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Chapter 61
Chapter 61 – It seems to be the beginning of the battle
“Oh my! When wondering who might be coming this way, it’s an awfully rough elf?”
The male demon raised his voice while casually brandishing the large sword in his right hand.
That large sword, which should possess considerable weight, cuts the goblins and orcs in the surroundings assuming them to be hindrances while furthermore pruning the grasses being astir under his feet.
It seems that for him grasses and soldiers have mostly the same value.
The goblins and orcs as well, although it will be fine if they escape the range of the man brandishing his large sword, they are chased by the elves’ attacks while stepping into the attack range of the man unbeknownst. Committing such foolishness, they fall to the ground and are cut into several lumps of meat in the blink of an eye.
“You don’t make any distinction between elves and humans either? Aside from having a huge body, the intelligence of demons is low, I guess.” (Renya)
Halting before he enters the attack range of the large sword swung by the demon, Renya laughs scornfully at the demon’s words.
Even though he is still quite the distance from the large sword’s point, the wind, the demon created with his sword, was to an extent that the bangs of Renya, who halted, are swaying.
While being basked in the sword’s wind which is tinged with the scent of iron rust, Renya closes his eyes partly and looks at the demon’s figure.
The speed of him swinging the large sword was something frightening, but as a matter of fact, the sword technique of the demon, seen from Renya’s eyes, was actually something rough and unrefined.
The proof for that is him sometimes finishing the goblins’ bodies by a style of beating them to death rather than cutting them since the blade movements aren’t especially precise.
It is also hard to say that the large sword is an overly good item.
Only its durability appears to be quite something. It’s properly bearing the strain although the demon is swinging it with all his might.
“Huh? Human!? Why is a human fighting together with elves on the elven continent?”
“I guess some idiot picked a fight without sensing the mood when I tried to come here on a pleasure trip.” (Renya)
Once Renya replied that with a sullen expression to the demon, who is surprised as if seeing something strange, the demon stopped to brandish his large sword and raised a loud laughter after shouldering the sword.
“You are an unfortunate fellow! To die at your destination!”
“It’s not like it’s particularly decided that it’s my side that is the unlucky one, now is it?” (Renya)
Renya indifferently returns those words at the laughing demon.
The demon stops laughing as he can’t understand what was said.
“What was that?”
“It’s not like it’s particularly decided that it’s my side that is the unlucky one, is what I said.” (Renya
Putting his hand close to his left waist, Renya continues while drawing his left hand to the katana’s scabbard.
“Having picked a fight at the time when I was here, the stupid demon’s side was unlucky. There is such viewpoint as well, right?” (Renya)
“Haa! When I wondered what you have started to talk about, it’s the utterance of a fool that doesn’t know his own position.”
Did he feel slightly irritated? He draws the large sword, which leaned against his shoulders, and swings it sideways with all his strength in front of Renya.
Several orcs, who once again entered his attack range, drop to the ground while scattering their intestines as they have been cut in two. Renya retreats a half step due to the pressure which assailed him from the front.
Though it’s only a half step, there’s no way for Renya to retreat due to simple wind pressure.
It was only vaguely, but Renya sensed that the large sword, swung by the demon, was wrapped in mana.
Apparently that being mixed into the sword’s wind gives birth to physical pressure.
“Do you believe that something like a human can oppose us demons from the front?”
“Well, I wonder about that?” (Renya)
Due to Renya’s evasive answer, a vein surfaced on the demon’s forehead.
He seems to be thinking that I’m making fun of him.
He’s quite the short-tempered demon, just as Renya was thinking that, the demon made a step in Renya’s direction while tearing off the weeds underfoot with snapping sounds.
Sensing that he was about to begin attacking, Renya also takes a step towards the demon without retreating.
If it’s a sideways attack, the rate of danger will rise by stepping in.
However, from Renya’s point of view, the demon’s movements are extremely large and exaggerated. He will clearly understand whether it’s a vertical or horizontal slash by the beginning of the attack.
The demon’s next attack was a vertical attack.
Renya regarded slipping through a sideways sweep by getting close to the demon coupled with the sword’s pressure, he felt before, as quite difficult, but if it was a vertical slash, dodging by stepping in wouldn’t be complicated.
Once he steps in with his body on the right side, the demon’s attack passes on the side of his body.
