Alright, Chapter 3 is finished, it didn't take me as long for me to muster up some motivation and write it.
I would also like your opinion dear readers on whether I should separate the omake from the story as it sort of ruins the mood of the story for me.
So PM me about it, I would not like to inflate my reviews like this...
Luther was bored.
Well, bored wouldn't be the exact term for what he was currently feeling. how could one describe a state where one was both anxious, yet at the same time so disinterested with his surroundings? The new group he was a part of was walking along a dirt road, despite his uneasy thoughts telling him this is going to end badly the relative calmness remained.
I think the game failed to mention the actual travel time. Luther sorrowed. He had the unfortunate pleasure of finding out what happened between those long travel times, from awkward small talk to torturous silence. Failing to think about that traveling actually takes the time he made the mistake of thinking he will be rushing into all of this and it all be over, but here he was, silently suffering. This was too naïve for him to assume such a thing.
However he wasn't the only one in discomfort, Luka was having an unpleasant time as well, he didn't know how to act around the powerful monster; it seemed as if the aura she exuded forced him to be silent. What would he say? How can he even relate to her? His savior's aloof demeanor certainly didn't help. The boy expected the man to make it easier to travel, someone to relate to, but his companion had no interest in speaking to him, despite the previous friendly encounters.
Alice didn't seem to be too bothered by it, observing them in a predatory fashion. It unnerved both males present.
Luther needed a distraction; he needed to do something to stave off this encroaching dullness before desperation came over him to do something drastic. Remembering the rock he stashed in his bag he pulled it out to observe. Despite the use of the spin, the rock remained ordinary; there was nothing that would suggest it was being used to perform ancient techniques.
Luther remembered the feeling, how the rock stayed magnetized to his hand, gliding neatly above it. Disobeying any laws of physics that hundreds of people spent their lives trying to understand and document, admittedly it would've felt amazing and puzzling, where it not be overshadowed by the ramifications of his presence in another world. At least he had some sense on how he could use it, he had read the manga, he knew what it was capable of, how far it could go…the problem is that he needed a horse for its full potential. Even if you ignore the problem of where he would get one, there were still plenty of issues.
Uhh…Damn it… Chambers lamented. Firstly, he didn't know how to ride the horse let alone even have the time to learn, even in his adventurous period he never considered trying out the hobby and he certainly will not try now. Secondly, he doubted whether he would have enough space to try anything, and lastly, his enemies most likely wouldn't let him ride one so easily.
"Oh, Ilias…Did you really abandon me?" Breaking out of this silence Luka hopelessly asked, but to no avail, only feeling a weak wind brush against his face.
"I waited for today for so long…and I wasn't able to be baptized in the end…" As if speaking to the air he lamented his troubles. Although he might have started his journey he still felt apprehensive like it was the sign of what's to come. Luther finally came out of his pondering and looked around his surroundings.
"Isn't it better to not have been baptized? I don't understand why humans want to be slaves to Ilias." Alice, clearly bothered by the boy's desperate need, affirms her beliefs.
"Being a Hero has a lot of perks, you know. You get the respect of the people, cheap rates at inns, and you can even walk into people's houses and take stuff." Luka confidently explained, without seeing the logic in his statement.
"Walk into people's houses and take things…? Are you a thief or something?" Alice questioned with a visible frown. This caused him to pause for a moment and consider his previous explanation.
"Er no…It's not quite like that." It seemed as if Luka himself didn't know what he said. Thoughts of those who abused that right surfaced in his mind.
"But most importantly, they get divine protection from Ilias. If you come across any evil Monster, she will defend you." In truth that was the only thing Luka ever wanted from the baptism, to know his Goddess will always watch over him.
"The semen of a baptized human taste awful and their scent isn't that nice either. So Monsters aren't as likely to attack them." Alice bluntly remarked, leaving Luka only to the slow and shocking realization that the blessing that he was hoping to get wasn't all that he was promised.
"Ehh…is that how it works?" Luka could only mumble. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You didn't know that? Baptized people taste like Angel Liver…not very appetizing." She clarified, shooting a confused look for a second at them.
"…." Both Luka and Luther were quiet, they didn't want to know how or why the Monster in question knew that.
Luther was yet again reminded of the nature of this world, the sadism and degeneracy that permeated across the land, it did make him wonder. In this world Humans aren't at the top of the food chain, they are prey to Monsters and occasionally Angels. So much so it makes one question as to why humans have that trait of Critical Ecstasy. You'd think from an evolutionary standpoint Humans would evolve to be more resistant not weak such things, but no. I have a feeling there was some divine intervention going on…Oh well, that's one of the rules, I suppose, can't really do anything about it…
…
Rules…that I have to follow? How far did they affect me? I mean thinking about it, I did overpower a Monster with no training, though it might have been a simple slime girl, such a thing is very rare in this world, and almost all Humans can't match up with monsters in terms of strength. Or at least the normal ones. Hmm… Chambers looked to his company and saw Luka holding out a map, mumbling to himself.
