Tione was standing in a corner of the training ground as well, her gaze sweeping over the three of them before settling on Amou Kirukiru.
After all, Tione had long since heard of Amou Kirukiru's name—the most renowned of all in the [Haimer Familia].
Rumor had it she was a monster of a rookie who, with only a Lv.1 status, had torn open a Minotaur's chest with her bare hands on the seventeenth floor of the Dungeon.
As a member of the Amazon race.
Having finally, with great difficulty, gotten her hands on a pure physical type today—how could she possibly let this slip by?
However.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tione glanced backward.
Finn was standing not far off, watching this way with a gentle gaze.
At the thought that her own captain was present.
Tione hesitated, too.
After all.
Considering that Finn liked the gentle, ladylike type.
She'd just resolved to stop cursing.
To stop acting like a shrew the way she used to in street brawls.
And to be elegant—just like Riveria.
Thinking of this, Tione cleared her throat and forced herself into what she believed to be an exceedingly dignified posture.
"Since you're guests Lord Haimer personally brought here."
Tione spoke in a pinched, somewhat stiff tone of voice.
"As your senior, naturally I'll instruct you properly."
But the words had barely left her mouth when Bert, standing behind her, couldn't hold back.
"Oi, what's a gorilla like you doing playing the refined young lady?!"
Hearing this remark from Bert, Tione's formerly dignified face contorted in an instant; her neck snapped around, her eyes looking ready to kill.
But.
The moment Tione caught sight of Finn's gaze.
The ferocity on her face vanished, scrubbed perfectly clean in a single second.
"Bert, could you please be a little quieter? We're in the middle of a serious exchange."
Gritting her back teeth, Tione forced out a smile, her voice squeezing out through the gaps between them.
"Tch!"
Hearing that, Bert turned his head away without a care, not bothering to deal with this Amazon colleague of his who was more violent than anyone at heart yet insisted on playing the lady in front of others.
Seeing Bert's devil-may-care attitude, Tione's palm clenched tight, two veins faintly bulging on the back of her hand.
Because, ordinarily, she would absolutely have kicked the weapon rack beside her to pieces and then jabbed a finger at Bert while cursing him out.
But not now.
The captain was still right behind her.
She had to maintain the bearing of an excellent mentor.
Thinking of this, Tione drew a deep breath, forcibly swallowed down the profanities surging up her throat, turned her head, and cast her gaze back onto the three before her, Amou Kirukiru among them, struggling to keep that stiff curve at the corners of her mouth.
"Don't mind that rude fellow."
"I heard about what you did on the seventeenth floor. For rookies, you've got real drive."
"That said, the monsters of the Dungeon are, in the end, brainless."
"Today, I'll teach you how, when facing a true adventurer, you should..."
"You talk too much."
Just as Tione kept putting on airs.
Suddenly.
Amou Kirukiru cut Tione's speech off outright.
Tione's formerly taut smile stiffened.
Amou Kirukiru's eyes held none of the reverence one ought to show a senior—instead they brimmed with impatience.
"I came here to find a whetstone hard enough, not to listen to some old hen lecture me."
Amou Kirukiru twisted her neck, working her wrists, her finger-joints cracking as she squeezed them.
"If you intend to keep up that prissy, put-on act, I'd advise you to send someone else."
"I'm afraid that in a moment, I might carelessly smash that fake mask of a face of yours to pieces, bone and all."
The air went abruptly silent.
Standing off to the side, Onigawara Rin and Nomura Satori exchanged a glance and silently stepped back two paces each, ceding the main battlefield with perfect, unspoken understanding.
"What... did you say?"
The expression on Tione's face cracked in an instant.
"Didn't catch it?"
"I said, put away that trick you use to fool men. What's an old hen doing playing the lady—it's nauseating to look at."
Playing the lady?
Fooling men?
Old hen?
These words, without a doubt, stomped flat the last shred of Tione's reason.
"Crack."
The bluestone slab beneath Tione's feet let out a crisp snap, fine cracks spreading out in an instant.
The smile on her face vanished completely.
In its place was the savage, ferocious expression peculiar to the very marrow of the Amazon race.
"Good! Very good!"
"Since you want to be sprawled on the ground begging for mercy sooner rather than later, then today this lady will grant your wish!"
Having said this!
Tione's legs slammed into the ground, and she turned into a blur of afterimages charging straight at Amou Kirukiru!
The most primal close-quarters melee of the Amazon race!
