Chapter 07: battle and breaking shackles

Walking through a forest, I keep an eye out for monsters that I could hunt, according to grand librarian my power should be strong enough to face off against F-D class monsters.

A couple days ago scathach told me that I should gain some experience, and told me to hunt 5 D class monsters.

It's been a month since the four heroic spirits named their subordinates.

Currently the island is separated into three parts. The area where we live alongside the monsters – that sounds racist, am I being racist? – which is technically a small town at this point, and the production area, where crops are grown and some animals are reared and the final area, the danger zones – which according to scathach is not dangerous enough – which is a forest area separated into four areas, E, D, C, B and A danger zones. Each zone is separated from the other, according to their names, E zones hold E ranked monsters and A zones hold monster up to A class monsters.

There were some talks about turning an inhabited island into a monster zone or something…

Let's forget about that. Anyway, after two weeks of swinging a sword and making sure I could swing it for 5000 times consecutively without any mistakes, scathach taught me footwork.

According to her, as long as you can swing a sword properly and have proper footwork, I will be able to defeat anyone. At least in theory. Anyway, she would hit me with the butt of her spear and I had to evade them using the footwork she taught me, which was not easy. It took me a week to even evade one of her attacks, which according to her has been toned down in both speed and power so that I could have a chance.

Training alongside scathach has taught me many things, like one that I'm no protagonist, and according to her while my talent is above average, is nothing exceptional and nowhere close to Cú Chulainn's talent.

Magic lessons from medea were going well, while it still takes me some time to cast spells due to not having chant annulment, but still pretty good, but nowhere battle ready according to medea.

Hearing the sound of rustling, I turned towards the sound and came across a tiger, but with white stipes instead of black and dark-colored fur.

{report. D-Class monster, Red tiger.}

Oh. Unsheathing my sword – which sadly was a longsword instead a katana – I ready myself for combat.

(A/N: this will be my first time writing a fighting scene)

The tiger snarled and lunged at me, I sidestepped it, the moment it touched ground it swiped its claws at me which was blocked by my sword.

Unfortunately, the strength of the tiger's attack pushed me back.

Regaining my footing I rushed towards it, and swung my sword. Which left a shallow wound below its eye.

Seeing that it was distracted due to the pain, I once again rushed towards it, but before I could reach it, the tiger struck me in the chest with its front limb which sent me flying away and hitting a tree.

Shakily getting up I picked the sword that had fallen from my hands. The tiger rushed at me and I got ready to evade.

The battle continued for an hour. During this time, we traded many blows, but between the two of us, the tiger had the greater quantity of injuries, unfortunately I haven't gotten entirely unscathed.

While I lacked in the quantity of injuries, the tiger more than made up with quality.

My left arm has been clawed and cannot be used, and according the GL (grand librarian), my ribs have been fractured.

The Good news, medea gave me plenty of healing potions which could easily heal these, bad news, the tiger would probably kill me if I tried.

Really wishing I could use my wings right now. Sadly, scathach placed some runes on my back, that disabled me on using my wings.

I took a few steps back while looking it in the eye, the tiger was injured and had lost of blood so it wasn't as fast or as strong as it was in the beginning but it was much more cautious.

Concentrating on my magicules I pushed them towards the sword, and converted them into lightning. The blade of my longsword was coated in lightning. Making it much deadlier.

I brought my sword in front of me and stared challengingly at the beast, the tiger crouched, and began dashing towards me. while fast, it has become slower due to its injuries, thus I waited until it was as close as possible before sidestepping, and swinging my lightning coated sword towards its neck.

The blade covered in lightning cut through the skin and muscles like a hot knife through butter. Unfortunately, the sword couldn't cut through bone. But the lightning coating the sword traveled through the beast, shocking it to death.

The tiger fell, like puppet whose strings have been cut.

Exhaling a Sigh, I fell on my butt, while my sword was stuck within the neck of the tiger.

I felt a bit nauseous for killing it but my physical and mental exhaustion overpowered it.

I looked at my sword, it was a longsword with the hilt wrapped in black wrappings which gave a good grip, and the blade made of steel? I think, but the most eye-catching part was the dozen runes inscribed on the blade.

