Chapter 171

With the mock battle on the way, the two heroes, Kazuki and I, were going to demonstrate our abilities and Usato’s technique, the healing Rengeki fist that defeated the leader of the Demon King’s Second Army.

I used a wooden sword to strike the target with a super-continuous attack, and at the end of the attack, the lightning magic contained in the sword burned the target to the core.

Kazuki attacked with a series of magic bullets from his masterful magic manipulation, completely annihilating the target.

Both of them were overly powerful and easily destroyed the target, which was supposed to have been strengthened since the last time.

After me and Kazuki-kun, it was Usato-kun’s technique, the Healing Rengeki Fist, which in some ways must be of equal or greater interest to us.

“Usato, do your best!”

“Yeah, I’ll try somehow.”

After exchanging high-fives with Kazuki’s raised hand, Usato made his way to the third and final target.

…I mean, I should have high-fived you too!

I was so happy with the success of the technique that the thought completely escaped my mind…..!

“Healing Rengeki Fist, huh?”

“I’ve only heard the principle of the technique from Usato, but …… I couldn’t quite picture it. Now we can finally see it!”

As I lined up with Kazuki-kun, who had returned here, I thought about the Healing Rengeki fist.

Last night, when I asked him to explain this technique to me at the inn, he replied, “This is not appropriate magic for a rescue squad.” It’s a crazy move that involves striking an opponent over and over again with the impact created by an outburst of magic while in close contact with them.

And since the shock wave is released while the fist is squeezed, the impact will be immeasurable.

When I listened to him, I knew that the technique was certainly not one that should be aimed at humans.

“But to put it another way, …… he was such a good opponent that you had to use it.”

“Yes ……. Usato also said something like he didn’t want to use it as much as possible.”

The second legionary commander of the demon king’s army, Koga Dingal.

Black Knight …… No, a demon race that deals with the same dark strain as Ferrum.

A person who has the same physical built as Usato-kun and is evenly matched with him is surely an opponent that me and Kazuki-kun would have a hard time dealing with.

While I was lost in thought, Usato-kun started his preparatory exercises.

“Welshy-san, are there three targets in total?”

“No, I’ve prepared five in total, just in case. However, one of them has been ruined …… and is no longer usable.”

“Oh, why?”

“Before you arrived, Prince Kyle mistook it for a training target and fired magic at it. The target itself is unharmed, just sooty and dirty, but we’re lowering it in case there’s some sort of flaw.”

“I see. ……”

If it’s Prince Kyle ……. I think he could do it.

Or rather, he’d hit the target with magic while Princess Naia was out of sight.

That’s going to piss her off. ……

“But Usato seems to be taking an awfully far away distance.”

“Ah, you’re right”

The distance that Kazuki and I were in front of the target was about ten meters, but Usato-kun was looking at the black target as if he was staring at it from about thirty meters away.

Is he going to make a run for it?

“What is that healing magician trying to do?”

“!　…… Prince Kyle.”

I turned at the voice from behind me to see Prince Kyle approaching casually.

He immediately looked at Princess Naia and bowed his head apologetically, as if he had come too soon to be stopped by her.

“This is a skill that he explained so exaggeratedly at the meeting. I wanted to see it with my own eyes as closely as possible. Do you mind if I take a look from here?”

“…… No, as you wish.”

“I don’t mind either.”

Unlike Kazuki, who responded with a smiling face, I was a bit dismissive.

I was not in the mood to welcome him, because he looked like he was going to yell at him if his technique was not good enough.

“He’s doing prep work to try to destroy that thing with his bare hands?　Even my magic couldn’t scratch that thing. ……”

“Haha, Usato will be fine. I can vouch for his abilities.”

“Oh, I see. ……”

As expected of Kazuki-kun who replied cheerfully, Prince Kyle averted his gaze somewhat awkwardly.

I’m sure he was confused by the straightforward words of the man with the maximum trust in Usato-kun.

“It’s not that I doubt the words of the hero, but I still don’t believe in that healing something fist. I don’t know what it means, and the principle of the outburst of systemic enhancement that my sister told me about is too messed up.”

