"Alright, Frondier, it's the last day! Are you ready?"
The last day of the vacation. And the last training of the entire schedule.
Monty's training curriculum is generally :
First, Monty gives a basic explanation and demonstration of each weapon. The weapon of the day varies. According to Monty, there's a clear order, but from what I've seen, it seems like he just picks whatever he feels like.
Then, I follow the demonstration Monty showed, get corrections, repeat, and after that, a light sparring session.
Finally, as a wrap-up, 'Durga' is always prepared.
"I hope today's sparring will be a proper one."
"I want to do that too."
To be honest, until now, it was no different from playing tag.
I was trying to protect the marble at all costs, and Durga was trying to snatch it.
A confrontation in such a situation was a stretch. Monty just watched the situation, for some reason.
This time was no different.
For 10 minutes, while six wooden dolls pounced, I had to prevent the marble from being snatched.
And shortly after, I realized that the same situation as before had come.
Just a situation of chasing and being chased.
'Damn it, I can't confront because of the marble.'
The marble is in my pocket.
So naturally, the wooden dolls only aim for my pocket.
There was only one way to make a confrontation.
I put the marble in my mouth and swallowed it.
The wooden doll without a mouth seemed to shake its body as if it was flustered somewhere.
In the meantime, Monty made a sound as if he was interested.
"That way, you can definitely focus on the confrontation. You don't have to worry about losing the marble. However......"
Worry flickered in Monty's eyes.
"If Durga wants to steal the bead, she has no choice but to kill you now, Frondier."
Suddenly, the wooden puppets rushed in a flock.
It was a clearly different attack from before. They weren't aiming for my arms or pockets.
They were clearly targeting me.
First, I wove a sword and fended off the attack coming from the front. It wasn't any special sword. It was the very sword that the wooden puppet in front of me was holding. 𝑅𝙖ꞐＯᛒÊs̈
─The biggest feature of a sword lies in its three directions of attack. The two edges and the sharp end of the sword. So don't overly distinguish between slashing and stabbing.
Ellen's teaching. I twisted the path of the sword and thrust the tip into the neck of the wooden puppet.
But the other wooden puppets were still rushing at me. It's impossible to pull out the sword stuck in the neck right away.
At the same time as weaving, I swung the polearm. The strike that drew a circle around me momentarily stopped the movements of the wooden puppets.
─Polearms work well in deceiving enemies as 'weapons similar to spears'. Show those guys what's what.
This is the teaching of Revet.
I stabbed with the polearm, and pulled the back of the neck of the dodged wooden doll with the protrusion of the polearm.
When I hit the bastard's head with the pole, it shattered beautifully. Then I shot the polearm at the nearest guy. It's not a throwing weapon, so it doesn't fly properly, but it's okay.
Next, it's the spear.
The remaining wooden dolls surround me in a strange path.
Indeed, the technique is a realm I cannot follow. However, strength and speed cannot follow me either.
Above all, Durga is not familiar with the speed of the wooden dolls.
I swung the spear and pushed the weapons of the wooden dolls to one side.
No matter how much stronger I am, I can't keep resisting the strength of the wooden dolls.
So, at this moment, when I gathered the enemies' weapons together.
- Make the tip of the spear reach faster than you think.
For the first time, I succeeded in disarming multiple weapons.
After confirming that all the wooden dolls dropped their weapons,
I pierced through the heads of the wooden puppets that were empty-handed.
The remaining one plunged a hammer into my abdomen.
A suffocating pain spread throughout my body, and I clenched my teeth forcefully to look at the creature.
I drew my short sword, duplicated it, and wielded the dual swords.
The first two strikes, cleanly blocked by the wooden puppet's hammer, were of a different level of movement compared to the previous puppets.
This made it clear to me. The wooden puppet's skills were significantly higher when there was only one as opposed to six. It's indeed easier for the Durga to control one rather than many.
However, it didn't matter.
Clatter clatter clatter!!
I swung my dual swords repeatedly.
I supplemented the lack of technique with speed and power. Though to say 'supplemented' is to put it mildly; I was forcibly pushing through.
─Is there really such a thing? A principle that applies to all weapons?
I asked Monty, wanting to learn during the summer training.
But in the end, I did not find out. The more I learned, the more it seemed that each weapon was simply moving along its own path.
A principle that applies to all these weapons with different characteristics? There was never such a thing from the beginning, and all I do is devote all my strength to mastering each weapon.
Reading my gap, the wooden doll swung its hammer and knocked off my short sword. I lost my weapon in the pain that felt like my hand was being torn apart.
And a spear appeared in my empty hand.
I threw the spear, and what appeared in my empty hand again was a hammer.
The wooden doll barely avoided the spear, but it was hit in the face because it didn't think there would be another weapon in the same hand.
Needless to say, it's the same one as the weapon held by the wooden doll itself. Haha, how is it,
This time, the wooden doll slapped my face with its fist that wasn't holding a hammer. I couldn't respond at all because I didn't expect the other side to fly at me.
I swing, throw, create, shoot, discard, and block weapons. Unlike just shooting so far, now I know how to swing this weapon the moment I hold it in my hand.
As I repeated it without realizing the passage of time,
The wooden puppet stopped.
The drive part was completely broken, it couldn't move even if it wanted to.
Forcing it to move, the waist part was smashed and fell forward.
I won. It was forced, but I won.
Then, Monty walked up from behind, his shoulders full of pride.
"The principle that applies to all weapons. Have you realized it now?"
"All the training so far. It was all for this moment. To make you realize the principle that I can't explain in words,"
"I don't understand."
I just swung whatever I could grab, whether it's a principle or something.
I only knew that such a thing is quite useless in actual combat.
"Well, don't worry too much. You'll realize it someday, and Durga probably didn't really intend to kill you."
"It didn't seem that way.
The shock transmitted to my abdomen was sincerity itself.
'Monty doesn't know how much I'm hated by the gods.'
...Huh. My field of vision has narrowed more than before.
"But, you know, you're going to Constel from tomorrow, right?"
"Are you going with that face?"
From tomorrow, it's back to Constel.
It's the start of the third year.