NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43
Chapter 43 – Great Technique
“No, it just kinda happened…”
[You can’t just…!]
I soothed the snorting cursed sword while pressing down on the gushing blood from my forearm, causing it to spurt out even stronger.
The cursed sword took a quick breather and drank the blood like it was sipping the last drop of a beverage.
[You must give me blood at least once a day from now on!]
After I fed it enough, the sword snapped back to its usual tone. I replied casually,
“There’s a match coming up soon, so stuff yourself.”
[Hmph, you only call for me when it’s necessary.]
“Don’t you want more blood?”
I teasingly pulled the sword from my wrist, and it flailed like a baby deprived of its bottle.
[Ah..! It’s not that I don’t want it! Look, contractor! The wound is healing!]
As the wound began to close rapidly, the cursed sword buzzed with excitement. Bringing it near again, it started silently sucking up the blood.
Offering a pacifier to a whiny baby gave me a sense of peace.
Just then…
Thud, thud.
Someone knocked on the door. There was only one culprit to do that.
“Uh-uh, I’ll be right out, Iris.”
After saying that to Iris, I turned to the cursed sword.
“I’ll feed you again later, so hang tight.”
[…Ugh… ]
The cursed sword, having greedily gulped my blood and whining for more, transformed into a glowing orb and slipped back into my hand at my urging.
Thud, thud, thud!
As the heavy knocking resumed, I instinctively called back, “Yep! Just a sec!” Being alone for a moment seemed to help my wound heal faster.
Blood had dribbled into the sink before it thickened, so I washed it away with cold water. Finally, I scrubbed my hands with soap, including the wrist that had been wounded, before heading out the door.
Iris stood outside, fists clenched and eyes wide in surprise, obviously startled by the door’s sudden opening.
“Sorry, you wanted to use the bathroom, right? Go ahead.”
I slipped out and moved aside. Iris promptly mirrored my action, shifting sideways too. When I tried to slide over again, she followed me like some kind of shadow.
I paused, sensing that she didn’t seem keen on entering the bathroom. Iris stepped closer and started sniffing around me.
“…You smell like blood.”
“Huh?”
“Blood… smell.”
At that moment, I froze up.
‘She could smell it even with the door shut… Iris must have a fantastic nose.’
Sweating bullets, I decided I’d have to be more cautious in the future and stammered,
“Oh, what would make me smell like blood? I just went to the bathroom.”
Iris squinted at me, then nodded her head in agreement, seeming to buy it. Relieved I washed my hands with soap, I led Iris to the living room together.
*
A few days passed, and finally, the day of the highly anticipated match arrived. The cursed sword, nourished with blood daily, was in tip-top shape.
[Kuhehehehe, all shall bow before my magnificent power!]
The cursed sword erupted into joyous laughter as a foreboding aura spread from it, filling the air with a sinister energy that could drive anyone batty.
Slap!
[Ouch!]
“Shush, stop spewing out weird stuff and stay still.”
I smacked the sword for acting up, and the blood-red energy was sucked back in, like it just got grounded.
[How dare you strike me, the glorious being that I am!]
“If you keep this up, I might not use a sword again after this match… Hmm…”
[On second thought, maybe I did mess up.]
The cursed sword quickly turned meek. I was left wondering.
‘Is my blood really that tasty?’
If it really just wanted blood, it had no need to act so submissively. It could have flown off to feast somewhere else right after being summoned.
Of course, it had to come back to me due to our contract. But it didn’t mean it was entirely helpless to find blood via other means.
Thus, it would mean my blood must be delicious enough for the cursed sword to act so humbly. Its delighted murmurs about the taste every time it fed only strengthened this theory.
‘Honestly, it didn’t taste all that great to me.’
Seeing it enjoy the blood so much, I thought maybe it truly was yummy and even tried a drop myself, but it tasted like normal old blood.
‘Hey, could I sell my blood in the future?’
I pictured selling it to vampires, but then daydreamed about getting captured and turned into livestock. My mind wandered even further to becoming a pet for a stunning vampire—only for a clanging noise to snap me back to reality.
Woohoo!
