Chapter "214"

While hoping she would let slip some weakness, Nicolas began teaching Ai about Martial Arts beast spirit techniques.

"Martial Arts beast spirit techniques are harder than those that use weapons and such."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's why Martial Arts aren't recommended in regular armies. But that doesn't mean they're weak. I believe it's the strongest skill that can give you a body superior to any weapon if mastered."

"Hmm."

Since the last part seemed mixed with Nicolas's own desires, Ai half-heartedly let it slide.

She noticed a cube appear about three meters above her center, but for now, she ignored it as she wanted to hear about beast spirit techniques.

"But why are Martial Arts alone so difficult?"

"One reason is that it has more varied techniques than others, and another is that there are issues with the temperament of its beast spirits, the twin dragons."

"...Twin dragons? What, there were two of them, not one!?"

"Hey hey, you didn't even know that? You should really know about your own skills. Also, they're kind of like gods, so don't be disrespectful by referring to them as animals."

"Okay!"

Nicolas conveyed that it's better to show respect since you never know what might cause them to stop lending their power.

When Ai gave such an honest response, Nicolas started speaking more freely, feeling like a teacher.

"So. Since there are two of them, you might want to think about which dragon you have better compatibility with. Though it's not something you can figure out by thinking, I've heard it's good to roughly decide which one you prefer and pray to them every day. I also picked either the white or black dragon and prayed desperately every day."

However, Nicolas kept quiet about how the opposite white dragon ended up lending him power.

"Eh!? You have to pray to beast spirits-chans?"

"Drop the '-chan.' Well, maybe you don't really need to pray. But if you were a twin, wouldn't you hate it if someone said either one would do?"

"Hmm. If I were a twin..."

Ai considered that hypothetical.

If there was another child exactly like her, and Tatsuro said either one would do, she'd feel so sad she'd want to die.

Just thinking about it made her eyes hot, and she hurriedly regained her composure, raising her voice as if to cover it up.

"You're right... I'd want them to properly choose between me or Me Number Two!"

"What's with 'Number Two'... Well, anyway, that's the idea. After that, polishing yourself is probably the fastest way until they respond."

"Hey. Are there people they never respond to?"

"Of course. This isn't limited to Martial Arts, but I should tell you that this skill has the fewest people who can use beast spirit techniques."

"I see."

Just listening to Nicolas's story would give quite a twisted impression of the twin dragons, but to Ai, they seemed like honest good children who were even now pleading that they wanted to come out and lend their power.

She could clearly say this wasn't an illusion.

And Ai thought that perhaps what had prevented her from calling them until now was simply the discord in her recognition of trying to call out just one when there were two of them when they were twins.

So she consciously focused on the skill within herself again and tried to sense the powerful beings even deeper within.

This time not as one super-giant being, but as two giant beings.

(─────Ah. ...I see, there were two of you. Sorry, I was wrong.)

She could feel the two dragons conveying to her that there was no need to apologize for such a thing.

Being able to properly recognize them as individuals allowed her to sense them more deeply.

And a refreshing feeling filled her chest as if the fog that had been there all along had cleared.

"Thanks, mister. I feel like I understand a lot now."

"Mis-. Wait, I'm still barely in my twenties."

"Eh? Really? It's hard to tell foreigners' ages!"

"Foreigner? Are you not from around here?"

"Yeah. I came from faaar away."

"Ah...... that explains it."

"Hm?"

"No, just talking to myself."

There weren't many adventurer parties this conspicuous.

Yet the fact that no one had ever heard of them until now made sense to Nicolas - they were travelers from a distant foreign land.

However, troublingly, he had done all the talking and hadn't managed to find any of her weaknesses at all.

He glanced at the cube above them, but if he moved now, she'd surely snatch it away.

As Nicolas was sweating cold drops down his cheek wondering how to break that cube, Ai said something unexpected.

"Man, you really helped me out, big bro. As thanks, I'll let you have that cube."

"Huh? Seriously!? You're not going to say 'just kidding' and attack when I try to break it?"

"I won't. What kind of person do you think I am?"

"Well... Nice bo─"

The moment he tried to joke "Nice boobs!"

He felt Ai's gaze sharpen.

Ai had been well aware that this man had been stealing glances at her chest area.

Having any man other than Tatsuro look at her body felt extremely disgusting, but since this wasn't limited to just this man, she had been ignoring it.

However, having it put into words was another matter.

So she responded with a smile, injecting killing intent that meant there wouldn't be a second time.

"Oh?"

"Nice bo-what a kind person you are..."

"Mm-hmm"

"─────*deep breath* *deep breath*"

Feeling the crisis had passed, he took long breaths to calm himself down.

After Nicolas felt the danger had passed, he waited for his bloodless head to warm up, then swung his fist at the cube, hitting it with spirit power to destroy it.

Now it was one-to-one. The situation had returned to even.

But if asked whether Nicolas had any chance of winning, it was honestly not just questionable but hopeless.

After all, he couldn't keep up with her speed at all.

Nicolas wanted to punch his pre-match self from the bottom of his heart for bragging "Not to brag, but─I'm strong and fast."

Meanwhile, Ai was far from focusing on the match.

She was worried about what to do with the torrent of power that was about to overflow.

If she released it now, she felt she could probably use beast spirit techniques.

