Chapter 223 - The Gentleman That Lady Beat the Shit Out of Is Paying

There was no need to announce the start. Encrid and his opponent had taken their stances, and that was enough. The woman held her shield out front. Encrid expected her to build her attacks around a solid defense. That was how to make the most of a sword and shield. Everyone he had faced with such equipment had fought that way. Experience guided him. One step forward, to claim the advantageous position in the fight. But as he advanced with his sword raised, the shield swelled. Grew larger. Filled his vision in an instant. 'Fuck.'

The curse came unbidden. There was no time to say it aloud. A gray wall of iron was suddenly right before his eyes. He could see nothing else. In that fleeting instant, he crossed both arms before his chest and face, still gripping his sword. BANG! The gray iron wall slammed into his forearms. He felt himself lift off the ground, his vision jolting with the impact, before a second shock struck his back. Instinctively, he slapped the ground with his left hand in something resembling a breakfall. All that relentless practice in Balaf-style martial arts had paid off. His stomach felt as though it had turned inside out, but he did not throw up. The blow and its timing had caught him completely off guard. Flung backward to land on his back, he lay sprawled in an awkward position. "Hah!"

Encrid exhaled, then drew breath to recover from the impact and tried to spring upright. There was no time. Something came whooshing down over his head. He had no chance even to check what it was, let alone catch his breath. Feeling his heart constrict, he swung his sword upward while still half-reclining. CLANG! As he struck, he pushed off the ground with his right foot and rolled sideways. He could not deliver a blow with the Heavy Sword Technique. Not when she had robbed him of his stance, position, and timing. His attempt to turn her sword aside with something like the Flowing Sword Technique's deflecting maneuver was only half successful. He deflected the sword, but could not stop the attack that followed. His opponent let her sword go where it was diverted and used her foot instead. It looked like a mace hurtling toward his face.

'Steel boots.'

The sight of the metal boot seared itself into his eyes. THUD! The toe struck his chest. Encrid rolled backward with the blow, traveling more than twice as far as the shield had driven him. Farther than the force of the kick alone warranted. "Hah."

Still rolling, he planted his left hand on the ground and snapped his hips, flipping himself upright. "Quite a trick," the warrior woman said.

She had already recovered her stance and drawn the shield back to cover herself. The same stance as before, the one she had started in. That bothered him. It was hard to find an opening. Above all, her way of fighting was no easy thing to handle.

'She's skilled.'

She knew how to use her equipment and stance to exploit her opponent's weaknesses. That meant ample experience in battles and individual fights alike. Blood trickled down his temple. A sharp stone must have grazed his forehead as the kick sent him flying. It crept down the side of his face, gathered at his chin, and dripped off. As though that were her signal, the warrior woman he suspected was part Giant kicked off the ground again. BOOM! The familiar gray iron wall appeared before him with the sound. A round shield large enough to cover half her body, a solid lump of iron that doubled as a bludgeon when swung. Even a well-trained person would find it heavy. Unless you were a Giant or a Frog, wielding it would be difficult. The same tactic, but a winning move. How was anyone to block a weapon that broad, striking with such speed and force? 'If I can't block it...'

He could dodge. The heart of the beast opened his eyes. Concentrate on a Single Point drew him into total focus. Eyes open and utterly absorbed, he sharpened his senses and moved. His body seemed to bend sideways like a shadow stretching and blurring in lamplight at night. The sudden acceleration made it look that way. At the same time, he cut down at her sword arm: a downward cut of the Heavy Sword Technique. Her shield moved as though bending sideways too. She blocked with it and shoved. Sword met shield, their strength colliding through their weapons. BANG! An explosive report rang out. One had awakened the Heart of the Superhuman; the other carried the blood of Giants, however little. The noise might have been an explosive spell going off. Every spectator clapped their hands over their ears. "Urgh!"

"Agh!"

Cries burst out involuntarily all around. As his sword battered her shield, Encrid saw the blade graze his flank. He twisted away, but could not avoid it entirely. The wound was shallow, yet it bled. His side quickly grew wet. He was wearing thin leather armor, but her blade was sharp. This was no ordinary weapon. Wasn't its cutting edge at least as good as his own? And that despite its blunt, ponderous appearance. The blade was twice as thick as an ordinary sword's. It was a modified longsword, but her size made it look like an ordinary arming sword. "Quick on your feet," she said.

Her expression and manner remained impassive. She seemed incapable of taking any pleasure in this. 'She's strong.'

