Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 1

by Yuu Tanaka

  But Fran was at a clear disadvantage. All the demon had to do was land one blow to kill her.

  “I’m having so much fun! We’re evenly matched, that much is clear!” The demon disengaged his blade from mine and jumped back. What was he planning? “But we need to finish up at some point! I’ll start by taking your powers!”

  “Huh?”

  No! He’s using his Extra Skill!

  “Hahaha! It’s over! Skill Taker!”

  The demon laughed and thrust his hand forward.

  Urgh! He got us!

  The demon hadn’t used his skill-stealing skill so far, so I didn’t know what form it was going to take. I thought he needed to be in close quarters, or that it had a long cast time. The skill was too strong not to have a complicated requirement. I never expected it to be useable at a distance!

  The skill seemed to have worked, judging by the loudness of his boasting. Did he steal Fran’s combat ability? He better not have stolen Sword Mastery or Sword Arts. I already maxed them out and I’d have to relearn them if he did! Worse, Fran wouldn’t be able to fight if she lost Sword Mastery!

  Get ready to use Return Feather if you have to!

  “Right!”

  We kept our eyes trained on the demon for the slightest change in behavior. But the demon stood still with his hand thrust out. It didn’t look anything was happening to Fran though.

  …

  “…”

  Huh?

  So…Fran, how do you feel?

  “Fine?”

  “Damn it, it failed!”

  I didn’t know how it failed but that was good to know. Were Fran and I a special case? I supplied most of her skills, meaning most of her skills came from her equipment. Maybe that was why Skill Taker was ineffective against her. If anything, he should’ve cast Skill Taker on me.

  “I failed to take your skills, so take this from me instead! Dark Bolt!”

  The demon regained his posture and shot a Dark Spell at us. It took the form of a swirling vortex which left fissures in the ground, like a drill. His stats were more suited for ranged magical combat, so he was getting serious now.

  “Ha!”

  It missed Fran completely.

  “Take this!”

  “Whoops.”

  “Damn it!”

  The spell was as destructive as it was predictable, especially for someone like Fran who had gone toe-to-toe with several hordes of goblins by now. For all his might, the demon lacked combat experience. It was understandable since the Dungeon Master had only summoned recently.

  “Dark Spear!”

  Fire Wall!

  “Dark Blast!”

  “Too easy.”

  “What?!”

  I expected underhanded spells from the Dark Magic spellbook, but the demon opted for one-hit kills instead. Fran was still at a disadvantage because of the power difference though. She was barely able to scratch him, while one hit from him was all it would take to kill her.

  Fran became quieter than usual. She knew she had to focus to take this menace down.

  Should we escape? No, it was too early to call it quits. Granted, we had done enough to prune the population of goblins to stop them from invading the city. The C- and D-Ranks would take care of the cleanup. But what should we do about this demon? It was the one thing standing between us and capturing the dungeon. Even if we were to escape, I’d like to deal enough damage to it to give Donadrond an easier time.

  “Black Bomb!”

  “Nope.”

  “Aaargh!”

  Frustrated, the demon began peppering the entire room with spells. The Dungeon Master shrieked and dove for cover to save his life. It was a good thing we were the only ones in the room, otherwise the explosion of spells may have agitated some high-rank monsters out on the field. We only had the Dungeon Master to worry about, and he wasn’t much of a problem anyway.

  Hang on a second…

  I just had a revelation.

  This guy’s just a regular monster.

  I remembered Donadrond’s lecture about dungeon mechanics, specifically about how the Dungeon Master was connected to the Core. Killing a Dungeon Master would have similar effects to destroying the Core, one of which was the annihilation of all monsters living in the dungeon.

  Which means if we kill that goblin, this demon will die with it.

  “Fire Arrow.”

  “Wha—hey! That’s not fair!”

  The demon hurried to protect the Dungeon Master from Fran’s spell.

  My calculations were correct. The Dungeon Master had a Bracelet of Sacrifice on him, but that only meant we had to kill him twice. The Dungeon Master couldn’t control the demon, but the demon protected him anyway because of his desire to survive.

