by Pirateaba
“I am merely stating the truth. Your fists would do little against most monsters my team faces. Less, since you are female and thus weaker.”
He looked around in the hush. Possible Calruz didn’t see the way Ceria’s back tensed up and the Half-elf’s head came around, or the way even Yvlon’s hand tightened on her fork. He certainly couldn’t ignore the look in Ryoka’s eyes though, and it was to her he spoke.
“Is it not the truth? Humans are weaker than Minotaurs by birth. So too are you women weaker than men.”
“Really. That’s what you think?”
“Ryoka.”
Was it Ceria or Yvlon who spoke warningly? Ryoka ignored it. She reached out and tugged Calruz’s plate away as the Minotaur reached for a sausage. He looked up at her.
“Right. Your turn. Bring it on.”
For a moment the Minotaur looked confused. Then he looked amused.
“You. You, Ryoka Griffin, wish to fight me?”
He laughed, but Ryoka didn’t. And neither did the other adventurers. Gerial raised his voice, speaking low and urgently to Ryoka across the table.
“Ryoka. This isn’t a good idea.”
She ignored him.
“I’m dead serious. Fight me. Unless you’re afraid you’ll lose?”
—-
“You idiot.”
This time Ceria didn’t bother with just words. She punched Ryoka hard in the shoulder.
“You don’t challenge a Minotaur to a fight. What are you thinking? Are you even thinking?”
Ryoka shrugged as she warmed up in the practice arena again. Her nerves were thrumming, but a pit of dark emotions roiled in her chest.
“You heard what he said about females.”
“I did. And he’s got a point even if he did make it in the most bull-headed way possible. But that’s Calruz. And even if he’s being an idiot, there’s a big difference between calling him on it and challenging him to a fight. You know you’re going to lose, right?”
“Not necessarily.”
Ceria stared dumbfounded at Ryoka as the girl stretched on the ground. She looked helplessly at Yvlon.
“Help me talk sense to her?”
Yvlon nodded.
“Ceria is right, Ryoka. There’s bravado, and then there’s—this. Fighting me in armor is one thing, but Calruz is a Minotaur. He could rip my head off in unarmed combat without trying.”
“And he will if he makes a mistake.”
“I guess I’ve just got to dodge, then.”
Ryoka ignored the muted scream of fury coming from Ceria. She eyed Calruz. The Minotaur was actually finishing his meal, holding a plate as he waited for her to finish stretching. His casual indifference just lit a fire in her stomach.
“Besides, I wanted to challenge him from the start. See how far I can go.”
“How about into the ground when he puts you there? Ryoka! He’s got to weigh at least two hundred pounds more than you do!”
“Size isn’t everything.”
“It’s pretty cursed important in a fight!”
Ceria was right of course. Ryoka eyed Calruz for the first time as a potential threat. When you looked at Calruz as a person he was just huge, inconveniently so sometimes. But as an enemy? He was way scarier than any human Ryoka had even seen.
He was about six foot seven? Maybe a few inches higher, without even counting the horns. And his body was pure muscle. Not like human muscle, but Minotaur muscle, which was to say that he looked like a wall of tendons and sinews.
It was the stupidest thing in the world to challenge him. But Ryoka really, really wanted to try. She just wanted to hit the Minotaur, almost as much as she’d wanted to hit Yvlon.
Yvlon. The adventurer was studying Ryoka thoughtfully. It made Ryoka want to punch her again, too. She was so tired and—and frustrated that hitting anything sounded good.
Like Ceria, if it would get the Half-elf to shut up.
“Potions don’t fix shattered bones! You know that. And you get him mad—”
“Look, I’m going to do it. You want to let me focus or go away and shut up?”
Silence. Ryoka glanced up and saw Ceria giving her a hurt look full of reproach. The barefoot girl’s heart hurt, but she put the pain and guilt away. She had to focus.
Ryoka was angry. She felt it bubbling in her gut, a seething, roiling ball of pure fury. Where had it come from?
