Master’s Smile

C86 – The Battle was Swift

“(What the hell…? What magic did this guy just use…?)”

Rousseld looked at Master just to be sure, but Master only smiled at him.

Rousseld had previously slaughtered his enemies with his own body without fail.

An undead’s body was not flexible enough to use weapons, and he had never tried to learn magic either.

Hence, he was unable to identify the magic that Master had just used.

“(Tch! It would be a different story if Ild was here….)”

Ild was a weak and timid man, but he was abundant in knowledge.

It would have been useful if Ild stayed with him, but he had also given a different order to Ild.

It was an order to kill the members of “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”….

The same order that was given to the other two members.

Rousseld deemed them useful as they had good qualities. Thus, they will surely bring him their heads.

That was why he had to kill Master here.

Even if they had carried out the orders safely, it won’t matter if the crucial battle, his own, was lost.

He had to kill Master here and showed that he was proud to be the guildmaster of Inicken.

“…Bring it!!!”

He screamed while glaring at Master intensely.

A dense and deadly bloodlust radiated from Rousseld.

Looking back on the battle so far, Heroro’s information was faulty. It seemed that Master was not the type to fight with magic, but was rather a melee fighter like Rousseld himself.

Coming to this conclusion, Rousseld then unleashed a powerful bloodlust that would scare the hell out of most people in an attempt to make Master unable to move his body freely.

And this time, he was going to slam his powerful fist into Master’s face, who was constrained even though he had the higher ground.

With that thought in mind, Rousseld clenched his fist tightly.

“…ah?”

However, Master easily surpassed his expectations.

Rousseld had thrust his fist with a quick maneuver, but it only cut the air.

The next moment, there was a small pleasant sound of slapping.

At the same time, Rousseld fell to the ground and landed with his bottom due to the impact.

When he looked at his right arm, what should have been there was now missing.

“A-AAAAAAAAAHHH!?”

Rousseld widened his eyes and screamed.

Was it a scream from being hit by an invisible attack?

No, he was screaming because he felt something else was wrong.

“Eh? W-What just happened…?”

“Fist pressure…, we think.”

Standing next to Lucille, who was stunned, Sorglos muttered the name of a technique that came to her mind.

It was a technique where the person’s fist was thrust so quickly that the impact could reach their enemies from a distance.

(TLN: something like Makankosappo (also known as Hadouken-ing), if you don’t know, google it as it was quite popular in Japan.)

However, it was an ultimate technique which a talented martial artist would have to spend their lifetime learning.

Sorglos was astonished that her youth-looking master had used it.

Though, she knew that her master was glorified, having a lifespan that no human could have, so her surprise quickly subsided.

“(Still, we couldn’t believe he could use fist pressure….)”

The only people Sorglos knew who could use this technique were Reese, who was a battle-junkie idiot, and Vampir, who she guessed could probably use it too.

It wasn’t an absolute standard, but Master didn’t look like someone who could use such a muscle-brained technique.

“IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUUURTS!!!”

Rousseld held the former area of his arm, which was blown off, using his other hand and shrieked as his eyes were popping out of his head.

What was strange to him was the tormenting pain that developed from his wound.

“H-HOOOOOW!? EVEN THOUGH I’M AN UNDEEEAAAAD!?”

Yes, as an undead, he had never felt pain before, no matter what kind of attacks he had received.

Rousseld, who had never experienced and understood pain, had been killing people in brutal ways.

But now, for the first time in his life, he was experiencing such agony.

“W-Wait! I have a self-healing…!!!”

Rousseld urged himself to recover quickly.

He didn’t know why he was in pain, but he wouldn’t feel any once he recovered from his injuries.

Thus he grinned, even though he was covered in sweat….

“…O-Oi!? Why the hell…?”

Rousseld noticed the strange feeling that was coming over him once again.

“Why, WHY WON’T IT HEEEEEALL!?!”

Bright crimson blood poured down from the wound that he clutched.

Attaching a blown-off arm would take quite some time, even for Rousseld, who had self-healing.

However, he should be able to close his wound right away.

Nevertheless, the bleeding did not seem to stop at all.

The pain that assaulted him also did not decrease as the blood kept flowing out.

“A magic that inhibits self-healing and a magic that gives pain to those without a sense of pain, yes….”

Sorglos looked at the situation and guessed the magic that her master had casted.

It was probably the magic that he had casted on himself earlier.

“…Was there a spell like that?”

It was such a shock that she unconsciously forgot her talking manner..

“BASTAAAARD!!! YOU’VE GOT TO BE SH*ITTING ME!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

Rousseld was so agitated that his eyes were bloodshot and drool was dripping from the corner of his mouth.

It was a mixture of tremendous bloodlust and wrath, which would make even a trained knight and seasonal adventurer faint, yet Master only let out a thin smile without breaking a sweat.

“Hiiee…!”

At this moment, for the first time in his life, Rousseld’s mind was covered with the emotion of fear.

If Master was just strong in general, he would have been angry but not afraid.

If that was the case, an undead like Rousseld would have had the advantage, as long as he could get into a battle of attrition.

However, he couldn’t comprehend Master.

What he couldn’t comprehend generated a great amount of fear.

An overwhelming power that couldn’t be explained, as well as magic he couldn’t understand which interfered with his self-healing and made him learn pain.

Rousseld was not strong enough to accept this with a smile.

“UWOOAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

The action that Rousseld took after such fear possessed his body and mind was to attack Master head-on.

But it wasn’t merely a suicidal action.

Rousseld approached Master instantly with his tremendous leg strength due to the benefit of being an undead, who were able to exert power beyond their limits that no human was capable of.

He tightly clenched his left fist, which could shatter the body of a metal golem, a monster that was probably the hardest thing in the world.

Rousseld was the guildmaster of “Iron Queen (Inicken)”, the worst and most feared dark guild in the world.

At this final moment, he finally displayed his tremendous power.

However, it was meaningless in front Master.

A sound of a heavy thud was heard.

It came from the left side of Rousseld’s abdomen, which had been left open when he had raised his arm to strike Master.

Master had delivered a sharp kick to Rousseld’s side before his attack could reach him.

Whether by accident or on purpose, it was a kick very similar to the one Rousseld delivered to Sorglos.

The only difference was the power.

While Sorglos was blown away and fell into the lake, Rousseld’s torso was torn apart by Master’s kick.

Thus, Rousseld was easily defeated by Master.