kscans

Chapter 144 - Shinsuke vs. Aleister.

Altorine lay fallen in the Pope's chambers. Beside her stood a man holding a greatsword that shimmered like a flame.

I calmly surveyed my surroundings.

The room was littered with the bodies of countless knights. In the left corner lay three fallen Archbishops. To the right, an old man clutched his bleeding stomach as he lay on the floor. That must be the Cardinal—the one who gave us the information.

The Pope spoke.

"Well, well. Have the rest of the knights arrived? You're too late. As you can see, your commander is on her last breath. I have no intention of finishing her off, but she did refuse me. She'll have to be properly disciplined. I'm an exceptionally busy man. I'll let you go, just this once. Now, get lost."

He made his declaration with a face full of sadistic pleasure.

The knights' expressions were filled with rage. This fiend had not only killed their comrades and defeated their commander, but now he intended to humiliate her. It was unforgivable.

Seeing the knights about to charge like crazed beasts, I calmly activated my `Discernment` skill.

Individual: Human.
Nature: Body Change.
Magic: Fire.
Skills: Acceleration, Summon.
Weakness: None.

Noting one item I couldn't afford to overlook, I shouted.

"Everyone, calm down! The Pope has a skill called `Summon`. I don't know what he'll summon, but if you charge in recklessly, you'll be slaughtered!"

My cry stopped the knights in their tracks.

Aleister, who had been watching the scene, narrowed his eyes.

"Hoh. You know my skill? Where did you—? No, the only ones who know of this are the previous Pope and the Archbishops. They would never speak of it to anyone. How did you find out, you man from Owari?"

He asked, his voice dripping with killing intent.

I answered with a deadpan expression.

"I saw it with my skill. I have nothing more to say."

Boasting about one's own abilities is a fatal mistake in a fight. In fact, I only knew two of Altorine's skills, `Charge` and `Body Enhancement`. Rumor had it she possessed five in total.

Aleister sneered. "Nothing to say, is that it? Are you cautious? Or just a coward? Either way, it seems I'd be better off killing you sooner rather than later."

Killing intent flooded from him.

It seemed I had been marked as a dangerous individual.

I turned to the knights. "I have a request for the Knight Order..."

Before I could continue, one of the knights cut me off.

"We understand. You want us to take the commander and fall back, right? To be honest, it's humiliating, but I don't feel like we can win. We're counting on you."

They all shared the same sentiment.

I turned my head to Tina.

"Tina. Do not interfere."

Tina nodded at my words.

I drew my sword.

"`Thunderclap Incarnation`!"

I activated the lightning magic enhancement.

In a single bound, I closed the distance to Aleister.

Aleister raised his sword. "Skill: `Acceleration`."

He vanished in an instant.

Without panicking, I stopped and focused on my surroundings. No matter how fast an opponent is, they exude killing intent when they attack. I remembered reading a manga like that once. Just then, I felt a cold presence at my neck.

I brought my sword up to defend the left side of my neck. The next moment, a violent gakiiin echoed right beside me, resonating from my defending blade. When the sound subsided, Aleister's sword had appeared from a horizontal slash.

Aleister seemed intrigued. "Hoh, you saw my movement? Or was that just a hunch? In any case, it seems my judgment to dispose of you first was correct!"

He roared, putting more force into his sword.

Even with both hands, the pressure was immense. He didn't seem to have `Body Enhancement` or any other muscle-strengthening skills. This meant this was his natural strength.

Sensing his high physical level, I decided. "`Flame Daruma`!"

Flames erupted from my body.

Startled, Aleister immediately retreated. He checked himself over. His mantle was slightly singed but the fire was out. His armor was unscathed. His sword, fine. But when he touched his hair, a few scorched strands came away in his hand.

Aleister roared. "Y-You bastard! How dare you touch my hair!"

He let out a tremendous bellow.

The shout was so deafening I had to instinctively cover my ears. After screaming his lungs out, Aleister's shoulders heaved as he regained his breath.

Then, when he looked up, he was calm.

"My apologies. I lost my composure. To get worked up over a low-life like you... I was being childish."

For some reason, he had calmed down.

But I knew. That hair was incredibly important to Aleister. Otherwise, he wouldn't have screamed like that the moment he saw it. Humans have an extreme aversion to having things they cherish damaged.

Of course, it's also common for others not to know what someone cherishes. It's easy to do something without realizing. That's why the moment he screamed, I knew his hair was precious to him.

I decided to provoke him.

"Even if you calm down, it won't undo what happened. What, were you bald until yesterday or something?"

It was a speculative and taunting remark.

I figured a seasoned warrior like him wouldn't fall for such a childish provocation, even if he was ecstatic about his plan succeeding. I prepared for a tough fight and readied my sword.

But for some reason, Aleister began to tremble.

"You bastard. To so brazenly mention what I wish to forget... I will absolutely kill you!"

He charged, his face a mask of fury.

And without using any skills. Honestly, it was anticlimactic. To fall for such a childish taunt, he was far too short-tempered. I calmly met his charging greatsword with my own blade.

Since his strength was superior, I would parry. The greatsword was deflected to the left like flowing water. Without a moment's delay, I attacked with an upward diagonal slash from the lower left. It left a scratch on Aleister's armor, but didn't reach his body.

