Chapter 128 : The Revival & The Training (Part 3)

"Ouch—!"

In the treatment room, which is located within the Fortress Castle of the Dwarf Kingdom, Helga.

"Could you treat it slowly?"

Rei sat on one of the many beds, and a dwarf woman was treating his injuries after his fight with [The King of Dragons, Ignia].

"Well, if not for you trying to push yourself fighting against our King, this wouldn't happen." The dwarf woman scolded him.

"But…to think there's an injury that couldn't be treated with potion like this..." The dwarf woman sighed.

His body was covered with more bandages to treat his burnt injuries after using his skill [Hell Flame] again.

'Well, it does feel hurt less... but because of that... I got new skills.'

And beside him, there was a hologram board that showed a notification.

[Notice!]

[You have acquired new skills! "Fire Resistance"]

'I guess it's because I constantly use [Agni].' Rei thought after she's done bandaging his right arm.

"Done, next time, don't use that flame of yours ever again unless it is an emergency."

"Since we are Dwarfs, we don't have any [Cleric] that could purify these kinds of injuries."

"So do be careful when using that." The dwarf woman warned him.

"Mhm, I'll be careful, and thank you for treating me." Rei replied while thanking her.

The dwarf woman sighed again, "It's okay, as long you understand, but since you are our King's guest, it is only natural."

"Our King's guest is also our guest, although some of us might disagree for having a human as our guest, but you don't have to worry since you have Doldain at your back." The dwarf woman spoke with such a wide grin.

"Ahahaha... thanks." Rei spoke while awkwardly smiling and rubbing the back of his head. 'Hmmm? Does Dwarf hate human that much?'

Meanwhile, Doldain, who stood beside her, was observing him,

'Hmmmm...8 years old, my ass, his body without doubt looks like a teenager and too built compared to other kids, but....most of all."

Doldain continued to observe his body, seeing his many scars from several fights. Cut and burnt scars.

'What kind of life was he living before coming here.' Doldain wondered while still staring at it.

Until...

*SLAP*

"Ouch!"

Doldain snapped out of his thoughts by a slap on his back.

"What was that for?!" Doldain glared at the culprit, which was the dwarf woman beside him.

"What are you spacing out for? I told you that he needs a lot of nutrition and I heard his meal was interrupted because you told him to meet our King." The dwarf woman complained while glaring at him.

"Hey! How it was my fault! Ask our King who asked him to meet her!"

"Stop making excuses and bring him a lot of food!" The dwarf woman pinched his cheek as if she were his mother.

It confused Rei, who had become a bystander. But somehow, it was a refreshing sight.

And that made him smile.

'Huh?' Rei soon realized something, 'Did I just smile?'

Ever since he went to the Elf Kingdom, during the subjugation quest and never-ending fight.

He had not once smiled during a joyful moment.

Because he had so many worries that kept piling up from one to another.

'I need to relax myself first... and recover, so I can train again.' Rei thought while ignoring the two dwarfs who were fighting each other.

After that, Doldain left to bring him food, and Rei regained his appetite and gobbled all of them.

******

During the night, Doldain walked through the stairs and opened the door that would lead him to the balcony where the fight had happened before.

And the reason he came here was...

To meet someone.

"It seems you are worrying about something....My King."

Doldain spoke at the person who sat down on the edge of the balcony, watching the view from above as he approached her.

Ignia just sat there without looking back, "Why does it matter to you about how I feel."

Then Doldain stood beside her,

"It does matter since my old pal here is having trouble expressing herself."

"Heh, since when did you become this wise?  I am much older than you." Ignia scoffed off.

But Doldain just smiled wearily.

"Age doesn't matter about how wise I am, but your behavior before...it was clearly strange." Doldain replied.

"Do you think I won't notice how you let out those killing intent towards him." Doldain spoke as he noticed her action from before.

"Tell me... what happened?"

After that question, Ignia went quiet, "....."

.

.

.

.

.

.

As the silent slowly passed through after a few minutes, she began to open her mouth.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"That technique he was about to use..."

.

.

.

.

.

.

"It is similar to [his] technique." Ignia muttered.

Doldain widened his eyes,

"That technique? You mean...IT WAS [HIS]?" Doldain immediately surprised after he heard what she just said.

"That is impossible! He doesn't have disciples ever since he is in that state!"

"I know, which is why I am curious...who on earth taught that boy that technique..."

"Since the only one who had that technique was me....and [him]."

"Even if it's replicated, it was impossible to replicate the pressure." Ignia explained.

