features couldn’t even be identified, and steam was still rising from his corpse. I cleared it away with Tuta and approached Raisha, who was still engaged in combat.

“Huff… huff…”

“Hah… hah…”

Both sides were greatly exhausted, with small wounds carved into their arms and legs.

The shield had cracks, and the halberd’s blade was so chipped it could be mistaken for a saw blade—evidence of how fiercely they had fought.

“It’s all over now.”

“…Damn it.”

As I approached the last survivor we were facing, he muttered a curse under his breath and put down his weapon.

“…Make it quick.”

I looked at Simon, and he nodded before casting a spell that drove an icicle into the man’s head.

Thud!

With that, he collapsed, and we claimed victory in a battle that lasted a total of 28 minutes.

“The winners! Iron Walker Party!”

*

“Haaah…. It’s damn hard to get a horse.”

“It’s not just any horse, but a warhorse. Besides, there’s nothing better than winning on top of that.”

“That’s right. To swing such a large sword, you need to ride at least a warhorse.”

Raisha said that while humming cheerfully.

I hugged her and chewed on snacks provided in the waiting room to replenish my depleted sugar levels. As we sprawled out tiredly, elegantly dressed staff members approached from the distance.

“Blood for the Blood God. That was truly an exciting battle. Surely the Blood Deity above would be satisfied!”

They shook my hand with beaming smiles, and I returned their handshakes with a smile of my own.

“When can we receive the horse?”

“Ah… you’ll have to wait about an hour. The battles above the metal rank haven’t finished yet.”

“So that’s why there’s a one-hour wait?”

“We don’t have the luxury of renting another colosseum. Please understand.”

He said this while pouring me a glass of apple brandy, which I accepted and drank with a nod.

“There’s nothing to understand really. So we’ll receive the horse after your winner is determined and the award ceremony is over.”

“That’s correct. The battle is still fierce. Please rest well.”

The staff member bowed and left, and we sprawled out on the sofa again to wait for the winner of the metal rank and above to be determined.

“When we get back to the inn today, let’s bathe together.”

“That sounds good.”

Raisha whispered while hugging me tightly, and I ruffled her hair as I answered.

Simon watched us with a fatherly smile, took a swig of cold water to cleanse his palate, and began eating a few pieces of candy.

As we were becoming one with the sofa, cheers could be heard from afar, along with the announcer’s booming voice.

“The winners! Thunder Party!”