While looking at the demon who had a surprised expression, Renya grasped the handle of his katana with his right, drew it and cut him in one go as he passed by at the demon’s flank.
The demon’s left flank was directly cut by Renya’s attack, but without the time to ascertain the effect of his own slash, Renya gets away from the demon.
In order to chase after Renya, he recovered the blade of the large sword, Renya just dodged.
Renya, who safely evaded the demon’s attack, roughly slashes the orcs and goblins close-by and makes blood fly with his wielded blade while opening a distance to the demon.
Its sharpness never changes.
Without looking at the cut orcs and goblins who fell to the ground, Renya stares at the blade of his own katana.
There’s no indication of the blade being chipped either.
Shifting his gaze from the surface of the blade, Renya cocked his head in puzzlement while facing into the direction of the demon.
“I believe I cut you without a doubt.” (Renya)
While shouldering the recovered large sword once again, the demon, who turned around in the direction of Renya, shows no sign of being cut.
Renya grumbled that he should have been mowed down unmistakably, but while stroking the area where Renya’s blade hit, the demon observes Renya with a look as if he has seen something unbelievable.
“It’s the black iron armour. There’s no way it will come off with the strength of a human, is what I want to say, but…”
Once the demon removes his hand a deep cut in the demon’s armour, around the area where Renya’s blade hit, becomes visible.
It was a fairly deep cut, but once he looks at the spot, he sees that it doesn’t reach the demon’s body, it was apparent that the armour boasted a considerable thickness.
“Just what are you? There ain’t no way for a human to cause such wound!?”
“That only applies to your knowledge about the human race though.” (Renya)
While using a tone as if he was dealing with an idiot, Renya sent a fed-up look at the demon.
To be frank, Renya has thought that the hit just now connected directly.
In other words, it was an attack he was quite confident in, but it was thwarted by the armour without even reaching the demon’s body.
It won’t be possible to cut him easily.
This fact makes Renya perceive it as tedious.
If I can’t cut him easily, I have to decide the place I’m aiming for.
In the case that I play it by the book, I got to aim for the wrists and the inner parts of the elbow, which are the joints of the armour, the other side of the knee, the root of the thighs and the area around the armpits, however neither of them is a place that is very simple to aim for.
What’s left is just the head which is exposed for some reason, but despite having strengthened his entire body this seriously, the fact of only the head being bare means that the head is a weak point? Renya asks himself.
Anyway, I cannot help but feel that he won’t die even if I send his head flying.
This was something Renya derived from the matter with the Emil, the demon he had seen after coming to this world.
Even if he sent Emil’s arms or head flying; as if being unable to resist it, the image of that demon has left a strong impression in Renya’s mind.
“Earnestly defeating you looks to be troublesome. Demons, huh…” (Renya)
“Defeat? Who is going to defeat who? You bastard!?”
Renya avoids the attack, which is swung down at him after the demon charged in once again, by taking a stance with his legs in an L-shape.
However, without even time to switch to the offensive, he make a large leap.
In the instant he avoided the vertical cut, the demon stopped his slashing attack with all his strength and changed it into a sideways sweep.
The fact of swinging a large sword with one is already absurd, but as expected even Renya couldn’t guess the demon’s brute strength to switch it to a horizontal slash by stopping it halfway.
While widening the distance being overwhelmed by the sword wind clad in mana, he incidentally cuts off the torso of an ogre in the middle of leaping back and kills it in one strike.
“This continuous jumping around is annoying…”
“It’s better than being pointlessly hard to the point of it being annoying.” (Renya)
Renya retorts to the demon who is grinding his teeth out of vexation.
“Tsk, try to exchange blows, human.”
“Don’t say absurd things. Do you think that I’m able exchange blows with his fellow?” (Renya)
There’s a large difference in size between the katana, Renya holds, and the large sword, the demon possesses.
Considering it normally, there’s no way for a katana to be able to have a direct exchange of blows with a large sword.
The katana will quickly end up chipping or bending.
Renya was astounded by the stupid request the demon was making, but the demon laughed with a broad grin.
“Then I will have you keep me company in an exchange of blows even if it’s unreasonable!”
Brandishing the large sword by holding it above his head, the demon swings it downwards in one go.
