"You find this fun."
"Are you enjoying this? Right now?"
"You're someone who will only live for today."
Enkrid had met quite a variety of sword teachers, and most of them tended to say similar things.
But what could he do? This was enjoyable and fun.
"...Why are you smiling?"
The bastard he'd recently made into a sword teacher asked.
He'd lost the two swords that created sparks and now held two identical-looking swords, but these were swords that contained freezing cold that froze flesh when they grazed.
As he spun the swords in his grip, cold air wafted out.
'Would be great in summer.'
That kind of weapon.
The spinning blades pushed away heat and chilled the surrounding air to coldness.
'Not spewing cold but absorbing surrounding heat?'
To use relics or Spell Objects, one had to know the weapon's operating method. If one didn't know the structure or operating principle, one had to learn how to use it by trying it repeatedly.
The opponent had done so.
"If you use Spell Objects clumsily, they become double-edged swords that cut yourself."
It was something Jaxen often said. Teacher Rino wielded that double-edged sword well. His skill at not cutting himself while only cutting the opponent was exceptional.
'What should I learn from this teacher?'
A dull trainee couldn't properly learn what the teacher taught, and a trainee slightly better than that would barely learn one thing when taught one.
On the other hand, a smart trainee would realize five or ten things when a teacher taught one.
And in the role of learning, there was no one on the continent like Enkrid.
He was the most excellent across all races.
He stole and learned even what the opponent didn't want to teach.
'Is his specialty deception?'
That's what it looked like on the outside, but for that, there was nothing to learn in the part where he used psychological warfare with words. That part was clumsy. Instead, a few fragmentary movements stood out.
'Why are they special?'
Rino spread both arms wide like a large bird. Following the swords containing cold in both hands, frigid air arose.
That appearance resembled the Balrog striking with its wings. The Balrog even used its wings as weapons.
And those blades froze flesh with just a graze.
'Like the Balrog using Surt and its wings together.'
A naturally flowing association.
Surt that created black flames was a weapon one couldn't even let graze, so.
Teacher Rino's current movement was a form that perfectly utilized his weapon's characteristics.
The reason it looked like two wings was because the motions were large.
Those seemingly quite unnecessary motions lowered the surrounding temperature.
No, they didn't stop at lowering but made things freeze. Enkrid felt thin ice already forming on his forearms.
It was still only faint cold, but if that clumsy-looking dance ahead continued, later it would become uncomfortable enough to hinder movement.
It was a fact he noticed through intuition without even needing deep thought. There was no need to retrace the process.
There was more to learn here. As expected, Teacher Rino's specialty wasn't psychological warfare.
"Let's see you keep smiling."
Rino said. Enkrid kept his smiling face.
How could he not?
Though they said a smart trainee realized ten things, the madman called Enkrid enjoyed learning. This was as enjoyable as fighting and advancing. Moreover, here he had the keen eye that hadn't been there before.
'Perfect utilization of weapons.'
He knew what he could do with the weapon he had, beyond simply cutting and freezing, changing the surrounding air to be advantageous to himself.
'The same with the two swords that blinded eyes.'
The two swords he originally used had blades characterized by creating sparks and spewing heat when swung quickly, and he'd struck them together with appropriate force to burst out a flash.
That method of blocking the opponent's vision by such means was Teacher Rino's unique technique.
'Admiration upon admiration.'
That's what he thought inwardly. But that didn't mean he'd meekly take it.
Enkrid moved before the cold penetrated to his bones. The blade he swung while kicking off the ground drew a sky-blue half-moon.
Though the motion was simple and clear, the teacher dodged. He kicked off the ground sideways, pushing his body. An afterimage remained following his body. Though he'd seen it many times, it was an excellent step.
It was a horizontal high-speed movement, where he momentarily crossed his two legs to increase speed.
Enkrid had already seen it many times and had even practiced it on the ferryman's ferry. The madman trainee moved following the teacher's shadow.
The blade that had been drawing a half-moon broke in the middle and moved horizontally.
"...!"
Startled, the teacher opened his eyes wide and held up both cold-containing swords side by side to block.
That was a mistake.
Kwang!
Dawnforge was a sword capable of strikes heavier than most greatswords if needed.
The sky-blue blade shattered the two cold blades and left a long sword mark on its owner's chest. Following that sword mark, black smoke billowed out.
"You!"
