I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 41

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The rain continued to pour.

I followed closely behind Libero.

Even though I was wearing a raincoat, my clothes were damp from the intense fight earlier.

‘Though I’m not sure if it even qualifies as a fight.’

We walked for what felt like an eternity.

The clang of train wheels against steel tracks, the hiss of steam escaping from engines…

Sounds I had never heard in Basil mingled with the relentless drumming of rain.

‘There are a lot of useful facilities in this city, too…’

As befitting a large city, Sak offered a variety of side quests that were a good source of SP.

But now wasn’t the time to be distracted by those.

My focus was on the man walking ahead of me.

‘This takes priority.’

We eventually arrived at an abandoned building.

It was a dilapidated structure, its age impossible to determine.

The roof had completely caved in, offering no shelter from the rain.

“Hmm…”

Libero surveyed the building, his hand stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Then, with a hint of suspicion in his voice, he said,

“There are signs of recent activity here. Someone has been coming and going. Well, it has been a while since I last visited.”

He walked over to a corner of the building and lifted a metal sheet that was lying on the ground.

Beneath it was not the floor, but a flight of stairs leading down into darkness.

“It seems we have some uninvited guests.”

He started down the stairs.

I followed closely behind.

Drip, drip.

Water droplets fell from the ceiling, indicating that the basement wasn’t completely waterproof.

As we descended the damp, eerie staircase, Libero suddenly stopped.

“I was right. We have company.”

He closed his eyes and muttered,

“One, two… four. Just some petty thugs.”

I had no idea how he could sense their presence when we couldn’t even see them yet, but I knew better than to doubt him.

‘Those guys are in for a rude awakening.’

I could already imagine Libero making short work of them.

Just as I was thinking that, he turned to me and said,

“You said you wanted to be my disciple, right?”

“Um… yes?”

I had asked him for strength, but that wasn’t much different, was it?

However, I immediately regretted my answer.

“If you want to be my disciple, you should be able to at least chase those guys out, shouldn’t you?”

I had been tricked.

He continued, seemingly oblivious to my inner turmoil.

“They must have sensed our presence. Two of them are guarding the entrance, one on each side.”

He described the situation inside as if he could see it clearly, even though we were still on the stairs.

“There’s one standing in the middle of the room to distract you, and another one lying low in the corner. That one’s probably the leader. You can handle that, right?”

There was no reason for him to lie.

Instead of answering, I drew my sword from my inventory.

‘Fine, I’ll do it.’

I might be weak, but I wasn’t going to lose to a bunch of thugs.

I could easily handle four of them without killing them.

…Though the thought of those two guarding the entrance did make me a little nervous.

‘In that case…’

I drew Dark Night from my inventory as well.

This would make my entry much easier.

“That’s Dark Night, isn’t it?”

He knew?

I had read that it was excavated near Sak, but I didn’t expect him to recognize a 2-star relic like this.

However, he didn’t seem to object to me using it.

‘Dark Night.’

I activated the dagger’s ability, cloaking myself in shadows.

Then, I quietly made my way down the remaining steps, entering the room.

The room was dimly lit, and my shadow cloak made me practically invisible. None of them had noticed me yet.

“Maybe they left?”

“Or maybe it was just a rat.”

I carefully moved past the two thugs guarding the entrance, their voices barely above a whisper.

“Shhh, be quiet.”

The thug standing in the middle of the room cautioned the two by the door.

“I thought I heard something. But it’s quiet now.”

He was sharp.

But it was too late. I was already behind him.

‘Let’s take care of this one first.’

I adjusted Gravitas Replicant’s weight, making it heavier but still manageable.

Then, I struck the back of his head with the pommel of the sword.

“Ugh!”

The two thugs by the door watched in disbelief as their comrade collapsed to the ground, seemingly struck by an invisible force.

“What… what was that?!”

I wasted no time closing the distance between us.

The lamplight in the room was shortening Dark Night’s duration.

“Huh?”

I tripped the thug on the left, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The shadow cloak dissipated.

But I had already swung Gravitas Replicant, striking the thug on the right across the face.

Crack!

