Tutorial Rewrite 59 (Patreon)

“No,” I say, barely a whisper. “No, I will not… I won’t…”

But it’s not easy to deny the words of someone when they look so deeply, deeply compassionate. I didn’t even know my face could make such an expression. I look wise beyond my few years. I can feel my voice tremble as I say, “I—I have to…”

“There is nothing you have to do, my friend. No one expects you to clear this tutorial. There is no need to try for the impossible. Please, stay here, and let’s talk instead. The shades that roam the blind forest cannot talk with me, all they do is snarl. And these guards of mine are the same. Please.”

Something switches in my brain. I can’t tell what, but something takes a turn.

If nobody expects me to clear the tutorial, isn’t that all the more reason to do it? Just to prove them wrong? To prove to whoever invited us here, that even the impossible isn’t too much? If I stop here, then if someone tries to get to this point, if they try to get beyond it, then all that awaits them is blind darkness. Someone needs to pave the way.

If I give up here, there will be no road for those that wish to follow.

“...I can’t do that,” I say. When I look up at him, I can feel my jaw clench. “I need to defeat you.”

His smile turns sad. “I see. I had hoped it would not come to this, but if it helps, then I understand. As I have been taught, I will let you fight this boss room normally. Guards?” The two guards at his side turn to him robotically. “One at a time, please.”

I take a step back. The right guard steps forward.

<Guard (Lv.25) [BOSS]>

I can’t be sure of it, but I think he has the same skills as I do. In that sense, his choosing to fight with a shield is more of a handicap than anything. His size is the same thing. His being literally twice as tall as I am may put us in a David-and-Goliath sort of situation, but it doesn’t mean his size is a good thing. Really, if anything, it’s just more flesh for me to claw at.

<The God of Duels

looks on with interest.>

<The God of Combat

tells Him not to

get His hopes up.>

The poet king solemnly raises his hand. “Take your positions,” he says, and the guard follows his words exactly, but I never really learned what position is best for me, so I don’t do much other than crouch down a bit. “And on three. One, two…”

Before the third number hits, I leap across the floor, rolling myself into a ball and activating fetal position blowover before the guard has time to respond, and with immense dexterity, I roll across the floor, all the way around to his back, where I jump onto the back of his calve and hook myself onto him with my claws before chewing into the tendons at the back of his knee in an attempt to cripple him properly.

The guard makes a grunting sound and I only barely have time to chew through his skin before a massive hand reaches back and grabs my leg. My grip is fast, but if I lose my leg I am one hundred per cent dead, so even though I want to stay here, I have no choice but to let him rip me off like an adamant tick, and once I’m off, he lifts me high into the air, all the way above his head, probably to slam me into the ground, but I can avoid that by just grabbing his thumb with both arms and breaking it. As large as it is, his thumb is only the size of my hand, so against the full might of my spindly arms, it breaks and I tumble out of his hand, right back onto the floor.

But I land into a roll, and as soon as I have time to, I start rolling again, though this time the guard seems to know the game, so he begins stomping at the ground with his feet, each one as long as my shoulders are broad. He almost gets me several times, but by deftly dodging his strikes, I’m able to once again roll around to the back of his body, where I again leap onto the back of his knee. This time he isn’t quick enough to remove me, so with a fierceness only rivalled by cats unwilling to take a bath, I tear up his entire back, making him completely unable to use his left leg.

Grunting, he has no choice but to fall to his knee, which is an excellent moment for me.

Leaping to the front once more, I avoid a few of his strikes before leaping at his face. I shove both of my arms into his eyes, blinding him at once, and just to make sure he won’t regenerate them, I tear out his eyeballs and toss them behind me.

But apparently, the guard for all his seeming normalcy is still a clone of me, so while I’m anyways straddled onto his face like a rabies-infected raccoon, he bites a hold of my left arm with power enough to instantly break almost every single bone I’ve got in there.

<You have learned:

Fracture Resistance Lv.9>

But putting my left hand so close to something as bloodful as his tongue was a mistake.

Not really caring about my arm, I grab a hold of his tongue and pull with every inch of muscle I’ve got, the surprise of it loosening his jaw’s grip enough for me to tear it out properly. Blood splurts from his mouth like he’s puking and I change focus to his throat, ripping and tearing with as much power as I can muster.

<You have learned:

Sharp Claw Lv.5>

And eventually, I get hold of his carotid artery and I pull it out. Bleeding won’t exactly kill him, it only makes him a bit woozy and light-headed, so before he has time to remember that he has arms, I rip and I tear until I get to his spinal cord, which can be messed up pretty easily by giving him instant spondylolisthesis and thereby taking his discs on a one-way-trip through slip-n-slide land.

