I Became The Rabbit Swordsman In A Novel - Chapter 13
Colosseum(3)
“Come, whoever wants to take my first sword!”
Originally, people shivered at my words and lost the will to fight, but when I said it in my current state, all either pointed fingers and laughed or said that I looked cute.
“Gosh, this is like playing with a kid. I will hurry up and get this over with.”
The bald guy with sleeveless leather armor and beard came over laughing onto the bridge. The baldy beard had a dual ax, suited for his scary appearance.
“Why is this so shaky?”
The baldy beard came on the bridge with confidence, but could barely stand still on the wobbly bridge. I used this as a chance and took a big step forward and struck him on his shoulders.
“Ahhhh!”
Splash!
He fell to the side right away, and dropped into the water.
“Crimson is out!”
Boooooooooo!
Before the announcer even finished talking, there was booing and mocking laughter coming from the audience.
“You are dead! As soon as I get up there, I will dig out your eyes!”
The baldy cursed at me while he was splashing to stay afloat, but he was dragged away by the colosseum team members.
“And you are out. Next!”
I took steps backwards.
“FYI, I might actually kill the third one coming, so think carefully. Now is your last chance to act if you want to just get injured.”
As I provoked, taking my time, the young guy who was laughing at the bald beard came up with a straight face.
“You? Okay. Well thought.”
I smiled, but he did not smile back.
“I don’t go easy on women.”
He was holding an ordinary-looking long sword and shield and was wearing an iron plate attached to only the vital part.
“Great. I never asked you to go easy on me.”
As soon as he heard me speak, he made a frowning face and then rushed to attack me.
A big shield. The shield that he had was quite big enough to cover all my attacks.
So, I pretended to attack with my rapier and then crossed his legs with mine, and he fell into the water after losing balance.
“Huh”
Splash!
“Aww what is going on! Adol is also out!”
The announcer spoke as if he was disappointed at the pace and the audience kept booing.
“You sly bitch!”
The man named Adol spit some vulgar language as the baldy did and then was dragged out by the team members.
“Let go of me! I will not go out like this! Do you know how much I paid to participate in….”
Punch!
Adol got punched in the face for resisting the team members, and drooped.
“You should have guarded your lower body, too.”
And as I bid the last one farewell, I looked onto the next one.
“It’s you this time?”
The third one looked just like a snake, with long hair and a pointy face. If a snake were to turn into a human, they would look mean just like him.
So, did you have fun until now? Miss?”
He snickered.
“Yeah, I guess I warmed up a bit. The two happened so fast that I didn’t really get to fully warm up.”
As I stretched for him to look on purpose, he jerked his chin up and down.
“Since I am here, it’s the last of you to act so arrogantly.”
“Yeah, and I apologize beforehand, since I have said that from the third one onwards, I can really kill. You might not be able to hear this after you die, so…”
He yukked at my words.
“I will return exactly what you said!”
He just started to throw knives he had in his chest instead of stepping forward.
“Uh?”
I looked towards my back as I clashed away the knives that were coming towards me with the rapier. I could see the elf, still sitting as a damsel in distress.
“Move away if you don’t want to get hit by the reflected knives!”
From my scream the elf rushed to a corner, and as soon as I turned back around,
Clank!
I am not exaggerating, I hit a dagger that was just about to hit my eyes. This will be a moment to show off to generations down.
But there was no time for such stories. The guy that had been just throwing the knives from afar was now standing in front of me, and kept trying to stab me with daggers.
“Haaat!”
As I did when facing Jarrod, I stepped forward while spinning the rapier, and
“Heh?”
As if he didn’t expect me to move towards him instead of stepping back, lost his balance.
Stab!
I stabbed his heart right away and defeated him.
“What a surprise. I honestly thought that the second one could be highly possible, but I didn’t expect her to defeat Nate as well!”
The announcer was surprised, and
“Wasn’t Nate one of the possible winners?”
“How did she win?”
“I still haven’t figured out what is going on.”
The audience murmured, trying to figure out the situation.
“See? I told you that we can win!”
I smiled back at the elf. She was gazing at me, not realizing that her jaws were wide open.
“What the hell are y’all doing? There’s more of us than her! Just run!”
The other team realized that the atmosphere had changed, and then started to rush forward.
“Ah, this is incredible! The weakest-looking participant is defeating all the guys!”
As the announcer described, I was on a roll stabbing, slashing and dropping the men one by one into the water. I took a breath after making a good pile out of them.
Aris! Aris! Aris!
The crowd that was booing me just a moment ago was now cheering on my name, as if they were touched by my swordsmanship.
That made me want some more.
Smooch!
When I got a little chance, I flung out my signature move, a hand kiss, and got the cheers of all the men and women alike.
