Side Story 4: The Isolated Island 11

Fran seemed to be interested in the technique Ouri-kun just used.

「That thing you used to beat the golem. Is that different than Elemental Sword?」

「Yes, the technique itself is different. The Elemental Sword skill is similar to enchanting your weapon with a spell, while our Wind Blossom technique relies on a skill from the Ouka Style called Mana Blade. This allows us to envelop a weapon in pure mana, as well as change the element of that mana.」

So once you enchant your weapon with Mana Blade, you can change the element of that mana freely?

That’s a pretty big difference from Elemental Sword, which doesn’t let you change the element easily. You would have to deactivate Elemental Sword, then activate it again with another element.

On the other hand, a sufficiently skilled user of Mana Blade could apparently change their element even in the middle of battle.

Of course, you would also need to have an aptitude for that particular element. Just like how people could only learn some schools of magic, it seems Mana Blade depended on your elemental aptitude as well.

Well, I guess it’s several times harder to master than Elemental Sword in exchange.

Apparently, the technique originated as a variation of Elemental Sword with the ability to alter the shape and power of the infused mana. The founder, Ouka, later refined it into one of techniques of the Ouka Style.

「What other techniques are there?」

「If you are interested, allow me to show you some more.」

「Nn.」

We walked through the dungeon with Ouri-kun in search of another Crystal Golem. It seemed that he hadn’t been training his detection skills very much.

That made sense given the lack of traps in this dungeon, and there was no need to worry about ambushes since the only enemies were golems. Conversely, the martial artists training here probably had no intention of ambushing the golems either.

This dungeon was basically perfect for martial artists to hone their skills. Perhaps Ouka asked the dungeon master to make it that way. Though I guess anyone wanting to train their detection skills would have to figure something out for themselves.

Ouri-kun went on to demonstrate his techniques against several golems, and each one was fascinating.

“Stone Blossom,” a Mana Blade of the earth element. “Mana Blade Impact,” which allowed him to launch the element imbued in his Mana Blade. And “Scattering Blossom,” which unleashed all of the mana contained in the Mana Blade for an explosive burst of power.

The Ouka Style seemed to be based around Mana Blade, with various techniques branching off from that foundation.

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure Ouna used Scattering Blossom too. Of course, the power of these techniques varied considerably depending on the skill of the user. Ouna’s was clearly more powerful, so that old woman was undoubtedly a more advanced practitioner than Ouri-kun.

「What do you think?」

「Interesting.」

「I-Interesting…? I see…」

「Nn.」

That was a compliment coming from Fran, but Ouri-kun seemed to have mixed feelings about it. Perhaps getting told that your techniques were “interesting” didn’t sound like praise to a martial artist.

「Um, Fran-dono! W-Would you mind showing me some of your techniques as well? I understand that you are busy, but—」

「Sure.」

「Eh?」

Perhaps Ouri-kun thought it was an audacious request, but Fran agreed before he even finished asking. Or rather, after seeing Ouri-kun instantly defeat a Crystal Golem, she probably got the urge to fight one herself.

「Let’s go a little deeper.」

「Are you sure? Ah, p-please wait for me!」

Fran took off running through the dungeon, with Ouri-kun hurriedly chased after us. She was moving at a high pace to avoid the golems, but he managed to keep up.

「Hah…! Hah…!」

Well, he did seem to be pretty close to his limits. Hang in there, Ouri-kun! If it comes down to it, I’ll have Urushi carry you!

「…Huff… Huff…」

Ouri-kun managed to make it all the way through. He was left completely exhausted and sprawled out on the ground, but he kept running until the end.

Fran was holding back considerably, but that’s still very impressive! Or maybe it was Fran who had gotten better at holding back?

「Haaaah… Phew…」

Ouri-kun was still gasping for breath, but as expected of a high ranker, he quickly recovered and got back on his feet.

He looked a little worn out, but neither Fran nor the enemies were going to wait for him.