"But...he managed to do it?" Doldain continued her words.

"Yeah... but based on what I [see], he truly doesn't know him." Ignia replied.

"Then how can he have that technique!—wait..." Then suddenly Doldain realized something.

"I see…since you were talking about [him] just now...the reason you wanted that flame of his was..." Doldain couldn't continue his words

"Yes, in order to kill [him]...I need his flame for that." Ignia stated the true purpose why she needed it.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It made Doldain not utter any words until he asked this question.

"Is this alright?" His expression changed into worried.

Ignia remained calm, "Yeah, since that was the deal that me and that thing made...to save his life."

"I will do everything, even if I have to use that child...

.

.

.

.

.

.

to end this ill-fated relationship."

Doldain just stayed quiet while watching the view together with her after listening to what she said.

'I know, this is wrong... but if it's for you, I will do anything.'

'But...remember my King, I hope this can mend your broken heart.'

As his eyes slowly glanced towards her.

'Because...'

'[He] was once our comrade.'

******

The next day, Rei was brought into a big and wide training hall.

In that place, Doldain is already waiting for him.

"Took you long enough. Here I thought you might need to keep sleeping like a baby."

Doldain spoke mockingly while standing there while holding a certain weapon.

"Well, I just need some food to fill my energy."

Rei spoke while looking at his HP, which had become full after eating.

'But most of all...it's because I felt restless.' Rei thought, '...To think my skill cannot even reach or scratch her.' while remembering his [Sky Decapitation] were simply blocked by the tip of Ignia's claw.

"But this is..." Rei finally noticed how wide this place was.

"This is [Training Hall], which was personally used by me and my King." Doldain explained.

"Then why are we here?" Rei asked.

"As you can see, you have proven your worth in front of our King." Doldain spoke while pointing his finger at him,

"And she has decided that you are worthy to receive our teaching to increase your strength." Doldain spoke.

Rei, who listened to him, looked displeased, but he remained calm, "Worthy? After she nearly killed me."

Then Doldain shook his head, "I apologize in her stead about the incident, so for that, I shall let you ask anything you want from me." Doldain offered him.

"Hmmmm...it's a good offer, but may I ask about something first?"

"Sure."

"Why did she suddenly act like that?" Rei asked.

Doldain reacted a bit, but he remained calm, "The only thing that i could tell you is that she didn't do it on purpose, and the reason is... there's something familiar from the technique you were using."

"Familiar? Which technique?" Rei felt like this was the same as before.

"Yes, the sword art technique you were using."

'Does he mean...[Sky Decapitation]?' Rei thought . "How is that even possible? And whose technique is this?"

'I thought this was Houston's skill? Or did he imitate someone again?' he wondered.

"I cannot answer you about that [yet], but I will tell you when the time comes."

Rei looked at him suspiciously, but then he gave up, "Right...so, I just have to ask you about anything I want from you, right?" Rei asked.

"Correct, either it's item or anything that within my reach."

Rei has some thought for a moment, thinking of what he should need.

"Then let me ask you a question."

"Go on."

"...Ignia said you are the strongest in this Kingdom, correct?"

Doldain nodded, "Indeed, second to my King, of course."

'He proudly admitted it.' Rei observed,

"Then... you must have a strong skill, in that weapon you are holding, right?" Rei suddenly pointed out his finger at the weapon he was holding.

'I've been meaning to ask...and I can finally...'

Yes, the weapon that Doldain had been holding was...

an [Axe].

Not just a regular [Axe], it's a [Battle Axe] that was five feet long, which was considered a two-handed weapon, and he was carrying it with ease with one hand by hanging the shaft around his shoulder.

"Indeed I do, but why do you ask?" Doldain asked while making this eerie stare at him.

"Then, I want you to teach me your skill."

"Hmmm? Do you mean you want to learn Axemanship?"

"Yes." Rei answered.

Doldain rubbed his beard, "I know you are wielding multiple weapons, but learning this weapon is different than any other weapon you have been wielding up until now."

"It required both balance of strength and speed, not only that this weapon is hard with your current build." Doldain spoke while staring at his body.

"We won't know if we don't try it right." Rei spoke.

Doldain sighed, "This isn't a matter of what you can do, especially you have wielded 3 weapons already."

"Four."

"Huh??"

Rei raised four of his fingers, "Four weapons, Sword, Spear, Bow, and Shield."

"Shield? Hoh, so you are considering a Shield as a weapon. How interesting." Doldain spoke while smiling.

