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Who the hell is this guy?! Once I put some distance between us, I turned around to see a giant of a man, nearly three meters tall, standing imposingly with his arms folded across his chest. He looked like the depictions of Roman gladiators I’d seen in history books. He had dark skin, was wearing only pants, and had tattoos across his muscular chest—except the tattoos were all magic circles. Directly inscribing magic circles onto one’s body was an outdated and inefficient technique, but it was clear whoever had inked those circles had been a powerful mage.
The man’s body was covered in scars, most of which resembled those left by punches and kicks. Only one appeared to be a sword cut: a thick, straight line running from his right hand to his elbow. If the cut had been as deep as the scar suggested, he should have lost his arm. Either there had been a skilled healer to stitch him up, or the bottomless wellspring of mana he’d gained upon becoming a Valkaan had enhanced his body’s natural healing abilities. At the very least, I was certain he was a Valkaan. The amount of mana he exuded left no room for doubt.
“You’re the first person I’ve met in a hundred years who could dodge three of my attacks! What is your name, warrior?”
Well, yeah, most people aren’t able to dodge surprise attacks from a Valkaan! Annoyed, I shouted, “I don’t name myself to cowards.”
“Oho! Well, I’m Burbelga!”
Does this guy know how conversations work? If he’s sane, he wouldn’t run around attacking every random person he sees. But if he’s the one who killed Shumar’s men, he’s definitely got a few screws loose. Arshes had been like this too. Why did humans lose their minds after gaining power? Well, that’s not important right now. I need to lead him away from the forest, or he’ll reach everyone before they finish retreating. Talking is another way to buy time, I suppose.
“Are you the one who killed the team from Kuwol?” I shouted.
“Kuwol? Never heard of it. I’m only interested in strong people! The weak deserve to die, so I killed them! Ahahaha!”
Okay. He’s totally insane. Why do these people always end up becoming Valkaan? Fortunately, it seemed he mistakenly thought I was actually as strong as him. That would make it easier to keep his attention and lure him away from the forest, or so I thought... Burbelga went on the offensive again before I could formulate a plan.
“Let’s have a fair fight!” he declared, rushing at me.
“There’s nothing fair about this, you coward!” I transformed into a werewolf, knowing I’d need my full strength to last even a few seconds against this him.
“AWOOO!” I let out a howl, hitting Burbelga with a full-power Soul Shaker. Originally, the ability was meant to absorb nearby mana, but through refining the technique over my lifetime, I’d gotten it to the point where I could kill a human instantly with it. Of course, I didn’t expect it to do any damage to a Valkaan.
Burbelga just smiled and launched a punch at my face. “Hah! A werewolf?! Then you must have been a slave like me!”
Wait, what? Werewolves were slaves in the past? What kind of culture did the ancient civilization have? I wanted to question him further, but I had no time to talk.
“Ngh!” His fist made contact. It wasn’t particularly fast, but it was accurate enough that I couldn’t completely dodge, and I was sent flying.
So even a slow punch has tons of force when powered by a Valkaan’s magical mass. Newton’s laws state that kinetic energy is a product of speed and mass, so enough mass means even slow hits will hurt. Actually, do Newtonian mechanics even apply here? ...And why am I seeing so many apples?
“Wha...?!” I must have lost consciousness for a moment while I was flying through the air. However brief, it had still been over a decade since someone had knocked me out.
Among strengthening magic’s repertoire was a spell that increased overall toughness and made you more resistant to passing out. I’d cast it for this fight too, but Burbelga had managed to knock me out despite that.
Grinning, Burbelga shouted, “Oh! So you can take these hits! Wonderful! How about this?!”
Please, stop. I can’t endure any more. I can’t even buy anyone anytime. Though I was on the verge of giving up, my body moved on its own. No matter how hopeless the situation was, I knew I couldn’t let myself fall too quickly. I used the Gusokujutsu I’d learned in Wa to redirect the force of Burbelga’s roundhouse kick and circled behind him. He may be a Valkaan, but he still had the body of a human. And humans had very limited options when trying to hit behind them.
