Chapter 2: Ice Magic
TN: Really interesting chapter, lots of cool sneak peeks at what we’ll get to see in the future Enjoy!
I sprinted across the gra.s.slands.
I had with me some potions and antidotes, as well as a night vision potion.
There are some monsters in Vizend Cave that are poisonous, but they’re super weak.
The real question is, will the night vision potion last long enough for me to make it to the deepest parts of the cave?
I have a torch, but with only one hand free I’d be easy prey for any monsters.
(Regza and Count Teremius, they’re really trying to make me look like an idiot!)
I had left the town in anger, and I still wasn’t feeling any better about it.
I wonder if Miria knows about this?
Deep down in her heart, does she actually think I’m an idiot too?
Is her smiling face only a mask for her scorn of me?
[Pigigi!]
A monster’s cry disrupted my thoughts.
About 20 meters in front of me, a slime-type monster was slowly advancing.
[Is this a joke…?!]
Slowing down a bit, I pulled out my rapier.
I carefully approached the monster.
My rival was the weakest monster among all the creatures in this world.
Holding my rapier in a horizontal stance, I put my strength into my weapon.
The crest engraved on the hilt of the rapier glowed momentarily before going dark again.
[d.a.m.nit! d.a.m.nit! d.a.m.nit!]
Why is it that I can’t use [skills]?
In this world, people are supposed to be born with some [ability].
And it’s not just people.
Animals and monsters, too.
Being lesser than even those, I’m basically nothing more than a tumbling rock—. (TN: I feel so sorry for him lol)
[Pigi! Pigigii–!]
At the center of the slime, a red crest appeared.
Even this trash-tier monster can use skills, and yet I—.
[G.o.d d.a.m.n IT!!!!]
I thrust out my rapier with all my might.
There was no [skill] involved, it was merely a thrust made with my own physical strength.
My rapier was still lodged in the slime’s jelly-like body.
[This… this trash mob is nothing to me, and yet…!]
Pressing my foot on its body, I pulled out my rapier.
The crest on the slime began glowing again as it prepared another [skill].
I skewered the slime with my rapier over and over.
[Piii…! Pigi!!]
[DIE! DIE! TRASH!]
My body was covered in a light green liquid, but I didn’t stop striking.
Over and over.
Face to face with the shrieking slime, I sliced at it ruthlessly.
[Hah.. Hah.. Hah.. d.a.m.nit!] (TN: The Hah is a panting sound, not laughing. If anyone has a suggestion on how else I should translate it, feel free to comment!)
I kicked the slime’s unmoving body, sending it flying.
Suddenly I felt a pain in my left shoulder, and after wiping away the slime on my body, saw some blood.
Sighing, I took out a recovery potion and poured it on my shoulder.
The wound slowly disappeared, and the pain also lessened.
[Why… can I not do any skills…?]
I really hated myself.
When I was small, no one made fun of me for not being able to use any [skills].
But, that was definitely just because I was in a Count’s family.
A family as powerful as the family of Count Teremius – that of Count Asgard, my father.
But now, that name has been lost.
Because by the end of the war, I was the only remaining member of the Asgard family which was all but eradicated from this world.
[…Alright, I need keep going]
It’s inevitable that I’d feel this angry.
Having fallen to the pits, the only thing I could do was climb back up. [TN: Metaphorically. He’s not actually falling into something right now.]
Someday, I’ll definitely triumph.
All those guys who’ve been mocking me and making fun of me, I’ll definitely—.
From there onwards, I encountered all kinds of weak monsters.
I was already running out of recovery potions.
At this point, my only choice was to collect raw materials on the spot and make some potions on my own.
Although, this region is filled with all the materials I need to make potions.
So, I thoughtlessly used potion after potion to recover my wounds.
Ahead of me, I could see the large opening to the cave.
Vizend Cave.
In the depths of this cave, I would defeat the [Sleepy Rabbit], a rabbit-type monster, and finish my mission. [TN: The furigana for the name Sleepy Rabbit wasn’t provided until now so I was translating it differently, but I’ll use this name from now on.]
A monster that hibernated throughout most of the year, its hide was often used for trade throughout the world.
Having collected all the recovery potion materials I could find in the area, I drank my night-vision potion and headed towards the cave’s entrance.
It was dead silent inside the gloomy cave.
Thanks to my night-vision potion, I could clearly discern, although limited to black and white vision, the details of the interior of the cave.
I quietly moved towards the deepest part of the cave.
(Interesting… Why are there no monsters anywhere?)
I knew that there were supposed to be several types of monsters within Vizend Cave.
Although they’re all weaklings, many of them have a troublesome poison effect.
I had brought antidotes just for dealing with that, so what the heck was going on here?
Without encountering a single monster along the way, I arrived at the deepest part of the cave.
Feeling a sense of unease, I carefully surveyed the area from the edge.
(…Ah, over there.)
I saw the Sleepy Rabbit in the corner.
The loudly snoring Sleepy Rabbit.
Its weakness is the back of its ears which have very good hearing.
If I thrust my rapier through that, it’d be over in one blow.
Watching my footsteps, I cautiously took out my rapier.
s.h.i.t–!
