The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 56

Chapter 56: This is the Power of the Parasite.

The harsh training that was akin to bullying by Joanne revealed its true form from the second day onward.

In the end, the only day I managed to score a point against Joanne was the first day.

Until the fifth day, I wasn’t even allowed to touch her again. The hellish beatings continued from early morning until evening, and without the application of healing magic, I would have certainly been driven to a level of injury that would result in death.

I was told that a clean fracture could be healed immediately without any burden on the body, so my bones were broken over and over again.

However, the pain accurately corrected my actions. Perhaps because my body was grown rapidly through chemicals, it felt like my learning speed was unnaturally fast.

Since I already had the muscles, all that was left was to hammer the techniques into my brain.

Then, as we entered the fifth day, there was a clear change in the sparring between me and Joanne.

Not only was I able to dodge Joanne’s attacks aimed at my vital points, but I also managed to counter her attacks.

…Still, Joanne would counter my counterattacks, so in the end, I couldn’t land any effective strikes.

On the eighth day, the fiftieth bout. I dodged her counter to my counter, and somehow I managed to land a blow to her side. Joanne staggered from the full force of the hit and forced a slight smile.

“Congratulations on your first hit in a week.”

“Thank you very much for your hard work…phew, sighh.”

“The battles between ordinary people like you are won by whoever lands the first strike. Keep it up.”

Having said that, Joanne became serious or perhaps just stubborn, and for the rest of the time, I was overwhelmingly beaten.

On the ninth day, my combat training partner switched from Joanne to Whip Fanitusk.

According to Joanne, since I could now score a point against her, even with her holding back, I should be able to do fairly well.

Whip’s combat style was almost completely new to me, but when I actually fought, I managed to hold my own quite decently.

“Hey, is Oakley-chan actually pretty strong?”

“What do you think?”

“Well, I’m going to keep ramping up the gears from now on~”

Whip seems to have a style of swinging around two swords, one in each hand.

It was supposed to be just a sparring match, but she was only aiming for my vital points, clearly intending to kill me.

I was surprised at my ability to counter such attacks from her.

As a general Believer of the Aaros Temple Order’s strongest class, her attacks are indeed sharp.

I’m basically on the defensive. However, if I focus on defense, maintaining the status quo is easy.

In Joanne’s case, her attacks are significantly beyond the level of tolerance I can maintain by being passive, so I have no choice but to say they are inferior.

Sadly, no matter how much we commoners utilize our techniques, we can’t even come close to the Executives who don’t resort to schemes.

No, it’s the other way around. It’s because we use techniques that our limits become visible.

Techniques are built upon each individual’s power. Flaunting those techniques is synonymous with showing one’s limits.

When Joanne gets serious, she can create gusts of wind with just a swing of her fist. If she wanted to, she could even flatten the earth.

Celestia could change the weather with just a thought, and Stella could turn the world into a sea of lava.

In contrast, Whip can only scrape the ground by slamming her weapons down.

I possess even less power than her. The stronger I become, the more I understand.

I might be able to kill the non-combatant Juanquiro with one chance, but I have no idea how to defeat the other Executives.

(The current situation where we have to rely on an Executive to take down another Executive is seriously frustrating. Without modern weapons, it’s fair to say that we have virtually no countermeasures against them. It’s an utterly absolute predicament.)

At least in the original work, ‘practical guns’ did not appear.

What was introduced seemed to be something like a matchlock gun.

Although they have been developed, the reasons they are not used include their impracticality in long-term combat, the excessive time it takes to reload, the considerable funds required for procuring and maintaining gunpowder and bullets… and various other reasons why both Orthodox Believers and Heretics use crossbows.

If there were practical guns, it seems like the situation would change significantly, but that’s not something we can hope for.

It’s a waste of time to hold out hope for a pipe dream.

“Oakley-chan, are you lost in thought?”

“Not at all!”

In the midst of the powdery snow, the practical training with Whip goes on for a long time.

As we exchange attacks, I start to get a read on Whip’s habits. She has a high probability of initiating her attacks from the sword she holds in her right hand.

