“The two fingers on my hand are like this because of that fight.”
Zenberu showed his left hand which was missing two fingers to Zaryusu.
“If you use the power that guy unleashed to defeat me, you might be able to win.”
“Is that so?”
Zaryusu answered calmly.
Indeed, that ability was strong.
And becauses that ability could only be used thrice a day, he had a great chance of winning if he were to utilize that ability. Zaryusu only defeated the previous owner of Frost Pain because the ability had been used up. If he had used that ability, Zaryusu probably would had died.
But it was impossible for someone who knew the ability of Frost Pain to taunt him into using it.
Zaryusu tightened his guard.
I don’t understand… Anyway, things will never end if we drag on like this, I should attack.
Zaryusu made up his mind and dashed in with twice the speed.
Zenberu swung his halberd at Zaryusu with amazing speed.
Zaryusu didn’t dodge and blocked it with Frost Pain. Everyone who saw this thought Zaryusu would be sent flying back.
Sword and halberd clashed— and the attack was parried easily.
There was no need to use abilities. Zenberu was merely wielding the halberd like a kid, and it could be parried no matter how hard he swung it.
Zenberu opened his eyes with shocked— no, it was admiration.
At the same time, Zaryusu charged towards Zenberu— giving him no time to withdraw the halberd to defend. Even if he had that kind of muscle, it would take time to pull the deflected halberd back. That was enough time for Zaryusu to close in.
The next instance, Frost Pain slashed towards Zenberu’s body—
— Blood splashed out.
A loud cheer erupted and a soft cry could be heard.
The one who was bleeding and retreating wasn’t Zenberu. It was Zaryusu who was bleeding from the two cuts on his face.
Contrary to his tactic so far, Zenberu took large strides towards Zaryusu to attack with his weapon, not letting him get away.
That weapon was— claws.
Frost Pain and the claws clashed with a crisp metallic ring. After that, the sound of the halberd falling into the water could be heard.
“Wargghhh—!”
Zenberu breathed out deeply, and attacked consecutively with his large arm as he stepped forward.
Unlike the childish halberd play earlier, Zenberu’s attack with claws was on the level of a master. Zaryusu finally understood after the most important information was leaked out.
Zenberu was not a warrior, but a monk who uses his own body as a weapon by utilizing a special energy called Qi.
Zaryusu blocked the chop with Frost Pain.
The claws of lizardmen were harder than humans, but not so tough that they could emit such metallic noise. That’s right, this was the result of hardening the body parts— such as claws and fangs. An ability known as ‘Natural Steel Weapon’, an ability of monks.
It was said that a punch of a monk who had reached the highest level could destroy the hardest material adamantium. But judging from the feel of the exchanges, Zenberu wasn’t at that level yet, he was at most at the level of steel. Even so, he was on par with one of the four treasures of the lizardmen, Frost Pain, and that was not to be trifled with.
The two of them exchanged blows.
Zenberu attacked with his claws while Zaryusu slashed with Frost Pain. They evaded each others attack and lept back, pulling away from each other.
“— Hahah, you are still alive!”
Zenberu licked the blood and meat on his fingers.
Zaryusu used his long tongue to lick the red liquid on his face.
Zaryusu felt lucky, for having avoided the claw to his eyes. He was hurt, but it was just a nick, he could still fight on. He was thankful to the ancestor’s protection and—
Maybe I dodged that because of Crusch’s ancestors.
Zaryusu was grateful while Zenberu complained unhappily.
"Speaking of which, you seem to be holding back by refusing to use that ability."
Zenberu clenched both fists and repeatedly beat his chest.
“My apologies, but I have no intention to use that move.”
“Eh? Then don’t complain after your defeat that you did not use your full strength.”
“After exchanging blows with me, you still think I am the kind of person who would say such a thing?”
“… No, I don’t think so. Sorry, I have said too much. However — if you do not plan not use that move, then it’s my turn now!”
With the sound of piercing wind, Zenberu launched a kick towards Zaryusu with his leg that was as thick as a tree trunk.
The movement was made without a shred of hesitation.
As Zaryusu was avoiding that leg thrust, he swung Frost Pain to slice Zenberu. However a metallic sound rang out and the sword was deflected.
Zaryusu widened his eyes in exclamation.
If one were to use a blade to block an attack by flesh, the attacking party would be the one to be injured, this much was common sense. However, utilising monk's Qi energy overturned this logic.
This was the effect of 'Steel Skin'. At the moment that an attack came into contact with the user’s skin, this special ability would use Qi to envelop the body, turning skin into the toughness of steel. This ability was the same as 'Natural Steel Weapon', where similarly the amount of training that was put into refining the technique meant that a greater toughness could be achieved.
The opponent’s skin had deflected a magic sword. This meant that the opponent had already refined the monk ability to great heights. However Zaryusu remained confident that victory was within his grasp.
It wasn’t that the difference in both parties’ battle technique was astronomical, but rather that Zenberu’s circumstances were inherently relatively unfavourable.
Allowing one to be overwhelmed by continuous attacks.
Kicks, tail sweeps, punches, chops, attacks of all sorts.
Zenberu relied on his body’s ability with each strike, which was not only fast but also heavy. Facing such an enemy, even Zaryusu had to drop his offence to maintain his defence.
Continuous attacks were followed by even more continuous attacks.
If he were to forgo defending against the enemy’s crushing attacks, Zaryusu would no doubt be defeated. The surrounding lizardmen believed that the tribe chief who was launching continuous attacks without stopping had victory in his grasp and were shouting out encouragements.
Zenberu’s claws occasionally grazed Zaryusu, easily breaking apart the hard scales protecting the body, causing fresh blood to flow. His injuries were not light at all.
Zaryusu’s body was full of these wounds. His life was like a candle in the wind, and it would not be surprising for him to surrender at any moment. The evidence was all over the lizardmen’s faces as they revealed joyful smiles in delight for their victorious tribe chief.
However, Zenberu did not share their sentiment.
Every time a continuous strike was blocked, Zenberu felt that victory was slipping further and further away, which distressed him immensely.
The blade of Frost Pain harboured cold frost which stacked frost injuries for every cut it inflicted on enemies. In addition, it had an effect where any enemy coming into contact with the weapon would suffer some frost injuries. In other words, merely by exchanging contact between the blade and flesh, Zenberu was slowly being eroded by the frost.
With both hands frozen and both legs numb, his movements became more and more slower.
What a shame… because the previous fight was such a quick defeat… I didn’t even know that it originally had such an ability! It seems like it doesn’t just have that one ability! No wonder it is one of the four treasures!