Chapter 697: Chapter 697: Way Too Aggressive
"Damn it...!" Growled Leto, swinging his scythe at Ira, who was weaving back through the space and evading the attacks with ease.
I still have plenty of doubts around him, I was hesitant to train him, but we’re going to need all the help we can get. Well, not that it’s making much of a difference.
The others already told me that his progress was pretty mediocre during the two months they spent in here while I snuck into Sanctuary Eta, but I didn’t think it was this bad.
He’s way too aggressive, the slightest frustration makes him lose his composure and he starts attacking blindly and recklessly. He has a lot of spite and bloodlust, which can be useful weapons if managed properly, but he lets those emotions control him instead. To make matters worse...
"I’ve told you several times, stay calm! You’re way too on edge to fight effec-...!" I began to call out.
"Shut up, damn it, that shit isn’t helping!"
...he doesn’t take advice well. Seriously, the hell happened that made him so...this? He seems to bear an immense hatred towards people in general, there’s not much else to him besides that.
As he then leapt towards Ira with a roar of exertion and unfurled a wild downward swing of his scythe, Ira swiftly lunged forward and struck Leto’s stomach with his fist. Leto let out a sharp wheeze as he got the wind knocked out of him, before getting launched back through the air as Ira triggered a small but intense burst of Ether.
Leto hit the floor and skidded back, coming to a sliding halt as he let out a groan and got up onto his knees, clutching his stomach with a grimace.
"Th-This isn’t fair! These glorified zombies aren’t alive, which means my Skills are useless against them! Fight me yourself, asshole!" He snapped, brandishing his scythe at me as he got back onto his feet with a seething look on his face.
He’s talking about Skills that literally inflict death, who in their right mind would let themselves get hit by something like that if it’ll, you know, kill them? Well, they won’t work on me, since I’m immune to Status Effects, so...
"I was holding off on that until you’re strong enough to at least slightly challenge me, but fine," I responded, standing up and stretching my arms out.
I did consider giving him the same kind of training that Alkimia is being put through, but he’s still far too green for that. She’d reached a basic level of competence during those time-dilated two months, so she’s got a decent foundation to build on.
But the same can’t be said of Leto, the way he fights leaves him full of openings, and his attacks are way too straightforward and easy to read. Maybe it’s time for more drastic measures.
"We don’t have enough time to sharpen your technique, which is basically nonexistent right now. Instead, let’s work on your evasion and reaction speed. Fair warning, this is going to be rough," I warned him, cracking my knuckles.
I’ll only use barehanded physical attacks, no weapon or Skills.
"Bastard, don’t take me so lightly, I’ll fucking-...oof!" He gasped, as I shot forward at full speed and slammed my fist against his stomach, targeting the same spot that Ira had struck.
He wheezed and whimpered as he keeled over and stumbled back, dropping his scythe with a clatter. Beads of sweat began pouring down the sides of his face as he clutched his stomach in agony, before collapsing onto his knees as his legs buckled.
"Get up. We’re just getting started," I remarked, as he lifted his head with a vicious, murderous glare.
"Y-You son of a...!"
"Like I said, this’ll be rough. Don’t worry, I’m still holding back. Just enough that you won’t get seriously injured, or trigger the safety teleport function," I remarked, cracking my knuckles as I took a step forward.
He frantically got back onto his feet and rushed back, his expression tense. Good...fear should be just the stimulant he needs, anger and bloodlust overwhelm and dull his senses, here’s hoping that fear sharpens him up.
He stiffened as I shot towards him, raising his hand towards the scythe, the weapon getting rapidly pulled through to his hand. His eyes widened in alarm as I closed in on him before his scythe could, his head jerking across to the right as I backhanded him across the left side of his face with the back of my fist.
He shakily stumbled across to his right, before gritting his teeth and grabbing hold of his scythe as it flew back within his reach. He unfurled a wide swing across at my head, which I easily ducked under.
As the blade of the scythe whizzed over the top of my head, I got low, planted my left hand on the floor and drove my right foot up, slamming my heel against his chin and launching him a few meters up, a sharp clack ringing out as my strike slammed his teeth against each other.
His back thudded against the floor loudly as he let out a dazed, disoriented groan, his body trembling as he tried to get back up, before collapsing again and hitting the floor.
Hm, maybe I should’ve targeted his chest or something, a strike to the chin against someone who can’t regenerate is going to have them incapacitated for some time. Well, while he can’t outright regenerate, he does have the naturally heightened physical healing that comes with a high Power Level.
So, hopefully, he should be back on his feet in a few-...hm? Oh, shit, he just lost consciousness.
<Hey, don’t you have some of those Healing Ritual Scrolls from the other world in Treasury?>
Huh? Ohh, that’s right, I totally forgot about those! Hm, but they’re limited use items, they’ll be useless after a few uses. How many do I have?
<Well, technically one, but...unlimited copies, remember?>
Oh, yeah. Heh, my bad. Damn, can’t believe this slipped my mind, it’s a good thing our first battle of this trial went as well as it did. Cleo and I are the only ones who can regenerate, so these scrolls should make a difference to the others.
I should make a bunch of copies and hand them out before we make our next move...
Comments