「There’s a Mithril Golem.」

「Gogoh!」

Fran readied me and casually walked toward the golem. Then, she cut in half with a single stroke. Fran looked almost disappointed, while Ouri-kun widened his eyes in surprise.

「S-Such speed…!」

I didn’t think our speed was all that impressive, but perhaps it looked fast from Ouri-kun’s perspective.

「I couldn’t even tell when you took your stance! Before I knew it, your sword had already come down…!」

Ah, so that was what he meant. When cutting through a golem, Ouri-kun would need to raise his sword overhead and put all of his power into the swing.

Fran, however, could cut through a Mithril Golem with a casual swing. There was no need to take a formal stance.

She simply walked toward the golem while holding me loosely at the side, then casually raised my blade up before swinging me back down. Such a movement did not have much power behind it. At best, it might be used as a feint to catch an opponent off guard.

But for Fran, that was more than enough. The combination of her physical abilities with my attack power made it possible.

As a result, Ouri-kun was caught completely off guard and failed to see what happened. To him, it must have looked like the golem fell apart on its own once Fran approached it.

『These guys are pretty weak.』

「Nn.」

Mithril Golems were apparently formidable foes that could even use magic, but they were no match for Fran. No matter how powerful their spells might be, these guys were pretty soft compared to other types of metal golems. Fran could close the distance and cut them down before they had a chance to cast.

Either way, the point was to have Fran show Ouri-kun her techniques. Fran proceeded to defeat the Mithril Golems using a variety of different fighting styles.

She used Elemental Sword, magic, and even pummeled one of the golems with her fists. However, she quickly grew bored at how weak they were. After all, only one golem appeared at a time.

「Nn. How was that?」

「Um… Well, I realized just how far I still have to go.」

Ouri-kun stared off into the distance, looking thoroughly dejected. It seemed the biggest surprise was seeing Fran defeat the Mithril Golems with magic.

Being made out of mithril gave them an extremely high resistance to magic. Most spells wouldn’t even leave a scratch.

And Fran instantly killed one with a low-tier spell. That required an enormous amount of mana and precise control. Fran was incredibly famous as a swordswoman, but apparently, Ouri-kun hadn’t expected her to be this skilled at magic as well.

He was also astonished by her usage of Elemental Sword. Just like magic, Elemental Swords were naturally less effective against Mithril Golems. Ouri-kun’s Mana Blade would probably be reduced to half power, or perhaps even more.

And yet, Fran’s Elemental Sword worked just fine. Well, that was simply because she infused it with even more mana to compensate. But it also demonstrated her mana capacity and her skill at mana manipulation. She could unleash several attacks at this level without breaking a sweat.

As the successor to the Ouka Style, who took pride in their skill at manipulating mana, he must have been especially shocked.

『Well then, I think it’s about time to start heading back.』

「Nn.」

「Right…」

I was hoping Ouri-kun would show a little more competitive spirit. He seemed to be a bit too serious.

We started walking back toward the surface, before quickly coming to a stop.

「Hm? Genba?」

「Eh? Old man Genba? What’s wrong?」

「Oh! Black Lightning Princess-dono and Ouri!」

It was Genba, the wielder of the twin jitte. I assumed he was here to train, but apparently not.

「Perfect timing. Could you lend me a hand with something?」

「Did something happen?」

「The magic tools we gave to the top rankers have stopped responding. I came to check up on them.」

Apparently, the top-ranked fighters were given special magic tools to monitor their safety when exploring the deeper floors of the dungeon. And the signal from those tools had suddenly disappeared.

Thus, they sent Genba, who was highly skilled at stealth, to investigate the cause.

「Nn. That sounds bad. I’ll help.」

「T-That’s a big issue! Let me help too!」

「Much obliged. Setting Ouri aside, I’m glad to have you, Black Lightning Princess-dono.」

「What about me…?」

And now Ouri-kun was staring off into the distance again. That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about! You need to show some fighting spirit and get angry at times like this!

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