A sword and an axe came rushing in, trailing blue and yellow tails.
Ian instinctively realized she couldn’t block them and sprang backward, opening the distance.
‘I need to figure out just how much he can do.’
His range, the patterns Ravana possessed, and so on.
Right now, she had to find out the extent of his abilities.
The situation was bad, so she had to move all the more carefully.
The fact that he used two weapons at once reeked of the game system’s malice.
But the match had already begun. She couldn’t simply give up.
Ian focused, reading the trajectories Ravana unfolded.
Ravana’s sword moved freely up, down, left, and right.
And the axe supported it, constantly seeking openings to dig into.
She saw no gap to squeeze through between them.
First, she had to create distance and reorganize her stance.
Ian’s staff stirred up the wind.
Strike Air. An area-control skill.
The explosion forced distance between the two of them.
Just as she was about to catch her breath, if only for a moment, Ravana let his sword and axe hang low.
Light rippled from both weapons.
The skills cast were charge skills: Sword Rush and Stampede.
The two overlapping skills surpassed the limits of speed.
—Boom!
Ravana’s fierce charge tore through the wind and came at Ian.
Ian’s eyes widened.
She barely rolled across the ground and escaped the charge, but a large clump of her hair was cut away.
Ravana immediately lunged at Ian.
Having only just regained her balance, she blocked the sword crashing down from above with all her strength.
“Ghk!”
Ian’s face twisted, and her wrist and shoulder screamed.
But in that opening, the axe that followed reached her side.
—Slash!
Ian endured the pain and pushed hard off the ground, widening the distance from Ravana.
But her snow-white coat was already stained red.
Ian bit her lip.
‘It feels like I’m fighting two people at once.’
Like facing a hacker in a fighting game.
No matter how hard she tried to respond, she couldn’t see an opening at all.
‘An ordinary method won’t work.’
The ways a person could beat a hacker were to possess overwhelming skill compared to the hacker, use what people called a cheap trick, or, failing that, use hacks yourself.
But her skill was not overwhelming.
There was no way to exploit a loophole in the system.
And she couldn’t use both sword and staff at the same time like Ravana did.
At that moment, lightning flashed through Ian’s mind.
‘Wait, two?’
What came to mind was her memory from Area 1.
If she couldn’t respond by ordinary means, she just had to step outside common sense.
Without hesitation, she reached into her inventory.
Ravana’s eyes narrowed when he saw the objects in Ian’s hands.
“Can you do it?”
She answered.
“I have to.”
And the spectator seats stirred.
“N-no. Has Ian gone crazy?”
“Is that even possible?”
“Are you stupid? Of course it isn’t.”
“Then is she giving up on the match?”
“It doesn’t look like she’s giving up.”
Present and past.
Tyr’s Will and the Staria Straight Sword.
Those two blades were held in Ian’s hands.
The tips of the two swords pointed toward Ravana.
‘I give up on skills.’
To begin with, it was impossible to overwhelm him with skills.
Then from now on, she would face him with the experience she had built up until now.
Ian sprinted.
No light dwelled in them, but the two swords moved according to her will.
The weapons of the two fighters struck sparks.
And naturally, the one being pushed back was Ian.
But Ian continued to chase the trajectories of the sword and axe.
—Clang-clang-clang!
Unlike before, when she had been unable to respond, Ravana’s sword and axe were repeatedly blocked by her blades.
Ravana’s brow furrowed.
‘She’s growing.’
The awkward stance was gradually evolving to suit Ian’s body.
Her precarious sword strikes became more and more precise, quickly catching up to Ravana’s weapons.
Then now, while he still held the advantage, was his chance.
‘I’ll finish this quickly.’
His axe emitted light.
The eighth axe skill.
The single-strike crusher, Destroy.
Ravana’s axe, swung with all his might, came down on Ian’s sword.
—Crack!
Ian’s sword screamed.
A thin crack formed in the Staria Straight Sword that had endured so long in her hand.
‘Damn. I don’t have another sword…’
But she had no time to regret it.
Ravana’s sword was already right before her.
Ian deflected the sword with Tyr’s Will and thought,
‘One or two more times. I have to end it within that.’
Yes, this was the decisive moment of the duel.
Ian’s eyes flashed.
With bloodshot eyes, she chased the trajectories of the sword and axe.
The axe came, cutting through the wind.
She avoided it by rotating her waist and hips.
The sword thrust in fiercely.
She twisted its path with Tyr’s Will.
The axe that had missed its target shot upward like a spring.
She blocked it with the Staria Straight Sword.
The crack became even more distinct.
And Ian swung her beloved sword, which had been with her for over a month, with all her strength toward Ravana’s approaching blade.
—Clang!
With that final strike, fragments of the sword scattered in every direction.
Thanks to that, Ravana’s sword failed to reach Ian.
Quickly gripping Tyr’s Will with both hands, she charged toward the descending axe.
Blue light dwelled in the blade.
“Slash!”
A full-force blow aimed at the bottom of the axe.
The axe, knocked from Ravana’s hand by an unexpected force, spun into the air.
But a large movement inevitably created an opening.
Ravana’s sword dug in, aiming for Ian’s gap.
At that moment, Ian—
“What?”
—let go of her sword.
Even for a seasoned warrior, the unexpected situation left Ravana flustered, his movements stiffening.
Using that opening, Ian successfully widened the distance from Ravana.
He belatedly came to his senses and tried to continue his slash, but she had already moved out of range and was aiming her staff.
“Strike Air!”
Wind exploded once more.
“Ghk!”
But this time, Ravana had no means to overcome it and was helplessly pushed back.
Then a second gust exploded before his eyes.
Behind Ravana was the wall.
If he was pushed back like this, he would crash into it.
Ravana drove his sword into the ground and desperately endured the wind.
