The blade targeting my eyes sliced through the air.
All battles for the Mage Knight start with Blink.
Since he didn’t get close, it meant he was going to cast magic.
Without a second thought, I closed the distance.
ZING ‘Dense blue effect. Definitely lightning type.’
In the Place Where the Storm Sleeps, it’s hard to avoid lightning magic.
The rain of this battlefield never stops, and the wreckage beneath us is always damp enough for water to ripple.
All lightning-type magic receives significant bonuses to its attack range and power.
However, that doesn’t mean the specific weaknesses of lightning magic just vanish into thin air.
The speed of projectiles is inversely proportional to casting speed, and the caster themselves can easily be harmed.
Unlike other magic that just has to avoid the range, lightning requires a distance from the target as well.
So, if you stubbornly keep closing the distance, even this kind of thing is possible.
I grasp Kelberos’s sword with my hands.
The sharp blade grazed my flesh, but the electricity climbing up from the ground wrapped us both together.
A dizzying shock of electrocution. My muscles involuntarily clenched and convulsed.
[You are affected by the ‘Status Abnormality: Electrocution.’]
[For the next 120 seconds, all action speeds…]
Both of us took damage.
It was the price of misjudging the Assassins’ speed.
If only I had used the faster casting Ice Barrier, things might have been different.
In typical shadow builds, I wouldn’t even stand a chance, but right now, I could manage somehow.
No matter how you look at it, even Kelberos couldn’t calculate the speed of a martial arts assassin.
It wasn’t exactly a well-chosen build; after all, there would have been few people capable of handling this.
In the end, that guy was just human too.
[You are affected by the ‘Contract of the White Moon.’]
[You receive boosting effects on all martial arts-related skills. All action speeds…]
[You cannot use any shadow-type skills.]
[Remaining duration: 19 minutes 58 seconds]
Normally, the dynamic between the Mage Knight and the Assassin is predictable.
The Mage Knight tries to outfight with Blink, while the Assassin sneaks in and accumulates damage through shadows.
It’s usually a battle centered around spatial awareness.
But… if the assassin is confident,
If they believe they can respond to the Mage Knight’s Blink without relying on the shadow’s unique invincibility,
Then they can challenge with a martial arts-focused build.
A build boasting the fastest speed an assassin can achieve.
Numerous dashes and sharp power, accompanied by diminishing defenses.
GRRR ‘Dare to try a reconnaissance mission in front of me?’
In the blink of an eye, the success or failure of the attack is determined.
It’s a literal duel of blade points.
Without overthinking, I can only rely on my reflexes, dynamic vision, and innate instincts to keep fighting.
I drop any awkward thoughts and fight like a beast.
A faint white aura enveloped me.
It was an effect usually hard to see, but now stood out vividly due to the surrounding darkness.
A kick aimed at my side is blocked by my elbow.
I fend off the hand trying to grab my foot with a dagger, transition into a counter, and stab downwards.
I throw a throwing dagger at Kelberos, who has escaped with Blink.
Then I leap towards him─ the distance between us shrinks at a speed even I find hard to adapt to.
I block his longsword with my right dagger before squatting down slightly.
Right before my eyes is his ankle.
Now holding an overwhelming advantage in speed— there was no reason not to aim.
Feeling good after a successful attack, I push off the ground to retreat.
Huff…!
“Feeling a bit better?”
“I miscalculated. This will be the last time I use a Mage Knight today.”
“If you’d said so from the start, it would’ve been better.”
A laugh that seems to convey disbelief.
I charge again at the oddly pleased guy.
Kelberos’s magic has shifted from offense to defense.
His left hand becomes a shield, his right a sword. It seems he’s trying to revive the sensation of playing as a Dark Knight.
Familiar play styles can reduce the time taken to think.
As I penetrate his side, Kelberos’s new form suddenly vanishes.
A silhouette barely visible in the corner of my eye. The direction is top left. Is he targeting my back?
An angled counter would be difficult, so I dodge, burrowing in again to target low.
I parry his blade with my dagger and aim low.
I draw his attention with a throw and go low again.
Avoiding the magic, I fail the ground attack, but immediately go low once more.
WHOOSH The wind roars loudly every time I move due to my dizzying speed.
The rain pouring onto my face stings, and the incoming projectiles combine with my approaching speed, feeling almost like flashbulbs.
Being cautious not to break my concentration, I even breathe carefully.
However, Kelberos feels the burden of this bizarre speed battle just as much.
After relentless attacks, I eventually sever his Achilles tendon and sinew.
The cost was substantial damage to my back, but it was a satisfying exchange.
When a lull finally arrived, a grin escaped me.
“Say that again. What’s wrong with my low attack?”
“You weren’t wrong. The execution itself is still…”
“Still what?”
“Relatively lacking. But it’s aggressive enough. How did it end up like this?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
It wasn’t particularly deep knowledge.
If I operated my low attack aggressively, it would be harder for him to target my legs in return.
