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Chapter 59

「…Gyaa… Hah…!」

Thump.

The big man hugged his stomach, his face turned pale, dripping with sweat, as he crouched down.
The swordsman and the sorceress stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

「Huh?」

The swordsman and the sorceress’ mouths repeatedly opened and closed.
I was tempted to say, “Are you a goldfish?”, but then the swordsman seemed to come to his senses and asked the magician.

「Sis… Aniki’s been beaten. Who the hell is this guy?」

Seemingly snapped back to reality by those words, the sorceress spoke.

「First of all… the leader was careless. No, he was overly careless. He relied too much on overwhelming defensive power and toughness.」

That seems true to me.

「And secondly… as unbelievable as it sounds, this kid here… probably has strength beyond an E-rank.」

Hmm… truly seasoned adventurers.
Their perception of the situation seems high.

「Sis? What does that mean exactly?」

「Likely this kid… is a melee fighter with abilities of a D-rank.」

I almost stumbled by those words but managed to hold myself.

「Then you mean?」

「Yes.」

They nodded to each other and smirked.

「With both of us having abilities equivalent to D-rank… we won’t lose if we don’t let our guard down.」

「Sis? What about our combination?」

「We’ll go with Combination R-5.」

「Understood!」

Just like that, the swordsman slashed at me from above.
It was a yawn-inducing sword move.

But their teamwork is not bad.
The plan seems to be to finish me off with the overhead strike, and if not, the sorceress’s fireball will strike next.

Under circumstances where abilities are close together, their enemy probably wouldn’t have noticed what the sorceress was doing behind the swordsman, but—

「Your opponent is just too much.」

He is a swordsman after all.
Out of courtesy, I summoned Excalibur and engaged him on the spot.

By ‘engage’, I mean I just cut his sword straight from the base.
While at it, I gave him a slash on his cheek.

And a few moments later, the swordsman, finally noticing my strike, wore a bewildered expression.
Looking at his sword sliced from the base, then checking the cut on his cheek.

「Gya, gya, gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」

The swordsman shouted with a pale expression.
If the roles were reversed, I might have done the same.

Just when he thought he was attacking, his sword was suddenly gone from its base, and blood gushed from his cheek.
In other words, he had no clue about what had been done to him, it was hard to encounter more fear than this during battle.

「Ah, Sis! The sword! My cheek!」

「Calm down!」

Simultaneously, the sorceress aimed a fireball at me.

Her aim was accurate, but the power was insufficient.
I swung Excalibur, cutting down the magical attack.

「You cut… magic? Were we up against a monster capable of such feats?」

「Sis… are we dealing with someone unbelievable?」

They finally seemed to grasp the situation.
Being considered D-rank is indeed unexpected.
In that sense, I heaved a sigh of relief.

「Yes, his strength likely translates to… the lower tiers of B-rank in adventurer rankings.」

I almost stumbled again right there.

「What! Oh, we’re finished, Sis!」

「Calm down! First, your cheek… It’s gonna be a huge scar. Let me see.」

The sorceress’s palm was enveloped in a green aura.
She placed her hand on the swordsman’s cheek.

「Just calm down. If we think calmly, we should be able to decide whether to flee.」

「Hehe, Sis, not only top-class in attack magic but top-class in healing magic too.」

Then the sorceress made a puzzled expression.
And that expression started to pale rapidly—

「Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!」

A high-pitched scream echoed through the forest.

「What happened? Sis?」

「H-he-he, th-th-the, he, healing… magic isn’t… working!」

「What do you mean by that?」

The sorceress then said with a pale expression,

「You were cut with a god-killing weapon.」

Well, I’m cutting from the soul, which is the original blueprint of the human body—the astral body.
With my sword, automatic healing or magic to reconstruct the body as per the blueprint won’t work.

「Sis? What does that mean?」

After a moment of silence, the sorceress looked up at the sky.

「Without a doubt… he should have at least the strength of a lower-tier S-rank adventurer.」

Finally understanding the situation, I asked the two:

「So, what are you going to do?」