Chaeing!
In the middle of the training field, the clear sound of metal clashing echoed.
A sword with a dulled edge and a blunt-tipped metal collided, causing sparks to fly.
With the sound of metal scraping, the two weapons struggled against each other.
The winner of this struggle was Amon.
“Ugh.”
Cassie stepped back.
Clearly, the sword would be at a disadvantage when clashing with a spear, but the actual result was the opposite.
Amon’s strength was overwhelming, enough to disregard both the weight of the spear and the leverage.
At this rate, no training would be possible.
“Please, just hold back a bit.”
“Sorry. It came out unconsciously.”
Amon acknowledged Cassie’s complaint.
The goal of this training was to improve Cassie’s combat sense.
However, pushing forward with sheer strength was meaningless.
Cassie dodged Amon’s sword strikes, admiring his monstrous strength.
“I fought a Scavenger who had undergone a reinforcement skeleton procedure because of a request, you know? But why are you so strong!?”
Cassie had received genetic modification herself.
The procedure was basic, aimed at enhancing her strength, agility, and stamina.
It was considered a high-end procedure, so she was confident that she wouldn’t lose to most opponents.
However, Amon’s destructive power far surpassed that.
“I thought the same thing when I first met you, but how does it make sense that you’re stronger than beastmen or Ains in vanilla form?”
The first time Cassie met Amon, Amon had driven a dagger into the building’s wall, using it as a foothold to jump to the third-floor window.
In other words, Amon had the strength to shatter the building’s outer wall with a dagger and the power to reach the third floor with two jumps.
The more unbelievable part was that Amon had done this in his vanilla state, without any enhancements or procedures.
The only explanation for this could be one thing.
“Do you have some dragon ancestry or something?”
It would make sense in that context.
In fact, in the UK, there were articles about those with dragon blood reaching this level.
Of course, no matter how rare dragon blood might be, and even if the probability of a genetic jackpot was 1 in a trillion, Amon’s combat abilities couldn’t be entirely explained.
But it was the only plausible explanation.
Amon just closed his mouth with a wry smile.
He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about his divine power.
Sorry, but I’m not quite at that level yet.
Cassie was a good person, but it felt too early to reveal Amon’s secret.
In fact, it might be better if she didn’t know at all.
Once again, Amon avoided yet another one of her questions without directly answering.
Cassie had no choice but to let it go without any progress.
But her mind was still filled with curiosity about Amon’s secret.
‘Could it be some kind of mystic power?’
She had once entertained such a thought.
But she quickly dismissed it.
‘Why would someone with mystic power be here?’
A mystic power user could walk into any major corporation and get an office with one request, so they wouldn’t need to be a mercenary.
Moreover, Amon had never displayed any of the miracles associated with mystic power.
If anything, his physical abilities, while extraordinary, were far too plain to be called a miracle compared to feats like curing baldness, walking on liquids, or controlling blood.
So, she was convinced Amon couldn’t be a mystic power user.
Additionally, there was another reason why she was so certain.
Because she’s here.
Just as they say, “Speak of the devil,” a visitor arrived at the training ground.
A beautiful woman with white hair and golden eyes entered the training area.
She wore a modified nun’s habit, designed for combat.
The black veil and nun’s habit did little to hide her ample chest and shapely hips.
The nun’s name was Sonia.
She was the strongest apprentice combat nun from the seminary,
A mystic power user known as the “Saint of Gunpowder”, and Amon’s lover.
Cassie was so sure Amon wasn’t a mystic power user because of Sonia.
The two had grown up in the same orphanage.
Considering that mystic power users were said to be one per region, Amon could not possibly be one.
“Amon.”
Sonia, dressed in her combat nun habit, entered the training area and immediately searched for Amon.
Once she found him, she began to run toward him.
Every time her feet hit the ground, her slit sides revealed her apricot-colored thighs.
Shaking her pouch filled with divine power, Sonia ran toward Amon.
Amon put down his sword and hurriedly wiped the sweat from his brow.
But before he could finish wiping it, Sonia hugged him.
“Hehe!”
Amon’s sweat, soaked into his shirt, transferred to Sonia’s nun’s habit.
“It’s dirty, you know.”
Amon, concerned for her, tried to push her away.
But Sonia was persistent.
“It’s not a big deal. We’ll get sweaty during training anyway.”
“But this is your sweat, and this is my sweat.”
“It doesn’t matter. We share a blanket, don’t we?”
“Ugh…”
Amon tried to stop her as usual, but once again, he gave up, following the same pattern.
Sonia reveled in Amon’s scent.
Technically, it wasn’t a fragrant smell.
If someone were to smell it without knowing it was Amon’s sweat, they’d likely wrinkle their nose.
But once this sweat was transferred to her nun’s habit, Amon’s scent followed.
Living in the same house and using the same detergent meant that the smell of Amon’s sweat on her clothes naturally became something she liked.
After transferring enough of his sweat to her combat habit, Sonia finally released him.
Once she let go, Amon looked at her with concern.
“Aren’t you being a bit too provocative today?”
Amon thought Sonia’s attire was too revealing.
