Chapter 92
【 Water’s Swordsman 】
‘I must not be swallowed by emotion. I had to handle my emotions—my emotions must not devour me.’
Dave gripped his sword tightly as he kept calming his mind from within.
The power of the Bonscora Family came from emotion.
More precisely, from rage—from the cruelest, most agonizing memories.
By vividly recalling those memories, the negative emotions drawn from them became the source of the Bonscora Family’s power.
But that didn’t mean one could blindly use those negative emotions.
If a person repeatedly and recklessly summoned their most horrific memories, it wouldn’t take long before they broke.
That was why a swordsman of the Bonscora Family had to know how to control emotion.
‘I won’t let memories and emotions sway me. My emotions are something I handle.’
I kept repeating this inwardly as I swung my sword at Gideon.
In response, Gideon barely managed to block my attack.
‘It hurts. I have to… I have to finish this quickly.’
Facing those horrifying memories within, I knocked Gideon’s sword aside.
Clang―!
Right after, I hurled myself toward Gideon’s upper body.
My shoulder slammed into the center of Gideon’s chest, and he staggered backward.
I didn’t miss the chance and swung at Gideon again, but he deflected the strike and slipped aside.
“…You actually reacted to that.”
I muttered with a faintly surprised look.
During battle, I rarely lost my focus.
Because I had to devote everything to fighting—and to controlling my emotions.
Otherwise, I would be consumed by them.
But the movement Gideon showed just now was enough to break my concentration.
I simply hadn’t imagined Gideon would react to the strike I had just thrown.
“You’re better than I expected.”
“Dave-nim… huuuh… you’re also much stronger than I imagined.”
Gideon raised his sword again, settling back into stance.
He already looked quite exhausted, yet somehow he seemed relaxed.
“But Dave-nim, why do you already look a bit worn out?”
“Don’t spout nonsense. I’m only just getting warmed u—”
“I don’t mean physically. Dave-nim, your heart looks… very tired.”
“…Shut up.”
I struck downward, and Gideon blocked once again.
Clang―!
But unlike earlier, when he had been pushed back, Gideon stopped my strike on the spot.
“Am I wrong? You seem a lot weaker than before.”
“I told you to shut u— ngh?”
For the first time, Gideon pushed back, knocking aside my blade.
He swung quickly and precisely, and caught off guard by his sudden counterattack, I barely, clumsily blocked the hits.
But only for a moment.
After blocking Gideon’s blows three times, I regained my senses, adjusted my stance, and properly parried his blade.
“…Seems I underestimated you.”
“I only took the chance when your focus wavered for a moment. The black smoke around you faded briefly.”
“…….”
“And even if you do underestimate me, I can’t say much. Because I am actually pretty under—”
“I know you aren’t normally this talkative. You’re doing it on purpose to keep shaking my concentration.”
“…Was it that obvious?”
“Very. And it’s not my first time dealing with someone like you.”
With that, I widened the distance.
Then I closed my eyes and focused, recalling my most horrific memory.
The memory resurfaced in my mind as vividly as if it had happened minutes ago, and the emotions I had felt back then surged up in my chest.
Rage, resentment, fear, hatred—overwhelming sensations.
‘I control it. I suppress it. I must handle these emotions perfectly.’
Barely suppressing the negative emotions that threatened to run wild, I converted them into power.
The black smoke around me thickened.
“Urgh.”
The painful memory felt as if it was grinding down my heart, and the eroding heart inflicted pain on my body as well.
It felt like the black smoke surrounding me was gnawing at my flesh.
“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
Gideon spoke, sounding genuinely concerned as he watched the scene.
“I heard that smoke carries poison. Not only harming the enemy but also affecting the user’s body. If you release it that heavily—”
“Yes, I’m pushing myself.”
With that, I dashed toward Gideon at tremendous speed.
Then I swung down at him.
A blitz attack—so fast that any ordinary swordsman would never react in time.
But Gideon avoided it thanks to the Attack Prediction Skill.
Boom―!
My blade struck the floor of the training hall, splitting it wide open.
Gideon let out a small, involuntary laugh at the sight.
“I’m pushing myself so I can finish you as quickly as possible.”
The poison within the black smoke.
I could feel my body deteriorating in real time.
Not only that—horrific memories repeatedly flashed in my mind, tearing at my heart.
‘But this is right.’
Gideon was an extremely defensive swordsman—one specialized in prolonged battles.
And I hated drawn-out fights.
I always preferred to end battles fast.
That was why I pushed myself, dragging out power even if it damaged me.
To take down Gideon, the iron wall, as fast as possible.
To end this battle quickly—so I wouldn’t have to keep facing those horrifying memories.
‘That lunatic.’
Watching Dave’s madness, I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
Considering his personality, I had expected something like this could happen, but seeing it in action was still unsettling.
‘There’s no way he doesn’t know he shouldn’t forcefully draw out that power.’
Thinking this to myself, I kept blocking Dave’s attacks.
Clang―! Clang―!
As I said before—Jason’s speed, Lisa’s strength.
Combining those two traits resulted in Dave, who used Black Smoke.
Because of that, each of his attacks was both fast and heavy, making blocking them pure torment.
“Auuk?”
I had only blocked Dave’s strikes a few times, yet my wrist was already tingling.
No matter what, I really shouldn’t let this fight drag into a long one.
