[Aargh, to think even ‘Worn Skin’ would be defeated! Are they monsters!?]

[Those intruders are now roaming around as if this island is their own territory!]

[We can’t wait any longer! We must inform the master of the facts!]

It was a confusion that might make uninformed people inadvertently say, “Are you politicians from somewhere?” but the evil spirits were serious.

The Haunted Mansion that should give people extreme stress with all sorts of curses and spiritual phenomena, the Inescapable Dream that could freely manipulate dream content to make even the strongest warrior cry like a child, and even Worn Skin who could instill fear in enemies with its free transformation ability, making them wonder which of their victims had been switched—all had been defeated.

Even the fish-people crawling up from the sea, though of a different affiliation, had been easily massacred.

They had no idea what methods to use now to drive out those wicked, vicious, and malicious ones.

[Um, those intruders, apart from occasionally going around to collect ingredients, they’re basically just resting on the beach. If we leave them alone, won’t they just go back on their own?]

Of course, sometimes the right answer would pop up thanks to the greatness of collective intelligence, however—

[Nonsense! How do we know when they’ll dig deeper if we leave them unattended so irresponsibly?]

[It’s our duty to drive out intruders! Are you in your right mind to suggest neglecting this!?]

[You have no loyalty to the master! No loyalty!]

Before the truth that even the greatest intelligence was helpless in the face of vehement loudmouths, the peaceful ending that might have existed disappeared.

It was then.

[Hmph, I wondered why it was so noisy and opened my eyes after a long time… It seems some quite sturdy ones have appeared?]

[Y-you are!?]

[‘Immortal Killer]! I heard you had gone into a long hibernation!]

The evil spirits murmured.

“Immortal Killer”.

He was the strongest of the evil spirits who could withstand any attack without falling, steadfastly enduring, and slaughter enemies with ridiculous strength and agility.

Unfortunately, there was no one to point out the common-sense observations like, “If such a guy existed, shouldn’t you have woken him up earlier?” or “More importantly, what kind of hibernation does an evil spirit need?”

[Is that where they are? Hmm, I hope they’ll entertain me a bit.]

With somewhat arrogant lines, he walked towards the beach, leading his huge body.

They were somewhat lacking and pitiful evil spirits who didn’t know that truly scary monsters, whether this one or that one, didn’t say unnecessary things.

After walking for a while like that.

“Immortal Killer” found his target in a corner of the beach.

It was the Tin Knight, in the process of building a sand castle ranging from 1M at its lowest to over 2M at its highest parts, holding a sword in his hand.

The castle didn’t end with just one, but was in the form of a great wall with several castles connected as one, with walls in between. Who knew how long he had been building it, but it was long enough to hold a running competition from the start to the end of the castle.

“Immortal Killer” sneered, thinking it was a childish game.

His foot trampled and crushed the sand castle at the opposite end from where the Tin Knight was.

With a ferocious smile under his mask, he beckoned to the Tin Knight.

Seeing the Tin Knight rushing towards him with terrifying momentum, he entered combat preparation, thinking he had caught a good one.

Shuk!

His belly was pierced.

He tried to strike the Tin Knight with his machete nonchalantly, but before that, a shield struck his face, spinning Immortal Killer’s body around.

Immortal Killer was a bit surprised to realize the opponent’s ability was stronger than expected, but he wasn’t intimidated.

He was immortal, after all. No matter how powerful the attack, it couldn’t bring him to death.

Crack! Bang! Crunch!

So, attacks of this level—

Rip! Snap! Splat!

—were nothing.

Ratatatatata! Boom!

Wait, how long does this bastard intend to keep hitting?

[Even so—]

Crunch!

His attempt to shout, ‘Even so, it’s useless, I am an immortal being!’ was forcibly interrupted as his jaw was crushed by a flashy uppercut.

When he tried to extend his leg, his knee was shattered, and when he tried to swing his machete, his arm was bent backwards at the joint.

At this point, even “Immortal Killer” realized something was going wrong.

His method of driving intruders into fear was to push through with physical prowess while easily withstanding their minor counterattacks, but at this rate, far from pushing through, he was just getting beaten.

[Kuk! You’re quite something. But how long will that last!?]

Neither human stamina nor willpower were infinite resources.

Even the opponent who was now enthusiastically absorbed in battle would eventually tire and weaken.

Thinking that would be the chance to repay his frustration, he gritted his teeth.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices that an infinite HP sandbag from the practice room has appeared!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts that this is a chance to practice combos he couldn’t fully use because opponents kept getting smashed!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ evaluates that he has more meat on him than Cap’n Bill, so it feels good to beat him up!]

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the ability to understand what the Tin Knight was saying.

But it didn’t matter.

There existed an excellent means of communication in the world called body language.

3 hours after the battle started. The Tin Knight discovered aerial combos. Immortal Killer had to be sliced without even touching the ground.

6 hours after the battle started. At his companions’ urging to eat, the Tin Knight planted “Immortal Killer” upside down in the ground and enjoyed his meal.

9 hours after the battle started. The Tin Knight put his sword back in its sheath and started beating “Immortal Killer” with his fists.

12 hours after the battle started. The Tin Knight deliberately let Immortal Killer go, then smashed him with only counterattacks when he charged.

15 hours after the battle started. When Immortal Killer started to flee, the Tin Knight repeatedly let him go and caught him seven times.

18 hours after the battle started. Adelaide and the Tin Knight enjoyed badminton using weapons as rackets and Immortal Killer as the shuttlecock. They invited Sophia and Dorothea but were refused.

21 hours after the battle started. The Tin Knight started fishing using Immortal Killer as bait. No fish were caught. The Tin Knight beat him up more with regret.

24 hours after the battle started. The Tin Knight said he was finally starting to understand something and began building a sand castle using only the impact of slicing or beating Immortal Killer.

Unfortunately, the Tin Knight’s work was never completed.

Just as the Tin Knight was about to fully immerse himself in artistic activities, Immortal Killer’s body crumbled like sand.

With his mask shattered, Immortal Killer departed this world with an extremely happy face, and the Tin Knight had to send him off, seemingly unable to hide his regret.

***

“By the way, weren’t you clumsy at this kind of thing at first?”

Looking at the Great Sand Wall you had created, Dorothea tilted her head as if puzzled.

She was right.

You thought you had inherited all the skills left by the Tin Knight, but those were skills “engraved in the body”, not skills “recalled” as memories.

If you had to describe it, it was closer to the sensation of automatically utilizing skills learned long ago when riding a bicycle after a very long time.

You could say that once you entered combat, you intuitively knew what to do.

However, this “body memory” was mostly focused on combat-related skills, so it didn’t show much efficacy in other types of work.

Things like cooking or crafting, like building a raft—of course, there were also things you did in cooking without much thought

But perhaps thanks to repeated battles throughout the journey?

You felt like the Tin Knight’s skills were gradually accumulating inside you.

Not in the sense of pressing the A button to use skill 1.

But each method of how to swing the sword and how to move mana.

Of course, this didn’t dramatically increase combat power, but it was quite helpful in utilizing it for “non-combat elements” like this.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says it’s the result of steady effort!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he wants to express gratitude to the masked friend who helped with practice!]

***

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