"Well... I learned it from someone else." Rei's eyes looked elsewhere, 'I cannot say I learned it from one of the Legendary Hero Party Members.' Rei reminded himself.

"Either way, a deal is a deal, so I will teach you some of my skills." Doldain replied to him.

"Yes!" Rei celebrated immediately, but...

"But..."

"Huh??"

"If you want to learn it, you need to experience it first."

"Huh?? Experience it?" Rei suddenly felt uncomfortable from the way Doldain was staring at him.

Then Doldain grinned widely, "Yes, experience. It is the most crucial thing in order to learn one's skill...so we need to fight first."

Rei looked dumbfounded when he heard that kind of logic, 'Seriously...what's up with these people in this world.'

He began to question it again whether this world was really an Otome Game, just like what the God who sent him said before.

*CLINK*

Doldain swung his battle axe, then pointed it at Rei.

"Now pick up your weapons, and show me what you got and what it takes to learn from me."

In this situation, instead of getting nervous, Rei was smiling.

"Then I am looking forward to it..." Rei looked determined to do this as his left red eye glinted for a moment.

******

Afterward, they got into their position.

Rei took a potion one more time to close up a bit of his wound since his body was still recovering and covered with bandages.

Doldain, on the other hand, waited for him until Rei finally stood before him, holding a sword on his right hand and a spear on his left hand.

"Is that your style?" Doldain asked since it was interesting to see him holding two different kinds of weapons.

'I know he said that he can wield four weapons, but to wield two of them at once, which have different roles? What is he thinking?' Doldain wondered.

Rei slowly spun his spear with one hand. Somehow, he was slowly getting used to it.

'I guess it's because I still had his memories, which made it easier to wield these two weapons.'

Rei thought of while slowly lifting his spear and pointed it at Doldain.

"I'm ready." Rei spoke to him.

Doldain smiled when he saw determination in his eyes, "Then show me what you got."

Without any hesitation, Rei took the first move.

'[Sprint].'

Rei immediately buffed himself to increase his speed, followed by a dash towards him with full speed.

*SWOOSH*

Doldain remained where he was standing and didn't move an inch.

'[One Strike].' Rei plunged his spear at Doldain with that speed.

Then Doldain immediately responded to it by lifting his axe, then swung it down.

*THUNG*

After that, his spear met against the blade part of the axe, which provided him with a shield to block his strike.

Then Rei proceeded to launch himself after pulling his spear away and swung his sword downwards.

'[Vertical Slash].'

Doldain smiled, seeing such obvious action, so he decided to play along.

"Heh."

He swung his axe from the side and met his sword.

*THUNG*

And that it immediately flung his sword backwards, which forced him to back away.

'Heavy!' Rei could feel his hand trembling while holding his sword.

As he tried to recover himself in that imbalanced position, Doldain immediately shortened his distance and lifted his axe.

"Huh—?!"

"Heh, [Smash]!"

Then he swung his axe down.

*SWOOSH*

Rei immediately jumped aside to dodge his axe.

*BOOM*

But when his axe met the ground, it left a large fissure crack through the arena training hall caused by that one strike.

Rei went pale to see such a scene, 'It was a simple strike and not fast... yet I couldn't catch up with it.'

'It reminds me of what I did.'

Rei suddenly felt what Doldain was doing was just like what he did before, during the massacre of the bandits in that village.

"Is that all you got?" Doldain spoke by taunting him with his hand.

Rei smiled when he felt like he needed to change his strategy, "Then..."

He clad his spear with fire and created a spiral of fire through the tip, "Eat this!"

'[Gungnir]!' Then he immediately threw his spear at Doldain during that short moment.

'Hm? The technique that he used when fighting her.' Doldain already knew this might be a feint.

So he casually lifted his axe again to deflect his spear.

'Now then, come at me from wherever you are!—'

*THUNG* *TSSSKK*

When his spear met against his axe, his body was immediately pushed back a bit.

'What an immense strength?!—'

Suddenly, he was surprised that the thrown spear was able to create such a strong force despite Rei looking like he didn't charge his fire a bit more on the spear.

Rei smirked, seeing the fact that Doldain thought that this attack would be a feint.

'Of course, the output is still the same since the method is like a spinning bullet that was shot at you.' Rei thought while running towards Doldain.

"Seriously, you think this would be enough!" But Doldain's strength was simply stronger than anything that Rei had fought before.

He pushed his spear away and let it flung up to the air.

