NOVEL NEXT Chapter 37: (2)
「This is a tavern. A place for men to relax. A little bit of mischief is indeed part of the charm of tavern, but there is still a line that must not be crossed….」
Tilting the glass of milk at the counter, Tanaka talked to the man over his back. He then abruptly put the glass down and stood up, slowly turning around.
「Any more than that would be against the codes of men.」
Tanaka confronted the man in his signature cool pose. He held one hand over his face and gazed at the man in front of him through the gap between his fingers. His other hand was positioned to exquisitely enhance his coolness. His feet are shoulder-width apart, forming a stance that in case a beauty came running at him while saying, ‘So cool! Embrace me!’, he was ready to accept her anytime.
However, Tanaka didn’t know. About the continuation of the old man’s line. About the fact that several powerful people were currently staying in the town. As well as the fact the man in front of him was an A-ranked warrior….
「What’s with you? What an annoying mug you’ve got there.」
Brushing away the drunkard roughly, Curryman turned toward Tanaka.
「Do you want to accompany me in his stead?」
Despite losing himself in anger, he closed in toward Tanaka with a refined movement bereft of openings. All could be said was as expected of an A-ranked warrior.
「You’d better stop there. I’m the rightful heir to Karate, the legendary martial arts that has gone down in history. Ever since I took up Karate, I’ve been reigning invincible. Challenging me is akin to adding to your own black dots. You’d better take that to heart first.」
Tanaka had just turned into its rightful heir as he updated some additional settings on Karate. So it was only natural that he was invincible as of yet. The wisdom to ingeniously utilize the magic of words to his advantage. What a terrifying man he had become.
Thus, there stood Tanaka, who exquisitely changed his pose while scanning the room to see whether there were any beautiful beauties around or not, even as he waged this psychological war. He was so relaxed in such a situation. He truly was the embodiment of hard-boiled-ness.
「Never heard of any martial arts like that. Now, dance to draw out my anger!」
Curryman unleashed his fist. Everyone imagined Tanaka getting torn to shreds. However, the next instant. The two of them faced each other as though nothing had happened at all. Tanaka was still standing, striking the same pose as before. Curryman was similarly standing still with his fist outstretched.
Everyone around there concluded that Curryman had purposely held his hand at the very end. Given the situation, it could be said to be inevitable for them to arrive at such a conclusion. Everyone there was relieved that with this the fight seemed to be over. On the other hand, however, Curryman was haunted by an inexplicable fear.
He was sure that his fist should have been hammered into his opponent. The moment he thought he had hit his opponent, however, his fist went flying through the air. It wasn’t that he had gauged the distance incorrectly. It was just, at that moment, it was as though the world had suddenly shifted, which led them to the current situation. It wasn’t a matter of his opponent pulling back and putting some distance between them.
For someone as skilled as Curryman, he could tell what his opponent was going to do next by the subtle movements of their body. Should his opponent move back, he would simply close the distance at once and charge in to attack. However, that single exchange just now. He couldn’t sense any preliminary movement at all. Even if he was up against someone stronger than himself, it would still be impossible for him to not sense anything at all. Or so he thought, but that impossibility had just occurred right in front of him.
Curryman stared at his opponent, still confronting each other. He could not sense the strength of his opponent at all. All the experience he had gained so far was of no use at all. It was at this moment that he finally realized it. An existence that was so high up that he, an A-ranked warrior who stood at the pinnacle of whole humanity, couldn’t even begin to comprehend. And that was the man in front of him….
Ever since he registered with the guild, he had survived through numerous encounters with higher-ranked monsters. During those times, he always managed to overcome both the fear as well as the crisis he was faced with. However, the fear he was feeling right now was different from any fear he had felt before. He didn’t know what to do to deal with it. As a result, Curryman fell into confusion, or specifically speaking, his survival instincts kicked in. Without a second thought, he grabbed the twin swords on his waist and unleashed his surefire chain of attack–
However, things didn’t go as he expected. Just as what he had experienced before, it was though the world itself shifted, while the man simply stood quietly in front of him. The twin swords that should have unleashed chain of attacks were pinched by the opponent, and refused to budge in the slightest.
「To continuously use only a single technique against a master martial artist, all I can say is bold. Seeing through even the first attack, that’s the essence of Karate.」
A man who never ceased to show off against a weak opponent, that was Tanaka. Seeing this scene right in front of him, Curryman finally realized. That he could never hope to match up to this man….
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Name: Tanaka
Level: 54 Experience: 240/5400 Guild Rank: E
Vitality: 1.1e14/1.1e14 Magical energy: 2.0e14/2.0e14
Strength: 1.1e13 Dexterity: 1.2e13 Agility: 1.4e13
Intelligence: 1.7e13 Spirit: 2.1e13
Skills: Sword (3.41), Magic (5.01), Believed One (10.00), Dragon Slayer (7.72), Spirit Master (4.54), Chanting Omission (2.44), Multiple Chanting (2.54), Grand Magic (0.05)
Equipment: Sword, Cool summer clothes, black cloak II.
Money: 4495,000G
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Name: Suke
Level: 48 Experience: 1489/4800 Guild Rank: E
Vitality: 896/896 Magical energy: 1747/1747
Strength: 467 Dexterity: 451 Agility: 662
Intelligence: 688 Spirit: 727
Skills: Lance (4.02) Magic (4.34) Dragon Slayer (7.03) Believed One (7.92)
Equipment: Scythe, Black Robe
Money: 100,000G
.
Name: Kaku
Vitality: 65536/65536 Magical energy: 65536/65536
Skills：Personification (10.00) Magic (10.00) Grand Magic (1.08) Apostle (4.54) Believed One (7.23)