From the High Passes, that’s where. From nearly dying and being helpless even with all the years she’d studied martial arts. From Teriarch and his overpowering magic and arrogance. From the Runner’s Guild and stupid people. From dealing with the ridiculous system of leveling in this world and not least—dealing with some kind of perfect lady knight and a misogynistic Minotaur. It was all bubbling out of Ryoka and she couldn’t stop it. She wanted to hit something, and Calruz was a big target.
Yvlon sighed.
“If you’re going to do this—give it all you’ve got on the first shot.”
Ceria spoke bitterly.
“He’s going to take every hit just to show he can. It’s a Minotaur thing—a sign of disrespect. And…courtship.”
“Great.”
Ryoka eyed Calruz. The Minotaur was finished eating. He carelessly tossed the plate over his shoulder. Ignoring the crash of breaking pottery, he walked into the center of the ring and folded his arms, waiting for her to finish.
At last the girl stood up. She was burning with a desire to fight, almost shaking with it. Ryoka couldn’t keep still as she bounced on her feet with nervous energy.
Ceria eyed the girl as she walked past her. Ryoka stopped.
“What is it?”
“You—you’re smiling.”
Was she? Ryoka couldn’t tell. She only knew that she was ready, more ready than she’d ever been to hurt someone else. She was shaking with the desire to throw a punch. She walked towards Calruz, and the Minotaur impassively looked down at her.
“What you are attempting is folly, Ryoka Griffin. There are some things that cannot be surpassed.”
He really, really knew how to push her buttons. Ryoka gritted her teeth and grinned up at him.
“Oh really? Let’s see what you say in a few minutes.”
“As you wish.”
Calruz carelessly raised one massive hand and beckoned Ryoka with a finger. The other adventurers murmured and cheered for Ryoka to hit him with her best shot. The Minotaur didn’t even both raising his other hand.
He was going to try to block her one-handed? But his fur and muscle could probably take any punch Ryoka could throw. She knew that. So instead, Ryoka stomped her foot down in front of Calruz and twisted.
One of the core principles of a lot of powerhouse moves was spinning. Ryoka put all her weight on her front leg, twisted, and hit the Minotaur with the back of her heel and all the momentum she’d built up.
Spinning back kick. Ryoka aimed high. Her leg still caught the Minotaur in his stomach rather than his chest. She felt the contact and heard the Minotaur gasp as the wind left him. She’d put her entire weight into that attack.
It was the kind of move you used to K.O. other people and it was seldom used because of how hard it was to land. But Calruz was arrogant. He’d let his guard down and Ryoka had held nothing back.
The Minotaur’s expression changed. He was obviously trying not to show any pain, but his hand reflexively went down to protect his stomach and he bent just a tiny bit. Ryoka didn’t wait. Even as her foot came down she used it as an anchor and swung her other leg up.
Her leg came up and she smashed into Calruz’s face with a roundhouse kick. She didn’t break his nose, but that was probably because the Minotaur didn’t have a nice fleshy bit of cartilage like humans.
This time he bellowed, but Ryoka wasn’t done. She landed and started laying into the Minotaur, punching hard.
He swiped at her with one hand. Ryoka ducked under it and belted him twice in the stomach. Calruz shouted as she hit the same spot she’d kicked and shove
d her with one arm.
Ryoka was thrown sideways, but she landed, jumped, and kicked the Minotaur in the chest. He staggered back, looking outraged. She pounded his chest.
Now he was really starting to get angry. Calruz punched at her far faster than she would have guessed he’d be able to move, but Ryoka did the same thing she had to Yvlon. Her head and body were in constant motion as she ducked and weaved, letting the Minotaur swing wide.
Low kick. Ryoka hammered Calruz’s legs with powerful kicks, wincing internally at the impact. The Minotaur had goat-like legs with cloven hooves, and it felt like she was kicking a baseball bat when she hit him.
He nearly got her with an uppercut. Ryoka grinned, turned, and kicked him straight on with a kick to the stomach again. She raised her hands; hit him twice in the stomach—
And then he punched her.
—-
Ryoka jerked upright and felt multiple sets of hands pushing her down. Someone was on top of her. Someone light?
