Chapter 18 – Miscalculation

Asutо kерt his knееs slightly bent and his hееls raised, rеady tо mоvе аt аnу moment.

Тwo seсоnds, threе sесоnds…

Тhe Lizаrdman’s bоdy graduаllу tiltеd аnd collаpsеd.

Five secоnds… tеn seconds…

Aftеr сounting plenty of timе, Аsuto confirmed whethеr his оppоnent wаs аlivе оr dead.

The Lizаrdman had аlrеаdy breаthеd its lаst.

Only thеn did Asuto finаlly releasе his Zаnshin.

“Phew…”

It hаd bеen аn incrediblу formidable еnemу.

Unlikе the Kobold battlе, Asutо соuldn’t traсk the Lizardmаn’s аttаcks with his eуes.

Не wаs аblе to dеfеаt a Моnster one rank higher thanks to Kanzaki’s Buff, of course.

In addition to that, it was also thanks to properly raising his Dagger and Evasion Skills to Level 3.

If his Skill levels had been low, he surely wouldn’t have been able to dodge or deflect the attacks.

“Just what kind of special training have you been doing?”

“What are you talking about out of the blue?”

“Subjugating a D-Rank Monster just two days after Awakening—that’s completely abnormal no matter how you look at it!”

“Who knows. Maybe all my accumulated experience is finally paying off?”

“Accumulated experience, huh…”

Amy directed a suspicious gaze at him.

Unless he made a decisive slip-up, it would be impossible for her to prove the secret behind Asuto’s power.

So he just needed to act confidently.

After performing a blood shake and sheathing his Dagger, Kanzaki approached with quick steps as if she’d been waiting for this moment.

“G-good work out there.”

“Yeah. Oh right, did your Level go up?”

“Um… ah, yes. It went up by one!”

“Oh, nice.”

Since she participated as a Buffer, the Experience Points distributed to her should be small.

Despite that, her Level went up from defeating just one Monster.

It showed just how delicious the Experience Points from a D-Rank Monster were for a G-Rank Hunter.

(It’s fun when party members’ Levels shoot up quickly, but…)

Asuto had a certain concern.

Taking low-level Hunters to high-difficulty Gates or Dungeons to raise their Levels—this practice was called Power Leveling.

Power Leveling was such a mainstream method that major Guilds used it for training newcomers.

While Levels rose rapidly, there was the downside of Skill Proficiency not increasing, leaving the Hunter hollow inside.

(…If her Level rises too much, it’ll become difficult for Kanzaki to grind her Skill Proficiency.)

Last time, Kanzaki had risen to become a Top Ranker through her own power.

What if this time Asuto helped her and created a hollow version of Kanzaki?

—The future might change drastically.

(I need Kanzaki to become a Ranker in the future.)

Against the Monsters of Heaven, only the Shimetsu Guild led by her had been able to fight properly.

The loss of that maximum Combat Power would be the worst possible future for Asuto, who planned to fight the Monsters of Heaven.

(Now, what should I do…)

“Mr. Yuki, is something wrong?”

“Ah, sorry. I was checking my Status.”

“I see, my apologies.”

He certainly couldn’t say “I was thinking about your future” even if his life depended on it.

Having lied anyway, he decided to check his Status.

○Name: Yuki Asuto (23)

Level: 23→24 Aptitude: Assassin

Rank: E SP: 15→20

Held G: 4→5

○Physical Ability

Strength: 33 Stamina: 25 Magic Power: 4

Spirit: 4 Agility: 48 Perception: 24

○Skills

・Basic Dagger Arts Lv3 (37%→45%)

・Evasion Level 3 (21%→30%)

・Leap Lv3 (7% to 13%)

・Memory Playback Lv2 (30%→35%)

・Eye of Insight Lv1 (51%)

・Return Lv1 (31%)

(As expected of a D-Rank Monster.)

Both Experience Points and Proficiency had increased incomparably more than when he was defeating Kobolds.

It was very rewarding, but the danger level was also on a completely different scale.

Just to be safe, Asuto decided to allocate points to the stats he thought necessary based on the recent battle.

