[Reberu] ga Arunara Agerudesho? Mobukyara ni Tensei Shita Ore wa Gēmu Chishiki o Ikashi, Hitasura Reberu o Age Tsudzukeru

[The Knight’s Sword]

Every time Nanashino swung his sword, the wall of the passage was gouged out, dust fluttering about.

The speed of his sword was only second to that of the Sword Saint; if it was Amanai Hayato who was facing him here, even if his talent was taken into account, surely, he would have been slashed after a few hits due to the difference in their pure status.

However, looking at it from another perspective, the fact that the speed of his sword being second only to that of the Sword Saint meant that it wasn’t equal to that of the Sword Saint.

As you know, among the anti-personnel combats Sakurai had gone through, one of the hardest ones was a certain hands-on practice, namely the crazy special training ‘crossing swords with the Sword Saint’.

Additionally, due to his fights with people stronger than him such as Higaki and Babi Niflheim in the Netherworld, Sakurai had developed a defensive-based counter-type combat style, which seemed to be contrary to his hot-tempered personality.

Therefore, when dealing with a swordsman, Sakurai suddenly raised the standard of his combat style to ‘Anti-Sword Saint’.

In a one-on-one battle with no numerical disadvantage, someone with half-baked ability would not be able to break through his defense.

“What’s wrong, mob bastard! Ain’t you just keep defending! Try counterattacking for a change!” (Nanashino)

“——!” (Sakurai)

“What, you can’t even afford to open up your mouth!” (Nanashino)

Now, was Nanashino Katsumi someone with half-baked ability? The answer was definitely a no.

The character called ‘Nanashino Katsumi’ was an existence prepared as a rival character to the protagonist in the original game, to begin with.

Therefore, although he couldn’t match up to the Sword Saint, he was still an expert in his own right as he had the ability to trade blows with the Sword Saint head-on.

To defeat him in a fair and square fight solo, you would have to bring out the ‘protagonist (Amanai Hayato)’ whose potential had been fully realized.

Then why was Sakurai able to keep fending off Nanashino’s offensive?

As had been mentioned earlier, the standard of Sakurai’s combat style raised when fighting against a swordsman, and fighting in the narrow passage, he only had to focus on the opponent in front of him, whereas Nanashino had his sword scraping against the wall every time he swung it, reducing his ‘sharpness’, albeit slightly.

However, above all that, Nanashino’s pride that even he didn’t notice was dulling his original sharpness.

After all, the opponent was a mob character.

Moreover, the person himself said that his level upper limit was low and his status was 30% lower than the main characters.

And by crossing swords with him, Nanashino became convinced that the boy before him was far inferior to himself even though he was also a reincarnated person.
While he inwardly gave an honest praise to Sakurai who continued to resist despite that fact, more than that however, he looked down on him, and at the same time his sadistic heart was lit.

He had a sense of superiority of being in control of another reincarnated person (player), which was the same position he himself was in.

This body of his had ‘the position as a villain (a just cause)’; it could be said that it was unavoidable if his act deviated from modern ethics, and to top it all off, he had the power to get rid of those who had a problem with it.

For Nanashino, this was not a battle, but a bullying the weak with overwhelming power.

What was it called if not pride?

“Curse your misfortune for being born as a waste and die, you mob character!” (Nanashino)

The speed of his sword swing increased.

Sakurai’s body got riddled with sword wounds, and the sword in his hand couldn’t withstand Nanashino’s slashes and began to get chipped.

Contrary to what he said, Nanashino didn’t launch a deadly blow, but an offensive, which purpose was to make fun of Sakurai; it spoke of his true feelings.

(——Here!)

The situation changed when Sakurai broke through the door next to him and jumped into the room when he was saw a slight opening in the continuous attack.

“You think I’ll let you get away——hm!?” (Nanashino)

Having jumped into the room following Sakurai, Nanashino intercepted something thrown before his eyes almost reflexively.

The blade of his two-handed sword that he swung upwards cut deep into the middle part of the thrown object—but, it was unable to cut deeper.

“Huh?” (Nanashino)

And at the same time as he realized that, his arms, which was swinging up his sword, couldn’t bear the weight which was out of his expectation and gave out.

When he moved his gaze to the object, it turned out that it was the corpse of a middle-aged knight that he himself had killed.

