This is the most basic combo ever. You want to use short weapons with shields since they are small and maneuverable, which means that the shield won’t get in the way much. And the main disadvantage of short weapons, reach, is null and void when you have big shields (since you can get in close fairly easily). Sure, you can’t have a big old heavy smashy weapon (Which the author thinks everyone must use when dealing heavy armor)…. but you don’t need that. You use the short swords to stab.

STabbing is a great technique, one that the author doesn’t understand. Get a stab in a good place, and you barely need 2 inches to kill a man. Sure, demons might be tougher, but I think 6 inches would often be enough for most things that a melee guy can deal with. Otherwise, you wouldn’t use swords of any short: You would use spears.

But how about I give the author the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he intends the protagonist just to be an ignorant katana user. Japan had frightfully little contact with other nations during the age of melee warfare. He mostly fought in the post gun era against gangsters (who are more well known for daggers and pistols) and modern soldiers (who had guns yes, but no obsolete armor or shields). So maybe the protagonist is just ignorant of basic shield warfare.

Az treats this like it was unusual and different from soldiers though. The heavy use of shields, while some restrain and others attack, as well as putting up a defensive line for ranged attackers… this is pretty much soldier 101. Ragtag adventurers tend to be made of a group more like shion, just a person wearing a two handed sword and a bit of armor: not bad 101, but it would suck in warfare against a lot of opponents.

The angel’s issue was never that the shinai was OP in Renya’s hands, but that the shinai being in Renya’s hands was equivalent to introducing a divine class item to a world that had none. Sooner or later, whether by his own will or otherwise, the item would have to leave Renya’s hands and a stronger being may acquire a shinai capable of dispelling magic and transferring the full brunt of its power in one large impact.

Where’s my popcorn when i need it?

Hahaha! Same here! 🙂

LOL,thats happen to me too,I read like 30s(or more) on going LN/WN and hundreds of on going manga while also watching weekly anime ,as a student who still have to study Ive reach my limit,when there is a manga/novel that I havent read for so long got an update,I was like “what,who? oh…wait isnt that from other story,aaargh!” in the end usually I re-read the whole story if I cant remember the story at all XD

The main problem with the Shinai was not only its indestructibility but mainly that it would enable him to slay the angels/gods too, I think.
Although he might strengthen himself with magic quite profoundly to use the shinai to break things with brute force, for a normal swordsman a regular sword has more value anyways. 🙂

Still, Renya was mentioned to be quite strong to the world’s standard. But yeah, if you scale between an indestructible shinai and a good quality nihontou… I guess an experienced swordsman like him will still pick the later.