Solo Dungeon Streamer-I Am Overpowered

Chapter 76: Grandma’s Unstoppable Force

She moves at such an incredible speed that even the sound of her movement lags behind. It's impossible for me to directly counter her attacks. My eyes can barely keep up, but matching her speed and attacking is just out of the question. So, the only strategy left to me is… counter-attacking!

"You think you can keep up with my movements?"

"...!"

The most terrifying thing about grandma isn't just her speed but the fact that she can stop and accelerate without any warning. Even when she's moving faster than sound, she doesn't give off any hints when she stops, and she doesn't have to decelerate like normal people. If you know how she's achieving this level of speed, it makes sense in a way, but it's still unreal.

Although grandma mostly fights with high-speed hand-to-hand combat, her true specialty is offensive magic. I'm not using my familiar techniques, and she's not using offensive magic, so we're both handicapped from our strongest areas. Still, grandma is overwhelmingly stronger than the explorers I just fought at the dojo.

Her mastery of magic circulation is absurdly good, and her magic control is so precise it's frightening. The guy I fought earlier mainly used his fists, which meant he wasn't great at controlling magic through his legs. But grandma? She fights using magic, and her attacks, even without magic, are terrifyingly sharp.

"Good... I'm just getting started."

"Please spare me!"

I dodged her straight punch and immediately swung my wooden sword for a counterattack, but it cut through nothing but air. I followed my instincts and leaped back, narrowly avoiding the whoosh of her kick as it sliced through the air. As I landed, I swung the wooden sword behind me, only for her to easily deflect it.

I pushed my magic circulation and control to the max, stepping forward. I swung the wooden sword with all my strength, feeling it graze grandma's karate uniform. Just as I felt the slight resistance of contact, a shock hit my left hand, which I had raised to guard my temple.

"Ouch! That's definitely broken!"

"It's not broken."

My left hand is throbbing in pain! But I'm not completely out of sync. Before she overwhelms me, I have to hit her with a stronger counterattack. Forget about holding back for the dojo; that thought has long vanished!

"W-whoa!?"

"She's a... monster."

Grandma and I stepped forward simultaneously, and the impact shook the entire dojo, cracking the floor under our feet. Just like how she moves faster than sound, I ran forward at top speed. If I just waited, counterattacking would've been easier, but by moving first, I hoped to limit her attack angles.

In my heightened perception of time, I could see grandma slowly extending her palm toward me. I swung my wooden sword, but halfway through, it snapped. Even so, I thrust the broken hilt toward her solar plexus. Just as I thought I had landed the hit, her palm strike, which had shattered my sword, rammed into my side with unrelenting force. This... is bad.

"Ugh!"

That hurt... It was enough to rattle my consciousness, and I could hardly breathe. I'm pretty sure she cracked one of my ribs. I went flying through the wall next to the spectator seats and into the dojo courtyard... But at least this time, it felt like a draw.

"That's enough! Are you okay, Kamishiro-san?"

"Call me Sensei... It's been a while since I've taken a hit like that."

"Phew... That really hurt."

"You little brat... Don't go slamming a wooden sword into an old woman's solar plexus without mercy."

What do you mean, old woman? Even though grandma's a bit wobbly, she still looks like she could keep going. Well... considering how small this dojo is, we probably couldn't continue at this level anyway.

"Did they... just crack the dojo floor?"

"So this is... what EX-level fighting looks like?"

"Is Tsukasa Kisaragi stronger because he's younger?"

"No, Kamishiro Sensei isn't using any offensive magic..."

"Well, Tsukasa Kisaragi isn't using magic either."

"Enough with the chatter. Let's continue."

"I'm taking a break..."

Man, it's been a long time since I've been in a fight that left me with bone damage. I haven't had a fight in the dungeon that's hurt me like this in ages... though I've always been uncomfortable with fighting other people.

"Phew... You've already surpassed me."

"Are we really having this conversation again?"

"It's the truth. If this had been a fight without restrictions, you know which one of us would've won."

"I don't know about that."

"You're too young to play dumb... Familiar techniques alone make you that powerful."

Well... the book about familiar techniques that grandma gave me was labeled "secret," after all. I'm pretty sure most people aren't supposed to have access to that.

"I always intended for you to be my successor when I recommended you for EX. It's time for you to take the mantle of Japan's strongest... Don't make an old woman keep doing all the work."

"C'mon now..."

If I were to take on the title of Japan's strongest, I'd have to be the representative in a lot of meetings and speeches, right? That sounds way too high-level for me...

"I guess it's about time I retire."

"What?"

The association is going to beg her not to retire, I bet. In today's world, Kamishiro Kaede's name is one of Japan's greatest assets. Even if I beat her in a fair fight and took the title of Japan's strongest, there's no way I could replace the impact she's had for so many years.

"I guess my last task will be conquering the Sapporo Dungeon."

"If you do that, you'll never be able to retire."

That would be like a baseball player hitting a home run in every at-bat during their retirement game. It'd just make everyone ask why she's retiring. Are you really serious about retiring?

"That said, EX ranks aren't increasing much... I guess I'll stay active a little longer."

"...It'd be a problem if we started getting too many EX-rank explorers, honestly."

"We've had two new EXs in the past few years. I thought we'd see a few more by now."

Well, there's not much I can say to that. But you can't really compare me and Kamishiro to the others. Even countries as big as the U.S. don't have more than 10 EXs, so isn't four EXs in Japan more than enough?

"Ahh... More weaklings are joining the ranks these days. I guess I'll have to tighten up the training."

"...If you make it any tougher, there'll be deaths, you know?"

This dojo already pushes people so hard that tons of trainees quit. If she makes it any harder, I'm sure even fewer will stick around. Find exclusive stories on m_v l|e-NovelBin.net