  “Heh.”

  “You punk, I’ll get you for this!”

  Fire Javelin!

  “What the hell? I didn’t even hear her incantation!”

  That was because I was the one casting it.

  “Fire Arrow.”

  Tri Explosion.

  “Fire Arrow.”

  Flare Blast!

  One explosive spell after spell covered the demon’s body.

  “Urgh!”

  “Aieeee!”

  The Dungeon Master wasn’t dying, despite being caught in the blast. The demon couldn’t afford to move from the Dungeon Master, making him out to be a sad punching bag.

  “You idiot! I told you we should’ve used the room before this as our battlefield!”

  “Sh-shut up! This room would be defenseless without you here!”

  Thank God the Dungeon Master was an idiot. We chipped away at the demon’s health, though his Mana Barrier proved formidable. We’d be the first to run out of mana at this rate.

  Fran, change of plans.

  “Got it.”

  I kept up my barrage of double-casting spells as Fran chanted the incantation of the wind spell she had just learned: Level 4 Wind Magic, Sonic Shot. Put simply, it enabled the user to launch a projectile at high speeds with the power of wind. You could manipulate the angles slightly too.

  “I’m ready.”

  Go for it.

  “Ha!”

  Fran counted and flung me into the air.

  Woohoo!

  I accelerated with the help of Sonic Shot. I banked to the right of the demon and went straight for the Dungeon Master.

  “Is that Wind Magic?! Smart, but I won’t let you!”

  The demon couldn’t move since Fran continued targeting the Dungeon Master with her spells. Still, he reached out his right hand to swat me away. I was fast, but the demon had no problem seeing me. He failed in his attempt to deflect me, however.

  “Wha—gah!”

  I went along with the wind channels before using Telekinesis to make a sharp turn. It had been a while since my last Telekinetic Catapult. I stabbed the defenseless demon right in the chest and charged straight through. I amplified my blade with my remaining mana and was ready to fly away just in case the attack didn’t work.

  “Gah…”

  That did it…

  I suddenly realized that he had managed to get his left hand between me and his body. If I hadn’t charged my blade with enough mana, this would’ve been the end of me. The demon was defiant to the very end.

  “Hurk…”

  I had completely cut into his crystal and absorbed it.

  “Gaaah…”

  The demon roared before falling to the ground, dead.

  You have obtained 40 EP.

  Nice! I expected no less from a demon’s crystal. My crystal counter was at 2699/2800 before, and now it was at 3199/3600, marking a 500-crystal increase.

  “H-how did you…?”

  The Dungeon Master watched in shock. He’d just seen his unbelievably strong demon get killed by a little girl, so I could sympathize with him a little. Still, it was bad practice to sit defenseless in the heat of battle.

  “Ha!”

  “Gaaah!”

  Fran w
asted no time in throwing out an Aura Blade to lop the Dungeon Master’s right arm off. The arm fell to the floor, the Bracelet of Sacrifice along with it. Just as the Dungeon Master was screaming in pain, Fran mercilessly cut off his head. He may be a Dungeon Master, but he was still a goblin. He was no match for the raw force of Fran’s Aura Blade. The brightly glowing Dungeon Core suddenly dimmed.

  And that was it.

  Is something supposed to happen now…?

  “Teacher, did we win?”

  I think so, yeah…

  I expected something theatrical to happen when we killed the Dungeon Master, maybe an earthquake or something. But nothing happened. We’d killed the Dungeon Master, right?

  Either way, we should try leaving the place. All the remaining monsters should be dead by now.

  Oh, is the Daemon’s body still there?

  I expected the Daemon’s body to turn into sand and was relieved to see it was still in one piece. That would’ve been a waste of materials. We decided not to take the Daemon’s corpse, however. We could’ve used the materials, but I felt bad for the Guild for rushing ahead. It would’ve been difficult to hide the corpse because of the Dungeon Core system anyhow.

  Anyone could use a dormant Core. Touching it would reveal the list of monsters that had populated the dungeon before its capture. The Daemon would be on that list of monsters should anyone want to reuse the Dungeon, so, as much as I wanted to take the Daemon’s materials, we’d have gotten found out no matter what. There was no need to raise further undue resentment.

