My Perfect Isekai: Pragmatic Protagonist, Progression Fantasy and Strategy

We returned to the tavern. The interior of the building smelled of smoke. Elena stood behind the counter. She wiped the boards with a cloth. She noticed it immediately. Shnee did not hunch her shoulders. The old fear disappeared. Predatory confidence replaced it. The elf walked step by step behind me. Loyalty radiated from her silhouette. We took a place at the head. The hostess placed the bowls. I ate the meal in silence. I needed calories after the visit to the hill. The utilization of the aristocracy burned resources. Shnee was alert. Her gaze scanned the surroundings. None of the guests dared to speak.

Halfway through the meal, I felt a strike. A pulsation spread through my weaves. My barrier in the north was taking hits. The trapped soldier lost his patience. He pounded the cage with the force of a ram. The signal in my head grew. I chewed the meat. I put the cup down on the counter.

”End of quarantine,” I threw.

I stood up from the bench. I threw on my coat. Shnee stood up soundlessly. Her rapier hissed in its scabbard. Elena did not ask questions. She knew this facial expression. She knew about final sentences. It was time to clean up the city.

We passed the gate of Oakhaven. The forest was unnaturally calm. The grass around had died. The trees lost their leaves. They were poisoned by a rotting aura. I stood before the barrier.

”I am taking this down,” I murmured.

I withdrew my will. The space cracked. The blockade disappeared. Wind struck from the gloom. It stank of old blood. The opponent emerged from behind broken trunks. Oni. He measured four meters. He was a mountain of muscle. Horns grew from his forehead. He wielded a katana. The blade was over two meters long. The steel smoked with toxic rust. The mutated soldier roared. The sound wave hit us. It tore moss from the stones. The trees trembled at their bases.

I yawned shortly. I scratched my neck.

”Stay back,” I ordered Shnee.

I unbuttoned the collar of my coat. I dropped it to the ground.

”Do not enter his zone. Pure logic speaks clearly,” I said. ”His mass will crush you on the first block attempt. Observe”.

The Oni charged. The earth exploded under his boots. The beast closed the distance in the blink of an eye. He took a swing. The great katana fell from the sky onto my skull. He wanted to cut me in half. My instinct fired. I did not dodge. I coated my forearms with slime. The sapphire coating hardened to the density of diamond. I raised my hands in a double guard. I took the hit hard.

The collision generated a roar. The monster’s rush drove my boots into the soil. The rusted steel stopped on the barrier. Sparks showered upward. My bones groaned under the pressure of this absurd mass. The Vessel withstood the resistance. Proper stance saved my joints.

”You hold it too wide,” I threw into his twisted face.

I deflected the blade outward. I twisted my hips. I delivered a right punch to his solar plexus. The armored hand drove into the gray meat with a wet slap. I heard the crack of breaking ribs.

A normal monster would fall to its knees. The mutated soldier ignored the damage. He felt no pain. Before I withdrew my arm, he hit me with his elbow. The blow hit straight into my temple. The world spun. Pure force threw me back. I flew ten meters. I hit my back against an oak trunk. The bark cracked with a snap. I fell to one knee. I felt a metallic taste in my mouth. I spat blood onto the grass. My high jumped to a higher level. Blood buzzed in my veins.

”Good boy,” I growled with a smile.

I sprang to my feet. I finally felt the resistance of matter. I choked the flow of my aura to a minimum. I wanted to feel every vibration of this clash. I wanted to play with this beast.

The Oni gave me no rest. He spun in place. He delivered a horizontal cut. I launched myself from the ground. I rolled under the whistling steel. The katana cut the trunk in half. Splinters showered to the ground. I found myself right under his legs. I punched his right knee. The joint crunched disgustingly. Mutated tissue immediately coated the damage. It stabilized the leg. The beast did not even slow down. It retaliated with a kick. I blocked it with my forearm. The force threw me back a few meters. I smiled wider. I missed this. I jumped over a fallen trunk. The Oni moved after me. He struck from above. I took a step to the side. The blade drove deep into the earth. I closed the distance. I delivered a series of blows to his ribs. Every strike sounded like hitting a hard bell. The beast growled. He tore the katana from the soil. He cut diagonally.

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I executed a fluid dodge. I let the steel pass millimeters from my face. I hit his kidney with a hook. The mutated soldier staggered. I did not lose pace. I grabbed him by the wrist. I blocked the arm. I kneed his thigh. Unfortunately, his mass was too great. He tore his hand from my grip. He swung his fist. I dodged the blow with a head movement. I entered his dead zone. I delivered a right hook to his jaw. The fight consumed the surroundings. Trees broke under the strikes of the katana. The earth was covered with craters. I liked it. This was a clash of pure mass. No cheap illusions. A brutal confrontation of organisms. I played with him. I read his moves. He was predictable. I waited for an error in his stance.

