<h4>1063: Swordsman Valusa</h4>


    The swordsman spoke while holding his sword at the ready. There was an unmistakable hint of joy on his face.


    「My name is Valusa, currently employed by the Western Raydoss Knights.」


    「Fran. Rank B Adventurer.」


    「Uh-huh. The incident at the harbor was your doing, I take it?」


    「Nn.」


    Fran nodded, and Valusa suddenly burst into joyousughter.


    「Fuhahaha! To think their precious fleet would be eliminated by the adventurers they underestimated so much! I can’t wait to see their faces!」


    「…? Aren’t you from Raydoss?」


    「The only one I serve is myself. I decided to work for Raydoss because doing so gives me more opportunities to y stronger opponents.」


    A truebat maniac! He seems to be the type of person who doesn’t care about anything else as long as he can satisfy his desire for battle.


    「Besides, cooperating with Raydoss gives me the opportunity to be even stronger. The alchemist said something about lifespan, but half of my life is a small price to pay for such strength.」


    『This guy’s race is Demi-Demonoid. He might have undergone something simr to Marle…』


    No clue how that’s different from Marle’s “Demonoid Ogre” race, but it seems he willingly epted Raydoss’s body modification.


    <strong>Appraisal Information</strong>


    <strong>Name:</strong> Valusa


    <strong>Age:</strong> 42


    <strong>Race:</strong> Demi-Demonoid


    <strong>upation:</strong> sh Swordsman


    <strong>Stats</strong>


    LV: 49/99


    HP: 669


    MP: 687


    STR: 458


    VIT: 400


    AGI: 678


    INT: 111


    MAG: 228


    DEX: 328


    <strong>Skills</strong>


    Evasion: Lv8, Bow Mastery: Lv2, Bow Arts: Lv4, Presence Detection: Lv7, Sword Mastery: LvMax, Sword Arts: LvMax, Holy Sword Mastery: Lv3, Holy Sword Arts: Lv4, Super Strength: Lv2, Regeneration: Lv7, Flexibility: Lv6, Blink: Lv9, Swimming: Lv6, Water Walking: Lv5, Swashbuckler: Lv7, Throwing: Lv5, Climbing: Lv5 Poison Resistance: Lv 9, Reaction Boost: Lv 9, Paralysis Resistance: Lv 7, Appraise Detection, Energy Control, Hawk Eye, Numb Pain, Reflexes, Magic Vision


    <strong>Innate Skills</strong>


    False Divider, sh Sword


    <strong>Titles</strong>


    Murderer, Traitor


    <strong>Equipment</strong>


    Magic Sword Soul-Drain, Sea Dragon Leather Uniform, Sea Dragon Leather Warboots, Magic Whale Mantle, Choker of Water-Breathing, Hawk Eye Ring


    「Raydoss alchemists modified your body?」


    「You just used Appraisal, didn’t you? That’s right. They said it was a coborative effort between the alchemists of the west and the east, or something like that. I hear I got imnted with a miniature magic stone and the heart of an ogrekin. Thanks to them, my body has be stronger than ever before.」


    But it cuts your lifespan in half, right? I have no idea how you can smile so happily.


    「What are you after?」


    「I’ll tell you if you can beat me… is what I’d like to say, but whoever loses will be too dead to talk. Whatever, might as well spill what I know. In exchange, you gotta fight me to the death. Oh, and let me say something up front. I don’t care if that girl is your only rescue target or no, but I’ll ughter everyone here if you try to run.」


    「…I’m not running.」


    「Good. I don’t give a shit about the others as long as you fight me. They can escape for all I care.」


    He’s trying to seal away Fran escaping with Charlotte by threatening the other hostages? It seemsbat really is the only thing on his mind.


    「Raydoss’s main goal with this town was to secure supply routes. Oh yeah, and act as a diversion.」


    「Supply routes and diversion?」


    「A small elite force has already deployed to secure a bridgehead to Phyllius.」


    He exined how they’ve already scouted out several viges further ind on the road to Phyllius. The n was apparently to select the most suitable vige and turn it into their base of operations.


    And Dars bes a convenient supply route to that base.


    「However, supplying the ind bases is not difficult as long as we maintain control of the seas. The more important point is to attract Kranzel’s attention. By luring reinforcements to Dars, we can disperse their forces.」


    「…But for such an important operation, you’re the only one strong here.」


    「With the Kranzel fleet annihted, we should’ve won even without the Water Dragon Battleship. Well, until your arrival put a damper on that n.」


    「…I wiped out the fleet at Bulbora too.」


    「Fuhahaha! Is that so! You’re practically Raydoss’s worst nightmare!」


    Their operation probably only nned to deal with Rank B adventurers or lower. The Rank A adventurers should all be deployed to the border, so they assumed lesser adventurers would be sent to retake Dars.