  We were going to have modify the Daemon’s body slightly before letting the Guild have it though. I blew up his chest with an Explosion and left a big hole where his crystal should be. If anyone asked, Fran could simply say, “I accidentally destroyed his crystal in the fight. The corpse is all that’s left.” Fran could say she took the crystal for herself, but I was sure some of the adventurers would complain about her taking too much. We didn’t need any of that to go on. Some of them weren’t going to buy it no matter what, but oh well. Good luck proving otherwise.

  We kept the sword though. We might be able to fence it for good money. Alternatively, we could break it down for materials. We took the Bracelet of Sacrifice off the Dungeon Master’s detached arm as well. It might come in handy at some point.

  “We won.”

  Fran pumped her fist in the air in a show of victory. We played dirty, but she looked happy that she won anyway.

  Fran has leveled up!

  Fran has leveled up!

  Fran has...

  Fran gained eight levels from that one fight!

  I’d worried she wasn’t going to get any EXP since I dealt the killing blow to the Daemon, but it still counted since she was my User. That also probably wasn’t the first time someone killed a monster with a throwing weapon. We managed to win because the Dungeon Master was so weak. Fran gained a total of thirteen levels since she had charged through the dungeon. What a windfall!

  The door rumbled, signaling that the seal was now broken.

  “Little lady! Sound off if you’re still alive!”

  “What the hell! That’s a Daemon!”

  “Are you actually serious?”

  Having captured the dungeon, we were on our way back to the city. The adventurers looked as exhausted as they were pleased. We lost ten adventurers today but were fortunate the situation didn’t devolve into a calamity for the city.

  The guildsmen were happy we had killed the Dungeon Master when we did, since that caused all the dungeon monsters to die out. They were even happier that we didn’t hog the Daemon’s remains; that was a biggie. Daemon materials had higher value compared to monsters of the same threat level since they only spawned in dungeons. The EXP you got from them was also on a different level. They made for good money, provided you didn’t get killed in the fight.

  Donadrond lectured us for about an hour when he found us. The image of a champion of the guild scolding an innocent beastgirl was as comical as it was tragic. Fran would’ve sulked at me if I had laughed, so I managed to keep my steely composure. The lecture would’ve gone on for longer if the boy who had argued with Fran hadn’t stepped in. He’d survived, unlike the mercenaries, and was paying her back for saving his life.

  He’s a good kid.

  “You’re not gonna fool me that easily.”

  Yeah?

  “You didn’t get yelled at. No fair.”

  Now, now.

  “I took the brunt of it.”

  I said I was sorry.

  “Then I want beef.”

  Okay.

  “Roast beef.”

  Sure.

  “Steak kebabs.”

  You got it.

  Fran was becoming quite the glutton ever since she sampled Earth cooking. She could have as much as she wanted so long as she’d stop pouting. It’d make for a nice celebration, since she killed a monster that was above her weight class. I was ready to cook her anything she wanted.

  Before we reach town, I should take a look at my stats…

  The following were my stats before the raid:

  Attack: 392; MP: 1650/1650; Durability: 1450/1450

  Evolution: [Rank 7; Crystals: 2699/2800; Skill Capacity: 62; Free EP: 9]

  And this was after:

  Name: Teacher

  User: Fran

  Race: Intelligent Weapon

  Attack: 434; MP: 2050/2050; Durability: 1850/1850

  Evolution: [Rank 8; Crystals: 3199/3600; Skill Capacity: 70; Free EP: 49]

  Skills: Identify 7; High Speed Self-Repair; Telekinesis; Telekinesis Up (Small); Telepathy; Attack Up (Small); User Status Up (Medium); User Recovery Rate Up (Small); MP Up (Small); Skill Capacity Up (Medium); Identity Protection; Bestiary; Skill Sharing; Mage

  Many of my skills had leveled up too. The Hobgoblins and Army Beetles had a ton of skills I could absorb. The Wind Magic I only got a few hours ago was already at Level 7, having gone up by six levels in one day. Sword Arts went from 7 to 8, and Sword Mastery was now at 9 with Abnormal Status Resistance at 3 and Earth Magic at 5. The list went on.

