Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Dragon Ashley, Sparring with Fenrir

When I asked if it was Fenrir, a nod confirmed it.

"That's right. Normally, I can only temporarily change form during a full moon, but Ashley insisted I come to the restaurant and forcibly polymorphed me."

"I see. I thought there was a resemblance."

He scowled, clearly unhappy with his appearance.

"Not having fur covering my whole body feels unbearably exposed."

He rubbed his own forearm awkwardly.

At first glance, the fierce, wolf-like features had made me think he was male, but upon closer inspection, the body had a distinctly feminine build.

"Have a seat at the bar for now."

"Fine."

Fenrir and Ashley took seats at the bar table.

They placed their orders.

"I'll have raw meat. A lot of it."

"Give me steaks. Five servings to start."

"Got it."

Two non-human customers had arrived on top of the reservation guests and placed large orders.

As I pulled out beef cuts for their dishes, Ria asked me,

"You're busy, so let me cook those. How should I prepare them?"

"Hmm, for Fenrir, slice the tenderloin and eye of round half and half as beef sashimi. For Ashley, grill T-bone steaks five centimeters thick to medium rare."

"Got it."

Ria sliced the tenderloin and eye of round into beef sashimi with quick, skilled knife work, just as I had instructed.

Teaching Ria to cook over this time had been well worth the effort.

'Looking closely, she's even channeling a faint Aura.'

The Aura-infused knife was so sharp that the meat parted at the slightest touch.

While making omelettes and grilling hamburg steaks, I also told Ria the recipes for three beef sashimi dipping sauces.

A red pepper paste base, a sesame oil base, and a soy sauce-wasabi base.

Ria prepared them, served them to Fenrir, then immediately began trimming and grilling the four T-bone steaks Ashley had ordered.

'At this point, Ria is better than most senior cooks.'

With a little more practice, she would reach sous chef level.

Talent truly mattered in cooking as well.

Fenrir ate the beef sashimi Ria had served, awkwardly stabbing pieces with a fork.

He dipped them in the sauces intermittently.

"Eating it dipped in sauce isn't bad at all."

That must have looked appetizing, because Ashley stole a few pieces with her fork.

Fenrir growled.

"Don't touch my plate."

"You ungrateful wolf. I'm the one paying for it."

"......That's true. Fine, just take a little."

Before long, Ria served Ashley a perfectly cooked T-bone steak.

Ashley then used a knife—which she normally never bothered with—to cut a slice of meat and placed it on Fenrir's plate.

"Raw meat is fine, but cooked meat is also delicious. Try it."

"......Very well."

Fenrir took a bite, widened his eyes, and nodded.

"Raw meat is tastier, but occasionally, cooked meat makes for a nice change of pace."

"Right?"

The two seemed to be on quite good terms.

And so Ria handled the cooking for the two non-human guests.

I continued making hamburg omurice.

The three new staff members kept serving and resetting tables in rotation.

One wave of customers finished, and the next group came in.

The newcomers flinched at the sight of Fenrir and Ashley.

'Beware the white-haired ones.'

That was a saying circulating among guilds and parties that had arrived on the Fourth Floor.

Among the white-haired, there was a dragon who occasionally visited as a customer.

It also referred to silver-haired Ria.

They were notorious as beings one absolutely must not provoke.

With Fenrir making three white-haired figures gathered in one place, the tension was understandable.

After finishing his meal, Fenrir sipped wine and asked me,

"Anything unusual happen lately?"

"No, nothing. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering if there had been any strange signs."

"Ah, are you worried about what the Lich said—that his master would Descend before long?"

"Exactly. That wasn't the kind of remark you could just let pass."

"True."

Ashley also spoke to me.

"In preparation for any potential crisis, we rulers must unite and solidify our alliance."

"An alliance...... So if this so-called master the Lich mentioned leads an undead army to attack this plains region, you two would come to help us as allies?"

"Naturally."

"I'll help."

Loyal friends, those two.