The slit on her side wasn’t the only issue; if you looked slightly up from her thighs, you could see the red knot of a tie.
Of course, it looked good.
But he didn’t want to show it off to others.
Sonia seemed to understand his feelings and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I wear pants at school.”
“Then what about when you came here?”
“I wore a long coat, so it’s fine.”
Hearing this, Amon let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Sonia grinned widely.
“Could it be… Are you jealous?”
She poked Amon’s cheek.
Amon, his ears turning red, just turned his head away.
Sonia didn’t miss this and kept pressing him.
Unable to take it anymore, Amon blatantly changed the subject.
“Just go sit over there. I’ll take care of Cassie.”
“Got it!”
Sonia grinned as she detached herself from Amon.
She then bowed her head slightly to Cassie as she moved toward the corner of the training area.
“Hello. Amon is always in your debt.”
Sonia didn’t show the slightest hint of suspicion toward Cassie.
Of course, Cassie was beautiful enough, and with looks like hers, Amon could easily fall for her.
But Sonia trusted Amon.
Among the artificial beauties like Sonia and Cassie, they were common in this world, but Amon had never once given a second glance to anyone, not even her.
Even when he had briefly stayed in a brothel while infiltrating the Hexen Group, he never once strayed.
This was a fact proven by the unicorn-horned staff.
That’s why she didn’t feel the need to be wary of Cassie.
Moreover…
“Please take care of Amon’s back.”
While Sonia was learning sacred magic at the seminary, she understood better than anyone that Amon needed reliable companions to guard his back.
Especially after the recent incident where a beastman had betrayed him, she knew how urgent it was to have trustworthy allies.
If she were to be overly cautious about a female companion, Amon’s ashes might end up being delivered to her home.
Cassie responded to Sonia’s polite greeting with an awkward bow, matching her politeness.
“Leave it to me.”
***
Upon hearing Cassie’s reply, Sonia withdrew to the corner of the training area.
The sight of Sonia’s alluring hips swaying as she headed toward the bench caught Amon’s eye.
Amon couldn’t take his gaze off her.
Cassie looked on bitterly.
‘There’s no way he’d notice me.’
With such a beautiful and kind girlfriend, there was no chance Amon would pay attention to Cassie.
Because of that, Cassie had long given up on any romantic feelings for him.
It wasn’t even clear whether it could be called affection in the first place.
Before she could even feel attracted to Amon, Sonia’s presence had made it impossible for her to act on those feelings, and she kept them to herself.
From a distance, Sonia was seen sniffing Amon’s sweat-soaked towel openly on the bench.
‘I wonder what Amon’s scent smells like.’
Cassie was also curious because Sonia did this every time she came to the training area.
But she had never smelled it herself.
Cassie unconsciously smiled bitterly, quickly wiping it away.
She gripped her staff tightly, trying to forget the thoughts rising in her mind.
“Let’s start again.”
She focused her attention not on Amon’s face, but on his sword.
Then, with a hint of regret and frustration, she shouted toward Amon.
Clang! Chaing!
The sound of Amon and Cassie’s dazzling melee combat filled the training area.
Before Sonia’s arrival, the training had been brief, focusing on specific stances.
But the final part of the training was a sparring session that combined everything they had practiced.
Amon randomly executed the stances he had shown, while Cassie responded accordingly.
Bang!
Cassie’s staff swung with the force to break Amon’s sword.
But Amon, as always, blocked it without a change in expression.
Meanwhile, sweat poured down Cassie’s forehead.
When practicing each move separately, it hadn’t felt too difficult, but when combined in rapid succession, it felt like death for the one trying to respond.
But at the same time, she felt herself growing stronger in real time.
Cassie couldn’t help but smile, her lips lifting.
Thanks to Amon’s handicap, the fight was evenly matched.
Even Sonia, who had been sitting on the bench, stared in awe at the dazzling melee combat.
Then, suddenly, Amon’s sword slipped from his hand.
Normally, Cassie would have stopped her attack, but in this training, that wasn’t allowed.
‘Practice like it’s real.’
Before starting this training, they had made a promise.
They would treat every situation like a real battle.
It was forbidden to mix in cheap tricks, but they must never hold back in their efforts to win.
This was a condition set by Amon.
If they trained with the comfort of knowing they wouldn’t get hurt, there was a risk of them slacking off.
And the promise applied equally to both sides.
‘Now!’
Cassie’s eyes sharpened.
She seized the opportunity, aiming her staff at Amon’s thigh.
The blunt tip wasn’t sharp, but it could still be painful if it hit the right spot.
She lunged forward, certain of victory.
But the scene that followed made her doubt her eyes.
Thud.
The staff she had swung sliced through the air.
Then, Amon’s foot landed on her staff.
With the added weight, Cassie’s body tilted down without her realizing it.
In that moment, Amon managed to grab his sword from midair and swung it.
With a sharp whoosh, the sword stopped just beside her neck.
“Fooled you?”
Amon’s triumphant smile spread across his face.
Cassie realized she had been outsmarted and laughed helplessly.
Once again, Amon had won.
