Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

The members of the Old Guard ran to the ramparts. They stood in a sharp line, waiting for something. Relin stepped out in front of them, hands behind her back. She looked them over. "You all know what to expect. Prepare yourselves for death, and fight with everything you have!"

Ike cleared his throat. "Actually… can you guys operate the weapons on the battlements? We'll be the ones out there fighting."

Relin startled. She looked at him. "Are you sure? If you die, the trial is over for all of us."

"I don't intend to die, either. But we came here to get stronger. We can't do that if we hide in the castle and let you fight in our place."

He couldn't forget their original purpose. Even before they found Mag's skill fragment, they'd planned on using this trial to hone their strength. If they hid away, they'd have abandoned their original plans. And what for? He and Wisp still needed to fight once they returned. Lord Brightbriar and his puppets wouldn't get any weaker while they were gone. They needed to reach high Rank 3, and he wouldn't say no to Rank 4. Not that he expected to ascend directly to the next Rank, but that was the kind of battle they were fighting—one where they were facing opponents high above their skill level, who they could only surpass themselves if they exerted themselves to the utmost and seized every possible chance to grow stronger.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Wisp nodded. "Yeah, yeah. We already defended one castle. How much harder can this one be?"

Relin looked from one to the other. "Just the two of you?"

Mag flapped down and landed on the crenelations. His claws clutched the stone tight. "They're approaching."

Ike thumbed at the giant bird. "Mag, too. Right, Mag?"

"Huh? What?"

"You'll fight, right?"

"Obviously. I'm a king! And a king fights! Especially if he has a castle to defend. What's more kinglike than fighting to defend your territory?"

Ike nodded. Turning back to Relin, he grinned. "You see?"

She still hesitated, but nodded slowly. "If you're certain…"

"We don't know how to operate spell formations or wall-mounted weapons, anyways. So we'll be counting on all of you, too," Ike said, nodding.

"You don't? That should be basic training. What kind of sect were you raised in?" Relin asked, taken aback.

Ike laughed. "We're self-taught."

She raised her brows. "You're Rank 3. I've never heard of someone obtaining Rank 3 without the support of a city, sect, or clan. Beasts, yes. But humans…?"

"Well, now you have." Ike glanced at Mag. Still in his bird form, Mag stared out at the forest, dark eyes focused on some distant point. Ike nodded. "How close are they?"

"About a thousand meters out. In the forest, so we can't see them yet."

Ike glanced at the two he'd sent out to scout. "Anything reinforced out there?"

Nett shook her head. "We found some places that were suitable, but we didn't have the time to act. Maybe after this wave."

"Excellent. We'll speak again after the wave. Wisp, Mag, on me. Everyone else, protect the castle! Shout if you need us back." With that, Ike hopped off the wall and thumped down into the forest below. Wisp put her feet on the wall and walked down behind him, and Mag took to the air, black-and-white wings flashing in the sun.

As he landed, Ike finally heard the monsters. Their footsteps echoed through the trees, and heavy snorting sounded from closer than he'd expect. He ran forward, drawing his sword. The monsters didn't sound like bugs, which was already an improvement over the centipede tunnels. In fact, the way they grunted, the heavy breathing… Ike furrowed his brows. I feel like I've heard that before, those sounds. He charged toward them, trying to place the sounds in his mind.

He raced forward and came face-to-face with a huge, humanoid beast. It stood upright. Its portly but powerful body was supported by two broad-spread legs which ended in cloven hooves. Two huge tusks thrust forward on either side of a furred snout, and a big, wide nose trembled between them.

"Oh! That's right. The pig pens!" Ike realized, snapping his fingers. The sounds reminded him of pigs! And these men appeared to be boarmen. He laughed. "I wonder if they taste like boar or people?"

"I'll be honest, not a lot of difference in flavor there," Wisp chimed in.

The boarman swept a greataxe at Ike. Ike hopped the blade, landed, and jumped again, taking the boarman's head with a horizontal strike. Another two boarmen charged forward to take its place. Their heads flew, too. Ike didn't need to activate Storm Clad. He barely needed to use the River-Splitting Sword. Will I even get stronger, fighting these guys?

Oh well, it's easier for me to win the trial that way. Whether I get stronger here or not, I still get the other half of that skill.

He glanced at Wisp. "Really? People taste like boar?"

"Well, more like pig. Pork. But yeah. It's pretty similar," she said. She lunged out, grabbed a pigman in both hands, and lifted him into the air. There was a distortion around her face, something blurry and strange, and then her jaws snapped shut, and the pigman was no more.

Ike raised his brows, impressed. "Every time I see your appetite, I'm always amazed."

"You humans are far too unambitious with your meals," she replied, shaking her head.

Another boarman charged Ike, and he was forced to turn his attention back to battle. Wisp ran on, racing into the forest, while Ike held his line, taking the boarmen down one at a time. Mag swooped overhead. Occasionally, he darted down and raked a boarman with his claws, or else grabbed one and hauled them high into the sky, only to drop them back to earth. They dropped, squealing the whole way, and landed in a heavy, wet thump.

Ike carved his way ahead. One boarman after another, he cut them down, leaving beheaded and dismembered bodies in his wake. The boarmen must not have been higher than Rank 1. It was hard for him not to destroy them when he fought. He held back his strength and focused on his swordsmanship instead. Overwhelming strength made the battles trivial, but that way, he learned nothing. If he choked his strength back as far as he could, the battles were still easy, but he had to actually fight with his sword skill to keep them from overwhelming him with their heavy axe sweeps. One after another, he cut them down, but now, he could feel his sword skills growing stronger and his understanding of the River-Splitting Sword growing deeper as he fought.

Every battle is a chance to learn, as long as you put in the effort. Ike burned the lesson into his heart. If he wanted to get stronger, he needed to treat every battle seriously, to the extent he could. Even trivial battles could turn into sources of greater power.

The boarmen thinned, then stopped entirely. Ike stood, flicking the blood off his blade. "Is that it? That's too easy."

As if someone had been waiting for him to utter that exact phrase, something roared in the woods. The roar reverberated off the ground and trembled the branches on the trees. Ike stumbled back a step, startled by the roar.

A second later, Ike grinned. He circulated his mana, using his full strength at last, and raised his sword once more. "Finally. Bring it on!"