His sword was stuck in his well-trained body, which was wearing a simple chainmail.

“Shh!” (Sakurai)

With a sharp and shallow breathing sound, Sakurai’s thrust pierced in that momentary opening.

The one-handed sword that he thrust out with his left hand wouldn’t deal much damage if he slashed it, what with the chipped blade, but it still had enough sharpness when it came to thrusting.

Seeing that he unhesitantly made use of the corpse just to land him a single blow, Nanashino was pleased that Sakurai had a similar side to himself, and also dejected at the thought that the opponent could only resort to such surprise attack to injure him.

By giving up dealing with the surprise attack and released the tension of his whole body, Nanashino switched the operation of his body switched from manual to automatic.

It was a battle driving force that was ingrained in the body itself thanks to the experiences that had been cultivated by ‘Nanashino Katsumi (Original)’; since his own consciousness didn’t intervene, his body displayed its true ability.

In the short time it took for Sakurai’s thrust to reach Nanashino, he brutally twisted his two-handed sword out of the corpse, lowered his hips, and, to make the best use of the reach of his two-handed sword, swung his sword upward.

A silver flash appeared, and blood spurted out after a delay.

Sakurai’s left arm was cut off from the elbow down and danced in the air.

His thrusting did not reach Nanashino.
His surprise attack was unsuccessful.

Nanashino raised the corners of his lips imagining Sakurai’s astonishment and despair——however, Sakurai took one step further and spun his body.

“‘Fake・Sword Saint’s Slash’, underhand grip.” (Sakurai)

A slash, flew.

It was the true surprise attack, one which used his left arm as a decoy.

As he threw the knight’s body lying in the staff room using Shishū, Sakurai grabbed the knight’s sword lying on the floor with his right hand, and hid the sword behind him in an underhand grip while he narrowed the distance and thrusted out his sword with his left hand.

If the thrust lands, then that would be most satisfactory, but if his left arm got cut off— it was well within his expectation.

From his experience fighting with only his right arm after the left one got cut off in the Netherworld, he judged that he’d have no trouble fighting without his left arm.

And even if it got cut off for real, he could just have it be reconnected— so was his train of thought.

His crazy act, which showed no care for his own body, struck Nanashino with surprise.

He used underhand grip, to which he was unaccustomed, so it didn’t deal a fatal wound, but that Sword Saint’s Slash cut Nanashino’s chest from right to left.

Astonished by the slash, Nanashino’s thought stopped for a moment.

Sakurai, on the other hand, didn’t go against the circular motion of his arm after launching the slash, but spun his body around and shot out a roundhouse kick.

Nanashino, unable to focus on putting up a defense, was kicked into the passage through the already collapsed door.

(Darn it, shallow!)

Having recognized that from the feedback to his kick, Sakurai immediately rushed to the balcony without checking Nanashino’s condition.

Sakurai’s special technique, ‘Fake・Sword Saint’s Slash’.

Because he didn’t manage to slay Nanashino with it, Sakurai gave up on defeating him.

(Rather, what with that reaction speed earlier! How could he pull out his sword from the sword, take a stance, and release a slash by the time the thrust arrived!?)

A part of the Nanashino’s strength, which was different from ‘System Command’.

While Sakurai was astonished by that, he drove it to the corner of his head and close the distance to the balcony in just three steps.

“You f*ckin’ mob characteeeeer!!” (Nanashino)

“——nh!” (Sakurai)

However, Nanashino didn’t allow him to get away.

Nanashino, who closed his distance with Sakurai in just one step in fury, swung down his raised two-handed sword with all his might.

Sakurai reacted at the last moment and succeeded in blocking the sword with his one-handed sword, but he couldn’t stop the force behind it, so he was blown through the window and crashed into the iron fence of the balcony.

“Kh, gah!” (Sakurai)

“Hah! Bastard, it’s over!” (Nanashino)

While leaving his back on the iron fence that was crushed due to the impact of the collision, Sakurai held up his sword, inserting all his strength in it, whereas Nanashino was pushing his sword against his as though leaning on it, locking sword to sword.

However, Sakurai, who had lost one hand, and Nanashino, who still had all his limbs and brimmed with power, were naturally not a match.
Sakurai’s sword was getting pushed back.

“Noisy!” (Sakurai)

“Wha!?” (Nanashino)

Sakurai struck Nanashino with his left arm.