Am I even affected by Critical Ecstasy? I mean, I'm not from this world. He shook his head. I don't even want to find out...
Tuning the rest of the conversation out the man looked forward to the dirt road waiting. He knew what was to come, Luka will have to face the slug monster, this was his fight. Luther didn't feel like intervening, even with his new abilities he didn't want to fight, especially after his previous experience.
There!
The stranger spotted a vague shape, of what looked to be a well-dressed lady to the unknowing, approaching them, but he knew better and had no intention of facing her. Once the monster was at a certain distance Chambers, without warning, dashed and plunged into the nearby grassy area startling Luka.
"He seems to have the right idea…" Alice vanished into thin air leaving Luka alone to face his second encounter.
"Huh..? Alice! Luther!" Luka shouted and looked around, but no one appeared or answered. It was just him and the slug girl that just approached him.
"What is that…?" The fake hero asked himself, a part of him dreading the answer already. The slug monster looked onward at Luka with interest.
"…A traveler? Not baptized, either. You look delicious." The slug edged closer towards Luka, her eyes filled with lust. She sniffed the air, catching the scent of another human nearby.
"Oh...? I can smell your friend as well, did he abandon you? ~don't worry I'll take good care of you~." She flashed a teasing smile at the pint-sized hero as she rose up her "dress" revealing the rest of her slug body. Swallowing the lump in his throat he pulled out his sword and readied his stance, intuition told him that he wouldn't be able to reason with this being.
"Take this!" Hesitant as he was, Luka still took the initiative clumsily slicing his sword at the Monster's abdomen, but the sword stops as its blade bites into the slime, forcing the fake hero to pull back. Despite the slime covering the sword, the slug Monster appeared to have suffered no physical damage.
"No way…my attack…" The boy uttered in disbelief.
"You can't cut me with such a weak attack." The Monster's grin only winded as she stared down at Luka with a predatory gaze.
"Cr…Crap…what should I do?" He was beginning to doubt if he was even able to do anything to her.
"I'll give you a taste of my sticky mucus." The slug Monster said as she brushed off the slime of her body and slowly spread it over Luka's crotch area forcing him to retreat back. His bottom half was now drenched in mucus, it was a very strange feeling.
"Well then if a slash doesn't work… how about a stab?" Ignoring the strange feeling the fake hero pulling back his sword lunged forward towards his adversary's chest hoping to finally scare off the monstrous woman.
"It's useless…" She muttered, her body proving to be incredibly elastic as the iron blade simply bounced off her from the aftershock, leaving Luka on the ground.
"Dammit…" If only he was a little bit stronger he could pierce her, he felt that almost got her before her body repelled his sword. He tried getting up but…
"I'll get on top of you with this slug body!" She declared ramming him further to the ground and preventing any chance for him to get up without a struggle.
Already behind a tree Luther sat there and watched it unfold feeling a slight pang of guilt coercing through his mind for just leaving him there. He saw the dejected look Luka had when he thought both Luther and Alice abandoned him. Even if he wasn't much of a sensitive guy he has had an eye for such things, he saw how the boy struggled against the Monster, his attacks doing nothing, but amusing the strange woman. And now he was pinned to the ground with the Monster weight riding on top of him. The boy looked hopeless…
I have to do something about this, don't I? He felt the same emotions of when he had almost faced death at the Roper's tentacles well up inside of him, and for the second time he gave in to them. Besides, it would be a good first test for the spin, and isn't she resistant anyway?
He clutched the rock in his hand tightly, his cold hatred showing through as he let out a slow steady breath and began to focus. Conjuring up the vision of an anomalous sphere, the true feeling of the spin, he tugged at the object he was holding. It wasn't instant. It was going to take time…
One…
Two…
Come on, three…
…Come on…
The rock began to spin as the energy roared to life, spinning faster and faster. A deadly smirk crossed his cheeks, he was sure that this was going to do something, if not it would at least serve as a distraction for Luka. He felt the rotational energy generated tickle his skin, almost like it begged to be released somewhere. Here it goes!
"Huh?" The slug girl stopped, looking around before averting her gaze to the rustling bush, seeing a tall figure pop out of it. So this where the friend was, did he come here to watch?
