The Powerless Hero's 101st Regression Diary

Chapter 5. Winds of Fate (3)

The double proficiency party with Uncle Kevin came to a smooth end.

Kevin, who wielded a massive shield and mace, had less advice about the sword and more to say about shield usage. In the end, I managed to raise my sword technique proficiency to 12.

‘The combat tips he gave me along the way are going to help a lot.’

Things like how to hold the shield without blocking your own view, or how to obscure the opponent’s line of sight using the shield—these were the kinds of insights you could only pick up in real battle.

After finishing my training, I didn’t push myself further. I simply checked my gear and waited for the moment. Bob, his face still pale, lay collapsed in the camp, showing no interest in his own equipment.

And then.

[Time remaining 00:00:00]

[Adol’s assault begins now.]

A sinister presence fell over the camp.

Kevin quickly barked out.

“Everyone, battle stations.”

At the same time, he hefted his mace and massive shield.

“Battle stations?”

Dorn asked, puzzled.

I picked up the short sword and Sword Stopper and stared toward the path between the trees.

Goooooo…

Though the surroundings were still dead silent, an ominous presence loomed from afar.

“Dorn, stay in the back with Bob.”

I said, then grabbed the sound bombs I’d made from gathered materials.

That was when it happened.

The texture of the air grew sticky.

The fading dusk shimmered and revealed a grotesque shape.

Beyond the entrance, the zombies appeared.

Staggering.

Grotesque movements.

The stench of rotting flesh flowed in on the breeze.

Boom.

Kevin drove the base of his massive shield into the ground just behind the trap.

Then he looked at me.

“Stand by.”

The zombie horde was larger than I expected.

Roughly thirty of them, by my estimate.

“Zombies. Didn’t you make sound bombs?”

Faced with urgency, Kevin dropped formal speech.

I quickly held up a sound bomb to show him.

“Good. On my signal, throw it over the trap.”

As expected of a seasoned mercenary. As soon as he spotted the zombies, Kevin immediately remembered the sound bombs I’d crafted.

Zombies had dulled senses and only responded to sound.

A loud enough sound would easily draw them in.

‘Good. That should lure them all into the trap.’

Then we light the fire, and it’s over.

Thankfully, we still had plenty of oil and ignition powder from preparing Dorn’s meals.

I’d already sprinkled them inside the trap.

Gulp.

To be honest, I was a little nervous. In my hundred lives, I’d faced crises far worse than this.

But back then, I had the assurance of another life to fall back on. I could gamble with my life freely.

Now, it was different.

One death, and it was all over.

“Now. Throw it.”

The zombie horde had reached the edge of the trap. At that moment, Kevin shouted.

I threw the sound bomb over the trap.

Thunk.

The sound bomb landed right atop the trap.

And then.

KIEEEEEEENG!

An ear-shattering shriek rang out.

The Freiko, a screaming flower that bloomed year-round in the eastern continent.

As its crimson petals cried out, the zombies all tilted their heads simultaneously.

Grooo. Gaaa. Gruk.

Uttering grotesque noises, the zombies charged toward the sound bomb.

Their violent movement stood in stark contrast to their earlier sluggish staggering.

KWA-GWA-GWANG!

The horde lunged over the trap like ravenous beasts, and the branches and soil concealing it gave way.

I rushed in and threw in a lit fire stick.

Whoooosh!

A great flame burst from the trap.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air.

“Was it easier than expected?”

Kevin muttered as he kicked at zombies crawling out of the fire.

Then it happened.

A massive shadow burst through the blaze and tackled Kevin.

BOOM!

Kevin barely blocked it with his rectangular shield but was forced back.

Grrrrrrr…

The dire wolf, its head caved in, growled low.

Its body is easily over two meters long.

‘Damn, that’s big—even for a dire wolf.’

I had backed away after lighting the fire, but the sheer size of the thing still surprised me.

“Savior, fall back!”

Kevin shouted urgently, knowing my capabilities.

Even while fending off the dire wolf zombie, he kept track of the entire battlefield.

Kevin and the dire wolf were evenly matched.

“Down!”

Kevin suddenly shouted at me.

I dropped flat to the ground. Right where my head had been, a black arm lashed out.

The grotesque limb grazed the back of my skull.

“Sey… vi… or…”

Chills ran down my spine.

A voice like metal scraping.

I hurriedly retreated and looked to identify what had attacked me.

It was Adol. Larger than in life, his skin now black and rotting. But through the sagging mess of his melting face, I could still recognize him faintly.

“Adol?”

Kevin, barely holding off the dire wolf zombie, shouted in shock.

“Kill…”

But even Kevin’s voice didn’t reach Adol. His eyes were locked solely on me. His long, thick, blackened arm dragged across the ground.

I gripped the short sword’s hilt tightly. Raised the Sword Stopper on my left arm to chest height.

Tucked my heels in tight and braced my stance. It was the basic posture of Clossi-style Sword Technique.

“Run! Get out of there! He’s not your match! Just run—don’t even look back!”

Kevin shouted again. I know, uncle. Calm down. If I could’ve run, I would’ve already. But I knew instinctively. I couldn’t escape. If I turned my back, I would die. I’d died a hundred times before. That experience warned me.

‘So I have to fight.’

The moment that thought crossed my mind, Adol extended his long arm toward me.

CHANG!

His whip-like strike hit squarely on the Sword Stopper.

Flesh met metal—but the sound was that of metal striking metal.

‘Urgh, it feels like my arm’s going to come off.’

The impact far exceeded expectations—I had to grit my teeth to endure it.

“Run! Run, damn it!”

