937: Izario's Style

「I’ll kill you!」

「As if I could die here.」

「Damn it! Stop moving!」

「Surround him!」

Even as the battle began, Izario refused to draw his weapon. He didn’t even perform any attacks of his own, simply continuing to evade Zubalb and his two friends.

Izario dodged Zubalb’s axe and the swords of his companions with a paper-thin margin, smiling all the while. Such moves weren’t that impressive however, since Fran could easily do the same thing.

But…… that face of his. The reddened face of the drunkard just looked so irritating. Even I felt that way, so his opponent Zubalb must be downright pissed.

Zubalb just kept heating up, though he kept his techniques sharp in spite of his temper. He called himself a Rank C, but I’d say at least his combat abilities were closer to Rank B.

「Take this! Die! Damn you!」

「Nope, over here. Almost got me that time. Come on, bro.」

「Damn it all!」

At last, Zubalb activated a weapon art. His axe glistened white from the energy infused into it, then he cleaved sideways. For the first time, Izario responded with something other than an evasion.

He put his hand on the divine sword at his waist.

I thought we might finally see the divine sword in action, but I ended up disappointed. Izario never drew his blade.

He lifted his still sheathed blade and caught the axe with its hilt. As expected from a divine sword, even the hilt boasted high durability.

Zubalb’s face scrunched up after seeing his full strength blocked so easily. He couldn’t believe the finishing move he placed so much confidence in had been caught by the hilt of a sword.

「Now you know the difference in our abilities, no? Can we call it quits now?」

「D-Don’t be stupid! What kind of trick did you pull!?」

Well, he did come all the way here to challenge a Rank S. There was no way he could back down now.

But, “trick”? Really? He shouldn’t be so weak as to misjudge his opponent’s abilities that badly…… It seems his anger was clouding his judgment.

From there, Zubalb kept swinging his axe like a madman. His friends had already stopped a while back, clearly hesitating. After realizing they stood no chance, they must have given up.

「Ura! Ura! Ura! Ura!」

「Sidestep.」

「Nrgraaaah!」

「Haha, you’re putting too much force.」

「Gwoooooogh!」

There was such a steep difference between the atmosphere of the two that I started to feel a little sorry for Zubalb. It seems it wasn’t just me, as the other adventurers started giving him similar looks of pity.

After noticing that, Zubalb only got more aggravated.

「I am Zubalb-sama, the strongest in the town of Rishuga! Don’t you dare mock me!」

「If you don’t wanna be laughed at, try a bit harder. Bring it on.」

As usual, Izario easily avoided all the attacks, sometimes with a duck, sometimes by blocking. Not a single one managed to land so much as a scratch.

But why is it that Izario decided to block when he is surely fast enough to dodge everything? I found this strange, so I observed Izario’s movements more closely, and finally understood the meaning behind his actions.

It seems Izario avoided the ordinary attacks, and blocked the powerful arts that might cause collateral damage. He was canceling out all the force and shockwaves from his opponent’s blow.

After examining the mana residue, it became clear that Zubalb was unleashing high-level arts. If left unchecked, there might have been people in the audience seriously injured.

Izario’s behavior made it look easy, but he was doing something pretty advanced.

First and foremost, he was incredibly good at evasion. Also, he had enough physical strength to compete with axe arts, the perceptiveness to recognize his opponent’s moves, and the knowledge of how to counter them. He had the reflexes to react instantly, and the technical skill to redirect the impact.

All of these skills required a high level of mastery.

（Amazing.）

『Yeah. I wonder if you could do all that.』

（……Seems hard.）

Fran hated admitting defeat, so she’d never say never. But I’m sure she would have a lot of difficulty.

Zubalb continued doing his best, but his movements turned sluggish after five minutes. Then, the battle ended abruptly.

「Guh…… Gah……?」

「Okay, that’s as far as I can go. I’m getting old here, so I don’t wanna tire myself out.」

「Wha……?」

Zubalb’s legs suddenly froze as his huge body collapsed forward. His continuous heavy panting and loss for words indicated that he had exhausted his stamina.

He must have been so focused on offense that he did not recognize his own condition. It’s possible Izario did something too, but if he did, we didn’t recognize what it was.

「You guys, drag him out of here, will you? I’d appreciate it if you don’t mess with me again too. If there’s a next time, it’ll hurt, you see?」

「Hyah! I-I understand!」

「I’ll never come in front of you again! So please forgive me!」

「Good, good. I like people who are quick on the uptake.」

In the end, Zubalb got dragged away by his underlings after the intimidation from Izario.

I’d say they’re lucky to get away unharmed after picking a fight with a Rank S.

「Wait! Have a mock battle with me too!」

「No way.」

「Why not? You fought him!」

「If I fight someone as strong as you, I’ll get tired, right?」

I guess someone as weak as Zubalb could be beaten without much effort, but not Fran.

「Mrgh.」

「Anyways, I have a meeting with the guildmaster, so I’m heading off now. See you later.」

「Nn……」

In the end, we could only watch Izario waving his hand as he left. As if to comfort her, one of the adventurers called out to Fran.

「Meat Girl, you must be pretty good if you got Crimson Blade to praise you that much!」

「Crimson Blade?」

「You’ve never heard that before? Izario’s alias, since he wields the divine sword controlling fire.」

「I thought it was “Talentless”?」

「Oh, that.」

The adventurer laughed and told us Izario’s story. Apparently, he was called “Talentless” for his lack of talent with the sword when he first started as an adventurer.

He had since grown stronger and risen all the way to Rank S, but for some reason, he always gives that old nickname as his alias.

「He may seem like a normal guy, but he’s a high-ranking adventurer after all. As you probably know, none of them are truly normal. Still a pretty cool dude though.」

「Hmm.」

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