○Name: Yuki Asuto (23)

Level: 24 Aptitude: Assassin

Rank: E SP: 20→0

Held G: 5

○Physical Ability

Strength: 33 Stamina: 25 Magic Power: 4

Spirit: 4 Agility: 48→60 Perception: 24→32

○Skills

・Basic Dagger Arts Lv3 (45%)

・Evasion Lv3 (30%)

・Leap Lv3 (13%)

・Memory Playback Lv2 (35%)

・Eye of Insight Lv1 (51%)

・Return Lv1 (31%)

By raising Agility and Perception, he should be able to dodge attacks more easily than before.

Closing the Status Screen, Asuto searched for his next prey.

He sensed a presence.

Making Kanzaki fall back, he entered combat stance.

A single Lizardman appeared from ahead.

Before the enemy could attack, he Leaped forward.

—Here it comes!

He twisted his neck, dodging the attack with minimal movement.

(I can see it better than before!)

He slipped into the Lizardman’s guard while it was frozen after attacking and thrust his Dagger toward its chest.

The attack that seemed like a One-Hit Kill was—

—Clang!!

However, it didn’t pierce the opponent’s flesh and was deflected.

(Damn, the scales!)

Asuto hurriedly performed a Backstep.

The Lizardman, having recovered from its freeze, launched a follow-up attack.

While dodging and deflecting it, he created distance.

“Ah, so close. You were blocked by the Lizardman’s scales. The way to defeat them is through the scales’—”

“Shut up, be quiet.”

He understood both the cause of failure and how to improve without being told.

He didn’t need advice.

On the contrary, being talked to disrupted his concentration.

“…Tch!”

Amy, having been treated dismissively, was visibly sulking.

Perhaps he’d been a bit too harsh in his tone.

He felt sorry about it, but he didn’t have the luxury to worry about that right now.

In the previous battle, Asuto had been able to deal a fatal blow to the Lizardman in one hit.

So he had forgotten that the opponent had powerful scales.

The Lizardman’s body was covered densely with scales.

This could cause Hunters’ attacks to be deflected.

There were roughly three ways to avoid having attacks deflected.

One was to use a Weapon that could cut through even the scales.

One was to aim for weak points where there were no scales.

The last one was to aim for gaps between the scales.

Last time, he had luckily struck a gap between scales, but this time he was deflected by those scales.

(It’s okay. Stay calm…)

If he let his mind become disturbed, he’d fall into a predicament.

With Return, Asuto could start over even if he failed in the worst case.

However, he wanted to avoid death if possible.

There was excruciating pain until the moment of death, and he still felt intense fear.

It would be different if he could gain something by fighting, but he wanted to avoid pointless death at all costs.

Asuto took a deep breath and reset himself.

The Lizardman’s attack.

He dodged the spearpoint.

“Ugh!”

This time, his shoulder was shallowly cut.

The opponent was adapting to Asuto’s movements.

In exchange for taking a light wound, he had slipped deep into the opponent’s guard.

—This time for sure.

He thrust out his Dagger.

This time, he consciously aimed for gaps between the scales.

But—

—Clang!

Once again, he was deflected by the scales.

The opponent’s slight movement had thrown off his aim.

(I was so close!)

A painful mistake.

But that fired up Asuto.

“Hey hey, nothing but mistakes. You should hurry up and finish it off.”

“…”

Amy’s heckling no longer reached his ears.

That’s how deeply concentrated Asuto was.

—Next time for sure!

Because it wasn’t going smoothly, he could become absorbed in it.

Because he had a real sense of steady progress, he could concentrate.

Because he was clearing difficult challenges—it was fun!

Slashing, thrusting, kicking, punching,

Evasion, Feint, Backstep.

Again and again, Asuto launched attacks at the Lizardman.

Wounds gradually accumulated on the Lizardman’s body.

It was almost time to take the opponent’s life.

Realizing this, he shifted into an even higher gear.

Gradually, he was getting used to the opponent’s movements.

He was becoming able to predict its evasive actions too.

The rest depended on his Dagger Skill.

After who knows how many exchanges, Asuto finally succeeded in deeply thrusting his Dagger into the Lizardman’s chest.

This time, it wasn’t luck that made it pierce.

He had aimed and struck it himself.

(Yes!!)

Asuto clenched his fist tightly.

This time had taken quite a while, but he had grasped the knack of it.

Next time he should be able to defeat one in less time.

He performed a blood shake and was about to sheath his Dagger when—

“…”

He heard a faint voice from behind, and Asuto immediately turned around.

There was—

“Ah…”

The figure of Kanzaki with a short spear protruding from her chest.