Star-Slaying Swordsman - Chapter 6

Star-Slaying Swordsman

Chapter 6

From the tips of my fingers that touched it, my senses were sharpened as I held the stick that I had been wielding for the past four years.

It had no reason nor logic behind it, but it seemed like I could treat it as if it were my very own limb. I put aside the feelings that had been seeping into my heart and held the stick to my right eye.

And then…

After a few seconds of silence, a footstep sounded nearby.

That moment… was my cue to start.

It stood at about 130cm.

A small body, much smaller than mine, jumped forward slightly at the same time as a squeal echoed through the air.

“Giii!”

The sooty green color was very similar in hue to the night darkness.

So much for straining my eyes, because I still lost sight of it for a moment.

But—

“I can hear it.”

The sound of leaves rustling unnaturally.

The sound of footsteps, the wind, and… its discomforting squeal.

The darkness that covered the skies intruded into my vision, making it impossible for me to see with sufficient clarity.

Thus, I used my ears.

I shut off my five basic senses and left it all to the one that is most trustworthy at this moment.

“I may not be able to see you, but I can hear you.”

It must be this timing.

With this thought in my mind, I swang the stick straight ahead in a fluid motion at head level.

“Ggh- Gii!”

“Bingo.”

In addition to the hard feeling that came from the stick, I heard a voice that sounded to be very much in anguish.

There was a height difference between us, one of us taller than the other with me swinging from the top, to which I think I had the advantage in terms of windup power.

It was clear from this moment which side would bear the greater portion of pain.

Some strange smell wafted through my nose as I got closer to the goblin.

Frowning at the stench of its body odor, I created distance between myself and the goblin by leaping backward and tilting the stick held in my right eye to the side.

Then just as soon as my feet, which had been lifted off the ground by leaping back, touched the ground again, I bent my legs like a spring, kicked the earth with all my might, and began to close in again.

“Now, this…!!!”

I swang the stick through its neck in a manner similar to a dojo.

I made it look like I was trying to keep my distance, but instead, I took advantage of the situation.

I delivered a merciless blow to an unprotected limb.

“GAH! Ahh…!!!”

A delayed cry of pain was generated by a hard blow to his respiratory organs.

Taking advantage of the momentum of its thinning flesh, I looked back over my shoulder and saw that I was still unable to defeat the goblin, who was moaning as he collapsed.

A blow unleashed with the intention of mowing down his consciousness…

…is what I wanted to deliver, but I didn’t succeed in doing so.

The lack of power of my own was undeniably felt on my skin and cast a shadow on my expression, but that too was only for this moment.

“Sorry, but I don’t have time for you right now.”

His crimson eyes, filled with an unyielding fighting spirit, kept staring at me as if they wanted to shoot me dead.

But I dodged and avoided his attacks, trying to approach him again without any wasted efforts.

“It’s a pain to be chased by you now that it came to this, so I’ll deal with you now.”

Having said that, I raised the stick in my hand.

I couldn’t cast magic, but I could stifle a goblin with a piece of stick. 

I didn’t know how many blows it would take to accomplish such a thing, and it would eat up an inordinate amount of time.

The enemy was suffering from a bruised throat.

I swung the stick at the still crouching goblin before it could recover.

THWACK—

The contact between his stony head and the stick shook my eardrums with a hard sound, and soon after, the goblin with his white eyes fell completely to the ground.

***

***

Apparently, they were the weakest monster.

But they were as tough as this, despite having such a name.

And in contrast, goblins and ogres are comparable to babies and adults.

I wondered in the slightest bit if I was going to be alright.

I was worried that the wall was too low for me to climb over, but I pulled myself up and turned my back on the knocked-out goblin.

“Haah— Ah…”

All my pent-up breaths, the tension, the anxiety, the concerns of mine.

They all worked out reasonably well.

I let out my emotions with a deep sigh of relief and let my body relax.

My first real battle.

The first time I faced a monster.

The fact that I swung my stick, my weapon at something for the first time.

The feeling still in my hand affirmed that all these things were true.

If a third party had been watching this situation, they would have pointed out that it would be impossible to defeat an ogre even if heaven and earth turned upside down.

Perhaps they would have praised me for defeating the goblin, and that alone would have been enough.

That was exactly where my limitations lay, and that was the point I was trying to make.

“…Ha— Hahaha!”

I… laughed.

The reason for that was because it was too far away.

The place where the swordsman in my dream was standing was too far away.

The series of moves I just used on the goblin was not a matter of skill, but an act of imitation that the swordsman was doing as a matter of course.

Sleep, wake up.

The level of normality was no different from such an act, so I didn’t think I could pull it off.

It seemed to me that defeating the ogre was far from possible.

Additionally, monsters had bodies that were more specialized for combat than humans.

The difference in performance as an individual between me and such a relatively high-ranking ogre was far too great.

“I wonder why… For some reason, I don’t feel like losing at all.”

It’d only been 4 years.

If it was just a boy who kept on swinging a stick, he probably could not have defeated the ogre even if the heavens and the earth were turned upside down.

But standing here was a boy who remembered the life of a renowned swordsman who dreamed of being a “Star Slayer.”

Therefore, even the art of defeating an ogre existed in my mind.

It was impossible for me to reproduce that swordsman’s masterful technique now, but if I could get away with an imperfect and inferior imitation, I could manage it.

If you force yourself to do something you didn’t know how to do, your arms, muscles, and nerves might suffer permanent damage.

But…

Even if it’s just an imitation…

Perhaps it could be turned into a blade that reaches the ogre.

I could have sworn that would be the case.

The masterful technique of a swordsman who devoted his life to “Star Slaying” was an imitation.

It was because I was the only one who had seen it that I could assure everyone that the ogre was not an insurmountable wall.

However, it was a prerequisite for me to exceed my current limits.

“I just… can’t imagine his swordsmanship losing.”

To slay the stars.

The ultimate technique that I had continued to study in pursuit of just that.

I had absolute faith in it.

“Of course I’m afraid… afraid of the ogre. But as long as I aim to be a “Star Slayer,” I can’t stop here. So, let every “fear” be my food!”

After overcoming this, a new world will open up that is different from the one I live in now.

That’s what I feel like, and that’s what I’m going to say to myself.

“Now, then…”

I was worried about my childhood friend, and I still wasn’t certain as to what was going on.

“I should hurry.”

I raised my brows at the thought of the goblins possibly closing in on the very edge of the village, and I began to rush off.

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