Let's Defeat the Etoroki

"Whoa…"

Something between a word and a sigh escaped Azu as she held her sword at the ready.

When they'd fought an Etoroki before, they'd had a reasonably difficult time.

She'd braced herself for a similar struggle this time, but it turned out to be completely anticlimactic.

At first, Azu had some trouble dealing with the Etoroki's club swings, but once Finn got inside its guard, she barely had to do anything.

Finn's fighting style was simple.

After getting inside its reach, she circled around behind it and gouged out the backs of both its knees with her daggers.

Despite the Etoroki's high regeneration, it couldn't stay standing and collapsed.

When it tried to counterattack with its still-functional upper body, swinging its club while turning around, Finn was no longer there.

She'd jumped upward.

As she landed, she pointed her dagger's blade downward and drove it into the shoulder joint with her full body weight behind it.

Whether it was her technique or the weapon's capabilities that let her cut through the dense muscle without resistance was unclear.

Having damaged the tendons in its joint, the arm holding the club went limp.

The Etoroki tried to grab Finn with its other hand, but she slipped away.

As the wounds on both knees started healing, the Etoroki tried to stand again.

That's when Finn slashed at its ankles with her daggers.

The Etoroki failed to stand and collapsed face-first to the ground.

Timed perfectly, Alexia's magic struck, and the Etoroki's body burst into flames.

It rolled around on the ground trying to extinguish the fire.

It had all happened in an instant since the battle began.

It was no wonder Azu was dumbfounded.

This was a fighting style only possible for someone who knew every vital point of human anatomy.

She couldn't mimic it even if told to.

"A human would be long dead by now, but this thing sure is stubborn."

Finn maintained her distance and returned to Azu's side.

Despite being engulfed in flames, the Etoroki got back up.

Smoke rose from the places Finn had wounded, the injuries healing before their eyes.

"I think you have to behead it or gouge out its heart."

"Seems like it. It recovers faster than full-body burns can kill it… how does that even work?"

"If you create an opening like before, I'll manage somehow."

"Oh, fine. I'll leave it to you then. It'd be too much trouble for me to cut through that neck."

"Yes."

Finn's daggers were suited for stabbing and gouging vital points, but not for severing the Etoroki's thick, muscle-covered neck.

From her tone, it sounded like she could do it if she had to, but she'd judged it would be easier to leave it to Azu.

It was simply a matter of the right tool for the job.

The flames covering the Etoroki died down.

Its surface fur had burned away and its skin was charred, but even those wounds were beginning to heal.

What tremendous regeneration. To overcome fire, a weakness for any living creature, even when bathed in it across its entire body.

Full-body burns would leave a human hovering between life and death.

This was why they'd struggled so much in their previous battle, fighting for so long.

Back then, they'd managed thanks to a Spartian warrior who'd fought the Etoroki head-on. This time, Finn would serve as their containment.

Finn and Azu charged the Etoroki together, using their agility to keep it off balance.

When an attack was directed at Azu, the freed-up Finn would destroy its joints again.

When Finn was targeted instead, Azu would slash at it with her sword to interfere.

Wounds accumulated faster than it could heal.

When its movements slowed, Alexia's magic dealt damage and slowed it further.

With both arms and both legs injured, the Etoroki stopped moving.

"Now!"

"Yah!"

At Finn's signal, Azu raised her sword high, drew upon the Apostle's power, and swung through at its neck.

The sword bit halfway through the neck before the compressed muscle stopped its progress.

But that meant nothing against the Sealed Sword Grungaus's ability.

As hardening activated, the halted sword slid through and sent the head flying.

Azu flicked the blood from her blade after the follow-through and let out a breath.

"Don't let your guard down!"

A rebuke came from Alexia behind her.

Azu flinched and leaped backward.

The Etoroki's hand was reaching for her, moving even without its head.

The hand groped around as if searching for its head, found it where it had rolled, and placed it back in position.

Finn immediately kicked the head away and plunged her dagger into where the heart should be.

Only then did the Etoroki finally stop moving and die.

Just to be safe, they kept watch for a while. Once they confirmed it was truly defeated, they collected the magic stone and a red gemstone, leaving everything else behind.

Etoroki meat was too tough to eat.

There were usable materials, but the fur had burned away, and the club was just a carved tree trunk with little value despite its weight.

A red gemstone emerged from where its heart had been.

This was an item they hadn't gotten last time since they'd blown the heart apart.

It had an eerie gleam.

It could probably be used for some kind of magical tool, so they'd take just the magic stone and this.

If they'd had room, they would have loaded the entire corpse, but all the wagons were fully loaded this time.

They burned the body so other beasts and monsters wouldn't eat it, then left the area.

"That was a decent monster. I can actually feel that I've gotten a little stronger."

"You can actually feel it? I usually only realize I've gotten stronger after the fact."

"That's probably whether or not you've had proper training."

Alexia explained.

Though Azu received training from Elza, Finn, and Alexia, she'd reached this point mostly through her own methods.

The only form she could claim to know was the one she'd copied from the Ash King.

Through battle, it had refined itself into a capable technique, but she wasn't conscious of every part of her body.

"Then again, being able to do that at your age makes Finn the weird one."

"It's talent, pure talent."

Finn said with a hint of pride.

Alexia brushed it off with a "yeah, yeah" and headed back to the wagon.

Azu and the others cleaned off the blood and followed.

The merchants who had been watching anxiously from within Elza's barrier seemed relieved the battle had ended safely.

Protecting them was part of the job this time.

She'd thought they would be fine, but she was genuinely glad everything worked out.

They were almost at their destination.