She fought well, cut well, and had superb reflexes. He had wanted an opponent other than Rem, Audin, Ragna, or Jaxon. Now one stood before him. As welcome as rain in a drought. "Ah, let's try that again."

Encrid smiled without realizing it. It was a rare expression, one that appeared only when he was truly, utterly delighted.

* * *

"Look at her face. She's got to be thinking he's insane."

This was no easy opponent. Rem and the others had all recognized that at a glance. He had spoken as he watched his captain grinning like something had broken in his head. "Mm. It's disconcerting the first time you see it," Ragna agreed. "She wouldn't know he's always like that."

Even Jaxon spoke, for once. "Ho ho. Our opposing Sister seems displeased."

Audin chimed in too. Rem inwardly nodded at that. He had been like this even before he had the heart of the beast. Smiling as he clambered up something Rem could scarcely call progress, something as precarious as a rotten tree trunk. Who knew when it might snap? What was so enjoyable about it? 'Back then, I thought he'd be dead in no time.'

Yet somehow, he had come up behind Rem. The man once so far away he hadn't even been visible was now within shouting distance. 'Ah, I don't want him catching up.'

Rem watched the fight with that thought in mind. Every way he looked at it, the warrior woman had come to kill his captain. Should he stop her, then? In the past, he would have. On a battlefield, he would have stepped in. But not now. This man had laid his own road toward his dream.

'He'd really resent me if I stepped in now, wouldn't he?'

Of course, he would intervene if Encrid was about to die, regardless. Apparently, he was not alone in thinking that. Beside him, Ragna quietly edged half a step closer. The Sneaky alley cat's presence faded, and Audin leaned ever so slightly forward despite his hearty chuckling. 'Fucking lunatics, all of them.'

He was the only normal one. Their so-called captain was crazy about fighting, whether it killed him or not. The others were every bit as abnormal. 'I've got to keep my head. Me.'

Wasn't that why he had come here after half-killing that Beastman, Dunbachel?

'Beastmen are tough.'

And satisfying to beat up. Well, she would recover soon enough. He only pushed her so hard because he knew that. Rem watched the fight continue. Despite the cut to his side, Encrid seemed not even to feel the pain. Another shield charge.

'Seems like he could just split it.'

Though that would be no easy feat. Before, he had dodged to exploit an opening, only to be blocked. This time looked the same. He stepped sideways, leaving something like an afterimage. At first Rem thought it was the same move, but it wasn't. When the shield followed him, Encrid moved faster still. Rem usually told him to use only about half the Heart of the Superhuman's power, but he seemed to be going all out now. His body accelerated. He soon got behind the half-Giant, his sword tracing a circle around her as he moved. CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG! The sword skimmed over the gray iron shield, striking and bouncing off again and again in a shower of sparks. The exchange happened faster than most eyes could follow. Then Encrid's blade grazed her side. She did not simply take it. Losing sight of him, she drove her sword straight down behind herself without looking. WHOOSH! The longsword, modified with a thicker blade than other swords, cleaved the air. Encrid, who had lightly touched his blade to her side, was already far behind her. Having evaded the blade, he charged back in the instant he had made distance. It looked as though he was taking revenge for the earlier shield attack. As he charged, he seemed to make a bowstring of his body and loose his sword like an arrow. 'That move.'

It belonged to the last opponent who had stepped forward in Martai.

'After using it on me over and over!'

Now he had brought it out here. It looked like a treasured blade flying free of its sheath. BANG! She blocked that too. But this time, she clearly failed to block it properly. Encrid's sword scraped along the shield's edge and struck her pauldron, sending it flying with a clang. Naturally, the pauldron was not all he hit. Blood pattered down from the half-Giant's shoulder. She ignored it and flowed straight into her next movement. Instead of shielding her entire front, she held the shield ahead of her left side and kept the sword in her right hand half-raised. A textbook sword-and-shield stance. She did not even give a battle cry. Instead, her jaw muscles tightened as though she had clenched her molars. She charged. Encrid withdrew his thrusting sword, turned halfway around, and swung. The Heavy Sword Technique's spinning cut. It carried the speed of his stab and a crushing force to rival a Giant's. BANG! The half-Giant blocked with her shield and held firm. Stop the opponent's weapon with the shield, then swing the sword in hand. That was the point of carrying both. Her sword descended once more. It was exquisitely timed, a blow that left Encrid no breathing room. Rem's right index finger twitched involuntarily. He nearly threw his axe. He was not alone. Ragna, Audin, and Jaxon all reacted the same way. But they stopped. There was no need to intervene yet. The moment they thought him in danger, Encrid drew his second sword. CLANG! A single block cracked the sword across its middle, but it had done its job. The blade he had drawn with his other hand had stopped hers. "... Your left hand?"

