Chapter 126: Jairo and the Man's Wall

◆ Jairo ◆

“Alright then, who’s the next opponent?”

Called by the official, I head out to the match venue, and cheers erupt from the spectator seats.

“Jairo is here!”

“It’s Blue Flame Jairo!”

As I kept winning in the main tournament, the spectators started calling me Blue Flame Jairo.

Apparently, they named me after the color of the fire from the strengthening magic I use.

It’s a bit embarrassing, but having an alias isn’t bad, right?

When I wave to the spectators as service, the seats get even more excited.

Nice, nice, this feels like a top-class adventurer!

“Heheh, I’ll nail this match perfectly too!”

When I go up to the arena stage, the opponent comes up from the opposite side at the same time.

He was a burly warrior wearing a bucket helmet on his head.

If I recall correctly, his name was Usori.

His equipment is armor using half hard leather and half metal, equipment for a type who fights by exchanging blows rather than dodging.

Not suited for evasion, but protecting only the important parts with metal, huh.

The old me would have thought he should just make it all metal, but the current me understands that making useless parts heavy is wasteful.

That means the opponent understands that too and chose such equipment.

And as for Usori‘s weapon, this was a bit unusual.

That is, his weapons are two longswords.

Not knives or short swords that are easy to handle with one hand, but both are longswords.

When I first saw it, I wondered if he could fight properly with that, but he actually handled the two longswords lightly in the match and won without danger.

“He’s a bit different from the guys until now.”

Thanks to Big Bro training me, I’ve started to understand the opponent’s strength a bit.

From my eyes, this guy is undoubtedly strong.

“Contestant Jairo, Contestant Usori, both step forward.”

Called by the referee, we step forward and ready our weapons against each other.

The moment we readied our weapons, I felt the opponent’s atmosphere change, and my skin tingled.

“Then, match BEGIN!”

“Here I gooo!”

With the start signal, I move forward with a swift attack.

Usori does the same, and the distance closed in an instant as we both moved forward.

“ORAA!”

“……!”

The sensation of each other’s swords clashing.

Usori rotates his body using the clashed swords as a fulcrum and tries to attack me with the weapon held in the opposite hand.

But that’s impossible.

“!?”

Because your sword can’t withstand the sharpness of my sword!

My sword easily cut through Usori‘s sword, and he lost his balance, failing the follow-up attack.

Ideally, I wanted to cut it from the base, but unfortunately, Usori‘s sword still had a blade remaining about the length of a short short sword.

However, with this, the reach of the broken sword is halved.

I’ll pile on the pressure at once!

Applying flight magic, I spout flames from only one side of my back, forcibly rotating my body half a turn to face Usori.

Furthermore, spouting flames from only half of the swung sword, I slashed at Usori as if to blow him away.

“BOOST SLAAAASH!!”

The sword accelerated to maximum speed in an instant attacks Usori.

“Kuh!”

But Usori barely dodges my attack, jumping back to regain his stance.

“Heh, not bad.”

◆ Usori ◆

What is this.

To think I would meet such a powerful individual in a place like this when I participated in the tournament hiding my identity for training!

Having realized my lack of power by accepting that request, I went on a journey to retrain myself once more.

And participating in the tournament held in the town I happened to stop by was the correct answer.

To taste such a deathmatch so early in my training journey!

“Alright then, here I go!”

As soon as he says it, the boy called Blue Flame Jairo leaps at me.

The momentum of that dive is reminiscent of that boy.

Yes, the monster who appeared like a comet and made his name known in the blink of an eye.

The youngest S-rank adventurer, Rex the Giant Eater.

“Nuuh!”

I dodge the blue flame sword by a hair’s breadth.

From the earlier exchange, I know receiving that sword is meaningless.

However, the miscalculation was that the weapon boasted such sharpness even without using the strengthening magic that became the origin of the Blue Flame alias.

Thanks to that, half of my weapon is like this.

If only I had my usual partners.

“Ah? What did you say?”

Blue Flame, who seemed to have heard my murmur, asks back sharply.

He heard it, but it seems he couldn’t catch the content.

But that’s fine.

Saying I could win in perfect condition is nothing but spoiling myself.

Above all, with Black Fang and White Fang, it wouldn’t be retraining.

Precisely because I realized I relied on them too much, I purposely sealed my two partners to retrain myself.

Thinking that way, this Blue Flame is a good opponent giving me a sense of crisis on the edge.

That sword’s sharpness rivals the dangerous blow of the giant chimera I fought some time ago.

In the sense that if either hits, I won’t get off scot-free.

I continue to dodge Blue Flame’s attacks by a hair’s breadth.

If I take even one hit, my equipment will become useless.

Above all, to counterattack this opponent, I must eliminate wasted movements and dodge by a paper-thin margin.

Well, the truth is I can’t dodge Blue Flame’s attacks unless it’s by a hair’s breadth.

Truly pathetic.

To think I called myself an S-rank adventurer with such a state.

Good grief, the world is wide.

I just devote myself to dodging.

Struggling this much without Black Fang and White Fang, I realize my immaturity.

And Blue Flame’s technique is also tremendous.