A pair of pointed ears and hazel hair. Ceria covered Ryoka protectively as she shouted at something. Something?
A loud roar of fury made Ryoka sit up. She looked up and saw Calruz being held back by ten men as he tried to rush at her. The Minotaur’s eyes were actually red with rage and a trickle of blood was running from both nostrils.
What had happened? Ryoka tried to move, felt the agony coming out of her chest and realized she’d been hit. Hit.
She couldn’t breathe. Hell, she could barely move. Calruz was shouting something, her ears were ringing, and Ceria was telling her to stay still. But Ryoka’s blood was still on fire. She still wanted to fight.
She stood up.
“Hold it!”
Ceria pushed Ryoka down, but the girl knocked her off and stood up. She raised her firsts, but now Garia, Yvlon, and Ceria were all pulling her back.
A few feet away Gerial was swearing and pulling at Calruz with all his might as the Minotaur roared a challenge at Ryoka.
“Calm down Calruz! Hold still gods damn it!”
Ceria was talking desperately to Ryoka, as the girl strained towards the Minotaur.
“You’ve made your point, Ryoka. No one’s underestimating you. Let’s stop before someone gets seriously hurt.”
Her brain wasn’t synching up with her mouth. Ryoka tried a few times.
“No. Let’s keep going.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I’m not done. Let Calruz go. I’ll take him on.”
The men holding the Minotaur gaped at Ryoka and then redoubled their efforts to hold the raging Minotaur.
“Enough!”
Another man strode forwards and stood between Ryoka and Calruz. He had a huge axe on his back and he was nearly as burly as the Minotaur, if not quite so tall. He glared at Ryoka.
“Gerial, get your Captain under control. And you, girl, back down!”
Gregor, one of the Silver-rank Captains, scowled as the men eventually managed to push Calruz back. The Minotaur was still breathing heavily, but his eyes were no longer red with fury.
“This was a ridiculous display. What are you both doing? The Adventurer’s Guild is not a place for anything but training spars, much less unarmed foolishness.”
He pointed at Ryoka.
“You’re a hothead Runner, and challenging a Minotaur just proves how idiotic you are. No matter how good you are with your fists, it won’t help you against monsters. You’ve seen the ones in the High Passes. Swords and even battleaxes don’t work on their hides.”
Ryoka glared at him. His words were true, and they hurt.
“I survived.”
“Must’ve been a miracle, then. The way you act, I’m surprised you haven’t offed yourself already. You’re either suicidal or an idiot. Even adventurers don’t pull idiotic stunts like this.”
“I don’t need an axe to do my job. And I don’t need you to tell me what to do. Back off. I’ll take on Calruz without you lot getting in the way.”
Gregor opened and closed his mouth with wordless fury.
“You blind, arrogant—if Ceria hadn’t jumped in the way he would have crushed your head like a fruit. You can’t take him. Back down.”
Ryoka eyed Calruz. He was restraining himself—with difficulty—but she knew if the men stopped holding him he’d rush right at her. And she felt like doing the same. Her blood was boiling.
“I can still fight.”
“Even if you were Level 20 he’d still be able to crush you like a bug! And you’re no warrior. You don’t have any fighting skills that I saw—”
“I don’t need Skills to fight.”
“But you don’t even have any levels.”
Everyone stopped talking. Gregor paused, red-faced, ready to shout and stared at the person who had spoken. Yvlon smiled at Ryoka and nodded once politely.
“I don’t understand. And truthfully, I didn’t believe my aunt when she told me that. But it is true, isn’t it? I couldn’t believe it until just now, but it must be true. You don’t have any levels or any classes at all, do you?”
Ryoka stared at her wordlessly. Anger surged in her belly. How dare she? How did she know?
“Not one.”
Cervial spoke from behind Ryoka. He was studying her. As she turned to stare at him he tapped one eye.
“[Appraisal]. It’s a Skill that [Marksmen] get sometimes. I can’t see your Level or your Class.”
Even Calruz was dumbfounded by this revelation. The adventurers exchanged glances, and Ryoka heard the whispering.
“No levels?”
“Why?”
“Is she some kind of demi-human—no, a monster?”
