Chương 337: Hopeless Sword

"Should I have tried to dissuade him harder?" The swordsman really didn't think his companion was actually going to be allowed to escape the nightmare. It seemed a bit too good to be true that one possible solution was just to chance upon a monster from the ocean below, who would conveniently know how to speak the same language as whoever it ran into… Such a lucky encounter seemed like an antithesis to the very core of the dreadful nightmare trials.

"Well, who knows…" The warrior went on his way, but the smell of blood soon reached his nostrils, pushing him to investigate–But all he found was the upper half of the dwarf that had been in the safe area not so long ago. Looking around, he found traces of a fairly fierce battle. The steel walls had been caved in many spots.

"Huh… He was stronger than met the eye" Of course, dwarves, especially those so broad of body, were well-known to have impressive physical strength. Even the ones who could be mistaken for halflings with their much softer features tended to have superior strength. He himself had once fought alongside a dwarf. Unfortunately, unlike elves, most species of dwarves felt the weight of time despite having a longer lifespan than humans. The man sighed and knelt in front of the corpse, closing the dwarf's eyes.

His face was one of pain and fear. Clearly, he hadn't been granted an easy death.

"Not cut in half… Ripped in half? If he was strong enough that the monster needed to put some effort into it…" He wouldn't wish this even on his worst enemy. That was a death better suited for the execution of vile criminals. … The monster seemed to be long gone. Until now, the swordsman had been retracing his steps, but this detour sent him off course, leading him to also find what was left of the orc woman. Her face wasn't one of pure terror, though.

Being somewhat familiar with the typical warrior cultures of orcs, it was quite easy to tell that even if she didn't like it one bit, this was where she was to meet her end. She was nonetheless content deep down to die in a fight rather than anything else. He himself would have scolded anyone with such a mindset, even if he was on the path to do exactly the same thing.

"Do as I say, not as I do… Only a decade after your death do I realise that you were truly wise, father" His detour led him to find the corpses of everyone else he had met inside the nightmare. It seemed like they never stood a chance against the monsters roaming the ship–Which made the swordsman thoughtful, since the only monster he had encountered had been the woman-like one. No other creatures had crossed his path. Yet, all of the others seemed to have been attacked quite quickly.

So why was it that he had been able to walk around unopposed like this? In truth, while a bit too prideful for him to speak aloud, the reason was clear. The monsters weren't attacking him because they knew well that they didn't stand a chance. He wouldn't have expected nightmare creatures to be so mindful of their own lives, but it seemed like they were akin to any typical beast and knew not to throw their lives away mindlessly.

"I guess it only leaves one person to save" His expression turned grim as he finally returned to the dock, facing the so-called safe zone. It wasn't too inaccurate to call it that, as monsters seemed not to be willing to come up randomly, and no monsters seemed to be patrolling the area either, but of course, hoping for a true safe zone inside such a place was a pipe dream. If anything, it was likely that the area was safer than the rest solely so as to allow Mara Nebulo to infiltrate the group of participants.

She had done so quite skillfully. Her acting skills were truly top-notch. That was for certain. So great that no one but the swordsman had realised who she truly was. Indeed, with how good she could act, even he would have been doubtful of his own conclusions if not for the severe proof that was the abnormality that was the purple of her eyes. The simple fact that her description here wasn't a perfect match with what he had heard had made him doubt himself for a few moments.

Did really no one else notice her eyes, or did their minds refuse to acknowledge that their executioner was right amongst them? He himself remembered how fear had pushed a much younger version of himself to ignore the scratching coming from under his bed. Every time someone else checked under it, there would be nothing, but when he did, he would be met with a horrid creature staring back at him. A vile creature whose only words would be telling him to go back to sleep.

Eventually, he had ignored it for so long that it no longer scared him whatsoever, so he finally went ahead and flipped the bed over to drag it out from underneath and finally put an end to the scratching–Turns out there had been no proper 'monster'. His boogeyman had been a mere water mage with a spell to turn into water, allowing him to seep through the floorboards to appear and disappear from under his bed at will. The worst part in the swordsman's eyes was that the water mage had never even been that dangerous.

He had been nothing more than a cowardly maniac who tried to make up for his failed life by scaring children in the night. When confronted, he hadn't even been able to muster a single spell. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. With the knowledge that even what might seem terrifying could turn out to be a harmless pest, he started his journey into swordsmanship, and thus, here he stood.

"I hear that you enjoy scaring children too, Mara Nebulo… An odd hobby for someone who also likes to dote on cute little girls as long as they behave well" These were his first words as he pushed open the door to the safe area, finding the nightmare master simply standing there with the little chick asleep in her arms. She seemed to be quite bored.

