Sorry, Foreman, Please Die for My New Weapon!

"It wasn't the factory."

Uesugi Tetsu looked at the stunned foreman and heard him ask subconsciously, "Mr. Brahma, do you know what really happened?"

"Of course."

Uesugi Tetsu nodded, held out five fingers, and the blood-stained wood-cutting knife clattered into his hand.

"Because, I did it."

In the rumbling silence where only the factory operated, Uesugi Tetsu deliberately waited for two seconds, but did not see the expected emotion in the foreman's eyes.

The foreman simply looked at him calmly, a hint of realization in his eyes: "So it was you..."

Uesugi Tetsu tilted his head: "Aren't you surprised by the reason?"

In fact, if the foreman could have moved the workshop away, Uesugi Tetsu wouldn't necessarily have had to kill him. After all, the Blacksmith just wanted the noisy workshop gone.

And facing a demon with a rare ambition, Uesugi Tetsu wouldn't have minded losing tens or hundreds of Soul Ash.

But after communicating with the foreman, Uesugi Tetsu understood that the conflict between them was irreconcilable.

--Sorry, Foreman-san, please die for my new weapon!

The foreman sighed. He took off his hard hat and revealed a fierce, bloodthirsty expression he hadn't shown in a long time. "The reason doesn't matter anymore."

The Laughing Brahma nodded in full agreement, a smile appearing on its face.

"Hoo--"

With a sound like a whale exhaling, in the same instant, falling leaves and the foreman's chest and abdomen were simultaneously cut open.

Grayish-white blood splattered.

"One strike isn't enough."

Uesugi Tetsu's palm felt numb from the impact with the foreman's sternum. The HP of this Elite-grade monster was clearly on a different level from normal mobs. Even a surprise attack couldn't heavily wound him.

In the brief moment he retracted his blade, Uesugi Tetsu could clearly see the foreman's arm moving.

It seemed the Fearful Smile only gave him a first-strike advantage against enemies of the same level.

However, that was enough.

The proficient-level Ki-ai Technique didn't falter after a full-power strike; a more sustained flow of ki coursed through Uesugi Tetsu's body than before.

With this advantage, he could wear down the unarmed foreman to death just through attrition...

Just as Uesugi Tetsu was thinking this, the foreman suddenly raised his hand, and a heavy, cold glint pierced his waist.

The searing pain of flesh being torn made Uesugi Tetsu's brow twitch. He quickly circulated his Ki-ai Technique and retreated rapidly, looking back at the foreman.

--What is that thing the other party is holding? He doesn't have a storage backpack like I do.

Uesugi Tetsu clearly saw the weapon in the foreman's hand.

It was a long, rod-shaped object, thicker at one end and thinner at the other.

A crowbar?!

He had completely forgotten about that thing. Uesugi Tetsu had only been focused on bladed weapons, so he hadn't paid much attention to cold weapons that were more tool-like.

After all, he was the foreman; it was perfectly reasonable for him to carry a crowbar.

Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the wound on his waist, about two fingers wide. After channeling a large amount of ki to stop the bleeding, he said calmly, "The foreman is truly meticulous."

The foreman kicked the hard hat by his feet aside: "Aren't you too, Mr. Brahma?"

Stalling, just stalling!

While casually chatting with the foreman, Uesugi Tetsu's mind was exceptionally clear, operating with a heart like still water.

The foreman couldn't stop the bleeding right now, so as long as he dragged it out, even if Uesugi Tetsu didn't act, the foreman would bleed to death.

And given the size of the wound, this wouldn't take too long.

If he couldn't kill the foreman this time, Uesugi Tetsu believed the foreman would never give him a second chance. In that case, not only would the time to complete the quest be greatly extended, but he might not even get the weapon forged by the Blacksmith.

So, he just needed to hold steady.

Don't give this insidious foreman even a sliver of an opening.

Time slowly passed. Uesugi Tetsu watched the foreman weaken little by little, while his own ki had even recovered to its peak state.

With the balance shifting, victory was practically assured!

But instinctively, Uesugi Tetsu felt something was wrong.

Did the foreman, who almost landed a critical blow with the crowbar, not know what the right choice was in such a desperate situation?

Uesugi Tetsu tightened his grip on the wood-cutting knife and decided to take the initiative.

With a bang, a large amount of ki dissipated from Uesugi Tetsu's body.

He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, the wood-cutting knife falling faster than ever before.

"Come on!"

But to his surprise, the foreman roared, his body instantly turning crimson. He raised the crowbar and blocked the attack.