Facing this fist rushing at her face, wrapped in a terrifying gale, Amou Kirukiru not only didn't dodge.
"Bring it on!"
Amou Kirukiru instead met that rock-shattering fist head-on, swinging out her own right fist in turn!
"BAM——!!"
The two fists slammed viciously together in midair, without the slightest flourish.
The dull sound of flesh colliding against flesh was like the pounding of war drums.
A shockwave burst violently outward with the two of them at its center!
The sand and dust on the surrounding ground was instantly blown perfectly clean.
Tione had originally thought this single punch would be enough to send this overconfident rookie flying outright.
But.
The sensation feeding back through the face of her fist made Tione's eyes snap wide.
Hard.
So hard it didn't seem like the body a Lv.2 ought to have at all.
That feeling—it was like striking straight into a refined-steel shield.
Not only was she not knocked back; the impact left her arm tingling numb.
『Avatar Blade』!
"Now this is interesting!"
The murderous glint in Tione's eyes deepened.
She didn't know what crooked, heretical trick this rookie was using, but the foundation of being a Lv.5 was right there on display.
Tione instantly retracted her fist, twisted at the waist, and—borrowing the momentum—drove a peerlessly sharp high roundhouse kick straight at the side of Amou Kirukiru's head.
Amou Kirukiru raised her left arm to block.
"Bam!"
Another dull thud.
Amou Kirukiru's feet skidded forcibly half a meter backward across the hard stone slabs, gouging out two white scratches.
But there was no trace of pain on Amou Kirukiru's face—instead she split into a grin, laughing more and more wantonly.
"So this is the strength of a Lv.5?"
"Fantastic! More! Hit me harder!"
Amou Kirukiru shook out her slightly numb left arm and, far from shrinking back, charged in of her own accord.
Her breathing began to grow ragged, her blood surging within her body.
The terrifying stats she'd just wrung out of her god the night before had long since, under the spur of 『Battle Frenzy』, begun pouring out without the slightest reservation.
She abandoned defense entirely.
Fists, elbows, knees, legs.
Amou Kirukiru, like a mad dog, turned her own body into the purest of killing weapons, meeting Tione's attacks head-on and choosing the most brutal exchange of blow for blow.
"Bam bam bam bam——!!"
For a time.
Lv.2 against Lv.5, head-on, no holding back.
And astonishingly, they were fighting to a near standstill.
What's more, the longer they fought, the more alarmed Tione grew.
Was this thing really a Lv.2?!
Such utterly unreasonable bodily hardness, plus a crazed fighting style that would tear off a chunk of her flesh even at the cost of taking one of her punches—it was nothing short of a thorough, through-and-through monster!
And what was even more fatal was that, as time wore on, Tione slowly began to feel that Amou Kirukiru's power was actually... rising?
What the hell kind of damned talent was this?!!
"Bam!"
Another dull collision of flesh.
Tione spotted an opening.
Her right fist slammed solidly into Amou Kirukiru's flank.
Were it an ordinary Lv.2.
A punch like that would have shattered the ribs into several pieces, and the person would have flown off like a ragged sack.
But Amou Kirukiru only let out a muffled grunt, spat out a mouthful of blood.
And then clamped down, hard, on the wrist Tione hadn't managed to pull back in time.
Her five fingers snapped tight.
"Gotcha."
Amou Kirukiru's mouth split into a grin, an exaggerated arc.
"Don't even think about running!"
Amou Kirukiru's other hand instantly balled into a fist and, with a wind-rending sound, swung straight at the side of Tione's face.
Damn it!
Tione's scalp prickled, and she hurriedly raised her other hand to block.
"Boom!"
Fist met arm.
Gritting her teeth, Tione bore the force, then drove her right foot in a fierce straight kick at Amou Kirukiru's abdomen.
Amou Kirukiru took the hit.
She forcibly wrenched free of Amou Kirukiru's grip then and there, leaping backward three or four meters.
Having opened the distance.
Tione shook out her faintly aching wrist.
This was absolutely bizarre!
What on earth had this girl eaten to grow up? How was it that the more she got beaten, the more energized she got?
In a fierce, high-intensity battle like this, her stamina ought to be draining away fast.
And besides—you have to understand—the bodies of the Amazon race had long since held a firm spot in the top tier among all races.
And today she'd actually come up short against a human girl?
Even though Tione knew she wasn't going all-out to kill, the fact that fighting Amou Kirukiru felt nothing at all like fighting a Lv.2 still made her scalp crawl.
