ALL NOVEL Chapter 42
Chapter 42: A Conclusion
Struggling against the swarm of bees summoned by Maito, Fiera pondered how to secure a victory.
(I can’t read their movements. The Soil Bees are underground, making it even harder to predict what they’ll do.)
Around Maito, numerous bee-like monsters buzzed, while the Soil Bees lurked underground, ready to strike without warning.
Even with her speed, her most skilled attribute, she couldn’t mount a proper offensive, and even when using her beastification powers, getting close was a challenge.
As Fiera contemplated how to break this deadlock, she recalled the words Lewis had shared with her earlier.
“Listen closely, Fiera. Your greatest weapon isn’t your speed. It’s your exceptional reflexes and instincts as a beast person. Don’t forget that.”
“Huh? Instincts? You told me that I relied too much on my instincts when I first met El.”
“Ah, I didn’t phrase that well. What I meant was not to depend solely on them back then. You’ve gained experience in combat against people now, and you’ve learned to recognize feints.”
“If you combine that with your keen reflexes and instincts, you’ll be able to make movements that are almost precognitive.”
“Precognitive…”
“Yeah, well, that’s theoretical. But if you can pull it off, you’ll enter a realm beyond mere mortals in close combat. The rest is up to you…”
“I’ll do my best!”
Back then, she wasn’t sure if she could really do it, but now her instincts told her this power was needed.
(I have no choice but to try.)
Resolved, Fiera partially beastified her eyes to enhance her reflexes and charged toward Maito.
“Mu, da!”
Maito, trying to stop Fiera from closing in, directed the swarm to attack her.
However, rather than forcing her way through like before, Fiera observed the movements of the bees and Maito closely while evading their assaults.
(They’re slow…)
With her concentration heightened to an extreme level, the movements of the bees and Maito appeared sluggish, allowing her to dodge easily.
(But it’s still not enough.)
Continuing to watch the small movements and quirks of Maito and the bees, Fiera gradually began to predict her opponent’s movements.
(Right. Next is left. Finally, down.)
She anticipated the visible movements of the bees to evade them, while the Soil Bees attacking from below were avoided through her instincts as a beast person.
Dancing her way through the bees’ assaults, Fiera began to close the distance between herself and Maito.
“Why, cannot… hit?”
At this point, Maito grew anxious as none of his attacks connected with Fiera and ordered all the bees to swarm her.
“Bee Storm!”
Maito clustered the bees together like a storm to assault Fiera, but Fiera had predicted this and shifted her beastification from her eyes to her legs, quickly maneuvering behind Maito and piercing his chest with a thrust.
“Kah!”
“At last, you panicked. If it weren’t for that, I might have been in danger too.”
Just as Fiera said, Maito, unable to land any successful strikes, ultimately panicked and used all his bees for offense.
Noticing Maito’s increasingly haphazard commands through his movements, Fiera anticipated the likelihood that all the bees would be turned to the attack.
“Oh… you. You, shall… win…”
Maito, losing consciousness, prayed for victory on behalf of the king who had given him a name as he faded away.
“Unfortunately, there’s no victory for your king. After all, my opponent is El, who is stronger than I am.”
With that, Fiera plopped down onto the ground.
“I’m tired…”
Having overexerted her eyes and brain more than ever before, Fiera found herself unable to move due to severe fatigue.
“El…”
Murmuring her beloved’s name while confidently anticipating his victory, she decided to rest until her exhaustion faded away.
Meanwhile, as Fiera resolved to confront Maito, Lewis and the others were also engaged in an intense battle.
(He really is amazing. My skills don’t affect him at all.)
Lewis had been locked in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Build but had yet to inflict even a scratch on him.
His surprise attacks were effortlessly deflected with a palm, and every elbow strike, backfist, and roundhouse kick was dodged, countered, or evaded seamlessly.
Build’s martial arts were at a level of mastery, as if he had undergone formal training.
However, Build was also somewhat astonished by Lewis’s skills. It had only been a few weeks since he became the King of the Forest, yet as a humanoid, he had developed his own optimal movements from fighting powerful monsters day and night deep in the woods.
Of course, combined with his natural physical prowess as a monster, there had been interference from someone, but he still possessed confidence in his abilities.
Seeing Lewis, who was matching him strike for strike, surprised Build just a bit.
Ducking under Build’s upward kick, Lewis sought to sweep Build’s legs out from beneath him.
However, Build easily dodged that, leading to a tense silence between the two.
“Your strength… will fail against mine.”
“Thanks a lot. You’re incredibly strong too. Almost makes me envious.”
(With that kind of strength, I might be able to inch a step closer to death again.)
When Lewis was with Aurience before, she had told him to gain more power.
Though he still didn’t know what he would be fighting in the future, her words suggested that by increasing his strength and defeating enemies, there was a chance for Lewis to escape his fated inability to die.
“Then, I have no choice but to do my best.”
Lewis reinforced his body with focus in his eyes and mind. Suddenly, what had seemed normal just moments before now appeared astonishingly slow.
“Alright!”
Refocusing his determination, Lewis kicked the ground with force, once again closing the distance to engage in combat with Build.
This time, however, Lewis was intensely concentrated, enough so that Build’s movements seemed to be crawling, and he began engraving the little quirks and motions of Build’s body into his mind.
What Lewis believed to be the most important thing in a fight wasn’t speed or power, but having the eyes and reflexes to capture his opponent’s movements.
This closely resembled what Lewis had taught Fiera. As she used her instincts to predict her opponent’s actions, Lewis would adapt those movements into his own.
(Not quite. The breadth of my steps is slightly off. No. The angle of my arms isn’t right. No… no…)
In his attempts to imitate the unfamiliar movements, Lewis found himself creating unnecessary movements beyond his starting point, suffering blows from Build repeatedly. But each time, he managed to deflect the attacks and adjusted his body accordingly.
And then…
“Ah! This is!”
Just as Lewis began to grasp the feel of Build’s movements, Build also noticed that Lewis was changing his approach.
(Could it be that this is… my movement?)
For the first time, Build felt a sense of dread towards Lewis.
The unnecessary movements were gradually vanishing, replaced by a bizarre sensation of battling against himself.
However, as a king, and as a martial artist, Build found himself enjoying this battle for the first time.
“Interesting! Let’s see how far you can keep up!”
With that, Build started to ramp up the intensity of the fight.
Seeing Lewis, who was now able to execute movements almost identical to his own, Build began to further refine his own unnecessary movements.
It was a clash of learning; each fought against the other, both enhancing their techniques—Build moved with more finesse while Lewis got closer in mirroring Build’s movements, escalating their battle further.