Volume 19 - CH 8

If you can't think about it, don't think about it.

No thinking here.

The only way to get a head start on him is to increase your reaction time.

Concentrate. ......

【Mindless】

Hmm?

Did it come up as a skill candidate?

Well, if I can get it, I'll take it.

【Mindless Lv5】 New!

「Murghh! The gap has ...... disappeared?」

Lancelot stopped mid-step and hesitated, but this skill seems to be immensely powerful for a swordsman like him who skillfully uses advanced psychological tactics.

「What's the matter, captain? If you're not coming, I'll come to you.」

I slash at him with a gaping stance.

「Nonsense, that attack is like old master Varius!」

Lancelot growled in surprise.

「Hmm? Have you ever fought that old man before?」

「Only once. That man moved in a way that you wouldn't expect from a human. Have you fought with the old master, Alec?」

「Yes, I did. He trained with me for a very short time. In the end, I couldn't land a single blow to the old man with my sword.」

「I did land a blow, but it didn't have any effect. I see, we are kindred spirits.」

「I'm glad you said that. Well, how about this? Varius Style, Water Bird Sword, Hayabusa!」

I simulated what I thought the old man would do with the techniques Yulia often used, and moved my body accordingly.

My bones creaked and my muscles buzzed with an unpleasant scream, but I could handle this with my body's regenerative abilities.

That's where 【Mindless】 comes in.

「Khhh!. I can't his movement. ......!」

His eyes widened, and Lancelot seemed to lose sight of my movements, though it seemed only for a moment.

Blood flowed from his left shoulder.

Lancelot must have very good intuition to be able to almost dodge my 【Mindless】 attack while losing sight of me.

I've seen that he has a skill like that.

It's the same kind as Sarah's.

If that's the case, it can't be an avoidable attack.

No, even if it can be avoided , it is an attack that will surely kill you.

「As expected, It looks like your skills are the only one who can do it here.」 (?)

As I said this, I sheathed my sword and took an iai stance.

「That stance, that can't be ......!」

He looked incredulous, but Lancelot was still agile enough to react to my technique.

「「【Zantetsuken!】」」

My voice and Lancelot's are in sync, and the shockwave from the sword and the stance are exactly the same.

If that's the case, then I have the advantage of attacking first.

That's what I thought.

「Guhahhh!?」

My fresh blood splattered on the ground.

「「「Aleec!」」」

You bastard, you avoided the dark dragon scale armor and just went for the bare neck.

「Lancelot! How did you do that? I'm sure I was faster than you.」

I hold my neck with my left hand and ask while recovering. I was buying time.

「You're right, the timing was fast. But not fast enough.」

Lancelot answered my question, but perhaps it was a difference in skill level.

「Speed. It is speed, after all?」

No matter how well Lancelot has trained his body, there must be a limit.

If we're on the same level, there is no way that he can be faster than my body as a hero.

In addition, I am now level 73, which is higher than Lancelot's level 69.

And yet, ...... Lancelot is faster.

「It's the distance, Alec. If you cut the shortest distance, you will cut the fastest. In the direction of the blade, I mean.」

「So that means ...... stepping into it!」

If the stance is exactly the same, but the speed changes, then we should see that the position has changed.

He and I are both right-handed.

Therefore if you change the angle so that the blade is in front of the right and the body is behind on the left, you can hit the body that much faster.

So it has to do with the footwork of stepping in to do that.

「Exactly.」

「Lancelot! This isn't a practice match or a lesson. You have an advantage, but what are you doing!」

The king on the other side shouted in annoyance.

「Ha!」

Lancelot slashed at me as soon as he replied that, but he told me in a whisper from his position with his back to the king.

「Alec, you're probably kicking the ground with your heels . No, it's not like that. You have to grab the ground with your toes. That's how you stay on your feet.」

Ohh, so it's like that!

The amazing movement of the old man and Lancelot, their speed.

I can see their footwork, but unless they're barefoot, there's no way I can see the movement of their toes inside their shoes.

The boots we wore were made of leather, and the toes were rather soft.

Perhaps Lancelot's shoes are even softer than mine, as an adventurer.

The way he uses his toes is different.

If I know that, I can use your extra skill points to strengthen them.

【Toe Wiggle Massage Lv5】 New!

「You have my thanks, Master Lancelot. 【True Alter Ego Technique!】

Grasping the ground in the courtyard as if to gouge it out with my toes.

It's not just the ground.

I can also use the wind pressure, and even the gravity of this space-time to accelerate and grasp with my own body.