Uesugi Tetsu was knocked back two steps by the immense force, his right arm throbbing with pain, likely fractured.

This was because a red affix, [Jade Shatter], had suddenly appeared above the Foreman's head, and the mist above him had shifted from a white and yellow mix to a crimson that symbolized danger.

[Jade Shatter: Gradually consumes vitality to accumulate power. The more vitality consumed, the more power accumulated. Vitality cannot be recovered.]

Uesugi Tetsu thought to himself, So that's what he had in store for me.

If he had been a little more cautious just now, delaying for three to five minutes, he might have been directly blown apart by the Foreman's crowbar.

He didn't want to experience what it felt like to have his upper body explode.

Seeing the Foreman, clearly exhausted after swinging his crowbar once, Uesugi Tetsu seized the fleeting opportunity and immediately advanced.

As he moved forward, he also roared, "I will be the victor!"

The Tennen Rishin-ryū thrusting technique that Ririko had demonstrated flashed rapidly through Uesugi Tetsu's mind.

He followed his instincts and thrust out his machete.

The rusted blade skillfully found its way through the wound, piercing the heart with ease.

The Foreman's previously formidable momentum faltered instantly, dissipating like mist.

After Uesugi Tetsu pulled his blade back, the Foreman collapsed with a thud onto the muddy ground.

The outcome was decided.

In the silence, the Foreman's weak voice struggled to emerge.

"Mr. Brahma..."

He mustered all his strength to turn his body, gazing at the dusty half-sky. "That factory..."

Fleeting phantoms of the past flashed before the Foreman's eyes: the golden rice fields that once covered the hills of Arakawa Village, and the people laughing as they worked in the fields.

Alas, the past had shattered and vanished like bubbles.

He closed his eyes and whispered softly, "Please, you must get rid of that factory that brought filth and oppression."

Uesugi Tetsu looked down at him, his eyes dark.

Even if the Foreman hadn't said anything, he would never have let that factory, where a large number of demons gathered, go.

After a moment's thought, Uesugi Tetsu nodded gently, promising, "I promise you."

The Foreman then smiled contentedly, as if a great burden had been lifted.

"Thank you..."

The Foreman said.

The Jade Shatter affix above his head gradually faded, leaving nothing behind.

A prompt appeared before Uesugi Tetsu's eyes at the opportune moment.

[You have killed the Half-Star Obsession "Worker Leader" and obtained 75 Soul Ash.]

[You have obtained the Foreman's Crowbar (Rare).]

[You have experienced combat, Ki-ai Technique fragment proficiency +25!]

[You have experienced combat and gained insight, Tennen Rishin-ryū proficiency +76!]

Uesugi Tetsu let out a heavy sigh and sat on the ground, gazing at the gradually brightening twin moons, thinking how perilous it had been.

The Fearful Smile had been used at the very beginning, his ki was completely depleted by the last two strikes, and even his stamina was almost gone...

It could be said that this was a complete and narrow victory.

It was laughable that he had initially thought a mere Half-Star, comparable to a strong farmer, could be dealt with in just two or three strikes.

Now, it seemed there were indeed differences even among Half-Stars.

He had to thank the Foreman for teaching him a lesson.

After catching his breath for a while, Uesugi Tetsu finally remembered to check the prompts he had received.

The Soul Ash was quite a lot, which was to be expected, matching the Foreman's strength.

However, what Uesugi Tetsu hadn't expected was that the crowbar the other party carried had been dropped.

[Foreman's Crowbar]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Exceptionally sturdy, greatly increases damage against all types of objects.]

[--Since I'm the Foreman, it's only reasonable to carry a crowbar with me, right?]

A special type of weapon, or perhaps a tool.

Looking at the "exceptionally sturdy" effect, Uesugi Tetsu understood why his machete had chipped several times during their exchange, while this crowbar remained unscathed.

Fortunately, with the Foreman's death, a new weapon was coming, and his battered machete could go into storage to gather dust.

In addition, the proficiency in Tennen Rishin-ryū had increased so much all at once, it was almost comparable to practicing swordplay twice with Soul Soothing Incense Ash.

"Combat truly is the express lane to getting stronger..."

It was a shame that Uesugi Tetsu rarely encountered battles of such equal footing; either he would instantly defeat the opponent, or be instantly defeated himself, with no game experience to be had.

After sitting on the ground for a while longer to recover some stamina, Uesugi Tetsu stood up and happened to notice something in the withered farmland not far away.

He focused his gaze and saw that it was a writhing white shadow.