༺ Training (1) ༻
1.
Through a combination of administrative maneuvering and the usage of magical devices, the darkness in that certain place had been consigned to oblivion.
In the underground of Seoul, in a forgotten drainage tunnel, Della let out a bitter laugh.
“If they found out how much of a mess I’ve become…a bunch of them are definitely going to cheer for it…”
Just as she said, that was a likely outcome.
Since she had been snatching whatever she wanted, using whatever method she could use, there were numerous people that held resentment toward her.
If those people were to see this sorry sight, they’d definitely burst into laughter.
After all, the greedy Witch of Ashfire, Della, was moaning in pain. Barely keeping herself alive while struggling like a worm.
Her current appearance was indeed miserable.
The once vivid red hair now looked like a tangled mess of blood and dust.
Her limbs were impaled with white spears as she hung on the wall like a preserved insect.
Due to her repeated bouts of blood-vomiting, a strong stench and the thick smell of blood wafted from her mouth and the chest area of her dress.
Was it painful, you ask?
Well, at this point, she couldn’t even feel a thing anymore.
She was undoubtedly a 20th rank grand witch.
Not only that, she was also abundant in combat experience. Even so, she still suffered a brutal defeat when Paola brought out thirty two White Knights at once to deal with her.
But, this outcome simply didn’t make sense.
While it was true that she suffered a devastating defeat by those White Knights…
Despite their status as the clones of the Red Knight, they only had four ‘eyes’.
Normally, let alone thirty two of them, even if Paola were to bring a hundred of them at once, Della would still be able to beat them. Overwhelmingly so.
But the outcome was completely different than that.
They were different from the typical Homunculi. Those White Knights could move systematically, they could use their intelligence to hunt her down relentlessly.
The white spears in their hands contributed the most to her downfall.
Those spears were clones to the ‘Red Branch’, the weapon of the Red Knight which possessed the ability to distort the space.
The spear’s ability forced Della to use more power than necessary just to beat one of them, which led to her defeat after merely taking care of twenty of them.
-Clack, clack, clack!
As someone entered the spacious chamber, the sound of footsteps echoed in the air.
Following that, three White Knights guarding Della made way to reveal the ‘Cowardly Witch’, Paola.
In her hand was a long-necked bottle.
“Drink.”
“…”
“You won’t last a day if you don’t drink.”
Della glared at Paola with sharp eyes before opening her mouth.
As she bit the spout of the bottle that was pushed into her mouth, a foul and tasteless liquid flowed in.
Inside the bottle were various potions that could heal a spirit body.
This was the reason why she had survived for so long, even though her body was pierced all over by the White Knights’ spears.
“…Paola…”
After feeding Della all the potion, Paola turned around to leave, but the former stopped her.
So, the latter turned around again with an indifferent gaze.
Her unblemished face wore a completely expressionless face.
Having spent more day after day dangling in the communal space, Della had been observing every move Paola made.
Using the cloned ‘Dagon’s Flute’, Paola had massacred humans without deploying any interdimensional barrier just to collect a large amount of mana.
Just like Paola, Della was a grand witch.
That was why she could easily figure out that the magic circle that was etched across the commune, with the Red Branch in the center, was part of some kind of preparation.
And so, she gave the other witch a piece of advice.
“Just quit already…”
“As I thought, meaningless words again.”
But Paola shrugged off her advice, showing no interest whatsoever towards it.
“Paola!”
In a weary voice, Della called out to her once more.
Fluttering her eyelashes, Paola turned to face Della again.
“Do you even know what you’re trying to achieve right now?”
“I’m gathering a ton of mana.”
“You’re doing a mass slaughter!”
Seoul was a highly populous city.
Now, say that Paola sent her White Knight order and let them loose in the city.
Would the witches be able to stop them?
They’d eventually call out a big-shot like Duchess Keter to solve it, as there was no way such an incident would end with only one or two casualties.
To put it simply, no matter what Paola did, things would turn south for her and Della knew it well.