I can’t help but understand that feeling.

The technique of daring to unleash systemic enhancement …… I named it systemic breaking for now, but it is a very dangerous technique.

If you were to use it in the flesh, your hand would explode, and you’re doing it without a care in the world, even though you have a gauntlet…His skills must be in the same “unexplored territory of magician” as mine and Kazuki’s, right?

[Let’s do this…]

“Usato took a stance ……”

“!”

Kazuki’s voice brought me back as I looked at Usato-kun.

He had deployed his gauntlet that covered all the gaps in his right arm and was poised to draw it.

Everyone in the training area, as well as me, paid attention to Usato-kun’s behaviour.

The moment he slowly brought his stance forward, he accelerated without warning with the sound of something popping.

“He’s gone!”

Prince Kyle seemed to have lost sight of him, but I, who was specialized in speed due to my lightning beast mode, could see his movements.

At the moment he started running, magic power erupted from his gauntlet that he had pulled back, and he accelerated rapidly.

Perhaps it was the healing rengeki fist that he had mentioned in the morning training.

He did it with every step he took on the ground, reaching the black target at an unusually fast speed.

“Healing Rengeki Fist!”

He shouted, and as he passed the target, he slammed his fist, which was made even faster by the Rengeki fist, into the part of the target that hit the upper half of the body—at that moment, the target burst into pieces, and his fist was swept away without any resistance.

“—Hah!”

He skidded to a stop on the ground and turned back to the target, letting out a dismayed cry.

The black target that had been struck by his healing fist was …… blown to pieces as if the upper half of its body had exploded, leaving it a hideous sight.

“You’re still surprising me…….”

“Wow, Usato, you’re amazing!

“Warrior Chief, what’s a healing magician again……?”

“My eyes did not deceive me. Hahaha!”

“I didn’t doubt you, but this is too much ……”

The people of Samaria, Nirvarna, and Calm Helio were all shocked by the sheer power of the healing strikes.

The students, perhaps because of their previous reputation, were saying things like, “It’s back and it’s worse!”

“Wait, what? That’s not healing magic. I dont think it’s even considered a healing magic factor…”

Prince Kyle, who was watching nearby, also seemed to be confused.

But in a way, Kazuki and I had expected this to happen, so we felt proud.

“Healing Rengeki Fist. I didn’t expect it to be such an incredibly powerful technique.”

“As well as the name of the technique, I guess. But that wasn’t how you explained it yesterday, was it?”

“Oh, by the way, it was supposed to be a technique that strikes an outburst of magic power repeatedly at close range, but …… that looks a little different.”

As I said so, Usato-kun comes back to me with a somewhat awkward expression.

But he’s holding the remains of a black target, what’s wrong with that?

He was sweating profusely and approached Welshy, who was letting her mind wander.

“Welshy-san …… excuse me.”

“…… Y-yes! I’m sorry, I was being absent minded. Um, why are you apologizing?”

“That was not a healing rengeki fist.”

“””What?”””

Me, Kazuki-kun, and Welshy’s questioning voices leaked out.

Seeing his reaction, Usato’s face turns even paler, and Welshy-san asks.

“…… What does that mean?”

“I mean it’s …… true, isn’t it? I was thinking of hitting the black target with an accelerated state and then using Healing Rengeki fist upon impact. But the target was softer …… than I had imagined, and it didn’t seem to be able to withstand it, and it almost broke with just one blow, so I don’t know if I can call it a …… Rengeki fist… …”

“……”

“Welshy-san?”

Oh no! Welshy’s about to turn white!

I hurriedly put my hand on her shoulder to bring her back to herself, then followed up.

“Welsey! Fortunately, the target was still there, right? We can just use that to do it again!”

“…… Huh! Yes, that’s right! It’s still okay, it’s fine. It shouldn’t interfere with the progress. ……! You can do your best…..!”

After saying that to convince herself, she once again speaks to Usato-san.

“You’re sure that wasn’t a healing rengeki fist, right, Usato?”

