Shujinkou Janai! - CH 62

—————I’m going to lose my mind……

I sighed to myself as I looked at the shattered jewel around my neck, and staggered back to the center of the room.

Then, picking up the magatama for the umpteenth time, I staggered my way back to the trial.

While I was stumbling my way to the first trial……

[……You do it like this, how about it?]

[Nii-san’s Arts are beyond amazing as always that it’s disgusting.]

[You…… I was going to tell you about a great combo that leads from here, but I guess you don’t need it.]

[Even though I gave you my honest compliment, saying that is rather vexing. I think Nii-san should be more open-minded……]

I can hear Rex and Resilia happily training from behind me, making me feel even more miserable.

(D*mn it, they’re just freaking flirting……! That siblings are too close to each other!)

Holding back the outburst of anger that’s about to leak out of my body, I step out for the first trial.

As I watched the first stone statue begin to move, landing on the ground with a thud, I put all my strength into the shield in my left hand.

At first, when I saw Rex engaging the stone statue knights in battle, my blood was surging with excitement, the desire of fighting like that filling my heart…… but I lost in just an instant.

Even so, I went back to the first room, took a magatama and charged again, and when I couldn’t protect myself from the knight’s attack, the magatama gets broken and every time I did that, Resilia looked at me like I’m some sort of sh*tty trash…… I repeated that about 10 times, when I finally realized it.

—————It’s impossible for the me right now to fight with these guys.

Hitting their Arts with my own Arts is easy to say, but actually doing it wasn’t that simple.

I have to watch the enemy’s swinging motion and predict the trajectory of the enemy’s attack.

From there, I have to select the appropriate Art in an instant and strike back based on the enemy attack’s trajectory.

However, there are many cases where I can’t respond by using ordinary Arts as they are.

Especially when the stone statue swings its halberd from above, few existing Arts have a trajectory that can interfere an overhead attack.

For example, if I unleashed a normal to intercept the overhead attack, the enemy halberd would have passed cleanly through the middle of the “V” and hit me directly on the head.

In that case, it would be better to adjust the angle of the so that it would collide with the path of the enemy’s overhead attack, but I had only practiced “manually executing” the Art at the moment and hadn’t tried shifting the angle very much.

I could have done it if I had spent some time in the training hall to develop an image of the Art and perform it at my own pace, but it was impossible for me to calculate and arrange the trajectory of the Art in the short time before the enemy’s attack.

Even if I succeeded once or twice by a fluke, once I used an Art, I wouldn’t be able to use it again for a while.

The more attacks I defend, the less cards I have in my hand.

(Even though it’s frustrating, I’m still not skilled enough to compete with these guys.)

After realizing this, I decided to abandon the appearance of the statue and switched to a strategy of running past the stone statue knights to the pedestal.

However, since their halberds have a wide range and fast reactions.

When I tried to run through the side, I was shut down because I couldn’t avoid their halberd. When I tried to run forward while their halberd was blocked by an Art, I was hit by a spear on my back and retired from the trial without a chance.

I returned to the center room to retrieve the magatama, only to have Resilia look at me as if I’m some sort of stray Goblin, which had been a pattern for the past few times.

However, the previous challenge shed a light on this situation.

It was true that I was no match for Rex in terms of our ability to use Arts.

However, there’s one thing I have that Rex does not.

I’m talking about my “shield”.

(I certainly can’t use Guard against these guys. However……)

As I gradually increased my speed and rushed towards them, the stone statue knight waiting for me drew its spear.

(—————A thrust from the right!)

Reflecting on my luck that the easiest thrust attack came, I plunged into the spear as if I was going to run into the attack myself……

—————Parry!

At the crucial moment, I mowed down my shield to shake off the spear.

The spear and my shield engage for a moment, and sparks fly.

However, the equilibrium is only momentary.

Snapping away the stone statue knight’s spear, I knocked it off balance.

[Alright!]

The answer I arrived at is Parry.

Only the timing of the shield strike is tough, but if I succeed, I can keep my opponent off-balance slightly longer than if I had used an Art to cancel it out.

However, I can’t let my mind wander here.

With my shield still held out in a swinging posture, I ran past the side of the stone statue knight without stopping my running momentum.

Immediately after, the sound of something cleaving the air behind me sent chills down to my guts, but I managed to keep my distance.

(Run! Keep running!)

I told myself.

There are two stone statue knights.

If I get caught between the two of them, one guarding the front while the other flanking my back, I wouldn’t have any chance of winning, so I have no choice but to make my move before the one behind catches up.

—————Dodon!

The second knight lands on the ground ahead of me as I run desperately.

(This is the moment that decides my victory!)

In my attempt before the last, I tried to go through the side while the knight ahead was stepping on the ground and lost because I was hit in the back by a spear.

In my previous attempt, I tried to stop and make sure to use Parry on its attack before advancing, but the first knight rushing from behind pierced my back and I lost.

(I can’t ignore it, nor can I stop in place. In that case……!)

I had no choice but to move in a way that satisfied both of those two conditions: stopping the enemy and moving fast.

Tossing aside the shield in my left hand, I grabbed the magatama on my chest as if I was ripping it off.

With a shout, I unleashed the only Art I can manually execute that has a knockback effect: .

Blowing away the stone statue knight, which is now stuck in a landing position, I twisted my body into the opening created.

The stiffness caused by the knockback effect lasts only a moment.

I can feel the knight who has regained its balance behind me readying its spear.

(REEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCHHHHH!!!)

However, a moment before the stone statue knight’s spear catches me in the back.

My outstretched left hand was holding out the magatama to the light of the pedestal……

—————The magatama lit up.

And when the light subsided, one of the two black holes in the magatama glowed with a brilliant light.

[Did I…… do it?]

I timidly looked behind me and saw that the stone statue knight, who was about to thrust its spear into my spear, had suddenly stopped moving.

As I watched with bated breath, the stone statue knights turned on their heels as if nothing had happened and returned to their position, motionless as if they were ordinary stone statues.

[Ha…… Hahaha…… I did it!]

Finally convinced of my victory, I swung the light-filled magatama and rushed back to the first room.

[Master…… Old man! I finally did it! I cleared the first trial!!!]

At first, Rex’s eyes just widened as I ran up to him, but then he grinned.

[That was great, Radd. In that case……]

Thereupon, he pointed to the other side of the earlier trial……

A corridor with almost the same layout as the ……

[—————Next up are four enemies. Do your best.]

At the same time, as if reading the moment, two stone statues of the began to move and landed on the ground with a thud.