What she didn't expect was the figure to throw a spinning rock at her. It glided out his hand and admittedly looked as if it was going to gently fall down, but immediately picked up speed, rocketing towards the intended target's face and almost cutting through the air. It disappeared into a blur for the slug Monster. It hit her before even Luka or she could comprehend what happened.
For a moment, the stone remained digging into monster skin before fully releasing the built-up energy, throwing the Monster off of the fake hero and into a nearby tree, completely knocking her out. The rock losing all of its force fell down, covered in slime and mucus. Strangely a part of him felt disappointed, he didn't understand it until his mind fully paced through what happened.
He sighed…there were several reasons why he was dissatisfied with the spin he created, even though it did so much. Compared to Gyro there were so many things his rotation was lacking. Firstly, the object he threw didn't return to his hand, which is most likely the easiest issue to figure out - the trajectory he simply was throwing didn't allow the spin to bounce. Secondly, was a more pressing problem. The time and focus it took him to prepare one rotation couldn't work in a combat situation, the time wasn't as bothersome as the fact he had to blindsight himself. He was quite lucky Luka didn't give in to the Monster then and there. Now, there was a undeniable conclusion to be made if he ever wanted to get out of this place alive.
I have to get better...
Luther walked up to the now standing Luka, his legs shaky most likely the remmants from the force of the slug Monster. The fake hero looked at his companion who was avoiding his gaze by looking towards the sky. Beside him, Alice appeared. She had seen everything, from Luka's attempt to fight to the spinning finale. What's more extraordinary was the disturbing look she was giving Luther, quite uncharacteristic of her.
"What was th-" The fake hero tried to ask before being interrupted by Alice.
"What. Was. That!" With each word she "stood" up higher and higher over Luther, attempting to regain the intimidating appearance she lost. Luther looked towards both of his companions; he saw the furious face of Alice and the extremely concerned look of Luka.
Oh…shit Though he just used a technique that doesn't technically exist in this universe, he couldn't exactly understand Alice's stare. Even with the otherworldly nature of it all it would look to her would be some mystical rotational force or a strong throw, easily replicated by a lot of people. Unless… unless she could tell the potential of this ability, she was very skilled and powerful after all.
"Uh…I just have a strong throwing arm," Luther muttered this earned a strong squeeze from Alice's snake tail forcing the air of his lungs.
"Don't you mock me! That wasn't just a simple throw." Alice scowled. She knew better that it wasn't a simple throw, even if the man before her did have the amount of strength required for such an effect, and she very much doubted that, it still didn't explain that strange energy…
"Alice there's no need for this! I'm sure he could just tell us if we let him…" The purple-haired boy intervened silently hoping that the lamia would listen to him. However, he wanted to know as well, what his friend is capable of. He managed to take out that Monster with a rock... while his attacks did nothing.
After a moment, Alice complied with the fake hero's plea, impatiently waiting for answers from Luther who was trying to catch his breath. He did not want to provoke her further and knew just what to say.
"It's just a technique my family developed. It's supposed to be a secret that is why I don't want to talk about it." He couldn't afford this many screw-ups, so he had to carefully build his lies like a house of cards; he just had to make sure not to push too much.
"Such a technique from a minor line of adventures, really...?" Alice seemed skeptical, her gaze not leaving a second away from the man. It was really hard to believe such a power spike from the human, yet it was so contained…
"There is a reason for that, this secrecy works. They don't attract much attention and get their lives uninterrupted, so can we please drop this? Normally I'm not supposed to show it off like this but this week has been pretty rough for me." Luther hoped that this would stop this interrogation. A small silence passed leaving Luther to check the laying monster's condition.
She seemed fine for someone who was just knocked out. Her breathing was normal and she had suffered no other damage than a small scar on her delicate face where the rock hit her. Luther felt no guilt for this. I'm not a nice guy.
"She is still breathing…" Chambers finished observing the unconscious slug, then reached for the rock that put her in such a state, he stopped. I don't think I want that rock back anymore.
"Why…why did you leave me, were you scared?" That question was etched into Luka's mind the moment the fight began, the slug only made it clearer. Luther stiffened.
"I don't want to be seen by any monsters." She crossed her arms indignantly. Did this boy assume she, the Monster Lord, was afraid of a low-level monster? Someone who couldn't even hope to reach her level. Just what was this dim-witted boy thinking?
The man was at a crossroads, he didn't exactly know what to tell the boy that wouldn't jeopardize his position by saying outright that he didn't want to fight, he wasn't Alice, he couldn't force Luka to travel with him.