Suddenly, for some unknown reason, something started rising up.
I got gooseb.u.mps throughout my body.
What the heck is this?
I looked down at my feet.
With only my black-and-white night vision, I saw a liquid flowing.
Is that, blood–?
Timidly, I turned around.
I could sense the presence of some monster that I couldn’t see.
Chomp, chomp. I could hear it eating something.
Was that a monster normally found in this cave?
[Ah… ah…]
Unable to hold in my fear, I let out a squeak.
With my poor vision, I made out the figure of something spider-shaped.
What the h.e.l.l was that?
There wasn’t even any gossip about this kind of monster in the guild–.
[Girigirigirigiri…]
Finishing its meal, the monster decided on its next target.
I was going to die.
Getting eaten by the monster, that would be the end for me.
… No.
I really didn’t want to die.
I still had things I needed to do in life.
Shaking with fear, I readied my rapier.
I had to win.
Even though I had no [skill].
Because, I absolutely didn’t want to die.
I.
I–.
[Gshaaahh!!]
[Waaaaa!!!]
Figuring out the monster’s position by following its howls, I desperately thrust forward with my rapier.
I felt a sharp pain in my right arm.
I couldn’t feel anything below my elbow, and glanced down. There was nothing there. [TN: As in, his arm got chopped off. Ouch.]
[d.a.m.nit!!!]
Picking up the sword I had dropped, I prepared to fight left-handed.
At the same time, the monster began its second attack.
This time, I barely managed to avoid the full brunt of its blow.
So it’s like that.
A sharp blade-like claw.
Kicking off from the ground, I charged again.
In the last exchange, I had deflected the blow, but was still hit in the abdomen.
Entrails were leaking out of my side.
I stopped moving.
Because it was time to kill.
I had to live.
I had to live, survive, and triumph.
[Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!]
With all my might, I tried to pierce the monster’s body.
At the same time, its long tail circled behind me and wrapped me up.
With my whole body restricted, I started laughing without knowing why.
[… Haha… even though I made it this far. Well, I almost got in the last blow, but it looks like I’ll still be eaten.]
The monster moved me towards its open mouth.
My whole body was paralyzed in pain.
Even if I got away, I would die from my bleeding.
Laughing in resignation, I closed my eyes.
…..
……..
I wasn’t sure how long it had been.
Why hadn’t the monster eaten me yet?
I meekly opened my eyes.
The monster had stopped moving me towards its mouth.
[…? Did it… die?]
No way, from that one blow?
Without even using a [skill]?
No way, that’s imp—.
[Uh..!]
Suddenly, a light began glowing from the center of the monster’s body.
I was thrown onto the ground.
What was that?
The monster was being destroyed by a light—?
Well, I was already losing consciousness.
My right arm was gone, and my insides were tumbling out.
With great sacrifice, I had beaten the monster.
But, I was probably dead, anyways.
I saw something fall from the monter’s totally disintegrated body.
Trying to see what it was, I crawled towards it.
There was a single book laying on the floor.
I painfully reached over and opened the book.
[This… is…]
The same light from earlier flowed out from the book.
And then, my body was engulfed in a strange light.
[In my… head… what…?]
One after another, [words] were pouring into my head.
It definitely wasn’t a language used in this country.
Maybe there weren’t even words.
But, I understood it all.
This was, [The Power of G.o.d]—.
Entering me was the one and only truly absolute power.
[Haha… Hahaha…!]
I slowly regained consciousness.
Looking down, I saw an icicle wher my right arm had been.
Slowly, it gained the form of a human hand, and eventually my whole arm had regenerated from ice.
Similarly, my abdominal wound was covered in an icy veil.
The bleeding was entirely stopped, and before I even realized, my whole body was patched up, with all my insides sealed up where they were supposed to be.
[… [Magic] … This is the power of [Ice Magic] …] [TN: So here, Magic (魔法) is given a p.r.o.nunciation of ディザ・ベル, or “Diza Bell”. I have no idea what that means so I’m just translating it as Magic.]
I looked down at my hands.
I had obtain this power–?
To be able to use such power–.
[Gururu…]
Turning to the sound I heard, I saw the Sleepy Rabbit approaching me menacingly.
Although easy to slay when asleep, the Sleepy Rabbit is really quite dangerous when awoke, especially if disturbed by another.
Baring its fangs, it slowly closed in.
[…]
I had no way out, so I pushed my right hand forward.
I already understood.
With the power of [Ice Magic], I would yield to no one.
[Gurururu!]
The Sleepy Rabbit made a huge leap towards me.
Unperturbed, I slowly murmured…
[Freeze.]
The air itself seemed to freeze as a rush of coldness attacked the rabbit.
Frozen in an instant while mid-air, the rabbit crashed into the ground, unmoving.
[Kukuku… Hahaha!! Frozen at my will in an instant, regardless of the target! This is seriously [The Power of G.o.d]! Hahaha! Hahahahaha!]
Overflowing with happiness, I couldn’t stop laughing.
The thing I had obtained.
The power of G.o.d–.
The power of [Magic]–.
My laughter echoed throughout Vizend Cave.
— And that was the beginning of my conquest of the world, in the name of [Revenge].