I tried to follow up, but... "Skill: `Acceleration`."

He vanished from my sight in an instant.

Aleister was now standing ten meters in front of me. He looked at his own armor. A single line. Not a scuff that would disappear after a while, but a line that would never fade.

Aleister quickly looked up. "To dare... scratch my armor. But it seems I cannot win against you by letting my passion take over. I have no choice..."

An eerie smile spread across his face.

It was then that I felt a sinister presence behind me. Acting on something close to intuition, I ducked. Just then, something flew over my head. I looked up to see a spinning object.

Is it a disk? A UFO? While I was having such thoughts, the object stopped spinning.

What appeared was a sword. A longsword, but it emanated a somehow ominous aura.

A knight behind me shouted, "Impossible. That's..."

He was shouting in surprise.

I glanced over and saw that Altorine had been retrieved by the knights and was lying on the floor. It seemed they had succeeded in rescuing her.

But more importantly right now... "What is that? If you know, I'd appreciate you telling me."

The knight, spurred by my urgency, replied.

"Ah, yes. That is a Regret Sword. It's a monster said to be born when a soldier dies on the battlefield with lingering regrets. Their resentment and hatred imbue a sword, which then floats about to kill the living. But they were all exterminated decades ago, and a custom was established to collect them to prevent their natural occurrence. It's a monster that hasn't appeared since."

He explained it concisely.

If that's the case, is it a monster Aleister was secretly keeping? But it's too well-tamed for that. It's as if they have a master-servant relationship.

That's when I realized. "I see... Is this the power of `Summon`?"

To this question, Aleister answered.

"Correct. My `Summon` skill allows me to summon and command a monster I have seen once. There's no limit to the number, but they disappear when my magic runs out. Convenient, wouldn't you say?"

He explained, perhaps reveling in his own power.

As a side note, it's not as if he could summon anything. The summons were limited to human-sized monsters. This meant large monsters like Orcs and Ogres couldn't be summoned, only smaller ones like Goblins, Slimes, and Falcons. Moreover, the summoned monsters were not creatures living somewhere, but innocent existences formed from the caster's magic. They had no will of their own, merely dolls that moved as the caster commanded. These were the characteristics of `Summon` that Shinsuke had no way of knowing.

I was panicking internally. If he could summon monsters, it meant he could summon Goblins, or even Orcs. If so, I had to end this quickly. Fortunately, the only thing summoned so far was a single floating sword. I could handle it.

Just then, I suddenly sensed another presence. I activated `Detection`. There were three red dots in the vicinity.

I said, "If you were planning a surprise attack, wouldn't it have been better to do it all at once?"

To my words, Aleister replied.

"So you noticed. It wouldn't be interesting otherwise."

With a snap of his fingers, the hidden entities revealed themselves.

What appeared were more Regret Swords. With the first one, that made four. This was bad. Even with dual-wielding, I was at a disadvantage. I couldn't handle this as I was.

I declared, "Then I'll go all out as well! Skill: `Matter Conversion`!"

I placed my hand on the ground and turned the marble floor to iron.

From it, countless iron tentacles extended, surrounding me. The tentacles writhed like an octopus, waiting for their prey to approach.

Aleister's guard went up. "You can grasp the situation, see through my skills, enhance your body, and on top of that, convert and manipulate matter... So you have at least four skills? Who in the world are you?"

I answered with a serious face. "I'm just a hunter. Nothing more, nothing less."

I couldn't very well say I was an otherworlder. Any information would only be to his advantage.

Aleister sneered. "Is that so. Then die!"

With that shout, he charged forward along with the Regret Swords.

I controlled the iron tentacles with my skill. If the opponent had more hands, then I just had to prepare even more. However, this was the first time I'd tried this.

To be honest, it was a trial by fire.

But having watched all sorts of anime and manga, I had of course seen things with moving tentacles. It would be easy to seal the Regret Swords' movements without them realizing. Probably. The spinning swords attacked from all directions.

The iron tentacles intercepted them. Normally, they would be cut instantly, but they were made of iron. They wouldn't be severed so easily. Aleister took advantage of the opening to attack with his greatsword, but the iron tentacles intercepted him like a whip, deflecting the greatsword.

Aleister clicked his tongue. "Tch. Flames, burn!"

Fire erupted from his greatsword.

I wasn't surprised. His magic had been displayed as Fire.

I countered. "Flames, enshroud!"

Flames wreathed the iron tentacles.

I thought about using lightning, but it lacked impact. Fire, even if it wasn't as powerful, was perfect for keeping an opponent in check. The flaming tentacles clashed with the flaming greatsword. Of course, I was also paying attention to the spinning swords.

The battle was fierce. The spinning swords would make contact and then retreat, and Aleister, unable to proceed as he wished, had a frown on his forehead. Was he getting anxious, or just irritated? Amidst the chaos, the behavior of the spinning swords changed.

They started ramming into the tentacles, maintaining contact for a long time. Were they trying to break through by force? I had a tentacle swat the spinning swords down. I then moved the tentacles to entangle the swords that had lost their momentum.

All four swords were stopped.

It was at that moment that a shadow fell over me. I looked up to see Aleister falling from above, his sword raised for a downward strike.