I Have no Grudge Against You All, But I Won’t Show Any Mercy

[Now then ladies and gentlemen, the challengers seem to have

completed their preparations! Just how strong is the latest chosen one

of the Sacred Tree's seed!? The bloody and flesh-rending exhibition

battles shall now commence!]

What did you say was commencing just now!? I really couldn't bring

myself to get motivated about all this, but now that they've set it up this

far, I guess I had no choice but to go all-out huh. Yeah, let's do this. I'm

gonna show those damn challengers a world of hurt just like they

wanted dammit.

I pulled out the two blunt-edged swords I picked earlier from their

sheaths and proceeded to the center of the combat arena with both

arms lowered. The swords they prepared for the competition weighed

slightly different than my own monomolecular swords, but it was

manageable. Even though my opponents were seasoned elven warriors,

they had unenhanced normal bodies. No matter how high their mastery

with their chosen weapons was, they would probably not be any faster

than the cybernetically and biologically enhanced Drawn Sword faction

experts I've locked swords with.

"So you are the new hero chosen by the Sacred Tree seed huh."

The one who addressed me was a male elven warrior who looked quite

young, but he's an elf, so I couldn't be sure of what his actual age was.

He wielded a sword that looked similar to a machete and scanned me

from top to bottom with a judging gaze.

"Hello there, Mr. Elven Warrior. The name's Captain Hiro."

"Ou. I am Delsh, a warrior of one of Grado clan's subordinate families,

the Dyna house. Best regards."

After our introductions, the elven warrior Delsh displayed a charming

innocent smile.

"I'm not too keen on politics and whatnot, but I'm simply happy that I'd

have the opportunity to fight the hero chosen by the Sacred Tree seed.

The chosen hero of the Sacred Tree is the idol of elven warriors– no, of

all elven men after all. Most elven men pretended to be the Sacred

Tree's chosen hero during playtime when they were kids. That includes

me, of course."

"I see?"

I started putting in strength onto my slackened arms so I could move at

a moment's notice and slightly lowered my stance.

"It's like a dream to be able to cross swords with the legendary hero...

You won't easily lose just like that, will you?"

"Don't worry man. I'm gonna beat you all down. With utmost respect, of

course."

Delsh's innocent smile changed into an aggressive one in an instant.

"Go ahead and try. Let's do this."

The elven warrior named Delsh charged at me with speed and agility

akin to a wild beast's. I see. His speed didn't seem to be that of an

ordinary unenhanced person at all. I suppose he's powering himself up

using magic.

"Guee–!?"

Delsh let out a soft cry of agony as he fell face-first and slid on the arena

grounds due to the leftover momentum of his charge. I lightly parried

his blow and knocked him on the back of his head in retaliation.

Yeah, it was definitely fast, but it was still no good. I mean, he just

charged at me head-on after all. That's just no good man. His sword

blow was relatively powerful, sure, but I simply had to parry and

redirect the force to deal with it. And besides, there's no way his blow

could compare to Mei's.

[Whoah–!? Mr. Delsh, who's said to be the Grado clan's number one

young warrior, was defeated in one blow!? Just what the heck

happened!? Captain Hiro, the Sacred Tree seed's new chosen hero,

hasn't even moved one step!?]

[It seems that Warrior Delsh's blow was parried with the minimum

amount of movement. And then, he got defeated by a single counterblow. It was a terrifyingly sharp and accurate blow.]

I watched as Delsh was carried away by the match officials and then

turned my attention to the next challenger. The next guy who came out

was bigger than my first opponent. Even though I said he was bigger,

he's still an elf, so he wasn't really all that bulky. He was another of

those tall, lithe, but well-built types.

"Fumu, so Delsh cannot even serve as a proper opponent huh. He

definitely wasn't weak though."

As he spoke, the man walked forward and brought up his weapon – a

short spear. The spear only reached up to the height of the man's ear. It

was probably about 180 centimeters in length or so.

"However, he's still a young Grado clan warrior after all. He might have

very high potential but he still has some ways to go before reaching his

peak."

"The heck? So you're telling me he's the weakest of the Four Heavenly

Kings[1] or something like that...?"

"Four Heavenly Kings?"

"Uh, just ignore that. Enough talk. Let's get this over with."

"Fumu, you seem plenty confident. I am not like Delsh."

While saying so, the short spear-wielding warrior carefully advanced

forward. He's probably gauging the distance while taking our respective

reaches into account. Well, his weapon was longer, so he'd surely want

to capitalize on his reach advantage. That's just how effective weapons

with long reaches are. Furthermore, a spear was basically a piercing

weapon. It would be difficult to defend against a spear's powerful and

precise attacks, and depending on the wielder's skill, they could also be

blindingly fast. Besides, even if a spear is a piercing weapon, it's not like

you cannot perform any horizontal sweeps with it. If swung, its range

was quite wide, and if you get hit with its hardened wooden handle or

metal-reinforced tip, the force could be powerful enough to break

bones.