However—
“When did you—?”
The moment the wind died down, a spear of ice had arrived before Ravana’s eyes.
Since his sword was embedded in the ground, blocking was impossible.
In the end, he chose to let go of the sword and avoid the spear.
As if she had expected this, Ian was already sprinting.
At some point, there was a sword in her hand.
And with the wind’s support added to her charge, she rapidly closed the distance to Ravana.
Ravana clenched his fist.
‘There’s still a chance.’
Ravana was not only skilled with sword and axe, but also highly proficient as a martial artist.
No matter how strong Ian was, he was confident he wouldn’t lose in close combat.
Purple light swirled around Ravana’s fist.
Just as he was measuring the timing with the single thought of striking the approaching Ian—
Ian, holding the sword in a reverse grip, drew her beloved weapon taut over her shoulder.
—Thwack!
And threw the sword at Ravana with all her might.
—Whoosh!
The sword, carrying the force of her run and Ian’s strength, cut through the air and shot forward.
Ravana’s shaken eyes wavered in confusion.
‘Catching it is impossible.’
He had to block it.
He thrust his fist toward the sword.
“Hup!”
Fist and sword collided.
The fist, empowered by a skill, successfully blocked the sword.
But—
“Uaaaaah!”
Ian was already right in front of Ravana.
‘A s-skill?!’
Her fist was shining with brilliant purple light.
A martial arts skill, single-strike charge.
“Dash!”
Her first and last chance.
Ian’s full-force blow slammed into Ravana’s abdomen.
—Thud!
With no time to use a defensive technique, Ravana’s body, struck by the fist, was driven into the wall.
—Rustle.
A cloud of rough dust rose.
The only sound in the arena was Ian’s ragged breathing.
Everyone, Ian included, focused on Ravana within the cloud of dust.
Then—
—Step.
At last, Ravana staggered out of the dust.
His fierce eyes stared straight at Ian.
Ian bit her lip and clenched her fist tight.
‘What do I do now?’
She had played every card she had.
She no longer had any confidence she could land a blow like that again.
‘Still, should I attack first?’
Just as she was agonizing over it in her mind—
“Hup!”
With a short shout, Ravana thrust his fist toward Ian.
—Thud!
And in that state, Ravana’s body, having lost consciousness, tilted to one side and collapsed onto the cold floor.
Like a stone statue, forgetting even to breathe, Ian stared blankly for a long while at his unmoving back.
At last, she murmured softly.
“I… won, right?”
At the same time, a thunderous cheer erupted from the spectator seats.
Her strength leaving her, she sank down where she stood and exhaled all the breath she had been holding.
June 21, 2038.
The final match of the Birth Festival Tournament.
It was the moment the winner was decided.
***
The final day of the Birth Festival.
All throughout the streets of Tedumayeo, grand parties were being held, filled with joyful memories, lingering regret, and promises for the next festival.
The same was true for the players fighting on the front lines.
Not only those who had participated in the tournament, but even those who had not all gathered at the inn to enjoy delicious food and alcohol.
It was partly because the week-long festival had ended, but also because today was the day they were liberated from Area 4.
Everyone raised their glasses high and shouted toward the star of the day.
“A toast to Ian, who showed us such an incredible match!”
“Cheers!”
Ian, winner of the Birth Festival Tournament.
She smiled shyly and downed her cup in one go.
Everyone cheered and applauded for her.
They praised the might and achievement Ian had displayed.
That made her feel unnecessarily embarrassed, so she kept raising her glass, but unfortunately, the talk about Ian showed no sign of stopping.
Especially from her follower, Veronica.
“Ian, you were so amazing! How do you use a sword that well? Your swelling lean muscles and veins were so sexy I thought I’d get a nosebleed just looking at them, and your hair fluttering in the wind was as beautiful as the night sky. Um, if you have time, could you hit me just once too—ek!”
“There she goes saying weird things again.”
Fortunately, the one who stopped her rampage was Ian’s friend, Naira.
While Veronica rubbed the bump on her head and rolled around on the floor, Naira took the seat beside Ian.
“Hey, good work. You were seriously cool today.”
“Thanks.”
“By the way, how did you use a fist skill at the end?”
“You know Hakon in Rundel, right? He taught me the crafting method.”
“Ah… so that’s why you could use it.”
“Yeah. I got help in a lot of ways.”
“Then the reason you disappeared until now was…”
“Yeah. I trained there.”
Ian told Naira everything that had happened.
And after hearing the whole story, Naira clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“That’s seriously insane. I couldn’t do that.”
“Honestly, I don’t think I could do it again if someone told me to.”
She had pushed herself until she collapsed, so that said it all.
Thanks to that, she had been able to defeat Ravana, but it was an experience she never wanted to repeat.
“Anyway, it’s Area 5 now.”
“Right. Has it been a little over a month since we came out of Area 1?”
“Yeah. Time really flies.”
Area 1 had been cleared on May 10.
They had been stuck there for over a month, so it was hard to believe that in the same amount of time, they had cleared up to Area 4.
It meant the players had grown that much too.
Thinking of it that way, it didn’t feel bad at all.
Just then, Naira tilted her head.
“But why hasn’t she come out this time?”
“Who?”
“Who else? Arka. Normally she’d come out again and start chattering away by herself, wouldn’t she? But she hasn’t said a word until now.”
“Now that you mention it…”
The blue-haired girl who always appeared after a boss was cleared and got on everyone’s nerves had not appeared this time.
Why wasn’t she coming out?
Just as that question occurred to her—
“Who are you calling someone who chatters away by herself?”
An angry voice came from in front of Ian as she tilted her glass.
“Y-you?!”
“A-Arka!”
There stood Arcadia’s guide AI, pouting as she glared at the two of them.