Chapter 71: Side Story 4 – Fight!

No matter how much, no matter how many, he was never satisfied.

“Dull.”, the adventurer muttered, his platinum armor covered with blood and filth. “Hey let’s get moving, we need to report to the guild that we’ve finished the job.”

He picked up his sword that was piercing a orc’s throat, without sparing as much as a single look, he left the ruins filled with corpses.

“Man, was there really no other quest to do? I mean, Orc’s are sort of a big deal, but they barely earn scrap!”, he listened to his party member complaining, without speaking as much as a single word.

“Oh yeah, by the way. Thanks for making a temporary party with me, had it not been you I couldn’t have beaten them by myself.”, the party member showed some modesty, his cheeks slightly flushed by embarrassment.

“…”, he continued remaining silent, his eyes weren’t even sparing a single look at the person talking to him.

“Sigh, could you at the very least crack up a joke, or maybe say a single word?”, he tried getting the attention of the platinum armored adventurer behind him.

“Hello.”, he answered with a single word “That’s not what I meant!”

‘This guy is hopeless.’, he thought to himself. “Is this really the person called the ‘Berserker’?”

“That’s just a title they gave me, didn’t really ask for it.”, he for once, like a miracle upon this world, answered his question with a complete sentence.

“Eh? You should be happy, an adventurers dream is to one day receive a title.”, he tried to make him feel better about himself.

“Well, it’s not my dream.”, he answered, his voice showing clear signs of boredom. “The Orc’s must’ve bored the hell out of you, after all. Their thick skin makes them one hell of a pain in the ass to beat.”

“That’s not it.”, those words slipped out of his mouth. “Oh? Then what is it?”, he asked, his interest suddenly piqued.

“They were all weak.”, he said, and a loud laugh escaped his party members mouth. “HAHAHA! Is that really what you’re so hung up about?”

His laughter did not stop, like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “So tell me, why is it that they were weak?”

“First off, their movements are sloppy, they rely too much on strength solely without showing much strategy, thus making them easy fight strategically wise. And their strength isn’t really great now that I think about it, despite being able to rip off trees with their bare muscles and use them as weapons, all they know is how to swing it around slowly due to their size and strength. And the ones we fought were all the same race, that means not even a single one of them evolved.”

‘But isn’t that a good thing?’, he refrained from speaking, considering it would lead to no good. “I can sort of see why you’re upset, what I don’t understand is why would you want them to be stronger?”

The person recognized as the ‘Berserker’, looked him in the eyes. “Fights without your life at stake, is not a fight. Those who can’t even put up a fight are boring.”

Those were his views upon everything, that made his party member a bit glad that he wasn’t a complete inhuman.

“So, what you’re actually complaining is that no one can beat you?”, he came to a conclusion by his explanation.

“Not that nobody can beat me but rather, there is no real challenge behind it.”, he explained, but his party member had a confused look.

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure somebody will one day give you a challenge.”, he gave him words of encouragement.

“I hope you’re right.”

 

 

 

“A promotion exam?”, he asked baffled by the sudden announcement. “Yes, we would like you to run the exam of an adventurer.”

The guild receptionist handed over a flier, with a name and class of an adventurer. “As you can see, the guild has recognized his efforts, so we decided to run an exam, and we thought that you would be the most ideal person to ask.”

He inspected the flier, the adventurer was ‘A’ class, so his promotion would get him to ‘S’ class. “I’m ‘A’ class, shouldn’t you ask someone of higher class to do this?”, doubtful as to whether his abilities were called for, he asked.

“Well, you’ve rejected multiple promotions, so I am certain you would be the most qualified person we could find.”, she answered with a wry laugh.

He had rejected multiple proposals for a promotion, any adventurer would’ve gladly taken them, then what would his reasons be?

‘Getting into political affairs is a pain!’, that was his reason.

High class adventurers were bound to get recognized by people with high political status, like nobles who would hire them to guard them, or maybe someone of higher status would employ him for a even greater job.

Though it would unlock a considerable amount of opportunities as an adventurer, an example would be access to higher difficulty quests and authority. He chose not to take it.

“Do I really have to run the exam?”, he asked her, trying to find a way out. “Well, if you’re busy with important affairs, we could search for someone else…”, she looked down in shame.

He sighed, and picked up the flier. “So, how should I run this exam?”, he asked the receptionist, and her troubled expression immediately disappeared. “Run it as how you see fit, we’ll have one of the guild members overlook the exam as well.”

Upon her answer, his mouth curved up a smile. “Oh~, this might be fun.”

 

 

 

“So, how did the exam go?”

“Boring.”, he answered with a dull voice, his depressed expression showed clear disappointment. “Eh? Was he that weak?”

“No, he freaked out too quickly and messed up the exam.”, his temporary party member seemed confused. “I-I see.”

Despite his ‘Title’, he was sane, his actions weren’t irrational and he thought before acting. And that’s where the question comes in, why is he called the ‘Berserker’?

