“Rising Phoenix Slash!”

Crap!

A sword covered in searing flames came at me like a flying bird, slicing through the air as it launched itself into my face. I, Tatsuya Nagata, only narrowly dodged it purely because the girl who swung her sword at me was yelling the name of her attack with euphoria.

“Nice dodge, Tatsuya, but how about this? Swift Cut!”

Understanding that she would leave herself vulnerable with that attack, the girl called out a System approved sword ability, enabling her to deftly move her body to block all my options for a counterattack.

The swinging of her black ponytail with red tints seemed like a flowing fire as it merged with her body's movements. A relentless assault began, forcing me to stay on the defensive and dodge, otherwise, her flame sword would probably have turned my skin black like coal.

Usually, in medieval combat, a spear would have the reach advantage over a sword, but that fact will become irrelevant once the sword manages to touch my face. I was caught off-guard by her and my reaction speed was not fast enough for me to launch a counterattack.

Eventually, I was able to detect an opening in her rampage, but I didn’t know how to capitalize on it without getting hurt in retaliation. A more seasoned spearman would’ve been able to think of an attack but all I could do was block her sword and swing the shaft of my spear like a staff to stop her assault.

“Fucking hell, Kohaku. You could’ve killed me there!” I shouted at the girl with the flame sword.

“Ehehe, I did get a bit too enthusiastic…but you made it out of there without a scratch!” Kohaku, the girl with the black hair and red tints, responded with a carefree smile.

While we were having this conversation, I could hear voices coming from the side. Spectators of our fight were hurling complaints at us, back seating, and calling us out for our mistakes.

“Kohaku-chan! You can’t continue screaming all of that chunni stuff! You're giving yourself away!” the brown-haired Kazumi shouted.

“Kohaku-san, that’s not even a proper sword ability, so please stop it! You could have beaten Tatsuya if you hadn’t done that!” spectacles-wearing Nishio called out.

“Holy fuck, Tatsuya, you suck so much! You have a spear and you’re taller than her but you can’t keep her out of your reach?! Argh, this is what I have to work with…” annoying bastard Daichi Mikami yelled, criticizing me for one mistake.

Tch, it really wasn’t my fault here!

“Hehe, sorry guys. I’ll get a bit more serious, fire off, wind on!” Kohaku called out, dissipating the flames on her sword before touching it to invoke a veil of wind to cover her sword. While that was already pretty impressive, my eyes were more attracted to the brightly shining green rune.

After we lost that little challenge to Tamae-san's party "The Magical Biscuits", Yorshka brought their party to a dwarven friend of hers where they got some sweet weapon upgrades. And yes, you heard it right, those guys got to meet a dwarf. They were retelling that meeting so enthusiastically that it sounded a bit like boasting, which made me a bit jealous.

Anyway, after three months of hard work, a package arrived at the church with Yorshka's name on it. Opening it up, she revealed that the weapons that the other party ordered have finally arrived.

This was around a week ago, and Kohaku here is brandishing her personal weapon right now.

Kotodama A sword made from the magical alloy Eoriant. Sturdy and able to absorb mana from its user, it can sustain its form even under the wear and tear from magical auras. Rune slots are engraved into this sword allows the user to wield elemental attacks Skill [Elemental Attack Up Lv. 5] [Mana Efficiency Lv. 5] [Mana Conductor Lv. 4] [Sword Mastery Lv. 3] [Decreased Weight Lv. 1] [Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 3] [Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 3] [Mind’s Eye Lv. 1] [Durability Loss Reduction Lv. 5]

Currently, the sword has three runes etched on it: wind, fire, and water. I’ve heard from Yorshka that you needed a skill called [Runesmith] to etch more into it, which could range from ice, thunder, and many more that could combine with each other and create wild creations.

Kohaku, seeing as she had the unique skill [Dwarven Runeslayer], was naturally proficient with using the runes, to great effect. Her chunnibiyou soul(8th class syndrome/Naruto phase) had been flaring up ever since she got it and she’s been calling out cringe-worthy attacks names like “Rising Phoenix Slash”, amongst others.

Well, who am I to stop her fun-wahhhh?!

While I was looking at her fidgeting with her sword, another blade came at me, interrupting my daydreaming and forcing me to block it with my spear’s shaft again.

