Chapter 262

Chapter 262

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor's Stone

『Now then ladies and gentlemen, the challengers seem to have completed their preparations! Just how strong is the latest chosen one of the Sacred Tree's seed!? The bloody and flesh-rending exhibition battles shall now commence!』

What did you say was commencing just now!? I really couldn't bring myself to get motivated about all this, but now that they've set it up this far, I guess I had no choice but to go all-out huh. Yeah, let's do this. I'm gonna show those damn challengers a world of hurt just like they wanted dammit.

I pulled out the two blunt-edged swords I picked earlier from their sheaths and proceeded to the center of the combat arena with both arms lowered. The swords they prepared for the competition weighed slightly different than my own monomolecular swords, but it was manageable. Even though my opponents were seasoned elven warriors, they had unenhanced normal bodies. No matter how high their mastery with their chosen weapons was, they would probably not be any faster than the cybernetically and biologically enhanced Drawn Sword faction experts I've locked swords with.

"So you are the new hero chosen by the Sacred Tree seed huh."

The one who addressed me was a male elven warrior who looked quite young, but he's an elf, so I couldn't be sure of what his actual age was. He wielded a sword that looked similar to a machete and scanned me from top to bottom with a judging gaze.

"Hello there, Mr. Elven Warrior. The name's Captain Hiro."

"Ou. I am Delsh, a warrior of one of Grado clan's subordinate families, the Dyna house. Best regards."

After our introductions, the elven warrior Delsh displayed a charming innocent smile.

"I'm not too keen on politics and whatnot, but I'm simply happy that I'd have the opportunity to fight the hero chosen by the Sacred Tree seed. The chosen hero of the Sacred Tree is the idol of elven warriors- no, of all elven men after all. Most elven men pretended to be the Sacred Tree's chosen hero during playtime when they were kids. That includes me, of course."

"I see?"

I started putting in strength onto my slackened arms so I could move at a moment's notice and slightly lowered my stance.

"It's like a dream to be able to cross swords with the legendary hero...... You won't easily lose just like that, will you?"

"Don't worry man. I'm gonna beat you all down. With utmost respect, of course."

Delsh's innocent smile changed into an aggressive one in an instant.

"Go ahead and try. Let's do this."

The elven warrior named Delsh charged at me with speed and agility akin to a wild beast's. I see. His speed didn't seem to be that of an ordinary unenhanced person at all. I suppose he's powering himself up using magic.

"Guee-!?"

Delsh let out a soft cry of agony as he fell face-first and slid on the arena grounds due to the leftover momentum of his charge. I lightly parried his blow and knocked him on the back of his head in retaliation.

Yeah, it was definitely fast, but it was still no good. I mean, he just charged at me head-on after all. That's just no good man. His sword blow was relatively powerful, sure, but I simply had to parry and redirect the force to deal with it. And besides, there's no way his blow could compare to Mei's.

『Whoah-!? Mr. Delsh, who's said to be the Grado clan's number one young warrior, was defeated in one blow!? Just what the heck happened!? Captain Hiro, the Sacred Tree seed's new chosen hero, hasn't even moved one step!?』

『It seems that Warrior Delsh's blow was parried with the minimum amount of movement. And then, he got defeated by a single counter-blow. It was a terrifyingly sharp and accurate blow.』

I watched as Delsh was carried away by the match officials and then turned my attention to the next challenger. The next guy who came out was bigger than my first opponent. Even though I said he was bigger, he's still an elf, so he wasn't really all that bulky. He was another of those tall, lithe, but well-built types.

"Fumu, so Delsh cannot even serve as a proper opponent huh. He definitely wasn't weak though."

As he spoke, the man walked forward and brought up his weapon - a short spear. The spear only reached up to the height of the man's ear. It was probably about 180 centimeters in length or so.

"However, he's still a young Grado clan warrior after all. He might have very high potential but he still has some ways to go before reaching his peak."

"The heck? So you're telling me he's the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings[1] or something like that......?"

"Four Heavenly Kings?"

"Uh, just ignore that. Enough talk. Let's get this over with."

"Fumu, you seem plenty confident. I am not like Delsh."

While saying so, the short spear-wielding warrior carefully advanced forward. He's probably gauging the distance while taking our respective reaches into account. Well, his weapon was longer, so he'd surely want to capitalize on his reach advantage. That's just how effective weapons with long reaches are. Furthermore, a spear was basically a piercing weapon. It would be difficult to defend against a spear's powerful and precise attacks, and depending on the wielder's skill, they could also be blindingly fast. Besides, even if a spear is a piercing weapon, it's not like you cannot perform any horizontal sweeps with it. If swung, its range was quite wide, and if you get hit with its hardened wooden handle or metal-reinforced tip, the force could be powerful enough to break bones.

"Nuh!?"