    No, I suppose Raydoss tends to look down on adventurers in general. It’s possible they attempted to n for Rank A adventurers but ended up underestimating them.


    They thought they had no chance of losing as long as they could one-sidedly bombard the town from the seas.


    「I was originally gonna join the team for securing the bridgehead, but I thought it would be more fun to take on any adventurersing to retake the town. It seems my hunch was right. It’s too crowded to have a proper fight at the border either way.」


    「The border… Is Raydoss’s army attacking Alessa or something?」


    「They should be. Well, I can only really say what the West Duke’s up to. His final goal is to conquer Phyllius and get his hands on their divine sword.」


    Valusa readied his de after finishing the exnation.


    「That’s it, yeah? Come on, let’s fight already!」


    「Onest thing.」


    「What?」


    「What do they want Charlotte for?」


    「Charlotte? Oh, that dancer? Apparently people with her upation have the ability to interfere with leylines. They were going to use her to strengthen the magic circle aimed at Phyllius.」


    「I see.」


    「If you manage to survive this, feel free to use my info for whatever you want.」


    「I will.」


    「Fuhahaha! Then let’s begin!」


    Valusa raised his de slowly before swinging it down on us. Fran saw this and frowned… before jumping to the side in a panic.


    「Not bad! You managed to dodge!」


    （That was…!）


    『I think it’s his skill “False Divider”!』


    This skill can reproduce the sound of wind on the de, as well as the killing intent behind it, creating the illusion that he is swinging a sword. But hidden behind this illusion was the true cleave with ridiculous speed.


    The initial slow-looking sh looked easy to dodge, but his opponent would quickly be caught off guard by an invisible de separating their head from the torso. A pretty nastybo.


    Valusa kept smiling even though Fran did not even take a scratch. He really seemed to be having a good time.


    「Kukuku! I’ve been bored to death ever since I got stronger, since no swordsman was capable of challenging me. You’ve finallye to rescue me from that boredom!」


    So he’s not just abat maniac, but one with a particr attachment to swordfighting.


    「Teyaaah!」


    「Fuhahaha! You’re really amazing! Keep it up!」


    Valusa cackled as he parried Fran’s blow.


    「You won’t hit me!」


    「Shah!」


    Valusa’s Holy Sword Mastery was at level 4, and his stats were inferior to Fran’s. Yet he still managed to keep up with Fran. Like, on an even ying field.


    It’s true that Fran had yet to activate her stat enhancement skills. I think she didn’t want to win by overpowering him with the sheer difference in stats.


    Still, he shouldn’t be able to keep up with Fran, someone on the level of Swordking Mastery. This man must have devoted his entire life to the de.


    His vast experience gave him countless techniques, such as the masterfulbination of False Divider and sh Cutter to deliver superspeed shes. That came pretty close to getting us. He never repeated the same attack pattern, and he dealt with all of Fran’s attacks as if he had experienced them before.


    Fran was also impressive, since she managed to repel such an opponent. She too was using her skills masterfully.


    The sh continued for ten minutes, though neither lost their breath despite the heavy drain to stamina and mana. Both were maintaining multiple skills at the same time, as well as conducting mana on their des.


    Regarding that, Valusa’s sword had the ability to absorb our mana. I felt a bit of mana drained from me every time we crossed des. Moreover, it sucked the mana deep inside me, including from Fenrir and the Evil God. My internal situation is pretty stable now, but who knows what might have happened if we fought him while I was unstable.


    Basically, Valusa’s mana wasn’t running out any time soon.


    「Yes! Yes! You’re getting even better, aren’t you?」


    「Heh!」


    It seems the intense sh with Valusa refined Fran’s swordsmanship even further.


    Fran returned Valusa’s sh with a smug look on her face, so it seems she was also enjoying the fight. However, such fun times were about toe to an end.


    We saw a ck magic stunched into the distant sky.


    『That’s the signal from Urushi!』


    （…Got it.）


    Fran nodded lightly and readied me again. Perhaps sensing the change in her behavior, Valusa paused his movements to observe the situation.


    「…Done ying around?」


    「I’ll finish you now.」


    「How unfortunate. But don’t expect it to be that easy!」


    「…Time to get serious.」