“Chinese...? I don’t know what that is, but I don’t think so. The Demon Lord is the king of all monsters. Like those orcs, earlier.”
Ah ha! So he didn’t use kung fu!!!
“I got it! First things first, I have to fight him!”
Dear Readers, I can hear you shriek: “Why!?” Easy! No matter what situation he was in, it was Wataru’s destiny as a hot-blooded fighting teen to go find anyone stronger than him!!
“The Demon Lord lives in a big castle, north of here. But the Demon Lord is very powerful...”
“That’s what I like to hear!” Wataru said, and took off running to the north!
“You’re going south!”
“Wha!?”
Whoops! How was Wataru supposed to tell north from south in this world, anyway!?
“Wait, Wataru! Take me with you!”
“I can’t! Bringing a girl to a fight!? Ridiculous!!!”
“The truth is, my parents are imprisoned in the Demon Lord’s castle!”
“Sh...! Shocking...” Wataru couldn’t conceal his dismay at the suddenly serious tone that this introduced into the story!! What a twist!!!
“From what I hear, the Demon Lord, in his conquest to push the human race to extinction, is kidnapping people from all over the world... And my parents are doctors, so they were kidnapped, too!”
Outrageous! Wataru was incensed, twitching his impeccably built pectorals in fury!!
“H-How dare he! Okay, let’s go get your parents back!”
And so, Wataru and Aria embarked on their hot-blooded adventure!
The pair immediately began walking north, heading towards the Demon Lord’s castle. The cloudless blue sky was infinitely grand and picturesque, and the rays of sunlight beaming down on them looked divine. The sky in this world looked the same to Wataru as the one in his old world. Wataru felt a sensation akin to nostalgia as he explained to Aria that he had come from another world. Naturally, she was confused, but after she patiently listened to Wataru’s hardcore and thorough explanation, she finally came to understand his situation.
A few minutes after Wataru finished describing what had happened to him, they reached the edge of a giant, dungeon-esque forest.
“Going around this forest will take us too long. Let’s cut straight through, Wataru.”
“Right!”
The pair stepped into the forest without hesitation. It was a thicket of mossy trees, strangely humid and dark despite it being the middle of the day. The mysterious yet terrifying forest was reminiscent of the Forest of Fuji, a family-friendly sightseeing spot in the province of Yamanashi.
“Something’s not right about this forest...!!”
“Wataru, I once heard that the way to the Demon Lord’s castle is guarded by powerful monsters called the Four Masters. I’m sure there’s one of these monsters in this forest.”
The Four Masters! AKA “The Elite Four,” “The Four Heavenly Kings,” “The Fearsome Foursome,” among other things! The top guardians of Demon Lords throughout any number of fantasy series! The inflators of word counts found in so many light novels!!!
“Hmm!!! Is that one up there!?”
Wataru’s trained eyesight spotted a knight standing alone in the forest! The knight’s armor was pitch-black and wickedly spiked, with a skull-like helmet to complete the whole ensemble! It looked pretty freaking sweet!
When the two approached the knight, the knight puffed out its chest and declared with a laugh: “Mwahahahaha! I am Résistance, one of the Four Masters! The most powerful knight of the realm, thoroughly and unequivocally loyal to the Demon Lord!”
The knight’s voice seemed androgynous, so I will refrain from using any gendered pronouns, for now! Résistance, as the acute accent in the word may suggest, is French! It means “rebellion”! Or “resistance”! Which, now that I think about it, makes it the worst name imaginable for a loyal knight!!!
“Grr!!! I sense a dark aura... This knight can fight...!!!”
Wataru was intimidated by Résistance’s nefarious aura! But he couldn’t afford to back down now!
“If you wish to proceed, you’ll have to go through me!”
“Done!!!!!”
Surprise attack! Without a moment’s hesitation, Wataru kicked off the ground to sprint at an incredible speed!
“Raaaaaghh!!”
He rapidly closed the distance between them! Clenching his right fist, he threw a punch smack-dab against the knight’s armor with all his might!!!
“Smsh!!!!!”
And yet...!
“Hmph. That’s all you got!?”
“Wh-What...!?”
Résistance was as cool as a cucumber, without having budged a single inch after taking Wataru’s punch directly to the chest. The knight’s black armor was much harder than Wataru had imagined!
“Grr... I’m not done yet!!”
Now, Wataru leapt high into the air and pistoned one leg out, aiming a jump-kick into his opponent’s face—I mean, into that awesome skull helmet!
“Hmph!” Résistance ducked calmly, dodging the kick!
“Damn!”
Wataru’s attack missed! Despite wearing such heavy, full-body armor, Résistance was astoundingly quick on his or her feet!
“Now it’s my turn! Hragh!” Résistance produced a giant sword from within his or her armor, and raised it high above him or her!
“Wataru! Look out!” Aria shouted!
“Grrrraggghhh!” Résistance swung down his or her weapon!
“Ddg!!!”
Wataru instinctively dove backwards, avoiding the sword by a hair! Even Wataru would suffer more than a scratch if he took a slash like that!
“Mwahahahahaha! Wataru, was it? Can’t you do any better than that?” Résistance laughed, smug amusement oozing from underneath his or her helmet.
Upon this mockery, Wataru snapped!
“Then... Spd!!!!!”
With a sharp shout, he sprinted toward Résistance, at the impossible speed of 130 km/h! Considering that the top speed of the world-famous athlete, Usain Bolt, was 36.57 km/h, we can see how ridiculously powerful Wataru’s leg muscles were!! He jumped again with inhuman force behind his step, and made another jump-kick!
Drsh!!!
Wataru’s foot collided with Résistance’s armor, the sound of the impact echoing through the forest! So powerful was the impact that the knight couldn’t help but take a step back!!
“Grr... That wasn’t bad! All right, I’ll unleash my full power!”
With that, Résistance swung his or her sword down at Wataru! Danger, Wataru Ito!!
But, then—!!!!!
“Ctch!!!!!”
“I-It can’t be!”
Wataru had caught the blade of the sword between his bare hands! How surprising!
“A-A Shinken Shirahadori!!” Résistance cried out in astonishment.
But let me be clear... This was no ordinary Shinken Shirahadori!!!!!
“Your buddy here... is going to get a little shorter...!!!!!” Wataru threatened in a growl!
Then!
Snapppp!!!!!
With a twist of his waist, he snapped the sword in his hands!!! He broke a steel sword in half with nothing but pure muscles!!!
“That’s incredible, Wataru!” Aria tossed another compliment at Wataru! Not even our Dear Readers can stop themselves from feeling satisfied by how well she was playing the role of the light novel heroine!!! But without warning, a piece of the sword that Wataru had snapped off stabbed Aria right in the forehead!
“Grraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-gggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ghghghghghghghghghgh!!”
Blood spewed out of her forehead! How was this allowed to happen to such a picture-perfect light-novel heroine!?