It was the teacher who couldn't overcome the force in the sword and rolled backward before stopping. He had both hands and knees on the ground, only lifting his head and opening his mouth.
Rino knew the wound he'd received was fatal. But that was only when he'd had a body with blood flowing. Now his body was a bit different, so he could still speak and move somewhat.
That didn't mean he could immediately leap over the opponent before him, so he wasn't trying to attack.
However, he was inwardly twisted.
The step shown just before was something he himself had developed. To copy it? After seeing it just once? No, he'd followed the footwork without even seeing it all.
"You stole and learned my technique?"
Anyone could see he'd watched and copied it. Rino's pupils shook as if swaying.
'After seeing it once? No, without even properly seeing it, he followed what was happening before his eyes?'
It wasn't just a simple footwork but a method of operating Will. Could one do this after seeing it once? Moreover, he'd followed it before even seeing it all.
No matter how much his thoughts had expanded, this didn't make sense.
There was no such genius in the world. It was a series of things that didn't make sense. Though from his perspective it was entirely natural.
Enkrid had watched countless times and repeated it while hearing the ferryman's mockery and leaping on the ferry in time unknown to him.
"Do you want to fall in the river again? Training here of all places. A guy like you is really my first."
He'd heard such words in one ear and practiced hundreds of times.
"Anyway, it's not fair."
The teacher muttered even as the light in his eyes faded. Enkrid nodded his head. He agreed.
"...Detestable fellow."
Rino defined Enkrid with an archaic word and committed suicide. A short dagger he'd drawn at some point was in his hand. Standing only on his knees, he held the dagger and stabbed his own throat.
The teacher turned into black smoke and departed.
In other words, today's first lesson had ended.
'His specialty isn't deception but utilization.'
Words learned in the past brushed through his mind again.
"A person's skill changes depending on how they handle their weapon."
To mercenaries, wasn't a weapon another life? It was what the mercenary captain he'd relied on had told him.
'The way to properly handle weapons.'
Zzing.
While thoughts continued, Dawnforge hummed, and.
Flutter—
The fairy cloak rode the wind on its own.
Though the air inside the cave remained still and settled, the cloak fluttered.
'Have I properly used my weapons until now?'
Besides this, there were several more Silence Daggers, as well as Penna and the gauntlet wrapped in cloth. There was also the armor made of fairy leaves worn in the form of undergarments, and Esther had even breathed into this armor.
Organizing thoughts in his head, Enkrid advanced toward the second lesson.
"My name is Donapa!"
A teacher who got excited easily and enjoyed deciding matches with a single strike. This fight was hard to drag out.
Donapa had no armament besides his thick axe, the armor wrapped around his body, and his phantom horse.
'Extreme tendency.'
He didn't have anything in mind except for a single axe strike. That's why Donapa made axe strikes superior to his actual skill. It was similar to the sword strike Roman had shown when he was a squire. Roman at that time had swung his sword like a knight just once, though at the squire level.
The reason Roman from that time came to mind was because the opponent before his eyes was on a similar trajectory.
If Teacher Rino had taught weapon utilization, what to learn from the second teacher Donapa was much clearer.
'Simple thinking.'
Using simplicity as a weapon instead of complexity.
That simplicity was radical enough to surpass concentration on a single point. It was like a horse wearing blinders, only looking ahead and running.
Blinders were tools that covered a horse's left and right vision to make it only look ahead, excluding everything unnecessary and making it only look ahead and run, allowing it to reach its destination quickly and efficiently.
'Donapa's senses must be dull too.'
The perfect opposite of Jaxen. That's why when swinging his axe, he even threw away his own head frequently.
Complex thinking and multifaceted thinking helped with calculation, but became impurities in the process of concentrating.
Donapa rejected all those impurities. Though he didn't fully know the principles of this labyrinth, he now knew these beings had been knights when alive.
The Dullahan named Donapa would have maintained such a life attitude even when he lived with red blood.
It seemed as if he'd truly aligned his life to axe swinging.
However, there was no need to absorb all of that.
'That would be regression.'
Enkrid stole and learned from teachers, but furthermore, he knew their methods and digested them in his own way.
Since he'd always been in a position craving learning, his current learning attitude, posture, and cognitive abilities had clearly increased compared to before. It was at a level where calling it evolution wouldn't be wrong.
'Simplifying thinking only when needed.'
