The Author's POV

WIIIIIING!

Staring at the incoming attack, I slashed down.

However, the moment I slashed down, I came to a sudden realization and forcefully stopped myself mid-swing.

"Uk!"

This was probably not a good idea as a groan soon escaped from my mouth and an inexplicable pain coursed through my muscles.

But I didn't have time to care about that.

Coating my fists with wind psyons I punched out, and a ferocious force burst out from my fist.

Puchi!

My punch soon collided with the demon's attack, and the demon was pushed back.

"Khh..."

Gritting my teeth, I glanced towards my right hand, where a large wound appeared. Red blood dripped down from the ground.

Gritting my teeth and withstanding the pain, I glared at the demon opposite me.

For a moment, I forgot about my training. If not for my sudden realization, the sword in my hand would've been long broken into pieces.

There was no way the sword could've withstood the full force coming from the demon's previous attack.

Lifting my sword slightly and seeing that it was still okay, I sighed in relief.

'…Just like Malvil said, I need to be more efficient when defending and attacking.'

Tightening my grip on the sword, I proceeded to take a deep breath.

WIIIIING!

It was at that moment that the demon reappeared in front of me. A sharp force quickly headed in my direction.

Icily staring at the incoming attack, I wasn't panicked. Just as the demon's sharp nails were about to reach me, rotating my heel, my body appeared by the left side of the demon. Clenching onto the hilt of the sword, I slashed down.

Clang—!

To my surprise, the demon was able to react on time. Twisting its torso, the demon blocked my attack with its sharp and sturdy nails.

Once the sword came into contact with the nails, a few sparks flew; however, rather than trying to attack again, I increased the strength of my attack. Sure enough, the difference in our strength was too big.

Before the demon could realize what had happened, its body directly smashed towards the ground.

Bang—!

Raising my leg, I mercilessly kicked the demon in the face.

"Ueeek!"

As soon as my foot landed on the demon's face, the demon let out a strange noise as its body flew backward.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, stomping my foot on the ground and borrowing the momentum from the impact, I shot towards the demon at incredible speed.

—Spurt!

This time, there were no mistakes as my sword cleanly cut the demon's body in half.

"Haaa…haa…"

Without wasting any time, taking out a potion from my dimensional space, I quickly downed it.

Soon enough, the wounds on my body started to heal at an alarming rate.

Bang—!

Just as I finished the potion, five more demons broke through the first line of defense. They all soon turned their attention towards me.

"Fuck..."

Dropping the potion on the ground, I brushed some of the loose hair away from my face and silently muttered.

"If this continues, I might die at this rate…"

***

At the same time, utility center.

—Clang! —Clang!

Sparks flew and a large hammer fell on the red piece of metal sitting on a large anvil. Holding onto the hammer, a relatively younger dwarf pounded the metal.

"Harder!"

Behind him, with his arms crossed, was Malvil, who strictly shouted.

"Put more power into it. How do you expect the metal to shape into what you want with that little bit of power?"

"I'm trying."

Malvin's disciple shouted back with a voice full of grievance.

He was already trying his best, yet Malvil repeatedly told him to hammer even harder.

"It's nae enough, I want ye ta pound tha metal, faster an' harder, Ornol! Tha more time ye waste tha harder it becomes!"

The best time to pound metal was right when it was piping hot. Once it cooled down, it would practically be impossible to shape.

When heated, the atoms within the metal begin to vibrate, and as a result, the atoms move farther apart. Thanks to this phenomenon, it becomes easier to mold the metal.

"Ha!"

Letting out a cry, the disciple, whose name was Ornol, again hammered the metal.

—Bang! —Bang!

This continued for ten minutes until finally, a perfectly square-shaped piece of metal rested on top of the anvil.

"Haaa…Haaa…done!"

Ornol cried out in joy as he let go of the hammer, heavily hitting the ground.

Sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Not bad."

Carefully picking up the box. Malvil complemented.

"See, if ye put work into it, ye really can come up with some good stuff."

Too tired to listen to Malvils compliments, the young dwarf weakly lifted his head and suddenly asked.

"Master, did ye really give that human a broken sword?"

"Broken sword?"

Malvil raised his brow.

Nodding his head, the disciple elaborated.

"Ye, the old worn-out one you always told me never to throw away."

Ever since becoming Malvils disciple, he had seen that old worn-out sword resting in the artifact box that Malvil always brought with him.

He always thought that it was a waste of a sword, and now that he had given it to that human, he couldn't help but be skeptical about his master's decision.

Was he trying to kill the human?

"…Isn't that a little bit too cruel."

Taken aback, Malvil glanced at his disciple and pointed at himself.

"Pah, ye think I'm that cruel?"

"Yes"

The disciple answered out of instinct.

Smack—

Before he could realize it, Malvil had already chopped his head.

"Ouuu!"

Ornol screamed out in pain.

Throwing his disciple a look of disdain, Malvil shouted.

"Like I wou' actually give him a sword that wou' break easily."

"What? but that sword be clearly failed."

Malvil once again raised his hand, threatening to chop his disciple in the head once again. At his master's threat, Ornol immediately became wary and took a couple of steps back. Then, with an amicable smile on his face, he tried to calm his master down.