My breath was steady. Sweat ran down my neck. I dodged the next cut. I entered the clinch. I struck his chest twice. I bounced off the monster. I landed five meters away. Before I could pull another series, the monster corrected its movement with its wrist. The rusted tip of the falling blade drastically changed direction. It scratched my side. No roar. No breaking of bones. A simple scratch right above the hip. A shallow wound. I moved back to a safe distance. I smiled. I was ready for the next round.

Then the pain struck. My weaves burst into living fire. My legs suddenly refused to obey. I fell to the ground with a hollow grunt. The image before my eyes blurred. A persistent squeak played in my ears. The toxic rust from the katana forced its way straight into my bloodstream. It was not an ordinary venom. It was a corrosive taint. The acid literally began to burn my mana from the inside. Cells were boiling alive. I understood the seriousness of the situation. My artificial blockades were giving way. Regeneration could not keep up with the healing. The poison acted too aggressively. It was destroying the vitality of the Vessel.

I breathed hoarsely. Cold sweat flooded my forehead. Fists were not enough for this mountain of meat. I had no time to joyfully beat him for an hour. I needed a sharp weapon. I searched for a tool capable of piercing his mutated core with one thrust. My blood was turning into fire.

”Shnee! Rapier!” I roared with a torn throat.

The elf did not ask questions. The silvery weapon soared through the air. I caught the hilt in flight. The thin steel had no right to pierce the mutant’s armor. The rapier would break on his chest. I had to change the rules of the game. My mind presented me with a logical solution. I reached deep into my soul. I pulled out the recently awakened Gōtai.

Black aura poured out from my hand. I compressed the power directly onto the blade. The blade darkened in a fraction of a second. It turned into a pitch-black monolith. Sapphire sparks pulsed on the edges. A hard spiritual armor coated the silver. The brutal hardening with armor blocked the fragility of the material. My own Busoshoku Haki. The Oni was barely a meter away from me. He raised the katana for the final blow. The blade smoked from the taint. He wanted to cut off my head. I sprang from the ground with an inhuman roar. I ignored the acid burning in my veins. I cut off the pain signals. I entered his zone. I changed my style. End of the bar brawl. Ruthless fencing began.

The monster’s falling cut carried death. I did not take it stiffly. I struck with the black rapier diagonally. I parried the katana outward. I directed the momentum of his own weapon straight into the ground. The rusted steel struck the rock. I took a step to the side. I executed a lightning-fast arc cut. The black blade smoothly cut the thick tendons in his wrist. The Oni howled. Pure kinetic force did its job. He tried to tear the katana from the ground. I preempted him. I struck with the flat of the rapier straight into the middle of his weapon. A squeal of breaking iron resounded. The katana could not withstand the collision with the armored Gōtai. It shattered into tiny pieces. Rust showered onto the dead moss.

The monster froze in shock. I took the decisive step. I thrust. The black blade entered his chest. It pierced the thick ribs. It drove straight into the heart. I tore the core with one wrist movement. I destroyed the mutant’s power center. I tore the weapon from the wound. The mutated soldier drew in air with a whistle. His eyes lost their shine. The laws of nature claimed their property. The fury died out. The monster did not turn into ash. He was not a construct from the dungeon. He was a creature of blood. With a massive roar, he collapsed onto his back. He crushed the bushes under his weight. A smoking wreck remained of him. Black gore flowed from the open chest. The corpse lay motionless. It served as proof of the existence of the fallen kingdom. I left the body in peace.

I stood over him. The black coating disappeared from the rapier. I dropped the weapon. The silver clinked against the stone. I took a step back. My vision finally faded. My defense system lost to the acid. I fell hard to the ground. A massive wave of blood gushed from my mouth. I vomited black sludge. The poison burned the grass around my face with a disgusting hiss. My lungs stopped working. I was choking on my own gore. Pain turned off the fuses in my head. Paralysis covered my limbs.

”Dave!” Shnee’s voice broke through the darkness.

She ran to me in the blink of an eye. She fell to her knees straight into the puddle of my gore. She completely ignored the acid. The corrosive liquid began to burn the material of her pants. It destroyed her skin. The porcelain mask cracked. The elf’s face twisted in pure despair.

The streets flashed by as blurred streaks. The noise fell silent. We crashed into the tavern with a roar. The doors hit the wall. The hinges groaned. I slipped from her arms. I hit the boards with a hollow thud. Acid leaked from my mouth. The wood hissed. Darkness swallowed my mind. The last sound was the cry of the elf demanding help from Elena. I was brutally utilized by my own arrogance.