Ashley and Fenrir then explained their reasoning.

"I can't afford to lose a restaurant where I can eat such delicious meat."

"I agree."

I liked their reasoning.

Ashley continued.

"That's not the only reason. If you fall, we'll be in danger too."

"That makes sense. We'll help you too if anything happens in the Snowfield Zone."

"I appreciate it."

It seemed certain that an unidentified threat to the Fourth Floor of the Rift existed.

It could stir at any time.

Which meant, as Ashley said, there was a need to strengthen their bonds.

Ria, who had been listening to our conversation, then spoke.

"In that case, would you spar with me?"

"Spar......?"

When Fenrir tilted his head, Ria continued.

"Yeah. Lately, I've been sparring with hunters and my knight squad comrades, but it's not enough. To get stronger, sparring with a strong opponent is most effective."

It made sense. Sparring one-on-many against weaker opponents was a very different thing from going one-on-one against a single powerful adversary.

Fenrir and Ashley exchanged glances and then nodded.

"All right, I'll oblige as much as you like."

"My forte is magic rather than hand-to-hand combat. So don't blame me if you die because you couldn't dodge."

Ashley's words were quite menacing.

Ria nodded without concern.

"Understood."

Ria then looked at me.

"You're joining too, Seon-u."

"Me too......?"

"You need to build enough combat experience to handle any situation."

"All right."

Sparring against a dragon and Fenrir, no less.

It felt like I would need several lives.

But I was already accustomed to risking my life against powerful opponents through daily sparring with Ria.

***

After the restaurant closed for the day, we decided to spar right away.

The location was an open clearing far from the restaurant.

Fenrir reverted from his human form to his original wolf form.

The guild and party spectators watching from a distance recoiled in shock.

'Well, Ashley's identity as a dragon is already exposed, so Fenrir showing up shouldn't be that big a deal.'

That was precisely why I had not bothered going far and just sparred nearby.

There was no need to hide.

In fact, this worked out perfectly.

'They need to know which monsters are off-limits for hunting.'

Dryads, Fenrir, and dragons.

And the Great Honeybees as well.

It was time to establish rules against engaging or hunting beneficial monsters on the Fourth Floor.

'This really does make Ria and me the administrators of the Central Plains.'

Which was, in effect, the truth.

Ria drew her sword and raised her Aura.

Seeing that, Fenrir coated his claws in powerful mana.

"Let's begin."

"Go easy on me."

Fenrir showed a rare vulnerable side.

"I'll try."

The two charged toward each other, closing the distance, and claws met sword.

Neither was pushed back.

They were evenly matched in force.

Fenrir then quickly retreated and used his signature speed to circle Ria, swiping his claws and darting away repeatedly.

Ria blocked without difficulty, chasing after Fenrir while unleashing a relentless offensive.

'It's a battle of speed versus speed.'

In raw movement speed, Fenrir had the edge.

Their strength was similar. Fenrir had greater reach.

That should have given Fenrir the advantage, yet it was Ria who held the upper hand.

'Her signature footwork that catches the opponent's blind spots, combined with elegant yet devastating swordsmanship, renders the physical gap meaningless.'

Fenrir was only faster in straight-line movement—in terms of consecutive attacks, Ria was far quicker and smoother.

She could even release Aura slashes through the air to close the reach gap.

Overwhelmed by the powerful barrage, Fenrir could not keep up.

"She's driving Fenrir back one-sidedly. Your wife is unbelievably strong......"

Ashley watched Ria with genuine astonishment.

She seemed surprised that Ria was stronger than expected.

"She is. Extremely."

"Doesn't it frighten you, living with such a strong wife?"

"Not at all. You have no idea how kind and pure Ria is."

"Is that so......?"

The match was reaching its conclusion.

Fenrir had allowed several of Ria's attacks through, and his movements grew sluggish.

Ria caught up to the slowed Fenrir with the flat of her sword—Aura retracted—and struck his abdomen.