“Who wouldn’t Level? Is she a fool?”
“Cursed?”
Ryoka gritted her teeth.
“I don’t need levels to fight.”
Gregor shook his head at her, disbelieving.
“What are you, an idiot? How would you survive a second against a monster without levels?”
The fury that was boiling in Ryoka seized hold of her tongue.
“It’s not about levels. Your stupid little system doesn’t interest me. I don’t believe in needing levels or classes. It’s all stupid and it makes you cowards. Silver-rank? Gold-rank? You just use those words because you don’t have the guts to fight.”
The words came out of Ryoka before she could stop herself. She pointed at Gregor as the man’s face turned red. But all of the adventurers were listening and Ryoka couldn’t stop.
“I survived the High Passes without a single level. I did it, because I wasn’t afraid and needed half a dozen people in armor to hold my hand. And if you lot had any guts, you wouldn’t sit around whining about how a bunch of unexplored ruins are too dangerous.”
“You truly believe you can surpass the rest of us without needing to level don’t you?”
Yvlon stared hard at Ryoka, for once not smiling. Even Garia was staring at Ryoka as if seeing her for the first time.
Ryoka didn’t answer. She just wiped at the blood coming from her mouth. But that was an answer in itself.
“What arrogance.”
It came from out of the crowd. Ryoka turned, and this time the blood in her veins was roaring. She was beyond caring about anything.
“Really? Arrogance? All I see are people too afraid to do anything until they level up. People who have to hide in a group to cover how pitiful they are.”
A murmur of hot anger went through the adventurers. Ryoka raised her fists.
“I’ll take you on one by one or all at once. Come on. Fight me.”
“Enough!”
This time it was Ceria who shoved at Ryoka. The Half-elf was angry.
“You’re talking nonsense. But I won’t let you stand here and get yourself hurt. Stop this or I’ll have to use magic—”
It was just an impulse. But once it was started, Ryoka couldn’t stop. Her hand shot out and brushed Ceria’s chin. The Half-elf blinked, staggered, and sat down.
Ryoka sta
red at the Half-elf, rage eclipsed by sudden regret. She hadn’t meant to. She just wanted to get the mage to shut up for a second. But like before, like so many times before her body had started moving before her brain.
A roar of anger came from Calruz. Suddenly he was throwing off the other adventurers as they tried desperately to slow him down. Her approached Ryoka, and she tensed.
But he didn’t strike at her. Instead, Calruz scooped up Ceria gently. He stared down at her, practically steaming with rage.
“You tread on Ceria’s honor. For that I should challenge you to a duel with real weapons.”
“I’ll take you on.”
Something inside of Ryoka was snapping. She was full of fury and beyond caring what would happen next. Calruz seemed to vibrate at her challenge, but with incredible effort he turned away.
“You are not worth the time it would take.”
Ryoka’s temper flared. She spoke to the Minotaur’s back, hearing each word leave her lips as some part of her screamed at her not to say them.
“I didn’t think you were a coward, Calruz.”
Gerial lunged. Not towards Ryoka, but with the rest of the Horns of Hammerad as they seized the Minotaur. Calruz’s head turned and his eyes darkened with blood and rage. But he didn’t move with Ceria’s limp form in his hands. His voice quivered with fury.
“I was mistaken about you. You are no warrior. You just want something to hit.”
He began to walk away. Ryoka shouted after him.
“Calruz! Fight me! Come back here you coward! Are you afraid?”
The Minotaur’s back tensed, but he kept walking. Gregor stared at Ryoka in fury, hand twitching towards his axe hilt.
“Enough! I won’t stand here and listen to this. If you want a fight, try your fists against my axe, girl.”
“Bring it.”
Ryoka raised her hands. But Yvlon stepped forwards.
“Enough. Restrain yourself, Ryoka Griffin.”
Something was snapping inside of Ryoka. It was the same feeling, the exact same. Part of her was shouting for her to put down her fists, to apologize. To get down on her hands and knees and bow before Ceria and Calruz. But like before, like so many times when she’d been kicked out of school, she’d crossed over the event horizon of fury.
