Chapter 45 – First Part Cleared (Part 4)

“<Deep Sea Fist>!!”

The punch emitted blue-blackish water aura and that was countered with an iron ball bomb <Dark Meteor>, but it was not enough to cancel the attack out, so to lessen the impact, I used the physical skill <Stream>.

“Ugh!”

This was quite painful… both of my arms were almost scraped off. It could be treated by Santa immediately, but I have no time for that.

“Fu!”

“Hah!”

I dodged the punch from above by moving my head to the side, I hooked his ankle mid-air to trip him.

“Mun!”

He took advantage of that and tried to place some distance between us by kicking me and making a back flip.

“Tsk!”

I avoided that by inches and tried to counterattack with poisonous needles and iron balls. Most were deflected but some were successful.

“<Antidote>… Ugh?! I can’t nullify the poison?”

It seems to be a success. Well, to be precise, it’s not poison but medicine, so he’s not in the state of being poisoned. The potions’ physical activation effects were drawn out and condensed such that it could cause muscle spasms and a continuous state of fatigue.

“So you had a wild card…”

“Well then…”

Enough of the conversation and let’s continue with the attacks. I took the shortsword and tried to stab him, but he probably used skills to harden his left fist as defense. However, I used <Hot Severance> to cut through.

“Ugh?!!”

Just like that, I sliced his wrist with the shortsword, he immediately bent his arm so I could only destroy up to his elbow; he then used his other fist and struck my chest with great force.

“Gugh?!”

Moments before that, I jumped back and softened the impact but I ended up coughing from the pain. He did not miss that and immediately attacked me swiftly and I braced myself for that.

I received the swing from below and he avoided my shortsword’s blade by twisting his neck to the side, leaving only a small cut on his cheek.

“Hah!”

“Fu!”

The thrust of the shortsword was deflected and I avoided his fist. I kicked his solar plexus with an upward kick but he dodged that. I crossed my arms to avoid his head-butt… Both of us were unable to land a decent blow towards each other, but even so our HPs were gradually declining.

Since the outcome’s still undecided, let’s put an end it soon…

“Fu…”

I gathered my breath again and stabilized my mind… it’s time to finish him once and for all!!

“?!”

I doped myself with a small needle and gained temporary super speed. After confirming that the opponent could not react to me, I struck his chin with the pommel of the shortsword from below and lowered my posture before grabbing his ankles and throwing him off with centrifugal force.

“Gu?!”

I chased after him immediately and kicked his hips from the back while sticking poisonous needles into his shoulders and back.

“Gah!”

I immediately continued the attack to keep the pressure on him. At this rhythm he’d either die to my damage, or by falling off the nearby cliff. I swung the shortsword towards his neck with the <Dark Blade> skill—

“—-Don’t look down on me!!”

The tattoos on Ronove’s arms shone bluish-white and he used his remaining right arm to block my shortsword’s blow and also tore my entire left wrist off.

“It’s the end, you’ll die here—-”

To increase the light intensity, he poured water onto his arm before aiming straight for my heart next—-

“You are the one who’s going to die—-”

“—-Gah?!!”

Ronove probably hasn’t dealt with daggers before. Even though he kept one in his belt, it was probably just for appearance’s sake… You need to properly place them in your belt, otherwise you risk having it stolen by your opponent mid-battle and used directly against you… Like this. “It’s my win.” I twisted the dagger that was stuck in Ronove’s heart as I talked to him.

“Gofu… To think that I’d be killed with my own weapon, but.”

While saying that, Ronove grabbed my arm which was stabbing his heart.

“… I’ll have you die with me.”

… I see, the cliff is right behind and there’s the rough open sea below. He’s the type to take others down when he’s going to die huh…

“If you’re going to die, go ahead and die alone.”

“No, you are coming with me.”

I tried to pull my hand, but it wouldn’t budge. He’s grabbing me with tremendous force… it cannot be helped it.

“… Yamada.”

When I called, the shortsword which should have flown far from us, floated in the air and headed towards me. Then, it sliced my remaining right arm.

“What?!”

“… Goodbye for good this time. It was fun.”

While separating from Ronove, I kicked his stomach, pushing him down the cliff.

“… Everything’s really possible.”

While muttering his last words, Ronove fell into the sea. After confirming the sounds of water splashes, I sat down on the spot.

“I’m tired…”

I managed to win somehow by losing my right arm and left hand… It seems that at the moment, special NPCs are stronger compared to players, so I had fun. I will recover soon due to Santa’s help, but because I used the physical reinforcement, the recovery efficiency has dropped to one-tenth of what it was…

“I’ll take a short rest before returning to the streets.”

I told Santa that and basked in the aftermath of the battle for a while.