Kevin’s voice roared from afar. A glance showed that he wasn’t in great shape either. He was holding the dire wolf zombie at bay but couldn’t land a clean blow.

Even a normal dire wolf had the power of an E-rank mercenary. This one, zombified, might be slightly weaker in strength or agility, but its blind hostility far surpassed what it had in life.

Such relentless attacks were demoralizing by nature.

Kevin’s grimace told the whole story.

‘And Adol’s bloodlust is no different.’

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Ghoul-Adol struck the Sword Stopper again and again.

My left arm felt like it would tear off. But I gritted my teeth and reinforced my guard.

‘I have to handle him alone. I must win. But how?’

He’s already dead—human weak points won’t help. As long as he can move, he’ll keep attacking. That’s why the textbook method for killing zombies or ghouls is breaking the neck.

Destroy the head, and they stop.

‘So that means I have to cut through his whip-like arms and strike his neck.’

Easier said than done.

Bob’s tiny Sword Stopper was already dented from the blows.

The reach difference was too great.

I needed a way… a method…

Then—

THWACK!

My arm, holding the battered Sword Stopper, was flung backward. Beyond it, his rotting, pus-leaking face grinned. Like a child toying with a broken toy.

‘Was he deliberately aiming for the shield?’

Shwick.

Adol’s black arm swept toward my now unguarded torso.

Shrrrip.

A long gash was carved across my chest.

My shirt shredded like it had been slashed by a blade, and blood seeped from my skin.

Grrrrk.

He let out a laugh.

Since when were ghouls this expressive? The pain from just that one hit was enough to blur my senses.

Damn it.

Then came a barrage of follow-up strikes.

WHUMP.

I went flying.

WHACK.

My knee and neck bent awkwardly, and I toppled to one side. Before I could fall, he struck upward again, keeping me upright.

WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.

He hit me over and over, like a training dummy. My vision swelled with bruises. But I still saw it—his twisted grin. His bizarre laughter filled my ears.

“Pull yourself together!”

Kevin’s cry echoed faintly in the distance. Was this the end? The thought of death loomed.

Past lives flashed before me.

The prelude to that damned mental slideshow.

Adol’s black arm crept toward me in slow motion.

‘No… I have to find a way.’

Fate only gives challenges one can overcome. That was a divine oracle given directly to me by the Goddess of Fate. Which meant this adversity could be overcome, too. I just had to find the method.

[All Clossi-style sword forms embody balance and rotation.]

Time seemed to slow, and the sword manual’s words resurfaced in my mind.

What is balance and rotation?

Is something unmoving truly balanced? No.

Is something unchanging truly rotational? Never.

I forced my flung arm forward. Tightened my elbow and raised the Sword Stopper. Even when it sways wildly, returning to center is balance. Even if it lurches violently, regaining footing is balance.

A wobble doll came to mind. Swaying drastically, teetering—yet always returning upright.

I mimicked that, leaning my body far to one side.

Thunk.

A smaller sound than before came from my arm.

‘I deflected it. My arm doesn’t hurt.’

Adol resumed pummeling the Sword Stopper.

A shield exists to block attacks. But blocking alone will eventually destroy it.

That’s why you must learn to deflect force.

That’s the purpose of the buckler. A small shield held in one hand.

The sword manual recommends bucklers for a reason.

Smaller than Kevin’s heavy rectangular infantry shield, it’s made not for blocking, but deflecting.

And in Clossi-style swordplay, deflection isn’t the end of defense.

Deflection is the first step toward offense.

Because that’s how you begin to rotate power.

I leaned right, wobble-doll-style.

Planted my right leg for support.

What little mana I had rushed to my right leg, strengthening my muscles.

I kicked off the ground with that power. At the same time, I swung my left arm’s Sword Stopper, striking his arm aside. That momentum rotated my waist. And with that spin, I swung the short sword in my right hand.

The second of the five basic sword forms: Slash and Cleave.

Adol’s relentless assault halted.

Or rather—I stopped it.

My short sword sliced through his tough hide, leaving a long gash.

I couldn’t stop there.

I clenched my teeth and continued the forms.

Blocked and stabbed.

Deflected and slashed.

Dodged and struck with the Sword Stopper.

Stepped forward once more.

Swaying side to side like a wobble doll, I tilted left and right, always returning to center.

By the time I’d finished chaining Forms 1 through 5—I was already right in front of Adol.

“Kill…”

Adol muttered again, eyes locked with mine.

His voice is like steel scraping from deep within.

“Hey. Try smiling again—like earlier.”

He didn’t smile this time. Just made some choking noise.

What now, you rotting meat pile?

I cleaved through his neck.

Unlike his iron-hard arms, the blade cut cleanly through the flesh of his neck.

Thunk.

Adol’s severed head flew through the air. His stinking body swayed. But unlike me—he didn’t get back up. He crumbled, leaking rot and pus.

Haa, haa…

Ragged breaths tore from my lungs.

My entire body was covered in blood.

I collapsed.

Kevin, having finally finished the dire wolf zombie, returned and placed a hand on my head.

“Well done.”

Just a plain sentence. And yet, it hit me strangely.

A feeling I couldn’t describe with words.

[Your sword technique proficiency greatly increases due to battle with a formidable enemy. 12.24 → 22.24]

Yeah, the proficiency went up too. But that didn’t matter anymore.

“I did it.”

That was all I said. Though I’d lived what felt like eons—this was the first time I’d ever won a fight against something.

No more words came. Tears fell for reasons I couldn’t explain.

My chest felt like it would burst, but I locked it up tight.

Whatever this emotion was—I wanted to hold on to it, just a little longer.