  I got a bunch of new skills from the dungeon as well. The ones that seemed particularly useful were: Dark Magic 1; Mana Barrier 1; Black Magic 2; Trap Sense 1; Dark Up; Dark Immunity; Mana Regeneration; and Insubordination. Mana Regeneration would particularly allow me to recover my mana just by equipping it. There was the extra skill, Skill Taker, to boot.

  I didn’t know what to do with the 49 EP I had on hand, since I wanted to strengthen everything. I could up Sword Arts, Sword Mastery, and some Magics… I had Dark Up now, so maybe I should invest my points in Dark Magic… Summon Minion looked like fun… Then there were Instant Regen and Abnormal Status Resistance which I had foregone earlier. Or maybe I should just dump it all into Skill Taker? There were Superior Skills to worry about now.

  Also, Fran was now at Level 25. She had gained eight levels from killing the Daemon since she sucked in all the EXP instead of sharing it with a party.

  Name: Fran

  Age: 12

  Race: Beastman; Black Cat Tribe

  Class: Spellsword

  Status: Contract

  LV: 25

  HP: 193; Magic: 127; Strength: 140; Agility: 146

  Skills: Goblin Killer; Calm Mind; Expert Carver; Determination; Sense of Direction; Night Vision

  [NEW] Insect Killer; Demon Killer

  Titles: Veteran; Disassembly Expert; Healing Mage; Skill Collector; Fire Mage; Master Chef

  [NEW] Insect Killer; Big Fish Eater; Dungeon Raider; Demon Killer

  Insect Killer: Kill 300 insect types in one battle. Unlocks the skill Insect Killer.

  Big Fish Eater: Defeat a foe who is above your weight class. Life +20; All Stats +5; slightly increases growth rate.

  Dungeon Raider: Kill a Dungeon Master or destroy a Dungeon Core. Increases life and mana regeneration while in a dungeon.

  Demon Killer: Slay a demon. Unlocks the skill Demon Killer.

  Big
Fish Eater? Here was another unlocked title. It was about as strong as the Veteran title which increased Fran’s stats even more. She could probably take on Donadrond now. It was scary how fast Fran grew! Although, admittedly, part of it was my fault.

  Fran had ambitions, but I doubted that she would ever get cocky. Still, I had a feeling she would want to go to even more treacherous territory soon. I had better support her as much as I could!

  To that end, we held an emergency meeting over which skills to level up.

  What do you think we should level up, Fran?

  “Sword Arts and Sword Mastery.”

  That’s what I thought.

  Using magic effectively was difficult. But she’d be able to turn the tide of battle so long as she had her sword. Her sword being me, who took pride in having high Mana Conductivity and MP.

  Are you sure about this?

  “Yeah.”

  All right.

  I spent 6 EP to bump Sword Arts and Sword Mastery to Level 10.

  Sword Arts is now Level 10. You have unlocked Blade Arts.

  Sword Mastery is now Level 10. You have unlocked Blade Mastery.

  Sword Arts and Sword Mastery are now at Level 10. You have unlocked Elemental Sword.

  Blade Mastery and Blade Arts were clear enough, but Elemental Sword? The skill used magic to apply an element to a blade. We’d have to use it to see how it worked.

  Now it was time for Skill Taker:

  Skill Taker 1: Choose a Level 1 skill with Rarity 1 or lower to steal. Has a 50% chance of success. Can only be used once per target. Cooldown: 1 day. Effective range is skill level in meters.

  Skill Rarity—that was new. Identify only revealed a skill’s level up to now.

  I’d be able to collect even more skills with this on. Stealing a target’s skills also made for good utility, and I could finally get something out of fighting creatures which didn’t drop crystals—humanoids—now. I could take their skills instead.

  But a 50 percent success rate didn’t inspire much confidence. It might not be worth the attempt in the heat of battle. I mulled over it until I remembered I could consult Fran. What would she think of this?