Thought Acceleration also means improving your ability to process information. In short, its like watching a phenomenon caused by a rotating lantern. And when its reached the extreme, one will feel as if time has stopped. However, those who have reached that point will, without exception, have some sort of issue afterward. This is because the human brain is not naturally allowed to process that much info.

Hearing my words, A-chan closed her eyes and said that.

I was casually thinking, Wow, you know a lot, when Kohaku seemed to notice something and asked me with a slightly grim expression,

You sound as if youve seen someone who suffers from that before.

Well, somewhat.

For an instant, and just a tiny instant, I felt like A-chan was directing her mind towards Himiko while still keeping her eyes closed.

But Himiko herself didnt react, so I guess it was just my feeling.

I wont ask further then. Anyway, are you okay, Sukuna? If what Arthur just said is true, then Sukuna must be under a lot of strain.

Well I do feel a bit tired.

At first, I was a little surprised when I was flooded with a tremendous amount of information because I fully released the limit, but I can maintain that state for at least a minute or so.

And, when I fought with Hisui, I had narrowed down my detection range to a few dozen meters at most, so I had a lot more leeway than I had expected.

Normally, youd be crippled just to maintain it for seconds Well, thats just because youre Sukuna, is all I can say. Now that Ive seen with my own eyes, I realized that you are even more monster than what Touka told me.

A monster I cant deny that.

Because A-chan is right.

Calling me a monster or monstrosity was common when I was young. Even my parents, who had given me unconditional love, were frightened by some aspects of my power, the further away I am from the meaning of the word human.

Well, its not a bad thing if youre okay.

Thats true.

But thats beside the point. Its my turn now, isnt it?

When A-chans critique was over, she impatiently stood up.

Ive been too fired up after watching Sukuna, and I dont want to wait until the heat is gone. Kokuyo-dono, Im sorry. But you must fight me, right now.

The sheath of the sword she was playing within her hand clinked against the ground.

Yes, thats okay. Because I also have a hard time to hold back too.

I dont know if it was because she could tell how A-chan was feeling or because they were feeling the same way, but Kokuyo smiled and accepted A-chans challenge.

===*

Sukuna-dono. Is Arthur strong?

Im pretty sure she is strong but Ive never seen her fight seriously.

I gave a slightly vague answer to Hisuis question.

She is the leader of the largest swordsman clan in the WLO, has the confidence to declare that shes the strongest in her clan, and none of her clan members would dare to deny it.

Despite being inferior in terms of level, everyone admits that A-chan is the strongest within the Knights of the Round Table.

Even from my point of view, I think A-chan is strong. This is based on how she wields her sword and how she usually behaves.

A-chans body language is very similar to that of a martial arts master I had observed several times in the past, an extremely strong man.

Himiko, what do you think of A-chan?

She indeed strong. Thats one thing you cant doubt about her.

Himiko answered my question immediately.

Himiko said that there was no doubt about it, so I guess that meant that her strength was real. However, Kohaku put her finger on her chin, perhaps a little curious about the implication in how she phrased it.

Is there a flaw other than strength?

No, its simply because I havent seen her for a long time. I dont know how much she has grown. The Arthur I knew was an unbeatable swordsman, at least among her peer.

Oh, you mentioned that you havent seen her for a while.

Himiko told me that she hadnt seen Arthur for a long time because she had run away from her family after cutting her ties with them.

There is a saying, If you dont see a man for three days, you cannot overlook his growth, but that doesnt mean it doesnt apply to girls.

If you havent seen a girl for five years, its natural that you cant measure her strength.

So its an unknown.

Shes wielding a sword now, but it seems that her original weapon was Katana. In any case, she a person with [Sword Saint] skill, it is impossible for her to be weak.

From beside the puzzled Hisui, I heard the familiar voice of Kohaku.

Oh yeah, Kohaku. What is a [Sword Saint]?

Its an extra rare skill that is given to those who passed its trials.

Extra rare skill?

Hmm, let me explain a little about the different types of skills.

I was going to ask about the [Sword Saint], but unexpected new terms came up, and I tilted my head, so Kohaku smiled and explained.

First, common skills are skills that the inhabitants of this world are born with or can gain through training, such as [Blunt Weapon], [Bare-Handed fighting], or [lightning magic].

Then, some skills can only be obtained by increasing ones proficiency in a certain skill, such as the [Dual Wield], [Great Sword], or [Dual Great Sword], which were called Master Rank skills.