"Master, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Ye know I like to joke around."

Rolling his eyes at his disciples' behavior, Malvil lowered his hand, much to his disciple's relief. He then proceeded to sit on a stool.

"That sword over there be as tough as any sword can be. Tha only reason I told him what I told him was so that he wou' be more careful when fighting."

Listening to his master's words, the disciple was suddenly enlightened. His master was a lot more soft-hearted than he had originally thought.

By telling the human that the sword was brittle, when in reality it wasn't, he was trying to make him realize his flaws and correct them as he fought.

"I'm sorry I misunderstood. But if the sw—"

Before he knew it, Malvil had turned around and aimed a kick in his direction.

"Enough talking, Get back ta work, we've got a lot o' things ta craft."

***

—Clang!

"Ukkk!"

Taking a couple of steps back, I let out a pained groan.

Standing opposite of me were three demons. Behind them were the corpses of two demons I had killed with a lot of effort.

They were all untitled demons; as such, they were much weaker than me, yet, I was having trouble dealing with them.

"God..."

I was beyond pissed at this point.

For me to have so much trouble dealing with a bunch of demons I could've killed with a tap of my sword was really frustrating.

Not only that, the injuries on my body were slowly starting to accumulate. If not for the potions, I would've long bled out.

"Huppp!"

Letting out a cry, I took a step forward, and tensing my core, I slashed diagonally, releasing all of the tension accumulated in my core. The result was a speedy attack containing a large portion of my strength.

Clang—!

At my attack, two demons quickly raised their hands and blocked the attack with their nails. Sparks flew, and their bodies were pushed at least ten steps back.

At the end of the day, I was much stronger than them. If not for the handicap, I could've easily killed them with a single punch.

Unfortunately, I couldn't.

WIIIIING!

As the two demons were pushed back, the third one appeared right next to me.

Clang—!

Having long seen through the intention of the demon, using the hilt of the sword, I directly blocked the demon's attack. Then, flicking my wrist and inserting the hilt of the sword in between a small gap between the nails, I pushed downwards and the demon lost its balance.

Taking advantage of the situation, twisting my heel, I swiftly appeared by the side of the demon and slashed horizontally.

Spurt—!

Black blood spilled everywhere and another corpse fell on the ground.

Wiping my face that was now dyed in black, I faced the two other demons that were fastly approaching me.

'…should I use monarchs indifference?'

I thought as I stared at the two demons.

If I used Monarch indifference, I may be able to increase my concentration and achieve results faster.

By erasing my emotions and fully focusing on the task at hand, I could increase the speed I was learning by a lot, but...

'No, that would be a bad idea.'

I shook my head.

Recalling my previous experiences with Monarch indifference, I quickly discarded the idea.

There was a high chance I was going to lose a limb in the process, and I couldn't afford to do that at the moment.

Not when I was in the middle of a war.

—Clang!

Within a single breath of time, the two demons were once again upon me. Raising their hands, a black hue shrouded their nails before violently slashing towards my direction. As they slashed, the air split, and two whistling sounds arose.

Staring at the incoming attack, I focused my mind and tried my best to cushion their attacks by either taking a step back or redirecting their attacks somewhere else. Given that I was worried about the state of my sword, this was the only option available to reduce the force that the sword faced.

Cli Clank—!

Unfortunately, I was still not used to this. The large force contained from the combined attack of the two demons forced me to take a single step back. Even while stepping back, much to my surprise, the demons had already stabilized themselves and were once again at my throat.

"This isn't going to work…"

Distancing myself from the demons, my frown deepened.

The way I was fighting was too inefficient. I was currently being too defensive. This wasn't going to work.

"Let's try this…"

Exhaling, I concentrated my mind and slowly started channeling wind psyons in my sword. Within seconds a green layer covered the sword, as it rhythmically pulsates like a heart.

WIIIIING—!

Right as I fully coated the sword the demons reappeared in front of me. Lifting my head up, with unprecedented seriousness on my face, I raised my sword and met their attacks.

It was then that a shocking scene happened. Right as the nail of one of the demons was about to touch my sword, the wind psyons coating my sword redirected the attack away from the sword. The scene was similar to a tornado where the nails circled around the sword before being redirected away from the sword.

"——!"

An opening soon appeared and my eyes instantly lit up.

I quickly held the sword with both hands. Taking a step to the right to avoid the other demon's attack I slashed down towards the other demon.

The result was as expected.

Spurt—!

The demon instantly died at my attack, and a familiar rain of black poured down on me. Turning my attention towards the other demon, rather than waiting for it to come to me, I excitedly headed in its direction.

Arriving before the demon, the green hue shrouding my sword shined brilliantly.

"Huuup!"

Crying inside of my heart, I slashed down.

Though the demon tried to defend, just like before, the green hue around the sword acted as a barrier and redirected the demon's hands away. Violently kneeing the demon in the face, I slashed diagonally. The demon met a similar fate to that of its companions, and that was its inevitable death.

"Haaa…haa…"

Supporting my body with the sword, I heavily gulped for air, and a satisfied smile appeared on my face.

At long last, though still rough around the edges, I've finally found a way to improve.