A sickening crunch echoed through the room as he crumpled to the floor.

‘Now all that’s left is… that guy over there.’

The thug who had been lying down was now on his feet, a large, muscular man.

I glanced back at the thug I had tripped. He was still struggling to get up.

‘Let’s finish this quickly.’

I channeled the Power of the Wind into my legs.

Then, I lunged at the large thug.

He drew his sword.

I returned Dark Night to my inventory and gripped Gravitas Replicant with both hands, preparing to strike.

I didn’t release the sword’s weight restriction this time. I didn’t want to accidentally kill him.

He was completely unprepared for my speed, enhanced by the Power of the Wind.

“Get out.”

I pointed my sword at his throat.

He didn’t comply.

He lunged at me, ignoring the blade at his throat.

He must have assumed I had no intention of harming him.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

It was time to correct his misconception.

I never hesitated when dealing with someone who threatened me.

‘Gravitas Replicant.’

Whack!

I slammed the heavy sword against his neck.

I didn’t release its full weight, just enough to be heavier than a baseball bat.

He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Hopefully, he wasn’t dead.

‘Now then…’

I turned to see the thug I had tripped earlier, his face pale with fear.

I gestured to the unconscious thugs scattered across the room.

“Take them and get out. As fast as you can.”
Thankfully, the first thug I had knocked out had regained consciousness. They each dragged an unconscious comrade out of the room.

Libero entered the room as the last of the thugs disappeared.

“That took a while.”

He surveyed the room, his gaze sweeping over the space.

It was a spacious room, but it was bare, devoid of any furniture.

The only things present were some wooden crates that the thugs had brought in.

“If you’re going to use someone else’s hideout, at least have the decency to keep it clean.”

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“How long has it been since you last visited this place?”

The entire room was covered in moss.

It looked more like a jungle than a room.

“I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was about forty years ago.”

It was a miracle that this damp basement had even managed to stay intact for that long.

Someone must have cleaned it up at some point.

“Well, let’s clean this up a bit, shall we? I don’t mind living in filth, but I doubt you’d appreciate it.”

He raised both his hands.

He didn’t bother forming a sword this time.

He simply raised his hands, and all the moss in the room crumbled and fell away.

“I assume you can handle the rest?”

Of course.

I used the Power of the Wind to sweep all the moss dust out of the room.

The room finally looked somewhat habitable.

Though it was still dark and damp.

“Now that we have a somewhat presentable room, let’s talk about that atrocious display you call fighting.”

“Huh?”

“I’m talking about that pathetic excuse for a fight you just showed me.”

Pathetic?

That hurt. I thought I had handled the situation quite efficiently.

But I couldn’t argue with him.

“Putting aside the fact that I would have prioritized taking down the leader…”

He pointed to my sword.

“Your swordsmanship… I noticed something was off when we were clashing blades earlier.”

I had meticulously copied Gwen’s swordsmanship, using Absolute Obedience to make it a perfect replica.

So what was wrong with it?

“Are you saying there’s something wrong with the Lidval family swordsmanship?”

“No, the Lidval family swordsmanship is quite good. It’s not perfect, of course, but it has its strengths, and it utilizes them effectively.”

Then what was the problem?

I had noticed something was off ever since my Swordsmanship skill only ranked up to B+ despite me copying Gwen’s techniques perfectly.

And my rank hadn’t improved since then, even with the [Precociousness] trait.

There had to be a reason why my Swordsmanship skill wasn’t improving.

It was possible that I simply lacked talent, but I had come to Libero to discover the root of the problem and overcome it.

And to find that root cause, Libero gave me a simple order.

“Swing your sword.”

I obeyed, executing a move that combined the Power of the Wind with Gravitas Replicant’s weight manipulation.

Libero shook his head.

“It’s too messy. I can’t tell what you’re doing with all those fancy tricks. Just swing the sword. A simple, basic swing.”

I removed the Power of the Wind from the sword.

I also returned Gravitas Replicant to a comfortable weight.

Then, I swung the sword again.

“I see.”

He nodded, understanding dawning on his face.

“Tell me, boy… are you using some kind of self-hypnosis on yourself?”

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