“Hey, I have an idea.”, his party member brought out his bag, and searched for something. “Here!”

He handed over a sheet of paper with the words ‘Tournament’ written on it. “There’s a tournament happening in ‘Knightfall’, you might find someone who’ll give you the so called challenge you are looking for.”

He gave the sheet of paper a closer inspection, his mood seemed to have gotten slightly better. “Oh, I might actually join.”

“I know right, the price is really worth it!”, his party member referred to the prize, but his mind was set on something else.

You are reading story I got reincarnated into another world, but I didn’t even reincarnate properly?! at novel35.com

“Look, we’ve arrived.”, they looked at the humongous ruins before them, there were torches lit up and weird totems stationed near the entrance. “Our job is to ‘explore the ruins, and exterminate any monster inside”, from what I heard I think there are Minotaurs inside.”

“What are Minotaur's?”, he asked, and his party member became shocked. “You don’t know what a Minotaur is?”

“To me every monster is the same.”, he answered to his question. “A Minotaur is like a huge bull that walks on two feet.”

His vague yet straight to the point explanation seemed doubtful. “Are you sure, ‘you’ know what a Minotaur is?”

“Look, I may have never seen one but I’ve heard of them.”, he said in a apologetic manner.

The two looked once again at the ruin, the huge metal gate that once opened would lead to unknown territory gave off a ominous aura, like something resides deep within.

“So… should we head in or—“, the ‘Berserker’, headed into the ruins, the metal gate was ripped open, now open to anyone daring to enter. “Hey! Wait for me!”

 

 

 

The question at hand was, why did he seek for battle? For a feeling of accomplishment? Or perhaps for the satisfaction of someone else? Or maybe... for no reason at all?

The answer was foolish, even the most evil person would’ve thought of a better reason.

It was for ‘fun’.

He searched for satisfaction, a gratifying feeling. He wished for someone to fill the emptiness, that could be said to be his soul.

He no longer felt the excitement of a fight, the blood that rushes at a extreme rate when your life is at stake, or the feeling of having your opponent clash sword with the same amount of pressure as you.

The feeling of seeing your opponent give up before you, is dull. The sensation of your opponents blade being knocked off in an instant, is disappointing. The emotion you get when there is nothing at stake, is boring.

The stronger he became, the duller his battles grew. No matter how much, no matter how many he fought. It would never satiate his thirst for a real battle.

That is why, ‘that’ day he found, what he searched for or that's what he thought...

“‘Light Speed’, now CHARGE FORWARD!”, he held the shield right in front of him, and charged forwards at an incredible speed.

Everything in his way either got thrown away or crushed under his foot.

The two arrived in the middle of a forest, his team member who was being held by him was dropped on the floor.

“We made it!”, he cheered before he realized what had transpired. ‘Oh crap.’, he realized the shield had lost its formal shape, and pieces were missing.

‘Well, I guess this is as far as I’ll go.’, he looked at his teammate rise up from the floor. “I don’t care at this point, is the shield alr—“

The white haired boy saw the remaining scrap of the golden shield.

‘I guess I’ll have to apologize to him later—‘, suddenly his collar was grabbed with immense strength, unbecoming of the young boy before him.

His body shuttered upon eye contact with the youth before him. Intense bloodlust emitting from the blood red irises, made contact with his. “What did you do!?”

The youth unhanded him, turned around and started muttering to itself, like it had thought it would make more sense not to care about him.

He, however did not listen to his muttering.

‘That boy…’, his mouth twisted into a creepy smile.

At that moment, he felt hope, something that should not have risen from the situation they were in. His heart trembled remembering those cold red eyes.

‘I hope, we get to fight each other!’, he promised to himself to battle the youth before him, in the hopes he would fulfill his emptiness. That is why…

 

 

 

“Come on! Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got?!”, together with heavy breathing together and an insane look in his red-black eyes, he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Don’t tell me your bloodlust was all for show!!!”

His disappointment upon engaging in battle against his desired opponent was saddening. “STAND UP!!!”

The white haired youth didn’t respond, his body lied there lifelessly, like all life within him disappeared.

“I congratulate you on making me activate ‘Berserk’, but if this is all you’ve got then…!”, to him it was an outrage what his opponent had done, betrayed his expectations and dragged him to such state without seeing it through.

“…”, lying limply like a corpse, no words were spoken. His body not showing a single movement, nor signs of life.

“Could it be?! The contestant Shiro has already been defeated?!”, the announcer commented on the happenings within the arena, but the ‘Berserker’ did not listen.

“STAND UP RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”, he demanded once again, he was on the breakdown of his hopes.

“Shut up.”, an unexpected reply came from the white haired boy. “You’ve still got some fight within you! Good!”

“Your voice is like a damn alarm, you’re making my eardrums go numb!”, he complained first thing in the moment of his awakening.

“NOW COME AT ME, SHIRO!”, his hopes risen, he prepared himself to take on...

a monster.