“Oi, Tatsuya, stop looking at girls when you haven’t beaten me yet,” a guy who was completely covered from head to toe with armor said.

Still struggling to push his sword away, I could only mumble a few words, “Fuck you, Kyouya!”

"Yeah, I know, but that's what a three-way duel is supposed to be," Kyouya excused his surprise attack. "Oh, and sorry for this, Shield Bash!”

Kyouya wasn’t only wielding a sword but also a shield. Having both of my hands occupied by his sword, he used his other hand to slam the point of his metal shield into my stomach.

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Pain Resistance Lv. 3] evolved into [Pain Resistance Lv. 4]

Like having a hammer ram into my stomach, my internal organs felt the full brunt of the attack, and I was launched away from my sparring partner. Lying on the ground, I was having a hard time getting up, coughing as I clutched my pained body.

Damnit, get up, Tatsuya! I ordered myself, trying desperately to ignore the excruciating pain that was spreading through my body.

Using my spear as a crutch, I leaned against it and forced my body up again. Besides a gambeson and chainmail, I wasn’t wearing anything that could otherwise protect me from harm. Due to my unique skill [Rush Hour], Elrick and Yorshka have advised me to learn how to fight without much armor so I could stay mobile to use my ace to its fullest potential in a dire situation.

However, that also meant that if I couldn’t evade stuff, that I would receive quite a good amount of damage. Luckily, a combination of a gambeson and chainmail were both light and defensive, able to protect me from blunt and slash trauma and reducing the amount of Health that I would’ve lost.

Still, the rattling of my bones and aching organs were a thing. If this would have happened to me during the start of this year, then I would undoubtedly have puked out my breakfast and stayed limp on the ground. Training as a soldier and warrior really toughen up my body.

Thankfully, while I was recovering, Kyouya didn’t launch any more attacks on me, instead, he was focusing on fighting Kohaku.

Kohaku was like me a lightly armored fighter, focusing more on evading and using her sword’s magical properties to enhance her attacks. With her sword covered by an aura of wind, she was flowing around the fighting ground like a sparrow, slicing and dodging without losing her momentum even once.

Kyouya, on the other hand, looked pretty much like a knight and was fighting exactly like a heavily armored combatant. Any hits that he could block with his shield he would take it on but otherwise, he would shrug off attacks like the tank that he was, using any window of opportunity to push Kohaku back with both shield and sword.

If this were a video game, then his ability to both peel and create space for others would be fantastic. Kohaku, on the other hand, wasn’t taking any damage but she also wasn’t dishing out enough with her current enchantment. She needed fire or water, I think.

However, there was also another way for her to deal damage.

Dashing forward, I launched myself back into the fight with my eyes set on Kyouya’s defenseless back, “Perforate Stab!” I shouted out.

Energy began to surge through my body as I called out that spear ability. Stamina was being drained from my status board as a cost for using it, but it was all worth it. At that moment, my body knew exactly the most optimal stance, grip, and angle that I should use to launch my attack.

“Shit! Guard!”

With a simple step forward, my spear struck at the speed of a bullet, however, as if Kyouya was warned by something, he turned his body to the side and narrowly defended himself from my attack.

While my attack only caused him to flinch backward, that was all the time Kohaku needed to switch her runes from wind to water. Water began flushing out of the rune, instantly covering the blade of the sword with a thin, sharp veil of water.

“Power Slash!” she called out, swing her sword vertical upwards.

Kyouya, the crazy guy, still was able to divert some of his focus to Kohaku’s side, moving his sword to block her attack. Unfortunately for him, her attack was not only empowered by a more offensive enchantment but also a stronger ability.

Abandoning landing swift strikes, Kohaku’s attack broke through Kyouya’s defense and sliced a bit of his armor off.

“Argh! Fuck!” Kyouya screamed in pain.

“Sweeping Farewell!” I shouted.

Having lost his balance from that attack, I pulled my spear away from Kyouya and activated another spear ability. Jumping into the air, I twisted my body and swept my spear in front of me in a roundabout, sending Kyouya flying away and giving me some space from my next opponent.

“First blood: Kyouya! You’re out Mister Ishigami!” Yorshka, acting as the referee of this little battle, yelled with fervor, clearly having fun watching us. “Tamae, could you heal him up?”

