With the longsword infused with every last ounce of strength, a decisive crimson arc carved through the air and slammed into the Minotaur's thick neck, which pain had left unable to guard properly.
Thhk!
The dull tearing sound landed hard. Tough hide, dense muscle, even the thick cervical bone were forced apart under that single strike.
Dark red blood erupted like a fountain. The Minotaur's bloodshot eyes, full of brutality and agony, went blank in an instant. Its massive body stiffened for a heartbeat, then collapsed like a pile of blocks with all the support yanked out, crashing into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
A moment later, the huge corpse began to crumble into black ash, leaving behind a magic stone several times larger than a normal one. It was deep-colored, heavy with dense magical fluctuations.
"Haa…"
Only then did Genichi slowly let out the breath he'd been holding in his chest. His sword hand trembled faintly, the aftershocks of overexertion still running through his muscles.
He looked at the rapidly dispersing ash and the conspicuous magic stone, and instead of exhilaration at killing a powerful enemy, a clear understanding rose in him.
This LV.2 elite Minotaur was truly hard to kill.
If, at the critical moment, he hadn't used [Spell Compendium] to land Demon King Valion and smash the Minotaur's internal organs…
Then with his current melee ability alone, trying to kill a thick-skinned, terrifyingly strong monster like this head-on would have been close to impossible.
Magic had decided this fight.
And that made his weakness even clearer: a severe lack of hand-to-hand fundamentals and sword technique.
Yes, his five basic parameters had been ground up to S-rank, brushing near the cap. His power, speed, and endurance were far beyond an ordinary LV.1.
But high parameters didn't automatically mean high skill.
At his core, Genichi was still a rookie with scarce combat experience and no systematic martial foundation.
In his previous life, he'd been an ordinary person. In that slice-of-life crossover world, he'd never had a chance to learn real fighting. In DxD, Rias's "special training" had been more about taking hits and feeling the gap, not about being taught anything refined.
After arriving in Orario, his growth had leaned too heavily on skills to grind parameters. Most of his fighting style relied on parameter advantage and instinctive reactions.
What he "knew" was simple: grip the sword tight and swing or stab at a weak point with everything he had.
With the speed and power granted by high parameters, that worked fine against weak, slow monsters.
But against something like a Minotaur, with real battle instinct and brutal defense, that crude hack-and-slash approach quickly ran out of road. It struggled to produce effective damage and made it easier for the enemy to catch an opening and counter.
Like just now. Without the perfect window created by magic, his strike might not have cleanly severed that thick, resilient neck.
"Your magic… hits hard."
Lunoire's voice came from behind him, cutting through his thoughts.
She walked up, brown eyes flicking over the magic stone on the ground, then back to Genichi. Her tone carried a blunt, objective assessment.
"With LV.1 as your base, being able to use a spell strong enough to seriously injure, even kill, a LV.2 elite… that destructive power accounted for at least ninety-nine percent of your win. Not bad as a trump card."
She'd seen the rawness in his melee technique, but didn't point it out. Instead, she acknowledged the value of his magic.
As an escort, her job was to keep the client alive. She didn't need to lecture him on fighting style unless that style threatened his survival.
Genichi didn't reply. He stepped forward in silence and picked up the Minotaur's magic stone.
It was heavy in his palm, far heavier than any stone he'd taken before.
So this was the "LV.2 bonus."
He heard what Lunoire said.
Was the spell strong?
Of course it was.
Even though the Demon King Valion he could currently use was nowhere near the world-ending output Alfia displayed in the original, its power already surpassed the standard offensive magic held by most LV.2 adventurers in Orario. It might even be brushing the bombardment level of some LV.3 mages.
After all, Riveria Ljos Alf, known as one of the "Nine Hell" mages, was famous in Orario for the sheer power of her bombardment magic.
The potential of Genichi's Demon King Valion was obvious. If it scaled with his Magic stat, then in the future it could surpass the Nine Hell mages.
But it was still, ultimately, a trump card.
Relying too heavily on magic, especially a high-output spell with meaningful cost, wasn't sustainable.
The moment his magic ran dry, or he met an enemy with high resistance to spells, he'd be exposed immediately.
Looks like while I'm pushing parameters to their limit, I also need to patch the technique gap fast.
The thought settled in Genichi's mind.
Maybe he could steal some lessons by watching Lunoire.
Or once he returned to Orario, find another way to learn basic swordsmanship and grappling fundamentals.
But that was for later.
Right now, after fighting the Minotaur, he had a clearer sense of where his current limit truly lay.
"For now, we stay on this floor."
He turned to Lunoire as he spoke.
After seeing what a Minotaur could do, he shelved the idea of immediately pushing down to the Ninth Floor or deeper.
The Eighth Floor already had LV.2 elites roaming. Deeper floors would only multiply the danger.
In his current state, forcing it would be too much risk.
A lone Minotaur was something he could barely manage with magic.
If he ran into two, or a nastier combination of LV.2 elites, Lunoire would have to step in repeatedly. That didn't match his goal of tempering himself, and it also risked exposing more of his hidden cards.
"Whatever."
Lunoire's tone stayed as indifferent as ever. To her, it made no difference. She was here to follow and to keep him alive.
So Genichi began a new round of grinding on the Eighth Floor, where danger was everywhere.
Unlike farming goblins on the First Floor or battle-shadows on the Fifth, grinding here came with far more variables and far more risk.
The active monster variety was broader. Their overall power ranged from peak LV.1 up through LV.2, and LV.2 elite individuals like Minotaurs wandered through from time to time.
Genichi stopped chasing maximum kill efficiency.
Instead, he treated every fight like live-fire training.
He deliberately reduced how often he used magic, forcing himself to maneuver, block, and hunt weak points with swordsmanship that was still clumsy and unpolished.
The process was rough. Killing even a standard LV.2 monster often took significant time and stamina, and shallow cuts occasionally appeared on his body.
But that feeling, honing technique on the edge of death, slowly converting raw parameters into effective combat power, gave him a different kind of satisfaction.
And even in the monotony, there were occasional "surprises."
From time to time, he would run into one or two lone LV.2 elites of other types.
Whenever that happened, Genichi's focus would sharpen instantly.
Different elites had different attack patterns and different weak points. They were better tests of adaptability and combat judgment.
The fights were usually harder, sometimes dangerously close to disaster, but the payoff from winning, and the understanding gained about various monster traits and vulnerabilities, made the grinding journey feel less like repetition and more like challenge and growth.
Lunoire remained, as always, a silent shadow watching from a safe distance.
She watched Genichi throw himself into battles with stronger monsters again and again, clumsy but stubborn. She watched him adjust, learn, and improve in small increments mid-fight.
And now and then, something like faint approval would flicker through her eyes.
This client might have too many secrets, and his personality might run cold…
But that stubborn refusal to lose, that willingness to challenge stronger enemies and learn inside the fight, was something she couldn't help respecting.
(End of Chapter)
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