Chapter 13. The Delinquent Has Changed (2)
Adrian followed behind Kai, breathing heavily.
He maintained a short distance between them.
Adrian had removed his shirt, and his entire body was drenched in sweat.
It seemed he had begun the physical conditioning alongside the soldiers from the very beginning.
In other words, Adrian had already been running for more than three hours.
Even so, Adrian continued running.
Although his breathing was ragged, the two legs carrying him forward never faltered.
All the soldiers, Centurion, and instructors had already collapsed, yet Adrian continued running without falling.
At that moment—
Adrian overtook Kai.
Their bodies briefly overlapped as Adrian passed him, and his eyes flickered toward Kai.
Their gazes met for an instant.
Kai caught a glimpse of the emotion contained in Adrian’s eyes.
It was the gaze of a victor. It carried the composure of a winner declaring, ‘I defeated you’.
It mocked Kai as nothing more than a loser. That was what Adrian’s gaze conveyed as he overtook Kai.
Snap!
Something seemed to snap inside Kai’s head.
Without realizing it, he sharply increased his pace and speed.
He ground his teeth. He absolutely refused to lose.
Kai could accept losing to anyone else, but never to Adrian.
Kai surged past Adrian.
The distance between them disappeared in an instant. Once again, their bodies briefly overlapped.
As he passed, Kai glanced at Adrian with an indifferent expression.
Then, just as he effortlessly overtook him—
Crunch!
The sound of grinding teeth came from behind him.
Adrian had bitten down so hard that Kai wondered whether he had crushed his teeth instead of merely grinding them.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
A tremendous noise followed.
Kai didn’t even have time to check what it was.
Nor did he need to.
Adrian had already shot past Kai like an arrow. He was sprinting at full speed.
As though equally determined never to lose to Kai, Adrian squeezed out every last ounce of strength and accelerated.
Naturally—
Kai couldn’t allow himself to lose. When he poured strength into his thighs—
Boom!
The ground caved in with a thunderous explosion, and Kai’s body shot forward.
Adrian whirled around in surprise. When he saw Kai rapidly closing the distance—
Not to be outdone—
Boom!
….The ground beneath Adrian’s feet completely collapsed.
“W-What in the world is that...?”
“That’s insane....”
The soldiers watching them were utterly dumbfounded.
Adrian and Kai repeatedly overtook each other while sprinting at full speed.
Neither showed the slightest intention of yielding.
Their fierce struggle truly resembled—
Boom! Kaboom!
A bloody battle to the death.
“.....”
Word of Adrian and Kai’s battle of endurance rapidly spread throughout the Count’s Castle.
Eventually, people even began betting on who would win.
“Sir Kai will obviously win!”
“Of course! Do you have any idea who Sir Kai is?”
Most people predicted Kai’s victory.
The Chief Knight hadn’t earned his reputation through gambling, so it was only natural.
However, there were also some who predicted Adrian’s victory.
“But….Lord Adrian might actually win.”
“He isn’t merely keeping up. He’s overtaking Sir Kai.”
Their contest was genuinely that evenly matched.
The competition between the two instantly became the greatest subject of interest within the Count’s Castle.
* * *
Lines of incomprehensible information, operating through some mechanism I couldn’t begin to understand, appeared before my eyes and obstructed my vision.
I wanted to wave them away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so.
“Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!”
....I truly felt like I was dying.
I wasn’t merely gasping for breath. I felt as though I might pass out at any moment. I had reached the limit of my stamina.
Perhaps because of that, all the strength suddenly drained from my body.
My legs gave way.
Just as my trembling legs refused to move any farther—
◆It is impossible to estimate how long you intend to keep running!!
◆One thing is certain—you are not in your right mind!!
◆You can use the skill “Regeneration [C+]” to restore your Cardiopulmonary Endurance.
◆Required nutrients—Carbohydrates and Fat.
◆Would you like to consume carbohydrates and fat to restore your Cardiopulmonary Endurance?
Translucent messages noisily appeared before my eyes. A stream of translucent text suddenly filled my vision.
I accepted without the slightest hesitation.
The fat stored within my body burned away in an instant, while carbohydrates were rapidly converted into energy.
My stamina was restored at once.
◆Your stamina has surpassed its limit!
◆Your Stamina Stat has increased by 2!!
Another message appeared, informing me that my Stamina Stat had increased.
From this, I could tell that stamina followed the “Principle of Progressive Overload”, just like muscular strength.
In other words, exercising beyond the limits of my stamina would improve it.
And just like increasing muscular strength, doing so also required a corresponding price.
◆The enormous consumption of nutrients has left you extremely hungry!
A thunderous growl erupted from my stomach.
I was starving.
My stamina had returned, but intense dizziness washed over me.
I hurriedly retrieved a lunch box filled with entrails from my Inventory and shoved its contents into my mouth.
The reward for clearing the Tutorial Quest—the Inventory.
Simply put, it was a “Subspace Pouch”.
It was a supernatural ability that engraved the concept of Subspace—a virtual space separated from reality—into me, allowing me to use it freely.
Because it had been engraved into me, I was the only one who could see it. In other words, it was a private warehouse and vault that only I could use.
Munch, munch.
Grrrrrrrgle......!!!
The dizziness disappeared after I chewed and swallowed the entrails.
Although the main nutrient contained in entrails was protein, they weren’t entirely devoid of carbohydrates and fat.