Of course, his fist was no more, and what hit Nanashino was the section that was still shedding fresh blood.

Perhaps it was because he was hit with a cut-off arm, or maybe because he was hit at his chest that was slashed open by the Sword Saint’s Slash, or possibly because that blow was applied with ‘Soul Attack’ skill.

In any case, Nanashino flinched from it.

Even though he just took a step back, he exposed enough room for Sakurai to cut his way through the place.

“‘Remnant Smoke’!” (Sakurai)

It was movement technique that eventually led to ‘Remnant Flash of Fire’.

The skill, which increase evasion rate in the game, changed to a movement technique that had smoke screen effect, leaving smoke in one’s movement track, in reality.

Nanashino, who had become unable to see a thing due to the smoke, promptly swung his sword down, but the sword sank into the iron fence, not Sakurai.

The sound of wood crushed reached the ears of Nanashino who was struck by the fact that he had missed the enemy from the feelings transmitted from his hands.

Having realized that the partition board on the left side of the balcony, which separated it from the balcony next to it, was destroyed, Nanashino closed his eyelids inside the smoke.

In the time extended by his concentration, the battle experience that permeated his body analyzed the information gathered from his sensory organs other than the visual sense, and explored and predicted Sakurai’s presence and movement.

The possibilities were narrowed down thanks to the information he received as moments passed— a slight shaking then appeared in the air, becoming a decisive factor for Nanashino to open his eyes.

“There!” (Nanashino)

‘Indestructible Sword Eckesachs’ was swinged sideways inside the smoke.

And the familiar sound of swords colliding with each other echoed.

The smoke was cleared away due to the sword wind.
The clashing sound came from a place slightly to the right of the destroyed partition board, in other words, it was from the air beyond the balcony.

What Nanashino had felt was the shaking of the air generated by Sakurai when he had jumped over the edge of the balcony using the pushed-down partition board as the foothold.

And Sakurai, whose movements was read by Nanashino who had become convinced that he was trying to escape into the air from there, brilliantly blocked the sword Nanashino had swung.

“You think you could escape!? Huh!” (Nanashino)

“Gh!” (Sakurai)

Nanashino caught sight of Sakurai.

Sakurai, who was in front of his eyes, managed to prevent himself from getting a fatal injury by inserting his one-handed sword between Nanashino’s two-handed sword and his flank while distorting his face in pain.

It was blocked again.
Nanashino was frustrated by that fact, but was also happy because he managed to prevent Sakurai from escaping; he then swung his sword clockwise to throw Sakurai back into the room.

Sakurai, who was in midair, couldn’t resist, and was helplessly thrown back to the room.

(With this, he can’t escape anymore and I’m not letting him get away.
Now I’ll… hm?)

The moment after he threw Sakurai back into the room, Nanashino saw the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

The battle experiences ingrained in his body automatically tried to think about the cause, but Nanashino stopped it.

(It must be just a bluff; he probably can’t do anything but laugh because of the pain.
I’ve seen plenty of that kind of guys.)

At that time, Nanashino’s head was slammed against the wall.

“Gah, guho!? Bah!?!?” (Nanashino)

The impact cracked the outer wall that was made of stone, while a feeling of pressure assailed him on the neck.

His neck was constricted so strongly that he found it difficult to breathe, and his consciousness began to fade away.

“Gogabo!? Gagu~~!?” (Nanashino)

While he was making incomprehensible sounds in search of air, Nanashino’s hand reflexively moved to his neck his despite being confused due to his fading consciousness.

After touching his neck several times as though scratching it, Nanashino noticed the ‘thread’ that was constricting his neck.

He held his two-handed sword in underhand grip and put the blade against his neck, before pushing it up.

Having succeeded in cutting the thread in two while wounding his neck shallowly, Nanashino broke into coughing fit on the spot in search of air, his view flickering.

“Gahh! Gohu! Gehu! Gehuh!” (Nanashino)

When his fading consciousness began to recover, and his confused head regained calm, he began to think about ‘what had happened’.

What came to his mind was Sakurai’s face and facial expression that he saw just before his head was slammed against the wall.

That expression with the corner of his mouth raised and the ‘thread’ that led to into the room eloquently said who was the one who had entrapped Nanashino.

Once Nanashino got that, he was able to understand what had happened.

