As Van ran up the steep mountain slope, he spotted a log rolling on the ground. It looked like a tree that had naturally broken and decayed, but wood is still wood.
He hurriedly processed the wood into blocks and used them to create a wall between two large rocks, blocking the path. The wood blocks had a hardness greater than steel. They shouldn’t break easily.
“Now, I’ll gain some distance while I can...!”
Just as he said that, a voice echoed from beyond the wall.
"We’re heading your way soon!"
“He’s here...!”
Van was startled, so much so that he almost jumped. With that momentum, he kicked the ground and turned to look ahead. To his surprise, Kamshin had already advanced at least a hundred meters ahead.
“Fast!?”
Van hurriedly made his way up the slope, following the path Kamushin had likely taken. The makeshift wall wouldn’t hold them off for long. He had to quickly find other materials...
As Van thought about this, he climbed over a large rock and continued forward. Then, a loud crashing sound and a rumble from behind reached his ears.
“Sei!”
Hearing that shout, Van quickly turned around.
There, ignoring the wall he had created, Dee stood, grinning widely, having split a massive rock beside him in two. With the strong wind, pieces of the shattered rock rolled towards Van’s feet. Amid the dust, Dee stood between the two giant pieces of rock, showing his teeth in a smile.
“Hahaha! If there’s no path, just make one!”
“Only you could do that, Dee!?”
At this point, Van’s fear was purely instinctual. Dee was laughing and chasing after him, so Van had no choice but to seriously climb the mountain slope. Despite various large and small rocks and cliff sections, Van was surprised by how fast he was moving.
“Oh! Van-sama, you’ve caught on to the trick of mountain climbing! What amazing speed!”
Dee’s voice reached him, and when Van looked, Dee was already grinning beside him.
“Yikes.”
Van let out a sound he didn’t even recognize. Maybe he hadn’t breathed properly. Despite this, Dee wasn’t bothered at all and swung his sword down. Perhaps he was deliberately making wide swings to make it easier to handle, but the sight of him swinging the massive sword while running up the steep slope, all with a cheerful grin, made him look like a demon.
“Now, how will you dodge this!?”
For some reason, Dee’s voice sounded excited as he swung his sword down. The sound of wind being cut through and the crash of metal against metal filled the air. Although the sword was dulled for training purposes, its massive size made it a weapon capable of inflicting real damage.
“Ugh!”
Van desperately jumped sideways, narrowly avoiding the swing of the sword. The sword crashed down just inches from his face, and for a moment, his ears rang from the impact.
“I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!”
Van rolled on the ground to absorb the momentum from his jump, placing his hands on a rock about the same height as his face. He quickly sprang up and ran forward, using his momentum to keep going. Seeing that Van was resuming his climb, Dee nodded lightly and looked toward the top of the slope.
“Oh, Kamushin isn’t bad either! Alright, next, Kamushin! Let’s go!”
“Ugh, nooo!”
Kamushin, hearing Dee’s declaration of pursuit, screamed as he continued climbing the mountain.
“Wahaha! Run, run! Now, the attack is coming! Get your sword ready, Kamushin!”
“Gah!”
Dee charged up the slope with ridiculous speed, and Kamushin, desperate to escape, fled just as fast. Kamushin was also fast, and somehow, while climbing, he kept his sword ready in a defensive stance. Dee, on the other hand, was leaping and jumping, swinging his sword down repeatedly.
The rumble of the ground, the dust flying up, and the sound of the sword swings mixed with the loud clashes of metal on metal, all accompanied by Dee’s joyful laughter.
“...Alright, I’ll just quietly go back.”
Dee was a demon. A training demon, no doubt. Meanwhile, Van, though a genius, was just an ordinary, beautiful young man in terms of physical ability. If he kept up with this terrifying training, he might just perish. That would be a loss for his territory.
With that excuse, Van convinced himself and began quietly descending the slope. There were many rocks, and some places looked like they could cause him to fall, so he had to be careful.
“Hm? Hm, hm?”
At that moment, from above, he heard Dee’s voice.
Carefully looking back, Van saw Dee, arms crossed, looking down from far above the slope. Kamushin was lying exhausted at his feet.
“Oh! So now it’s downhill training!? Alright, let’s gooo!”
Van wondered what Dee had mistaken this for. Without hesitation, Dee jumped from the steep slope, not even flinching. Though not quite a cliff, it was still a very steep incline. Seeing Dee leap without hesitation was terrifying.
“Wahaha! Now, how will you move next!?”
Van had barely processed this when Dee, with just two or three jumps, had already descended and landed right in front of him, laughing while holding his sword. Van gave up on everything at that moment.
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