Though I wanted to use a katana, scathach told me to use this until I gained enough skill with a sword before starting to use one. She explained to me that katanas are not good weapons when fighting opponents stronger than me. especially with how weak I am.

Even though I understood her, and appreciated her for telling me about this, it still sucks that I couldn't use one.

Fortunately, I could coat my sword in lightning, which takes time and concentration so I can't constantly keep it active, which is equally as cool as using a katana. I almost feel like Sasuke when using it. Almost.

I took out a healing potion from my storage ring, which like the name implies stores objects up to a limit of 20kg. scheherazade gave it to me, saying that it will be extremely useful for storing things until I learn how to make a storage box.

Uncorking the potion, I pour it down my throat due to its vomit inducing taste – medea said that she was still experimenting on the ingredients so she couldn't make it taste better – the closest taste that I could associate this with is, a mix between alcohol, pickle juice, pumpkin juice and coconut oil.

Getting up from the floor and dusting my behind, I pulled my sword from the corpse and sheathed it.

In stories that I read before coming here, adventurers who were tasked in killing monsters would cut off their ears as proof of their kill, but scathach told me there was no need for that. Her exact words were,

"I'll know if you completed the task or not. IF I find that you lied to me…" she said while staring at me with those ruby red eys, and smile that promised a thousand deaths. I still don't know how a person who could look so beautiful can look so menacing at the same time.

Sighing, I started leaving the area before another monster comes here, attracted by the corpse.

– 7 hours later –

Stabbing my sword through the eye of the bear, the bear thrashed in pain for a while before it died.

Whew. Finally, did it.

It took time, effort and lots and lots of pain, but I finally did it. I killed 5 D-class monsters.

Taking out a health potion, I chug it down my throat.

Looking at myself I saw that my upper clothes have been shredded, and there were some claw marks which were already in the process of healing.

HIIIIISSSSSSS

Hearing the hissing sound coming from behind me, I quickly turned towards it.

And then I saw it. A giant, black scales that resembled knives, fangs that could probably tear through stones as if butter, the very same fangs dripped of a green liquid that could be nothing other than deadly poison.

A snake.

[warning. Monster is B-rank, advised to quicky run away]

What the hells is this doing here?

[report. The monster seemed freshly evolved]

Such misfortune.

I joked. What else is there other than joking? Afterall I'm going to die.

It took me an hour at maximum to kill a D-rank monster, there was no way I could take a B-rank one.

The snake lashed with its tail at me, the huge tail striking me made me soar through the air and made contact with a boulder.

With just that one casual tail sweep, I felt all of my ribs break.

Is this how I'm going to die? How is this fair? I'm about to die to a B-rank monster while rimuru ate them as snacks. I've been here for over a month. A fucking MONTH!!!! That dumbass was there for a few hours at most. But still was strong enough to kill A-rank monsters.

Sighing, I looked towards the snake who for some reason was staring at the top of the trees.

Why me? wasn't this supposed to be my isekai adventure. Wasn't I supposed to make every woman fall in love with me.

Scathach seems disappointed in me, she didn't tell me but I saw it in her eyes, she looked at me with the same look my mother would look at me whenever I scored low grades.

Medea seems fun, I sometimes model for her and she teaches me magic, but our relationship is merely one between friends.

Scheherazade treats me as if I was a child. Whenever I am injured she comes and heals me, always willing to lend a ear even if its something stupid.

Oda Nobunaga is more of bro. a gun-loving pyromaniacal bro, but still a bro. she is the type of bro where you can act as a nerd, because she herself is one.

When I first woke up in this world, I thought I could conquer it. I thought of myself as a protagonist, someone who could learn anything in seconds and make every woman in a five-mile radius drop their panties with a single look.

But I'm not. I'm nothing special.

If I was uninjured and more attentive, I would've felt a familiar tyrannical blood lust emanating from a tree which was focused on the snake.

Sighing to myself I closed my eyes. Might as well die with my eyes closed.

