Chapter 406
Chapter 406: The question is what is the greater step for a humankind, landing on the moon or growing a snake?
Day 95 – Daytime
Beating up monsters since morning, while pouring all the pent-up Highschool Boy frustration that has nowhere to go. It all has to be the monsters’ fault that the night was too short, that those thighs were so thick, that the snakes slithered so sinuously! Beating! Beating is justice, Beating is the truth! I shall beat them all!
Gentlemen, I love beating. Gentlemen, I… love beating. Gentlemen. I… LOVE beating. I love extermination beatings. I love lightning warfare beatings. I love onslaught beatings. I love defensive beatings. I love besiegement beatings. I love breakthrough beatings. I love withdrawal beatings. I love cleanups, I love retreats. On the plains, In the streets, In the trenches, On the prairies, On the tundra, In the desert, On the sea, In the sky, In the mud, In the swamp, I cherish each and every way beatings can be performed in this world, kind of!
So I tried beating them up. Yup, I felt my frustration ease just a little tiny tiniest bit, but there aren’t enough monsters. Yup, I wish a beating worthy of hell itself, letting my frustration ride the edge of my blade and unleashing a rain of iron and fire!
Because if I let my guard down, that scene from last night, where snakes slithered and squeezed the smooth skin peeking out from the disheveled nun outfits, starts playing in my brain again on endless repeat, complete with full surround sound of moans and gasps restored via revival audio playback, and before I know it, a giant iron ball is being swung down on me from behind with the full wrath of a great sermon. To put it plainly, it will get me scolded!
Rather than an innocent little me getting smashed, it’s more beneficial for society, and for me, if an ugly level 89 monster gets smashed instead. It’s the peaceful solution. So let’s beat them. Surely, at the end of relentless beating lies the night. The night begins there! There’s no such thing as an endless day, night will rise again! Well, apparently this world has two suns, so technically it’s always day, but still, it’s night! Is it here yet~.
Changing the pace of my footwork, shifting the rhythm, inserting polyrhythmic motion, rapidly varying the tempo, I create rhythm as I continue beating. Or to be put frankly, I’m beating them to a pulp.
Adding vertical movement to a dance moving in horizontal plane, incorporating circular rotation into this side-to-side choreography, and rotating the axis of spin itself from a horizontal spin into a diagonal and then a vertical one, I utilize the gyroscopic effect, which keeps a body stable while spinning, by twisting my hips and pivoting my torso, combining it with circular shoulder motion, modifying the composite rotational vectors with my elbows, then controlling the blade’s arc with my wrists. A chaotic fusion of multiple circular movements generated by various parts of my body creates omnidirectional, multi-axis rotation. Tied together, it becomes an endless motion of movement and slashes, like a sword dance of the Arashi-ryu, an infinite spiral movement. This frenzied sword dance is too complex to learn through comprehension, so I engrave it into my body, accumulating data into 『Wisdom』 until it can be controlled instinctively.
It’s a conglomerate of ultra-advanced techniques, requiring massively complex processing. I had hesitated to learn this uncontrollable sword style that spirals into infinite variations, but I’m out of options. It’s the only technique that lets me fight large groups for extended periods of time without burning MP. So I dance a self-destructive sword dance that goes on forever, joints cracking, muscle fibers tearing, blood vessels bursting one after another. I dance and swing my sword until both body and『Wisdom』memorize it. I just have to be careful not to have anything tear off. Yeah, like, if my arm flies off and I have to pick it up and stick it back on, that just feels wrong, you know? As a human being? It also hurts?
Having gained an enormous amount of abilities from equipment, having with the skills to control them, I even have the power to combine and amplify them. If not for the fact that my body can’t keep up and I can’t use them properly, I’d potentially have access to an infinite number of combinations. This isn’t the time to whine about pain or limbs getting torn off. As long as I don’t die, I’ll be fine. Even if I do die a little, I can manage somehow.
「So rough.