“Die!”
And one of the remaining men thought that it was his chance and threw his spear, but
Tap! Shook!
“Argh!”
I dodged the spear, held onto its head, and then pulled it so that he fell forward.
Stab!
Then I finished him off by stabbing him with my sword.
“It’s been a while since I worked at the colosseum, but tonight will most certainly be remembered! A legend is born today!”
The announcer was now partly sobbing, as if he was touched.
“You. You were a hidden master.”
There was only one participant left. He was a bony middle-aged man with an eye patch. He could be younger than he looks. He just looked a little rugged.
“Now you get it?”
But the man in the eye patch shook his head.
“No, if I knew, I would have rushed like those idiots before me. I have been waiting for this moment.”
The one-eye pulled out his rapier.
“Are you also a swordsman?”
The man was not wearing any armor, just a shirt and pants, holding his rapier. Just like me.
“Yes, my name is Otto. I am a duelist. Well then, I wish you the best.”
I was a little happy to meet a fellow swordsman, even though I was pretty tired.
“I didn’t expect to meet another swordsman, especially as my last opponent.”
If I had been wearing a hat, I would have taken it off and set the proper fighting etiquette, but it was a pity that I couldn’t.
“I am Aris Wafer. I wish you the best.”
Then as we exchanged the formal greetings of swordsmanship, Otto made a cold smile.
“But do you think you will be able to fight well? Aren’t you tired?”
As Otto had said, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe and maxed out. I was so sweaty that the robe clung onto my body like skin.
“If you had known, you should have been the first to come.”
I still didn’t want to call him out as ‘cowardly.’
“Yes. If you also use a rapier, you shouldn’t be able to use the word ‘cowardly.’”
Otto spun his rapier once around in air, and then slouched down.
“Instead, I will let you have the first move. Come forward.”
Otto’s skills were different from mine. He slouched, flung his rapier forward in his right hand, and covered his right shoulders with his left arm. We called this the ‘Italian Way’ back from where I was from.
“All right.”
I moved forward slowly, with my left arm stretched forward.
“You don’t even seem to have enough energy to hold your sword.”
Otto commented, from seeing how I could barely hold my shaking arms straight.
“I still have enough energy to stab you.”
So the ends of our rapiers finally met head to head.
Chnnng!
I was at an advantage by using my full upper body with a straight back, but Otto must have been pretty skilled to have blocked every single one of my attacks.
“I should start finishing this up now.”
At an instant, Otto used his left hand to push back my rapier, then came in to stab me in the neck with his rapier. This was a signature move in the Italian style, and it was the same one that he was using.
Which meant that I could use it against him.
“What in the?!”
As I used his same move to defend myself, Otto lost his posture. This meant that I could end the battle here. My victory was certain.
Thud!
But my body was acting up. I was tired, but I had never felt as heavy I felt as if there was a giant boulder on top of me.
Clash!
As I staggered from the weight I felt, Otto was able to regain his position.
“That was close. I would have lost if you weren’t so drained from energy.”
No, this was more than just tiredness. This felt as if someone was pressing me down.
“phew…phew..”
I kneeled one of my knees, without being able to bear the weight. In that instant, I made eye contact with Arje. She was standing up and looking my way. What would she be thinking?
“Surrender. I am a fighter, not a murderer thirsty for blood like the others.”
Otto placed his sword on my neck.
“Surrender”
I had to force out a chuckle.
“I don’t do such things.”
With my words Otto looked at me with a pitiful expression.
“You should accept your loss.”
And so Otto pulled his rapier back in order to slash. This was my last chance.
I dropped backwards to the ground. The rapier of Otto hit my hood, not my neck, and
“She was a dual specimen!”
The clear voices from the audience let me know that my ears were revealed when I fell backwards.
“A dual specimen? What?”
As Otto was flustered, I used the last bit of my strength to hold onto his legs and drop him into the water.
Splash!
It was nice that we both fell into the water, but I didn’t have any strength to get back up to the island. I would drown just like this. Arje….help me….
Phoooaa!
But surprisingly, the one who came to help was Otto.
“Are you all right?”
Instead of replying, I just nodded weakly. I didn’t have enough energy to ask why he saved me.
“My ears are clogged.”
Due to my large ears, I could barely hear from all the water that got inside. This will be a pain to solve.
“Um….well then both of them are out. That means that the winner is the Elf from the womens’ side! So the winners are the female team!”
The announcer said that our team, I mean I won.
“Haha. I won.”
I used the last bit of strength to look towards the elf. She sure must be making a happy and touched face, realizing that it’s worth not giving up till the end and all.
“………”
But unlike my predictions, the elf had a cold expression.