I knew I was but dead man. It took me a minimum of 15 minutes to kill D-rank monster, while also getting seriously injured. So, there was no way I could defeat that.

I hear it hissing in… terror? Nah it's probably hissing in hunger.

[report. Emergency protocol #13 deploying]

"Wake up." Hearing the soft voice of a girl I opened my eyes to see a little girl standing in front of me with a Pikachu plushie in her arms.

But her most eye-catching feature is the look of disappointment and sadness.

"w-who are you?" I whispered. In one moment, I'm ready to get killed by a gigantic snake next, I'm in a strange area with a little girl who from the looks of it seems disappointed at me for some strange reason.

The girl didn't say anything, a chair materializes behind her and she sits on it while still looking at me with the same disappointed gaze.

The girl sighs, "…why?" the girl questions me.

I was confused.

"Why? Why what."

"Why couldn't you do the one thing I asked."

"Listen I don't who you are or where I am."

The girl sighs. Again.

"Your mind…We are in your mind." The girl answered half of my inquiry.

I look around the place, there were many things in the room.

The room was colored black and blue.

Pictures of goats, snails and cuckoo birds were hung on the walls.

There was a half-eaten meal, on top of a table.

There was a book, which from the looks of it seems to be turned to the first page, but for some reason it was covered in dust.

There was a bookshelf, with most of the books covered in dust. Only a few books seemed to be free from dust.

"Why is my mind so…" I didn't know how to say it, but this place made me uncomfortable.

"Because this place is your mind, it represents your deepest desires."

"Nah, if it represents my deepest desires the wall would have pictures of dragons and phoenix's not snails and cuckoo birds." I replied.

"Dragons represent wrath and greed, phoenix's represent life and rebirth, while these three…" she pointed towards the pictures hanging on the walls.

"…perfectly represent you."

Wanting to defend myself I opened my mouth or at least tried.

I also realized that I couldn't move.

"Stop struggling. And listen." The girl ordered.

"What have you been doing? Wasting time and not training even knowing how dangerous this world is."

I did. I trained my skills with scathach and then studied magic under medea. In one-month I became strong enough to kill D-rank monsters.

"What? Are you denying it?" I nodded my head, or tried to.

"Yes, your right. You have trained with them? But that didn't mean you wanted to?" I shake my head in denial. I am the one who asked scathach to train me.

"The day scathach was going to train you, you tried to delay it. Don't deny, I saw" I would flinch if could.

The girl sighed.

"Do you know what unique skills are?"

[Scheherazade POV]

Scheherazade was sitting on a bench in the middle of the town. Watching the people, walk one place to another. A month ago, these people were monsters that would've terrified the average man.

But now they have attained humanoid forms after being named. Names hold power, but in this world, names hold a different kind of power.

Scheherazade looked towards the forest area which has been named the danger zones. She was worried for her master, afterall for some reason he couldn't use his unique skills properly. No, she knows why he can't use them.

Unique skills are the crystallizations of one's desire, her own desire to survive granted her unique skill which made her nigh-unkillable. Medea's unique skill made her use threads as an extension of herself, scathach could easily see a person potential and the best way to utilize it and oda Nobunaga can easily go against the laws of nature.

Each of our skills came from our desire, my desire to survive, Medea's desire to make beautiful clothes, scathach desire to teach and oda Nobunaga's desire for revolution. The skills were like an extension of ourselves. All but our master.

For us the use of our skill is instinct, but for him it is not. He hasn't made the use of many of his skills, while at the beginning medea did theorize that his lack of use is due to him not knowing how to utilize them because he used to be a normal human, but after a month we realized that is not the problem.

The thing that enables him to use it is…

…himself.

[Klaus POV]

Huh.

I felt the force keeping my mouth shut vanish.

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned her.

"Exactly what I meant, the reason you can't utilize the skills to their full power is due to your subconscious lack of desire to utilize them."

"You think me, a weeb will subconsciously deny the use of OP skills? Have you seen how big of a weeb I was?"

"Yes, you are correct, you are big weeb, but sadly you are a weeb second and a…

…coward first"

"Coward? How the fuck am I a coward? I train with scathach, I came here and killed D-rank monsters? Which part of that is cowardly."

