NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Chapter
Immediately after Riraum confidently stepped out with the finished weapon, she was abducted by Rionne.
“What? You’re asking me to teach her? You can do it yourself.”
“I can’t do it, that’s why!”
“Oh my goodness, damn it—what a load of nonsense.”
Riraum shot a glance towards Enok, who was watching from a distance with suspicious eyes, clearly thinking, ‘You made a weapon that quickly? It must be a defective product.’
Riraum had no intention of making excuses. Why should she explain that she enhanced her hammer with Ki for speed and quality, or lecture him about her vision?
Once they use it, they’ll figure it out.
“Ugh, whatever. Just let her get hit a few times and she’ll learn.”
Hit? She’s going to hit Enok!?
Rionne threw a fit, but Riraum strode away without a care.
The brat was glaring at her with a sulky expression.
“Here.”
Riraum handed over the completed weapon.
A pair of gloves with a faint green glow.
They didn’t look flimsy, yet their soft appearance raised doubt in Enok’s eyes.
“Okay, then.”
As Enok put on the gloves haphazardly, Riraum lifted her hammer.
“…?”
“Let’s see how you do, kid.”
Whoosh-!
The hammer swung,
Boom-!
Enok’s new weapon crashed through the smithy wall and flew far away.
Enok…! Leaving Rionne, who wailed, behind, Riraum stomped on the ground.
As her weapon extended rapidly, she spotted Enok wincing, evidently feeling the sting in his hand from the impact.
“Ugh, damn dwarf.”
“Look at your attitude! I’ve lived several times longer than you, brat!”
Whoosh-! Bang-! Riraum swung her hammer.
Enok followed the hammer with his eyes and dodged.
It was fast, yet didn’t seem particularly tricky, making it not too hard to avoid.
“Oh, dodging now?”
Whoosh-! Riraum’s hammer glowed with red mana.
Truly, it was a blazing hammer.
“You’ll have a tough time adapting!”
The gloves Enok wore were a masterpiece painstakingly crafted by an irate Riraum.
While they were already excellent weapons in their own right, handling them properly required considerable skill.
So this fight was also a kind of test.
But just a tiny bit of venting.
The intention of the training Rionne requested was also… just a little bit included.
Glaring at Riraum, Enok extended his hand.
Power was clearly on her side.
In that case, he would deflect it.
Thud-, his hand made contact with the side of the descending hammer.
If he pushed it away like that,
Boom-!
A thunderous sound echoed from the hammer jammed into the ground.
With a swish, Enok instantly condensed lightning into his remaining hand.
Schtk-!
The dwarf’s stubby physique.
A single hole poked through was all it took, hence he needed a second attack.
Piercing Kill!
His sharpened fingers aimed for Riraum’s chest.
Riraum’s eyes lit up.
“Oh?”
A smirk appeared on her lips, and in an instant, her figure vanished.
“Already handling it that well?”
As a voice came from behind, Enok quickly turned around, still unable to retract the hand that unleashed the Piercing Kill.
Seeing the swinging hammer, he fumbled for words.
“Gather, defend.”
Zap-! Lightning coalesced to form a barrier.
That was the Lightning Shield.
While it lacked some defense,
Crack-!
It would buy him a little time.
Amidst that, Enok slipped away, eyeing Riraum.
“Ha-ha, look at this. That girl really made a monster!”
Still tracking the dwarven laughter, Enok sneaked a glance at the strange sensation in his hand.
And indeed,
“This is…?”
The lightning-formed claws took on a rather clear shape.
Moreover, they seemed stronger than the effort put in.
Having realized this glove was sturdy when he blocked the hammer earlier, he could tell that it wasn’t just an ordinary item.
Of course, Enok didn’t care about that.
“Not a big deal.”
“What did you say!?”
The enraged dwarf charged in.
The strength felt from her attack, the power she could muster herself.
Calculating calmly, Enok dashed in to confront her.
“Gather, blend together.”
Lightning infused with magic layered over his claws.
The strongest attack he could launch in this state was,
Carnage – One Element.
He used the Carnage – One Element that formed the Piercing Kill.
While the Piercing Kill was more straightforward, unexpectedly, the One Element itself proved to be more powerful.
Boom─────────!
The hammer and claws collided.
Enok sensed it.
He could fling the hammer away and smash that dwarf’s head.