Ragna's usually lax attitude came to mind. Though his verbal explanations were terrible, he was a good teacher.
Just watching his usual attitude, there was much to learn.
'The lax attitude is the process of emptying his head, and changing when gripping the sword is switching thinking to draw out Will.'
If he switched thinking to take on simplicity, that was enough. He just needed to demonstrate concentration only when necessary.
'Concentration on a single point will do.'
Precisely, it was becoming more immersed in concentration on a single point. How? By cutting off all branches of thinking to discard impurities.
It was what he'd learned from Donapa's single strike through simple thinking.
The blue from indigo is greener than indigo.
Like the principle where embers started from a small bonfire transfer and form a great blaze.
"Huh?"
Donapa's single strike cut through empty air. It was right after devoting himself to blocking and dodging by stopping simple thinking.
Enkrid's sword passed through, striking Donapa's waist. Looking from outside, the Dullahan riding a phantom horse had thrown his head backward and charged, and the swordsman facing him as an opponent, Enkrid, also moved his feet and charged in, and all that happened was they crossed paths.
In that process, Donapa's axe cut through empty air, and Enkrid's Dawnforge severed the ghostly knight's waist.
Skuk.
Dawnforge became as sharp as Penna when needed. It was a horizontal slash utilizing that.
"I lost."
Donapa's upper body slid and dropped to the ground with a thud. His voice was heard from a place distant from his fallen body. As always, the words came from his head.
He decided matches head-on and conceded easily. It was a quick change of attitude, as quick as his simple thinking.
Enkrid advanced toward the third teacher.
All these processes were naturally thanks to training with time invested. They were also the results of effort swinging his sword on the ferryman's ferry.
"You want to fight me?"
The ferryman watching that sword work had asked this. Naturally it wasn't sincere but sarcasm.
The owner of the single-edged sword narrowed her eyes the moment she saw Enkrid. Anyone could see he wasn't an ordinary opponent. The pressure subtly flowing from his entire body took form and looked like a massive castle wall.
"You've surpassed Donapa and come."
The specialty of the single-edged sword was the explosive power that came out when maintaining offense. If one dug into that explosive power, her specialty could be glimpsed. It was very long breathing.
That long breathing was her greatest specialty.
However, that specialty only stood out when continuing attacks. When turning to defense, interest was cut off and breathing was also chopped off, so the difference in hand and foot movements changed between offense and defense.
'A fatal weakness.'
When attacking, she could do it excitedly, but when blocking, her heart wasn't in it.
Even while speaking, her nose showed unique breathing technique. She breathed in air thinly and long.
This too was endlessly fun to watch, learn, and acquire.
During spare time, that is, on the ferryman's ferry, he'd repeatedly regulated his breathing as if doing mental training. It wasn't because he was hasty, but because learning and acquiring from them was so enjoyable.
"Why are you practicing breathing here?"
Of course, the ferryman had repeatedly scolded him.
If he yielded the first move to the single-edged sword, she hastily continued attacking. Watching that, he stole and learned the way of breathing.
Then when the point came where her breathing was cut off, he switched from defense to offense and cut.
He didn't just cut. While practicing her method.
"You, you, how?"
Excluding Donapa, these two were quick on the uptake. Each time they noticed what Enkrid had done, they were surprised.
"Skillfully."
When he answered roughly, the single-edged sword wielder's eyes dimmed. If one was an ordinary person, they easily met those better than themselves, but so-called geniuses didn't often see those who surpassed their own talent.
That's why they became more shaken when facing such moments.
Moreover, now the single-edged sword wielder's mind wouldn't be sound either.
How could a life that was entirely wandering in a labyrinth captured by the Balrog be called sound?
Enkrid cut the single-edged sword wielder and advanced to meet Oara, conversed with her, then faced the Balrog.
It was the one hundred fifty-fourth today.
During that time, he'd never broken the crystal revealed on the Balrog's chest. Since he couldn't cut all three even if he could cut one, attacking was useless. Also, to cut one crystal, he had to disregard his own life.
Such a fight was no different from suicide, so it wasn't a path Enkrid would choose.
Still, he struggled and fought. But no matter what he did, the Balrog stood like an insurmountable wall.
And before welcoming the one hundred fifty-fifth today, the ferryman who couldn't hold back any longer told him the method to escape today.
"Listen to me."
It was a tone as if saying, "Yes, I lost."