Despite everything, Paola was still her friend and she didn’t want her friend to cause such a horrific event.
That was why she decided to take matters into her own hands and tried to end her life.
“So what?”
But Paola didn’t even flinch.
The witch was already broken.
And Della already expected this to some extent, but she didn’t expect that it would be this bad.
“Even if you can bring her back to life by using the distortion, Duchess Keter will still deal with you in the end—! And her too! Your apprentice— Cough! Cough!”
So, she desperately tried to talk some sense into her friend, to the point that she let out a series of violent coughs.
There was even blood coming out of her mouth.
Seeing her in pain, Paola wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Gently.
“Della, silly Della.”
She uttered. Her words came out as if it was a song.
Thinking that she was mocking her, Della quickly turned her head, trying to avoid her touch.
“…”
“Duchess Keter won’t move.”
“How do you know…?”
“The ‘Witch of Whispers’ told me.”
Della eyed her suspiciously.
“Do you really believe that imposter?”
“Of course. At least she’s more reliable than you, someone who acted like a friend of mine, but ended up stabbing me in the back.”
“You know that she’s a liar! She doesn’t give a damn about you!”
“Stop shouting. The echoes are hurting my head.”
Wearing a somber expression, Paola gently shut Della’s mouth.
The latter still had something to say, but she seemed to give up as she let out a deep sigh.
Since Paola had already made contact with that snake, she was pretty much a lost cause.
The venom injected by the Witch of Whispers was a venom without antidote.
By now, the venom must have seeped into every corner of her broken heart.
That was why, considering that she had betrayed and attacked Paola before, Della would be unable to persuade her anymore.
“Then…why do you keep me around if you don’t trust me…? Just end me already…”
Della’s half-defeated heart pushed out words she wouldn’t normally say.
To some extent, her words were genuine.
Though she didn’t fancy the idea of dying, being impaled with spears while getting hung on the wall all day was purely agonizing to her.
With no daylight, the passage of time became a blur and she could feel her sanity slowly slipping away.
“No matter how much you complain, I can’t let you go. You know all about my plans, so you’re definitely going to interfere with them.”
“…At least let me clean my body. I swear I’m going to die from disgust…”
Hearing that, Paola snapped her fingers.
All the dirt on Della’s body vanished at once.
“You should’ve asked earlier, I left you like that because I thought you enjoyed it.”
“…Are you crazy? Of course not.”
Paola paid no heed to Della’s complaint and vanished among the White Knights.
Suddenly, she stopped and spoke without looking back.
“I won’t kill you.”
Her final words echoed through the vast space multiple times.
“Because deep down, I still consider you a friend.”
2.
‘In the future, you’ll pick up the skills to navigate through the Myriad Weapon Mastery Covenant. However, when you come to face enemies holding swords and spears, you’ll inevitably find yourself in ambiguous situations. That’s when boxing comes in handy.’
Having explained this, Eloa restricted Siwoo from using his weapons.
Not only that, she also prevented him from creating his black armor.
So, whenever he trained, he could only rely on his mana to toughen his body up for unarmed combat.
The goal of his recent training was to improve his proficiency in Fa Jin.
So that he could use Fa Jin freely at any time from any position, just like Eloa.
“Hah!”
After exchanging a few blows, Siwoo found an opening in Eloa’s defense.
So, he crouched down and charged at her.
What he was trying to do here was to lift her lower half off the ground with a tackle.
But it wasn’t just any normal tackle. He used his mana to strengthen his body.
At the peak moment of strength, he used Fa Jin to stay in control.
It was a killing move, it was fast, nearly invisible, and it had enough force to knock down an elephant.
Sadly, the move failed to fulfill his goal.
“Ugh!”
With a swift movement, Eloa sidestepped before striking deftly between his legs. Her movements were similar to that of a matador dodging a bull.
Her kick managed to completely throw Siwoo off balance.
Then, she seized the back of his neck as he was about to tumble forward, effortlessly pining him to the ground.
Well, to be exact, she was trying to lift him off the ground to soften the impact he’d receive, but…
-Bang!
