Klein’s swordsmanship was an unconventional style based on instinct.
In the past, ever since he first started swinging a sword, Klein instinctively understood how to hold the sword without breaking its balance and how to make its path efficient.
A divine blessing.
A genius among geniuses who truly fit that description.
And yet Klein possessed a talent greater than swordsmanship. His sensitivity to magic.
Klein was innately gifted in handling magical power both mentally and physically, and there were few who could stand against his destructive magic, whether in the academy or outside of it.
As a result, Klein’s swordsmanship had stopped growing at some point and began to degrade into merely supporting his overwhelming magic.
Shane pinpointed this exact issue.
Although Klein’s magic was remarkable, there were always opponents against whom magic wouldn’t work.
Until Klein obtained the Holy Sword in the future, Shane intended to help Klein further develop his swordsmanship.
-Squeak!
The large Ratman at the forefront charged first.
Their size which was comparable to that of an adult was intimidating, but their claws which were as tough as steel posed a significant threat as well.
One of them attacked Klein first, swinging its claws.
Klein dodged the Ratman’s attack by stepping back and pierced its heart with a single strike.
-Squeeak?!
Seeing one of the larger ones in their group die instantly made the remaining four Ratmen flinch, but they soon attacked simultaneously.
Two of them lowered their bodies to run on all fours and started climbing the walls and ceiling, while another charged directly at Klein as before.
In response, Klein chose to break through head-on.
He gathered strength in his legs, enhanced by a minimal amount of magical power, and leaped forward in an instant.
However, the minimal magic enhancement was not enough to fool the Ratmen’s keen eyesight.
-Screech!
As two of the Ratmen who were momentarily confused swung their claws from above and below, Klein evaded by running along the wall and kicked the Ratman in front of him.
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
Just as Dilaila said, Klein’s flashy movements brought down the Ratman, and he immediately pierced its heart with his sword before turning swiftly to keep moving.
As soon as their attack missed, the remaining two Ratmen looked at each other and took a step back, but Shane and the other were behind them.
Realizing this, the two nodded to each other and charged again at the same time.
Once again, Klein easily avoided their attacks before beheading one of them.
-Screeeeech!
The Ratman observing from behind wailed, and the Ratman who survived Klein’s sword also cried out as they chose to flee without looking back.
Three out of their five comrades were already down.
The Ratmen chose to call for reinforcements rather than face complete annihilation here.
-Zzzt?! Kehk!
However, Shane was not one to just watch while the enemies escaped.
Before they knew it, summoned magic bullets precisely hit the heads of the two Ratmen, and they collapsed to the ground with their eyes rolled back.
“Klein.”
“Yes, big brother.”
“That was lousy.”
“…!”
Those words weighed heavily on Klein’s heart.
After a half-day-long hunt, the group finally found a reasonably safe zone and set up a forward camp.
Only after finishing their meal of odorless combat rations did Shane begin to speak.
“First, Klein. We need to start with you.”
“…Yes.”
At Shane’s words, the group watched as he took out the magical recording tool.
When Shane infused the tool with magical power, a three-dimensional projection of Klein’s battle from earlier appeared above it.
“Can anyone identify Klein’s problem from this?”
“Uh…. I’m not sure, didn’t he do well? He killed them all with one clean strike, although he did miss a few in the middle.”
That was Dilaila’s assessment.
Just like she said, Klein killed the enemies with a single strike and left no gaps in his attacks.
Therefore, she couldn’t understand why Shane had called Klein lousy earlier.
Meanwhile, Klein remained silent and then Anais spoke up.
“Kind.”
“Huh?”
“His sword is kind.”
Dilaila tilted her head at Anais’s words.
Kind?
How could a sword that kills enemies in one strike be kind?
“It’s as if he doesn’t want to see the monsters’ painful expressions, so he insists on killing them in one blow. If not for that, he wouldn’t have missed those Ratmen.”
When Anais elaborated, Shane nodded his head and finally Dilaila understood.
“Ugh. So that’s why it’s kind? What a way to put it…”
From the perspective of Dilaila who wanted to live longer even if it meant enduring some pain, Klein’s behavior was incomprehensible.
“Klein, you’re not stupid, so I won’t explain further. But you do understand how dangerous your actions are for the team, don’t you?”
“…. I will keep that in mind.”
This was a bad habit stemming from Klein’s kind nature.