After restoring my stamina, I poured strength back into my legs.
Not to be outdone, Kai increased his speed even further.
The reason he could do that was because Kai was using “Aura”, just as I was using Regeneration.
In other words, he was cheating.
....Although I wasn’t exactly in a position to criticize him.
Regardless, I could clearly sense Kai’s fierce determination never to lose to me, even if it killed him.
Our back-and-forth contest continued for several more hours.
Perhaps the soldiers watching us had grown exhausted as well, because they began leaving one by one.
Before long, only Kai and I remained in the Frost Trial Grounds, still running.
....At this rate, the contest would never be decided.
The Frost Trial Grounds was too small to determine a winner.
We needed to settle this competition in a harsher environment.
I subtly turned my head and looked at Kai.
As if he had been thinking the same thing, Kai looked back at me at that exact moment.
We naturally ran out of the Frost Trial Grounds.
Expanding our stage to encompass the entire County, we continued running.
The snow blanketing the plains clung to our ankles.
Our stamina began draining even faster. The bitter cold froze the muscles in our legs.
And so—
One day passed.
* * *
“They’re….still running?”
Seraphia was so bewildered that she could hardly believe what she was hearing.
Of course, Seraphia had heard that Adrian and Kai were competing in a running contest.
But she had heard that yesterday.
“Does that mean neither of them has slept?”
“That is correct.”
Bernard gave a small nod.
That meant Adrian and Kai had been running all day.
It wasn’t merely a figure of speech. They had literally been running “all day”.
That meant twenty-four hours.
To be precise, it had been approximately twenty-one hours, but it was still utterly insane.
“N-No…. How could they possibly….?”
Seraphia felt as though her mind might go blank.
More than anything, she was deeply worried that they might injure themselves.
She was especially concerned about Adrian. Adrian had never exercised even once throughout the past ten years.
She had recently heard that Adrian had begun training diligently. However, it had only been ten days.
Was Adrian pushing himself too hard?
She was deeply worried, yet secretly pleased at the same time.
‘Brother really has changed....’
Since Adrian returned to the family, Seraphia hadn’t managed to have a single proper conversation with him.
That was because Adrian left whenever he saw her.
As a result, even though they lived beneath the same roof, she hadn’t been able to speak to him even once, much less properly look at his face.
The rumors circulating throughout the Count’s Castle and the Lord’s Castle were Seraphia’s only means of learning how Adrian was doing.
Perhaps that was why—
‘I’m jealous....’
She was just a little jealous of Kai.
After all, Kai had remained beside Adrian all day under the pretext of having a running competition.
When would Seraphia finally be able to have a proper conversation with Adrian?
More than having a conversation, she at least wanted to look him in the face.
It might have been greedy of her, but she hoped that one day she could even share a meal with Adrian like an ordinary family.
And so, if only for a brief moment—
‘If I learned how to exercise, perhaps Brother and I could....’
Seraphia allowed herself to entertain that fantasy.
* * *
Two days had passed since the running competition began.
In truth, I didn’t know the exact amount of time that had passed.
I could only estimate that it had been two days because the sun had set and risen twice.
At some point, the lunch boxes filled with entrails inside my Inventory had been completely emptied.
I could no longer use Regeneration.
Fortunately, Kai was in the same condition.
His Aura also seemed to have run dry, as his pace had slowed considerably.
From this point onward, it was a battle of purely human physical ability and stamina.
“Huff...! Huff...!”
My lungs expanded as though they were about to burst.
My pounding heart beat wildly, and blood rushed all the way to my ears, making my eardrums throb.
My throat had become as cold as ice from continuously inhaling the frigid air. Yet my dry mouth desperately craved even a single breath of that cold air.
Whenever I inhaled, the cold stabbed into my lungs as though piercing my ribs.
Kai, on the other hand....
“Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!”
Not even his breathing faltered.
He maintained steady Diaphragmatic Breathing. His legs pushed against the snow covering the plains. They remained firm without the slightest tremor.
‘That madman.’
He truly was insane.
‘Is he already a Lich?’
It was a reasonable suspicion.
There had to be a limit to how completely the mind could dominate the body.
Kai was even wearing metal armor.
How could someone possibly be human if they could run for two consecutive days without rest while wearing that?
Of course, stamina was one of humanity’s exceptional natural talents.
Every living creature evolved by focusing on the abilities best suited to its environment and maximizing those advantages.
In other words, every species possessed at least one extraordinary ability, like an Ice Troll’s Regeneration.
Humans also possessed extraordinary abilities unique to their species.
Those abilities were “intelligence” and “stamina”.
Intelligence required no particular explanation.
Human stamina was also unmatched by almost every other living creature in the world.
Calling it merely comparable would be an understatement.
Humans were “overwhelmingly” superior.
That was why I had no need to acquire a stamina-related ability through Predation.
I merely needed to train and refine the natural ability humans already possessed.
That was also why, during my days in the Special Task Force, I had been able to run without rest for approximately six days in order to survive a mission.
I ground my teeth and pushed off against the snowy ground.
No matter what happened, I couldn’t lose.
To be honest, I hadn’t intended to take things this far. But now that it had come to this, I had to see the contest through to the end.
Kai seemed to feel the same way. When I caught up to him, he accelerated even more.
And then, at that exact moment—
Grrrrr—!
Kai and I simultaneously stopped moving at the sudden, monstrous growl.
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