Great swords as big as an adult or even bigger, especially the ones made by Garesto, have limited ‘application’ because of their weight and size.
At most, their application would be limited to one of two things: slashing or sweeping.
Such great swords could be swung upward instead of downward with the help of an exoskeleton, but the ways in which they could be used were ‘narrow’ compared to one-handed swords.
Moreover, their unwieldy size made it difficult to execute fine movements. Of course, it was not impossible to do so, but forcing the issue could only result in slow movements.
That’s why combat against great swords was mainly a question of how to take advantage of the openings left by their lack of agility and how to get up close.
“What’s the matter!? Is running all you can do!?”
“KU!”
Ryou understood that, and in fact, all the students of the academy knew that.
The usual method was to dodge the first attack and then rush up.
But Shinichi wasn’t doing that.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have any openings.
After all, this was training. If the teacher didn’t leave any openings, then the student wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Ryou also wasn’t slow, as his Rank A in Agility was more than enough to be called fast.
The problem was that Shinichi could nimbly handle that Rock Great Sword with one hand
“Quit being scared and come fight already, you coward!”
As Shinichi hurled abuses at Ryou, the Rock Great Sword smashed into the earth.
Ryou managed to dodge that by stepping back a little, but the sight of that sword cracking the earth was clearly reflected on his eyes.
Lumps of earth were sent flying toward him by the impact, but he didn’t spare those a glance.
As someone with an AAA+ in resistance, there was no need to dodge or defend himself against something on that level.
More importantly, the great sword remained stuck in the ground.
That was the textbook definition of an opening.
“…”
But Ryou, who wielded a one-handed sword(blade) in each of his hands, hesitated.
A hesitation that lasted only for an instant before he finally took that step.
Raising up the sword in his right hand, Ryou rushed toward Shinichi.
Even if this sword were to miss or be blocked, there would still be his left sword.
Ryou was by no means at the pinnacle of the two-sword-style, but it took him no less than an instant from that moment he hesitated to get close enough to unleash his blades.
At that distance, the speed of the consecutive attacks unleashed by two swords could not possibly be handled by a great sword.
──But if it’s this guy, he might be able to do something.
Despite the supposedly unbeatable position of the two swords, that thought flashed through Ryou’s mind.
Yet ‘right now’ he wasn’t worrying about the possibility of Shinichi using an unorthodox method.
After all, this training wasn’t meant to deal with the unexpected.
That’s why, when Ryou saw that Shinichi didn’t have any weapons in his left hand and wasn’t moving, he was sent flying away.
“Gah!?”
He forcefully brought back his blade that he slashed down with, but that was sent flying along with him too.
‘Is it that easy to send humans flying?’ Ryou pondered to himself as he fixed his posture and landed.
The impact he’d taken was enough to knock him out, but the pain that came with it kept him conscious.
“Geh!?”
But then a gale(flash) swept through even that landing spot.
A wave of fear ran through his body, but he took advantage of that to let his body fall back.
As Ryou lay there face up on his back, the black death god’s scythe presumptuously passed before his eyes.
He felt the tip of the blade graze his nose, but he quickly realized that it was just the pressure of the wind.
If that great sword had actually grazed his nose, it would have likely taken his whole face with it.
“Y-You!”
Were you trying to kill me? Ryou wanted to say, but he directed that energy to bring his body up instead.
He already knew that complaining while lying down would just leave him wide open to be crushed.
He knew that he should take advantage of this opening made after shaking off the great sword, but after everything he’s experienced in the past few days, the sight of Shinichi just froze him.
Even he could tell that his face was twitching, but his thoughts just couldn’t keep up.
“Attacking with all of your strength is good and all, but──How many times do you have to be reminded not to look away before you get it?”
As Shinichi’s back came to view and those words were said in a monotonous voice, the earlier attack came back for its second lap(・・・).
The earlier attack was not a sweeping attack, but a one-handed spin.
Ryou knew that it was already too late to dodge again, so he held his blades vertically and took on that gale head on.
An explosive sound, that one would not associate with metals clashing, resounded in the wake of that clash.
The air shook and a powerful impact assaulted Ryou’s body, making his arms go numb and his legs carve the land.
But thanks to his AAA Strength and Resistance, he was somehow able to receive the death god’s wheel.
For a moment, he wondered what would’ve happened if Shinichi had used two hands instead, and terror struck him, but he banished the thought since it wasn’t as though Shinichi had gone serious even with that last attack.
“All that and your expression still won’t change!?”
He just barely managed to stop that attack, but not the slightest surprise could be seen on Shinichi.
If anything, he looked as though Ryou accomplishing that much was a given.
If so, then he would just have to live up to his expectations. With a yell, Ryou kicked off against the ground and ran toward Shinichi.
Sparks rose from the blades that stopped the great sword as they slid along its body.
Once again, Ryou was about to draw a stroke with his blades, but the moment he closed in, something hit him.
“What!?!?”
Unable to understand what had happened and unable to keep up with the attack that had landed on his forehead, Ryou found himself spinning vertically into the trees.
“Umu, I hit a good spot… So it turns out people can fly while rolling backwards.”
Shinichi said as he watched that scene unfold like it had nothing to do with him.
Meanwhile, Ryou, who had begun to sink into what were now just blocks of woods, jumped up and yelled.
“Owwww!! W-What was that just now!?”
Ryou asked while rubbing his forehead and healing it with a skill.
With teary eyes, he used his other hand to rub his neck, making sure that it was still there.
He was seriously worried that it might have bent or torn off.
But then───
“Did you forget already, my dear bird brain? I told you not to look away, didn’t I?”
───a cheerful, apathetic voice resounded from ‘above’.
A crescent moon smile greeted him, but it was so cold(terrifying), Ryou thought he’d caught a glimpse of Niflheim.
Later he would tell his childhood friend that he wanted to praise himself just for not screaming.
The black-clothed(school-uniformed) death god smiled at him with the sea of stars as his backdrop.
“D-Damn it!!”
It was curious who Ryou was cursing, but regardless, he raised his voice to encourage himself, and crossed his blades, knowing full well that the time to dodge had already passed.
The death god’s scythe(Rock Great Sword) was about to crush him. Fortunately, he had not dropped his blades earlier.
A thunderous sound akin to that of a meteor descending cried out throughout the whole area as his blades met that great sword.
Thanks to Ryou’s physical abilities, Shinichi holding back, and the difference in the durability of the weapons, Ryou’s arms did not break, and the Rock Great Sword even chipped a little.
Yet despite that, Ryou’s heels still sank halfway into the ground.
When Ryou looked at Shinichi, he saw that even after all of this, he was still using that great sword with one hand, while his other hand played with several throwing stones like they were beanbags.
“That’s what hit me earlier!?”
“I never hid them, though.”
Ryou’s attention had just been too focused on the great sword that he had completely neglected Shinichi’s other movements.
Ryou was furious at his own ineptitude, but at the same time, he couldn’t believe that a stone was actually able to blow him away.
Ryou did not know this, but if a throwing stone were to be strengthened inside and out with mana, and then shot with a gun-barrel formed with mana and similarly strengthened fingers, the resulting power would actually surpass that of a bullet.
After all, the same attack could smash the strengthened stones themselves.