"Come on, again!"
Amou Kirukiru carelessly wiped away the trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth with her thumb, her eyes already frighteningly bright.
"Is that all a Lv.5 can do? Don't disappoint me!"
In the face of this brazen, give-her-an-inch-and-she-takes-a-mile provocation.
The ferocity in Tione's marrow was thoroughly ignited.
What ladylike image, what reserve she had to maintain in front of Captain Finn.
To hell with it!
All of it was flung beyond the ninth heaven.
"This lady is going to beat you flat today no matter what!"
Tione roared, a streak of bloody red flashing in the depths of her eyes, and once again charged in like an enraged panther.
"BAM——!"
This time, Tione held nothing back.
The savage power belonging to a Lv.5 was unleashed entirely, restraints cast off.
Her fist slammed solidly into Amou Kirukiru's left shoulder.
A sound even rang out in the air, of the airflow being compressed and bursting open in an instant.
This time.
Amou Kirukiru's body, in the end, couldn't fully shed that immense force.
Her entire body, like an iron ball blasted away by a heavy cannon, left the ground and went tumbling heavily backward.
"Boom!"
Amou Kirukiru crashed savagely into a thick bluestone pillar behind her.
The surface of the pillar instantly cracked over a wide area, spiderweb-like fissures crawling all over its body, great chunks of stone debris peeling away and crashing to the ground.
"Phew..."
Tione drew back her fist and let out a long breath of murky air.
She shook out her right hand.
Although that last punch had landed extremely solidly.
It had given her the illusion of having driven a fist into a thick slab of steel.
"There—that ought to keep her lying down quiet for a while now."
Tione muttered with a furrowed brow.
And yet.
The words had only just fallen from her lips.
When, from within that cloud of dust strewn with broken stone, came a peal of laughter.
"Heh heh... hahaha..."
Amou Kirukiru braced one hand against the ruined stone pillar, slowly straightening up, and walked out of the shadows.
One of her shoulders was clearly drooping slightly at a strange angle—evidently that last punch had done her some damage.
But.
In Amou Kirukiru's eyes, the mad firelight showed not the slightest sign of going out—instead it burned even more fiercely than before.
—『Battle Frenzy』
An extreme obsession with the strong, turned into kindling for growth!
The acquisition rate of all stats and proficiencies receives a massively enormous boost; this boost effect has no upper limit, determined by the depth of the obsession!
If fighting an opponent regarded as a [target that must be surpassed], the growth rate of all stats is doubled!
Amou Kirukiru utterly ignored the wrongness in her shoulder, raised both hands, and violently smashed her two fists together in front of her chest.
"Perfect! This is exactly the feeling!"
"Bam!"
Amou Kirukiru drew a great, deep breath.
Her legs bent abruptly, crushing the stones beneath her feet once more, and like a mad dog with no regard whatsoever for life or death, she lunged at Tione with a speed even more terrifying than before.
Injured though she was, there was not the slightest hesitation in Amou Kirukiru's charging motion.
Seeing this sight.
The corner of Tione's mouth twitched fiercely; she finally couldn't help her eyes going wide, and burst out cursing outright.
"Do you seriously not feel pain, you freak?!!"
"Pain?"
"Of course it hurts!"
"But pain—isn't that something to be savored?!"
The arc at the corner of Amou Kirukiru's grinning mouth was as exaggerated as that of a blood-thirsting beast.
Hearing this, Tione became utterly certain in her heart.
This was no Lv.2 rookie at all!
This was, plainly, a lunatic with something wrong in the head!
Even though she'd long ago heard Tsubaki privately grumble that the rookie in the [Haimer Familia] called Amou Kirukiru was a thorough, through-and-through madwoman.
At the time she'd taken it as nothing but exaggeration, figuring it was at most some reckless hothead with a bit more brawn than sense.
But now, having actually crossed blows with her, Tione finally understood just how terrifyingly true the worth of Tsubaki's words had been.
"Since you love going berserk so much, then today this lady will let you go berserk to your heart's content!"
The Amazon wildness in Tione's marrow was thoroughly ignited as well.
"Bam! Bam! Bam!"
With every collision, another bruise bloomed on Amou Kirukiru's body, and blood even kept overflowing from the corner of her mouth.
But Amou Kirukiru's attack frequency only grew faster and faster, her power greater and greater, and the sickly fervor in her eyes was nearly about to take on physical form.
Not far away.
"Brat, are your legs made of noodles? Put some more force into it!"