So clumsy, full of waste…
But, you were still did, doing it. Are you alright?」
「Reckless. Your mind, will give out, before the body. It, will break. Sword techniques, must follow the body, you can’t… break it! Does it hurt?」
I managed annihilate『Skeleton Paladins Lv89』 using only sword techniques, but collapsed after that. I didn’t take a single hit, but the self-inflicted damage from self-destruction hurt like hell, but well, that’s selfresponsibility. Currently in the middle of being scolded, while gushing blood?
Well, I’m being scolded, but my mind is so hazy that I can’t really hear them. Not that I usually listen to lectures even when I am conscious, so it’s probably fine. I mean, most of the time it’s not my fault anyway, so all of it is just false accusations. I don’t want to make them worry, but this is necessary training. Besides, this much won’t take me long to recover from. It just hurts and exhausting, but compared to the true battle I fight every night, endlessly regenerating and recovering in an infinite loop, this is nothing more than a child’s play. A real battle is far more intense, serious, and feels way better!
「Aah, well, it’s alright now? Kinda tried spinning a little more and swinging harder than usual? Yeah, I’m fine now. In the world I came from, there was this ultimate spell known as 『Pain, pain, fly away (Transition Pain)!』 or something like that. It allows one to transfer pain to someone else. Scary world, huh? Even with the common cold and illness, they said if you give it to someone else, you’ll get better? I survived that horrifying world so yeah, totally fine? I guess?」
I patted the heads of the two who looked like they were about to cry. I’ll give them some snacks later, and they’ll be fine. Playing pranks would probably be an issue, huh? Yeah, Halloween’s not likely to catch on here, the whole trick part is probably the problem? I think? Although, I kinda do want to play a trick on them?
(Jiggle-Jiggle)
I gave Slime-san some pats too and handed over a treat, it looked worried as well. I mean, I’ll heal, it’ll regrow, and I can stick it back on, so it’s totally fine, you know? I think most injuries in life are fine as long as they can heal, regrow, or reattach. Kind of like a full resolution, in a way?
I managed to grasp the feel of the movements and the sword flow. I’ve engraved it into both my body and 『Wisdom』. I’ve got no choice but to keep building up, and the only way I can reach that height is to keep stacking.
While the three of them still looked concerned, I fed them a version-up Prototype Mk.II 『If you have no cinnamon why not add bitterness with grilled apple peels?』Apple Pie, and now we’re taking a break.
Normally, I’d want to reassure them with a cool line like, 『It’s okay. In our world, we flew to the sky without wings or magic and even reached the moon. So there’s nothing we can’t do.』 But personally, I’ve never been to the moon, and this world doesn’t even have one? There are suns, but I’ve never been to that either? I mean, I probably couldn’t come back if I went? Sounds way too hot to be safe!
With break time over, I get a quick training on my sword form. Having an experienced person observe from an objective perspective and provide theoretical guidance is an incredible benefit. When you rely only on your own thinking, you start developing biases and tend to unconsciously put yourself in a box. Plus looking at sexy female armor while we are at it is very fun! Yeah, benefits all around.
And so, break time ended, we began descending the stairs. Floor 90 is the final stop. The deepest floor.
Not a floor boss, but a Dungeon Master. They say there’s a huge difference between a floor boss and a Dungeon Master, that master of a dungeon is an overwhelming existence set apart from the rest!
Well, I don’t really get the difference. I mean, the first one I fought was a Dungeon Emperor? Yeah, there was an overwhelmingly overpowering sense of overwhelming, untouchable, solitary aura. After seeing that, being told there’s a difference between a Dungeon Master and a floor boss feels like a rounding error. Honestly, if they swapped places secretly, no one would notice.
『King Skeleton, Lv90』 is a giant skeleton, but apparently unrelated to that Sk***r person. He didn’t go clattering around or anything, he was a silent, sword-wielding type of skeleton who swung a massive blade. Despite his huge body, his sword techniques were surprisingly fast and precise. Easy to read, easy to dodge, easy to evade, so I tried dancing a little?
