TL/ED – Miso
Can an elentary school student defeat a martial arts champion in a barehanded fight?
No. It’s obvious.
But if that elentary school student had a handgun, and if they properly understood how to use it, and had enough distance.
If you add in all these assumptions, the story changes.
I added mine. Dersia cannot use magic above 2-Star and cannot move from her position. She hasn’t fallen either, so in truth, she’s under even more restrictions than those listed above.
The problem is, this isn’t the kind of difference like that between a kid and a martial artist.
If anything, it’s more like the difference between a human and a fighter jet.
“Soone as clever as you surely understood that much.”
Dersia gave a slight wave of her hand, and the sky collapsed.
A wall of wind. If I stay still and I’d be crushed to death. I redirected the Wind Thunder I had aid at Dersia up into the sky, creating a small space for myself.
-Kwoong…!
Everything outside the narrow space I stood in was compressed, like it had been squeezed through a hydraulic press.
That didn’t an I was safe. Before I could even catch my breath, the ground shook.
-Kwajik! I quickly pulled my body back, but my robe was slightly torn.
If not for current sense, I might have been sliced in half. From underground, rocks shaped like swords rose up to strike where I had just been.
The spot I dove into to dodge, there was a sharpened spear of wind waiting.
“!”
I twisted my body by force. The training with Brimdal had helped a lot.
Feeling the pain of my waist almost snapping, I lifted my head.
“…Hah.”
Front, back, left, right, within 10cm.
Swords made of stone were aiming at .
If I moved even slightly, they would pierce imdiately.
Anyone could see this was the end of the fight. A one-sided defeat. The ti taken, 20 seconds.
That’s how it went.
“You must have fully realized that no other outco could be expected.”
“…”
I glanced around.
Roughly 30 crude stone swords were tightening around so that I couldn’t move even a little.
This kind of situation is normally called defeat. Dersia didn’t look pleased, she looked at as if the obvious had simply occurred.
“So this isn’t my victory. It’s more like a kind of contract where, under fair conditions, both parties got what they wanted.”
“You’re right.”
In her mind, I hadn’t been aiming for victory.
Because, in her common sense, the restrictions placed on her were aningless. Only 2-star magic and no movents? With things like that, no matter what the child before her did, he couldn’t possibly reach her.
So she wished for conditions of defeat, since she had no choice but to lose.
She didn’t even care much about the conditions for her victory. No matter how risky they were or what they entailed.
From the beginning, both she and I knew that such a thing wouldn’t happen.
“Shall we wrap it up now? Or continue a bit more?”
“But there’s one misunderstanding you have.”
“…?”
I quietly declared, watching her slightly tilt her head.
“The you know, Dersia-nim, isn’t who I am anymore.”
“That’s true.”
“I haven’t just been lazing around all this ti.”
“Yes, I suppose you haven’t?”
Dersia agreed, as if wondering why I was stating the obvious.
“I understand that you’ve made efforts. Even becoming a squire, amidst it all. But I’m not sure that was the right direction. Of course, I doubt you did all that without any thought…”
“Would you like to check?”
“…Next ti. I’ll take a look slowly.”
“You should check now.”
Her brows furrowed slightly.
With a clenched fist, the stone swords began to move in closer.
It was a silent ssage, Don’t you realize the situation you’re in? Also seems to carry the aning of, Stop bluffing and just accept your loss.
But, they didn’t touch my skin.
“…?”
Dersia had a puzzled look on her face, but still, the swords trembled without advancing.
Only then did her eyes widen, as if she had realized sothing.
“…Oh ho.”
“Do you like it?”
“Before, if you tried to use water pressure like that, you wouldn’t have even been able to speak. I don’t know what thod you used, but you’ve succeeded in reducing the burden.”
“Yes.”
She was impressed, seeing that I was holding back her magic with water pressure.
-She doesn’t know.
She couldn’t find the link between becoming 2-Star and reducing the burden.
I slowly stepped back out of the range. anwhile, Dersia kept trying to move the swords.
At 2-Star output, I can withstand it.
The restriction of the Star Rank existed for that purpose. Dersia nodded in understanding.
