CH 56

Niva wasn’t the least bit perturbed by my offer of a duel.

[Hah. Hahaha! “Soul Duel” huh. I don’t mind. ……But.]

Thereupon, Nirva moved his finger and pointed toward Prana and Mana.

[If I win, I will have that woman.]

[Wha!?]

As I became flustered upon his words, a sadistic smile appeared on the Sword Saint’s lips.

[What’s the matter? I thought you were going to prove your potential? Or perhaps, was your claim of defeating me just all talk?]

[That is……]

I was at a loss for words.

Me challenging Nirva here was 100% my ego.

There’s no way I could involve Prana for such a thing.

Just as I was about to withdraw from the duel……

[R- Rex-san won’t lose to the likes of you!]

Those powerful words came from behind me.

[Mana……]

Mana, who had been shrinking in fear behind Mana, glared at Nirva with strong will in her eyes.

And it isn’t just her who had such thoughts in mind.

[Me too. If it’s Rex, I believe he will win against you.]

Even Prana looked at me with a trusting gaze and said.

She declared as such.

[……It’s a done deal then.]

Seeing this, Nirva smiled with satisfaction.

Even if I guessed this was what he was aiming for, it’s already too late.

The duel had been decided, and me withdrawing from the duel isn’t an option anymore.

[……Alright. But in exchange, if I win, you have to swear not to reach your hands to them again.]

[That’s fine. However, is that all you want?]

For a moment, I didn’t understand what he was trying to imply.

As if enjoying my current state in amusement though, Nirva continued.

[I asked if that level of reward is enough for trying to achieve a miracle such as “defeating me”.]

He was full of confidence.

In response, I only clenched my teeth and shook my head.

[That’s fine. All I want right now is to beat you.]

[……Houu.]

To tell the truth, it was a tempting proposition.

However, I didn’t want to add noise to this match by being greedy here.

This is just purely to achieve victory.

I refused Nirva’s proposal.

I wonder what he saw in my expression.

Nirva smiled like a wild beast and turned his back on us.

[I’ll make arrangements for the Arena. Come in 10 minutes.]

With these words, Nirva walked away without a care, seemingly unconcerned with us behind him.

※　※　※

[Rex!]

[Rex-san!]

Prana and Mana rushed to me with apologetic looks on their faces.

[I’m sorry. I had unnecessarily……]

Mana was about to say something, but I shook my head.

I was also greatly responsible for this happening.

However, apologizing to each other won’t make this situation any better.

[We can’t lose time for things like that. I must prepare for that battle.]

The is a level-adjusted match.

No matter how high or low the level of a player is, everyone who enters the Arena is at a Fixed Lv 25.

That’s not all.

As I had inferred from looking at other people’s aptitudes, the ability values in the are recalculated from Lv 0 based on the person’s affinities, or more precisely, their growth rate, regardless of their current stat values.

—————–In other words, “Pseudo Stat Reassigning” is possible there.

In fact, the structure of the that I’m trying to use to reassign my stats works just about the same way.

In other words, before the battle, what kind of Class, what kind of equipment is chosen, and how to climb into the stage for the decisive battle.

The battle has already begun from that point on.

(Though I said that……)

In order to fight Nirva in B&B, there had only been two methods: either win through the Tournament for the World’s Strongest or clear 11 of the and challenge the final Ruin.

The Tournament route is relatively easy, but even that requires all of the world’s fiercest competitors, and with my current abilities, I can only say that it would be difficult to accomplish.

Even for the Hero, who has the ability to overcome difficulties, defeating Nirva would be an extremely difficult task.

Nirva is Lv 70, has the best affinities, and is equipped with the best equipment.

He isn’t someone that can be fought with early or mid-level abilities, but the Arena is completely one-on-one with no obstacles around, and the rules are such that your abilities are easily reflected as they are: “you can bring your own equipment, you can’t use your inventory and the match ends when your HP falls to half”.

The kind of leniency that is required is almost non-existent.

The only hope would have been using Status Ailments like how we stun-locked the , but Nirva is so careful about this aspect that his equipment nullifies all Status Ailments with a 95% probability.

However, if all else fails, I have no choice but to put my faith in that.

Wielding a and a , both of which have a Petrification Effect, I would gamble on that mere 5% chance and aim for petrification.

Of course, equipping weapons with the Petrification Effect doesn’t always mean it would always inflict the Status Ailment.

