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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 131 Part 1

Hercules Quest

Standby Room: the Adept Orders

Inter-club competition, the main tournament『North Wind Gate (Boreas)』 block.

What is serving as the waiting room is a floor spreading on the underground, directly below the arena stage.

The structure where lined up chambers (rooms) are connected by corridors (paths) resembles that of the surface stratums of the dungeon.

The dreary room, furnished with only chairs and a table, looks more like a prison than a waiting room.

「Apparently, it used to be a prison where monsters were locked up… Or rather, a pop-up point where monster gushed forth endlessly, you see.」

「Yes. The『Tartarus Arena』 is an unprecedentedly large and minutely constructed Lore-type raid quest masterpiece in history, so the textbook says. Ah, this is a classic material that always comes up on the test, so be sure to memorize it, okay.」

Mikan-senpai, who offers a follow up to Otoha-senpai, floats a triumphant look on her face.

Only the team members are allowed to enter the waiting room, which is listed on the tournament table.

That would be me, Seiichi, Saki, Mai and Otoha-senpai, and the reserve members, Shizuka and Mikan-senpai, the seven of us.

The other club members who are separated from us are cheering from the audience seats.

「… That’s fine and all, but… Somehow the door is not opening, or rather, we’re locked in here, though?」

「Rather, this sensation. It’s totally like that of inside a dungeon, no?」

Mai and Seiichi are throwing kicks at the door, that’s not it, at the iron bars.

Like the partition walls inside the dungeon, they also give off the smell of indestructible objects.

Well, even so, it’s still possible to break it, though.

However, if we do such an act of violation of the rules, I feel like we’ll end up calling forth something not good, so I’ve been exercising prudence here.

「Hmm. It seems that they reactivate the blessings from the raid era. They must have put in a lot of crystals….」

So that means.

Right now, we’re not really inside a dungeon or anything, so I guess it doesn’t matter if we destroy it.

For the time being, let’s try smashing a true fist against the wall.

「Blessing (gimmick), was it? What kind of function is that, I wonder?」

「Ah, come to think of it, it’s your first time participating, isn’t it, Shizuka-chan? Well, even if the previous tournament, they didn’t make use of its full functions, I believe….」

「Err, you see. I believe, 12 kinds of special blessings could be activated. And they are called the『Twelve Labors (Hercules Quest)』.」

Pressing my right fist against the wall, I lower my waist and exhale deeply.

It’s a new special move I’ve been practicing lately, 『Fa Jin』.

It’s a well-known technique mainly in Chinese martial arts, but is also a secret technique of various martial arts in Japan, including ancient martial arts, namely the『flow of power』.

If you look on the Internet, you will find various explanations pertaining to its interpretations and techniques.

What I am learning and trying to master is the One-inch Punch, which probably falls under the classification of『sun-jin (sun=3.03cm)』 or perhaps『dark-jin』.

Of course, it’s my own interpretation, so I guess it’s as good as an unorthodox technique.

「The waiting room in this basement, you see, it’s also one of them, called the『Livestock Stable of the Foolish King (Augeas)』. When your turn to fight comes, I suppose you’ll automatically be summoned to the stage above.」

「The schedule is packed, after all. Maybe they’ve activated it to speed up the rotation?」

「A device like the naraku on a Kabuki stage, was it?」

「I guess so. About half of the blessing is like an additional function of the colosseum, I suppose.」

「At the time of conquest, on the contrary, it seems that the quest was to seal the functions of the arena, wasn’t it?」

「Ah~, incomprehensible gimmicks peculiar to Lore-type raids, right?」

In me-style Fa Jin, I put emphasis on the power of spiral.

In other words, the rotation of joints.

The『No-tempo』, part one of my special moves, is designed to launch an invisible high-speed punch by moving the joints at the same time.

But in the case of Fa Jin, on the contrary, you’re to link your joints into a chain to produce a whirl of force.

From the toes that step firmly on the ground, then to the ankles, to the knees, to the hips, to the back, to the shoulders, to the elbow, to the wrist, and finally to the fist.

