A woman and a spearman. The battles between Maya and Fatun, bound by these two commonalities, always followed a similar pattern.
Fatun, physically superior and fully adapted to the Hoarfrost Gorge environment, relentlessly pressured Maya. All Maya could do in response was barely evade with quick footwork or protect her vital points with the shaft of her spear.
This time was no different. An attack resembling more of a staff strike than spear thrust targeted Maya’s side.
“Ugh!”
Under normal circumstances, she could avoid the attack with minimal movement or even deflect its trajectory. But not in Hoarfrost Gorge.
Each breath pulled the chilling air of Hoarfrost Gorge into her lungs, causing a stabbing pain. Her body felt heavier, exhausting her stamina faster than usual.
Most critically, Maya couldn’t fully utilize her agility, her biggest strength.
‘Damn it!’
There was a subtle delay between the command from her brain and the execution by her body. This delay caused her to trip and stumble whenever she tried anything remotely complex.
“Oh? You dodged this time! A dwarf who’s learning!”
“Sh-shut up…!”
At this point, Fatun would usually land a hit with his spear, ending their spar. Maya, in her current condition, had no way of dealing with the powerful thrusts from a barbarian’s physique.
But not today.
‘I’ve learned her patterns!’
After being struck by the same attack repeatedly, Maya had learned. She realized that Fatun had a habit of ending her sequences with a thrust after cornering her opponent.
If her movements were slow, she needed to anticipate her opponent’s moves and react accordingly.
Swish!
Dodging was the easy part.
Yotun’s spear coiled like a snake, striking Fatun’s shoulder. Though she attacked with the flat side rather than the blade, thinking of Yotun’s true piercing power made it clear that her shoulder muscles could have been shredded.
“At last…!”
Maya’s face lit up as she successfully counterattacked for the first time. Until now, she had been helplessly beaten without even a proper fight. Landing a solid hit gave her an unnameable sense of achievement.
Wham!
“How dare a stupid dwarf laugh when the fight isn’t even over yet!”
Even with a face-smacking fist as large as her own head, she couldn’t help but let out a giggle.
‘The lord is also getting stronger in the sanctuary.’
It was news from the first warrior of Hoarfrost Gorge, Tarak, conveyed through Ludmilla. By now, Khan would be proving his valor against the Great Warrior.
By the time Khan finished proving his valor and came out, he was expected to emerge stronger than ever before.
He, who is already monstrously strong, becoming even stronger? Would he still need her presence then? In truth, even now, Khan handled most of the fights single-handedly.
‘I can’t become a burden.’
With a prominent bruise on her face, Maya stood up, a grin tugging at her lips.
“Hit me harder—! This much won’t make me fall!”
As long as her body could move, she would never stop. For her lord, who would return even stronger.
***
“Damn it… Did I pass out again?”
The familiar void sky greeted him as he opened his eyes.
‘Feels like it’s been roughly six hours.’
He had often awakened to a strange ceiling after passing out in the past. Fighting such powerful foes often culminated in expending all his strength with A-ranked skills, leading to unconsciousness as a result.
Having grown accustomed to passing out and waking up, he had developed a sense of how much time had passed after losing consciousness.
『Hmm, you’re really sturdy. Even Tarak wasn’t this resilient.』
“At this rate, I’m just getting beaten up more frequently, aren’t I?”
『That’s because you’re weak.』
‘Damn it, it’s because you’re ridiculously strong.’
It had been four days since Khan began the “Proof of Valor”. So far, he had yet to achieve any significant success. Rather than proving his valor, he had been repeatedly beaten and knocked out.
It wouldn’t be surprising if he developed a skill related to enduring blows soon.
“Is this level of difficulty normal?”
『Of course not. You’re on a special difficulty level.』
Damn bastard.
Khan barely held back a stream of curses, his face contorting. Meanwhile, the God of Warriors Karyan, channeling his will through the Great Warrior’s body, broke into a laugh, a smug smile on his lips.
『What did you expect? If you passed a trial too easily with your abilities, how could that prove your valor to me? True, I lament the stupidity of these brutes every night. But their valor, that I recognize.』
Though the words made sense, Khan couldn’t accept them. If there had been even a sliver of hope, he wouldn’t have voiced such frustration.
Since when did he only seek out fights he was certain to win? Darkin Perayas, wyverns, the Demonic Realm, the Golden Dragon, and Kereaktu—all of these fights had been lethal risks for him. Each could have led to death with a slight misstep.
Khan, who never complained about tough fights, couldn’t be whining about difficulty now.
‘This level of battle is just impossible to sustain.’
To prove his valor, Karyan had naturally pitted Khan against his father, the Great Warrior Gordi. And up until now, Khan hadn’t even managed to land a single blow. Not even once.
‘He surpasses me in every aspect.’
Before restarting his fight with the Great Warrior, Khan reviewed his previous battles. This had become a habit after repeatedly passing out, realizing that he couldn’t continue like this.