“Certainly… the spells I gave you could only be used if water pressure and currents were of a certain level. What did you do?”
“I had my own thod.”
“So you want to find out through strength, I see.”
Thud! When Dersia lightly tapped her foot, sharp stones shot straight into the sky.
Very high up, I grit my teeth, sensing what was about to happen.
“A re lack of strength is easily dealt with. Like this.”
A rain made of swords poured down.
However, those raindrops chased . Once they entered the range of current sense, it was already too fast to dodge.
That would have been true for the version of that Dersia knew.
Now, both the range and precision were on a completely different level.
“Hmm…”
-Boom! Crash! Dodging the homing swords by force, I charged up a Wind Thunder.
Since I was in the middle of retreating, it didn’t pack much power, but it was clearly aid at Dersia’s torso.
She didn’t even care. While I avoided the sword rain with everything I had and activated the spell, she looked at curiously, then sank into thought.
“This, don’t tell , Jern, you…”
As she stroked her chin and pondered sothing, Wind Thunder was perfectly aid.
A clean hit, this would definitely land!
“…That can’t be it. No, but if not, then it makes no sense…”
But Wind Thunder split into two in midair.
The more accurate term would be “disassembled.” Even at that speed, it unraveled, split into wind and power.
The power beca wind again, stirring a strong gust around us. Dersia’s robe fluttered.
And then. She looked at with an expression of disbelief.
“Seriously. From the beginning, were you truly, trying to win against ?”
“Yes.”
If Wind Thunder was blocked, then I go for the next thod.
I charged in with a sword. Seeing my determined eyes, Dersia shook her head in disbelief.
“No, why would you make that choice… You know . These restrictions an nothing to . Because-”
“Because right now, even now, you could easily create magic to kill …!”
“…So you do know.”
-Whoosh! Whatever she was saying, I twisted and threw a short sword.
It aid for her head, but hit a tree.
With my fist clenched, I threw a punch with everything I had into her face. Honestly, I really wanted to hit her just once.
“If you know, then why are you doing this?”
“…Kugh.”
My fist stopped just short, close enough to feel the heat of her skin.
She didn’t move at all. It wasn’t a matter of output. It felt like being tightly bound with rope.
It was near-perfect control. The air pressure, almost telekinetic, didn’t allow to advance any further.
Dersia hadn’t even blinked. It seed like she hadn’t predicted this outco at all.
As I struggled to pull my hand back, she muttered quietly.
“This is not a valid fight.”
“…It is. Because I’m still alive right now.”
“That’s-”
“Of course, I know I was shown rcy. But would Dersia-nim really kill …?”
“Is that what you were counting on?”
Dersia would never actually kill .
Looking at with a slightly dazed expression, she soon shook her head.
“Then what do you say about the fact that I can easily neutralize you without killing you?”
“-Kuh, kuh…!”
The wind pressure began to strangle my body.
I too tried to resist using water pressure and currents.
But it was aningless.
Even with just 2-Star magic, Dersia could perfectly defend her body.
If she hadn’t known about my water pressure and currents.
If that had been the case, maybe there would have been a sliver of a chance.
But as long as she knew, she didn’t allow any force to touch her.
Dersia was a wizard capable of doing exactly that.
As my vision dimd, I focused all my strength into my fingers.
I know.
The Enhanced Mana Body I learned was a power ant to endure the deep sea.
Because I am in the deep sea.
Even if the other world tried its hardest to save , that fact did not change.
But now, my world had expanded.
Just a little- just enough that I could grow the Enhanced Mana Body to resist not just the Abyss Realm, but also the magic of the physical world.
Like this.
-Tok.
“??”
With a single movent, I extended my finger and lightly tapped Dersia’s forehead.
A soft flick with no impact at all.
But perhaps that alone was unexpected.
Her wind pressure faltered in surprise, and in that mont, I barely managed to pull myself free.
“Guh, kuh-huk… haah.”
“…”
As I caught my breath, Dersia rubbed her forehead with a dazed expression.
Her eyes said she couldn’t believe what just happened.
It would’ve been nice if she stayed stunned and didn’t move.
While I felt that it was a sha, suddenly, the debris on the ground started to move on their own.
