Chapter 62: Between You And Me
TL: Akabane
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"Kikagei-ryu, win!"
Frey gave her all and defeated Ryu.
Meimei, overcome with emotion, hugged her vigorously.
"FREY~!!!!!!!!"
"Ogo! You've got to cut the sh*t, you idiot, you're the wounded ones!"
"That was great! I was impressed, Frey! I was so moved, Frey! When you did the willow break on him, my body was so hot! And, thanks for winning the match! Thanks to Frey, the Kikagei-ryu signboard is now protected!"
Meimei, with a big smile on her face, expresses her gratitude to Frey, with a hint of embarrassment on her cheeks.
Athena opened her mouth in admiration as she watched such a smiling scene.
"Dale was right. I know now that Frey's 'emotion' was tremendous. The explosiveness of the moment was off the charts."
"I'm sure you're right. She doesn't know that emotion exists, and she doesn't use it intentionally like we do, but it's triggered by instinct. And it's not just emotion, it's emotion from an extreme state of calmness, where you've held back, calmed your anger, and calmed your mind. It's even more powerful because of that drop-off."
"I see ...... It looks like we've widened the gap again."
"You're not simply a brainiac, are you?"
"Let's end this farce."
A low voice cut through the congenial air of Dale and the others.
I close my mouth and turn my gaze toward the voice.
It was Tao Ron, his brow wrinkled, who cut through the victorious mood.
He was gushing a murderous intent from all over his body and quietly walking toward us. Dale laughed and asked Tao Ron.
"You call this a farce? The game is over, Frey won. Don't tell me you're going to pretend this match never happened."
"That's right. This is nothing but a farce. I should have been here from the beginning!"
In an instant, Tao Ron closes the gap and shoots a piercing hand between the eyebrows of the unleashed Frey.
But his fingertips never reached Frey. Because Dale, who was moving at the same time, grabbed Tao Ron's arm.
"Hey, hey, Tao Ron, adults shouldn't get involved in kids' fights. If you still want to play, I'll play with you."
"......Fine. I'll kill you and get rid of those kids right there."
"You guys stay back. I'm going to put the hammer down on the outcasts who have spoiled the sacred game."
"Oh, oh......"
As Dale said, Frey and Meimei went back to Athena and the others.
Tao Ron twisted his arm to break the restraints and took a large distance and took a stance. And Dale, too, took up his stance.
"Well, you look good for an adventurer, don't you? Do you think you can beat me with a little bit of martial arts?"
"Well, they say that the disciple is much like his master, and it looks like that's true. Stop your chattering and come at me."
"Ah! I'll send you to the other side as soon as you wish!"
Kicking up the floor, Tao Ron crushes the distance between him and Dale as if he were breaking wind.
As he approached, he unleashed a furious rush.
"So fast!"
"I can't follow it with my eyes ...... What a fast attack!"
"But it looks like Dale can see it."
Mirialia was right, Dale had prevented all of the blinding barrage.
Not only that, but he occasionally counterattacked Tao Ron. A breathless attack and defense. While neither of them had any clean hits, Tao Ron raised the corner of his mouth as if he could afford to do so.
"I didn't think you could keep up with my moves! Then, let me show you the essence of the Haten-ryu too!"
"Ugh!!!!"
Tao Ron further increases the speed of his attack. Not only that, but he added the rotation of the Haten-ryu technique.
Dale also tries to bite, but he is unable to prevent it and is pushed in, gradually taking damage.
Frey couldn't use the same method that had broken Ryu's technique. Rather, she had already tried and failed.
Ryu and Tao Ron's skill level is too different. In Ryu's case, she was able to stop the spinning before it was complete, but Tao Ron's spinning was at it's highest point from the moment he released it. In addition, the speed of the attack itself was so fast that it was impossible to parry it.
"Haten-ryu Spiral Kick!"
"Gah!"
Dale is hit by a powerful leg blow and blows away, dragging the floor.
His defenses were pierced, but he mitigated the damage by jumping backward as quickly as he could. Even so, he received a considerable impact on his body, and his knees collapse with a gulp.
Ryu's spiral kick rotated only his feet, but Tao Ron's rotated his lower body, upper body, and entire body, concentrating all his power on a single point.
The power of this technique is not for the faint of heart.
"Aniki!"
"His kicking is awesome, but more than that, Dale's looking funny......"
"Yeah ...... he doesn't have his usual sharpness."
"Hey Dale! I won't forgive you if you lose!"
(I'm not going to forgive you ......... you say it so harshly. I'm already physically exhausted. And this b*stard is much stronger than I thought......)
In fact, Dale's body had already been wounded in the fight against the "Witch" of the Labyrinth Order "Seven Evil".
He had consumed all of his physical strength, had been slashed all over his body, and was fatigued from the release of all of his magic power. Normally, his body wouldn't even be able to fight. Dale is forcibly moving his body with his willpower.
What was also a miscalculation was Tao Ron's ability.
The master of the Haten-ryu, who has many hoodlums in his employ, was under the impression that he was not a great guy, but when he opened his eyes, he turned out to be a first-class martial artist.
His physical strength and martial arts are comparable to a gold rank adventurer gold rank.
He is too tough an opponent to fight in his current state.
(I can't say that, can I? I can't show my pathetic figure in front of their eyes.)
Even so, Dale doesn't give up.
He said so many great things about himself, but if he lost, it wouldn't look good. He is not going to be able to get rid of Athena, Frey, Mirialia, Meimei, or even himself.
Dale's whole body weakens and he exhales deeply.
He let his mind go numb and his concentration go to the limit.
