Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 58: Nice to meet you

Zack raised an eyebrow before asking,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Zaroth immediately replied, gripping his sword harder.

He had asked Zack for a spar, but without him holding back,

Seeing that he was the best melee fighter among their group, he was the best one to ask to be a training partner.

"Aren’t you going to summon Silverfang?"

"No, the idea is to fight on my own."

While it was true that Zaroth was at heart a Beast Master, and he was supposed to rely on his summon when a dire situation came, he still wanted to get stronger himself.

There wasn’t any shame in trying to gain more strength, or at least that’s how Zaroth felt.

Not that he was able to feel anything similar to shame, of course.

"Alright, here I come," Zack muttered under his breath.

The next second, he was already in front of Zaroth with his sword raised high in the air.

Zaroth wasn’t able to react in time and was slashed in the shoulder with devastating weight.

He grunted in pain and took a few steps back as blood began to fall from the wound.

Taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain, he waited for the wound to heal.

"Are you alright?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I’m fine," Zaroth answered as he tightened his grip on his sword.

"Again!"

Taking a deep breath, Zaroth concentrated on his enemy—Zack.

There was nothing else that mattered, it was just him and his enemy.

Zack sighed and then dashed. His movements appeared as a blur.

But this time, Zaroth was actually able to see them.

’Left shoulder,’ he saw the upcoming attack and managed to deflect it with his sword.

A metallic clinging sound echoed across the room.

Zack, of course, didn’t wait a second as he attacked again.

’Right leg,’ using every muscle in his body, Zaroth moved his sword just in time to stop the thrust from Zack once again.

Then Zack attacked again, and again, and again.

In the span of a few seconds, dozens of blows were exchanged.

During the whole time, Zack was always attacking, while Zaroth was always defending.

Each time Zack attacked, his sword moved just a bit faster, while Zaroth’s moved a bit slower.

Eventually, Zack’s attacks overwhelmed Zaroth, wounding him and leaving a large injury on his arm.

Taking a step back, Zaroth gritted his teeth, waiting for the room to heal his injury.

"Not bad," a voice behind him caught his attention.

Turning around, he saw Roderic, the instructor of the class, had decided to come pay them a visit.

Seeing that Zaroth was now staring at him, Roderic reasured.

"Don’t worry about me. I’m here to see the progress you’re all making and to point you in the right direction should the need arise."

Nodding slowly, Zaroth watched his wound heal and then charged at Zack again.

There was about an hour left until the class ended, so Zaroth planned to use the time to gain as much experience in sword fighting as possible.

Roran and Lily were engrossed in their own sparring while Roderic came from time to time to check on their progress.

At the end of the lesson, Zaroth was left exhausted but also proud of himself.

Even though it was still a bit hard, he was able to enter his peak flow state and use the sword kind of proficiently now.

He was about to head out until Roderic stopped him, requesting that they have a talk.

Making plans with his friends to meet at the bar at 20:00, he went to talk with the instructor.

"Did I do something?" Zaroth asked.

"No, not really," Roderic began, "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Ask me something? What is it?"

"Why are you trying to learn how to use a sword? Isn’t it better to use spells, since you’re in the mage category?"

The reason was that learning spells was almost useless, as Zaroth preferred preserving his mana to give his beasts more freedom when in battle, especially Luna, who was a mythical creature that required a lot of mana to keep her form.

But that wasn’t something Roderic needed to know, so…

"It’s just, I kind of prefer being up close to my enemy."

"I see… but then why a sword? Why not a spear or something similar?"

Zaroth was about to speak, but suddenly a realization hit him.

’No, really, why do I use only a sword?’

"Umm… maybe because my friends know how to use one, so they can teach me."

Roderic raised an eyebrow. "You don’t seem very sure in your answer."

Zaroth didn’t know how to respond.

"Well, don’t take it too hard," Roderic spoke as he patted Zaroth on the shoulder.

"Just think about mixing things a bit. Why don’t you try other weapons? A spear, for instance."

*****

After the talk with the professor, Zaroth was left thinking about why he chose to learn how to fight with a sword over any other weapon.

Seeing that there was still time until he was supposed to meet his friends at the bar, he decided to head to the library.

He was sure he could find a book that talks about the superior weapon in close combat.

Taking a long look around, he found a few books that seemed promising, so he picked them up. But feeling lazy to go all the way to his assigned apartment, he decided to read them right there in the library.

Entering the section meant for reading, he glanced around only to see that all the tables were already occupied.

So he either had to go and sit at a table with someone he didn’t know, or he would have to go all the way to his apartment.

With a sigh, he was about to head out until his gaze fell on a certain woman who was currently reading The Great Fall of Human Society (1134-1216).

Approaching the table, he quietly placed down the books and sat across from her.

When she sensed that someone had sat at her table, she turned her head.

Her crimson eyes fell upon Zaroth as her crimson hair moved slightly from the sudden movement.

With a grimace, she spoke,

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

"What are you doing here?"

Zaroth smiled warmly before speaking,

"Nice to meet you too."

It was Midnight Bloodrose. He often wondered why he didn’t see her anywhere in the academy, but it seemed that she had most likely spent her time here learning about humans in great detail.

And Zaroth was certainly not going to pass up the opportunity to speak to a vampire.

Now that no one was busy hiding, unlike last time, he wanted them to have a chat.