‘Not just for me—but for Dave’s sake too, I need to finish this quickly.’
The Black Smoke used by the Bonscora Family.
It was undeniably a powerful force, but also an extremely dangerous one.
It granted a temporary power that was like an upgraded version of the Three Ducal Families’ abilities—but only temporarily.
The more it was used, the more one’s body and mind crumbled.
‘A force that was the ultimate high risk, high return.’
Because the Bonscora Family fully understood this nature of Black Smoke, even the skilled warriors used it with extreme caution.
But right now, Dave was recklessly dragging it out just to finish the fight quickly.
“Dave-nim. No matter how I think about it, this looks far too dangerous. Please calm down a litt—”
“Just fall already.”
Dave didn’t even pretend to listen and continued swinging his sword.
Bang―! Bang―!
“I need to defeat you so I can… so I can drive this power—these memories—out of my head.”
“…I understand your intention very well.”
He was exactly like the Dave I saw in the game.
Dave absolutely hated using Black Smoke.
More accurately, he hated reliving his horrific memories over and over, and experiencing the emotions tied to them.
So he always ended battles as fast as possible.
End them fast, and quickly shake the memories out of his head.
‘Finishing quickly is better for both Dave and me. The fastest way would be to just lose here… but I don’t want to lose.’
As I said, I wanted to prove to myself that I had grown.
And Dave, despite how he looked, had his pride as a swordsman.
Intentionally yielding victory would be an insult to him as well.
‘Then I should focus on enduring as long as possible.’
Black Smoke grew disadvantageous the longer it was used.
So if I just dragged time out, eventually Dave would reach his limit…
“…Huh?”
While I was defending well against Dave’s sword, suddenly Dave’s fist came flying toward my face.
My Attack Prediction Skill activated, but Dave’s fist was so fast that I couldn’t even react.
The Blessing of Water activated, forming a thin shield around me, but of course it was too weak to block Dave’s punch.
“Keuk?!”
His fist hit me squarely and sent me flying.
I rolled once across the floor before quickly forcing myself up.
“Haaah, aahk, aaah…”
Using the Mistcatcher like a cane, I barely managed to stand on both feet.
“…Ridiculously painful. Seriously, disgustingly painful.”
Rubbing my left cheek, I spat out the blood pooling inside my mouth.
If the water shield hadn’t reduced some of the damage, I might have been knocked out with that single hit.
“Why aren’t you falling? At this point, just fall already.”
“I’m a swordsman who specializes in defensive swordsmanship. I’d prefer it if rumors about my defense collapsing didn’t start spreading.”
“…Please just fall. I want to end this quickly.”
“You look like you’re in pain.”
Black Smoke rose thickly around Dave.
Just fighting near him made breathing difficult and my skin itch.
If it felt like this to me, then Dave—who was wrapped in that smoke—must have been suffering immensely.
“Shut up. I said shut up.”
Dave trembled as he muttered barely audible words.
Anyone could tell he looked like someone suffering from auditory hallucinations—no, hallucinations in general.
‘Is it really okay to keep going? No matter how I think about it, Dave continuing to fight looks dangerous.’
If Dave pulled back the Black Smoke even a little, the problem would resolve.
But he clearly had no intention of doing that.
Given his competitiveness, it made sense.
‘All this for midterms…’
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I glanced toward Luke.
Normally, Luke would have stopped our duel by now.
Judging by his expression, he seemed to be deciding whether to stop it or not.
Well, the fact that he was hesitating meant he thought we could still continue…
‘Then I should focus on figuring out how to beat this guy.’
When fighting Dave in the game, the strategy was simple:
Just hold out until his HP naturally dropped on its own.
Because Black Smoke drained HP over time, all you had to do was wait until he collapsed by himself.
‘That method… probably still works now. But I don’t want to win like that.’
As I said earlier, I wanted to prove that I had become stronger.
I didn’t want to show that I was just a swordsman who only defended.
‘But what solutions do I have? Using Peregrie’s power—lightning? I don’t think Dave will go down with just a single lightning strike.’
The Black Smoke steadily drained his stamina, but at the same time, the durability granted by it was extremely high.
To break that durability, I needed a powerful offensive option—and my strongest attack was Peregrie’s lightning.
But it still felt… slightly lacking.
“…Hm?”
While I was quickly calculating in my head, someone seated in the second-floor spectator area caught my eye.
Red hair—Lisa.
Come to think of it, she had been sitting there since this morning.
‘Why does she look more nervous than I am?’
Her usually expressionless face was now obviously tense and anxious.
Seeing her clenched fists, I couldn’t help but let out a faint laugh.
When my eyes met Lisa’s, I gave her a slight smile to signal that I was fine.
But seeing her face triggered a memory.
‘Ah, Lisa definitely… back then…’
A powerful offensive option.
Now that I thought about it, Peregrie’s power wasn’t the only thing I could use.
I hadn’t confirmed it yet, but I was certain there was a new power settled in my blood.
‘…Nothing to lose by trying.’
With that thought, I used the Mistcatcher to slice open my right palm.
Then I grabbed my sword with my wounded hand.
Blood ran down the hilt and flowed onto the blade.
“Alright, it’ll work out somehow.”
Holding the blade soaked with my own blood, I looked back at Dave.
Whatever happened, it seemed like ending this match soon would be best for both of us.
And I had just come up with a plan to do that.