041-060 · 049-ch43

Chapter 43: Combat Training

I ducked under the first slash, and as I moved to sweep at its feet, a second sword came down at my head from above.

Dodging that as well, I stepped in beside the second one—only to find a third zombie soldier waiting there with its sword drawn, ready to impale me as I emerged.

I forcibly entangled my blade with that thrust, deflecting it, and slipped past behind the third one to create distance.

Looking back, even if I had dodged the second attack differently, another zombie soldier waited in position to corner me. Meanwhile, yet another individual was already charging at me, closing the gap I had forcibly opened.

I parried the attack and stepped back further, thinking.

These guys have incredible coordination, I thought.

>>So fast

>>Since John has the drone set far back, we can see the whole picture clearly

>>But I can't tell what's happening in the details

>>Are explorers really this intense?

They were systematically cutting off my options and forcing me into disadvantageous positions.

Even when I showed an opening to try to break through, they wouldn't recklessly overextend, making it difficult to finish them off with a single strike.

Their coordination was extremely well-trained.

>>John's being slightly pushed back

>>Hey, hey, is this all John Doe is capable of?

>>Wait wait wait wait, if he's really being pushed back, isn't that bad?

>>Our only source of information!!

>>I thought he was stronger than this

But from what I could see, none of the individual soldiers appeared to be giving orders, nor was there any commander-like figure directing them.

Which meant... was there some kind of network connecting all of them?

Or perhaps—

"Or perhaps, they were that skilled in life," I muttered.

I channeled magic power through my sword and body for just an instant, blowing away the upper body of the opponent I was crossing blades with—sword and all.

Even zombies apparently couldn't move without their upper bodies.

As the sliced individual lay on the ground, the other zombie soldiers charged at me.

I met the first one's sword and deflected it. The second one I pushed back with my buckler, sword and all.

The third I parried again with my open sword, and the fourth I evaded by using positioning to make another enemy my shield.

For the fifth, I used my buckler once more, then the sixth, the seventh—

"Five seems to be my limit for fighting simultaneously."

>>I thought he took one out instantly, but now he's struggling again?

>>Maybe he needs to charge up? Like some kind of ultimate move

>>I'd think that's ridiculous, but John's the one who came up with magic power manipulation

He might need time to charge his magic power.

>>Well, this means he won't lose, right?

>>Can't say for sure. He's still fighting, still being pushed back

Basically, when warriors with the same specs fight, the side with more numbers wins.

That's because one person can't defend against two people's attacks and ends up getting taken down.

Meanwhile, the side with two people only needs half a person's worth of defense to get by.

And when I matched my physical abilities and weapon performance to these coordinated zombie warriors, I learned through this slightly pressured fight that I could maintain equilibrium against up to five of them.

I had taken out one person ruthlessly at the beginning to extend my options before getting cornered.

In the end, when somewhat refined fighters face each other, if you analyze all the elements in detail, it becomes an exchange of simple numbers—or a whittling away of small resources—and within that, there exists something like the optimal move.

Of course, the objective of the fight—for example, defeating the enemy, holding them back, or simply testing their strength—even that affects what the optimal move is, so ultimately judging it isn't simple.

For example, if you swing your sword down from above, how will the enemy react?

If they dodge, will they go left, right, or back, and in what posture? From there, will their counterattack come first, or will my withdrawal come first?

And assuming my withdrawal comes first, how will I defend next?

Will I receive it straight on and lock swords, or will I deflect and counterattack?

If the goal is to buy time, I should lock swords, but if I intend to take them down, I should prioritize counterattacking.

Unlike simple board games or games with limited scope, the variables that exist in reality are so numerous you could call them infinite, and most fighters cannot grasp all of them.

But I do.

When I sought to master the way of fighting alone, the most optimal opponent was myself, within myself.

Just as AI becomes stronger than humans by continuing to play against itself in two-player games, learning every possible situation.

My sword, my blade work—they were discovered through such methods.

In this battle too, I was analyzing things that way.

If we both continued choosing the optimal moves, a single path would emerge from countless options.

The reason I wouldn't get cornered was because there were fewer than five enemy zombie soldiers.

If it's hard to understand, just think of it like chess.

That's a classic example of a two-player zero-sum finite deterministic game of perfect information.

From before the first move, you can imagine all possible outcomes on that board, and if both players make optimal moves, either the first or second player will definitely win.

Though I don't know which one wins.

In terms of this battle, initially I was a lone king facing their full force, but if I could reduce it to something like losing a pawn and a rook, I could continue fighting indefinitely without either side finishing the other off—that was my objective.

I viewed battles with enemies, especially completely humanoid opponents like this who didn't use special abilities, in this way, thinking that it could help me improve my technical skills even slightly.

I temporarily boosted the magic power flowing through my body and into my sword, cutting down four enemies.

They couldn't keep up with my accelerated movements—some were defenseless, others were sliced apart along with the swords they held.

"Well then, four down."

If I wanted to, I could easily finish them all off just like I did just now.

But especially with my level having risen abnormally high, if I didn't do this, I couldn't create situations to hone my techniques.

>>He took out four instantly again

>>What's John doing?

>>Maybe he's playing around?

>>More like he's probably not going all out. Maybe he's checking something

Even while casting weakening magic on myself, by lowering myself to the same level as the enemy, I continued to hone my combat techniques.

The weapons suited this as well.

The weapons from this bracelet were convenient, sturdy, and had good magic power conductivity—but that was all.