I see, so this is 【Space-Time Manipulation】

And if you can manipulate time and space, you can also grasp this dimension by grasping the past and future in parallel.

It's 【Dimensional Manipulation】.

「Wh-What the hell was that move?」

「Th-There's more Alec!?」

You can temporarily interrupt the past to the future position and shift the time.

That way, there can be many of me in the same time zone.

It's not infinite, though.

I cut in from the front, and at the same time as I clashed swords with Lancelot, and I slashed him from behind. This is a real alter ego.

「Gunuuuu!?」

「T-the match is over! Winners, Alec!」

「Use it. It's the Great Potions.」

I offered the potion to the fallen Lancelot.

「It's unnecessary. I don't work out that soft.」

「No matter how much you ...... Ooooh?」

The wound on Lancelot's back is closing up.

「Regeneration skills?」

「No, it's my back muscles.」

「It's disgusting, you. ......」

「I don't need you to tell me that. Even I can't heal a bone.」

「Oiii, Lancelot! What are you doing? If you're going to stand, slash Alec!」

The king rises from his chair and yells.

「With all due respect, Your Majesty, this is a match. As long as we have already won or lost, this is as far as we go. Besides, Alec has raised his arm again. I'm afraid I can no longer defeat him.」

「...... I see. If so, there is no choice, Hero Kojima, defeat Alec.」

「Yes, Your Majesty.」

"Kojima" you say?

It seems that the King of Vernia still has other powerful pawns besides Lancelot.

It seems that even after witnessing this match where I defeated Lancelot, the king and his men are still planning to defeat me.

But the list I received from Saki didn't include the name "Kojima".

We all looked at the man called "Kojima" to see who he was.

「Ehh? K-Kojima-sensei! Wh-Why are you here?」

I recognized Kojima's face as well, though Serina raised her voice in dismay.

A man wearing a simple white robe.

He was in his thirties.

But he used to look nervous, but now he has a thin smile on his face and seems to be very confident.

「Yaa, Serina-kun, Alec-kun, it's been a while. It's good to see you both looking so healthy. Meena, you too.」

Kojima smiles.

He's one of the heroes who was summoned here, just like us.

He said he was a surgeon.

Me, Serina, Shin, Keiji, Erwin, and Kojima――

Last year, these six people were summoned as heroes.

He was confused about this other world and the position of a hero, and only visited the adventurer's guild for the initial registration.

So, he was omitted from Saki's list.

Even so, his level stopped at 36 according to the [Appraisal].

He shouldn't be our enemy, but ......, what's this leeway?

「I also realized after that. In this world, killing people will make you stronger. It's really strange. I think it's called the experience system. I studied a lot when I was a kid and rarely played that kind of game, but I've heard of it.」

「T-that's not it, sensei! In this world, you have to defeat the monsters.」

Serina said desperately, shaking her head.

「Yeah, well, I guess you're right. But it's the same thing with people. I've been asked by His Majesty to operate on dying patients, and I've often failed. It made me realize just how much modern medicine is supported by technology.」

Of course, Kojima, who smiles wryly, must have started out with good intentions to help people.

But――

「There is a thing called magic in this world, and if you kill people or monsters, your muscle strength and stamina will increase dramatically. From my research, it seems that this is some kind of energy that is exchanged like virtual currency, and the "God" of this world give us power. Unfortunately, my attempts to communicate with "God" have been unsuccessful, so I don't know much about it. However, Christina's your "Lord" also treats "fear" as a form of currency.」

Kojima smiled.

「T-that can't be, she's here!?」

「Damn it!」

「Oh. I heard that my girlfriend's "Lord" is not a "God", but to me, they're both similar, as long as he let me use "Magic". Look at this. This is the secret she taught me. ――The corpse.」

「Ha!」

Two soldiers carried the man's body away.

「What are you doing, Alec? If he's an enemy, just take him down as fast as you can. That's who he is.」

Kaede said, but I signaled with my hand to wait a moment.

「When you make an offering to the "Lord" like this, ......」

Kojima put his hand on the dead man's stomach.

「O-Oii, there's something in there!」

「Wh-What the hell is that!?」

The soldiers panicked, but it seemed that many of them were still unaware of Kojima's experiment.

We weren't surprised, but a black snake appeared from the corpse's belly.

The shiny black snake seemed to be a black summoned beast for sure.

「Now we had confirmation. Kojima is an enemy, and Erwin and Keiji are allies.」

I say with certainty.