Three slimes surrounded Suzuki. Each was as large as a boar, filled with juicy experience points and deadly acid.
Suzuki had both of his swords in hand. One was the azure blue lightning blade and the other was the pure white snow katana. The two of them built up to what Suzuki called the "Blizzard Blades".
When these two weapons were dual-wielded, they enhanced the other sword's abilities, creating powerful storm effects with every cut.
If Suzuki would have wanted to, he could have already cut down each of the large slimes. Not only did he possess an incredible amount of strength, but also two of the most powerful blades in all of Astria.
The reason he did not move was due to the small woman behind him.
"Is your spell ready?" Suzuki looked back at her.
"One moment… Just one more second… Alright, I'm ready!"
It was Pepon. She made a bunch of strange movements with her hand as she read her book. Then, when she was done, she stepped forward and pointed at the slimes.
"Hundred Finger Stab Wounds!"
The slimes turned towards the loud girl. Nothing happened, at least for a moment, after which an array of sharp projectiles surrounded the three monsters. One by one, they shot through the beasts, poking holes in their membrane and shooting their innards everywhere.
"Chumiii!" The slimes screamed as they deflated.
With one decisive spell, Pepon was able to slay all three of the slimes. However, it came with a cost.
Pepon stumbled to a side and fell to the ground.
"Pepon!" Suzuki yelled her name as he rushed to help the girl.
"D-Don't worry!" Pepon lifted her head off the ground. "I'm feeling a bit light-headed, but that must be because I'm out of 'MP'. You knew that it stands for 'Mana Points', right?"
Suzuki nodded, then helped Pepon onto her feet.
The main road was already out of sight. There were trees everywhere, indicating that they were about to enter the forest.
Unfortunately, this was as deep as they would go. Pepon was out of mana and she did not have anything that could refill it. If she wanted to use her spells again, she needed to take a break.
"I guess that's as far as I'll go." Said Pepon before turning towards the main road. "Well, it was fun! Same time tomorrow?"
"Right…"
Pepon had her back turned towards Suzuki. When he noticed that, something in his eyes changed. The joyful adventurer's soul disappeared from within and what was left was something cold and sinister.
Suzuki approached Pepon. He observed their surroundings with caution, putting extra care into making sure there was no one else around.
He unsheathed his azure blue blade.
"Hey, Suzuki!" Pepon dusted off her clothes. "Why are you so quiet? Did a cat steal your tongue?"
Suzuki jumped into the air. He raised his blade and aimed at the girl's throat, when suddenly…
Clang!!!
Just as he would have killed Pepon, Gabriel appeared from a nearby push and perfectly blocked Suzuki's strike.
Both met the other's gaze. Suzuki's eyes were filled with pure hate and Gabriel's were burning with a determined fire.
"Well, whatever!" Pepon shrugged with a smile, ignoring the loud noise behind her. "I'm going home. Bye!"
Suzuki's attack was far greater than Gabriel's and it sent the demon flying towards a tree. He hit his back against the tree's wide trunk and before he could have even gasped for air…
"Thunder Dragon's Blizzard Storm!"
Suzuki rushed forth with the two swords above his head.
Gabriel raised his sword to defend himself from the attack. Despite his loss of strength, he still had his fighting technique memorized by heart.
However, that was not enough now.
"I can't block this attack!" Gabriel's instincts screamed as Suzuki got closer. He dodged the attack by ducking under the two blades that hit the tree instead.
Fwoosh!
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As if being struck by the world's cleanest axe, the large tree was cut down with just one clean swipe. This attack was so enormously powerful, that the upper half of the tree evaporated into thin air and the lower half was set on fire.
"Impressive!" Suzuki exclaimed with a smile.
Gabriel wasted no time with his next attack. He lunged towards Suzuki with the blade aimed at his chest. However, Suzuki was able to block this attack with an unnatural speed.
Gabriel's sword was caught between the two blades, aiming down on his weapon like an oversized scissor.
"Hah!" Suzuki laughed. "If I cut down your sword, you won't have anything to block my attacks!"
At that moment, the most reasonable action would have been to pull away the sword from Suzuki's blades. He was right that if Gabriel was to lose his sword, he could not continue this fight, which means that Suzuki could easily kill him.
However, this is exactly what Suzuki was waiting for. If at that moment Gabriel would have pulled away, Suzuki could have easily beheaded him thanks to the cleared way to Gabriel's throat.
But Gabriel was smarter than that.
Instead of pulling away, he kicked himself off of the burning tree and sent his knee into Suzuki's stomach.
"Kuhee!" Suzuki gasped for air as he recoiled.
For a moment, Suzuki was stunned. That left Gabriel with enough time to run away.
But instead of fleeing the scene, once again, Gabriel lunged towards Suzuki!
The latter immediately raised his swords to defend himself. He was still slow because he still couldn't recover from the last attack.
This was his downfall.
Gabriel grabbed both of his wrists and pulled him close, headbutting him right in the face!
"Ugeeh!" Suzuki cried out in pain as Gabriel broke his nose.
Turning the two swords in his hand, he tried to impale Gabriel from behind.
"How about this, you moron?" Suzuki thought to himself. "You walked right into the lion's den, don't be surprised when you get bit in the ass!"
As the blades came down, Gabriel ducked once again. This time it was not just to defend himself, but also to attack.
He grabbed Suzuki's legs and jumped back. As he did, Suzuki was swept off of his feet and he fell right onto the ground.
Gabriel tried to attack him again, however, Suzuki waved his swords around like a madman.
The warrior Gabriel saw during Pepsi's test was not in there anymore. Instead, he was left with a ferocious cat, lying on its back to defend with all fours.
Gabriel distanced himself and picked up his sword.
The tree that was caught by Thunder Dragon's Blizzard Storm was burning even louder. The flames had spread onto the nearby trees, turning them into walls of fire.
The two men were locked inside the ring of a burning forest.
"Stand up!" Gabriel pointed his sword at Suzuki. "I did not come here to litter the forest with trash!"
Suzuki was angered like a wild bull. He grabbed the handle of his sword and he was just about to rush Gabriel when suddenly, he stopped.
Suzuki saw something.
"What are you waiting for?" Gabriel taunted Suzuki, but he just chuckled.
The ferocity in his eyes disappeared and a smile took its place. He stood up from the ground and dusted off his clothes.
His stance was completely casual. His smile was friendly and warm as if he had not just tried to kill a man.
Gabriel was ready for a surprise attack. He held his sword 45° to the right, so he could just as easily attack as he could block Suzuki.
He was ready for anything.
Or so he had thought.
Because what happened next was something he could not prepare for…