[CC] Chapter 54

Should I take them on?

Shouren was lying prone on the ground, careful not to re-open his wounds, as he observed two small monsters in the distance. It was a pair of mole-type monsters, with dark blue fur and pincer-like fangs.

The sun hadn’t set completely, and he had ample time to look for another lone monster before nightfall. He was already injured and taking on two monsters at the same time was bordering on suicidal.

Moles are generally considered blind, so maybe it’s worth the risk? No, I can’t make that same mistake again. If I’m hunting them, then I need to assume that their vision is not compromised.

Shouren shook his head. He learned a painful lesson not to judge the monsters by their animal variants. Assuming the python had been non-venomous had almost cost him his life.

I can use Spectral Threads on one of them, while I use the other one to train my hammer techniques.

Shouren ruminated over his strategy. He could play it safer and keep one monster constricted while he dealt with its partner. This way, he could prevent them from overwhelming him.

I can’t let the last battle direct all my future strategies. I made a mistake there, and miscalculated the risk, but I can’t avoid taking risks every time.

Shouren glanced at his injuries on his hand and his calf. They hadn’t healed completely, and he still winced whenever something brushed against those sections. But, it was a good learning moment. He would never underestimate any monster from its appearance.

My goal is to adapt to the hammer and get used to fighting with it. I won’t always have a single enemy in front. It’s better to practice with 2 small monsters than being forced to fight for my life against 10 unknown monsters.

Shouren decided to engage with the two mole-type monsters. He opted to not have his spell cards ready for retrieval inside his vault. He was only going to use his hammer again.

Grandma would kill me if she knew how reckless I am being now.

Shouren chuckled softly to himself as he got back on his feet and summoned the hammer to his hand. He just came close to death a few hours ago, and was now charging towards it again.

I’m a Cardsmith. But I need to be more than that. If I only take calculated risks knowing everything is in my control, then it’s not a risk anymore. I need to be ready and prepared even when things are not in my control.

Shouren swung the hammer a few times in the air and then walked towards the monsters. His feet moved of their own accord, while his heart pounded with every step.

A shrieking screech resounded in the area.

The two monsters saw Shouren inching towards them and got ready on their haunches to attack the boy.

This is going to hurt.

Shouren’s hazel eyes flared in defiance, and he brought the hammer before him. He would block their first charge and try to land a hit when they were close. The two moles scurried on the ground, their claws digging sharply into the soil as they built momentum and pounced in unison at Shouren. They stretched out their claws, aiming for the boy’s face.

Huh? How did I know they were aiming for my face?

Shouren blinked in confusion. He knew where the two pairs of claws were heading in. He couldn’t read the monsters’ minds, but from the angle, the speed and the direction of the claws’ momentum, Shouren could tell they were targeting his face.

Shiik.

Shouren brought the hammer’s handle closer towards his face and used it to thwart one of the mole monsters. Unfortunately, the second monster had free reign to his shoulder and its claws ripped through the skin there.

Shouren was prepared for that scratch. He knew from the start he couldn’t dodge both of them at the same time. Calculating the trajectory of the second mole, he bent his knee slightly, preventing the claws from sinking further into his flesh. It was a surface wound and not serious to hamper his arm’s movement.

What just happened back then? Time didn’t slow down, but it felt like I had a lot of time to process information.

A drop of sweat trickled down from Shouren’s temple to his neck. Back when the two monsters attacked, he could account for everything in that single second and knew where the attacks would land and calculate the general trajectory of their claws. Time didn’t slow, but the amount of information Shouren could process in a second seemed to have increased drastically. His thoughts were fast. Really fast.

He hadn’t noticed before because he wasn’t in a perilous situation, but now, with his brain racing, flashes of various thoughts darted around. He could see which parts of the ground were softer when the monsters’ claws glided over them, and he observed the way the monsters attacked. They relied on their claws rather than their fangs. Was this the new change brought by his evolving Intelligence attribute?

The moles swished across each other and charged at Shouren from opposite directions.

It’s behind me!

Shouren crouched to the ground. He needed to defend his legs. If he lost his movement, then the two monsters could pin him down in seconds.