The half-Giant spoke with their swords still locked. Encrid nodded.

"One of my specialties." "Do you have others?"

"Plenty."

"This may end before you show them all." She was urging him to show everything he could do. The half-Giant had seemed taciturn to the extreme, saying only what she needed to in a few short words. This was her first extended conversation. Encrid answered with a smile.

"I couldn't show you all of them. Seducing women is on the list." Rem snorted as he listened.

'Running your mouth is another.'

Of all Encrid's treasured blades, his tongue was the finest. "So you're a crazy bastard."

The half-Giant briefly summed up Encrid's true nature, then swung again. A straightforward sword-and-shield approach. To be precise, she had added shield techniques to the Righteous Sword Technique. Encrid threw away his half-broken sword and faced her with just one blade.

'Twin swords only when he needs them.'

A good tactic. Their fight ended around sunset. As for who had won...

'He lost.'

It was Encrid's defeat. One look was enough to tell. One cheek had been cut. When that happened—or, more precisely, afterward, since most people there could not even follow the exchanges—several of the townswomen had screamed at the sight. Encrid's reputation in the city was at its absolute peak. He was the most eligible of husbands, with some women willing to sell everything they owned just to have him as a lover. That same Encrid now had a cut cheek and several broken ribs. Small wounds covered his entire body. His ribs had broken when he attempted close combat, landing eight blows but allowing one through. His opponent had endured successive hits to the jaw and solar plexus. A Giant's toughness. Encrid had not underestimated her. But even a well-trained body could not withstand everything in the face of overwhelming violence.

'A loss on points.'

The others had likely reached much the same conclusion. Encrid breathed raggedly. His irregular breathing meant he was exhausted. He had reached his limit. The half-Giant had just realized she could not finish him off. Her mission had failed. However wildly he fought, he was no actual proto knight, so she had thought it would not be particularly difficult. 'He's strong.'

The man before her was strong. In skill, in resolve, and most of all in that mind of his.

'Is he strong because he's insane?' As that question rippled through the warrior's mind, Encrid coolly assessed his condition. He looked himself over, then raised his head to inspect his opponent. She was in bad shape too. "Let's do this again tomorrow."

"... What?" For the first time, she looked bewildered by his words. Before she could say anything else, an axe slipped neatly between them. "Didn't you hear him? If you want more, it'll have to be tomorrow or the day after. Get yourself patched up. Oh, the inn's free. So are the meals. The gentleman that lady beat the shit out of is paying."

Rem jerked his thumb toward the badly wounded Encrid. Even if she attacked now, she could not kill him. Her only chance had been during their fight. Now there were several dangerous men around him. The axe-wielding man in front of her was one of them. As the warrior stood lost in thought, Rem spoke again.

"Or you can just leave, if you want." He sounded utterly unconcerned, even after she had beaten his captain half to a bloody pulp. Granted, that bloody pulp was still standing perfectly well. Such formidable toughness. Not on par with a Giant's, but it felt as though he had been born different. In reality, it was thanks to the Isolation Technique and the devil named Audin, but the half-Giant had no way of knowing that. "You mean to interfere in our fight," the warrior asked.

"No. After watching today, I don't think we'll need to." She could not readily grasp his meaning. What she did understand was that she had another chance. She was in no position to go back now, anyway. Return with all her limbs intact after failing her mission? They would talk of treachery and betrayal. Everything she did, every action she took, would come under suspicion. "Very well."

The warrior quietly stepped back. "There. Happy now?"

Rem turned to his captain.

"Yes. That's fine." Encrid was satisfied. Could his battered body heal in a single day? Audin had called it a regenerative body, saying it could grow tougher each time it healed after being broken. For now, all he could do was rest. "There was a lot to learn."

"You like it that much?" Encrid's legs gave out, and Rem caught him. With his arm slung over Rem's shoulders, he answered,

"A fair bit." A fair bit, his ass. He'd looked ready to drool. Rem cursed inwardly and walked on, supporting him. And when the next day came, the warrior woman discovered that getting what she wanted would not be easy. Encrid, meanwhile, smiled twice as brightly as he had the day before. Anyone who knew him would have known just how rare such a radiant smile was.