With his neck fifteen steps beyond broken, he stumbles one step, two, and then finally falls, his head thumping on the floor like a knocker.

<Guard (Lv.25) [BOSS] Defeated.>

<[Level Up]>

<You have reached Level 24.>

<Agility has increased by 3.

Strength has increased by 2.

Stamina has increased by 3.

Magic Power has increased by 1.

Sharp Fang has increased by 1.

Eviscerate has increased by 1.

Sharp Claw has increased by 1.

Enhanced Hearing has increased by 1.

Enhanced Scent has increased by 1.

Hallucination Resistance has increased by 1

Concussion Tolerance has risen by 2.>

<The God of Duels

tries to say something

but fails.>

<The God of Combat

pats the God of Duels

on the back.>

I pull my arms out of the guard’s neck and look up at what’s in front of me.

Oohh, level up! Now the gap between me and the next guard is just slightly slimmer. Which obviously means he should be far easier to the point where I won’t need to try at all. Hehe.

The poet king looks at me with a melancholy look on his face. No, wait, he’s a poet, so I guess the look on his face is… lugubrious? Lachrymose? Something like that.

“You do know that it is common courtesy to wait until three to start the duel, don’t you?”

I shake my hands, making a spray of blood splatter onto the floor. “Gimme the next one.”

He looks at my left arm. It’s bent into awkward angels. “Should you choose to, I would not stop you from meditating to heal up before the next duel. As a matter of fact, I demand that you return to a healthy state before continuing. It is only courtesy. If you must know, it is likewise courtesy to face your next challenger in full health, so as to show respect to him.”

I wipe some of the blood off my mouth. “If you don’t send him out right now, I’m just gonna attack him where he stands, and you won’t even get to do your little counting-down bit.”

He sighs. That smile of his is nowhere to be seen, and without even saying anything, he waves to the guard to step forward. “Take your positions, please.” He takes a stance right in front of me. I hunch down where I stand atop his fallen comrade.

“On three. Three—”

I go on three and leap at the guard, rolling into a ball as I go for the back of his calf again, but apparently, he has the capability to learn, because instead of just letting me do a repeat of the last battle, he almost instantly slams his massive shield against the floor, right atop where I was just seconds ago. Alright, the game is different, but that doesn’t mean I’m about to die like a chump. Rolling behind him, I leap onto his back and begin clawing through his skin. See, he’s buff. And there’s one stringent weakness that such people have.

No matter how much the guard tries, his beefy arms can’t reach me. Hahaha, take that, you damn gym rat!

Clawing like mad, I activate moving meditation if only to get my left arm good enough to help me claw at his back. And right as I start to see his spine…

My whole world shifts as the guard purposefully falls backwards, something that surprises me so badly I can do nothing but stare as his back falls atop me and crushes me underneath.

<You have learned:

Fracture Resistance Lv.10>

<You have learned:

Fracture Protection Lv.1>

Perfect timing, but honestly speaking, it kind of doesn’t help when my ribs are already broken beneath approximately 400 kilos of meat. Still, unlike what he may think, this doesn’t actually remove me from his back. Just the opposite, in fact, so even though I can feel my lungs strain under the weight atop me, I still keep clawing. His spine is in my grip. I just need to break it and he’s done for.

Grabbing the spine in both hands, I pull it in two different directions, severing it completely.

The guard rolls over and I roll out from the hole I had made in his back. I didn’t get any message from him which means he’s still alive, but that’ll change soon enough. Apparently, I only succeeded in crippling him. Though, then again, in a fight like this, do I need any more than that?

I make eye contact with the poet king. He seems [insert pretentious synonym for sad]. I grin at him.

Then, over the course of around five minutes, I use his guard as a scratching post, staying on his back and just doing small damage to him while watching him squirm.

<You have learned:

Sharp Claw Lv.7>

<You have learned:

Sharp Fang Lv.4>

<You have learned:

Eviscerate Lv.9>

And all the while, I used moving meditation in order to heal myself back up.

<You have learned:

Salamander Healing Lv.3>

<You have learned:

Moving Meditation Lv.2>

By the time the guard finally croaks, I’ve healed completely.

<Guard (Lv.25) [BOSS] Defeated.>

<[Level Up]>

<You have reached Level 25.>

<Agility has increased by 2.

Strength has increased by 3.

Stamina has increased by 3.

Magic Power has increased by 1.

Sharp Fang has increased by 1.

Sharp Claw has increased by 1.

Enhanced Hearing has increased by 1.

Enhanced Vision has increased by 1.

Ulcer Tolerance has increased by 2.

Falling Tolerance has risen by 2.

Organ Rupture Tolerance has increased by 3.>

<The God of Duels

places His head in His hands.>

<The God of Combat

tries to find the right words to say.>

<The Goddess of Honour

shakes Her head.>