Renya stops moving for an instant as he isn’t able to understand what the demon wants to achieve with a strike that won’t breach the distance at all.
<That’s no good, Renya! A sword flash is coming!>
What he heard close to his ears is the voice of Kurowaal.
Renya wasn’t able to comprehend what a sword flash means, but suddenly he recalls the physical pressure which accompanied the wind of the sword clad in mana.
At the moment he noticed it, it was already too late.
In front of Renya’s eyes a mana blow, which was fired from the large sword of the demon, approached.
Changing the way he holds his katana into grabbing it with both hands reflexively, Renya stops the assaulting mana blow with his katana.
Renya doesn’t know of its indestructible attribute, however the mana blow scatters in an instant.
“The real one comes here!”
Chasing after his own released blow, the demon charged in and struck a single hit after holding the sword aloft while aiming at Renya, who stopped moving to deal with the mana blow.
Renya has no time to avoid that attack as he had to defend against the mana blow.
Renya clicks his tongue lightly as he had lost any other way but receiving the next strike with the katana.
If it ends up receiving the blow of a large sword, the katana’s blade will very likely chip or bend.
In the worst case the katana itself will break, I guess.
Even so, he has no other choice but to receive it.
A tool is to the bitter end a tool. I ought to include the possibility of it breaking in my plans.
While persuading himself like that, the action Renya chose was to open up to the left with his body at the moment he received the sword attack of the demon, who swings it downwards from a stance of holding it above his head, with the katana while sliding to his right side. It was a move to start an attack with the prepared katana while dealing with the demon’s attack.
Usually, if you slash around the head area like this, it will become the technique called 「Return a headstrike with a headstrike*」 in kendo, but Renya is at that point in time thinking that the katana’s blade has already broken. (T/N: 面返し面 for those interested, I’m no kendo nut, so not sure if I got this one fully right.)
Naturally he doesn’t use the blade in the attack.
The back of the demon, who became defenceless as he was still dealing with the sinking blow in front of his eyes, becomes completely visible.
At this point Renya grasped the pommel of the katana with both hands and struck with it aiming at the demon’s back.
The attack itself will be obstructed by the defence strength of the black armour, but the impact of being hit will be transmitted to the back as is.
The demon had his breathing clogged up by the impact, but enduring that, he tries to send a mowing-down attack at Renya’s torso in the act of turning around.
However, that was an attack which Renya had predicted.
Placing his foot on the wrist which tries to change from swinging downwards to mowing down, he latches onto the force of the blow, which was swung with all of the demon’s might, and lightly lands in the back.
Renya, who has landed, looks at the katana’s blade with unpleasant emotions.
Renya thought very likely it was broken, but he can’t find a single nick in the blade of the katana contrary to his expectations.
On the the other hand, the demon succumbed to an unbelievable experience once he looks down on his large sword.
The blade of the large sword, which can’t be compared to a katana in its weight and thickness, had developed a crack, albeit only slightly, with a chip in the blade at the place they exchanged blows.
“What the fuck is this? You bastard and that weapon!”
“Well, I don’t have any intention to explain though.” (Renya)
Renya, who changed the katana’s direction by turning it around in his hand, returns it to the scabbard temporarily.
The katana returned to the scabbard without showing any kind of resistance.
“It’s not warped either, huh? That’s quite the durable katana… a different world correction?” (Renya)
“What kind of unknown nonsense are you muttering about?”
The demon says in irritation, but based on the immediately following restart of the battle, his body’s movements have become considerably dull.
His body ends up accumulating damage due to the situation of him forcibly launching an attack as immediate counter to the attacks which were accompanied by impacts making him choke while the weeds’ constraint is simply doing its work below his feet.
Renya, who confronted him, concluded that there was zero damage to the katana’s blade due to the exchange just now by drawing the blade several times in and out of the scabbard.
I absolutely don’t know how this works, but as reality is reality, I should simply accept it, Renya judges.
“So, that means…” (Renya)
Smoothly unsheathing the katana which was in its scabbard and preparing it in both hands, Renya mutters that.
“Let’s have an exchange of blows, just as you wished, in the second round, demon?” (Renya)
“I won’t allow the likes of humans to make fun of me!”
While breathing roughly, the demon sent forth a slashing attack without dropping the power of the attack and this time Renya likewise met that by attacking with a full power slash.
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