Then Rei pulled out an iron shield through his [Inventory] and held it with his free left hand.

After that, he jumped and swung his sword that was clad in fire.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

He created a cross of fire and then swung his shield down with the cross from above.

'[Grand Cross].'

Doldain didn't expect that while grinning widely, "Hah! Paladin Skill?! You sure have so many tricks up your sleeve!"

Doldain gripped his axe and then swung it at him, "[Wide Swing]!"

His axe immediately met against his shield.

*THUNG*

Their strikes clashed against each other, causing Rei to feel his body being pushed back a bit in mid-air.

'Ugh—?!'

Doldain gripped his axe tightly and strengthened his strike that canceled his [Grand Cross] and flung him away.

*THUNG*

Rei was still in mid air, he was pushed back again, 'Why is it so heavy?!–'

But he didn't give up as he let go of his sword and took the spear that was still in the air.

'Huff—'

As he gripped the shaft tightly while taking a deep breath, he clad his spear with spinning fire.

'[Gungnir]!'

Then Rei swung his fire spinning spear in the air with full force.

*SWOOSH*

Followed by taking out his bow on his left hand and an arrow on his right hand through his [Inventory]

'Hmf!—'

Then, he charged his red aura into his arrow and released it.

*SWOOSH*

In just a short moment, Rei just performed a consecutive attack without a single break in mid-air.

Although it did spend a lot of his MP.

*SWOOSH*

Doldain watched as he didn't stop his attack after being flung away by his strike.

"Hahaha! How amusing!" Doldain lifted his axe.

"[Smash]!"

Then, he swung his axe and completely destroyed his spear in just one strike.

But it wasn't over yet.

*SWOOSH*

Because another round of his attack was still coming for him.

'An arrow? You think that would—' As he lifted his axe to block his arrow…

He didn't expect it.

'Huh?!—'

*BOOM*

The arrow exploded in mid air, then smaller pieces of the arrow rained at him, which had been crystallized with his aura.

'[Cracker]!'

Doldain smiled upon seeing such a scene before his eyes, "That's more like it—!!"

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Doldain then took a hit on those attacks.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Creating dust and smoke around him when the arrow parts hit the ground as well.

But Rei hadn't taken his guard down when he landed down, which was where his sword was stuck on the ground.

He picked it up and ran at Doldain in full speed, '[Sprint].'

While buffing himself again to increase his speed movement, he eventually he shortened his distance within a second.

'Caught you—!'

As he ran through the smoke, he was greeted with Doldain standing there unharmed.

"...?!"

"That was a nice strategy, but it won't work against a warrior like me." Doldain spoke as he lifted his axe.

Rei couldn't stop his movement at that moment.

"But better luck next time!—[Smash]." Afterwards, Doldain swung his axe down at him.

Rei could only stay where he was, 'Move...move!' As the time slowly stopped for a moment, his mind collided with his body by ordering it to move.

'Move.....move....move....MOVE!!'

But with such a forceful method, he forcefully ordered his brain to respond to his words.

Then, in that moment, Rei lifted his shield in such a swift and quick moment.

And met his axe.

*THUNG*

*BOOM*

His axe immediately slipped through his shield and hitted the ground.

And at that moment, Doldain was surprised by the sudden action.

"Wha—"

Rei clearly just broke the limit of a human brain by forcefully ordering his body in such a manner, but it also cost him...

By damaging his brain.

'I did it.' his nose was bleeding, but the fight wasn't over.

Rei gripped his sword tightly and swung his sword at Doldain, who was still surprised.

*SWOOSH*

But in that moment, when his sword was about to reach his face.

Doldain opened his mouth.

"Impressive....

.

.

.

.

.

.

While grinning widely.

"But still, it's not enough."

"....?!"

Rei widened his eyes when he heard that , and then their eyes met.

Doldain closed his eyes.

"[Haki]."

After that, he released a massively powerful aura.

"Ugh—?!"

Causing Rei to fly away because of the shockwave released by his aura.

*BAM*

and he crashed at the edge of the arena.

"Ughhh..."

Rei fell unconscious after that.

"Ah—fuck, I overdone it." Doldain who saw that, immediately cusse but he suddenly felt something.

"Hmm?"

When he reached his hand and touched his cheek…

"Heh."

He smiled, he's bleeding through his cheek.

"How amusing, this might be the most interesting thing i have seen after my long years of retirement~"

Doldain spoke in such an entertaining way and approached him to carry him on his shoulder.

"Ahh...I might get scolded again."

To be continue...