The Secret Art of the Long Sword

Only then did Gordon notice that the huge, bizarre headdress atop the King Shakalaka's head was actually the stove from a Portable Barbecue Grill.

Even stranger, the flames on the stove the King Shakalaka wore as a crown changed with its emotions.

At first, when it had been cutting through his defenses as easily as chopping vegetables, only a small, weak flame had burned above its head. When it descended into madness and fury, however, the stove blazed fiercely.

As the little flame erupted into a roaring blaze, the savage aura the King Shakalaka exuded struck fear even into Gordon, who had faced a Rathalos. Yet he still felt an urge to try his luck.

I want to fight it again. Even if it drove me into a corner the moment we clashed, I still want to try fighting it again.

His hand clenched, then relaxed. In the end, he lowered the right hand he had reached toward the Buster Sword's hilt.

As he was now, he clearly lacked both the strength and the qualifications to fight a monster of that caliber. Recklessly joining the battle between the King Shakalaka and Amos would only cause trouble for the latter.

He slapped his cheeks hard, cooling his head before his rising excitement could get the better of him. Then he slung the Buster Sword onto his back, lowered his arms, and watched this battle-one of great importance to him-even more closely.

Before this, he had thought the difference between a High-Rank Hunter and an ordinary hunter amounted to richer hunting experience, better weapons and equipment, and superior combat techniques.

That was not exactly wrong. It was just that the extent of those "superior combat techniques" went far beyond what he, a two-star hunter, could comprehend.

Even the footwork alone left him utterly baffled.

How could Amos perform such smooth, frequent, long-distance sliding steps over uneven forest ground choked with vegetation?

Did he have wheels under his feet?

And how did he switch so freely between offense and defense during those repeated turns and evasions, instantly striking his opponent's vital spots with precision, when his blade was nearly two meters long and should have been so difficult to keep steady?

Didn't he even need to locate his target with his eyes first?

No one could answer the astonished questions in Gordon's mind. The battle between the King Shakalaka and Amos had already reached a fever pitch.

"About time," Amos murmured under his breath.

The aggressive rhythm of his relentless assault stopped abruptly. Without warning, the Long Sword wielder retreated once again, putting some distance between himself and the King Shakalaka.

His hands overlapped around the hilt, holding the Long Sword with its edge facing upward and its tip pointing forward. This was a special sword stance known as the "Great Mist Stance."

A faint, almost imperceptible red glow appeared around him. The next instant, his entire body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, the sword's tip serving as its arrowhead.

Gordon's pupils contracted slightly.

He could clearly tell that Amos was moving faster.

That almost illusory pale red glow was clearly not something that could be summed up as mere "swordsmanship." It had to be a special way of harnessing his own strength-or rather, energy.

The Great Sword had a similar application: its core technique, the Charged Slash.

Before a Charged Slash unleashed its power, a similar glow would flash around Great Sword wielders. It marked the point at which the accumulation and concentration of their strength had reached its limit.

"Is that... Spirit Slash?"

Gordon suddenly recalled Instructor Ernest explaining this Long Sword technique to him.

Unlike the Great Sword's simple, brute-force charging method, Long Sword wielders typically built up "sword momentum" (the spirit gauge) through continuous attacks, then unleashed it all at once at the right moment.

That was Spirit Slash.

Apparently, unleashing a Spirit Slash not only increased a Long Sword wielder's attack speed and power, but could also "hone" the Long Sword. Gordon was not quite sure what that "honing" actually meant.

Surely it didn't literally mean sharpening the sword?

While Gordon marveled at the fight, Hayata, who was also watching, stared wide-eyed. This was the first time she had seen her teacher Amos go all out.

Trailing pale red sword energy, the White Ape Cleaver struck faster with every swing. Under the successive attacks, the King Shakalaka struggled to defend itself and was soon forced to leave an opening.

Amos immediately sent it flying with a spinning slash that covered an astonishingly wide area.

As that conviction-filled strike landed, Amos's entire aura abruptly rose to another level.

Gordon, who did not dare even blink, immediately realized that this increase in intensity had to be the "honing" his instructor had mentioned!

If Spirit Slash was the release of accumulated "sword momentum," then this so-called "honing" was a qualitative transformation and strengthening of that momentum after a Spirit Slash successfully landed in battle.

"So this is the secret art of the Long Sword?" Gordon murmured to himself.

Compared with Gordon, who had grasped some of its intricacies, Hayata was still a layperson, and her thoughts were considerably more "shallow."

She simply thought it looked so cool! Teacher Amos's darting footwork was so cool, his swordplay was so cool, and even the way he sheathed his sword after that string of attacks was so cool!

How could a weapon as cool as the Long Sword even exist in this world!

Unable to hear either Gordon's muttering or his pupil Hayata's inward shrieks of delight, Amos quietly watched the opponent before him.

Having exhausted his sword momentum (the spirit gauge) and completed the honing, he silently slid the White Ape Cleaver into its sheath. Yet he did not seem inclined to press his advantage.

The King Shakalaka panted heavily. A little less than half of its bone scepter had been cut away, and a huge wound now stretched across its chest and abdomen.

Had it not struggled to raise its scepter and block at the last moment, that Spirit Roundslash would not merely have wounded it gravely-it would have cut it clean in two.

Now, wounded in several places, it could not help considering retreat.

These humans-or, more precisely, the human hunter before it-were far stronger than it had expected. If it kept fighting, it would very likely be killed here.

"Ka-ba-cha..."

The flames above its head slowly died out, and a string of muffled, warning growls emerged from beneath the King Shakalaka's strangely shaped mask.

Its gaze remained fixed on the hunter before it, but its feet slowly carried it backward.

Seeing that the King Shakalaka was preparing to withdraw, Gordon hurried forward a few steps, intending to block its escape route. Unexpectedly, Amos extended a hand, signaling him to stop.

"Amos?"

Amos shook his head gently without saying a word.

Gordon glanced at the King Shakalaka, which was watching him warily. After a second's hesitation, he stopped and stepped aside.

The King Shakalaka gave Amos a long look, then turned and slipped into a thicket, vanishing from their sight in the blink of an eye.

Amos remained on guard. Only after confirming that the King Shakalaka had truly gone did he let out a soft breath and return to Hayata and the others.

"Amos, are you all right? Are you hurt?" Gordon approached and asked with some concern.

He guessed that Amos had allowed the gravely wounded King Shakalaka to leave because he was not in good shape himself.

"I'm fine."

Amos waved a hand, reassuring both Gordon and the equally worried Hayata.

"Gather the materials quickly, and check whether we've met the quest's objective of slaying twenty Shakalaka. If we have, we'll return to camp."

P.S. The term "spirit gauge" is too... game-like, so I've adapted it here to make it more realistic.