Just because I can process their movements doesn’t mean I’m fast enough to dodge them. If I block the first one’s attack, then I won’t be able to strike the second monster in time.

Shouren tightened his grip on the hammer. He knew which of the moles would reach him first, but he wasn’t agile enough to evade its strike and still land a blow on the second one. Shouren couldn’t just sit here and keep taking these hits on. He needed to kill one of them.

“Argh!”

Shouren cried in pain as the first mole’s claws grazed through his back, but the boy didn’t falter. His hammer was ready for the second mole dashing at him.

Thak.

The hammer struck the mole in the center, eliciting a grating howl from the monster. The monster bolted to the side, its beady eyes glaring at Shouren. It wasn’t a fatal strike, but enough to cause the monster some pain.

I missed its head.

Shouren clicked his tongue in regret as he felt the throbbing on his back. His new Intelligence calculated the approximate position of the mole’s head during the charge, but Shouren’s body couldn’t keep up with the speed of his thoughts. There was a dissonance there. He managed to land a hit on its body, but he missed the chance to kill it outright.

A Cardsmith always has to be calm, potato. Cards are delicate and need to be handled with care. Think before you move, and only move after you’ve thought everything.

A random memory sprouted inside Shouren’s mind. It was when he was 6-years-old and his grandmother was teaching him about the basics of sharding. He didn’t know why, but Rhea’s voice echoed inside him.

I’m slow and weak. Both my Strength and Agility are at F rank. My only advantage is my E ranked Intelligence which is in the middle of upgrading to D rank. Right now, it’s letting me process the monsters’ movements and estimate their positions around me. If it can do that for them, then I need to process my own movements and then align my hammer swings to match their rhythm.

Shouren hardened his eyes and brought the hammer low to the ground. The moles used the ground to build their traction and dash around him. Shouren was using the wrong angle for the hammer strikes. He needed to swing it from the ground up. It was less powerful than an overhand strike, but Shouren wasn’t going for power.

It’s vibrations. I need to land a hit where the vibrations can penetrate to its brain.

Shouren formulated a new plan. Even without direct skull impact, aiming the hammer head in the general direction of the brain upon contact could still send vibrations to the brain. As long as the monster was dazed for a second, Shouren could use that brief lapse to claim the space around the mole and summon his hammer inside it.

Now that Shouren thought about it, there had to be something different about his Dimensional Vault [Rare] utility card. It wasn’t just a simple storage card, but let him claim pockets of space in the real world as well. If only he could shard this card and glean its insights.

The moles shrieked at each other, exchanging a string of squeaks before resuming their attack on the human. They switched their positions and the uninjured one was going to deal the finishing blow.

“If I had a warrior class card, you two would have been floating inside a pot of stew with carrots and onions after the first minute. But then grandma would have been sad that I wasn’t a Cardsmith like her.”

Shouren rubbed his face with his free hand as he smiled at the pair of monsters.

The moles didn’t care about the human boy’s monologue and rushed at him with piercing screeches.

Think before you move, and only move after you’ve thought everything.

“I’ll be waiting for that lemon pie after I come back, grandma.”

Shouren squeezed the hammer handle and tilted its head at a particular angle. He was waiting for the prey. Blood stained his back and shoulder, but the boy stood tall facing the incoming monsters.

The first mole struck at his back, while the second one was just a second away.

The corner of Shouren’s lips curled up as the hammer swung up from the ground. He wasn’t aiming at the second mole. Shouren took a step forward, pivoting himself on that foot as he twisted his body around and used the momentum to swing at the first mole’s chin.

Crack.

The monster’s eyes rolled in its sockets and that was when Shouren retrieved the hammer back into his vault and, without stopping, his other hand was already on its way into the mole’s mouth.

The second mole shrieked in rage, but it was too late.

The hammer burst out of the monster’s skull, sending fragments of bone all around the grass. Shouren swung the hammer to the side, shaking off the fleshy bits and blood off the metal head. He then turned to face the remaining mole with splattered monster blood on him and grinned.

“I don’t think this is what grandma had in mind when she gave me that advice.”