“It’s not just harmful to the team. There’s hesitation in your sword. As long as that hesitation exists, you won’t be able to progress in swordsmanship, even if your physical or magical abilities grow.”
“……”
“I don’t want my brother to turn into such a half-wit.”
Of course, this would naturally resolve over time.
In his previous life, Klein didn’t show any mercy, unlike now.
He wasn’t unnecessarily cruel, but he didn’t hesitate when necessary.
The reason he could do that was that he had witnessed many people die because of such hesitation.
Shane didn’t want Klein to only grow after reaching that extreme.
“And Anais, you have just as serious a problem as Klein.”
“…Me?”
The video from the magical recording tool now showed Anais’s battle.
Anais’s fighting style was, in a word, close to art.
Her sword was specialized not in killing the opponent in one strike but in creating openings.
When the enemy showed a gap, she chose to injure them and remove them from the fight rather than killing them. So she could quickly move on to her next action.
Thanks to this, unlike Klein, she didn’t miss any Ratmen.
However, Klein could clearly see the problem she had.
“If Klein’s sword has sympathy for the opponent, your sword has too many thoughts.”
“………”
Anais who roughly understood what Shane was talking about tilted her head.
Although she understood his words, her attitude showed that she couldn’t accept his evaluation.
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
“Indeed, thanks to that, your swordsmanship can be said to be close to ‘foresight’. But I’m saying it’s excessive.”
“I can’t agree with that.”
It wasn’t just her being stubborn because she couldn’t acknowledge her own skills.
She genuinely couldn’t empathize with Shane’s words.
“…Let’s watch this battle scene first.”
The video Shane showed was of Anais facing multiple Ratmen, just like in Klein’s battle.
The Ratmen fought with their bare hands while using their claws to dig into the dirt walls and attack from all directions.
Anais quickly grasped their combat style before mentally mapping out various patterns to counter them.
She swung her sword broadly and disrupted the Ratmen coming from the walls and ceiling.
The cautious Ratmen slowed down just from having their paths swept by her sword, and at the same time, Anais lunged forward, cutting the legs and faces of two Ratmen in front of her before she swiftly turned around.
Although it was an ordinary iron sword without any magical power, so none of the Ratmen died in that exchange, Anais efficiently inflicted various wounds on the Ratmen without any problem.
And most of them had wounds that hindered their escape.
She slashed at their legs, cut their ankles, or sliced their faces to blind them.
Unlike Klein’s battles, the scent of blood permeated the underground tunnel, and Dilaila grimaced as if she felt nauseous.
However, in the end, none of the Ratmen survived Anais’s sword.
“Hmm, it looks pretty clean to me.”
“I agree. This is… swordsmanship I find difficult to perform.”
Unlike Klein, who swung his sword instinctively, Anais demonstrated precise swordsmanship. To Dilaila and Klein, it must have felt like watching another genius.
“Anais, your swordsmanship is precise. Against weaker opponents, as we just saw, your chances of losing are nearly zero. But if you face an opponent at a similar level, your chances of losing increase. Do you know why… Because you think too much.”
“…….”
“You haven’t had the experience yet, so you wield your sword like this. If a stronger opponent appears, you would excuse it by saying they were just stronger. And against weaker opponents, you wouldn’t feel the need to change your technique. Hence, you don’t feel the need for change.”
“…Ah.”
Just as Shane said.
Anais had never faced an opponent of a similar level.
The members of the Knights of Judgment were all naturally strong, and as a direct result, there was no one at the academy who could rival Anais.
Anais had sparred with Klein a few times before, but Klein’s overwhelming magical power left her with no way to counter it.
In that sense, Anais had never fought an equal opponent which made it difficult for her to recognize her own clear limits.
Hearing those words, Anais nodded as if she had realized something.
“There happens to be a decent opponent in this dungeon. Try fighting him and sparring with Klein without using magic. It will help you a lot.”
“…Alright.”
Anais readily accepted Shane’s advice.
After all, now that she had joined the team, it was right to listen to the leader and Anais didn’t think Shane’s judgment was entirely wrong.
“Then, Dilaila.”
“Ugh.”
Meanwhile, Dilaila avoided Shane’s gaze as if something had pricked her conscience.
She had been watching and commenting on others’ videos, but in reality, she was the weakest among them.
In fact, she was currently covered in dirt from rolling around.
“You probably know this yourself, but it’s still worth watching the video.”
“No, there’s really no need…”
“Still, watch it. There’s a difference between seeing it yourself and not.”
