[Kuguruma Natsunishi]
[Energy Level: 37 (Body: 17, Skill: 9, Spirit: 11)]
[Wind Breathing LV2 (231/1000)]
Life Skills (Quantity: 7)
LV2 [Physical Training]
LV1 [Suburi], [Running], [Camping], [Cooking], [Fishing]
LV0 [Foraging]
Achievement Points: 6
Walking through the forest, Kuguruma Natsunishi calculated that he needed to learn other Breathing Styles as soon as possible while attempting to locate enemies in the surrounding environment.
Logically speaking, these man-eating demons, trapped in these mountains by the lakeside for so long, should be starving. Upon smelling a living human, they ought to swarm around like striped mosquitoes in a field.
Gripping his Nichirin Sword, Kuguruma Natsunishi was full of anticipation.
Perhaps for other swordsmen, the entire Final Selection was a process of being passively ambushed by demons in the dark, then engaging and defeating them. But for Kuguruma Natsunishi, it was entirely different. He only needed to see the character names within the system-determined detection range.
Sure enough, a small line of text soon appeared among the trees to his right, rapidly enlarging as time passed.
[Nazuchi ???]
[Energy Level: 33 (Body: 22, Skill: 6, Spirit: 5)]
[Threat Level: Low]
"Holy crap, finally a living person! I'm starving to death!" Accompanied by a burst of gibberish shrieks, a monster that looked seven parts human and three parts toad dropped straight from a tree.
While kicking up a large cloud of dust, it scanned every inch of Kuguruma Natsunishi's skin with eyes filled with impatient hunger.
"Kid, don't resist. This great one can give you a..."
Wind Breathing
[Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind]
Several slashes, resembling the sharp claws of a beast, directly tore through a large portion of the demon's body. Along with its neck, its entire head was sent flying.
"...can give you a quick death? Hey, hey, hey?! My head!"
The demon only cried out in delayed alarm once its head hit the ground. Subsequently, its body began to gradually disintegrate.
"I remember now, it was that monster, that monster turned me into..."
[Skip]
He was grinding experience in a dungeon; he didn't have time to watch a personal backstory.
[Wind Breathing LV2 (265/1000) +34]
Oh? It added 34 experience points? He thought that since this toad monster was weaker, the experience drop would be significantly less than the last one.
Just as Kuguruma Natsunishi was thinking this, movement sounded again in the woods behind him. The time flow, which had been fast-forwarding, snapped back to normal.
A new battle had been triggered.
Kuguruma Natsunishi raised his sword to defend, and sharp long claws drew a long string of sparks against his Nichirin Sword.
"Nazuchi, that idiot, actually died at the hands of a brat."
"Since that's the case, I shall graciously accept this delicacy."
It was a gaunt demon. Aside from its somewhat malformed limbs, it was almost indistinguishable from an ordinary human.
[Shinigao ???]
[Energy Level: 52 (Body: 41, Skill: 6, Spirit: 5)]
[Threat Level: Low]
Kuguruma Natsunishi felt a slight spark of interest. Its attributes were quite a bit higher than the previous one; fighting it might be a bit more interesting... but why was the threat level still the same rating?
Closing in, the swung Nichirin Sword had already been pulled back to his waist.
Thrust!
Relying on the momentum stacked from his sprint, the speed of the sword tip's thrust increased further, turning directly into a straight beam of light.
"What an arrogant brat."
"It seems I should give you a lesson."
Facing such a swift and fierce thrusting attack, the demon actually managed to react with ease. It retreated while using its anti-human joint movements to dodge the sword tip. Simultaneously, it bypassed the Nichirin Sword with its long claws, tearing toward Kuguruma Natsunishi.
The youth, however, did not panic.
The sword stance, which had been mid-thrust, abruptly changed. His body lowered, and his right hand, which had been loosely gripping the sword, let go of the hilt entirely. He then braced his elbow, striking directly at the joint of the opponent's arm.
There was a dull thud.
With a look of pain on its face, the demon's offensive was forcibly parried by Kuguruma Natsunishi's elbow strike.