"This is supposed to be your journey, not mine, I don't want to fight much…for my own family's sake. I will, however, interfere if you ever find yourself in real trouble, besides, looking at the way you fight...you need as much experience as possible if you ever want to improve." Chambers tried to make up an adequate excuse to mostly avoid involving himself in whatever business Luka will go through.
"Yes, what a horrendous fighting style! Tell me, what were you going to do if you even managed to get her off of you?" The Monster Lord sardonically asked.
"Oh don't worry! I had a plan." Luka sheepishly smiled avoiding Alice's amused stare.
"You were going to throw the salt, won't you?" Luther asked, it was more of a rhetorical question. Even if he might have not known how this fight went on it was pretty easy to discern Luka's course of actions. Nonetheless, if you had a general idea of the boy's belongings one could also make the same conclusion.
"I was going to throw the salt, yes…" Luka confidently confirmed it was his last course of action. The salt was the only thing on him that could damage and scare off the slug girl, he was sure of it.
"Except then we wouldn't have anything to season the food, you idiot!" She yelled out, which startled the purple-haired boy. Was his livelihood really less important than food? Was she that gluttonous?
"Guh…Then why didn't you just help me?"
"I'm similar to Luther in this case, I'm just an observer, however, if ever either of you fails I'll just leave you to whatever fate the Monster in question decided upon you." The lamia explained showing little to no regard for their lives.
"…I get it." He glared. "I don't need your help anyway!"
"I'm glad you understand, just do what you can. Now, more importantly, the sun is setting, it's time to set up camp." She replied seemingly crassly of the fake hero's irritation.
"By the way, what are we having for dinner?" This question only made Luka groan.
It didn't take that long to set up camp, with the addition of Luther's help Luka was quite quick to make a tent and light the fire. Luther had previous experiences with camping when he was vacationing. Some of them ended well and some of them not so much, even if he was working with outdated equipment he got around quickly.
What the hell…this guy is some serious chef wiz. He was currently eating the salted omelet that Luka made. It was almost the best food he ever had. Almost…granted the boy was cooking with a campfire and a pan, he was able to do just that with so little, he wagered Luka would be incredible with modern world instruments.
The modern world. As a soft breeze flew by Chambers leaned further against the tree. There was one cost of his modern world that became apparent when he entered this world; he only just realized this now. This world was incredibly clean, or so to say, the balance between oxygen and carbon-based gases was not disturbed by pollution. A side effect of the medieval period this world mostly belonged even with the existence of magic, with few obvious exceptions. Nature lived here completely undisturbed. If it wasn't for the circumstances he would find himself enjoying the current state of it.
"Ah! I'm stuffed…" Luka exhaled, he had eaten a lot for his size, although nothing compared to his gluttonous companion, who seemingly was a black hole of nothing but food.
"The omelet and the herbs mix quite well and the salt completes it, I have to say you're a good chef…if only you were as good with a sword." She told her compliment-insult as she savored the omelet which garnered a mixed reaction from the fake hero.
"Where did you learn the technique? It's so horrible, it pains me to watch." Alice whined remembering the awful display of swordsmanship.
"What are you saying, Alice…I've been training for more than five years…" His words came out quite slowly, trying to fathom the thought that the amount of time he dedicated wasn't nearly enough.
"Five years? Just what were you wasting your time doing?" The monster lord asked voice filled faux horror and utter disappointment.
"I learned it from pilgrims who came to visit the temple. I mixed the different things I learned into my own style…" The purple-haired boy explained. Alice nodded completely learning the severity of the boy's "training".
"Crappy skills learned from crappy people will be crappy even if combined." Especially if combined, if you weren't some sort of genius all those styles of combat combined will have all the weaknesses and none of the strengths.
"Alright." She sighed. "I'll teach you a little."
"It's alright, you don't need to. Learning swordplay from a Monster seems odd, too." Luka declined as politely as he could. As a hero he will be facing Monsters mostly, it would be very awkward for him if he was using moves learned from a Monster to fight Monsters. Luther shuffled around, thinking the boy was a moron for not accepting such an offer in the first place, particularly after almost experiencing two-game overs.
Lesson two...
"Luka…here is a little lesson to help you on your way." He pointed at the boy, not really caring how he seemed to both of them, sighing he relayed a lesson that any good Shonen protagonist should take to heart. "Work those muscles."
"Eh?"
"I don't mean it literally, not exactly." The man stood up. "Think about it. Out of every encounter you had until this point I was the one to save you, isn't it frustrating to you?"
"I agree, at this point, it seems this is Luther's journey rather than yours. If seeing the way you dealt with that slug girl has anything to say about it." Alice's comment seemed to drive the message harder for Luka.