For example, Whip strikes with the sword in her right hand directly in front of me to gauge my reaction, then follows up with the sword in her left hand.

If I evade, hse aims to strike where I’ve moved to; if I defend, she swings her sword at parts of my body where the defense is too slow to catch up.

If I attempted a counterattack, she used the sword in her left hand to defend herself.

This way, Whip keeps up a relentless attack without breaking the flow, striking with good rhythm.

However, all of her attacks are inferior to Joanne’s. Both in speed and power.

It wasn’t painful to fight against her. Not for now, at least.

(Even though she’s holding back, if I can now take Joanne’s attacks head-on, then these aren’t attacks I can’t handle. It seems like he’s able to produce speed and power beyond human output, but… is this all the effect of the bug doping?)

For the first time, I initiate an attack against Whip. If bug doping is only this much, it’s impossible for Whip to have climbed this far.

I’ll draw out his real strength.

“Oh! You’re actively attacking for the first time?”

Whip recklessly sweeps her swords.

As she looks to be striking down with both swords at the same time, I instinctively push the flats of my swords upward to block.

An explosive sound rings out, and I’m sent flying backward.

“…!?”

As I roll across the snow, cheers erupt from the men of the Northeast branch.

Where I had been standing, clear footprints are left behind, as if I had been dragged backward.

Without a moment to brace myself, I was blown away in an instant.

No doubt, she’s kicked it up a gear. The output has increased incomparably.

(For a moment, I thought it was Joanne’s strike. Did she enhance her output with the power of the bugs?)

In that instant, I mistook Whip for the figure of an Executive. Even before receiving it, I knew that no matter how I struggled, I wouldn’t be able to fully withstand that flash of power.

This is the caliber of an Executive candidate.

What incredible physical strength. Explosive power.

Foolish are those who prematurely judge the strength of their opponent.

I must retract my earlier thoughts.

“So that’s the power of the bugs…”

“That was just 30%. You did well to catch it.”

“30%…”

This is thirty percent…

I thought I had hit rock bottom, but it seems completely different. Judging from the reactions around me, her latent abilities have yet to be demonstrated.

What to do?

Joanne is silently staring at me, and next to her, Alex is joining the men in heckling. Joanne jerks her chin and puffs her cheeks as if to say, “Hurry up and do it.” I wish they’d give me a break.

(The last hit was a power-driven strike. It must be intended as a showcase of the bug’s strength. If she went all out, it’s conceivable that she could momentarily approach Joanne’s output.)

Remember when you were rag-dolled by Joanne at full strength—

Although it’s a completely different type of opponent, that experience should be useful.

I stood up, picked up the practice sword, and went on the offensive again.

I took a big swing aiming for the torso with a horizontal slash.

The glittering blonde girl leaped high and slammed her twin swords down towards my head.

A close call on defense. But my waist gives out, and I’m forced to my knees.

Is this the weight of the sword?

It’s like being pressed down by a giant stone pillar—

“Ugh, oof!”

Judging that I couldn’t bear it any longer, I deflected Whip’s slash to the right as if sliding it off the blade.

Whip’s twin swords plunged into the ground, kicking up snow. Without a moment’s delay, Whip’s sword struck my flank.

A heavy blow just before I could regain my posture. I somehow guarded it with my upper arm, but I was sent flying once again.

(This is the power of the parasite…!)

I spun like a top and was slammed against the rock wall back-first.

My lower back and the back of my head struck hard, and with the momentum of the bounce, my face violently collided with the ground.

Snow mixed with dirt touched the mucous membrane of my eyes.

In agony, I tried to stand up, but my left hand, which I tried to use for support, wouldn’t move as I wanted.

Using my right hand to prop myself up, I saw that my left wrist was broken.

A burning heat resided in my wrist, and the sensation beyond that heat was dull.

While on my knees, I stood up and readied my sword with my remaining right hand.

I’m used to the pain, but the discomfort is something I just can’t shake off.

Maybe my ribs are broken too, as every breath brings an excruciating pain that seems to break my spirit from within.

In the end, even with a different opponent, it’s a beating. It suits me.