The sheer force was enough to shatter the concrete beneath them.
This was the 50th takedown.
Eloa clicked her tongue in disapproval.
“Do you really think charging in like an enraged wild boar is the way to go? Your movements are too big and clunky.”
“Haah…haah…isn’t calling me a wild boar a little too much…?”
Siwoo rubbed the back of his head as he got up.”
“You only looked straight ahead, charged in and fell on your own. If you aren’t a wild boar, what are you?”
Eloa’s teasing seemed to hit home as he scratched his head.
As they continued their training and sparring sessions, Siwoo noticed that they’ve grown closer.
At this point, Eloa had oftenly spoken to him in a teasing manner.
Thanks to her relaxed attitude, Siwoo became more comfortable to grumble and complain from time to time.
“You were the one who told me to stop being timid and start to make big and powerful moves.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you should charge in and leave a bunch of openings. Did you forget the other thing that I said? You don’t need to make big moves to perform a powerful move?”
“This is so hard…”
“Obviously, it’s training. The only easy thing to do during training is lying down doing nothing. C’mon, get up.”
As Eloa extended her hand, Siwoo took it to pull himself up.
A month had passed since they started their training. Autumn had already settled in.
In comparison to the early days when Eloa’s every move left him stumbling, he had been making notable progress. But, there were no clear signs of further improvement.
Then again, the other person was a real warrior with years of experience in battle. There was no way he’d be able to catch up to her with just a few days of training.
“Is there anything else you want to show me?”
“Yes. It would be a shame to end it just like this.”
Siwoo felt a substantial wall between him and Eloa.
A wall that seemed to think for him to overcome.
But that didn’t necessarily lead him to despair, or make him give up.
That wasn’t his style at all.
Just trying to climb such a high wall would already bring him a sense of accomplishment.
He knew that if he replaced the time he would waste by despairing with putting in more effort, he’d end up accomplishing more.
Since he had a clear goal and purpose for learning, his concentration never wavered.
After wrapping up the sparring, he’d head home and watch some UFC matches.
The technique that Eloa called ‘wild boar tackle’ was something that he had seen in a match the day before.
“Having ambition is always a good thing. As long as you yearn for more and work towards it, your effort will eventually bore fruits.”
She didn’t show it, but Eloa actually looked at him with admiration.
He was a considerably patient man, and she knew this.
But, for him to endure over ten hours of daily beatings while sticking to the training routine was still something that she didn’t expect him to do.
She felt like she was a bit biased, but she thought that he was a handsome book smart.
“By the way, there’s something I need to tell you about the attack the other day.”
“Yes?”
Eloa adjusted her slightly disheveled windbreaker before turning around.
“Do you know when the most dangerous moment in a fight is?”
“Uh, in a physical fight or magic combat?”
“Both.”
When she saw him staying silent, Eloa continued.
“It’s when you attack.”
“When I…attack?”
“Whenever you’re attacking, your vision would narrow and your mind would get fixated on one thing, offense, and nothing else. Because of this, you’ll leave a bunch of openings, that’s why…”
Eloa placed her hand on her waist while extending one finger on her other hand.
“Always keep this in mind during battle. Keep your mind open, keep your view broad.”
The training with the Duchess had a bit of a philosophical vibe.
She didn’t only teach skills that one could use with their bodies, but also teach one how to train their mind.
“Can you tell me more about it? Like, can you show me specific stances I can use or how to cover up my opening in my attacks?”
“This is not about forcing everything into a mold. You need to do it naturally, let it flow just like water. I’m only here to guide you so you won’t stray from the path of the flowing stream. Everything else is up to you.”
“Got it, I’ll give it a shot.”
‘As expected, her advice sounds like a riddle.’
Siwoo thought so, but despite that, he didn’t doubt her.
Because he knew better than anyone else that his skills were improving rapidly.
“Alright, let’s do it again.”
“Bring it on.”
Watching his fighting spirit rekindled again, Eloa let out a faint smile.
Eloa in her casual clothes