It was a necessary choice to hide the fact that my left leg was the vital point.
It was a somewhat stinging matter, but… my smaller physique played a part.
With a significant height difference from hulking knights like Kelberos, it made it hard to target when I lowered my stance.
Naturally, I had no intention of revealing that.
In any case, with my last attack, Kelberos had lost his mobility.
Though his specialized Blink remained, footwork is as important to a knight as their weapon.
If obstacles arise in moving forward or backward, it can be disastrously debilitating.
Kelberos began to stagger a little in our exchanges.
[Successfully applied ‘Enhanced Paralysis Poison.’]
[The enemy’s action speeds…]
No matter how versatile a Mage Knight is, they aren’t as solid as a knight.
And they’re certainly not as fast as an Assassin.
Attempting ranged wheel combat, he couldn’t escape at my pace.
I shattered the ice spikes erupting at close range, using the severed surfaces as a foothold to leap behind him.
Breaking through his makeshift shield, I delivered a strike to his forearm.
While taking an unavoidable counter, I stabbed a dagger into his thigh.
Retrieving the magic I had previously embedded, I aimed for his collarbone, and while he was distracted, I grabbed my original dagger back.
Finding a good opportunity as I retreated, I jabbed at his ribs.
In exchange, I sacrificed a hefty chunk of my right shoulder.
[Successfully activated ‘Critical Hit: Vitals.’]
[‘Enhanced Bleeding Poison’ effect is now duplicated.]
[‘Enhanced Bleeding Poison’ effect has changed to ‘Unrelenting Bleeding.’]
With time passing, the game swung heavily in my favor.
Between Kelberos and me, it seemed that I was the one who was a bit more beast-like.
Eyes locked on each other, a brief silence fell as we searched for openings.
“Are you not thinking of going pro?”
“…Well, I’m not sure.”
“That’s a pity. If you have any thoughts, feel free to contact me anytime.”
Those words tangled my mind.
Not now. I consciously swept them from my thoughts.
I couldn’t afford to have wavering emotions against an opponent I could not overcome.
It would be better to cut off their breath swiftly.
As I continued to focus on low attacks, something caught my eye.
Behind Kelberos, at the edge of the wreck, there was no railing.
Wouldn’t a push send him into the sea?
“Speaking of which, didn’t we have an agreement?”
“Agreement? Did we?”
“It’s okay. I’ll remind you.”
The downside of this speed battle is that stable execution is impossible.
You have to keep creating dizzying variables that the opponent’s calculations can’t keep up with.
So I should be bolder. I opened the fight unreservedly.
CHING I deflected the blade with my sword.
Using a skill with teleportation properties to dodge the magic, I made a sudden downward thrust─ canceled.
Stabbing my dagger into the rising ice spikes, I halted mid-attack.
I didn’t need to pause for long.
As I propelled myself off the column, a massive opportunity came into view.
His upper body was wide open. Right now, I could hit a vital like the neck or heart.
But.
TRAP?
My instincts told me it was his ploy.
Just before the match teetered on the edge, Kelberos was trying a gamble.
If I succeeded in charging through his defense, I could end the match, but the damage I would suffer would be at least from my abdomen to my heart.
It would definitely be a critical hit.
On the other hand, my gut whispered that it was a chance worth pursuing.
There was no time to deliberate. I had pressing time constraints in this terrifying speed battle, a fact that applied to me as well.
So I concluded quickly. It was a gamble worth taking.
Regardless of danger, as long as I succeed, that’s what matters.
Immediately, I narrowed the distance again, and our blades tore through each other’s flesh.
GHACK…!
My dagger pierced Kelberos’s neck.
Yet, the relentless bastard refused to end.
Kelberos’s sword jabbed into my abdomen.
From below, upwards. The blade surged to rip apart my organs and bones.
Yet I didn’t lose consciousness, and my character was still alive.
I completely wrecked my arm to stop him. Then he began to use his knee.
If that got any higher, it would reach my heart.
Could I stop him with my strength? It was vague.
My physical strength might not greatly diminish, but it would now boil down to a power struggle between my arm and his leg.
I was uncertain. Once again, time didn’t allow leisure.
Let’s be bolder once more. I still had some stamina left.
I decided to wrench the embedded sword out from myself.
Using my dagger as a hook, I pulled away the longsword as if tearing into my own flesh.
Even though my health bar was horrifically depleted, I wasn’t dead yet.
The bloodied sword tumbled to the ground, taking Kelberos’s last hope with it.
Now it would be─
“I’ve won.”
“…It seems so.”
A prickling pleasure layered over my pain.
My dagger stabbed into Kelberos’s neck again, and, for the kill shot, I drove the remaining dagger into his forehead.
Finally, I kicked the lifeless corpse away.
As the system message popped up, a body plunged into the seawater.
“I told you… I’d be sure to dunk you in the ocean.”
The first round ended with my victory.
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