Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai – Chapter 168

Here’s the sixth chapter. Enjoy.

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The Preceding Hero and the Gladiator King

What recurred in the chest of Zappa of the Asura Tribe was boundless excitement.
Zappa’s heart danced more than it ever did in any of the life or death struggles he tasted since he became a gladiator in the past.

 

The place where Zappa was born was at the western edge of the continent, and was a small Asura Tribe village that was in the Vache Mountain Range.
Being raised there, he became the number one warrior in the village at the age of 11.
The others were also strong to the point that ordinary Humans would be no match for them. However, Zappa could easily kick the adult warriors about.
But, when he became 13, Zappa suddenly vanished from the village.
It was because his heart was charmed by the stories he heard from a travelling peddler about how one person and another would risk their lives and fight, 『Gladiators』.
With the fights against the warriors of the village, he couldn’t kill his opponent, and that didn’t satisfy his heart.

Several months after leaving the village, in order to join the gladiator world where there were only slaves during that time, Zappa voluntarily became one.
What happened from there was an atrocious hell that couldn’t be said to be very showy.
Each and every day, he was tormented by gladiators that were of higher rank than him, and times where he was put into the next match before the wounds he bore in the previous match could heal were common.
There were even times where he was made to fight against things like Wyverns.
And then, everyday, there were the newly replenished gladiators added to replace the ones that died. Certainly, something like a gladiator was a job that could only be done by slaves.

How he could continue this lifestyle where he was so close to death each and every day was surely because he earnestly harbored a sense of satisfaction with that situation.
The exciting days of scrambling for 『life』 that he couldn’t taste when he lived with the Asura Tribe in the mountain recesses.
The life and death that he felt within battle. Zappa was fascinated with fighting on top of that boundary line.

 

Eventually, people that could fight against Zappa had disappeared.
There might still be more people whose sword skills surpassed his.
There were surely more people who excelled in magic better than him.
But however, there was no one that struggled through being on the verge of death more than him.
In these battles to the death for supremacy that were gruesomely held in one-on-one fights and performed on top of this stage that was a circle with only a 15 meter radius, the people that could defeat him had disappeared.

 

 

But what about now!

What about this sword attack that this child, who seemed like he hadn’t even lived half as long as Zappa had, had fired!!

That guy called Iibsal was certainly strong as well. The name of Fist Saint had reached Zappa’s ears as well, and after seeing him in person, he even felt “wouldn’t he reach me, and eventually surpass me?”.

But however, for Zappa, when he thought about if that Iibsal could hurl an attack like that of the young boy that he was facing right now, no matter how he thought about it, it didn’t seem like he would.

That sword attack could not be described as being skilled at all.
He possessed high physical abilities, but against Zappa as he was now, it wasn’t high enough to say that he couldn’t reach it at all.

However, and this is a big however,
This heavy swordsmanship that surely experienced many scrambles for 『life』, this sharp spirit meant to drive the opponent he was facing into a wall. The body movements that specialize in moving for the sake of doing anything to snatch the win.
The young man before his eyes was a second-rate 『swordsman』. ……However, he was a first-rate 『warrior』――

 

「『Wild Arms (Divine Protection of the War God)』……!」
「!」
When Zappa put strength into his fists and chanted that phrase, a red haze rose up from his body.
It was the magic that enhanced brute strength, 『Wild Arms』.

「To think that you were a Magic Swordsman.」
「Even if ya say that, the only magic I can use is 『Enhance Magic』. I can’t fire things like Fire Arrows!」
Ka ka ka, Zappa laughed, and tightly gripped the handles of the six swords that he held in his hands.

「――Alright, I’ll be takin’ the first move, ‘kay?」
Among his six arms, Zappa moved the two arms that he didn’t use before.

「Just try and receive this downpour of slash attacks!!」
*Bo!!*
When the swords were swung, it caused an explosive sound.
The two swords swung as if to draw a cross cut the air in front of Zappa.
It cut the space where nothing and no one was there.

「っ!!??」
Yuu noticing it was a complete coincidence.
Yuu coincidentally noticed at the edge of his vision that a deep “notch” that was about as small as a thumb had suddenly appeared in the stone ring at his feet.
How his body jumped away to the side of that place faster than he could think about it after seeing that small but deep notch that seemed as if a hot knife was thrust into butter was truly a coincidence.