Since it’s a skeleton opponent, I dodged with the Thriller dance. And as expected of the legendary dance that captivated the entire world, cheers erupted from Armored Pres-san and Slime-san behind me. Even Dancing Girl, always super strict about dancing and with something to say about it, was clapping along enthusiastically. Yeah… truly amazing things transcend worlds. But King Skeleton-san seems a little mad about it? He’s swinging his sword even more wildly now, unleashing ferocious strikes.
Which means, he’s not hitting. His movements are being read, guided, baited, and led off-course. He loses his stance, and all those wild swings become sloppy flailing. That was me.
After earnestly studying sword techniques, devoting myself to learning footwork, and acquiring the fundamentals and theory, you start to understand, wasted movements, meaningless wind-ups, attacks with no follow-through, motions without reason or logic, footwork that lacks intention, movements that are merely fast or strong but ultimately pointless. I’m sure that’s exactly how I looked to Armored Pres-san and the others. Like King Skeleton’s unsightly swordplay, one only has to poke at its flaws and he would collapse on its own, there is no chance he can land a hit at this rate. No wonder I was getting beaten up.
Finishing him off is simple, but I deflect, divert, dance and confuse, evading everything. Somehow I started feeling like I was giving King Skeleton a lesson, but having such a perfect example of what not to do put right in front of me, I use it to hone my own movements, shaving away the waste.
I probably wouldn’t have realized this yesterday. I might’ve thought he was weak, but there wouldn’t have been such a gap between us. Seeing his flaws means I finally understand the flaws I had until just yesterday. If this is what growth is, then if I do this another few hundred thousands times, maybe a few hundred million times, I might start seeing the world that Armored Pres-san and the others see. Until then, I’ll keep getting beaten… That’s a long road ahead!
I close the distance. It’s all about the exchange of possibilities. I deflect his sword, step in, and open up my stance, just that alone puts King Skeleton at a disadvantage. He’s forced to switch his footing and reposition to face me again. To do that, he sweeps his sword to keep me in check. But when I’ve already read that he’s trying to reposition, the moment his weight shifts, I strike upward from below, he loses balance and becomes exposed. Even if he tries to swing back or retreat, in that compromised stance his sword options are limited and easy to read. I slip into his blind spot, putting him at further disadvantage, further limiting his options.
He has no choice but to swing his sword to keep me in check and reset his stance, and he does exactly that. Which means I circle behind him and take his back. Each move puts him at greater disadvantage, and the greater the disadvantage, the easier it gets to break his posture, reducing his available moves, and with less viable moves available they all become easier to read, gradually, they all turn into bad moves, the longer we continue the worse the situation is turning for him, with more and more constraints working against him, his options vanishing one after another, and that’s why he gets beaten. Yup, I’ve had the same happen to be this morning? So I’m taking it out on him! (*Smash*)
「That was, good. You, have gotten, stronger. You are… growing.」 (Nod Nod, Jiggle-Jiggle)
An unusual high evaluation. It seems holding back from pulling out snakes and fighting with just the sword was a good idea. Yup, I’m always getting those looks from them when I pull out snakes? Even though they got so chummy on their first meeting yesterday, spending all night getting along, quite puzzling. If you get used to them, the snakes actually start looking kinda cute? Well, it is a hydra though? The way they flick their red tongues is pretty cute too? Wow, they are running hard!
But turns out, swordsmanship was about expanding your options. It is because your options are limited that you get cornered and lose. But that can be applied to other things as well. Even the combination of fencing, the snakes, and the tentacles, could be holding new possibilities, but they are staring at me super hard for even thinking that? Like, when you are suddenly cornered and can’t break out with your swordsmanship alone, why not use tentacles instead? Especially when dealing with monster girls? Wriggle-wriggle?
A great (lewd) person of old once said 『Humans are creature of possibilities』. There are as many possibilities as imagination can hold, in other words, they are limitless. Yes, a human can even have grow vibrating tentacles and snakes out of them. There is nothing impossible for the power of Highschool Boy imagination (libido). And because the Highschool Boy’s imagination is inexhaustible it is working 24/7 all year long. Yup, let’s do our best tonight!
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