In the initial battle, Khan had started with the most powerful strike he could muster, excluding the A-rank skills that caused extreme stamina drain, ‘Surging Strength’ and ‘Dragon Fang’.
A sword strike amplified by the explosive acceleration from a leap and the weight of the Heavy Sword. The Great Warrior’s response was straightforward.
With no weapon or notable technique, he deflected the Heavy Sword with his bare fist. A strike that even the demonic Kereaktu’s avatar struggled to parry head-on was brushed aside by a bare hand.
The pressure was unimaginable. The rebounding force he felt wasn’t even something he experienced while striking the scales of the Golden Dragon. The sheer solidity made it feel like his entire body was drenched in blood.
Moreover, the Great Warrior’s strength surpassed Khan’s.
Like being swept away by a tidal wave, Khan couldn’t withstand the force in the Great Warrior’s single punch, breaking his stance. He barely managed to block the following kick with his sword, but the impact sent him flying into an invisible void wall.
The first battle ended with the Great Warrior’s punch planted firmly in Khan’s face. Brute force wouldn’t work. Realizing this, Khan changed his tactics the next time.
Minimizing frontal collisions, he utilized high-speed movement through leaps to create a pattern similar to a revolving wheel. Predicting the prolonged nature of the Proof of Valor, he aimed to draw out the Great Warrior’s power through long-term strategy.
But even that proved difficult.
‘He’s just like Tarak. No, even more than that.’
The Great Warrior seemed to fight as if he had foreseen Khan’s movements. Each time, no matter the direction or the near-invisible speed of his approach, Khan was blocked.
During these attempts, Khan realized that the Great Warrior hadn’t moved a step from his original position, right before he lost consciousness again. And after the next, and the next.
Each time he tried to find a new angle of attack, the result was the same—he ended up unconscious. Upon the eighth battle, Khan employed his first A-rank skill.
Activating Surging Strength just before collision, he unleashed a surprise attack on the Great Warrior, who had grown accustomed to his previous strength.
Predictably, Khan still lost. However, the Great Warrior could no longer brush aside his attacks with a bare fist like before.
‘If that were possible, he would’ve just become the God of Warriors himself.’
The problem was, the methods of the Great Warrior were far beyond Khan’s imagination.
First, he fearlessly caught Draupnir’s blade with his bare hands and, as if holding up the sky, stopped the Heavy Sword’s strike midway. The fact that Surging Strength, which Khan considered one of his ultimate finisher moves, was stopped like that was even more shocking.
“Damn, talk about a ridiculously hard game…”
To be blunt, the Great Warrior was nearly a superior version of Khan in almost every way. Of course, Karyan hadn’t imposed the absurd condition of ‘Defeat the Great Warrior!’
『Are you frustrated? Well, that’s understandable. But know that it’s equally frustrating to watch you. Young warrior.』
“What are you talking about? It’s more frustrating for the one getting beaten up for days.”
『Your manner of speaking is becoming as insolent as your father’s.』
“Try getting beaten helplessly for days, God of Warriors. See if you don’t develop a sour attitude.”
Despite his descendant’s defiance, Karyan didn’t show anger or disbelief. Instead, he laughed heartily and praised Khan with a tone of delight.
『Nevertheless, I find your defiance pleasing. It signifies that the once-awkward boy has become a true warrior. Even when faced with an insurmountable wall, you possess an unyielding spirit.』
‘Unyielding spirit, my foot.’
In this wretched world filled with inexplicable hardships, enduring a few years of unfairness would inevitably build patience. It was honed by dealing with unreasonable bosses and shady clients who thought their company’s power was their personal authority.
Whether Karyan understood Khan’s bitter inner thoughts or not, he continued speaking with a smiling face.
『The ‘valor’ I oversee includes such an unyielding spirit. In a way, you have already half-passed the test. The remainder is proving your own strength. So, to boost your enthusiasm, I shall give you an opportunity.』
“An opportunity?”
『Indeed, an opportunity. It seems you have many questions for me…. Within reasonable bounds, I will answer your questions. Consider it a preview of the reward you will receive.』
Khan paused for a moment at the unexpected opportunity. His main reason for coming to this cursed Hoarfrost Gorge was to find answers through Karyan.
Unexpectedly, he was given a chance to get some answers before even completing the trial. Even if they weren’t complete answers, having these clues was a significant opportunity.
‘Should I ask about the Sorceress? Or perhaps the true nature of this sanctuary and Hoarfrost Gorge…’
Countless thoughts flitted through his mind in that brief moment.
If he could glean a clue related to the secrets of the world through this question, it would provide a significant gain even if he failed the trial. Yet, Khan found it difficult to select a question to present to Karyan.
As his silence grew, with Karyan observing his turmoil with an intrigued expression, Khan finally made up his mind.
“…Damn it. I’ve decided on my question.”
『Well then, let’s hear it with great interest.』
Khan made his choice.
“Can you teach me how to fight? To defeat that Great Warrior, I mean.”
In response, the God of Warriors Karyan smiled as if he’d been waiting for such an inquiry.
『Indeed. That is a most pleasing question.』