“Ugh…”
Next, the magical recording tool showed an image of Dilaila.
“Shit!”
“Ahem!”
From the beginning, Dilaila cursed and rolled on the ground to avoid the Ratman’s attack.
“In battle, emotions run high, so I won’t criticize you for swearing. However, taking your eyes off the enemy and rolling like that, especially in a many-on-one fight, is suicidal.”
Unlike with Klein and Anais, Shane had a lot of tactical advice for Dilaila.
After all, Shane was also a mage and Dilaila could also cast spells without using incantations just like Shane.
“Using a handful of dirt to penetrate and disrupt the Ratman from the inside was a good attack method. However, it’s unsuitable for a many-on-one battle.”
As Shane said, there was a scene in the video where the dirt Dilaila controlled entered the Ratman’s mouth and nose and started tearing it up from the inside. But because of this, she couldn’t respond to the following attacks from other Ratmen and ended up rolling on the ground.
“Multi-tasking is important for both warriors and mages. Warriors must be aware of external dangers in advance during battle, and mages must similarly be able to identify other dangers while preparing magic. Do you know why warriors can do this and mages can’t?”
“Uh, I don’t know.”
“Because mages haven’t awakened their sixth sense.”
“Sixth sense?”
“Taste, touch, smell, hearing, seeing and the combined sense of all these which is called ‘energy perception’.”
Everyone has used the expression “feeling someone’s gaze” at least once.
But there are no physical laws governing this sensation.
So how can humans sense when someone is watching them?
It’s due to the other sense humans are born with, the “energy perception”.
“Warriors at the front lines are most exposed to others’ energy perception. That’s why they are sensitive to killing intent.”
However,
“Mages casting spells from the rear have a duller energy perception. This difference determines life and death on the battlefield.”
As he spoke, Shane looked at Dilaila with his usual stern expression.
“So, feel the killing intent yourself and remember that fragment of sensation.”
“Ah…?”
Right after, Dilaila froze in her stance.
Cold sweat dripped from her hands and back, and her chest felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on it.
She couldn’t take a single breath in this sudden situation.
It wasn’t hard to figure out where this phenomenon was coming from.
It was from Shane who was emanating an intense killing intent.
“This is what killing intent feels like. Remember this sensation well.”
“Ugh.”
Remember it well? This is insane!
What could she say about this?
It felt like it was being etched into her cells whether she wanted it or not.
Her body stiffened from the excessive fear, causing her legs to reject the brain’s command to flee.
The sensation of a prey standing before an absolute predator.
Only after 30 more seconds did Shane withdraw his killing intent, and Dilaila collapsed and clutched her trembling legs.
“F-Fu*k…”
“D-Dilaila?”
Meanwhile, Klein who had been talking with Anais about their swordsmanship approached in confusion.
Anais also looked at Dilaila and titled her head in curiosity.
Just 30 seconds.
At that time, Dilaila’s bronze skin had turned pale and she was drenched in sweat.
“Ugh, shit! I almost pissed myself!”
“P-pissed yourself? What are you talking about…”
Klein blushed at those words, but Dilaila had no time to care about such things.
“It was faint compared to what you just felt, but the warriors at the front lines sense this kind of presence. That’s how they can prepare for the approaching danger.”
“Ugh…”
Dilaila then looked at Klein and Anais with slightly different eyes.
Do they live experiencing this?
Of course, Shane had gone overboard to precisely imprint on Dilaila what killing intent was, but it was true that the frontline warriors slowly grew accustomed to it through life-and-death battles with their enemies.
But that was that.
It was still unfair.
What kind of grudge did he have to do this to her?
It was shocking enough that a person could emit such killing intent, but more than that, Dilaila was furious that she almost pissed herself in front of everyone. She shouted,
“Damn it. I understand what you mean, but hey! What about you? Don’t just talk; show it with actions!”
Following her words, Klein gave an awkward smile and looked at Shane while Anais openly nodded her head in agreement with Dilaila’s statement.
Though they would follow the leader’s words, it would build more trust if he showed them something as well.
Klein certainly respected Shane, but now that he was the team leader, it was clear he needed to make the other team members understand that part too.
Klein also looked at Shane.
“If you’re the leader, you should show it through actions, not just words!”
Shane quietly nodded his head at Dilaila’s remark.
“Okay. Let me show you while you take a break. Follow me.”
It wasn’t a difficult task.
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