When I Tried Strengthening 【Rusted Sword】, It Evolved Into An Overpowered Magic Sword

Chapter 58 Overcoming Weakness

The fear I once felt towards Helio was gone. The inferiority complex from being bullied as a child had already vanished from my heart, and I could now face his hostility head-on. I was no longer weak. I was no longer the bullied Rust Stone. I was Rust Stone, the adventurer.

“—!”

As Helio charged at me, I kicked off the ground diagonally forward. I slipped past him and moved behind him again. I saw his spear in mid-swing, aiming to break it from behind.

“Ugh—!”

Helio-kun barely caught sight of me in the corner of his vision and quickly dodged to the side. Though his reaction was delayed, his decision to compensate was commendable. But I sharply kicked off the ground a third time, closing in on him. I swung my sword upward from below, aiming to break or knock away his spear. I could feel it myself—my movements were far sharper than before. I completely outpaced Helio-kun in speed.

“Don’t get cocky!”

Helio-kun countered by swinging his spear down at me. He raised it quickly and brought it down just as fast, so it lacked power. With the Cursed Magic Sword, I should be able to easily deflect his spear. Or so I thought…

“—!”

The moment my sword and his spear touched, a painful shock ran through my divine artifact. The unexpected pain caused my entire body to tense up, resulting in a deadlock instead of deflecting his spear. I cursed inwardly. It was the enchantment magic from earlier.

The divine artifact carried lightning, an enchantment that inflicted pain and paralysis upon contact. The unpleasant pain coursing through my divine artifact made it impossible to overpower him. In that case…

“Enchantment Magic — Dark Thunder!”

I decided to counter with my own enchantment magic. In an instant, black lightning surged along the blade of the Cursed Magic Sword. It intertwined with the blue lightning of Helio’s Thunder Spear, scattering fierce shocks and noise all around.

“Yo…u… damn Rust!”

Gradually, the black lightning began to push back the blue lightning. The black lightning traveled through the artifact, reaching Helio and causing his body to stiffen like stone. Meanwhile, I regained my freedom as the blue lightning was repelled, my body no longer numb.

It seemed my enchantment magic was stronger. I could do this. With this certainty, I pushed back against Helio’s Thunderstrike Spear with the Cursed Magic Sword.

With a dull ‘crack,’ a fissure appeared in the spear.

“What?!”

Helio’s eyes widened in disbelief at the damage to his artifact. It was a reaction born from his confidence in his own weapon. Being overpowered even with enchantment magic must have been shocking.

But I wasn’t surprised. I understood and believed in the overwhelming power of the Cursed Magic Sword.

Summoning my final strength, I aimed to destroy Helio’s artifact. In that fleeting moment, I spoke, almost apologetically, as if feeling guilty about breaking his weapon, or perhaps as a small act of revenge for all the insults I had endured.

“Sorry, Helio…”

With a hint of irony, I added,

“I’m going to break it.”

Without hesitation, I swung the Cursed Magic Sword. The Thunderstrike Spear shattered with a sharp, piercing sound. The blade at the tip of the spear scattered like petals, leaving only the handle behind. The lightning that enveloped the spear also dissipated, indicating that all the enchantments had been lost.

Seeing this, Helio stood frozen in shock, while his two companions stared with their mouths agape.

“Helio… lost?”

“No… way…”

From their reactions, it was clear they had never seen Helio lose before. He must have already defeated several demons. To see him defeated before their eyes was undoubtedly an unbelievable sight for them.

Even I was inwardly astonished at having managed to defeat Helio.

“……”

Seeing Helio frozen in place, I felt a twinge of mixed emotions. Breaking the artifact that had undoubtedly been his source of confidence left me with an inexplicable sense of guilt. Yet, the fact that I had defeated Helio became a new source of confidence for me.

As I was absorbed in these conflicting feelings…

“Ah!”

Suddenly, I was struck by a crushing pain, as if my heart were being squeezed. I grimaced and clutched my chest with my left hand. This sensation was the curse residing in the Cursed Magic Sword. I must have used it for too long. Even though my training had extended my usage time, the intense movements and the enchantment magic had consumed a lot of my stamina. I was surprised it had lasted this long.

Anyway, it was wise to wrap things up quickly. To get Helio to give up on the demon girl, I fabricated an excuse.

“You should head back to town quickly to repair your artifact. While this area is relatively calm compared to others, it’s not completely free of monsters.”

“……”

In a roundabout way, I was telling him to ‘go back to town.’ If I bluntly said, ‘I won, so give up on the demon girl,’ it would likely provoke him further. Hence, I tried to send him away with a plausible reason, but Helio just stood there, looking down as if he wanted to say something. Seeing that he wasn’t leaving, I began to consider that maybe we should leave instead. With Helio having lost his artifact’s powers, escaping would be easy.

Ideally, I wanted him to agree through discussion, but we didn’t have the luxury of time. Just as I turned to leave…

“Ah!”

Helio lifted his head and charged at me, holding the now-tipless spear, his eyes sharp as blades. Was he still coming at me? The artifact was broken, and its power should no longer reside in him. His movements, now seemingly weighed down, starkly contrasted with before, yet Helio hadn’t abandoned his will to fight.

Why was he so determined to defeat the demon girl? No, it wasn’t about her anymore. His only thought now was to defeat Rust Stone. The murderous intent he had towards the demon girl and the irritation he felt towards his comrades had all transformed into hostility towards me, and he still clutched the broken artifact.

Breaking his artifact wasn’t enough to break his spirit. The only way to stop him was to defeat him completely. Realizing this, I decided to take the demon girl and escape. As I made this decision and hurried to leave with the girl…

“Stop right there!”

“……!?”

Suddenly, a loud voice rang out beside us.

Startled, Helio halted and instinctively leaped backward.

Similarly, I widened my eyes and turned my gaze towards the source of the voice.

And there stood…

“Ah…”

To my surprise, three familiar figures were standing there.

A woman carrying a “long staff” on her back, another woman with a “chain” wrapped around her right arm, and a man wearing “thick gloves.”

Each of them wore a headband on their forehead and a stark white outfit secured with a black belt.

These individuals, dressed in quite distinctive attire, were the adventurers who had come to our aid during the adventurer exam.

Back then, they had responded to reports of a “Black Cat Demon” appearing. But why were they here now?