However, if she did that, she might kill the man in front of her.

Since that wasn't what Ai wanted, she was searching for a way to avoid killing him.

Then she saw the man covering his whole body with white scales using beast spirit technique.

That apparently allowed him to create clones and dramatically increase his defense.

(I see. Since that's just self-enhancement, it would be perfect for practice!)

Now the question was which dragon.

Since not only the white dragon have scales, either should be able to do it.

(Hmm. But when they're so eager to come out, it would be sad to only choose one of them. Oh? Then I can just call both of them together!)

Both dragons, who had been secretly competing over who would go first in the depths of her skill, were delighted at this answer that matched their wishes.

And that joy was affecting the man in front of her too.

(Come to think of it, I can use beast spirit techniques unusually easily today. Usually, they're more stubborn.)

To make an analogy.

Usually, it was like repeatedly knocking on the door of a room's occupant who wouldn't wake up, but today they came out obediently with just a light call.

Nicolas thought that if it was always like this, it wouldn't be strange for it to be more valued than other skills.

And so he covered his whole body in scales, left them in place as he shifted sideways, and a clone was complete.

This time he decided to try a somewhat desperate strategy of ignoring Ai's presence and going to destroy the cube with both of them.

And while they were each thinking about their respective situations, a new cube appeared.

The location was ten meters behind Ai. Nicolas noticed it first.

Just as Nicolas and his shed scale clone gathered power in their legs thinking this might be their chance, it happened.

Black and white spirit power began welling up simultaneously from the girl before them.

"─Wh-what is that!?"

Just a little before that.

Ai was slowly drawing out the power of both twin dragons while concentrating on not letting them rampage.

(Hmm. It might be easier to understand with names. Then shall I call the black one Kuro-chan and the white one Shiro-chan?)

Though it was quite a casual naming, the two conveyed emotions mixing surprise and joy to Ai.

While Ai just thought she was glad they seemed happy, to the two dragons these names were the same as what the War God (Martial God) used when calling them, though without the "-chan"... (T/N: War God is the original translation but Martial God might give more understanding as he is the source of martial Techniques too. We will know more as we proceed)

Fortunately, that person wasn't good at naming either, and the twin dragons gave even more power to Ai.

(Shiro-chan, Kuro-chan. I'll be borrowing your power!)

With that mental voice, black-and-white spirit power welled up from Ai's body, and monochrome scales began covering her body.

Then, as if shedding her skin, Ai cast off the scales and shifted sideways.

This left just a mass of scales in Ai's shape, and she instinctively understood she could make it act according to her will.

But. Normally after shedding one layer of scales, you couldn't create more clones without putting on new scales...

In Ai's case, she had been wearing dozens of layers of scales from the start, so she smoothly shed them and created ten clones.

"I did it! I did it!"

Matching the energetically rejoicing Ai, the scale clones also raised their hands in celebration.

Then, an announcement reached Ai's ears.

|You have reached [Level: 50].|

|Class changed from [Martial Artist] to [War Commander].

|Acquired skill [One Shot Multiple Penetration Lv.1].|

"Oh! Me too! Yeaaah, yahooo!"

"What the hell is she..."

Nicolas looked at Ai, who had started dancing some mysterious dance of joy while spinning around as if looking at something bizarre he couldn't understand.

Furthermore, her clones were giving her enthusiastic applause as if worshipping her.

You could be forgiven for thinking it was some suspicious religion.

But Nicolas quickly came to his senses and, seeing this as an opportunity, aimed for the cube behind her along with his clone while drawing a large arc to avoid getting close to her.

"Oh, the cube comes first!"

"Tch, so you came back to your senses."

"Hm. I was in my senses from the start! Go, Ai-chan Numbers One through Seven!"

"Geh!"

Seven of Ai's clones, clearly created with higher density energy than his own clone, came charging at him.

By the way, the remaining three were positioned to guard behind Ai as she went to destroy the cube.

While it seemed hopeless to win two against seven, Nicolas forcefully charged ahead thinking at least he wouldn't be killed.

He thought that even if they had numbers, he could somehow manage by taking them down one by one with himself and his clone.

After all, clones can't move as precisely as the original.

Or so he thought, but...

"Gwaah!"

Nicolas's clone was instantly killed, and he himself was completely immobilized with his limbs held down by four bodies that had pounced on him.

He thought about creating more scales to escape, but three more bodies were surrounding that area.

Judging from how they had instantly killed his clone earlier, with Nicolas's current ability he would barely be able to escape from one of them.

So it would just be a waste of energy. While he was thinking about whether there were any other options, Ai leisurely arrived in front of the cube.

"Alright. Let's try out the new skill. Let's see... I see. So this is that kind of skill. Hiyah!"

Ai activated the skill [One Shot Multiple Penetration Lv.1] that she had just learned along with her class change.

Then another fist appeared lined up next to the casually thrown fist, and those two strikes pulverized the cube.

Apparently, this skill multiplies the number of attacks by the level number.

Of course, it consumes spirit power so if you use it with a powerful strike the consumption also doubles, but for Ai who had excess spirit/Ki power to spare, it was a perfect skill.

"Just one more to go!"

"Let me gooo!"

And so Nicolas remained captured by the clones until Ai destroyed the last cube...