Breaking Up with the #1 S-Class

The battle began.

“Grrrr.”

The Knight of Death’s charge rang out the battle’s first note.

He charged at me with an invisible speed and swung his black sword.

Clang!!!

The sword’s trajectory drew a large curve.

Rough and intense, but the attack touched my sword.

It was sufficiently blockable.

“…”

Only after blocking it did I realize.

But… blocking was my mistake.

[Grrrrrr]

The Knight of Death’s black sword began to vibrate.

And quickly began injecting shock into my sword.

Clang!

If I had been just a bit slower, my sword might have broken.

I pushed the black sword away and created some distance.

“Tricky…”

I muttered quietly.

As expected of an A-class dimensional monster.

The vibrating sword was like a small earthquake.

Blocking that sword definitely didn’t seem like a good option.

An attack that couldn’t be defended against—that was his attack.

Boom!

The black knight jumped and collapsed the ground where I had been standing.

It was truly an incredible destructive power.

“Whew…”

I barely avoided it.

And caught my breath for a moment.

But only for a moment.

Boom!!!

Bang!!

The Knight of Death’s fierce assault continued.

“Ugh…”

One, two. I concentrated and parried the knight’s fierce attacks.

But despite that, I was being pushed back.

Gradually… I was being pushed and pinned against the wall.

“Haa… haa…”

Being pinned against the wall was fortunate.

The distance created gave me another chance to catch my breath.

I gripped my sword again.

And glared at the knight.

“…”

I had to admit it.

Right now, I was weaker than this black knight.

Strength, speed, skill, amount of magic power.

I was overwhelmingly inferior in everything.

As if telling me not to even hope for victory.

The goddess of victory was not smiling upon me.

“Haha…”

But.

Still, there was one thing I was ahead in.

My growth rate.

“I’m catching up…”

The more I was pushed back, the more a smile crept to my lips.

Clang!!!

Clang clang!!!

The black knight charged at me.

Although I was currently inferior in strength, speed, skill, and magic power, I was gradually catching up.

The stronger the knight’s power, the more my own power gradually increased.

The pain that couldn’t kill me was only making me grow.

“Hmm…”

At some point, my growth began to accelerate.

What would have originally taken much more time was rising much more steeply.

My thoughts were burning.

My vision became clearer.

My body, which should have been exhausted, now felt much lighter.

“…”

I surrendered myself to that power.

And caught up.

As I caught up to the Knight of Death, the knight’s attitude changed.

Now the knight began to create distance from me.

[The Knight of Death is casting a special move.]

“Come on… bring it.”

Apparently, the Knight of Death also realized something.

That I was an existence that would only cause more damage the more he played with me.

So he must have sensed that and was rushing to end me in one blow.

I prepared the maximum courtesy for such a knight.

Preparation to counter it.

And we collided.

“Whew…”

Swish.

The battle was over.

I had caught up to the knight, and when I caught up, the black knight had fallen.

And soon turned to ash and disappeared.

Thud.

I also lay down in that spot.

No matter how tough my body was, I had clearly overdone it this time.

“I did it.”

My body was definitely exhausted and tired, but right now, at this moment, nothing else mattered.

My head was throbbing, but still, it was okay.

The drug of achievement was flooding my mind like a tidal wave.

I had overcome and become stronger right now.

“Now… I’m probably back to my level from about 3 years ago…”

I’m not certain exactly how strong I’ve become, but since the black knight was A-rank and I defeated it, I think I’m around that level.

At this point, I’ve probably re-entered the ranks of the strong.

I probably won’t have to worry about my life for a while.

“Haa…”

I took a deep breath.

This was truly an enormous achievement.

It was originally impossible for a hunter who had rested for 3 years to regain his peak power in just 3 days.

But right now, I definitely have the power of my peak period.

The power of an A-class hunter.

“Oops…”

I lay down for a few minutes thinking, then got up.

And carefully collected the magic stones that dropped from the black knight.

Then I exited the gate.

“The day has dawned…”

A cool morning breeze was already blowing outside the gate.

I realized I had exited the gate and it was daybreak.

I had apparently stayed quite a long time inside the gate.

Well, after dealing with 100 knights and barely winning a prolonged battle with the boss monster, it was a natural result.

I had expected some time would pass, but actually emerging from the gate I entered at night and coming out in the morning felt different.

“What do I do now…”

I turned on my smartphone and saw the time was 7:30.

I couldn’t help but hesitate when I saw the time.

Because the timing was so awkward.

My usual time to leave home for work was around 8:00.

At 8:00, I finish all preparations and head to the company.

But now it’s 7:30, and it takes me 30 minutes to get home.

If I go home now, I’ll arrive just in time to head to work immediately.

I could run and get there in 10 minutes, but I hesitated a bit.

“Can’t be helped.”

My choice was not to go home.

Of course, I had no intention of doing the annoying thing of going home and immediately heading to work.

I turned my body that was about to head home.

And to go to work a bit early, I headed to a nearby guild.

Calculating the time, it was an hour earlier than my usual work start time.

“It’s a shame I can’t eat