"Nuh!?"

The instant I entered the opponent's range and got attacked, I

immediately advanced forward. I timed it so my opponent wouldn't be

able to stop his attack midway and took advantage of the opening. I

didn't take the spear attack head-on but aimed at the hand that was

holding the spear with a compact swing instead.

"Kuh– Goooh!?"

The short spear warrior's reaction was quite fast. He quickly pulled

back his short spear and rotated his body to the side in order to avoid

my swing. However, I followed up with an attack using the short sword

in my left hand, slipped through his defenses, and landed a solid hit.

When he stiffened from the blow, I spun over and finished him off with

another attack.

[There it goes again!? Just what in the world happened!?]

[Warrior Colt managed to get an attack in, but his opponent narrowly

avoided it by a hair's breadth of distance. And at that moment, Mr. Hiro

unleashed three consecutive lightning-fast strikes. The first one was a

feint, the second one broke Warrior Colt's stance, and the third one

ended the battle. Those three attacks were unleashed in practically an

instant.]

Wow, you're really observant, aren't you, Mr. Commentator. Are you

watching a real-time match recording or something?

I turned away from the defeated short spear warrior Colt and brought

up the longsword held in my right hand. I then pointed it toward the

remaining elven warriors waiting from across the arena grounds.

"Fighting you guys one by one is a waste of time. Just come at me

together."

Their reactions varied. Some clearly showed discomfort, while others

smiled in interest. Some others gripped their weapons with more

strength while remaining expressionless, and the rest grinned

aggressively. But there were none of them who didn't answer to my

blatant provocation.

They exchanged quick glances and slight gestures. They then started to

fan out in a formation while advancing forward.

[Mr. Hiro just provoked all of the participating warriors!? It looks like

the warriors aren't willing to take such provocation lying down!]

[The true might of our warriors who are blessed by Mother Nature is

best exhibited in group combat. Even if the opponent is Mr. Hiro, who

has shown overwhelming skill and strength thus far, I don't think he

will be able to avoid a close struggle this time around.]

An elven warrior wielding a machete stepped at the very front of the

impromptu formation while another short spear wielder positioned

himself right behind him. Groups of five warriors split into three

directions and boxed me in completely. I guess this is their best tactic

huh. They probably use this formation to hunt down dangerous wild

beasts in the forest. If so, there's only one option I can take.

That's to plunge straight into one of the groups myself.

[Whoah! Captain Hiro just jumped straight into the warrior group to

his left!]

[That formation was created to stop a mad charge from a Riga Rau.

Thus, our best warriors should be able to deal with such a move as

well.]

In response to my sudden rush, the group to my left immediately

dispersed, surrounded me, and unleashed attacks at the same time.

Three of them slashed at me with machetes while the other two thrust

their short spears at me. Usual opponents would definitely eat some

attacks while blocking the others. However, I'm no wild beast, and their

formation was too straightforward to be able to effectively deal with

human opponents.

The spear thrusts coming in from the gaps between their formation

were easy to read because their attack ranges were limited, and wide

swings from the machetes were equally predictable. And moreover, no

matter how sharp and fast their attacks were–

"–!"

To me, they were painfully slow.

The instant I held my breath, the entire world slowed down to a crawl. I

could now clearly see the trajectories of each attack and how I could

move in response.

I slipped through a slash from a machete, avoided a spear thrust, and

pressed upon the elven warrior furthest to my right. I'm sure that in his

eyes, it would have seemed that I accelerated suddenly and came within

striking distance in practically an instant. I immediately made him eat a

blow from the pommel of my sword right in the middle of his surprised

face, used the recoil together with a flick of my wrist to swing the

longsword held in my left hand, and landed a strike at the back of the

head of the machete-wielding elf in the center of the formation. I

stepped further in and landed a blow with the short sword in my left

hand on an elven spear-wielder who was left defenseless after

committing to an attack earlier when we passed each other by. The

other spear wielder tried to attack me in a rush after seeing his

comrade fall, but I easily knocked his spear out of his hand.

"Wha–!?"

Astonished by the fact that three of his comrades collapsed in an instant

and another one lost his weapon, the remaining machete-wielder

couldn't react when I knocked him down with a longsword blow. Before

the disarmed elf managed to pull a dagger from his waist to try and

fight back, I unleashed several attacks with both my swords and quickly

incapacitated him.

[Whoah!? Just what were those movements earlier!? The left warrior

group was absolutely dismantled in the blink of an eye!?]

[Even I couldn't see those moves clearly... I can only describe them as

terrifying.]

Before the last of the five collapsed unconscious, I immediately charged

toward the center group. Hahaha! What's wrong? You're just like

paralyzed scarecrows! I ain't gonna hold back though