Return of the Woodcutter

For two hours after recovering from his injuries armed with a wooden shield and one-handed ax provided by Gwen, Aito fought a steel dullahan equipped with a wooden greatsword—taking a break every twenty or so minutes.

Also, he wasn\'t allowed to use Durability. Nor was he allowed to swap for new weapons until Gwen said so, even if they were broken.

Moreover, the empty armor had a seemingly bottomless reserve of stamina, allowing it to strike consecutively without interruption.

\'What a pain in the ass,\' Aito thought, blocking what felt like the thousandth strike. The dullahan\'s moves left little to no openings. At least it seemed that way to him. However, if there were no openings, he could create one, something he had already done many times.

Aito dashed towards its target to reduce the distance since its greatsword had a longer reach. The dullahan followed with a downward slash, which soon met Aito\'s shield bash, redirecting the blow upward with pure brute force.

Using that opening, Aito stabbed the armor\'s chest using the pointy edge of his ax wooden blade—a technique taken from Ogoro\'s memories that allowed for a quick attack and could be effective if well placed… on living beings.

The tip broke, but managed to put a dent in the steel armor already full of small dents. Interrupted by the impact, the dullahan took three steps back to regain its balance.

To prevent it from imposing its momentum again, Aito darted towards it. Too late, he was met with yet another unending flurry of consecutive blows.

The armor\'s moves were basic, crude, powerful, but also seemed programmed to be precise.

It always aimed for the same spots; head, heart, sides, armpits, stomach, inner thighs. The latter had surprised Aito at first because of how uncommon—according to his knowledge—the strike was.

Then Ogoro\'s memories about how to torture and kill a human kicked in. Blurry at first, but he had been able to understand it after a few minutes.

Inner thighs were a sensitive area, not only because of his groins but because of their many blood vessels linking the upper body with the lower body. Bleeding from that area could kill a man in a matter of minutes due to heavy blood loss.

It sounded improbable since he had never heard of it, but the more he registered Ogoro\'s memory, the more he realized it was true.

Although useful to know, Aito doubted it was the true reason the empty armor targeted that area. Maybe to diversify its moves, who knew?

Aito gritted his teeth through the blows, using his shield to protect himself. Since he had no armors, taking a hit, even from a wooden weapon, would hurt like hell.

He already had several bruises because of mishaps. So he knew the consequences of messing up, or more accurately, he could feel it.

Under the incessant stream of attack, his already badly damaged shield shattered into pieces, leaving him without protection.

Aito stepped back, dodging a blow. The dullahan chained its attack like a mindless barbarian. Aito stepped back, again and again, to avoid being hit.

After a while, seeing no real openings, he realized he had no choice but to enter his opponent\'s effective range without protections; he gritted his teeth, preparing for the pain to come.

He avoided a side slash, stepped in, and used his forearm to block an attack coming from his left, more by reflex of using a shield for two hours than logical thinking.

The greatsword struck true, fracturing bones. The pain traveled from Aito\'s arm to his brain, which rapidly spread the information to his entire body.

But he started to grow accustomed to pain, after all, he had endured worse on the island and when getting beaten up by the wooden dullahan. Also, his sin was the greatest pain to him. A fractured bone couldn\'t compare.

Aito quickly regained a mind clear enough to think accurately. Although painful, he wrapped his arm around the armor\'s hand and blocked it under his armpit. A simple glima technique taken from Ogoro\'s memories preventing further attacks with the weapon.

The dullahan seemed at a loss as to what to do next. It tried to move its greatsword again to no avail.

While it struggled, Aito showered it with attacks, frantically striking the center of its chest times and times again. Slightly damaging the thick steel plate.

Although the goal of the exercise wasn\'t to destroy the dullahan, he aimed for it nonetheless. If he wanted to get stronger, he needed to surpass his limits.

Soon, his wooden ax broke. Pissed and with no real other choices, he used his available fist. Punch after punch, the armor dented slightly but held. Frustrated by the pain, the tiresome training and also with a goal in mind, he sped up his strikes.

Too close to his enemy. Unable to pivot his pelvis properly to use the rotation force. Poor positioning of his feet and unwillingness to change position for fear of missing the opportunity to strike back. He couldn\'t use his strength properly. Dealing less damage than he would in normal circumstances.

He continued on, denting the armor until the dullahan suddenly disappeared.

"That\'s enough for now, take a break," Gwen said, appearing beside him.

"Why did you interrupt me? I was about to dismantle it." Aito asked, unpleased.

"The goals of this exercise weren\'t to \'dismantle\' the dullahan," Gwen replied, giving him a recovery bead.

Aito crushed the bead. The bloody hand he used to frantically attack the dullahan progressively stopped bleeding as he said. "What were they then?"

"For you to experience fighting against an opponent with endless stamina. Train your mastery of the ax and shield. Feel how it is to fight without armor, which you probably already know, but whatever." She said, before lifting a fourth finger. "And mainly for me to see how you fight so that I can fine-tune the dullahan\'s attack patterns to your needs next time. Also, you should know your limits."

Aito granted, "If I want to get stronger quickly, I need to surpass my limits not stay within its range."

"Indeed, but here\'s another lesson." She said, pointing at his legs trembling from exhaustion. "Do not confuse surpassing one\'s limits with recklessness."

Aito had never fought for so long. Yes, he had fought evol monkeys before, but the fights were brief and with many opportunities to take breaks in between them.

For example, when he had fought the army, he had used a hit-and-run tactic, but ultimately got a break when Big Bad Red waited for an opportunity to trap him, allowing Aito to recover.

It was incomparable to today, where the fights were longer with poorer conditions. He had had breaks, but only after exhausting himself to the limit and beyond.

Realizing the truth in her words, but stubborn, Aito used Pneuma to stop his legs from trembling and took a step forward.

"I can still train." He said, a firm resolve reflected in his eyes.

"I never said we were done for today," Gwen grinned, seemingly satisfied with his answer despite her previous lesson. Then she used her war hammer to sweep his legs with ease. Not because of her strength, but because he was that tired.. "But first, take a breather, you stubborn little man."