4 Against a phantom (1)
Chapter 4: Against a phantom (1)
Behind the shrine was something akin to a summoning circle.
It was etched onto the ground and formed from a gray stone, with unknown scribblings carved on its periphery. Benjamin had never seen this language before, but it wasn't like he had ever been interested in them.
He used to have guild members interested in those whose classes were sacrificed to study those ancient languages.
Their knowledge helped the guild more than ever.
Benjamin and Estelle were a few steps away from this arena. As they stood abreast, their differences were clearer than ever before. Benjamin was a nearly two-meter tall man with legs so long it might have seemed he was some kind of sub-class to a human race.
He had appeared in the new world in nothing but his shirt and short pants, so not only could one see how strong those legs were, but one also could tell that he was much poorer than the wolf woman next to him.
Clad in her black kimono, Estelle faked prosperity as she had been relying on her savings account for some time now.
Still, compared to Benjamin's lean and broader frame, she was smaller and as though always having her hands joined and shoulders low.
Petite though she must have appeared due to her worries over Benjamin, Estelle was one hundred and sixty-five meters tall woman, so she wasn't particularly that short.
It was only because of Benjamin that she came across as a short lady. As a side note, anyone before them wouldn't think of her as a short lady because the way she held her hands together made her forearms push out her already-swelled chest, making her front too curvaceous.
"Remember the incantations, please!" Estelle reminded her guest before he stepped into the arena. Her talismans were written in a unique language of the past, which was like kanji from Earth. It meant that even though Benjamin had his body plastered with those talismans, he couldn't use them without a proper mana control and incantation said in the language in question.
Speaking of the mana control, Benjamin had tested if he could feel mana and use it. Estelle had handed over to him a few wasted talismans that she had failed to correctly describe, which he used to test his mana control.
The feeling was exactly the same as when he used his game skills instinctively.
That short test aided him well and strengthened his belief that he was in another world with similar concepts to the game.
His flawless mana control left Estelle stunned as well. He pronounced her incantations without much problem, too.
Benjamin stuffed his hands in the pockets of his short pants and entered the arena. "I remember them all. Now, Estelle, I want you to watch me fight and not miss anything."
"Eh? Um, okay!" Estelle was first shocked by his sudden, serious, and guardian-like tone. It reminded her so much of her elder sister's teaching tone that she straightened herself, and her wolf ears and tail went erect.
She didn't know why and for what he would speak like that, but Estelle obeyed.
Benjamin glanced at her over his shoulder before drawing a smile and perching himself in the middle of the summoning circle.
"Activate it," Benjamin said. The summoning circle could only be activated by a protagonist and believer of at least one deity of this shrine. In this case, Estelle and her older sisters were the only ones who could use it to fulfill their duties.
But because they were ill, only Estelle was available for now.
Estelle carried out his wish, muttering the ancient language spell. She was far from her usual cheerful self, be it her voice or appearance, sounding like a totally different person.
That was when she actually became a different person. Her warm green eyes turned red, and ferocity dwelled within them now. The lips, which she often curved into a gentle smile and sucked in whenever enjoying her choco milk, were now arced into a ferocious grin.
"A bastard sent here to get rid of me," said someone who had taken control over Estelle, "This foolish girl might have believed in you, but I'm not so naive. You're too dangerous."
While Estelle wished to summon a weak phantom for Benjamin, the different person within her changed that desire and forced a much more demanding phantom to appear in the arena—the phantom strong enough to kill Benjamin.
Benjamin arched his head back and pierced Estelle with a side glance. "I thought I said I want you not to miss anything, Estelle."
The name brushing his lips echoed within the wolf woman's heart. It drummed and hammered onto her second personality so much that the red eyes soon vanished, and the wild grin melted into a lovely smile.
Still, Estelle's countenance soon went through another change as she turned ashen, and tears crumbled down her cheeks.
"Behind you! I… I'm so sorry!" Estelle cried, taking in the sight of the phantom materializing before Benjamin. It formed from black winds, and there were so many of them that tornado formed, only to converge into a real, genuine living existence of the past.
What came out of it was a male orc.
He had a hulking and thick frame with bulging muscles rolling down his arms and legs. His bare chest displayed a six-pack that would shame many high-quality armors. His right hand held a long, broad sword, which was at least past half of his height.
His skin was gray, just like any orc of his kind, but since he was a phantom of the past, his eyes and eyeballs were inked, seemingly unable to look at the world.
Alas, he could see just fine.
As Benjamin retracted his gaze and met those blackened hues, the orc shivered and roared, "THE EXECUTIONER!"
Benjamin sneered, "I didn't expect to be given a chance to kill you twice, Zero."
Outside the arena, Estelle's ashen face seemed to have become drained of all colors. It wasn't because these two knew each other but because of the moniker the orc, Zero, had howled.
The Executioner.
It was such a prestigious nickname that no one dared to call themselves The Executioner.
Estelle had even heard from her Mother once that she was willing to threaten her Father with The Executioner had he stubbornly dared to go against her wish of not naming her third daughter after the goddess.
"Hands out of your pockets, you fucking human!" Zero bellowed.
Estelle blinked. What did he mean by that?
Benjamin answered her question, "I myself am not aware of my strongest now, you see."