The instant I entered the opponent's range and got attacked, I immediately advanced forward. I timed it so my opponent wouldn't be able to stop his attack midway and took advantage of the opening. I didn't take the spear attack head-on but aimed at the hand that was holding the spear with a compact swing instead.

"Kuh- Goooh!?"

The short spear warrior's reaction was quite fast. He quickly pulled back his short spear and rotated his body to the side in order to avoid my swing. However, I followed up with an attack using the short sword in my left hand, slipped through his defenses, and landed a solid hit. When he stiffened from the blow, I spun over and finished him off with another attack.

『There it goes again!? Just what in the world happened!?』

『Warrior Colt managed to get an attack in, but his opponent narrowly avoided it by a hair's breadth of distance. And at that moment, Mr. Hiro unleashed three consecutive lightning-fast strikes. The first one was a feint, the second one broke Warrior Colt's stance, and the third one ended the battle. Those three attacks were unleashed in practically an instant.』

Wow, you're really observant, aren't you, Mr. Commentator. Are you watching a real-time match recording or something?

I turned away from the defeated short spear warrior Colt and brought up the longsword held in my right hand. I then pointed it toward the remaining elven warriors waiting from across the arena grounds.

"Fighting you guys one by one is a waste of time. Just come at me together."

Their reactions varied. Some clearly showed discomfort, while others smiled in interest. Some others gripped their weapons with more strength while remaining expressionless, and the rest grinned aggressively. But there were none of them who didn't answer to my blatant provocation.

They exchanged quick glances and slight gestures. They then started to fan out in a formation while advancing forward.

『Mr. Hiro just provoked all of the participating warriors!? It looks like the warriors aren't willing to take such provocation lying down!』

『The true might of our warriors who are blessed by Mother Nature is best exhibited in group combat. Even if the opponent is Mr. Hiro, who has shown overwhelming skill and strength thus far, I don't think he will be able to avoid a close struggle this time around.』

An elven warrior wielding a machete stepped at the very front of the impromptu formation while another short spear wielder positioned himself right behind him. Groups of five warriors split into three directions and boxed me in completely. I guess this is their best tactic huh. They probably use this formation to hunt down dangerous wild beasts in the forest. If so, there's only one option I can take.

That's to plunge straight into one of the groups myself.

『Whoah! Captain Hiro just jumped straight into the warrior group to his left!』

『That formation was created to stop a mad charge from a Riga Rau. Thus, our best warriors should be able to deal with such a move as well.』

In response to my sudden rush, the group to my left immediately dispersed, surrounded me, and unleashed attacks at the same time. Three of them slashed at me with machetes while the other two thrust their short spears at me. Usual opponents would definitely eat some attacks while blocking the others. However, I'm no wild beast, and their formation was too straightforward to be able to effectively deal with human opponents.

The spear thrusts coming in from the gaps between their formation were easy to read because their attack ranges were limited, and wide swings from the machetes were equally predictable. And moreover, no matter how sharp and fast their attacks were-

"-!"

To me, they were painfully slow.

The instant I held my breath, the entire world slowed down to a crawl. I could now clearly see the trajectories of each attack and how I could move in response.

I slipped through a slash from a machete, avoided a spear thrust, and pressed upon the elven warrior furthest to my right. I'm sure that in his eyes, it would have seemed that I accelerated suddenly and came within striking distance in practically an instant. I immediately made him eat a blow from the pommel of my sword right in the middle of his surprised face, used the recoil together with a flick of my wrist to swing the longsword held in my left hand, and landed a strike at the back of the head of the machete-wielding elf in the center of the formation. I stepped further in and landed a blow with the short sword in my left hand on an elven spear-wielder who was left defenseless after committing to an attack earlier when we passed each other by. The other spear wielder tried to attack me in a rush after seeing his comrade fall, but I easily knocked his spear out of his hand.

"Wha-!?"

Astonished by the fact that three of his comrades collapsed in an instant and another one lost his weapon, the remaining machete-wielder couldn't react when I knocked him down with a longsword blow. Before the disarmed elf managed to pull a dagger from his waist to try and fight back, I unleashed several attacks with both my swords and quickly incapacitated him.

『Whoah!? Just what were those movements earlier!? The left warrior group was absolutely dismantled in the blink of an eye!?』

『Even I couldn't see those moves clearly...... I can only describe them as terrifying.』

Before the last of the five collapsed unconscious, I immediately charged toward the center group. Hahaha! What's wrong? You're just like paralyzed scarecrows! I ain't gonna hold back though.

TL Notes: Four Heavenly Kings (四天王/Shiten'nou) - a really popular (and a bit overused) trope in shounen series where the protagonist faces four bosses of progressively increasing strength. A very mainstream example would be the Elite Four from Pokemon. In fact, they're directly called the Four Heavenly Kings in Japanese. Elite Four was used only in English localizations.