The equipment’s performance is troublesome, but what’s most terrifying is the skill to freely master that weapon.

The sense to fuse magic and sword techniques is also not to be underestimated.

His unyielding spirit to jump in without flinching at the opponent’s attacks suggests he has survived carnage unimaginable from his youthful appearance.

Rough parts are still visible, but in simple ability, he might surpass me.

However, the world of combat is not won by that alone.

Sometimes in battle, the weak can defeat the strong.

To realize that, I patiently endure Blue Flame’s attacks.

“Damn it.”

Doing so, I can tell Blue Flame is getting impatient.

His technique and courage are considerable, but he is young here after all.

“Then how about this!”

This young man lacks patience.

The impatient Blue Flame plays his trump card to change the situation by force.

But that is exactly my aim!

Here!

I intentionally let Blue Flame into my guard and receive him with my own weapon.

Naturally, my sword is cut by Blue Flame’s sword and becomes completely useless, but that is accounted for.

Blue Flame floats a smile convinced of victory upon cutting my sword.

He probably thought that if he took one weapon from me, a dual wielder, my combat power would be halved.

Indeed, that is correct.

In fact, with fewer weapons, my combat power is halved.

So I throw away the useless sword without hesitation and slash at Blue Flame with the remaining sword.

“Wh-!?”

At my figure showing no hesitation losing half a weapon, Blue Flame is rather the one shaken.

I am used to fighting enemies superior to myself.

“Uah!?”

My sword flicks Blue Flame’s weapon high into the sky.

No matter how strong, if he loses his weapon, he cannot fight in the first place.

Maybe against a giant monster, but destroying my armor with bare hands is impossible.

Then I, with a sword remaining, am advantageous!

This is the end!

I slam a blow with all my might into Blue Flame.

“Yeah… FOR YOU!”

The moment Blue Flame muttered incomprehensible words, a severe impact ran through my solar plexus.

“Gaha… !?”

Straining my body stiffened and immobilized by severe pain to lower my only moving eyes, Blue Flame’s fist was deeply buried there.

Im-Impossible…!?

To think Blue Flame’s aim was the same as mine…

A lifelong blunder for Lisou of the Twin Great Fangs…

◆

He got me; I completely thought so.

Far from being shocked that I destroyed his weapon, this guy used his own weapon as bait.

Thanks to that, my sword was flicked high into the sky.

This bastard, what incredible decisiveness!

And Usori swings his sword down at the defenseless me.

Damn, in this situation where I lost my balance, I can’t dodge that…

Above all, my weapon is gone.

I can’t fight like this.

Sorry Big Bro, even though you made me amazing equipment.

If it were Big Bro, he could manage even in this situation…

That’s right! Big Bro definitely wouldn’t give up in a pinch of this level!

I’m not strong like Big Bro, but I’m Big Bro’s little bro!

Can I give up in a place like this!

“Above all, I haven’t lost yet!”

I can give up after I lose!

I pour magic power into my fist and strengthen my arm.

This is the Pinpoint Strengthening of Body Enhancement Magic taught by Big Bro before!

Big Bro said the drawback is that strengthening of other parts becomes weak when doing this, but if successful, my fist should be able to shatter even iron!

No, not should! I definitely can!

This is a chance!

A fight with a dangerously strong enemy is a chance for me to catch up to Big Bro!

“This is the end!”

Usori shouts, convinced of victory.

“Yeah… FOR YOU!”

“What!?”

Ignoring Usori‘s voice of surprise heard from behind the helmet, I slam my fist into Usori‘s sword with all my might.

“Are you sane!?”

Usori raises a voice of confusion at my daredevil action.

And I won the bet.

My fist wasn’t cut in two by Usori‘s sword; conversely, it snapped Usori‘s sword in two.

Furthermore, without killing the momentum, the fist crushed Usori‘s armor like paper.

“Goh!?”

My attack landed perfectly, and Usori‘s body bent like a V.

And the light in the eyes visible from the helmet’s gap disappears.

“Alright!”

I won, I got one step closer to Big Bro again.

I thought so, at that moment.

“Gofu!?”

Suddenly, tremendous pain ran through my crown, and I lost consciousness without even knowing what happened.

◆ Mina ◆

The moment everyone was convinced of Jairo‘s victory, something falling from the sky hit Jairo‘s crown directly.

And Jairo gave a short scream and slowly fell to the ground.

“……”

Cheers disappear from the match venue at the sudden event.

What fell was Jairo‘s weapon.

It seems the weapon that was flicked by Contestant Usori and dancing in the air fell on Jairo‘s head immediately after the match was decided.

“…”

And when the referee crouched beside the two and confirmed they were completely unconscious, he shook his head lightly.

Then standing up, he raised both hands and crossed them largely.

“This match is judged a double knockout and declared a draw!”

“EHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Thus, the match between Jairo and Contestant Usori ended in a draw due to the unexpected mutual knockout.

“That idiot, letting his guard down at the very end…”

Well, it was force majeure, but… a little more, you know?

“Huh? The match is already over?”

And, with bad timing, Rex returned at this moment when the match ended.

Ah- no, maybe it’s better that he didn’t see the embarrassing moment for that idiot?