Why could he saw Sakurai’s expression from the front when he threw back him into the room? It was because Sakurai turned his body toward Nanashino.

There was no way he could change posture while being hit by a sword in midair.
In that case, Sakurai must have turned his body around as he jumped out of the balcony.

(He used the thread as a substitute for a rappelling rope! And he adjusted it so that it would be at my neck level in case I come to intercept him!?)

Actually, Sakurai’s trap wasn’t set that cunningly.

As an insurance in case he got intercepted while rappelling, he placed his sword on his right flank, considering that was from where Nanashino, who was thinking of ‘wanting to hurt Sakurai’, would most likely come to attack him.

Fortunately, his insurance paid off.
It would have been good if he could restrain Nanashino with the thread even just for a few seconds, but the thread ended up constricted his neck, which was totally outside of Sakurai’s expectation in a good way.

Suppose that Nanashino had decided it was okay to expose Sakurai’s body outside the inn and swung his sword not to prevent his escape but to kill him, he would most likely have been able to kill Sakurai.

However, as Sakurai had predicted, Nanashino chose not to kill, but to throw him, who had dealt him a wound, back into the room in order to not let him escape.

Sakurai’s aim, Nanashino’s actions, and coincidence overlapped perfectly, and Sakurai’s thread drew a trajectory that constricted Nanashino’s neck.

Sakurai had saw that and unconsciously leaked a smile.

“That, bastard…!” (Nanashino)

However, Nanashino, who thought that the happenings so far were all going according to Sakurai’s plan, naturally burned with anger.

I’m gonna kill him this time— Nanashino took a step into the room to chase Sakurai… but his foot got caught in the trap that Sakurai had installed.

“Uoh!?” (Nanashino)

One of Shishū skills, ‘Nuiage: Spider’s Web’.

It was a trap made of sticky threads that Sakurai, who was thrown back into the room, had installed as he was collecting his left hand that was cut off.
It caught the foot of Nanashino, whose eyes were clouded with anger.

After immediately cutting off the threads entwining his leg, he lifted his two-handed sword; as if to match that movement, an explosion sound rang out, so he unconsciously took a defensive posture.

“…hm?” (Nanashino)

It was not an attack; it was just an explosion sound that rang over and over and again and was still continuing.

By the time he realized that it came from the firecrackers that he had been installing while talking with Sakurai, the passage was already filled light smoke that slightly hindered visibility.
Of course, he couldn’t see Sakurai there.

And from the outside of the broken window behind him, he heard a faint sound of people making a ruckus.

It seemed that even though the building made of stone could muffle the sound of the battle, it couldn’t muffle the sound of dozens of firecrackers going off.

“~~~~~~~~~!!” (Nanashino)

He inserted his anger and humiliation in his fist and hit the nearby wall.

A dull hitting sound echoed again and again, and the room shook slightly each time.

Even if they were both a reincarnated person (player), the difference of the body given to them was like heaven (boss) and earth (mob).
Still, he was unable to defeat him— that fact pissed him the most.

When the irritation that was still boiling in him even though he had vented his anger at the wall reached its peak, his flame of anger suddenly extinguished.

“Haaah, f*ck.
This’s meaningless.” (Nanashino)

Nanashino, who had thrown a fit like a child and then lost his enthusiasm for everything, decided to leave the place immediately.

He had more important plans to begin with, so he did not have time to spend on that kind of mob character.

Rather, that guy should have the difference in their strength now.
Why did he need to be frustrated when he lost the battle but win the war?

“I’m different from that mob.
I’m the strongest reincarnated person (player) in history.
I don’t need to care about a mob like him…!” (Nanashino)

He tried to keep calm while muttering to himself as if to reaffirm his purpose.

He began to walk while reviewing his plans in his brain so as to distract himself from the urge that still felt like about to spring up at any moment.

He averted his eyes away from the fact that the steps he cut off and unnecessary advancement of the plans as he was doing that came from his resentment; he was unaware that he had begun to arm himself with theoretical backing in the pursuit of his goal.

———

What were left behind at the scene were clear battle traces that some people had fought there and knights’ corpses, one of which seemed to have given his opponent a counterattack with his sword before taking a deep cut at his midsection and meeting his demise.

It took some time before they were discovered by people who felt abnormality from the explosion sounds and began to gather.