"I…" The boy stopped, slumping down. His Inadequacy welled up, he was supposed to be the hero, and here he was getting saved multiple times. Could he really not fight anyone without any help? Would he have failed so quickly?
"It's simple really… if you want to achieve your dream you have to build yourself up, to not be reliant on others when the time comes. Alice is giving you the perfect opportunity to do so." Luther finally explained. Luka considered his words carefully and nodded in agreement. He had to get stronger for the sake of himself and this world.
"Ah…Your right! I have to get stronger if I want to beat the monster lord and bring coexistence. I accept your training Alice." He stated with increased vigor, perhaps his scaly companion won't be as bothersome as first thought.
"Know your way around words? And here I thought he was going to be stubborn about this. I can train you as well if you want, it would be really boring if either of you lose to a Monster this quickly. Maybe I can give you a few pointers with that 'family technique' of yours." She smirked, clearly amused; it would be a chance to learn how his powers work.
"Yeah, maybe you can show us how to do it!" Luka for all of his naivety managed to figure out and unintentionally spoil the Monster Lord's plan. He simply wanted to know more about his companion and…learn his potentially powerful technique, but that came second.
Luther froze for a moment, turning away to hide his frown. Nice try, although, a bit too much Alice...
"No… I have to train with this myself, thank you for the offer anyway." It was the last thing Luther said before disappearing deeper into the woods.
'Work those muscles'. She chuckled as she watched him walk away. Luther…You are certainly an intriguing person along with Luka, I think I made the right choice traveling with them.
I should practice what I preach…I really should… Luther drew out a long breath, thoughts on improving the spin weighed heavy on his mind. He knew the irony of the previous conversation, and in truth, he would be the one relying on Luka, which was his very plan. Those were just lucky encounters… But now he had a weapon, an ability that had so much potential and was already quite strong. He just needed to improve upon it.
Just need to improve my focus…He grabbed a rock from the ground. This time he was glad it was more rounded and less jagged than the previous one. Looking at it he focused, trying to release the power of the spin once again.
Yes…this will not do. And again, he was reminded of the shortcomings of his technique. It took him a considerable amount of time to perform it, and he had lost himself in the rotation. So much so that everything appeared to not exist, nothing at all…no movement, no creatures or animals, but that was far from reality. He had failed to see and feel the bright red bird landing on a tree in front of him, the winds' lowly howl, the trees rustling. All of his senses deadened just to create one rotation.
There was a nagging feeling within him, a specter from the past that itched its way into his mind and burrowed deep, it gripped him. He was perplexed, to say the least, how could one hope to focus on something he didn't understand? How could he focus on something that threw everything he knew about his world out the window? It nagged and nagged, the man needed to figure this phenomenon out. He stopped the rotation.
"The spin, what do I know about it?" As simple as the question sounded, the answer was a lot more complicated. One could take away all of its backstory and references and you had a very bare explanation of the mechanics, appearance-wise it seemed to be simply the Magnus effect, but that was not it. As he held the rotating stone he knew it was more than that...
Chambers needed to formalize what he knew, in some notes preferably. He opened his bag and looked through some of his files hoping to find some empty notebook or paper. Let see here…My paper on genetic trait replication…no…not that.
There you are. Pulling out a notebook he observed it. It was normal quality writing material, the paper of average quality was covered by a hard plastic see-through cover that conveniently held a brightly colored pen. The pages were completely empty, this notebook was new. He didn't know whether he had forgotten such a thing in his bag or simply left it there for convenience's sake, but it didn't matter much.
It took him only a couple of minutes to run out of water from the spring of information that was his brain, writing only some small facts; like it disobeying conservation of energy and producing more than it was using, if it even was using anything at all to create a rotation and a small illustration of a spinning ball.
The only things that were left were some hypotheses that he could test, it wouldn't take much effort and might help establish some laws, if not, simply understand it better, which would help get rid of that nagging sensation. Everything has rules and most could be understood.
Hypothesis number 1: Any object can be affected with a spin. He wrote down since he already knew the results of spinning smaller more round objects he had tried it on bigger and irregular things. Luther walked to a nearby tree and held out his hand touching the rough bark of the plant. All he needed to do was concentrate…
One…
Two…
Three…
And nothing…The bark or any other part of the did not react. The disappointment felt like staring into a drying brick wall, a leafy and natural brick wall, but a brick wall nonetheless. He tested the spin on the rock drawing upon the same sensation, it had worked. Sighing he reached for the notebook and marked it off as a failure.