If I wanted to train pure sword techniques, pure combat methods, these were the most suitable.

>>So there's no need to worry at all

>>What, so worrying was a waste of time

>>I didn't panic because I didn't think John would die that easily

The subsequent battle against the remaining five enemies was pure bliss.

I struggled to break through the situation, while the enemies tried to take me down with five people.

Their sword techniques, coordination, body movements—everything was maximized to corner me.

Meanwhile, I countered with positioning, martial arts, sword techniques, and tactics.

It continued endlessly without resolution.

>>That happy smile

>>Isn't that too ferocious?

>>The smile is normally attacking or whatever

>>Since he's usually so laid-back, it's surprising when he occasionally shows his serious side

This was truly the pinnacle of technical training, you could say.

I was constantly walking the razor's edge.

That said, since I'm streaming and my goal is exploring the castle, I can't train forever.

Reluctantly, I ended the battle by gathering the five together and extending a blade of magic power to cut them all in a single horizontal line.

The dead zombie soldiers, these beings that I wasn't sure could even be called monsters, didn't leave corpses like dungeon monsters do for a certain amount of time, nor did they leave complete skeletons like the monsters in this world. Instead, from the moment they fell, they melted away into something like black miasma and disappeared.

"Man, that was fun. Thanks for watching, Robo."

When I called out to Robo, who was lying on the nearby castle wall,

『Woof』

came the response.

He had arrived the moment the battle started but had watched quietly.

Even though it was prey he had let escape last night, he showed consideration for me.

Truly a capable, beloved wolf.

>>So, what were you doing in the end?

>>Were you serious just now?

>>Please return my worry

>>Show us your serious mode

>>Isn't that taking too long for an easy win?

Looking at the comments, the viewers seemed dissatisfied that I had fought while holding back.

Well, I certainly was holding back, but among that, it was the serious category.

I supposed I should explain that while continuing to explore.

"Since there's still exploring to do, I'll talk while moving."

I returned to the castle through the opening I had made and resumed my exploration.

"So, you want to know what I was doing, right?"

>>Yeah yeah

>>Do you need to charge up?

>>I want to know why you didn't fight seriously.

Hmm.

To put it simply, how should I say it?

"I was casting debuffs on myself."

That was an overwhelmingly insufficient explanation.

I thought so myself after saying it.

>>Why?

>>What we want to know is why you did that

>>Overwhelmingly insufficient explanation

See, the viewers are saying it too.

So I decided to explain more carefully.

"The zombie-like soldiers this time were quite skilled. I thought it would be a waste to just mow them down with power. So I cast debuffs on myself to fight them at equal specs using technique—that's the gist of it."

>>I, see?

>>Why go through such troublesome effort?

>>Couldn't you just defeat them normally?

>>Ah, John doesn't have anyone he can properly cross swords with right now.

Oh, a sharp observation came from the viewers.

That's right—I don't have anyone I can clash swords with right now.

"Someone got it right. My specs themselves are quite high, so if I just brute force it, I can handle most things."

Actually, I could have instantly killed these enemies this time, and I probably could have even taken down that black creepy thing quickly if I ignored the damage to the castle.

But, how should I put this—what's fun about winning that way? What do you gain?

"Sure, raising your level and beating things with specs is fun and easy. But I want to become strong. So when I encounter enemies like this, I try to match their level as much as possible and hone my techniques. I refine my sword techniques down to the smallest details, and then deploy them with maximum specs when I'm serious."

And then I apply those techniques during serious battles.

It was a perfect strategy.

>>I understand what you're trying to say

>>But this isn't something you need to risk your life for

>>You're too serious about getting stronger...

>>What on earth are you planning to cut?

"Well then, when I face something like that World Tree Great Dragon I ran away from, doesn't that mean I don't need training?"

>>Right, John ran away once

>>We haven't seen it ourselves so we can't really say

>>Is it really that bad of an opponent?

>>Too magical

"Well, I don't think I can beat that with just a sword. My sword techniques still haven't reached perfection. I just feel that way, so I continue—that's all."

It was mere self-satisfaction.

But apparently, I was the type who thoroughly pursued things I liked or got into, and I had continued adventuring, dungeon exploration, and becoming stronger to reach where I was now.

"It is self-satisfaction. When fighting big monsters or monsters with considerable magic power, I can't manage with just a sword, so I use other things. Conversely, I can take down opponents I can't beat with a sword using magic. I'm a magic swordsman. But that's separate—I continue my training, that's what I'm saying."

>>Well, we should learn from that stoicism

>>Maybe I'll go practice my swings

>>A streamer who streams while telling us to stop watching streams and train—is that for real?

>>But it's because he had that much drive that John reached that place alone

While looking at the comments and rummaging through a dresser in what appeared to be a maid's room, I found another piece of paper.

"'No, I don't want to sleep. I want to stay awake longer, Princess—'"

A brief sentence that ended there.

I didn't know why it was written on paper, but this too was probably the voice of the people who had been here.

Or if I thought in horror/occult terms, perhaps the strong residual will that remained here had soaked into this place and was manifesting before me.

Someone in the comments had mentioned "echo" before, and if you think of it as past phantoms manifesting, it's not hard to imagine.

"Sleep, huh. Why?"

But the content was too short, and I still couldn't grasp what came after.

And that paper too melted away into the air and disappeared.

"Looks like I really have no choice but to find this 'Princess' person."