Chapter 60 – The Sixth Day Of The Event (Part 3)

As we restarted our fight, the sounds of metal hitting metal started echoing through the battlefield. However, I couldn’t take his blows head on, as even with Inoue’s and Yamada’s assistance, there was a risk of my shortsword breaking if I seriously tried to block an axe’s attack. So I mostly parried and dodged instead.

Hannes tried hitting me with a downwards swing of his axe, but I parried it and made use of the opportunity to try cutting his arm, but he moved it away in the last second, leaving only a small cut in his armpit.

Not letting go of the momentum, I used it to hit his left flank with a roundhouse kick, making him roll down the slope. Unfortunately the poor footing of the mountain also made me lose balance and roll down together with him.

Hannes used a skill to stop his momentum. Not missing the opportunity I threw a poison needle at him while also regaining my own posture. He blocked the needle, but the impact, paired together with the slippery ground, and the constant tremors from the incoming avalanche, ended up making him start rolling downwards again… And the same happened to me as I threw a poison needle while still off-balance myself.

As we got closer, Hannes tried to swing his axe against me while making use of the centrifugal force of his already fast rolling. I made use of my own momentum to jump over his attack and fall on his back, stabbing him.

After screaming in pain, he rolled even faster and swung his axe at me, forcing me to get away and back to a neutral position.

This time, he slammed the axe on the ground to stop his rolling, while I applied <Heat> to my feet to melt the snow and step on solid ground again, finally allowing me to regain my footing. We both stared at each other for a second, before I started giggling.

“Why are you laughing?” He asked.

“Ah, nothing much. I just didn’t expect it would this fun for us to try killing each other. ‘Playing’ with you has been a lot more enjoyable that I had originally thought it would be.” I explained.

“You… You’re absolutely nuts!” He shouted.

It really is a lot of fun though? I was thinking of hunting more important NPCs for a while longer, but I’ve been really surprised this time around, to think there was such a wonderful player growing stronger while I wasn’t looking!

As I thought about this, he rushed towards me again and made a wide swing with his axe, which I deflected to the side with my shortsword. The impact was enough to make me lose balance, and then he kept swinging and swinging it over and over again… Usually I’d be able to easily counterattack this, but the poor footing of the mountain is making it really hard for me to react to those attacks properly. It’s a simple, but effective strategy, however… It’s a bit too simple.

When he tried making his next swing, I purposefully let myself fall. While I started going down the slope again, I held his ankle and slammed him on the ground while we both slided down. He then created a wall between us with his <Earth Magic> to force me to let go of him. I tried throwing some scraps of iron at him while the wall was rising, but it was hard to hit his vitals under these conditions, so the damage was pretty small… Although we’re both losing health over time, so every little bit of damage matters.

After we both regained our footing and went back to a neutral position, Hannes started saying, “Mmm… At this rhythm, isn’t one of us just going to die from the HP depletion before we can actually settle this?”

“It certainly looks like that might happen… That’s not a very fulfilling finale.” I answered while in deep thought. We both weren’t attacking at the moment, but instead just sliding down the slope to avoid the avalanche… Nonetheless, if the fight keeps going like this, then the future he just predicted might become a reality… That would be… “Agh! That’s really no good!” I shouted, “I refuse to accept this kind of conclusion!

“And so…” I left my sentence out in the open for him.

He hesitated a bit, but he seemed to get what I wanted, “… Then, let’s end this with the next blow.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” I said while giggling. He really doesn’t hold back in making this entertaining, does he?

Well, let’s then use the best skills available for ourselves at the moment. We both started chanting it at the same time even.

“<Shivel, god of the earth whose power comes from the great seven-colored god. My faith in you asks to be rewarded, please destroy your enemies and protect this humble lamb of yours, Hannes. Your blessing…”

“<Fanny, the naïve goddess who is only dwarfed by the god of corruption. Please use the body of your lamb, Rena, to destroy all those that defy your will and plunder all their belongings. Your blessing…”

“Please give it to me>!” “Hand it over>!”

We used the special chanting required to use the unique skill that calls a god from our karmic camp to grant a bit of their divine power and release it upon our enemies.

The skill itself has been available from the start, but its power depends on both one’s own karma and on their opponent’s as well, so it would be quite useless for a beginner. Not to mention that this long casting time, makes it incredibly hard to use in most situations… However, we’re not beginners and this is not one of those situations.

“<Ground Slam>!”

“<Innocent Game>!”

As Hannes shone with a dark red light, he charged directly towards me. I faced his attack head on with my own, and when they collided, a bright white light filled the entire field of vision… When the light faded and I opened my eyes, what I saw was…