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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Carmela's Forest (4)
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"...J-Jin Yuha?! H-How are you here?!"
Lee Yuri's eyes widened in disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost.
*Whoosh—*
At that moment,
A club swung towards Lee Yuri, who was still staring blankly.
I pushed off the tree I was standing on and launched myself towards Lee Yuri.
At the same time, I twisted my body and swung Wolkwang.
The blade left a trail.
*Slish—*
"Kieek!!!"
*Thud!*
The assailant attacking Lee Yuri met its end with a short death rattle.
Blood spurted from its neck, splattering on Lee Yuri's face.
I landed right in front of Lee Yuri.
"Oops, my bad."
I reached out and wiped a drop of blood from her cheek.
Lee Yuri stared blankly, still unable to believe I was here.
"What are you staring at, Gukbap?"
I grinned and said.
At that, Lee Yuri's blank expression twisted into a strange grimace.
"G-Gukbap…?"
"Ah, right. We haven't dropped formalities yet."
"..."
Lee Yuri bit her lip tightly.
She really is fun to tease.
"N-No! What are you doing right now?! Jin Yuha, where do you think you are?!"
Only then did reality seem to sink in, and Lee Yuri snapped, fuming.
I straightened my face. What was she talking about, after making such a foolish choice herself?
"Isn't a last-minute substitute a party member too? If the team leader makes a foolish choice, a party member can come to save them."
*Whoosh—*
Even as we talked, a goblin's club lunged at us.
I brought my sword to its arm.
*Slish—*
Then, the goblin's arm was severed by the force of its own swing.
"Kieeeek!!!"
'As expected, Legendary-grade.'
Lee Yuri's eyes widened for a moment, then she sighed.
"Now that I see it, I guess you're pretty good at taking down goblins… But I wasn't even worried about mere goblins from the start!?"
Lee Yuri pointed a finger at a red-skinned goblin approaching us from a distance.
"That one is the boss here, a Blood Goblin! It's C-rank! Are you going to fight that?!"
"...Hmm, actually, it was quite tough getting here."
I said, mechanically swinging my sword again.
It really was tough.
There were so many goblins, it was nauseating, as if there was a goblin maternity ward here.
Of course,
My sword mastery rank is S.
It's a grade so high it feels embarrassing to use it in an E-rank gate like this.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kweeeek!"
Even now, just by casually swinging my arm, goblin limbs were being sliced off, weren't they?
However, it was perhaps a common limitation for sword-wielding characters.
In Velvetsra, sword mastery characters are fundamentally designed for 1-on-1 combat.
They are single-target attack positions focused on dealing explosive damage to a boss in a short time.
In other words, their single attack power is strong, but they lack suitable area-of-effect attacks.
Even if I tried to spam skills that had some range,
It was faster not to use skills at all, since they were just guys who could be taken care of with one sword swing anyway.
So, I judged that it would take an eternity to deal with these goblins one by one.
I managed to get here by repeatedly slicing a few, hiding in trees, then slicing more and hiding again.
Thanks to that, I got some proper sword training in.
"But it was only hard getting here. That red-skinned guy is nothing special."
"Nothing special…?"
Lee Yuri trailed off, as if she couldn't believe it.
The Blood Goblin approached within striking distance.
At that, the surrounding goblins subtly retreated, forming a large circle.
"Ha, so it has some boss pride, huh? But isn't it a bit cheap to do this after ganging up on us so much already?"
*Stomp—*
*Stomp—*
The creature stood before us.
It was a Blood Goblin with red eyes, bulging veins on its red skin, and even horns growing from its head.
In its hand was a rusty sword with a scythe-like tip.
"Kehe—"
The creature stuck out a long, green tongue.
*Drip, drip—*
Saliva dripped from its tongue.
"What a disgusting thing to do."
I looked at the creature, gauging the difference in power.
If it were before I got used to sword fighting, maybe I wouldn't know.
But now, I definitely knew.
I couldn't lose to this guy, even if I wanted to.
'Hmm, still, this could be a pretty good experience for Lee Yuri right now…'
If I had met her before, I would have gone all out to save her, but now that I was by her side, there was no particular danger, was there?
The essence of this game was originally about nurturing characters obtained through gacha.
Of course, I hadn't pulled Lee Yuri through gacha,
And I wasn't currently a Velvetsra user, meaning a 'sponsor,' but…
"Team Leader. Let's fight together."
I turned my head and spoke to Lee Yuri.
"…Huh?"
"You said you'd let me participate in combat on the way back, didn't you? It's not three monsters always grouped together, but just one. You can do it, right?"
Lee Yuri looked at me with an incredulous expression.
"…Are you out of your mind?"
"If you're too exhausted, it's fine to just watch a man fight alone. I don't mind."
*Twitch—*
A vein pulsed on Lee Yuri's forehead.
"Jin Yuha…"
She readjusted her shield and said in a chilling voice.
"Even if you hadn't come, I was planning to fight that guy by myself anyway."
Then, she thrust her shield forward and charged towards the Blood Goblin.
* * *
*Swaaaash—!*
The Blood Goblin's downward attack.