There are also skills that are completely different from that, and can only be obtained under special conditions, such as [Hungry Wolf] or [Oni no Mai]; these are called rare skills.

And among those rare skills, there are skills that are directly related to gods called extra rare skills.

In the Imperial City of Fias, there is a test called the [Trial of Kenshin], which only those with the emperors permission can challenge it. I dont know the details, but I heard its very difficult. {Kenshin = Sword God}

So A-chan must have passed that trials.

Kenshin is the god who rules over swordsmen. Im sure that when we first met, Shuten said, gods are those who watch over the profession.

But even taking everything into consideration, it will be difficult for the current Arthur-dono to defeat Kokuyo. Her level is simply too low.

How high is Kokuyos level?

354.

The number that Kohaku had just told me was far higher than I had imagined.

I thought it would be over 200, or perhaps close to 300, but it was over that it almost four times of my own level, thats how far they are apart.

Its what they called overwhelmed by the status number. Im sure at that level, her physical skills will have reached almost 700 in all stats.

Three hundred and fifty-two.

Himiko is broken!

Im sure shell deliberately lower her status for this fight, just like when I had a hand-to-hand spar with Sukuna, otherwise Arthur-dono attacks wont be able to penetrate at all.

Lower the status?

With debuff items and skills. If not, there is no way I will be hurt by the attacks of a two-digit level Sukuna.

Its true. Considering my status at the time, even if you consider the buffs that strengthen me, it is strange that my attack would go past Kohakus defense, which is probably even higher than Kokuyo.

I think she took me lightly, more than I thought at the time. Its a shame, but even if my attacks can pass now, Im pretty sure I wont be able to defeat Kohaku. Yet.

To be honest, I could just use recovery skill to heal myself at that time.

Hahaha.

When I stared at her, Kohaku laughed happily. At the same time, Hisui explained to me about the recovery skill.

Its probably [Kiketsu Onis Blood]. Its a sustained recovery skill exclusive to the oni race. {Kanji written as Onis blood}

I wonder if I can learn it.

Yes, you have to complete the trials, but if you are an oni, you can learn them without any problems. Ive studied it myself, and so have the other Travelers Im sure Meguru and Ladybug recently also made it through the ordeal.

Hmm. Come to think of it, when we defeated the Volcano Golem before coming to this village, Meguru said that it was a necessity to complete some kind of quest.

By the way, Ladybug is one of the regulars on the forums, and I almost always see her name when I visit the Oni Forums.

I have the impression that although she is always trying to stir things up, though it usually has a boomerang effect on herself.

She is an interesting person in a different way from Himiko because she sometimes responds earnestly. Its a pity that she doesnt seem to be in the village at the moment.

Tell me more about it later. Look, its starting.

Unlike our training weapons, A-chan held a one-handed sword with a sheath instead of a Katana. It was a double-edged sword that was clearly not intended for training.

She didnt have the sword she showed us before, so this one must have been a spare, because it looked much more rugged than the relatively decorated sword before.

A-chan closed her eyes and struck the tip of his sword, still in its sheath, twice vertically against the ground.

Was it some kind of ritual? All I know is that those two taps have raised her concentration to the maximum.

Grabbing the swords scabbard with one hand, she gently pulled the blade out.

Her movement is majestic, almost like a dancer who fascinated the audience.

The moment A-chan gently opened her eyes and turned the blade she pulled out to Kokuyo, I felt the illusion that my whole body was torn apart.

!

Hee.

It was tremendous sword energy that was far different from what I felt when I first met her.

Neither Kohaku nor I could take a breath, and Hisui seemed to be surprised as she tried to ready her wooden sword sheathed at her waist.

So, this is the strongest swordsman of Knights of Round the Table.

In contrast to her fierce spirit, Arthur put her hands on the swords hilt and smiled menacingly.

Well Im coming.

Yes, any time.

Looking at each other, the two swordsmen glared.

And not long after, the two blades made a high-pitched crashing sound.

===*

A note :

Thanks to all of you, Ive reached my long-awaited 50,000 points!

And we have a book on Blunt Type Oni Girls on sale!

Thank you for everything! Ill keep working on it!

Also, Ive updated the activity report, so please check it out.

Ive been feeling a bit under the weather, so Ill continue to post after I get better!

Tl note:

The hell Himiko used to be OP? she becomes like that as a side effect from Thought Accel?

Some creativity in early line being called monster or monstrosity, the original lines are being called Kaibutsu or Bakemono, the heck I cannot smoothly translate this to English, and even if I leave it just like that, the lines will become too weird. So yeah I compromise