In the dense forest, the young man stood alone, waiting for the young girls' challenge.
Though it was called a "Battle Royale."
But in reality, Ais, Ryuu, and even Tiona and the others, they only had one target, and that was Isagi!
The sea breeze blew gently.
The tangerine sun gradually descended toward the end of the distant horizon. The azure water surface seemed as if it were gradually being burned open, then turned into a dim, pitch-black color. Eventually, it would probably reflect the intricate stars and moonlight.
The weather was very good tonight, and the scenery would likely be quite nice as well.
The first to launch a challenge at Isagi was Ais. While Ryuu and Tiona were still pondering the question of 'who should go first', the golden-haired girl had already acted like a howling gale piercing through the dusk, bending the dense forest at the same time.
In the blink of an eye, she arrived in front of him.
"Bang."
An incomparably dull sound accompanied by a tremendous force was transmitted, exploding directly in the area where the two were. Subsequently, it tore apart, twisted, and deformed all the surrounding trees, grass, leaves, and the ground.
Ais was already on the verge of leveling up—
Saying it like this was a bit inaccurate; it should be that the young girl's Ability Scores at this moment had already reached the "D" rank and above required for a level up, and her [Excelia] was also completely sufficient. (After participating in Isagi's adventures,[Excelia] was fundamentally something the entire party lacked no shortage of.)
Therefore, Ais could upgrade to Lv.6 at any time now; she was merely still accumulating Ability Scores.
On this point.
Ryuu-senpai was also exactly the same.
The Goddesses had all discovered that these young girls, who were already exceptionally talented and leveled up at speeds far exceeding ordinary people, had not seen their speed of accumulating Ability Scores slow down since joining Isagi's party, despite their increasing Levels. Instead, there was a growing trend of acceleration.
Regarding this, the Gods generally knew the reason; it was still because of the [Promise], and that "that moment" was approaching.
[There is less than four years left].
Therefore, the Gods were not surprised by the growth of the young man and the young girls; on the contrary, they were delighted to see it.
And because of this.
The battle at this moment was a battle between First-Class Adventurers of Lv.5. Although there was a gap in Ability Scores, it was still within an acceptable range, and moreover—
The tremendous force transmitted from her hands suddenly sent Ais flying outward.
"?"
It was as if she had endured some incredible impact.
The Sword of Despair in her hand remained sturdy, but the hand she used to grip it was trembling while simultaneously feeling numb, stinging, and splitting open with tiny bloody cracks.
In the distance, Isagi had already transformed into an appearance the young girls were familiar with.
A tall, massive body slightly hunched over, streamlined armor gleaming with cold light like sharp spikes, and that wolf-like iron helmet resembling a sharp spear.
It was just that.
The weapons Isagi held in his hands at this moment were not the Greatsword flowing with moonlight from before, but a Saw Cleaver wrapped in bandages and covered in bloodstains and rust, along with a slender-shaped pistol adorned with dim silver decorations.
"Bang!"
The dull sound rang out once more, but it was no longer the sound of weapons clashing together. A special bullet mixed with blood and quicksilver erupted outwards, and in the instant it exploded, it had already arrived before the eyes of the young girl who had been sent flying into the distance and was currently still stumbling backward.
Ais could even see clearly the slender ammunition, which seemed to be flowing with something like a vortex, getting closer and closer to her.
Perhaps it was because her adrenaline was massively stimulated in this instant, or perhaps it was merely her own hallucination.
But in short.
Extremely swiftly, relying entirely on her fear of "death," Ais completed a "lateral shift" in mid-air. This caused the bullet to pass through her hair, punching a small hole through her flowing tresses, while also directly snapping a large tree not far behind her cleanly in half.
That was a maneuver completely impossible for a normal person to perform.
Ais's wind allowed her to possess the ability of "flight." The convenience it brought in battle was not merely as simple as ordinary people imagining she "could fly." In reality, what it actually provided was [a much broader space].
Whether it was attacking or dodging.
Flight was not restricted by the terrain, and she could even use it as her assisting force.
The young girl's figure had already swiftly disappeared into the forest, leaving behind only strands of fragmented golden hair fluttering down.
One's line of sight was completely unable to keep up with Ais's speed, just as it was difficult for a person to use their own eyes to follow the flight paths of birds.
At the instant the young girl disappeared.
The wind descended from the sky once again, like a torrential downpour pouring down abruptly.
The longsword and the Saw Cleaver clashed together once more.
Ais utilized the combat style she was most adept at. At an extreme speed, and with the enhancement of "flight," she constantly shifted her body, suddenly up and suddenly down, suddenly left and suddenly right. It could be called spinning or circling, but in reality, there was absolutely no pattern to be found.
With the augmentation of speed, the young girl's attacks were entirely unrestrained by the "front."
On the contrary.
She could always find his visual blind spots and launch attacks.
That speed was fast to the point of being almost inconceivable. Therefore, as long as one couldn't keep up, they would become dizzy in the blink of an eye, instantly fall into a frantic and flustered situation, and ultimately be defeated.
But at this moment, Isagi kept up perfectly.
Not only that, but with every clash of their weapons, the one who felt their body being overwhelmed was actually Ais—
The young man's Strength was far too immense!
What was going on? The one with the higher Ability Scores was clearly supposed to be herself, right?!
Wrong!!
As everyone knew, Ais's skill "Avenger" would significantly enhance the young girl's own Ability Scores and Attack Power, but it was only effective against Monsters.
And in contrast to that.
At this moment, the Character Card "Night of the Hunt" equipped by Isagi would directly and significantly increase his Ability Scores based on the injected amount of "Divine Blood (Blood of the Great One)."
Not only that, but the most important thing was that Ais had no killing intent towards "humans."
