CH 82

[Creeping Shadow]

“Dammit, I’m still pissed off! We both ended up getting arrested because you started fighting in the middle of the city!”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?! But you looked like you were having a blast back there?!”

“Well, couldn’t help it, I love fighting!”

“So do I!”

A few hours after we got arrested.

In the middle of the night, I was fighting with Zansword in the forest behind ‘Gorgeous City Nakatsukuni’!

The forest was beautiful, with rows of cherry blossom trees. Beneath the moonlight, amid the fluttering cherry blossoms, we charged toward each other with swords in our hands.

“Die!”

Zansword violently slashed at me. But I didn’t dodge, and swung out my two swords with all my might—!

“Ora ora ora ora ora ora!”

I went full offensive with no regard for defense. There was no finesse to it, as I was just swinging my swords almost blindly.

Others might find it stupid, but…

“Good, keep it up! We are but gamers, not sword practitioners. It doesn’t matter if our techniques are bad, we simply have to push through with spirit!”

“Spirit, huh! I’ve got loads of that!”

Ignoring the blood spurting from the cuts I received, I tried to slice Zansword in half by swinging my swords from both of his sides!

However, he laughed and dodged by doing a backflip at inhuman speed.

–Well, he wasn’t the only one with an inhuman aspect here.

“Oh, my ‘Tenacity’ skill is done nullifying the damages I took. Man, if we were in the real world, I would have died a thousand times over.”

“Umu. In this VR world, there are factors such as ‘skills’ and ‘status’ that make us superhuman. There is even magic. The real world’s swordsmanship isn’t very practical here.”

Zansword held up his sword again. He stared at me with his usual sour look.

“Therefore, Yuri. Once you have gotten used to the feel of close combat, find your own swordsmanship.

“Familiarize yourself with your skills and arts and create your own swordsmanship!”

“Zansword…!”

O-ohh… this guy sure can say some cool lines!

His sour face—which I couldn’t help but feel like I had seen somewhere else very recently—was nice-looking, too. He must be really popular irl.

“You… girls fawn over you in real life, I bet?”

“W-what are you talking about?! I haven’t had any contact with girls for more than years—wait no… just recently, I somehow ended up hugging an extraordinarily beautiful high school girl…!”

“You hugged an extraordinarily beautiful high school girl?! So, you are popular!”

“S-stop making fun of me!” Zansword smiled shyly as I patted his shoulder!

Speaking of which, I had recently bumped into a sour-faced young man, but that was irrelevant!

“Okay, I’m gonna refine my own swordsmanship. Thanks a bunch for teaching me so many things even though we’re rivals, Zansword!”

“Good grief, at least you have some self-consciousness… you can’t imagine how frustrated I was after I lost to you despite all the plans I had prepared at the event the other day.” Zansword stared at me with a smirk. But his tone was somewhat gentle. “I had been mulling over why I couldn’t defeat you. I even went outside for the first time in a few years for a change of pace in the hope I could come up with the answer.”

He went outside for the first time in a few years, huh… that sounded kind of concerning.

“—That’s when I got into a bit of trouble and met the beautiful high school girl I mentioned earlier. Her face reminded me of you… then a thought suddenly came to me: ‘Oh right, what has Yuri prepared?’.”

After saying that, he stared at the swords in my hands.

The dark light-clad swords, Ponkuro and Ponjuro, cried, ““Kisha?””

“I made a shocking revelation. You tamed and trained monsters, as a Summoner should, but most importantly, you raised your comrades.

“And the result was our forces got wiped out by Craft Makers and rookies whom you have guided, and my plans were thwarted by Seele and Grimm who aren’t even top-class players. –I was only thinking of ‘manipulating’ my comrades, it was my complete defeat.”

“Zansword…”

“So, from now on, I will quit pushing forward alone. I will teach other people as long as it is within my capacity. And you… are my first student.” Zansword smiled cheerfully.

It was a wonderful smile. I never thought a guy who always had a sour look on his face like him could smile like that.

“Haha… I knew it, you are cool.”

“Ngh, I don’t need flattery…?!”

“I’m being serious. I think of you as one of my best rivals. The other being the baldhead.”

“Mh… I see. Then you’d best watch out! Someday, I’m going to defeat the baldhead and take you from him–ahem! I mean, I’m going to take your rival seat from him!”

Oh, that’s some crazy fighting spirit! It made me so happy as a man!

But right then…

“—Oh, Zansword-han, I see you have become a splendid man.”

Those words echoed out of nowhere.

And in the next moment, a woman in kimono wielding a long sword sliced Zansword’s torso in half from behind him—!