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I returned to my room, grabbed my equipment, and went back to the first floor.

Gadius was waiting for me there, donned in full equipment for the first time in a long while. His low height coupled with the bulky body was releasing an intimidating air despite the shortness.

“You are back. I suppose you do not want to stand out. Follow me.”
“…Okay.”

He led me to the backdoor and we headed out into the streets. I followed behind him while inspecting the trusty gauntlets that I hadn’t worn in a while.

Gadius most likely didn’t challenge me to a fight just because he wanted to fight. Perhaps, he just wanted to blow away the stagnated feelings in his chest by fighting me.

In that case, I had to respond to his wishes. I was the one reason for his burden, after all.

Stollar was the biggest city in this region, and the area within the walls was quite vast. In its suburbs was a place where the materials gathered from all around were being stored.

It was naturally under strict supervision, but Gadius was a celebrity in this city, so he had a free pass to enter it as he pleased.

The place was filled with lumber like in Raum. The difference was that there were also things other than lumber.

It was mainly grains, but there were also a bunch of sandbags, perhaps used for fighting disasters.

“There are many obstacles here and no one is around. You should be able to fight to your heart’s content here, right?”
“I guess. But are you sure? I’m not really the same as I was back then.”

My physical abilities were far from that of my previous life. That said, with Enchant and thread strengthening, I could output enough power to rival the past me.

Naturally, it was far more effective to do that with my past body, but it could not be underestimated even without it.

“I have seen your skill even in Raum.”
“I’m much stronger than that now.”

I answered with a fearless smile. Seeing that, Gadius also raised his trusty shield in response.

“Just perfect. If you think you can get past my defenses that could fend off even the Evil Dragon’s attacks, go ahead and try.”
“I’ll be doing just that!”

With that shout, I rushed towards him.

There was no need for a start signal or consent. After all, that did not matter in real battles.

Gadius was aware of that too, so he was ready to take me on at any moment.

As the distance shortened, his shield appeared before my eyes. It wasn’t that bigger compared to Cloud’s shield, but it emitted an intimidating air as if it was a castle wall.

To start, I intentionally positioned myself right in front of the shield. Given my tiny body, it completely covered my body.

He would lose sight of me in this way—Normally that is.

But Gadius charged right at me as if he had me in his sight. There was not a fragment of impatience in his actions.

He was intent on mercilessly blowing me away with his shield.

Naturally, I did not lose my cool with something like this, either. I grabbed the upper part of his shield and jumped over him with a somersault.

I tried to coil threads around his neck at the same time, but they were moved down by the axe he held.

“Tsk.”
“I am more than familiar with your tricks.”
“Leave me alone!”

Despite my words, I hadn’t stopped attacking. While Gadius did excel in defense, his offense could not be underestimated either. Particularly with this body, I would get torn to shreds if he so much as grazed me.

The reason his offenses weren’t in the spotlight was simply that Lyell towered far above the rest in that aspect.

I tried to restrain him with the threads he swiped aside earlier, but he swung his shield to cause a gale and stopped them in their tracks.

The way he could swing such a large shield as if it was a fan was nothing short of extraordinary. The shielding Gift he had probably played a part in that.

In that case, I had to go all out too.

I send my threads in every direction and attacked him, but each one was swiped, blocked, or dodged.

The threads got entangled as they were sent flying, gradually decreasing in number.

Gadius seemed to be aware of that too and started showing more and more composure.

“What is it, worried about running out of threads?”
“Not exactly!”

I still had two threads. Being worried was an understatement.

Even so, I did not stop attacking. I swing one of the remaining threads from above and the other from the left.

Gadius dodged them with nimble footwork you wouldn’t imagine from his bulky body.

As expected, it wasn’t so easy to catch Gadius who had a shield on him.

“So you have run out of threads. I suppose this is my win.”
“Nope, it’s my win.”
“Wha—”

Without waiting for him to finish, I drew my katana from my waist and charged. And then, I jumped just as I reached him.

I just jumped up and slashed downwards. It was easy to block it even if the opponent wasn’t Gadius. But it would be another story if my trajectory suddenly changed.

“Nghh!?”

Gadius lost sight of me as I suddenly moved to the right while in mid-air. His gaze quickly chased after me.

To avoid it, I moved—still in mid-air.

“Reid, what… what are you doing!?”

Of course, flying magic existed. But Gadius did not see me use any such spell. In fact, I wasn’t using magic at all.

But then, he finally noticed the trick behind it. That I had caught the threads that had gotten scattered all around and used them as a foothold to run.

“It’s like… a spider’s nest.”

He muttered in amazement.

The threads didn’t only serve as my foothold. Since they were running all around, they were limiting Gadius’ movements to the limit.

With this, he wouldn’t be able to make full use of the defenses he so excelled in.

I moved through the air like a bird soaring through the night.

I was called names such as “shadow-winged assassin” and “night-lurking spider” because of my ever-changing movements made possible by constructing my own territory.

Following that, I focused my thread manipulation skill within my body and strengthened my physical strength.

I moved my small and light body with muscle strength beyond its limit. This was the trump card strategy of the current me.

Gadius failed to keep up with my speed. No, perhaps he could have if he had a perfect footing.

My slash that seemed to sew through the gaps in the stretched threads was blocked by a hair’s breadth. But his left arm touched the taut thread in the process, giving it a light cut.

I then jumped and used threads as a foothold to reverse my body direction even further, and drove my toes at him with all my power from overhead. At the same time, I pulled the thread I was using as a foothold and narrowed down the thread arrangement even further.

Gadius had previously blocked my katana with his shield and his arm was cut, so he could not react to this sudden development.

He couldn’t use his shield as it was used to block the katana. He reflexively tried to put up his axe to block, but the threads spread all around hindered him by constricting his movements.

“Ngh!?”

He had been lured into a trap, he groaned as he realized that. He had no way to dodge the kick aimed at him. He quickly judged so and instead put up his forehead to intercept it.

He was intending to use his forehead, the strongest part in a human body, to bear through the attack.

With a bang, I felt a heavy response in my hands—I mean, my legs.

Gadius got a concussion and unsteadily fell on his knee.

As for me—

“Oooouchhhh!”

There was no way I would have gotten off scot-free after kicking a dwarf’s forehead. Well, if I had my previous body, Gadius would have certainly fainted and I would have come out unscathed.

I ended up magnificently twisting my ankle and rolling on the ground in pain.

Meanwhile, Gadius stood back up… And offered me a hand.

“Your skills are as sharp as expected. It is my loss.”
“No, it’s clearly my loss no matter how you slice it.”
“I certainly remained standing last. But it was also me who received a fatal strike first, so it is my loss.”
“Well, if that’s what you think, fine.”

I grabbed his hand and stood up. He supported my tilted body with his arm. And then, he pulled me by the nape of the neck as if he was playing with a kitten and carried me to the inn.