“Yes, of course!” Tamae-san jumped off from her chair and rushed over to Kyouya, who was checking his chest for blood, to take care of any wounds. “Wow, that’s some back luck there Kyouya. There is a shallow cut on your arm.”

“Wait, what?! Seriously? Damn, it would have been weird if all of their attacks sliced through armor, gambeson, and chain armor. How annoying is it that there is an opening under my armpits,” Kyouya said in exasperation, confirming that he really was bleeding. “Thanks for the patch-me-up, Tamae-san.”

“No problem, that’s my job after all. Oh, goddess up high, grant to us your mortal servants a miracle of blessed wonder. Minor Heal!”

Haruka also came over and handed him some water to drink.

Seeing Kyouya enjoy his time with the girls, I was a bit relieved to know that one of my two opponents was finally out. It was really a bit lucky for me that heavy armor couldn’t cover the joints of a person, otherwise, you would lose your ability to move around.

While Kohaku slashed his chest, I used my opportunity to deal the one hit that would take Kyouya out of the equation.

With everything having cooled down, I could finally relax a bit. Thinking about this fight that we were having; I have to say that it’s pretty fun to be able to fight like this with my classmate.

After our trip to the dungeon, my party and Kohaku’s party have been training with each other ever since. We fought together, got to know each other better, and trained in party battles. All of this is to become stronger and stronger.

After my party sort of resolved our internal dispute with Asaka, compromising on a more beneficial cooperation while supporting Asaka’s leadership role anyway we could, we all began being more friendly with each other.

Well, I say more but it’s only a little. Daichi still is too competitive for his own good and Asaka rarely appears during training. Haruka learned that she hated fighting in general, finding the whole thought of killing anything unpleasant, so she’s mostly relegated into a cheerleader role until now.

Kyouya and I are working on it. We’re trying to make it work. I also know that I should stop being angry at them and instead figure out a solution to accommodate everybody. Honestly, I really felt that Kyouya and I were the de facto leaders.

Thankfully, we’re getting the support of Tamae’s party so our training session hasn’t been terrible. For example, the current battle that was being held with Kohaku, Kyouya, and me.

Besides for Kazumi, who was more a rogue, we three were the only ones who you could consider a part of the frontline. One tank, one spearman, and one swordswoman. A three-way fight against each other to hone our abilities.

Since we started it, we’ve been keeping up with each other pretty well but ever since Kohaku got her new sword, she’s been mostly wiping us out with it. The power of her rune sword is a real menace with how flexible it can be.

Some would call me dumb for sending Kyouya out instead of Kohaku but ganging up on her every single match would turn out boring. I’ve defeated her with Kyouya’s help before, but I honestly want to see if I can do it on my own.

Yeah, it’s dumb, I know, but I want to see if I can really do it. I’m competitive, it’s my nerd spirit. Spear vs. magical sword, let’s go.

“You ready, Kohaku?” I asked her.

“Water off, fire on,” Kohaku said in response, posing like an anime character. “Let us end this battle in a dance of fire, Tatsuya!”

Cute…

With her sword in hand, she was making a pretty cool pose while I kept the normal stance that I learned from my combat instructors. Steadfast stance, relaxed but firm grip, and…pointy side always in the direction of the enemy.

“Let’s go! Flash Spiral!” I shouted.

“Yeah! Swift Cut!” she reciprocated my war cry.

Charging into each other with our respective attacks, we engaged in an all-out rumble. Flaming swings came from Kohaku as she tried her best to get close to me, rotating from wind to water and then back to fire, but I managed to keep my reach advantage this time.

Compared to before, she wasn’t able to catch me off-guard so maintaining the basics was easier this time, but Kohaku was making it hard for me to keep this up. She was fast, just like me, but unlike me, her sword could extend its reach by concentrating the mana aura around its tip.

While dueling with Kyouya would feel like a down-to-earth medieval combat between a sword and spear…with the occasional power moves; this fight that I was having with Kohaku was fantastical, exactly how you would imagine a fight in a world with magic would work out.

…It’s just too bad that I wasn’t able to shoot one of two spells myself.

However, it seems my perseverance worked out, managing my Stamina and my weapons durability while having Kohaku use her up. From the SP that I received from leveling up, I decided against buying [Identify] for now, concentrating on gaining more stat growth skills and combat-related ones.