The power drawn from the ground is amplified by the muscles of the whole body like a spiral, concentrated in one point that is the fist, and shot out.

This is my special move part two, self-styled『Spiral Fa Jin』.

「…–kkaa!」

The flow of power interlocking from the feet is amplified as it turns into a whirl inside the body.

A feedback that’s more convincing than ever before.

The spiraling force that travels down the arm turns the fist into a drill and penetrates the wall of the waiting room.

A fist-shaped hole ends up gaping in the thick wall made of a mysterious constituent material like Roman concrete.

I guess the fact that there are no cracks other than the hole is proof that the Fa Jin force is concentrated on a single point.

When I peer into the hole, my eye ends up meeting those of the club in the adjacent waiting room.

「The blessing that is always activated in the Colosseum, by the way, is the『Gatekeeper of the Underworld (Cerberus)』. It’s said to have an effect that even if you receive a serious injury, you will not die instantly.」

「The other is the『Daughters of the Evening (Hesperides)』 function, which amplifies the miasma pressure. As expected, I’d like to think that they don’t put the『Prayer Wall』 into use.」

「Ahaha… For the tournament, I think they’re using monster crystals, though.」

「Other than those, what kinds of blessings are there? I have a conjecture about what their names are, though.」

Kuh, a lion-shaped monster pops up in the corner of the room.

For some reason, it comes straight at me.

Isn’t it unreasonable for an event to start without any context or reason?

A mighty beast of golden mane, radiating divine air even.

But ultimately it’s just a quadruped animal.

If you tackle it head-on, wrestle it, and straddle it on its back, neither its fangs nor claws will reach you.

Once you get to this position, even a weak girl can strangle a lion to death.

As long as you get the choke-sleeper in place with both arms around its neck, no power is needed.

Well, for the sake of saving time, though, I’m going to break its neck.

「… E, err, you see. The ones such as the『Great Lion of Gold (Nemea)』 or『Mechanical Bird of Bronze (Stymphalides)』 would activate the Guardian of the arena. There are also blessings that I know the name of but don’t know the effect, but….」

The sound of death-throes cry as well as neck bones shattering echo through the air.

The carcass ends up remaining without turning into a crystal, so off it goes to the Item Box.

Oops, mysterious metallic-looking birds appear to retrieve the carcass.

The mysterious birds, which have been nesting in the Demon Lord’s castle before I know it, seem to have been hired by Yuki-chan and are assisting in sorting out the collected items.

It’s a surreal sight to see them flapping, flying over from nothingness and then flapping, disappearing into nothingness.

Well, it’s convenient, so I don’t mind.

Good work on your business trip.

Well then, I got to throw a nice-feeling Fa Jin, so let’s continue the training a little before I forget.

Ideally, I’d like to come to be able to imbue『Fa Jin』 not only on punches but also on kicks.

When I kick through the wall, a huge boar comes charging at me this time, but I think I’m not at fault here.

◇ ◇ ◇

Audience Seats: Live Casters

「— Well then, the throwaway matches are proceeding smoothly, aren’t they?! Kome-san.」

「Yeah, yes. Resu-san. It’s so innocent, or rather, low on the level, I should say.」

「The tournament this time has turned into a warring period of inferiors overthrowing superiors, after all! I means, some of the unknown weaker clubs, currently ranked『C』 and『F』, have even advanced on the main tournament. Between you and me, it seems that dissatisfactions pertaining to the qualifying round rules are erupting, you know.」

「Even so, the regular powerhouse clubs are still remaining, so these are ultimately just the barking of loser dogs. If I were to put it bluntly, I guess it means that they have been weeded out.」

「Thank you very much for your surmise-less nasty remarks!」

A commentator’s seat had been set up in one corner of the stands.

However, it was not a position (shill) arranged by the academy, but just the spokesperson of the academy newspaper speaking on their own.

They were by no means commissioned by anyone, as they were a gossip group that was active only out of hobby and whim.

Naturally, the academy was also aware of this, but they were overlooked as perfect steam venting members for the students.

There were also a few students who found them annoying, but they had gained more listeners than that and had earned their place in the academy.