"Unique skills come from the users desire, your desire for books and knowledge granted you grand librarian, you desire to travel granted you traveler and you desire to be like the sky granted you the sky."

I do not understand where she is going with this.

"You subconsciously desired not to fight, you were afraid that if you were to become powerful that you would be roped into fighting, but most of all you just were lazy to properly utilize them."

"What? Really something cliché like that Is reason why I can't use my powers?"

"You have a choice now, shed your fear and sloth or drown in them and become snake food."

The hell you mean shed my fear and sloth. How the fuck do I shed something I don't have. At least not anymore.

While back on earth I did procrastinate. A lot. But ever since I came here, I haven't procrastinated. I was always doing something.

"There is a difference between doing something because you were told to and doing something because you wanted to."

what the hell! Can't she just tell me?

suddenly the room started to shake and blue-black water started pouring out from the statutes of the animals.

"This is will be your final chance, you either shed it or drown in it." Saying that the girl disappeared. Alongside her my inability to move also disappeared.

Seeing that I could move again, I ran around the room trying to stop the water from pouring out.

Checking for some kind of button or lever that could close this, unfortunately there were no such things. I also realized that this room had no door or windows.

The water has reached my knees. And there is no sign of stopping it.

I checked the entire room and there was nothing that could help me. all I have is some vague bullshit on how I should shed my sloth and fear or drown in it.

I checked and there was nothing I could do, so might as well enjoy these last moments before I die.

[scathach POV]

Looking at the boy who has closed his eyes in defeat over a slight challenge made her want to go down and beat him up. But she didn't.

She wouldn't let the boy die, but if he cannot rise from this, she shall not train him no longer.

Directing my bloodlust at the snake I kept it one place. I will give him a minute to get up.

60

59

.

.

.

10 more seconds left.

Seeing how unresponsive he was she sighed.

What a waste. He had a decent amount of talent. But if he cannot overcome a slight challenge then it was not meant to be.

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

*RUMBLE*

Looking up I saw the once clear blue sky has turned into a storm, rain started to fall, winds picked up, lightning rumbles and thunder roared.

Looking towards the boy, he was still just as before.

*flinch*

Seeing the boy twitch his fingers, I couldn't help but smile.

*rumble**rumble*

Lightning started to fall. The eyes of the boy opened, the brown-colored eyes of his were replaced with grey ones.

The boy got up and walked towards his fallen sword. Picking it up he got into a basic sword stance. His sword was coated with element of space.

"No more running away. No matter how cliché it is." The boy spoke.

I couldn't stop my grin from widening.

"Maybe there's still some hope left."

[Klaus POV]

Staring at the snake through the rain that I caused, I no longer felt as hopeless as I did.

The girl – no the fragment of my ultimate skill, told me that the only limit I have is myself.

So, no more limiting myself.

In the end she was right, while at the beginning I wanted to learn from scathach, the more days that passed the more I stopped giving it my all in training.

After I stopped the flow of the water which was actually my sloth and fear, I felt whole. My unique skills always felt like something separate, but now It feels like something that was always there.

Raising my sword, I coated it with space.

"No more running away. No matter how cliché it is." I stated to myself. For some reason it only seemingly angered the giant snake more.

The snake coiled itself and I raised my sword above my head. I used [thought acceleration: 10 times]

The snake sprang from its location. while it was undeniably fast, I could track its movement. Tightening my grip on my sword, I swung the sword downward the moment when it came in my attack range.

[sword art: spatial rend]

My sword coated in space cut through the snake as if butter. Due to it leaping towards me, my sword was able cut it from its head all the way to its tail.

*shatter*

Looking at my sword which was now in pieces, I couldn't help but grin.

I did it. I killed it.

Exhaustion overtook and made me fall backwards. Before I could fall i felt someone supporting me from behind. Catching a whiff of the delicate yet intoxicating smell of rose alongside a piquant smell of rusted iron I realized who was behind me.

"sh... shishou?"

"Shhh. Rest now child."