"I was hoping that you guys would return, that we would all discover the remains of the blind boy, and that we would start a most amusing murder mystery over the course of multiple days… I guess I overestimated you lot" She closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Actually, I think I underestimated him. I enjoy knowing that my words are not only understood, but so readily applied" The swordsman was a bit confused for a second, but he soon felt extra presences approach from behind him. About ten monsters, each misshapen in some way, were advancing as a group, led by a sack of flesh with far too many, seemingly randomly distributed arms. This one in particular seemed quite strong, and it reeked of blood…

It would seem that the swordsman had found the monster who had massacred everyone else. They hadn't all been unlucky to run into monsters. They had all been targeted by the same one, which for some reason seemed to possess greater intellect than the rest.

"Did killing make it stronger than the rest by such a noticeable margin…?" The man muttered to himself.

"Step aside, will you?"

"And why would I do this?"

"I have a hostage–An adorable one, at that""You'll harm her?"

"Of course, she's cute and well-behaved, but it doesn't mean that I am incapable of killing her. I would simply prefer not to. I am unaware of whether or not it would be best right now" The swordsman stepped out of the door and to the side, allowing Mara Nebulo to casually walk out into the open. She then whistled, and the many-armed abomination came running like a trained puppy.

"Hold her for me, hurt her even a little bit, and I'll make you wish you never came to be" She then proceeded to crack her knuckles.

"You want to fight me, sword boy?"

"I am afraid there isn't much else for me to do at this point" He unsheathed his sword, pointing it directly at her. A smile formed on her face, a rather charming one.

"Oh my~ How ungentlemanly of you! You should take example on your friend. He behaved properly, and he's already escaped this final trial""... Did he? I would have thought that he would have ended up drowned""Well… It isn't a proper method of escape, but it doesn't matter as long as one's life is intact, right?"

"Enough babbling! Let's put an end to this!"

"No need to be so eager. I'm not saying you are weak. I am just saying that you should treasure what little time you have left""That is basically the same thing, no?"

"Certainly not, sword boy. I am just letting you know that I am stronger than you, and as much as I would like to say that you should pay attention for your next life, I am afraid that I will own your soul once this is over, and I probably won't be using your soul without scraping it clean first""Monsters capable of speech are always arrogant" He rushed straight at Mara Nebulo, swinging his sword straight at her neck, but she merely took one step to the side and diverted the blade by slapping its flat side.

The swordsman quickly turned right around, delivering a flurry of slashes, all of which ended in the same manner. Mara Nebulo would merely move as minimally as possible, and then slap the sword away as if it were an annoying bug, all the while slowly spinning with the sole intent of mocking the swordsman. Willfully presenting her back to him, letting him know that she could afford to make as many bad moves as she wanted against him. This wasn't going to end well for him if this went on.

She wasn't getting one bit tired. She was just playing with her food. Squeezing as much fun out of him as possible since her initial plans had been thrown out the window.

"How is this possible…" He felt like he was back to training after he had first picked up a sword. His instructor would effortlessly parry all of his strikes just like this, but how could it be? Mara Nebulo may have been human once, but she was a monster now. A monster that was supposed to be savage and giant–How could it be that she could use a human body with such precision and skill? Who could it be that her skills as a knight remained so pristine? How could it be that she was even so skilled in the first place?

He had trained with a sword for much longer than she had lived as a human before her disappearance. Was this the chasm his instructor had mentioned? The dire chasm on the other side of which stood the innately talented? The innately gifted? His instructor had always said that the chasm could be crossed with enough effort, but that most simply would never be able to reach even the ankle of those who started already on the other side.

As he would say, the true geniuses were those who had the innate gifts to start on the other side, but also the determination to work hard of those who started from nothing. Neither one nor the other was enough to qualify as a true genius, at least according to his instructor. The swordsman was finally understanding this clearly. And the moment he understood, he could only drop his sword.

"Why would you be a savage monster when you have such skill, Mara Nebulo?" She casually flipped the sword up in the air with her foot and caught it, staring at herself in the reflection.

"I didn't really get a say in all of this, you know? Some bratty ghosts sort of forced my hand… Are you not going to fight any longer?"

"My instructor used to say that as long as I was standing, then I had not lost. That is technically correct, but the outcome of a fight is always decided in the first few exchanges, regardless of whether or not one of the combatants is struck down""Is that what you think? No wonder you lack oomph with your strikes" His vision suddenly spun around.

"Have more grit, will you?" All faded to darkness.