Chapter 221

Got her. I wasn’t dumb enough to say that aloud. I moved silently while hiding my scent and stabbed a knife at Epona’s neck from behind as hard as I could. I heard the dull sound of bone breaking—my wrist. Epona’s skin was too hard, sending the entire impact of my full-strength attack back into my hand. My dominant arm was now unusable with that and the other cracked bone. I wanted to scream from the intense pain, but I didn’t have the time. Epona turned around with a backhand blow, and I dodged by a paper-thin margin. Or at least, I thought I did. By the time I realized it had grazed my skin, I was already hurtling backward through the air, as if I were a bullet. I flew dozens of meters before landing. I was in terrible condition. My clothes were ragged, and my skin torn. The spinning had wrecked my inner ears, and my sense of direction was completely thrown off. I couldn’t even stand. I need to find Epona… Wait. I rolled on instinct, and a crater formed where I’d been a moment earlier. Epona had soared down from the sky to kick me from above. The ground ruptured, and I was tossed into the air again. I finally regained my sense of direction. That’s going way too far for a duel. She would have smashed my face in if that kick had connected. If that’s how she intended to play it, I’d respond in kind. Fortunately, I’d been knocked a good distance from her. And by miracle or chance, she was standing on the point I designated for my trap. “Cannon Volley.” I chose Epona’s current position as a killing point before the duel. On the way here, I used magic to produce cannons from my Leather Crane Bag and put them in place while running behind Epona. I couldn’t hurt her with regular attacks, and there was no time to prepare powerful moves while fighting her. Traps were a different story, though. We chose a wasteland with a clear view as the site of our duel, but I wasn’t so kind as to spend the whole fight engaged on terrain disadvantageous to an assassin. I had been luring her toward the forest, where I could hide and set traps, for the entire duel. Cannons fired at Epona from all directions with thunderous booms, kicking up a dust cloud. Attacks were stronger when there was less room for the target to escape. Epona knocked me all around during the duel, but the best way to ensure all the force of an attack connected with a target was to strike from all sides with equal strength. Preparing this trap was difficult. I’d determined the best location for it, but there was no guarantee it would go well. There was limited time to set it without Epona realizing, even with magic to help. I repeatedly compromised and recalculated, and while the location I landed on wasn’t ideal, the trap was still plenty lethal. I’d lured Epona to the spot while pretending like she was trouncing me. “Attacking from all sides with multiple Cannon Strikes upgraded to achieve maximum power. By my estimate, this should exceed Gungnir, but…” I searched for Epona with a probing spell while still on guard. It didn’t take long to find her. She was still moving. Damn, she’s charging right at me. I tried to react, but my body felt like lead. Was this because of my injuries? No, this was from Haste Bolt. Being a millisecond too slow in this fight could cost me my life. Epona’s nails hardened and sharpened to swords’ points, and she stabbed them through my throat… No, she paused just before. “Darn, I was so close. One more second, and I would’ve won.” “Yeah, our minute’s up.” Epona stopped because we’d reached the time limit. “I’m surprised. You were able to keep your composure until the end this time,” I said. She kept track of the time down to the second. That would’ve been impossible if she had lost her mind. “That was lucky. My vision went red when I saw your Cannon Volley—I could tell it was going to hurt—but getting hit by those bullets actually returned me to my senses… See, I didn’t get hurt that badly.” Her left arm hung limp, broken. I succeeded at harming the hero… Although I didn’t feel like celebrating, considering it took an attack of Gungnir’s level just to break an arm. Epona was more absurd than I thought. I was ready to kill her if necessary, but this reminded me that it would be difficult, even with my new abilities. Still, I’d say this went well. I confirmed Epona’s current strength and proved an even match for her without revealing everything in my arsenal, I thought. Nearly everything I employed in this match was something from my battle against the orc demon. I didn’t reveal any new tricks, preferring to keep those for emergencies. Were I not so picky, I would’ve done even better. “Sorry about that. I can’t hold back when fighting you,” I apologized. “Don’t worry. It’s already healed. Thanks for going all-out. Anything less would’ve been unsatisfying, and I feel sharper than I have in ages.” Epona waved her arms to show she was okay, including her left one, which had been broken a moment ago. The injury that nearly cost me my life was already gone. Even my Rapid Recovery skill couldn’t keep up with that absurd healing rate. It took all my effort to stand. I didn’t look hurt, but I was worn out from boosting my body with magic and the drug. The nerve damage would take a while to heal. I was unable to dodge Epona’s final attack because I’d lost my increased physical strength. I had to expend a lot more effort than anticipated, shortening the time I could maintain my physical strengthening by a few seconds… This didn’t happen during my tests. Learning that fighting Epona would push me to this extent made this worthwhile. “Let’s fight again sometime. I want to get stronger. I have to.” “Because of that promise?” “Yeah. But that’s not all. I have a skill called Future Calculation, and I don’t know why, but it makes my heart pound with fear. It’s a vague feeling, but it’s like a warning that I’ll be in trouble if I remain weak.” That lined up with the private conversation between the goddess and the Puppeteer that the Alam Karla overheard. Under normal circumstances, the hero fought multiple demons and gained strength before fighting the Demon King, but I took those opportunities from her. During the battle with the pig demon—the first we encountered—Epona demonstrated she had what it took to be the strongest hero in history, but she hadn’t fought a demon since. I didn’t know if she still had that potential. I need more information. Epona’s weakness wouldn’t be an issue if we managed to kill all the demons and prevent the Demon King’s resurrection. But if the Demon King returned and the goddess was right that only the hero could defeat them… Then I’d be responsible for leading the world to annihilation instead of salvation. If that came to be, I would have to take responsibility. I had to protect this world.