Hearing her voice coated with fondness, something that I haven't heard ever since I arrived here. I felt my eyes closing. my head pressed between two huge mountains of flesh.

.

.

.

Opening my eyes, I saw the face of scathach smiling at me, which was a surprise since the time I've seen her smile can be counted on one hand.

I realized at that moment that my head was on her lap. The god-slayer, the witch of dun scaith and the Irish Chiron is giving me a lap pillow!

I've probably made a weird face, because scathach's mouth quirked upwards in amusement.

"How long was I out?" I asked in hopes to clear the awkwardness.

"Around 5 hours I believe." She answered while thinking for a bit.

Realizing how long I was out; I turned my head to see where I was and I realized we were back home.

"The snake?" I asked, curious to know if I did defeat it.

"Cleaved in half." She replied back.

"So, I did kill it." I said to myself in wonder.

"You did more than that. You my dear student, finally broke your shackles."

"My shackles."

"Every person has them, be it mortal or immortal. Shackles are what holds us, they could be physical, spiritual or even mental. Each person's shackles differ from one another. Today you destroyed yours."

"So, my sloth and fear were my shackle. Do I have more?"

"Maybe. But keep it in mind that not all shackles are bad. while some could limit you, other could grant you power. And breaking every single shackle could lead to worse." Her voice was softer, as if she was reminiscing, and it was laced with regret.

I wanted to ask what hers was. But I didn't. this was the first time she cared for me like this, her eyes did not look at me as If I disappointed her but instead looked at me with fondness, her lap as if the most comforting pillow in the world made me sleepy.

Bit by bit, I felt my eyes closing in exhaustion.

"Sleep. You are still injured."

[medea POV]

Coming from my workshop I witness quite a sight.

The witch of dun scaith, or as I call her the bitch of dunce scat, was giving the boyo a lap pillow.

I blinked multiple times, to make sure I was seeing things correctly.

And I was.

Personally, I did not dislike the boy, there were far worse masters than him, I even found him a bit amusing. And he has a cute face to model for my clothes.

But the bitch on the other hand, didn't like the boy too much, something about the boy lacking drive but looking at her now, I wonder what changed.

Wonder if the bitch fell for him. I wish she did. Then she can evolve from a bitch to a cougar. Imagining that I couldn't hold my snickers.

The bitch was staring at me, she seemed pissed.

"Was I interrupting your cougar plans?" I asked her. To which she snorted.

"Are you projecting yourself onto me. then again someone like you who is easily abandoned by her own husband probably has no choice but to go after children."

"That buffoon was not my husband!!"

"Really? That's the only problem you have with my statement? Not the part where I accused you of trying to seduce a child. I was only joking, but now...I'm not so sure."

This bitch! Why can't she shut her mouth when I insult her. Why does she need to have the last word?

-chapter 07 end-

Done. Another one has been done.

Do any of you have a problem with the relationship between scathach and medea? cause apparently someone does.

Personally, I believe that them bickering gives them depth.

Power stones for WN.

Review, favorite and follow in FFN.

JGreen039: while yes, grand archivist fits better, the skill came due to his wish for owning the worlds largest library.

that's because I didn't want him to use get way too OP, because if he had it, he would've analyzed multiple things.

Its more like the skill recreates all abilities. For example, if Klaus were to analyze the space stone, he would be able to recreate everything the space stone could do, or at least get the knowledge on how to use them.

World map, funnily enough I originally planned Klaus to get it. maybe I'll integrate it world map into traveler.

That was the plan. The plan was for him to recreate anything the sky does, lightning storms, rain, hail storms. FYI the sky was inspired by zenith tempest from DxD.

JGreen039: my plan was for him to go to other worlds to gain things that could grant him a stronger evolution. EXAMPLE; going to fairy tail and getting a slayer seed. I thought of making him like Leon Cromwell, first becoming a hero and then a demon lord.

holosagewolf32: the reason was because she denied the offer before it was heard. Though I do have a plan, to release Atlanta and few other heroes on the celestial dragons.

Lol, imagine the celestial dragons getting killed after them trying to enslave Gilgamesh make me cackle.