However, Riraum was an experienced warrior.
Before Enok could even deflect the hammer, his hand was sent flying back with a thwump!
“……!?”
“Brat, I’ve been a blacksmith for over two hundred years!”
While regular blacksmithing and combat skills don’t have much in common, if experience piled up over centuries…
Plus, with numerous battle experiences added on top of that?
As a result, Riraum was able to shape not only metal but also use her hammer to manipulate other objects.
Be it a head, or a weapon.
That was all there was to it.
“I’ll only hit you once!”
An infuriated dwarf’s hammer came crashing down over Enok’s head.
Enok felt it instinctively.
Ah, this is gonna hurt a lot.
As the hammer loomed larger above his wide-open eyes,
“NO!!”
Boom────────!!!
This time, the hammer was sent flying far away.
Barely managing not to drop the hammer, Riraum messed with her expression.
“No, you brat! You asked for help!”
“Even so, how can you hit a kid!?”
Enok stood there in a daze.
Before he knew it, Rionne had rushed to him and embraced him in protection.
“Hah, damn it…! Enough of this, you brat! Let’s settle this right now!”
The red energy swirling around Riraum’s hammer intensified.
The mana, which had been gradually darkening, soon contained the stars from Riraum’s imagination, and people referred to it as such.
Proof of a Master, Ki.
*
Of course, the Master couldn’t do anything about Rionne.
Riraum, feeling humiliated, brought over a huge barrel and started chugging it down.
“Ugh…! Damn it!”
“Watch your language! There’s a child here.”
“Ugh, whatever.”
Riraum scowled with her teeth clenched as she gulped down more beer.
No matter how you looked at it, that girl was clearly still hung up about some old grudge.
Seeing her still getting riled up over something that happened over a century ago, she must have a heart smaller than a sardine inside that massive chest!
“Anyway, Enok, get it? Dwarves are not a race to be underestimated. Those gloves are good, right?”
“Hmph.”
“Enok?”
It was just her calling his name once more.
But Enok pressed his lips tightly together, then finally nodded.
“…Yeah.”
“And what I said before was all about her. Other dwarves have a good reputation all across the continent.”
“What the hell!? You brat!?”
Riraum screamed in anger.
Without a particular reaction, Rionne just glared at her.
Still fuming over what happened back then…
She couldn’t just straightforwardly deal with it.
Huffing, the real Rionne rose from her place.
“Now that we’re at it, wanna go meet some other dwarves too?”
“Hmm?”
“The dwarves gathered here are all obsessed with blacksmithing and can be a bit quirky… but still, if you meet them, you might change your mind about them.”
After a moment of hesitation, Enok nodded.
Honestly, he wasn’t particularly eager, but because it was Rionne’s suggestion, he decided to accept it.
*
Reluctantly guiding them, Riraum grumbled.
“Why drag me along for this?”
“How many dwarves do you think I know besides you?”
“That’s true, seeing as you’re the legendary Swordmaster.”
She spat that out grumpily, but it wasn’t wrong.
The thousand-year Swordmaster was notorious for various tales, but among dwarves, she was known as a dwarf-hater.
Of course, Rionne didn’t genuinely hate dwarves.
But if one were to ask if she had earned that infamous title, well… who knows.
Her own words and actions played a significant part in it.
If you asked Rionne, she would probably blame it all on Riraum.
“Now, here’s the Old Man’s Smithy. This is where the oldest dwarf in this volcano stays.”
Ah, but surely he’s younger than Rionne.
Riraum added that in and received a slap.
“Anyone home?”
Rionne knocked on the smithy door.
“What are you knocking for? Just come in.”
Boom-! Riraum kicked the door open.
Immediately, a response came back.
“Who the hell!?”
“It’s me, old man!”
“You damn brat…!”
Thud-! Thud-! Footsteps echoed, and soon a dwarf appeared.
With white hair and a wrinkled face.
But thanks to bulging muscles, his skin looked oddly firm.
Enok stared at the muscular elder, who was even shorter than him.
“What are you all doing? Elves and humans?”
“Don’t you recognize us?”
Riraum grinned.
“It’s the thousand-year Swordmaster.”
The response was instantaneous.
“Kyaaaaa! A witch…! A witch has appeared…!”
Enok’s disdain for dwarves surged once again.