Chapter 91 - Final Task

"… That's it?"

Vao's grin is suspiciously innocent looking. "That's it."

"There's no twist?"

Bulge goes the forehead vein. "Just do it!"

"Okay, Mr. Anger Issues, relax!"

He huffs, waving me away. I turn and make my way to the edge of the flat part of the hill, where piles of dead undead lay in pieces, partially decomposed. I flash forward, zipping past a few piles and drawing my "weapon of choice" to slice them up. As they are cut, they turn into mist and dissolve fully. Like Vao had suggested when explaining what he wanted me to do, the sparse piles drop small, gray crystalline chunks onto the ground. Cores.

With the help of cores, a specific area of mass will not go through the same level of decomposition, which is why some of the carnage (aside from the large chunks left by the giant, which were now considered 'man-made' due to the magic of the Spellsword man) was still left over.

And yes, the damn Swordmaster took priority of training me rather than cleaning up his mess. And then took it even further by instructing me to clean it all up as my grand final task. "What a guy, am I right?"

<The tutorial firmly believes the user deserves it.>

"What did I do?" I shout as I cut through several more piles, revealing more cores.

<… >

"That's what I thought!"

<The tutorial cannot answer unless the user asks something in question format.>

"I did!!"

<…Please preface questions with 'hey tutorial' …?>

"This stupid tutorial…"

***

Vao watches in disbelief as Klum easily cuts through pile after pile while running in laps around the mountain, tracing a spiral shape around it as he shaves it free of corpses. All while talking to himself.

He feels a slight sense of disgust as he watches the boy, though he doesn't know whether it's at him or himself. Frustration welling up quietly in his chest, he blurts out:

"Your swordsmanship is so… wrong! In all the years of experience I have with training my blade, I have never seen something as wild as you!"

***

Hearing Vao's words, I mentally swipe the screens away, skidding to a stop. Using my hips and torso, I twist around to finish cleaving a straight line through a longer pile, and the flesh and bones dissolve into three cores that dink loudly onto the ground. The sweeping motion of my blades carries through, slashing any bits of dead skin or the like away, and revealing the glint of the contrasting colors of the two swords I hold. I swing my left hand up, pointing the silver tip over at the Swordmaster, while stabbing the golden one of the sword in my right hand into the ground and leaning on it.

"Just because your training is the only thing you've experienced in your lifetimes, doesn't mean it's the right way! I've used this style to survive life-or-death encounters time and time again, and if you ask me, it's better than your style! So you're wrong, not my style." To accentuate my point, I stick out my tongue at him before pulling out the golden shortsword and resuming my yard work.

While Vao is busy being stupified by my response, I've made it to the bottom of the hill, and now have to tear apart the large mounds of dead bodies that melted themselves together to make a giant. I slash downwards with both sides, then diagonally across, crossing my right arm behind my left, and using it to segway into a combined horizontal scissor-slash. The end product is a quickly drawn star shape cutting it into seven pieces, and to finish the move, I draw the tips of the swords back and close together to thrust forward.

"Starblades!"

[Skill Heavy Thrust was activated. (x2)]

[Requirements have been met. Skill Heavy Thrust was upgraded to Skewer.]

[???: Progression Increased.]

[Total Progression: 72%]

The pieces of the monster blow to bits, fading away, and the Swordmaster in the distance sighs. However, I'm too far away to hear his judgy ass, and simply fly off again to blow apart more piles and reveal more cores. I can mostly predict where the cores are going to be; they glow through the masses of flesh, but they are so faint sometimes I can't pick them out. However, I see one among the remaining lumps that glows brightly. ''Another demon core or the like, maybe?" I wonder with glee as I dash in that direction.

<I don't think—< p>

"Didn't ask."

Planting my foot, I spin my torso around full-circle as I leap over the mass, cutting through it from above with two wide arcs. I attempt to land gracefully, but the force of my swings is a little too strong, so while my feet land just fine, my arms swing my center of gravity — and me — 180° and backwards to flop onto my back. "Oof."