“Yes, it wasn’t. I thought it was a good opportunity to unleash a serious technique, and if I were to show it, I thought to do it with all my might. ……”

“Oh, you haven’t gone all out ……”

Certainly, looking at the technique he had just used, he would rarely be able to use it in battle.

Now that he’s mentioned, he wasn’t being serious this whole time?

“But I didn’t think that I would be able to create something like a new technique unintentionally.”

“New technique? The technique you just used?”

“It’s a high speed move using Healing Rengeki fist to enter the stomach at once, slam the fist, and hit the magic outburst at the same time as the impact. …… If I were to name it, …….”

Putting his hand on his chin, Usato-kun pondered for a few seconds before opening his mouth with a look of pride.

“A one-hit healing punch. ‘The third form of Healing Fist, Instant Fist’ aka Healing Shungeki Ken …… or something like that?”

“!”

Wait, it’s an inner technique, a form, and it’s filled with many other elements.

I can’t forgive Usato-kun just because of the cool name of the technique!

But then again I have no idea what I can’t forgive about him though!

“So it’s basically a different version of the Healing Rengeki Fist.”

“Next time, I’m not going to rearrange it. I don’t want to cause any trouble for Welshy-san, after all.”

Usato-kun nodded at Kazuki-kun’s words.

However, how could he easily destroy the enhanced target with a technique that he had created by accident?

For the grown ups like me and Kazuki-kun, using magic can make you feel soft, but the breakage caused by Usato-kun’s technique isn’t like magic, but it could be said that he was forced to explode by his arm strength.

…At any rate, I’m looking forward to seeing what a real healing Rengeki fist looks like.

A few minutes later, a spare black target was set up, and Welshy informed everyone in the training hall that he was going to demonstrate the healing Rengeki fist again!

He moved in front of the target once again, and unlike last time, he approached the target without taking any distance.

As declared, this time he seemed to move directly to the healing fist without any assistance.

“…… Alright.”

Taking a small deep breath, he grabbed the shoulder part of the black target with his left hand and lightly placed the part covered by the gauntlet on his abdomen.

He put his left foot forward and lowered his hips, his eyes as sharp as a hawk.

The people in the training area were quiet as well.

“Healing Rengeki fist!”

At the moment when Usato-kun muttered, a sound as if something was going to burst from the gauntlet that was closely attached to the target.

It seems that the impact from the outburst of magic power is not an ordinary one, and the target has been cracked by just one blow.

It’s not the end of the story, however, as he fixed the target, which was about to be blown away, firmly with his left hand, and then, with his head down, he relentlessly struck the target with an outburst of magical power.

“I see, defensive penetration by a series of blows concentrated on a single point. So that’s what you call a Healing Rengeki fist.”

“Certainly, with a technique like that, even a demon race wouldn’t be able to get away with it…….”

“……”

Prince Kyle, who is near me and Kazuki-kun, seems unable to utter a word.

The Healing Rengeki Fist was a powerful move, but the Healing Instant Fist is even more so!

When the seventh impact struck the target and split it in half, Usato-kun finally lowered his right fist.

The target that had been hit by the seventh impact was still better than the first one, but it had still turned into a cruel sight. The whole thing was covered with cracks, and the part that had been impacted all the time was not even in its original form.

What can I say, it was a shocking technique in many ways.

In the still silent training area, Usato-kun comes back to us, scratching his cheek as if in trouble.

“Phew, I’m glad my magic power held up. I should practice adjusting the amount of magic power or something after all.”

“Usato-kun.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

But, but.

As well as the fact that he had beaten Prince Kyle’s courage, I was most happy that he had grown up and felt that he was fighting alongside me and Kazuki-kun.

That’s why I, as a senpai and his friend, would like to send you some words of encouragement.

“After all, you are a man who will never betray my expectations!”

“Huh? Oh, thank you?”

He’s embarrassed! That Usato-kun?

Fufu, if that’s case, I’m going to try and make a good impression. ……

“With Usato, we’re a hundred times strong! Wait, maybe even a thousand!”

“…… Huh.”

Why are you sighing there, Usato-kun? ……!