Chapter 176 - Lord of the Marshes

Lord of the Marshes

The thing that jumped noisily out of the tall grass was a fish. However, it was a bipedal fish. In its hand was a makeshift spear and its body was wrapped in a type of waterweed as it ran wildly in our direction. It was a merman.

“Well, I had an idea after looking it up at the guild…”

“Be careful of their spears, but not only the spears. They will use water magic as well.”

“Be careful of everything then. Got it!”

I replied as I held the sword above my head and ran forward. ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ had allowed me to simulate the movements of these merman…known as ‘sahuagin.’ I also knew what kind of magic they would use. And so when they held their spears at that level…

“Hah…!”

A bullet of water fires off. I press into the dirt with my right leg and jump to the left. As I know their movements, I can act before they have even taken them. Then I land to the right side of the sahuagin and swing the great sword down with all of my might. It cuts through the creature’s shoulder and into the torso. The sahuagin’s top half flies in the air.

Without missing a beat, I swing the sword up this time, taking the sahuagin that stood behind the fallen lower half of the first. This is immediately followed by a downward swing into the head of another sahuagin who came next to me. Blood sprays in the air like mist as two more quickly fall.

After that, I quickly concentrated on Presence Detection and searched for my next prey. Someone was coming from behind with a raised spear. I used Legs of the Forest Wolf to jump up high. At the same time, a burst of water magic hits where I had been standing a moment ago.

‘They are able to launch three water bullets with every swing of their spears. The bullets will come at you from the front and sides, therefore, the only way to escape is to go up.’

That was what I had read at the guild. This magic made the sahuagin a lot more dangerous. There was not much you could do unless you had a shield.

I kept my guard up as I glanced towards Daniela. She had opted to create some distance and then use her bow to turn the sahuagin into pin cushions. She had killed more than half of them already.

“You are slacking, Asagi!”

“Sorry!”

I moved away frantically as an arrow whizzed passed me. It wouldn’t have hit me anyway, but it was still perfectly terrifying. Arrows were not meant to be used like that. And that’s the truth.

I groaned at Daniela’s harsh disciplinary style as I landed on the ground and held my sword ready. There in front of me, was a sahuagin that was larger than the rest. It looks like I had unexpectedly landed in front of the big one. The boss. Also known as the lord of the lake.

The boss sahuagin breathed its misty breath and held its spear…and what a spear it was. This was not the kind of boss who left his subordinates to do the dirty work. Those were the best kinds of bosses. Except he was my enemy right now.

“Daniela won’t like it if I don’t give you a good work out.”

Blue magic enveloped my blade, turning it into water. This was the crowning achievement of a blacksmith with blue magic, the Schwarz Tempest. This thing could cut through anything, even the neck of a wind dragon.

And so I held it up and charged at the boss sahuagin. It would die under this unblockable attack. …Or so I thought. My eyes widened as the blade descended.

It had done it. The boss sahuagin had done the same magic on his own spear.

And so my great sword was blocked, and I was pushed back. Not only that, but it caused the current of water enveloping our weapons to bounce off and disappear. I would never have imagined that there was something this sword couldn’t cut… I was practically dumbfounded as I stood there and held it in front of me.

“I see. So it has the same attribute as mine…”

“FWWOOOSSH!”

Master Daniela had given me lessons on magic and anti-attributes and the workings of nullifying spells before. I looked around cautiously as I thought back on what had happened. It looked like the others were not going to join the fight. They were either holding their spears and watching, or going after Daniela. Well, Daniela would probably kill them no matter what they were doing.

The boss sahuagin was more important, anyway. If the power of blue magic wasn’t going to help me, it would be up to pure swordsmanship. It wasn’t about dealing one heavy blow with a great sword then. And so I thrust the thing into the ground and unsheathed the Glampanzer with my right hand and took out the Ashikirimaru with my left.

This change in style must have made him wary because the boss sahuagin now lowered his stance and slowly pointed his spear out.

Our eyes locked on one another as we slowly closed in. However, he had a further reach.

“FFWWUAA!!”

“Hh…!”

A sharp thrust came towards me. I used Ashikirimaru to swipe it aside and take another step forward. However, the spear quickly pulled back before thrusting again. This time, I used the sword in my right hand to block it and take another step forward.

“SHHAA!!”

The spear I had blocked from the side came swinging down like a whip. I ducked out of its reach and finally found myself within striking distance.

“Hah!’

With a shout, I slashed upwards with the demon sword. The boss sahuagin adeptly maneuvered his spear and stopped it by a hair’s breadth. However, that left him open for the Ashikirimaru. The sharp blade tore into his arm and fresh blood sprayed in the air.

“Gggsshh…”

Its webbed hand tried to hold the wound shut, but the blood would not stop. It dripped down, painting the spear red. He would not be so quick now. I had been targeting his arm from the beginning.

“Now try holding that spear!”

“GGGRR…SHHHRRR…!”

The boss sahuagin glared at me with rage. I returned it with a grin. His reply was a thrust of his spear, which was now covered with water magic. However, the thrust was weaker now that he could only use one arm. I didn’t even have to block or parry it. I could just step away. And while I did that, I activated Legs of the Forest Wolf and increased my speed.

Eventually, the boss sahuagin could not keep up with me. His spear stopped moving and he screamed with irritation. He could no longer fight. Everything was about to end. At the same time, Daniela had killed the last of his subordinates.

“Good. It’s over!”

This was the moment for Asagi Kamiyashiro to showcase the move he had simulated so many times over in Jack of all Trades, Master of None. No one had been around to witness it before and send him a thunder of applause, but Daniela was here now. In spite of already being madly in love, she would somehow fall in love all over again. Such expectations went wild in my heart.

This move was purely about speed. A little technique added to the mix turned it into something incredibly deadly.

The wind moved faster as my swords turned into a blur of silver and green and shot towards the boss sahuagin.

“Kamiyashiro-style Dual Fang Body Slash!!”

A high speed flash tore into the boss sahuagin’s torso. And without slowing down, I cut into him from the other side. This was a move for dual-wielding. Cutting through a body with two fangs. The sharpness of the swords was vital. Jack of all Trades, Master of None had instructed me that it would be hard to keep my arms steady if I just slashed, and so I cut him as if stabbing through his flesh. The result was quite satisfactory, an all-around success.

The boss sahuagin had been cut into three pieces. Its eyes rolled back as it sunk into a puddle of blood. Perhaps it would find some solace in dying in something wet.

“Phew…”

I swung the blood off of the sword and put it in my sheath. My eyes quickly went to the spear. It had fallen from his grip before my attack, and so it lay there without a scratch. Upon picking it up, I could sense the water attribute within it. While I already knew about, the fact that it was so tangible was rather impressive.

“Good work, Asagi.”

“Hey. Spoils of war.”

I twirled it around and pointed it at her. Daniela grabbed it and let out a sigh of admiration.

“It is a good spear. It is hard to think that a monster would own such a thing.”

“Perhaps they just found it in the marshes? I bet it was an Adventurer who challenged the lord of the swamp.”

I bet.

In any case, the fight was over and we decided to return to the camp. We would come back later to take the gills as proof of the hunt, if we could. But for now, we were just so tired and wanted to rest.

“Ah, Asagi. What was that thing you did? It was powerful and you moved well, but otherwise, quite embarrassing to watch.”

“What? …you’re kidding, right?”