After Cassie’s match ended, it was Sonia’s turn.
Sonia, as if she had been waiting, pulled out a rifle from her case.
A long, beautiful black rifle emerged.
The stock of the rifle was engraved with the trademark of <Colson Atelier>.
It was the prize she had won at a shooting competition in the past.
The only rifle made in the world specifically for her.
With its carbon fiber and alloy barrel, a grip custom-fit to her hands, and sights adjusted for her face size—its specs were endless.
She grabbed the rifle’s handle and inserted the magazine horizontally.
The rifle, now with its magazine inserted, looked almost like a cross.
“Ready?”
Amon nodded and picked up a training sword.
Both of them waited for the signal from the referee, Cassie.
“Start!”
As soon as the signal was given, Sonia’s finger pulled the trigger.
Du-du-du-du!
Her magic fueled the bullets, which sprayed out rapidly.
The heavy sound of gunfire, like that of a machine gun, echoed through the training area.
In reality, the rubber bullets were quite large, and the rate of fire was considerable.
The design ignored recoil, which was unusual for a rifle.
Yet, Sonia handled it with perfect stability.
With a relaxed expression, she tracked Amon with the barrel.
Whenever she fired, her bracelet would glow, and her holy power would recharge.
She then used part of that power to enhance the firepower with sacred magic.
Boom!
An explosion created by sacred magic targeted Amon.
“Wow… every time I see it, I can’t believe something like that exists.”
Cassie muttered under her breath.
Probably no one in the world would call that a rifle and casually fire it like Sonia did.
The combination of a rifleman’s mobility, a healer’s recovery, a machine gunner’s firepower, and a mage’s explosive power was the epitome of absurdity.
Her title, ‘Saint of Gunpowder,’ wasn’t for nothing.
But what was even more ridiculous was that Amon managed to overwhelm someone like Sonia.
He deflected the bullets and dodged the sacred magic.
Using his Sky Walk, he moved in three dimensions, making him almost impossible to hit.
Before long, Amon closed the distance.
The crossfire of magic and bullets was nothing to him, and with sheer force, he broke through Sonia’s defensive barrage.
With the distance now closed, Sonia strapped the rifle to her back and pulled out a dagger and a pistol from her thigh.
She tried to summon more holy power to counter Amon.
But objectively speaking, Sonia’s melee combat abilities were inferior to Cassie.
With the distance now closed, she stood no chance.
“Hmph. I was so confident today.”
Sonia, who had lost to Amon after Cassie, felt a bit disheartened.
Afterward, just like Cassie, Sonia received feedback.
Even though it was feedback, it mostly concerned how to make the firepower of magic more effective, not about improving her close combat skills.
In the first place, it was too inefficient to train close combat abilities, considering that the backline might need to close the distance.
Humans naturally have limits to what they can do.
Just like Amon didn’t practice long-range sniping, Sonia focused on her own role.
The feedback time was over.
To summarize, it went like this:
“So, what you’re saying is that the magic firepower is enough, and instead of focusing on firepower, I should focus on timing, right?”
“Yeah.”
What Amon had pointed out this time was her unconscious rhythm.
If one could read it, even a crossfire would be penetrable.
Sonia took the feedback into consideration and reworked her strategy.
However, she didn’t immediately test this new strategy here.
“Let’s call it a day.”
***
It was time for dinner.
Sonia and Amon wrapped up their training and began packing up their gear.
Cassie also started packing up her things before leaving the training grounds.
“I’ll head out first.”
“Thanks for your hard work today~”
Eventually, Amon and Sonia left the training grounds, arm in arm.
Cassie packed her things and was about to leave as well.
However, before she exited, something caught her eye on the bench.
“A towel?”
It was a towel soaked in sweat.
She unconsciously looked around.
Amon and Sonia seemed to have left without noticing the towel.
Cassie called Amon.
“You left your towel behind.”
After hearing Amon’s reply that he’d come back for it, Cassie picked up the towel.
Holding it, she waited for Amon.
The scent rising from the towel tickled her nostrils.
The more she smelled it, the more her ears turned red.
‘The side effects of the treatment…’
Genetic treatments always come with side effects.
New allergies might emerge, and things that were fine before could become poisonous.
For Cassie, the problem was that she was sensitive to certain smells.
The issue was that, unfortunately, the smell that affected her was Amon’s sweat.
As the scent intoxicated her, her cheeks flushed.
Her control over her rationality began to waver.
Her nose gradually drew closer to the towel.
Just as her nose was about to touch it—
CLANK!
“I came to get the towel.”
The door to the training ground opened, and Amon returned.
Cassie quickly pulled her face away from the towel in surprise.
She rolled up the towel and threw it at Amon.
“Thanks!”
Amon caught the towel and started walking away.
Cassie stayed behind in the training grounds, silently staring at the door he had just passed through.
Then, she suddenly looked down at her hand.
Sniff.
She took a deep breath of the scent lingering on her hand and felt her face redden even more.
A satisfied smile crept onto her lips, and she gripped the doorknob with her other hand.
From that moment, Cassie insisted on using her left hand much more than usual.