An Old Man from the Countryside Becomes a Swords Saint: I Was Just a Rural Sword Teacher, But My Successful Students Won’t Leave Me Alone! - Chapter 29

29 - The Old Man From The Countryside Struggles

Straight rush.

Right claw swipe.

Fast. And probably heavy.

If I just duck into its pocket, 1 it’ll crush me with its weight.

The attack is going outward.

I slash upward as a counter.

I’m in. However…

Its tough hide refuses to yield, a shock runs up my sword to my arm.

“GRRRR…!”

“Shiit, it’s too tough after all…!” I grunt.

I hit it with a thrust but I don’t think it’s going to work at all. It didn’t even injure it, I just hurt its outermost layer of skin.

This is going to be difficult unless I can hit it with a sword with considerable sharpness and mass, or put my whole body into a blow from a good position, or attack what I think is a vital point.

“For goodness sake, this is so tough…!” I said.

It’ll take at least 1 minute for Selena to give Porta first aid then evacuate him to a safe zone. If you think about it in normal circumstances, it’ll take 2, 3 minutes.

In the meantime, I think it’s too much of a burden for this old man to completely distract Xeno Glaive by himself.

“GOOAAAHHH…!”

Unable to kill its prey in a single strike or after two, Xeno Glaive roars and makes itself larger in an obvious display of rage.

I have no idea how many hits it will take to get it to give up.

On the other hand, if I get hit even once, I’ll be out immediately.

It’s an insane tightrope walking act.

“–Fuh!”

Xeno Glaive pounces and tries to swipe at both my sides, I dodge, and then I slash at its front legs as it tries to jump back.

However, it barely does anything at all. If anything, its limbs are even tougher than the torso. With this, the option of slashing its limbs and crippling its fighting ability is gone.

“Now then, that usually means the weakness is the face…!”

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I look at the situation from a distance.

That said, it’s only a few meters at best. With Xeno Glaive, it’s a distance it can close in an instant.

The face. It’s best if I can hit the inside of its mouth or directly at an eyeball.

From the feedback of all those slashes, the other parts may just be a bit too tough, too. There may be no choice but to cut up its wings but this opponent is too big and my reach is not enough.

“Porta! Stay with me!”

If I look to the side and towards the voice for a moment, I see Selena has just reached Porta.

She put out a potion from her chest and poured it generously all over his body.

… This is tough. Even if Selena could return to the front line, it’d probably become impossible to evacuate Porta and the other two newcomers.

Naturally, our survival relies on killing Xeno Glaive here or at least incapacitating it.

Why did this happen? If I could, I felt like crying and returning to the capital.

But that’s not possible.

Behind me are the lives of three newbie adventurers.

It would be a shame for a swordsman to just give up here and run away.

I’m a mediocre old man but I’m not so despicable as to abandon my pride as a swordsman.

I couldn’t even face my former disciples then!

“… I’ve got no choice but to do it!”

With plenty of energy, I launched myself at Xeno Glaive.

“GRUAAHHH…!”

“Hmn…!”

It tries to intercept with its left foreleg, I dodge and attack with my sword.

I can’t win if I face it head-on. There’s too much of a strength difference between large monster species and humans.

Hence, it’s necessary to dodge while manipulating the direction of the force with my sword, then strike back as Xeno Glaive recovered. Even ordinary defensive tactics are straight out of the question.

“Match, point! is what I wish I had…!”

After dodging another of Xeno Glaive’s attacks, I slash once from the side.

I’m moving my legs, so I just can’t make a strong blow. I can’t expect any damage but for now, it’s enough to see that it’s an annoying feathered pest flying around me.

We’ll defeat it after Selena joins back up.

Keeping Xeno Glaive’s attention on me and surviving it is the top priority until she finishes treating Porta.

“GROWRrrruUU…!”

Xeno Glaive also doesn’t seem to have suffered any damage. It’s pretty tough for a swordsman not to have even inflicted a few bleeding wounds.

“Grrr…!”

“… Shi…!”

A charge is coming, dodge.

Claws are coming, also dodge.