On top of needing to have that Petrification Effect activate, I would also need to get past his 95% resistance, so I would need a mind-boggling number of attempts.

Moreover, since saving wasn’t possible during the Tournament, if you lose to Nirva, the player would have to go back to the first round of the Tournament and start over again.

It was something that no sane person in their right mind could do, but they had to do that much to win against the Absolute Nirva.

(However, I can’t use that method now.)

I didn’t have those petrifying weapons yet, and even if I did, I couldn’t throw myself into such a low-priority gamble.

I can’t Save or Load in this world, and even if I was able to challenge him to a rematch, I wouldn’t be able to win the tournament and get to the decisive battle with Nirva with my current abilities.

No, in the first place, if losing here means Prana would be taken away, there’s no other choice but to win here.

[I definitely can’t lose.]

I instructed myself.

The only advantage I have is that I got him to agree to a .

This should reduce the opponent’s advantage considerably.

Even so, the difference in our strength is just hard to overturn.

A long-term battle against him would be disadvantageous.

(—————–If I want to have a chance of winning, it would be in a short battle.)

Everything about him is better than mine.

I shouldn’t think I could easily hit him with a decisive strike.

If I’m going to aim for victory, I should do it before he gets serious.

I have to bet everything on the first blow.

If that’s the case……

[Prana, Mana. You go to the Arena ahead of me. ……I’m going to the .]

※　※　※

[Mediocre as you are, let’s just say I’m glad you came instead of running away.]

Ignoring Nirva, who laughed ferociously and started trash-talking, I stepped into the stage where the decisive battle was to be held.

As my cloak fluttered behind me, big enough to cover my entire body, I asked Nirva.

[What are the rules?]

[It’s a , just like you wanted. Other than that, it’s the same rules as the tournament.]

As expected.

The rules may not have been ideal, but Nirva might not be willing to admit his defeat unless the match conforms with the tournament rules.

In that case, this is good.

[Are you ready?]

Nirva stepped into the stage, and as if to consider that a foolish question, he unclasped the two greatswords he carried crosswise on his back, and held one of them in each hand.

Those greatswords were originally meant to be something that could be held with two hands, but Nirva’s Skill: allows him to hold them with one hand, and his Skill: allows him the ability to Dual-Wield. On top of that, his Skill: allows him access to use two Arts at the same time.

This is the that is synonymous with Nirva, the culmination of his Dual-Wielding fighting style.

However……

[……Mhmm?]

Frowning slightly, the Sword Saint casually threw away the sword in his left hand.

Then, he re-gripped the sword in his right hand with both hands.

(Alright! It went just as I thought!)

Each of the held by Nirva is a weapon of tremendous strength, which is why it’s subject to a tremendous level of equipment restrictions.

Even so, Nirva could normally handle it with one hand with ease, but because his level was reduced to less than half due to the effect of , he was caught in the equipment restrictions.

Nirva was able to quickly respond to it, switching to two-handed and clearing the equipment limitation, but now he was no longer able to Dual-Wield.

He has a number of powerful Unique Skills, but most of them are based on the premise of using Dual-Wield.

Perhaps, other than the Basic Technique: and the Self-Recovery Skill: , all of his other Unique Skills should now be unusable.

[Clever. However, is that it?]

Nirva still maintained his relaxed attitude.

But when I climbed into the stage and removed the cloak that concealed my body, exposing my equipment, his eyes widened.

And then……

[Stop messing around! You dare challenge me with such equipment!?]

His confusion was quickly replaced by anger.

However, I suppose that too is understandable.

I wasn’t wearing a helmet or armor for melee fighters, but instead a hideous circlet and armor for magic warriors, which were obviously inferior in terms of defensive capabilities.

The most important thing is that in contrast to Nirva, who changed from Dual-Wielding to doublehanding due to equipment restrictions, I had one magic rod in each of my hands.

[……I’m not messing around.]

But here in the , the ability is calculated once again according to your current Class and equipment, regardless of how you leveled-up up to that point.

If that were the case, there would be no need to build up a Swordsman in a foolishly honest way.

“—————–If it’s Rex, you would probably be able to use that kind of equipment to your advantage and do some crazy stuff with it!”

As I’m reminded once again of how Nirva dismissed me calling them my disciples as “Nonsense”, I held the in my right hand toward Nirva and declared.

[—————–I’m going to defeat you with this!]