While changing Jobs led to skills increasing, you actually have to reach the skill requirements first. By gaining a variety of skills and then leveling them up, I’ll focus on gaining more jobs to promote everything into quality.

[Identify] would give me intel on Kohaku’s current stats, but I needed stuff like [Prediction], [Danger Sense], [Accuracy Correction], and [Probability Correction] to fight better. Winning fights and fulfilling Quests were the only ways I could gain levels, but I could only survive by being more proficient in combat.

Fighting in that dungeon made me realized that this shit that the church is forcing us into, stopping the demonkins, was fucked up. No, it’s even more fucked up now that I know how it feels to kill.

Taking the life from somebody, even a monster, made me feel nauseous but what it truly gave me was a real value of what life was. What if I was one of those kobolds and some arrogant kid walks up to me just to kill me for experience? Sure, we kill animals to eat and I understand that, but…dude, it’s just so complicated!

How can these people even do this at all? I don’t know if I’m being a pussy here or not but how can anybody even feasible kill another person just like that. Argh, I don’t know. I’m so confused about all of these.

I know I have to fight to go back home but I don’t want to know what it’s like to push my spear into another human or even a demonkin. The church explained to me that they looked like tall humans with large horns, long claws, and sharp, pointy fangs. I don’t even know if I should trust the church’s description now. I’ve never fully trusted them.

Kill or be killed. Can I end another human’s life at a-waaaaaah?!

“Waaaaaah?!” I yelped, interrupting my monologue. “Urgh…what the…fuck?”

My head hurts and all I could see was the blue sky, which means that I am on the ground? Wait…I’m pretty sure that the fight was even, with neither side having a real advantage over the other.

While trying to remember what happened, a girl’s face began blocking the beautiful sky that I was looking at, “Tatsuya? What happened there? Were you daydreaming while we were fighting or how was I able to knock you down so easily? Oh wait, let me help you up first, here.”

Grabbing her hand, she helped pull me up, “Uh, yeah. Sorry, about that. I, uh, shouldn’t have done that.”

“Not a problem, really,” Kohaku said with a nod. “However, you do know that I’m goofing around with those weird catchphrases, right? My way to calm myself down during fights and so…uh, you know. Don’t do that in a real fight.”

Hearing that made me scratch my chin, a bit embarrassed at myself from hearing that from her, “Yeah, t-that won’t happen. Sorry, if that worri-”

“Holy fucking shit, Tatsuya?! How the fuck did you lose that?!” before I could end my sentence my attention was directed at Daichi who was wildly shouting on the side. “My [Identify] showed me that her Mana and Stamina were getting drained like crazy. She wasn’t pacing herself at all! You had it, you idiot! You could have fucking won! Oh my…fuck! Why am I stuck in this shitty party? Why are we always losing…sigh.”

Daichi looked absolutely defeated, slouching on a nearby bench as if his soul left him, however, considering why; I couldn’t help but smile wryly. Ever since we teamed up with Kohaku’s party, we’ve been having challenges and so on just to keep each other competitive.

Seeing how strong their personally made weapons were, I think he’s still salty about it. He hates losing and it’s even worse when he loses despite not being able to do anything…just like now.

At least, there wasn’t anything on the line otherwise he would throw a fireball at me.

As Kyouya, Kohaku, and I were getting a lecture from Yorshka about our mistakes, Elrick and Asaka entered the practice field.

“Oh, good morning Asaka-san and Sir Elrick, where were you…during training,” Tamae-san went to greet them but quickly lost most of her enthusiasm. “Did something happen?”

“…Sigh…yeah. Something very fucking sick,” Asaka answered with a pale face.

That was when Yorshka stopped her lecture and went over to the equally pale Elrick, intending to get an answer from him, “Elrick, what’s wrong? Wait…don’t tell me we’ve got a job.”

“Affirmative, Lady Yorshka,” Elrick then turned towards us, taking a deep breath before telling us the news. “The knight order has recently received reports of a massive bandit camp located on our border to the kingdom of Artorias. The church has ordered us knights to judge the threat in Aurena’s name and to bring back order.”

Elrick stopped, taking another breath to calm himself down, “…The church has also ordered to make this the first official church quest for the Heroes. Party ‘Misfits’ and ‘The Magical Biscuit’, you are to join the Knights of Aurena and use this chance as your entrance onto the world’s stage.”

…Crap.