Outside, the announcer was shouting tales about me, and I picked up the buzzing sounds of the crowd. ‘Dang, people sure are pumped today,’ I thought, stepping out.
Sssrrr, clank.
On the opposite side, a door swung open, revealing five orcs with green skin, each brandishing oversized weapons like greatswords, bows, staffs, and shields.
Two of the orcs wielded swords—one of them had a weapon that looked like a saw. Since orcs had the intelligence of a 3 to 5-year-old, they didn’t charge at me immediately.
Arrows whizzed from afar, and the orc with a shield took the lead, approaching me like a stalker. Meanwhile, the shaman was chuckling “keheh, kehihik,” while conjuring a dark magical orb at the end of its staff.
[Just five orcs? This doesn’t even count as a warm-up.]
The cursed sword sounded unimpressed, speaking in a dry tone. I couldn’t help but lift my sword as I observed the oncoming orcs thumping toward me.
Swish -.
I sliced the sword from the lower left to the upper right. It wasn’t hard; it felt like drawing a line in the air.
Thud.
The line I made cleaved the orcs right in half. The ones charging toward me fell forward, leaving only their lower halves running while their upper bodies flopped back like they were playing dead.
They didn’t even realize they had bought the farm.
The battle lasted less than a minute, and then momentary silence blanketed the arena.
“Whoa!!!”
“Eek!!!”
The audience erupted, ecstatic over a fight that couldn’t have been described with mere words. Just as I thought about leaving since it seemed over…
“Wouldn’t it be a shame to end here? So we’ve prepared this for you!”
Sssrrr, sssrrrrr, sssrrrrr! Boom! Crash! Vroooom!
Cages of varying sizes filled with monsters began to rise with a ruckus. From behind them, all sorts of creatures came pouring out.
The crowd roared in delight, enough to shake the arena’s ground as dozens of enormous monsters emerged into view.
“Can our new star rise to the occasion?!”
Screech! Gwaaaaak!
The newly arrived monsters began to attack and eat one another, but all their eyes were glued on me.
[Pah, just a swarm of insignificant insects, none worthy of a decent fight. Tsk, tsk..]
The cursed sword clicked its tongue in disappointment, indicating these monsters weren’t that strong at all.
[But –… with this many, I can’t take them all at once.]
Among the monsters, some stood as tall as I was. The smaller ones would be near impossible to slice with a single swing of my weapon.
Sure, I could swing the sword a bunch of times to take care of it, but it seemed the cursed sword was against that idea.
[Hehehe, guess there’s no other choice. Let me use a great technique this time.]
“Great technique?”
[Yep.]
The cursed sword chuckled sinisterly, expanding its blade.
[Lower your stance and tilt the sword diagonally.]
“Like this?”
I got into position based on its instructions, and the cursed sword began glowing a deep crimson.
[Now, swing your sword!]
I swung the sword ablaze with blood-red light from below upwards, and the cursed sword’s voice boomed,
[‘Blood Wave!’]
Wait, what? Aren’t the wielders supposed to shout the spell?
As those crazy thoughts crossed my mind, the red energy concentrated on the sword shot forward. The energy, which I thought would cut through the rushing monsters, instead sank into the ground.
In an instant, the ordinary dirt floor transformed into a sea of blood, shimmering with waves that swept up every creature that approached.
Sizzle, sssstreat -.
Sounds of melting flesh and the crumbling of monster bodies created a gruesome symphony. In mere moments, all those lifeless creatures vanished in the crimson wave without any traces left.
“Oh wow, isn’t this just like that thing from… you know what?”
When I muttered the name of a certain work, the now-proud cursed sword jumped back in surprise.
[This is a technique I created!]
It reacted as if someone had infringed on its copyright. Indeed, maybe the cursed sword would own that copyright in this world.
“Aren’t there any other techniques you can show besides this one?”
[Mwahaha, of course! I possess—..]
As the cursed sword began its spiel again about the Lord Dragon it supposedly sealed, I half-listened, glancing at the announcer.
The announcer, clearly not expecting things to unfold this way, wore a flustered expression on his face.