“What a slippery werewolf!”
As expected, Burbelga tried to punch backwards, and while it was a fast punch, the limited range of motion in his shoulder joints meant I could read the trajectory easily. I dodged it by a hair’s breadth, then grabbed Burbelga’s arm. My plan was to dislocate his shoulder, and eventually dislocate his other limbs as well to render him powerless. Unfortunately, I lacked the strength to even move his arm.
“Hrrraaaaaah!”
“Whoa!” My pinning techniques worked on even giants, but this Valkaan was able to swing me around like I weighed no more than a kitten. “Those are some interesting moves you’ve got! Hngh!”
He threw another basic punch at me. Honestly, with how much power and speed his punches possessed, he had no need for technique.
“Dammit!”
I strengthened my physical abilities as much as my magic would allow; increasing my durability, strength, speed, and regeneration and even numbing my pain. Over the past decade, I’d acquired many new spells from helping Master with her research and doing some direct research of my own. I was no longer the half-assed mage who’d only beaten Arshes through dumb luck. Plus, I’d also learned plenty of new techniques from Rolmund’s werewolves, Meraldia’s old werewolves, and Wa’s martial artists. I used everything I’d learned in this life to parry Burbelga’s punches, dodge his kicks, and evade his tackles. If he got even one clean hit in, I’d be dead for sure.
Burbelga laughed heartily as he watched me struggle. “Hahaha! What a strong foe! You must be a famous Valkaan!”
No, I’m just a mage, you monstrous bastard. Are you blind? Regardless, he was focused solely on his fight with me, which was a good thing. The farther south I could drag him, the more time everyone would have to escape. I was slowly inching southward, trying to make it seem natural enough that Burbelga didn’t get suspicious. I knew there was only so much time I could buy just by fighting him, so I needed to put more distance between us and Mount Kayankaka as well.
After a few more attacks, Burbelga frowned and said, “Why won’t you fight back?!”
Because if I don’t focus on defense, you’ll kill me in seconds! Of course, I couldn’t let him know that, so I grinned and said, “I don’t feel like showing my skills to a coward like you.”
That was a downright lie. I’d already used every technique I had up my sleeve.
But the bluff seemed to work, as Burbelga bellowed another laugh and said, “Oho! I see! Then it’s time to get serious!”
Wait, wait, wait. Let’s take things easy for just a bit longer. Before I could say anything, Burbelga came at me with a lightning-fast punch—clearly faster than the speed of sound since there was a wall of air in front of it.
“Nrgh!” The shock wave from the punch alone sent me flying, but that wasn’t even the worst part.
Burbelga had conjured a blade of mana at the edge of his fist, which gouged my stomach. I’d dodged the punch, but because mana wasn’t affected by air resistance, the blade reached me almost immediately after. The cut was deep enough that I didn’t have the strength to get back up.
Within the dust cloud he’d created, Burbelga shouted, “How’d you like that?! That’s what my punches are like when I get serious! Hmm? Where’d you go?!”
It seemed he’d lost sight of me. I wanted to keep him occupied, but I had no strength left. I was practically out of mana too and couldn’t recover any of it with Soul Shaker because it didn’t have enough power to overcome Burbelga’s innate ability to draw mana towards him.
“Ugh...” I used a spell to deaden any noise I made and started crawling southward. I didn’t know how long the twilight would be able to mask my presence, but I wanted to be as far away from Kuwol as possible when Burbelga found me.
“Heeey, where are you?! You promised to show me your techniques!”
No, I didn’t. Judging by how far away his voice and scent were, he hadn’t moved from where he’d punched me. He really wasn’t the least bit worried that he might lose to me.
Sighing, I continued moving south. Unfortunately, I was so focused on the threat behind me that I failed to notice I was crawling right off a cliff. By the time I realized I was grasping at empty air, my body had already pitched forward, and I lost consciousness as I plummeted down to the depths below.