A straightforward attack.
Lee Yuri raised her shield and blocked it head-on.
*KABOOM!!!!*
"Ugh—"
It was heavy.
A dull thud resonated, as if the impact of the block had traveled to her bones.
The ground where she had planted her feet caved in.
'This really is a different dimension…'
Its strength and speed were incomparable to a regular goblin.
To evade, she needed to predict its movements in advance, but its speed was too fast, making even that difficult.
The best she could do was to observe its movement and bring her shield to that spot.
And that human said this thing was nothing special.
What nonsense was he spouting?
*KABOOM!*
This time, she blocked a sword swing from the right.
Even though she had tilted her center of gravity almost to the point of falling,
*Screeeech.*
Her feet dragged for a long time as she was pushed back.
"…So, what is that human doing now?!"
She was fighting the Blood Goblin alone, but the man who had said they'd fight together was nowhere to be heard from.
'No way, did he see me fighting and think it was impossible, so he ran away…?'
Lee Yuri unconsciously looked for Jin Yuha, and her cheeks flushed hot.
Originally, she had intended to face this creature alone.
But facing it directly, it was more overwhelming than she thought, and immediately looking for him made her feel ridiculous.
But, it was unfair.
'He gave me hope, then said we'd fight together! He just butted in on his own accord…!'
She had already given up on living when she lured the goblins deep into the forest.
But that man had just appeared on his own, giving her hope against her will.
And now, for him to run away, it was truly too much.
'I wish he hadn't shown up at all…'
*KABOOM—!!!!*
"Kuhh!"
She once again put strength into her entire body, blocking a heavy blow,
And her eyes involuntarily searched for Jin Yuha.
And when she subtly glanced back,
In an instant, a pure joy welled up inside her again.
He.
Was here.
He hadn't abandoned her.
'He didn't run away…!?'
But her joy was short-lived.
Something was strange.
Jin Yuha was standing a little distance away, his sword sheathed, gripping the hilt with a serious expression.
There was no sign he would intervene immediately.
It felt like he was waiting for something, for a particular moment.
'…'
Goosebumps prickled on her skin.
Could it be, this…?
She recalled his words from lunchtime, about participating in combat without interfering with the party.
— There's a moment of emptiness during combat, you know. Especially when the team leader smacks a goblin and hands it over to the dealer…
She bit her lip.
"…Crazy bastard. Really. A crazy bastard."
No matter what, there was a time for practice and a time not to.
'To try a synchronization that we've never practiced, on the spot, against this Blood Goblin…!?'
An opponent that we might barely defeat if he just rushed in while I was blocking and managed to land even one hit!?
But Jin Yuha stood like a stone statue, unmoving, as if he absolutely wouldn't step in unless it was that specific synchronization.
*Hoo—*
A moment ago, she had judged him somewhat positively, and now she regretted it.
He was just a crazy bastard.
*Crunch—*
Lee Yuri gritted her teeth.
She glared at the Blood Goblin with narrowed eyes.
The creature was off guard, as if I were no match for it.
"Alright, you crazy bastard. Let's do it. If you want to try that synchronization so badly, let's try it."
She desperately gathered the remaining magic in the hand gripping her shield.
She bent her knees, preparing to lunge forward.
The moment the creature slowly raised its sword above its head.
*Thwip—*
She pushed off with her feet and charged forward.
*Swaaaaaash—*
A brutal sword strike, as if to cleave her head, cut through the wind and approached.
In such moments, the closer the better.
A storm is always safest at its center.
She got close to the creature and angled her shield upwards.
All deflections lie in making the point of impact miss.
The sword and shield clashed,
*KAGAGAGAK—!*
The shield and sword scraped against each other with a loud screech of friction,
And sparks flew from the immense force, beginning to gouge the shield.
The hand gripping the hilt trembled, as if it would fall off at any moment.
"Hup—!"
She bit her lip and firmly planted her feet.
She flexibly controlled her wrist, deflecting the force.
And then,
In an instant, the Blood Goblin's stance subtly faltered.
'Now!!!'
Lee Yuri immediately deflected the sword,
And then tilted her shield, using it as a lever to push the creature's waist, toppling it over.
At that,
"Kieeeek—!?"
The Blood Goblin, with a surprised expression,
Was pushed sideways.
Immediately after,
Lee Yuri turned her head towards Jin Yuha.
And she could see it.
As if he had been waiting only for that moment.
The blue sword being drawn as he pushed off with his foot.
"Draw."
It was instantaneous.
A cool flash of light passed before her eyes.
And then, the man's back was already in front of her.
A vivid red line appeared on the Blood Goblin's neck.
The creature seemed unaware that its neck had been severed.
"Kieee…?"
*Shing—*
*Clack.*
Jin Yuha sheathed the sword he had drawn back into its scabbard.
At the same time.
*Thud.*
*Roll, roll, roll—*
The Blood Goblin's head fell to the ground and rolled away.
Jin Yuha turned his head towards her and smiled brightly.
"We have pretty good synchronization, don't we?"
To that, I smiled back,
And raised my middle finger.