"Oh, have you given up already? No other words, it seems that you are still just a mouthful with adventurers, after all."
(No ...... that was meditation.)
Tao Ron thought Dale had given up the game, but Mirialia thought differently.
He said that the movement that Dale just made was a meditation that Mirialia has been training for a long time.
But I don't believe it. It takes her about a minute to get into a meditative state, too, but Dale literally went into a deep meditative state in an instant.
"It's no use trying to do anything now! This is the last time!"
Tao Ron released a piercing hand as he rushed toward Dale.
Against the tome's blow, Dale assessed the trajectory and ducked just in time.
"--? Don't try to make a mistake!!!!"
Dodging the attack, Tao Ron unleashes a barrage of furious strikes.
Dale, however, had ducked and parried all the attacks. Suddenly the attacks stopped hitting, and Tao Ron became impatient in his heart.
(Why! Why can you respond to my attacks! And what is this strange feeling? ......You are moving so fast as if you know how I am going to attack! Don't tell me you are reading my attack!)
Tao Ron is not the only one who is puzzled.
Athena and the others watching the game were also surprised at Dale's ability to parry Tao Ron's attacks.
"It's amazing ...... that he was getting hit all the time just now, but he's handling it perfectly."
"I don't get it ...... what the hell happened to that b*stard!"
"Are you reading the attack?"
"Hoho, Dale isn't reading them, he's guiding them. He's guiding it."
"Guiding......? Master, what is going on?"
Meimei asks how Dale is suddenly able to deal with Tao Ron's attacks, and Master Pai replies, stroking his long beard.
"When you get to the level of those two, you're fighting while reading each other's movements. Their eyes, their breathing, their movements, their presence. They are selecting the most appropriate attack while assessing each of these factors moment by moment. Dale takes advantage of this, and by daring to create an opening, he guides his attack and responds to Tao Ron's aggression."
"What the heck is that ...... he is doing such a ridiculous thing in that fierce battle!"
"He's a genius......."
At Athena's response, Master Pai let out a sigh and told her, "It's the opposite."
"He is an ordinary. He is inferior to Athena in swordsmanship, inferior to Frey in physical ability, and inferior to Mirialia in magic. But because he has no talent, he has more power than anyone else."
"What ...... is that power?"
"The power to watch and learn."
"The power to watch ...... and learn? Is that the secret of Dale's power?"
Athena asked, not quite sure what to think, and Master Pai quietly nodded his head.
"It's something everyone does on a regular basis. When a child learns to cook from his parents, or a newcomer learns a job from his seniors, one learns by watching and making it one's own, right? In his case, he is more skilled than anyone else."
"Well, Dale, he said it before. Don't think it's easy to learn, watch and steal, that's what he's been doing......."
Frey looks back at the memory of the last time she went to Dale's room in the middle of the night to talk to him.
As she recalls, at that time, Dal had said.
--- "Of course not. Don't be lenient, it's up to you to be strong. Don't take the easy way out, don't try to learn from others. Watch and learn, watch what other adventurers do and think, steal it for yourself, and make it your own. At least that's what I've been doing."
I was strongly impatient, not wanting to lose to Athena, and asked him how I could become stronger.
But Dale blackmailed me not to take the easy way out, but to worry and think for myself.
"This is just my imagination, but he must have been living in 'that kind of environment' since he was a child. He must have lived in a harsh environment where no one could teach him, where he had to learn by seeing with his own hands. That is not a talent. It is the power of sincerity that Dale has grasped with his own hands."
"So you're saying that the reason he was able to defend against that string attack was because he learned it by watching?"
"Yes. He learned Tao Ron's movements and attack patterns during the fight, and by guiding it, he was able to neutralize it's rotation."
"That's great ...... he's still great!"
"Meimei, that's not the only great thing about him. Dale can instantly apply the power he learns. When he first came to this dojo, he learned the kata of Kikagei-ryu in no time at all. That alone was amazing, but he has made the kata his own."
I still remember it.
When I had kumite with Dale, who had learned the kata, he used it in his first kumite.
It was as if he had been training for decades. He also knew how to fight and his habits and responded immediately. Thanks to this, Master Pai's martial arts blood began to boil, and he took his opponent seriously.
"If you're going to fight him, you've got to make the first move. But Tao Ron showed his composure and gave Dale time. That's why he lost."
"Oh! If he can read his attacks, he can't avoid him until he do something he can't avoid!
Screaming, Tao Ron performs a special move with a spinning motion over his entire body.
"Haten-ryu, Double Spiral Penetration!!!!"
A super-fast penetrating move released from both hands.
Dale.falls backward with his weight against the oncoming deadly hands with a swell. Spinning his hands, he parries the two arms of Tao Ron as if pushing them up from below.
"Kikagei-ryu, Willow Drop."
Forced to completely turn the tide, Tao Ron is forced to bend forward and lose his position.
Dale didn't miss that momentary opening.
"I'm sure it was something like this, that kick you just did. I'm going to pay you back exactly for what you did to me."
"--?"
Dale grins, his face turning from emotion to stillness with anger.
Using the force of his fall, he spins his body around and around.
He puts all the power of the rotation into his legs, and fires a full-bodied leg shot.
"Haten-ryu Spiral Kick!"
"--Gah!!!!!"
A heavy sound roars out with a zdong.
Tao Ron, who was hit in the gut by a strong spinning kick, was blown diagonally upward and slammed into the ceiling, where he fell with a sneak and slammed to the floor.
After confirming that there was no reaction, Dale released his emotions and said, "I'm sorry, I can't help it."
"Between you and me. I'm actually pissed off at your dirty ways, too."
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