My Second Chance In Life In Another World

CHAPTER 49: I'M NOT SCARED ANYMORE

Alad took his stance and was ready to attack any minute now, so I also took my stance so I could intercept his attack.
 
To be honest, I'm pretty scared right now; my body is shaking just thinking that my opponent is a bully. Can I really fight him?
 
I took a look once again at Crestia and saw her face. Her face clearly says that I don't stands a chance of winning against Alad.
 
"Here I come, little hero!" He shouted, then ran towards me.
 
"Vertical slash!" He activated his skill when I entered his attacking range.
 
"Horizontal slash!" I also activated my skill to block his attack.
 
Our swords crashed into each other, but his iron sword really has an advantage against my wooden sword, and my wooden sword almost broke.
 
I'm lucky that I immediately jumped backward before my wooden sword completely broke.
 
His power cannot be underestimated, especially now that he's using an iron sword. Maybe he's in his fourth or fifth year because his movement and stance clearly say that he is not an amateur and is well versed in terms of swordsmanship. No first-year, second-year or maybe even third-year student can master such moves unless they're training harder or have more talent in terms of swordsmanship.
 
But what is this uncomfortable feeling inside me?
 
"Did you understand it now? That you don't stand a chance against me? I can clearly tell just by looking at your face, hahahaha," he said, then laughed at me while pointing at my face.
 
"I'll give you a chance, little hero; if you beg for your life right now, I might consider just giving you punishment instead of killing you. Let's see, hmm, if you beg for your life, then you will only receive five horizontal slashes from Werk," he said to me with a smug face, as if he's the one holding the decision if I would live or die.
 
I just stare at him without uttering a single word.
 
"You won't beg for your life? You chose death over your pride?" He asked, then ran towards me again.
 
"Then I'll give you what you want! Die right here right now!" He shouted, then prepared himself to activate a skill.
 
"Sharp nail!" He shouted, then his speed doubled and he thrust his sword in my direction.
 
Huh? What is this weird feeling?
 
I parried his sharp nail with my almost broken wooden sword. Because a sharp nail is focused on speed, it's easy to parry it, but how did I parry it? Just by looking at it, he's fast, so how?
 
"Huh!?" Alad said, looking so pissed I can see a vein in his head. He can't believe what just happened and is now looking at me seriously.
 
Not just Alad, but the other two—Work and Crestia—also show a surprised face.
 
"I'll kill you for real this time!" He said, sounding so pissed.
 
He started to run towards me again, then activated another skill.
 
"Sharp nail!" He shouted, then his speed doubled, then he thrust again in my direction.
 
I felt another uncomfortable feeling inside my body, then parried his attack again.
 
I evaded his attack again, and his face is now showing a mix of surprise and anger. The other two also show a face that is asking, "How did he do it?
 
Even I can't tell what's happening right now.
 
Right after thinking that, a face of a man comes to my mind. The man with whom I fought in Carson's house, where I almost got killed—Ruel. But why is he showing up in my mind now?
 
While thinking about that, Alad's face clearly shows anger towards me now, I can clearly tell that he really wants to kill me now.
 
He runs towards me again now, but another man running comes to my mind—Ruel.
 
Oh, so that's it! I finally got the answer to this uncomfortable feeling inside me.
 
"Sharp nail!" He shouted, then his speed doubled again, then he thrust towards me.
 
"Horizontal slash!" I also activated my skill, then intercepted his sword that was about to hit me with my skill.
 
Alad was thrown sideways because of the impact, and he fell to the ground.
 
Now I get why I have been feeling uncomfortable since earlier. My mind is the only one scared of him, but my body is not.
 
My body isn't afraid of him because it has battled much stronger enemies than him. So that's why Ruel's face comes to my mind.
 
I am wondering how I managed to parry his sharp nails, but there's just a really simple explanation for it.
 
His sharp nail is so much slower than Ruel's sharp nail. When I realized that his attack just now is weaker than Ruel's too.
 
After I realized that, the shaking in my body had finally stopped, I finally found the answer I was searching for.
 
All this time I've been thinking that he's a bully, so he must be strong, but it was just backwards; I regarded him as strong because he is a bully.
 
After realizing that, I feel stupid for being afraid of him. He's weaker than me, so why am I scared of him? That's only because he is a bully.
 
All this time, I thought bullies were stronger than anyone; I couldn't beat them no matter what I did.
 
But that's just wrong; I am just being shackled by my own perception that I can't beat them, so I just accept everything.
 
After realizing all of that, I took a look at Alad. I'm surprisingly not scared of him anymore. Now I don't view him as a monster but as a fellow human.
 
I'm not scared of him anymore.
 
"Tsk! What the fuck is happening?! Werk, don't just stand there! Help me kill this little shit!" He shouted, and then Werk, who's just been watching the whole time, started to move now.
 
"It surprised me that Alad is having a hard time dealing with you, so tell me, boy, what tricks did you use?" Werk asked me while preparing himself and taking his stance.
 
"Werk! Once I give my signal, we'll attack from both sides! Now that there's two of us your little tricks won't work anymore; you're dead," Alad said, then stood up from the ground.
 
"Attack!" He shouted, then both of them ran towards me from different directions.
 
Werk was on my back while Alad was in front; both were activating a skill at the same time.
 
"Vertical slash!" Werk shouted.
"Sharp nail!" Alad shouted, then his speed doubled and he thrust towards me.
 
"Water wall!" I shouted, and then a wall of water appeared in my back, blocking Werk's attack.
 
For Alad's attack, I tried parrying it, but it was fast, and I got distracted by Werk. I was successful at parrying it, but it still scratched
my left shoulder.
 
"Tsk!" He said, then positioned himself to continue attacking.
 
On the other side, Werk, who slashed my water wall, got a bit surprised by it but is now ready to attack again.
 
"Water ball!" I shouted, then a ball of water suddenly appeared heading in Werk's direction, and it hit his head, resulting in him getting unconscious.
 
"What the—" Alad said as if he could not believe what he just saw.
 
"That water ball is hard as rock, so it can really make anyone unconscious if they get hit," I explained to him.
 
"W-who the fuck are you?!" He asked with a scared expression as if he were looking at a monster.
 
That expression, the expression he's making right now, is the same expression I was wearing earlier.
 
"The tables are now turned; now it's time for your punishment," I said, smiling like a psychopath, and that made him pass out out of fear, wetting himself in the process.