I am quickly interrupted by the rumbling of the ground, and I realize it's coming from the brightly shining chunk of meat barely holding itself together. It bursts apart, and from the center, where the core is, several clinking and clunking sounds of metal arise. A large suit of armor, roughly eleven or twelve feet tall, towers off the ground. Several cracks trace jagged lines through the dull dark gray armor, as it rearranges itself around an invisible body. Most of the cracks spiderweb from the eye sockets, the only holes in the armor, which are empty aside from small dark gray wisps of fog rising slowly, the only other trace of Mana aside from its core.

"Uh… Vao?" I yell out, but the only response I hear is an amplified, "Nope! This is part of your final task, after all! If you fail, then clearly that means you need more training. Especially if you're begging for your own sword."

I glare at the Swordmaster in the distance, who smugly hides his smile behind a stone used to amplify sounds like a megaphone. "This fucker… Fine. First things first."

[Skill Analyze+ has been activated.]

[Named Monster Last Regards]

[Age: 8 seconds (???)]

[Lv: 25]

[Race: Man-made Hollow Armor Beast]

[Health: 101/101]

[Mana: 24/24]

[Stamina: 101/101]

STR: 42 MAG: 2

AGI: 26 DEX: 6

VIT: 22 INT: 17

ACC: 13

DEF: 35(+500)

POW: 9

[Skills: MegaSuperAllOut Punch (Ultra Rare), Gorey Punch (Super Rare), Flying Punch (Super Rare), Smash! (Rare), Sprint+ (Uncommon), Bound (Common)]

[Spells: Elongated Punch]

<Note: The user activated Rakial's trap card! Last Regards is noted to be a {Hidden Skill} that was planted when the giant formed.>

"The hell?"

"Ahhhh… Ahh? What the hell happened to me now?" A voice echoes from the throat of the armor as it places its hands on the forearm plates, sliding along it with an unsatisfactory screech.

I blink. "Well, looks like you were hunched inside a piece of meat for a week and a half."

Its head snaps up, staring at me. The gray wisps waver rapidly as if it's trying to glare. "No, stupid. Why can't I take this armor off anymore??"

I stare in confusion at the armor, the gears in my head slowly turning. "… Who are you?"

"Bitch, I'm… What was my name again? Whatever! The last thing I remember is breaking up with that stupid creepy Necromancer, and him starting a fight. I must have won, 'cause next thing I know… I'm here? Wait, did I lose?"

I shrug. "It looks like it. I'm sorry, ma'am, but it turns out you were turned into a—"

"Ma'am?! Do I look like a ma'am to you? I have a dick!"

My eyes lower to the groin area of the armor, unable to hide my puzzled look. "Uh, not anymore…"

"That's it!" The armor cries, leaping at me surprisingly quickly for such a large object. It flies forward, chest parallel to the trampled yellow grass as it fist extends in front of it.

[Named Monster Last Regards has activated Skill Flying Punch.]

[Skill Close the Gap has been activated.]

"You almost look like Superm— ack!" I nearly bite off my tongue when I deflect the blow, the incredible amount of force causing my arms to vibrate like one of those massage chairs.

I stumble back a few feet, regaining my posture as I wince at the small screams of my body. "Maybe it was a bit too early to be doing this. Shouldn't my party members be here by now? I bet that damn Swordmaster tied them up or is holding them at sword point or something."

"Are you mumbling to cast a Spell?? I hate Spells!"

With an almost feminine roar, the man-turned-beast slams both of its fists down on me, instantly crushing me. . .

[Named Monster Last Regards activated Skill Smash!.]

"Jeez, you're fast," I note as I leap through the gap between its — no, his arms to land on his shoulder. "Y'know, if my Agility or Instinct were any lower, I'd probably be dead by now. You're not bad."

[Skill Critical Sight+ has been activated.]

[Critical Mark has been hit. Dmg was adjusted to 500%.]

TA-TANGG!

"… Shit."

[Last Regards Health: 99/101]