The next object was rather irregular as a choice was his coat; it was large and an unusual object as a candidate for the spin, a perfect choice, although he was risking his large piece of clothing being potentially ripped, it was nothing but a worthy sacrifice in the name of science.
And nothing… Like the tree he experimented on, the coat refused to rotate and stayed still, only moving in response to the wind. The stranger didn't understand, there were many instances in the manga where things were affected by the spin. He was missing something. He knew that as he glanced at the rock he was carrying.
What if I? Creating the rotation within the stone he reached and touched the bark of the tree with it. The rock spun on top of the outside layer unrolling it and revealing the smooth inside layer surface. This was it, he got what he wanted… The thing that was missing was a rotating object to transfer the energy, a rock in his case.
Luther looked at the wounded plant and rolled the bark back into its place leaving it only with a small opening. Reaching for his notebook he started to write down his result.
Attempts at the rotation of large or anything not resembling a sphere: A tree and a coat yielded no response. The items in question refused to perform any semblance of a rotation, however, they can be affected by a spinning object. Possible conclusion: Spherical or smaller objects can be forced to rotate and become a "conductor" of the unique rotational energy of the Spin, which can affect items of interest. He sighed, this was the best he could do without any equipment, it was very plausible that what he wrote down was completely wrong, but that didn't matter this was not the only test.
Hypothesis number 2: The force of the spin is based on the "conductor". Luther had to admit it was not the only thing the power of the spin was reliant on. The golden spin existed but doubted he had the skill set. He thought of this hypothesis when he observed the rotation of the much smoother rock, it was noticeably faster than the jagged one.
He held the spinning rock in his hands. So far he was only using shoddy rocks, not proper instruments designed to channel the spin like Gyro's steel balls, if he could make them a bit more proper…perhaps. He had gotten a proper feel for the power, enough to tell that there was energy outside of the rotating object barely above the surface. Palming his hands together he forced the rock and the energy to collide, notably, Chambers found more and more space to press down.
Opening his palms he revealed a large amount of rock dust and a rock reduced to a small yet perfect sphere. He brushed off the dust and observed it, whose surface was silky smooth to the touch. It was chiseled to perfection. The moment of truth here…
To compare the difference he picked up another stone similar to the one he used to do blunt trauma to a Monster. To his dismay he only managed to rotate one rock at a time, it just took too much effort for two rotations at the same time. Regardless of his shortcomings, he had tests to do.
Luther needed to test the difference in speed of the rotation itself; he prepared one with the jagged rock and observed its speed, rolling back it and forth watching the uncharacteristic movements then he saw the rotation of the chiseled rock. It was much faster than its non-chiseled counterpart. A smoother surface equals less air friction it seems.
Sorry about this. Lastly, it was time to test the force the spin being produced he took the jagged rock and infused it with this bizarre power throwing it full force against a tree. The improvised projectile rocketed towards the innocent plant and penetrated straight through it, leaving a sizable hole in it, the tree barely keeping itself from failing. Satisfied he wrote down in his notebook. The item used in this experiment, a jagged untampered rock produced enough force to fully penetrate a tree.
Next up the polished stone in the shape of a sphere. Chambers took the item in question and spinning he felt the considerable power behind it, but it was now time to test it. The thrown stone 'ball' sped towards a tree completely knocking it down and slamming into another one. The man's eyes widened, the difference wasn't just less air friction, the sphere clearly generated more force, enough to harm more than a single plant organism. He moved onto his last hypothesis.
Hypothesis number 3: The spin can affect my body. The origin of the hypothesis was both from his experience with the slug monster and Gyro's own capabilities, from hardening his skin to the point where it becomes bulletproof to forcing muscle reflexes. The extent of the effect the spin had on the body was incredible. This was more of a conformation than a theory. Knowing it could be done he picked up the stone that did so much damage to forest life, despite facing such adversaries the rock remained intact. Spinning the rock he ever so slowly eased himself into pressing against his leg, disregarding the push back he pressed on further. His leg immediately reacted forcing his body to jump forward into the air, launching him a further than any human normally could muster.
The aftermath involved a rough landing for Luther, particularly in his behind region, his bones shook and ached.
"Guh…my fucking back."
"Marking that off as a yes…a very effective yes." He groaned massaging his back, this is yet another page in his observations and most likely not the last, at least not now. Looking at his watch he put his notebook in his coat's inner pocket.
He still had some time left to train.
After calming the nagging feeling inside his head that told him to experiment with the mystical technique, he finally found enough concentration to simply practice creating the rotation, the results were less than he was expecting…Fruitless as it seemed he had managed to claim some achievements – the ability to be aware of his surroundings while creating rotations, however, he still couldn't move nor perform multiple rotations at a time.