If it weren’t for the sparring with Joanne, I wouldn’t be able to deal with Whip’s attacks, so I’m definitely growing… But with each pause, the absence of Joanne’s healing magic makes this even tougher.

When I looked towards Joanne, for some reason she was incredibly furious.

Her eyes were wide open in anger, and she was biting her lips so hard that blood was flowing from the corners of her mouth. Joanne wasn’t looking at me.

Her gaze was undoubtedly fixed on Whip Fanitusk.

No, I thought, feeling a bit resentful, ‘you also beat me to a pulp’. She probably can’t stand to see me get hurt.

“Oakley… kill that bastard…”

Amidst the sound of the wind, I took a breath, encouraged by Joanne’s curse-like cheer.

There was something that had been bothering me.

With all the power she was exerting, was her body really okay?

If I could guide her attack to a hard rock surface, maybe the recoil would be enough to break her arm… It’s time to pray for the sword’s durability.

Finding a bare rock surface conveniently behind me, I adjusted my position as if dragging my feet.

The practice sword that had taken Whip’s attacks was already showing signs of wear.

Just like with Joanne, I had to seize one of the few opportunities to take her down.

“Next, I’m going all out for real! It’ll be more than just a fracture!”

“How kind of you to declare it like that—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Whip closed the distance with a movement in the blink of an eye.

Strange creaking noises were coming from her body, like the screams of a body reaching its limits.

Whip, with a look of assured victory on her face, swung down her dual swords.

But, having faced Joanne’s ultra-fast attacks——I can see them.

They’re not too fast to predict—

My ego accelerates.

The world distorts.

A burning heat surges throughout my body, and the limits imposed on my flesh are lifted.

I draw out the strength of desperation.

Intentionally releasing the brain’s limiter, I step into the realm of monsters.

The Whip looms before me.

The killing intent is too real for someone wielding a practice sword.

It’s supposed to be a combat drill, yet she’s seriously trying to kill me.

While aware of the rock wall behind me, I focus on the twin swords invading my space from both upper diagonals. They move through the air in millimeter increments. I can see them.

Now it’s a matter of whether my body can keep up.

The rock wall presses against my back. There’s no escape.

I twist my posture to match the practice swords aiming for my shoulders.

Bending my knees, I draw in as close as possible, adjusting my position so that the practice swords hit the rock wall behind me.

My body can’t bend any further.

My low stance pays off just before the practice swords touch my torso.

The slash that was thrust forward with her advance touched the rock face before it could touch me.

Just as planned. The visibility obscured by the wind and snow played a big part.

The abnormal output of Whip’s strike is reflected by the hard rock, crushing and destroying the blade.

The fragments of the perfectly bisected sword strike Whip.

And the impact that the sword failed to fully deliver is absorbed by Whip’s wrists, which bend in an impossible direction.

It’s not that the sword was too fragile; her wrists perfectly curved into the shape of a “く.”

However, her downward swing did not stop even though her wrist and the blade were destroyed.

She grabbed the practice sword she had once released with her mangled fingers, and Whip slashed at my chest.

Almost simultaneously, I saw the enemy’s sword move break and I was delivering a blow with the practice sword to the neck area.

The men erupted in cheers.

The broken tip of the sword had lightly sliced my chest.

In contrast, the sword aiming for Whip had stopped just short of her neck.

Whip sighed and shrugged her shoulders while dangling her broken arms.

“…tsk, I got hit.”

The match was decided.

It was unclear if she had used the power of the bugs from the start, but as a combat training exercise, it was judged a victory for me.

(After all, the boost in physical performance from the bugs is not something a normal human can withstand. There are downsides to doping with bugs, it seems.)

But the worst part was that the sparring with Whip was a best-of-three.

After a fierce struggle, I was stripped of the title of the strongest Executive candidate, having lost the remaining two matches to Whip.

What surprised me especially was that in the third match, Whip had Milk-chan hidden in her mouth, holding a sword, and she came at me with three swords.

I thought it was outright cheating, but if I didn’t like it, I could just let the bugs parasitize me too.

Unable to dodge the attacks, I was defeated and began to strongly consider that I should be prepared with unexpected means of attack.