Indeed, as long as it was a humanoid creature, it would be limited by joints and power structures. Meridians and ligaments mobilize muscles, muscle fibers pull bones, and finally, various movements like swinging, striking, or slashing are completed. The more realistic the game, the greater these limitations would be.
A humanoid monster's attacks followed a logic; they could be traced. This was a Skill Kuguruma Natsunishi had polished through his extensive experience with action games.
Not to mention, the combat segments in this game featured auxiliary system functions. Before every enemy attack, there would be a fleeting [Red Warning Light]. During slashes, there would also be varying degrees of slash-correction assistance based on one's attributes. When attributes were high enough, there would even be real-time, diversified dotted-line deductions of the enemy's attack movements.
And at certain critical junctures, the game speed would slow down, entering a type of Bullet Time close-up combat camera.
In short, regarding the current combat, the game seemed like "Baby Bus" level to Kuguruma Natsunishi. Compared to the Souls-like or hardcore action games he had played in the past, this truly didn't count as having much difficulty.
The demon named Shinigao, seeing itself fall into a disadvantage in the blink of an eye, became enraged. It lunged straight at Kuguruma Natsunishi. In its view, even if this human swordsman had some skill, he would only last so long against its immortal body. It had countless opportunities for error, while the opponent had only one.
But before it could close in, it was met with a heavy stomp from Kuguruma Natsunishi.
Crack.
It wasn't a kick, but a heavy stomp onto its instep. While interrupting its forward movement, it also dealt a massive critical hit of pain. The sheer force instantly crushed its foot into the ground, and intense pain coursed through its body like lightning.
Before Shinigao could scream, another hard object struck it directly in the face. It was the metal pommel of the sword. In close quarters where a slash couldn't be executed, Kuguruma Natsunishi had not pulled away; instead, he held the Nichirin Sword sideways and slammed the pommel into the opponent's philtrum.
The intense pain, accompanied by a sense of vertigo, made Shinigao stagger back. However, because its foot was pinned down firmly, it couldn't retreat at all, causing it to lose its balance and fall sideways.
"You brat, aren't you supposed to be using a katana...?"
Elbow strikes, foot stomps, and now a hilt to the mouth?! It almost wanted to start cursing.
Kuguruma Natsunishi did not hesitate in the slightest. The sideways-held long sword smoothed out. Was the tip of the sword not also a convenient tool?
Upper cut!
A large amount of black-red blood sprayed out. Shinigao rolled clumsily, barely avoiding decapitation.
Kuguruma Natsunishi did not continue the pursuit, but instead began to observe.
"Speaking of which, your blood counts as red, too."
The wounds on its body were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. No wonder demons didn't feel pain. Was it some kind of ability derived from physical mutation?
Opposite Kuguruma Natsunishi, Shinigao was already terrified. It had begun to consider retreating. This kid was clearly weaker in aura than itself, so how could he be this strong?! No wonder that idiot Nazuchi was gone in a single encounter.
"Hey, you're not thinking of running, are you?"
Dammit, why did it feel like this brat was the hunter?
Kuguruma Natsunishi: "I'm saying, if you don't come at me, I'm going to keep moving."
Shinigao finally reached its breaking point and roared, "Don't look down on me!"
It no longer held back, charging at Kuguruma Natsunishi with all its might.
It was met by the Nichirin Sword.
In an instant, sword light erupted, trailing several chilling arcs amidst the elegant moonlight and dreamlike wisteria flowers. It was as if Kuguruma Natsunishi were inviting another to a dance, and the opponent was being forcibly dragged into this waltz of death against their will.
Sparks—the result of hard, metal-like demon claws clashing with the Nichirin Sword, scattering points of light.
Blood flowers—the cries and fears spraying from the wounds when the demon was struck.
Every time a spark lit up the dark night, it was a testament to the two dancers' slaughter. Under the reflection of the firelight, the demon's expression became increasingly terrified and shriveled; meanwhile, in the reflection of the sword light, Kuguruma Natsunishi's eyes grew brighter and more burning.
Finally, the sparks ceased to light up.
[Wind Breathing LV2 (265/1000)] → [Wind Breathing LV2 (377/1000)]
The dance was over.