He walked back to the camp, seeing his purple-haired companion finish his last [Demon Decapitation] for the day. Luther noted the boy's overall combat skills improved by long shot – his stance befitting of his stature, no longer relying on pure brute strength, his attacks were no longer randomly thrown out. Guess that's what you get when combining a good teacher with talent.
"Oh! Luther, you finished your training? Alice taught me a new technique. I can show it to you!" The fake hero enthusiastically walked near Luther, then suddenly stopped.
"Demon Decapitation!" Luka swiftly jumping towards his imaginary target slashed its neck landing nearby Luther.
Dear God! A little warning next time, I swear he easily jumped the Olympic level distance. Chambers backed away immediately from Luka, instinctively drawing a stone shuffling it between his fingers.
"I'm sorry I-"
"No, no there's no problem, just startled me that's all…That's a good technique, although avoid shouting its name every time you use it." The man sheepishly critiqued. The strangest thing for Luther was the sudden increase in speed when Luka was using [Demon Decapitation]; it was perfect as it was unexpected, although it did beg the question. Where did this speed come from? Was it just Luka's latent angelic powers, the technique itself being magical? Or perhaps I could just chalk it up to anime logic.
"But that's what heroes do!" The boy complained, besides he refused to let anybody take away his only excitement when using this technique, despite its less than pleasant past.
"That's what idiots do! Remember this is a Monster's technique, if you fight someone who knows Cursed Sword skills and you just shout out the name, what do you expect will happen?" Alice retorted clearly irritated by the number of times her ears were graced with hearing its name over and over again. Luka's head slightly lowered, unable to answer her question in a way that would benefit him.
"So…how was your "training". You look like you barely broke a sweat." The lamia impishly remarked, smirking.
"It was…satisfactory" There was dead silence for at least a minute as the Monster and the fake hero stared at Luther with a neutral unchanging expressions, both of them tried to speak up, but stopped every time.
"That's…it…?" They said in unison.
"Oh! Forgive me if I can't pull a new technique out my ass every time I train!" The stranger broke the silence, before whispering to himself. "Besides I'm not Granberia…"
"You know, this sort of thing would not happen if you let me train you…" She trailed off, the lamia was not letting Luther out of her grasp this easily.
"Look… the effort you're putting here in is somewhat admirable…" He stopped. "If it wasn't so annoying, I already said I will not be revealing anything about the Spin, so please just stop pestering me about this..."
"Hmph…fine" Alice crossed her arms; at least she knew the name now. There was bound to be something about it in her castle, no way could such ability escape the sight of the Monster Lords and their servants.
"Night is already nearing, we should get ready." Luka started looking at the rising moon.
The night came quickly as the camp prepared their sleeping bags, Luther managing to settle in comfortably in his sleeping bag while Luka awkwardly shuffled around as the moon shined its white light above them.
"Sorry Alice, I only have two sleeping bags with me." Luka offered his pointless apology.
"I don't need one anyway…They're too restrictive for me." She responded by wrapping herself around a nearby tree, making Luka raise his eyebrow.
"By the way idiot where did you get that ring?" She asked, staring at the seemingly mundane ring on the purple-haired boy's finger.
"You can't eat this Alice." The fake hero defensively reflected pretending to be a fool.
"It's a personal object Alice…it's not something one can speak lightly about," Luther spoke out.
"Personal object…I assume you're familiar with such a concept judging by how close you clutch that bag." The lamia looked on with interest as the mere mention of this made the man squirm slightly.
"Yes, it's personal, uh... the only thing that I managed to save when I got caught in the storm." The man sighed, just another lie… He couldn't even fathom what would happen if someone got their hands on the contents, it would put him into a very dangerous position. He already knew the whole conversation, the ring that Luka's mother gave as a memento, regardless of its true purpose it held a place in the boy's heart. For all Luka had done for Luther he could at least make this conversation easier for him although his response seemed to encourage Alice's prying to his dismay.
"Anyway, Luka, the only reason I'm interested in that ring is that I feel something faint from it." The Monster Lord explained, perhaps this was the source for all of the fake hero's weirdness.
"Something faint? I don't know what you're talking about…this is my mother's keepsake. "
"Ten years ago, she died of an illness…" He stopped, looking longingly at the ring. Luther recognized the pain he knew what it was like, to have a close family member die.
"I see… I'm sorry to hear about that."
"Eh? Ah…thanks." Luka was surprised this was the first time she wasn't overly rude with him, even with his training he had experienced her ire.