A loud slap of leather echoed.

"Grrgh—!"

That had to hurt......

Ria sheathed her sword.

Ashley and I approached the two.

"Fenrir, are you okay?"

"Not even close...... I feel like I might throw up."

"......That looked painful."

"It is. But she hit hard enough not to break bones, at least. Anyway, the female human seems to have gotten even stronger than before."

"She has. She works hard every day to grow stronger."

Driven by the singular determination to protect me and Rin.

I looked at Ria and asked.

"Ria, are you satisfied?"

"I feel a bit refreshed. It let me see how much I've grown. So, next up."

Ria's gaze turned to Ashley.

Ashley furrowed her brow and took a step back.

"I despise pain."

"Then I won't strike you."

"Very well...... Can I stay in human form?"

"As you like."

The match between Ria and Ashley was even more spectacular to watch.

'Dragons are impressive after all.'

She fired powerful spells in rapid succession at Ria.

Ria sliced through some with Aura, detonated others midair with released Aura blasts, and dodged most with her footwork.

Whenever Ria closed the distance with great effort, Ashley used a teleportation spell called "Blink" to restore it.

'Now I understand why she and Fenrir fought each other to exhaustion.'

With Fenrir's speed, he would have been able to dodge her spells.

But whenever Fenrir closed the gap, Ashley would Blink away, making it difficult for either to land a decisive blow.

Ria, however, was different.

After being caught a few times, she read Ashley's patterns and began releasing Aura barrages without pause to prevent Blink escapes.

Ashley was too busy casting shield after shield to block.

She ultimately missed her window for Blink and chose hand-to-hand combat to shake off the approaching Ria.

Her hands transformed into dragon foreclaws, and she clashed with Ria.

But she could not win against Ria at close range.

"I surrender......!"

When a blade was leveled at her throat, she raised both hands and surrendered.

'Having ranged attacks really is a massive advantage.'

Even Blinking into the air made her a ranged target, and on the ground, Ria bombarded her from range without giving time to Blink, closing in all the while—leaving Ashley the dragon utterly helpless.

'Even in dragon form, Ria wouldn't have given her time to use Breath.'

In monster terms, Ria had probably reached the very peak of the Transcendent-Grade.

Fenrir and Ashley, by comparison, seemed to be at the middle level of Transcendent-Grade.

'At Ria's current strength, she could take the upper hand even against the Named Doppelganger that gave her such trouble before.'

Next was my turn.

"Go easy on me, Fenrir."

"Very well."

Close-quarters combat against Fenrir.

The verdict: a complete defeat for me.

Without using Acresia skills, my close combat was not enough to handle even a highest-grade monster, let alone a Transcendent-Grade one.

I had not yet reached S-Rank combat level, after all.

Fenrir spoke to me as I lay sprawled on my back, gasping after dropping my spear.

"Not bad, though. I can tell you've been trained by the female human."

"Huff, really?"

"Indeed. Your defense and evasion are especially outstanding."

"I've been desperately dodging and blocking during sparring with Ria. To survive."

"Is that what it was...... You've been through a lot as well. And it wasn't just defense—there were flashes of counterattacks that made even me flinch."

"Glad to hear it. Sparring with you definitely seems helpful. Your attack patterns are different from Ria's."

"Gaining experience against various opponents is important. I also realized my own shortcomings during today's spar with the female human."

While I was talking with Fenrir, Ashley cut in.

"Then you should spar with me too, Seon-u."

"What......? With you, Ashley?"

How was I supposed to dodge magic?

Not yet......

Wait. There was one way.

"Fine, let's do it."

Ashley began casting from a distance.

First, a simple small fireball.

I deployed Acresia in front of me.

Then I activated the Absorption skill aimed at the incoming spell.

The fireball was sucked right in.

I felt a small amount of mana drain.

A message appeared.

[Fire magic 'Fireball' has been absorbed. The absorbed spell can be released through the Release Skill.]