Side Story 4: The Isolated Island 08

「…!」

Our match with Kokuto began without a sound. He silently approached us and thrust the cursed blade Quack Doctor at Fran.

Fran dodged it without much difficulty, but I was left a little surprised. It was as though Kokuto had slid across the ground. I couldn’t tell when he started moving his legs.

The thrust itself wasn’t very strong, more like a feint to gauge our strength, but I barely saw it coming. It happened that fast.

Kokuto seemed to be using a technique for minimizing the use of his muscles when moving into action. That way, he could deceive any opponents looking for such signs.

Pretty similar to the one Colbert was practicing. Well, I suppose Colbert’s version relied on mana emission, so it wasn’t exactly the same as Kokuto’s. Still, both were highly advanced techniques.

In any case, Kokuto moved so smoothly that an ordinary person wouldn’t notice until after they got cut down.

Kokuto continued with a barrage of swings, focused more on speed rather than power. Each individual blow was light, but he tried many tricks to catch us off guard.

There’s no way he could beat us with such weak strikes, so I had to wonder if he already gave up on victory and just wanted to land a single blow. But no, there’s no way the warriors of this island would engage in such defeatist behavior.

Kokuto spoke like a gentleman, but his attacks were clearly backed with killing intent. In other words, he believed that landing a hit would turn the tables in his favor.

Was his intent to poison us? That might explain it. Even a minor cut would be enough if his real goal was poison.

Fran seemed to have realized that as well, because she defended herself carefully against even the slightest wound.

「…Hah!」

「…!」

However, Kokuto was Rank 6 for a reason. This was only a glimpse of his true strength.

Kokuto suddenly ramped up the pace. He was already fast, but everything up until now was nothing more than warm-up to him.

He dashed forward to deliver a thrust at lightning speed. Fran managed to dodge and strike back with a counter, but…

「Guh! What tremendous power…」

「Hm?」

Kokuto deflected Fran’s counter with the small shield attached to his left arm. That said, she made a huge dent in the shield, so his arm probably didn’t get away unscathed.

Meanwhile, Kokuto’s thrust had grazed Fran’s upper arm. Blood trickled from the red line left behind.

Fran would normally ignore such a minor injury, but she furrowed her brow slightly. Kokuto, on the other hand, narrowed his already thin eyes and smirked.

「…Poison? It’s not regenerating.」

「At last, I’ve managed to land a hit. Allow me to tell you what I was called before I became known as the Quack Doctor. My former alias was the “Poison Blade”.」

Apparently, his katana was coated with a tasteless and odorless poison. Probably one that induced paralysis. This seemed to be something he concocted himself rather than with magic.

「Poison is rather uncommon on this island. After all, it does nothing to the golems in the dungeon.」

That made sense. That dungeon was one of the best places to train, so few people would bother perfecting a technique that was completely ineffective against the enemies there.

Kokuto continued his explanation.

「And as you might have noticed, this blade Quack Doctor has the effect of disrupting healing, whether by Regeneration skill or healing magic. The perfect partner for my poison, wouldn’t you agree?」

「I see.」

It’s not flashy, but this was a very potent combo. And if it works on healing magic…

「Hm?」

「Your detoxification magic won’t work for a while either.」

Fran tried the spells Antidote and Anti-Paralysis, but they were both ineffective. I expected as much from a powerful magical sword.

Kokuto seemed to be specialized in fighting other people. Even this conversation was not just idle chatter to satisfy himself. He was stalling for time.

The time to allow his paralyzing poison to spread. Every aspect of his strategy had been calculated beforehand.

「Now then… Here I come! Abnormal Boost!」

「…!」

Kokuto suddenly got even faster! I sensed mana flowing into him from Quack Doctor, so that seemed to be why.

In addition to disrupting healing, the katana apparently also had the power to enhance its wielder. It was probably doing something similar to Life Magic.

However, I also noticed Kokuto’s rapidly dwindling life force and mana. This may be a very powerful enhancement, but it came with a correspondingly severe cost.

So this was the fighting style of Kokuto the Quack Doctor. He uses a paralyzing poison to slow down his opponent, then activates this enhancement to end the fight in one fell swoop to avoid succumbing to the recoil.

Yet Fran responded with a smile. She looked genuinely delighted.

「Amazing!」

「Kufufu! So you can smile even in this situation! As impressive as always!」

「You too!」

「Fuhahaha!」

Both were laughing as they exchanged blows. Meanwhile, Kokuto stopped his previous fighting style of just trying to land a single hit.

He was now serious about taking Fran down, aiming for vital points with a flurry of thrusts. This was while evading Fran’s counterattacks by the narrowest of margins. Even without poison or the power of his magical sword, this man was no pushover.

Yet he wasn’t able to land a direct hit. Fran may have been slowed by the poison, but she was still faster than Kokuto. The difference in their base stats was simply too great.

That said, Kokuto managed to graze her several times, so I’d have to intervene if this continued any longer. Or so I thought, but Fran was growing even in the middle of the fight.

「Hmph!」

「What in the world?! You managed to neutralize my poison?」

「I put more mana into the spell. Then it worked.」

「Hahaha! So you are a first-rate mage as well! What exceptional talent!」

Even I was surprised when she cleansed the poison without my help. Fran said she just poured extra mana into the spell, but of course, that wasn’t the whole story.

First, she infused enough mana to overcome the anti-healing effect of Quack Doctor, then circulated that mana throughout her body to eliminate the poison from her system. This was a feat requiring both enormous mana capacity and precise control over it.

She must have been watching the way I cast spells and imitated it. Clearly, she had taken another step forward as a mage too.

「Kufufu! You are quite something…!」

「Haaah!」

In the end, Fran overpowered Kokuto once she shook off the poison. Her victory was complete once she pressed my blade against Kokuto’s neck.

However, this was the first time a mock battle left Fran so exhausted. As expected of the Rank 6 fighter.

「…Magnificently done.」

「Phew. You were strong too, Kokuto.」

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