By her very nature, the young girl would hold back when fighting against people. This hadn't been particularly obvious in past battles where the Level gap was large, whether it was the battles against the Dark Familia during the previous[Great Feud] period, or the recent battles in the [Artificial Labyrinth], and so on.
But when it turned into an evenly matched situation like this, the problem instantly appeared.
It was equivalent to directly having two "debuffs" applied to her.
Under this ebb and flow.
At this moment, his side was actually the stronger one!
Ais naturally knew about this problem as well, and had even fallen into distress because of it. She had even once thought that if she viewed people as "Monsters," would she be able to activate her skill and manage to exert her full strength?
In fact, she had considered this matter for a very, very long time, and even had some clues.
On a certain night.
Ais suddenly discovered that the green breeze swirling around her had begun to be mixed with a slight "blackness," along with a certain incredibly powerful force contained within it.
But.
What Isagi told her was that "there is no need," because this wasn't a bad thing.
[Miss Ais's goal is just wanting to defeat the 'Black Dragon', right?]
[If that's the case, then not fighting with people is also fine, so you don't need to force yourself.]
[By the way, after defeating the Black Dragon, what are Miss Ais's plans? Travel the world? Or do something you like? Or perhaps continue being an adventurer...]
The young man's sudden words surfaced from her memory.
When did that happen? She couldn't remember too clearly, because when the two of them were together, they would always chat about these trivial topics.
Most of the time, it was still like before, with Isagi speaking and herself listening.
The topics would also always repeat.
Sometimes she forgot, and sometimes maybe Isagi forgot—until they talked about it, blurted it out, and only then remembered that they seemed to have said something similar to each other before.
But it didn't matter, and it didn't matter how many times it was repeated, because things like "words" were fundamentally limited.
No one could always find all sorts of new topics.
Therefore.
When two people who were familiar with each other were together, always talking about the same thing was a very normal occurrence. And it also wasn't important; what was important was speaking with the other person.
Ais thought this way.
Thus, the young girl now unexpectedly felt a sense of relief.
Even if she was completely outmatched, sensing that she was gradually being suppressed, and that even her potential defeat was only a matter of time.
Yet she was not anxious in the slightest, nor did she feel any frustration.
As a result.
Unexpectedly, just like this, in a trance, and right in this tiny instant, Ais realized that the sword in her hand had become lighter.
"?"
The young girl let out a small, confused sound. Following that, due to a split-second of distraction, her entire person was once again sent flying by Isagi. However, as she flew backward and smashed into the depths of the dense forest in the distance...
Ais saw it with absolute certainty. Just now, for that tiny instant, her wind seemed to be sparkling...
"Ah—"
His mood was great.
Isagi inexplicably felt that his mood was refreshed to the extreme limit.
The sound of his blood flowing with a 'gurgle', and even the 'thump-thump' beating of his heart causing the bones in his entire body to shudder and creak. And his brain... something inside his brain was frantically secreting... sliding, sliding, slipping down, making his entire mind incomparably and highly focused and concentrated.
The strength of a Hunter originated from the Blood of the [Great One].
Whether it was called a blessing, a curse, a disease, or a panacea—anything was fine. In any case, judging from the results, it would ultimately grant a person peerlessly immense power.
When Isagi first saw his new Character Card, "Night of the Hunt," and the status panel it presented along with the new abilities it granted him, he found it very interesting. As mentioned before, much like "Land of Reeds," it was a combat-oriented Character Card that primarily enhanced his own Ability Scores and drastically boosted his "melee capabilities."
But what was slightly different was...
Apart from "Butcher's Experience" (which accumulated the number of killed Monsters to increase his Attack Power and Hunter Weapon proficiency)—it didn't need to be accumulated anew; the Monsters he had killed since Lv.1 were all counted;
"Fear Extraction" (which drastically increased resistance against various abnormal mental states, such as fear, charm, negativity, etc.);
"Insight" (which was raised by completing special events, using specific items, as well as encountering and killing specific Bosses. Once raised, it strengthened the Ability Score correction gained from the Divine Blood, while simultaneously unlocking more "Authorities" of the Great Ones).
In addition to these basic skills.
The most important and core feature was the "Divine Blood Injection."
Isagi could even clearly feel the amount and progress of its injection. If "100%" was considered the maximum value, then it was divided into multiple stage thresholds. Upon reaching each stage, all the original skills would undergo a certain degree of change, and at the same time, more new skills would be acquired.
At this moment.
The Divine Blood Isagi had injected was roughly around "50%."
This kept him from completely falling into beastification, but his emotions had already begun to soar—it was an exhilaration completely devoid of any reason, entirely different from the calmness when he transformed into an Asura. If he had to put it into words, then his condition right now should be [Extreme].
Having originally harbored a strong interest in "combat," he became incomparably excited because of this, as if every drop of blood and every cell in his body were cheering and leaping with joy.
Isagi remembered that, according to the setting, the "Divine Blood" had a certain degree of addictiveness. And what he was experiencing right now was probably this exact process.
It truly made one feel refreshed to a certain extreme!
He looked towards the golden-haired girl in the distance, who had knocked down an unknown number of trees and was sitting blankly inside a crater.
Toward Ais.
Isagi did not pursue her, because she had already lost the will to fight. She seemed to be pondering something, but it definitely wasn't related to the battle. Therefore, starting from this instant, she was no longer his target.
The thrill of battle only stemmed from two situations.
[Evenly Matched].
And.
[Reversing a Strong Foe].
Thus, directly losing interest in Ais, Isagi turned his head and immediately looked elsewhere. Next were Ryuu-senpai and Tiona.
In that case, then the two of them might as well come at him together!
____
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