 

「っ, GIih!!」
It were a sensation as if he were stabbed by nails over and over, and then was further wrecked by a hammer.
Looking closely, both of Yuu’s legs had become wrecked as if they were tattered house-clothes.
「A, slash wave……っ!?」
He was able to identify the technique from the wound. But, Yuu was bewildered by how it wasn’t something that bisected his legs, but was a scar that seemed like he was repeatedly stabbed with knives.

「I’m still gonna keep on goin’!!」
Zappa swung even more swords.
While cutting up the ring, the slash waves approached Yuu.
「Tsk……!!」
The muscles and tendons of my legs are wrecked so I can’t move them yet. In that case――thinking that, Yuu did a handstand with one hand, and took shelter from the storm zone of slash attacks.

「Ha, I ain’t lettin’ you escape!!」
A storm of fired slash attacks.
Blades of wind that couldn’t be seen by the eye countlessly attacked Yuu.

「Dammit……!!」
The bodily healing through the Sacred Sword had the healing speed greatly change depending on whether or not the wound made a direct connection to death.
His heart being pierced. His head being blown off. Half his body being eaten. That kind of damage where he would die with just one hit would heal and he would make a complete revival before long.
His reliance on this immortality played a big part in why Yuu would often act rashly.
On the other hand, in cases where it was a serious wound but the wound didn’t make a direct connection to death, his healing speed greatly decreased. (That being said, since he healed with a speed that was almost no different from healing with advanced level Healing Magic at that decreased speed, it was by no means slow.)

「So fast――!!」
While lowering his posture as if lying down on the ground, Yuu swung his Magic Sword sideways.
The tip of his Magic Sword cut the air, and fired a slash wave.
While repelling the downpour of slashes, the slash wave that Yuu fired flew at a low altitude.

「Hou, you’ve really thought it through.」
Nimbly avoiding the incoming slash wave that tried to mow down his legs, Zappa looked at Yuu and grinned.

「……(Good, they’ve healed to the point where I can move them!)」
The storm of slashes that should have made a direct hit on Yuu ended with just grazing Yuu’s back.

「The countless slash waves that were approaching, you blew away the lower half of ‘em, didn’t ya?……Ya really are interestin’, ain’t ya.」
The slash waves that Zappa fired, they were countless small and sharp slashes that jumbled together like turbulence, and was a mass of advancing slashes that drew an irregular trajectory.
This wasn’t a technique fired through Zappa’s skills, but a technique done through the special characteristics of the two swords that he had just taken out.

『Thousand Edge Arahabaki』『Thousand Edge Ishikahonori』
Those blades had countless ups and downs, yes, they had a form that was like that of a saw.
By swinging these blades with countless ups and downs with a speed that they could create a slash wave, it becomes a Samidare (early-summer rain) slash wave that seems like knives thrusting in. And then by swinging that pair of swords as if to make a cross, it creates a maelstrom of slash waves that’s like turbulence.

Since Yuu had blown away the lower half of the turbulence that was created by the pair of swords, he had created an opening to use to evade it.

「(If I hadn’t fought against that bastard Wintos, I wouldn’t have thought of that.)」
Thrusting his Magic Sword into the ground, Yuu stood up while using it to support his body like it were a cane.

「Plus yer healing is also done……Is it an ability of that Magic Sword?」
「Well now, let’s just say that it’s a trade secret.」
*Ton ton* Hitting the toe of his shoes on the ring, Yuu once again readied his sword.

「This time, it’s my turn, right?」
Silence, with complete silence, his figure vanished from that place.

「(He’s fast, but, it ain’t enough that I can’t completely see hi――!?)」
Zappa chased after Yuu, who jumped up, with his eyes.
Estimating that he jumped up to make an airstrike, Zappa looked up and,

「Wh, where are ya, where did ya go!」
He was surprised by how Yuu’s figure wasn’t there.
It wasn’t a surprise attack from the sky.
Then right now, that guy was, Yuu was――

「っ!」
A faint sound of wind being cut was made.
And in the next instant,

「GAAaah!?」
A heavy impact ran through Zappa’s back. With the impact that felt like he had gotten hit by a cannonball, Zappa’s feet floated up, and he was blown away by the impact.

「UOOOOohh!!」
The cannonball that blew Zappa’s body away, Yuu stayed in his posture of having fired a kick at Zappa and drew a parabola together with him.

「Stay like this and fall outttt!!」
When Zappa and Yuu’s bodies went past the ring, Yuu raised up one leg, and swung it down onto Zappa.

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Sorry to keep you waiting, here is the latest story.

Next time, it’s finally the conclusion!?
Coming soon!

 

……I, I’ll post it as fast as I can.