Side Story 4: The Isolated Island 07

The matches continued. Rank 9 was a lanky man nearly two meters tall. He appeared to be a snake beastkin.

「Pleased to meet you.」

「Nn. Same.」

Similar to the other snake beastkin we’ve encountered, I found it difficult to read his facial expression. It looked like he was staring at Fran without any emotion, but that probably wasn’t the case.

Judging by his slightly red cheeks and heavy breathing, he actually seemed to be quite excited. The man quietly introduced himself.

「I am Rank 9, Uomi of the “Snake Kick”.」

「Adventurer Fran.」

Uomi raised one leg high, striking a pose like a flamingo.

「Kicking is the best. Snakes have no legs, yet the gods bestowed legs upon the snakekin. This is essentially a divine revelation telling us to kick down our foes.」

「…?」

『Basically, he loves kicking, I guess.』

「Nn. Got it. Show me your kicks!」

「Here I come.」

Uomi activated Awakening and came at us with a style of martial arts that was both tricky and powerful.

By making full use of his innate flexibility as a snakekin, he could swing his legs like a whip. This made it hard to read his moves, as he kept striking from positions where it seemed impossible to kick.

Not to mention the power boost from his orichalcum boots.

I was especially amazed when he dislocated his own leg, stretching it far enough to land a blow on Fran. He also possessed the ability to coat his body in poison, inflicting Demon Poison from even a slight scratch.

If we didn’t have detoxification magic, he might have turned the tables on us. Such a potent poison was probably one reason why Uomi ranked above Menoa-Meano.

But eventually, Fran got used to his movements and sliced through one of his legs. The match was as good as over.

「You’re strong! Just as I’d expect!」

「Nn.」

Uomi showered Fran with praise as the healers reattached his leg. He showed no sign of negative emotion, only pure admiration. All of the martial artists on this island were such friendly people.

Afterward, Fran defeated Berganov of the “Vicious Slash”, the Rank 8 dwarf who fought with an axe in each hand, as well as Alcade the “Kaleidoscope”, the Rank 7 birdkin who specialized in aerial spear techniques.

Berganov was incredibly tough. He just kept coming at us like a never-ending whirlwind of axes, no matter how much damage we inflicted. One moment of hesitation would leave us torn apart in his wake.

His durability was further backed by a Regeneration skill and his self-made orichalcum armor. Any Rank C adventurer would get mowed down without being able to even slow him down.

Well, no matter how tough he might be, there was no way he’d come out unscathed after getting hit by Heavenly Judgment. Berganov still tried to keep fighting, but the referee stopped him, bringing the match to an end.

Alcade was more of the tricky type, skillfully using his wings to fly in erratic patterns. It was hard to get a clear read on him.

Sometimes, he would deliberately fold his wings and drop to the ground. At others, he’d soar into the air and thrust his spear at our unprotected blind spots.

His Holy Spear Mastery was probably around Level 7, so not even Fran could take one of his thrusts unscathed. Especially since he gouged a huge crater into the ground.

Furthermore, his weapon seemed to be a magical spear with the ability to create illusions. He used it to distort the surroundings and throw off our sense of distance, but it wasn’t enough to fool Fran’s heightened senses during Awakening. We eventually knocked him out of the air with our counterattack.

Both of them were strong, clearly on the level of Rank A adventurers.

Then, the next opponent came forward.

He was a tall human man with narrow, fox-like eyes and an androgynous face, with straight black hair in a bob cut. The referee announced his name, but…

「Rank 6, Kokuto, the “Quack Doctor”!」

「It’s a pleasure to meet you. Kufufu.」

「…? Quack Doctor? You’re a doctor?」

Quack Doctor…? Where did he get such a horrible alias?! But wait, most people choose their own titles, so did this guy seriously call himself a quack?

He was wearing a white kimono, so he certainly looked like a doctor.

However, it turned out that he didn’t choose the title himself.

「Oh, no, not at all. I am little more than a musclehead who has been devoted to the path of the blade since childhood. I have dabbled a bit in treating cuts, but to call myself a doctor would be far too presumptuous…」

「…? Then why are you the Quack Doctor?」

「Because that is the name engraved on this katana.」

Kokuto said that while drawing the sword at his waist, a katana with an unusually long, white blade. I sensed powerful mana from it, so it was clearly some type of magic sword.

「This is the cursed blade, Quack Doctor. One of the eight magical swords passed down on this island, known collectively as the Seven Blades of Torment.」

「Seven Blades of Torment…?」

『Wait, why is it seven if there are eight of them?』

「You see, two of them are actually a set of twin swords, so there are only seven sets in total.」

「Oh, I get it.」

Apparently, the Seven Blades of Torment were swords forged personally by Ouka, and left behind on the island. Ouka herself considered them to be failures, but the islanders begged her to have them, and she eventually agreed to give them up.

「The Kaleidoscope wielded by Alcade, whom you just defeated, is also one of the blades.」

「Even though it’s not a sword?」

「Well, it is a bit of a misnomer, but we call them that because the majority of them are swords.」

So the collective name stuck even if some of them weren’t even swords to begin with. I guess that’s just like the divine swords. And it seemed the wielders adopted the names of their weapons as a title.

「So the top rankers get to use them?」

「That’s right. Ownership is limited to those at the top of the rankings, provided the weapon suits their fighting style. There wouldn’t be much point in giving a sword to someone like Berganov, right?」

『That’s certainly true.』

「I suppose it would be more accurate to say that the top rankers are given the right to wield the magical blades, but the final decision lies on them. The blades are currently entrusted to Rank 1 through 7, but apparently, that’s unusual in historical standards.」

In other words, all of our next opponents will have one of those blades.

「Well then, shall we get started now? Kufufu…」

「Nn!」

Kokuto grinned as he took up a stance with Quack Doctor. I still can’t get the length of that blade. It’s probably at least 30 cm longer than the average katana.

The balance seemed so poor, but Kokuto held it effortlessly in one hand. He clearly possessed the skill to wield it properly, rather than simply relying on a powerful weapon.

「Please give me a good match.」

「Nn. Come at me.」

View the latest chapters at seeker142.github.io