Charge, dodge, charge, dodge, slash, didn’t work, charge again, dodge.

Hmm, even though it’s a Named monster, I wonder if its basic moves are still like other griffons. Speaking of its moves, there’s only charges, claw swipes, and beak pecks, and although the speed and power were nothing to sniff at, it doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

If this is the case, we may be able to fend it off once Selena joins back.

However, my hands are arching because of the repeated deflection and parrying. My upper arms are getting tired and my waist is stiffening up. I hate getting old, don’t you?

But whatever it was, it wasn’t something I could let my guard down around.

It was just big and quick and its fur color is different, so it shouldn’t be a Named. There had to be something that set it apart.

If I eat a single attack here, it’s still the end, so I have to focus.

But it’s difficult. I don’t feel like I can win normally.

“GUAARRRR…!!”

“… Oh?”

I’m sure he feels like I’m the annoying insect, that roar makes its irritation clear as day.

Xeno Glaive’s tail, which keeps constantly moving with hesitation, is right at the corner of my eye.

… Isn’t it best if I try to slice it off?

There seems to be an opportunity for a non-standard rising slash.

“GRRAAH…!”

“… Toh!”

I can’t afford to get lost in my thoughts.

Xeno Glaive changes positions and charges again.

“Shi!”

I wondered if I could slice it if it stuck its face right at me, but that seemed to be useless.

Even if I try to swing my sword in time with its charges, it moves too fast and I don’t have the time to align the tip of my blade. It’s not impossible but if I do it, it’ll have to be a trade. In short, I’ll get blown away.

In order to make an effective hit, I have to stop its movement, even for a moment.

However, it’s not a bad bet and I’d like to get it into a bit of a better position here.

“Uori-YAH!”

I avoided a physical attack and swung my longsword.

As it was, I spin behind Xeno Glaive and with the centrifugal force, slash upwards.

It’s an estimate, but the distance and timing should be correct.

I’m going to hit this bastard!

“GyaaaaAAA…?!”

“… It’s a hit!”

I feel my blade tearing through Xeno Glaive’s long tail.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t completely severed, but I was able to leave a deep cut. Blood drips out of it.

“GOOOoooAAAHHHH…!”

Xeno Glaive roars louder than ever before.

Ah, it’s gone berserk, hasn’t it?

Most wild animals and monsters tended to go wild when they were critically injured. If you can win, beat it at once, and if you can’t win, run away at the first opportunity. It’s not uncommon to receive a painful counterattack if you don’t make that sort of decisive move.

“GAAAH…!”

“Oh–woah!”

It was immediately after that furious roar.

Xeno Glaives’ large beak spat out a scorching bullet.

–I knew it! I knew there had to be something!

I thought it wouldn’t be strange to have some hidden feature, which is common with Named, and this is it.

I was able to dodge the sudden long-range attack because I had planned for it to have something up its sleeve. And because I was fighting Lucy before, I was able to consider such an attack.

Well, experience is important after all. I don’t really want to thank Lucy, though.

“Grruuh…?!”

It probably didn’t expect me to dodge, Xeno Glaive stops for a moment.

If there was a time to step, it’s now.

“… Jyaah!”

Thinking sometimes gets in the way of respecting speed.

Abandon all avoidance and charge straight ahead.

Hold the longsword straight and plunge straight into the mouth of Hell.

“FUCK YOU, YOU BASTARD!”

“GOOOoooooOOOHHHH…!”

I felt the sensation of penetrating something soft.

But, not yet.

I’m not done just yet.

As it was, so long as I had strength, I’ll continue with a furious assault–

“… Wait, what?”

Contrary to my will, my arms don’t budge.

I, I can’t pull it out!

Oh no, oh no! What do I do?!

“–You’ve been rampaging a lot, you shitty bastard.”

At that moment.

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A whispered but powerful voice.

The one with scorching eyes, killing intent cold as absolute zero, the “Twin Dragon Sword”.

“GYURUUEAAAHHHH….!!”

From directly above Xeno Glaive, Selena Lysandera stabbed her twin fangs into both its eyes.