Seeing this scene, Bert too formally began to take things seriously.
With both hands stuffed in his trouser pockets, relying solely on the continuous raising of a single leg, he dissolved every one of Aihara Enju's kicks.
Though his words were ugly, in his heart he was secretly astonished at this brat's explosive power.
"Idiot, what good is brute strength when your center of gravity is floating up in the sky? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Bert gave a cold snort and finally pulled out one hand, catching that sliver of an opening amid Aihara Enju's all-over flurry of kicks; his palm shot out abruptly and seized her slender ankle in one grip.
"Caught you."
Bert flicked his wrist, gave a tug along with the motion, destroying Aihara Enju's center of gravity outright, and slammed her entire body viciously toward the ground.
"Bam!"
Aihara Enju was thrown into a complete daze, stars dancing before her eyes.
"Your strength is decent, all right, but your way of exerting force is far too crude—every attack is like a gambler tossing out all his chips at once."
"In the end, only an idiot would fail to see through your routine."
Up in the spectator stand.
Finn quietly watched the battle below, and he too felt puzzled—were this batch of rookies really rookies who had received their Grace less than a month ago?
"Far too abnormal."
Finn murmured silently to himself.
Even Ais, hailed as a peerless genius, had spent a whole year fighting and killing in the Dungeon to rise to Lv.2.
And yet these girls before him—even if some of them were still a bit raw in actual combat experience—that terrifying baseline caliber, and the sponge-like, water-absorbing adaptability they displayed in battle...
It really made no sense.
Thinking of this, Finn turned his head and looked toward Haimer, who was seated on the bench beside him, leisurely savoring a cup of fruit tea.
Haimer at this moment wore a gentle, placid expression, his gaze drifting idly over the whole field, like a kindly mentor watching his own children play in the back garden.
But the more composed Haimer was, the deeper the wariness in Finn's heart.
After all, it was what Loki had said.
The fell god who, back in the Heavens, had slaughtered gods and brought devastation upon all living things.
This tyrant who could make the gods turn pale at the mere mention of him—now that he had descended to the Lower World, just what was he scheming?
Was it really nothing more than raising a few powerful Familia members?
Thinking of this, Finn pressed down the turmoil at the bottom of his heart and walked over to Haimer's side.
"Lord Haimer, your Familia is truly an eye-opener."
Finn's tone was respectful.
"The talent of your Familia members—it would not be an exaggeration to describe them as monsters."
"Talent, in the end, is merely a threshold; without being hammered with sufficient intensity, scrap iron will never become refined steel."
"Today, having the elites of your Familia personally step in to give pointers has saved me no small amount of effort."
"You overstate it, Lord Haimer."
Finn glanced at Amou Kirukiru's already gravely injured left arm, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
"That said, Tione has no sense of restraint when she throws down. I see your Familia member is rather seriously hurt—are you really sure there's no need to call a halt?"
"No need."
"Training, after all—wrenched tendons and broken bones are all perfectly normal."
"As long as there's still a breath left, broken bones can be set, rotted flesh can grow back. Only by remembering this kind of brush-with-death agony will one, upon stepping onto a true battlefield, not throw one's life away so easily."
Haimer turned his head, looked at Finn, his gaze profound.
"Wouldn't you agree, Lord Hero?"
Hearing this, the corner of Finn's mouth twitched violently.
This sort of work-them-to-death... approach...
He really found it hard to agree with.
But it just so happened that the one saying it was Haimer.
Finn could only give two dry laughs and nod along.
"Lord Haimer is quite right."
Loki, off to the side, having heard these words of Haimer's, sneakily turned her head and whispered to Ais, who stood on her other flank.
"Ais-tan! Look how brutal this guy is! Whatever you do, don't go near him in the future—careful he doesn't gobble you up until not even your bones are left!"
Ais, however, paid no heed to Loki's fussing.
Those golden eyes of hers stayed tightly fixed on Haimer all the while.
After all, for some reason, when she heard Haimer say "wrenched tendons and broken bones are perfectly normal" and "only then, on a true battlefield, will one not throw one's life away."
Ais felt no objection in her heart.
On the contrary, she found herself somewhat in agreement with Haimer's thinking.
After all, what she wanted was to keep growing stronger, endlessly, without rest!
As long as she could grow stronger... could live longer...
Then no matter how much pain she had to endure! No matter what price she had to pay! It would all be worth it.
Thinking of this, Ais couldn't help but look toward the Sword of Despair hanging at her waist.
____
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