"What's with the surprised look on your face? We're the same as Humans in that respect. We both are sad when a parent dies." Faking offense she crossed her arms.
"Of course…that's right." Luka found that easy to accept, as it wasn't farfetched to say the only non-animalistic species in this world were similar in some ways.
"How about your father? Is he still alive?" The lamia inquired further.
"No… He died before my mother did…" Luka left it at that.
"Ah… I see. Your father went off to fight The Monster Lord and never came back. That's why you took up your father's wishes and trained to be a hero. Did I get it right?" She flashed a knowing smirk; it was the stereotypical hero's origin story and many people have heard it over the years and for good reason, in many cases, it was true in this day and age.
"Sorry, but you're wrong. That guy died because of his own stupid mistakes…" The fake hero disdainfully corrected.
"Hmm…that's unusual. Someone whose head is filled with sugar and rainbows, to say something like that…" Alice curiously remarked.
"What about your family Luther, what do they think about your wandering?" She asked the quiet man.
"I…" His hand closed into a fist. Chambers had heard the question a lot differently than what Alice intended to ask, and he had no desire to answer it. Luther stopped and let out a slow and drawn out-breath, he had hoped he wouldn't have been reminded of his past world any more than he already has, especially with that topic...he didn't even want to think about it.
"I…" No other words escaped his lips.
"Enough about us, what about you? Why are you here?" Sensing his ally's growing discomfort Luka deflected the potential interrogation session.
"Hmph…it was just a question…" The lamia complained but decided against pressing further.
"I'm…I'm the only daughter of the Fateburn family. I wanted to see the world, so I set out a few days ago." Alice explained, refusing to shuffle around with the details of her trip – one of them involving bonking the Goddess of Light on the head with an unholy blade…but that didn't matter.
"Really?"
"Basically." She grinned, dark laughter escaping her lips. Laughter that showed there was more than she led on leaving Luka and Luther to awkwardly look at each other and cough.
"You couldn't possibly…You aren't inspecting the human cities in preparation for an invasion…are you?" The purple-haired asked with a tinge of fear and worry in his voice.
"Hahaha…what interesting idea." Her laughter slowed down to a chuckle.
"Look at this book! This forbidden book contains everything about the human world. Geography, environment, food…it has it all!" The lamia enthusiastically presented a book. It was a dusty old tome incredibly thick with pages, despite its age the book seemed to be custom made, encrusted with jewels and gold trimming.
"Ah…the Traveling Guild's World Traveler tour guide…" The fake hero looked at the title of the book before noticing one single detail.
"What the! This book is marked year 867! This book is 500 years old!"
"Oh? I thought it looked a little old." Alice averted her eyes to the book in question, brushing off some of the dust of the pages.
"That's amazing…this is like a piece of history I wonder how much you could sell this for…" Stars glimmered in Luka's eyes, it would make a fortune.
"I'm not selling it, you idiot" The Monster Lord pulled the book away from the purple-haired boy and hugged it close to her chest, no way she was selling her only chance of discovering new food.
"Anyway, it's about time to go to sleep. Faa…I'm exhausted after today. Goodnight, Luther, Alice" Luka yawned as he headed to sleep.
Luther was left alone with his newfound thoughts, his parents? He didn't have to worry about them...Thankfully thoughts about other family members and friends were snuffed out by his desire to sleep.
A bit of Luther's trauma is revealed...
I strangely consider this chapter as not as eventful, although on further inspection it would be a bit too much if I add more onto it. Stuff you'll see next
Now onto the reviews:
-Ayman El Kadouri: Well my friend, that is for you to find out.
-The-4uditor: Well I try to upload at least one chapter per month with everything going on with my life also relating to your omake review...yeah if you were to see my discord chat, you wouldn't be surprised.
-Dinosaurchicken: Considering this an M rated fanfiction, I suppose you're right, but I'll leave it there regardless. Thank you for your support.
Only the greatest of clerics do my friend.
-Guest: Well since mostly following the canon plot it shouldn't be a surprise, however, I will try to branch off from the canon story a bit. Also, damn...in any other context you might considered a psychopath, although your enthusiasm is justifiable, I did try to make the roper rather hateable, potential pedophilia is a sure-fire way to do just that.
-The Doom Slayer: In this story's case it's smashing mostly, if he is pushed there will be RIPPING AND TEARING.
-doomqwer: To each his own. I'm guessing you don't like the flamboyant masculinity of the series.
-Imperial Guard 1337: Best I can give you is Giorno, there is no way a man is capable of getting Pillar Men physique even with regenerative powers of Hamon in such a short time.
To the rest of you, I haven't replied thanks for your support and have a nice day.