It was on a different scale than before.
Pebbles, leaves, broken roots, everything swirled in a vortex.
Isn’t this breaking the rules? I nervously asked.
“Uh, um. Dersia-nim? This is 2-Star magic, right?”
“-I see. So, you’ve grown.”
“Yup.”
“Then I suppose I’ll need to take you a bit more seriously.”
She’s mad.
Her expression was the sa as usual, but I could feel the anger boiling behind that worn-out smile.
“…”
Unconsciously, no, with absolute certainty, I understood.
From now on, Dersia has no intention of holding back.
Which ans I can no longer use any thods that rely on luring her into dropping her guard.
Even though she was angry, it didn’t seem to be directed at .
She nodded with a look of surprise and acknowledged .
“I won’t deny that it’s a remarkable growth. Even with all these restrictions, you still managed to touch .”
“No, well… it was mostly luck.”
“It wasn’t luck. I didn’t make any errors, so it ans you resisted the magic. Which in turn ans, you’ve learned the Enhanced Mana Body used by knights. I was worried I wasted ti, thinking you were just learning swordsmanship…”
-Whoooosh!
A massive storm, ford of all the debris, surged around Dersia.
It wouldn’t take even a few seconds for it to beco a storm where even leaves turned into blades.
“You advanced to 2-Star, learned high-tier magic, reduced your burden, and trained your Enhanced Mana Body. Well done. Clearly, you’ve worked hard even while I was gone…”
“Ah, yes. Of course, none of it would’ve been possible without your guidance, Dersia-nim.”
“-So this is what you wanted to show .”
“…”
When I shut my mouth tight, Dersia spoke again with a proud expression.
“I have grown. That even without using such thods, I can still make progress. Isn’t that what you wanted to say?”
“Perhaps.”
She hit the nail on the head. I responded with a bitter smile.
“I know I still have a long way to go. Even if I’ve progressed, it’s just one step, and what lies ahead is a mountain. I understand that you’re trying to create a much easier shortcut to save .”
“…”
“Soday, I might change my mind. I might beco soone who grabs onto whatever and whoever, just to survive, and end up joining the Crimson Circle or or any other place.”
“Then-”
“For now.”
I looked up at Dersia, with my fist clenched.
There was still a height difference between the two of us.
“For now, I haven’t reached the point where I need to resort to that kind of thod.”
“…”
“I think I can still manage.”
Even if my body freezes, gets crushed to death, and monsters lurk everywhere in the world trying to kill .
I am no longer the sa as I was a year ago, when I knew nothing.
Whether it’s the right path or not, I am moving forward.
“…I see.”
Dersia gave a slight nod, as if she understood.
But the magic did not stop. When she reopened her eyes after keeping them shut for a few seconds, her expression was close to resolute.
“Then prove it.”
“…”
“I acknowledge that you’ve grown more than expected while I was away. But things not going as expected happens all the ti.”
“What will it take for you to believe ?”
“Show a result that surpasses not prediction, but imagination.”
“…Are you serious?”
“I understand what you’re trying to say. I do. But that would an breaking my resolve.”
“Who said anything about resolve…?”
“You’ll have to show .”
I released the tension in my shoulders and let out a sigh.
It was hopeless. I had already used every option available.
In just a few seconds, my body would be torn to shreds. The storm that had paused during our conversation began to tremble again.
With a sigh, I muttered.
“There are two things I want to say.”
“What are they?”
“First, I haven’t lost yet.”
Ignoring Dersia’s look that said, You’re still saying that?, I continued.
“Last ti, it had to co to first. I could only endure less than a second. I don’t know if it’ll be the sa this ti, but it’s worth trying.”
“…?”
“This ti, I think I can last a lot longer. I have that feeling. I think it’ll probably be similar again.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Seeing the confusion on Dersia’s face, I braced myself.
Last ti, I saw burning flas. But now, I no longer need that process.
Because I realized what kind of place this is.
“It’s nothing much. I just thought you should know. What it ans to stand in the sa space as .”
Cold, dark, narrow, and heavy.
All together.
As I watched her eyes gradually widen, I declared.
“Right now, you are inside my deep sea.”
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