16 – Dalian – 3
By the time you rise to the position of the Royal Knights, you will have mastered all general swordsmanship.
Therefore, rather than training based on theory, it was their training method to learn a sense of actual combat by facing each other with swords all day long.
Exactly, most of them.
Very occasionally, there were cases of success in developing an independent swordsmanship within the Royal Knights.
Usually, such swordsmanship was given the name of the person concerned, and depending on its importance, it was passed down secretly only within the knights, or it spread outside and became a means of making money for the swordsmen and knights guilds.
At the beginning of the founding of the Knights, there were quite a few such figures, but after time passed and the unique swordsmanship spread within the Knights, completely new swordsmanship was rarely developed.
Now, to say that it is new is nothing more than a mix of the characteristics of the existing swordsmanship.
In that sense, Alessia could be said to be a very special woman. Because she was the founder of the Alessia style, a unique swordsmanship that allows tens or hundreds of consecutive attacks to flow like water.
‘From left to right, then from left to right, then from top to bottom.’
The wooden sword narrowly grazed Serena’s nose. Alessia did not stop there or slow down, but rather took a step forward, rotated her body, and immediately continued the next attack.
The perfect trajectory was once again drawn in the air.
This attack was blocked without dodging. right! As soon as the tingling shock came to my palms with a popping sound, I immediately raised my arms with wooden swords facing each other.
The two wooden swords facing each other rubbed against each other and mana splashed in all directions. Serena tilted her head slightly and aimed the knife at her chin.
As soon as the wooden sword came out of its binding state, Alessia put her hand close to her chest, pretending to strike it down.
The down move is a fake. If he raised his wooden sword to prevent it, his chest would be completely empty, and it was easy to get stabbed helplessly.
What if you don’t stop? just drop it down Lee Ji-sun-da’s initiative was with Alessia.
Serena, who flinched and tried to stop the slam, hesitated. react to this? Alessia salivated internally. No matter how much I thought about it, the 1st Knight Commander Elizabeth in front of me was a monster.
The fake takes place and an attack comes in, and the time the faked side takes a defensive stance is faster than the faked side’s attack.
As Alessia had guessed, Serena was cutting the tip of the wooden sword that was piercing her chest diagonally from the top right to the bottom left.
Alessia, whose center of gravity was shaken for an instant, took a few steps back.
“No, does it make sense to defend faster than me even after being faked?”
“It didn’t get caught. It almost got caught.”
“Isn’t that what it is?”
“There is a distinct difference between being caught and being caught.”
“You flinched! Then you’re stuck! Just make sure you don’t lose a word when you can just admit it cleanly!”
“It prepares for the possibility.”
oh wow, really Alessia grumbled inwardly.
In fact, she knew Serena wasn’t completely fooled. I simply flinched with the hand holding the wooden sword in preparation for an incoming strike, but I didn’t block the direction at all.
What she was doing now was a kind of whining about pride.
Still, if it was this much, perhaps, Alessia thought for a moment. Perhaps it was true that the request for sparring did not contain any emotions, but Serena had exactly the same level of mana as Alessia.
In other words, this sparring is actually a difference in basic skills.
Maybe this is the last chance to give that human a shot. Alessia’s eyes shone for a moment.
In the meantime, Serena’s body strengthening skills have always been one step above Alessia’s. But now it’s different. Exactly the same amount of mana as Alessia and the same body enhancement.
“Elizabeth Knight Commander, you said that this request for sparring was not because I had feelings for you.”
“I must have said that many times.”
“Then may I add a rule?”
You can’t miss this golden opportunity. Alessia pounded hard on the calculator in her head.
It was a relationship with Serena that had accumulated a lot of resentment over the years. Since the opportunity to take a shot had come, I had to increase the probability as much as possible.
“I’ll listen and decide.”
“It’s nothing special. I’m saying to keep what the 1st Knight Commander said. If you strengthen your body beyond the body strengthening ability I’m using, you’ll lose the Knight Commander. How is it?”
“…”
Seeing Serena worrying as she brought her left hand to her mouth, Alessia also rolled her head as well.
‘Was it too one-sided request? No, but he said he would do the same with me, but he would accept this much. If you refuse to do this, you can ask if the words that you said you would match me were a lie. You can say that you can’t believe when you change your mind and attack with emotion.’
I don’t know why, but if you think about the way he persistently requested to have a sparring with himself, the initiative was in himself. Somehow I felt that way.
“good night.”
“Eh?”
At the unexpected permission, Alessia let out a dumbfounded voice. And soon, he coughed loudly.
“……Are you giving permission sooner than I thought? I thought you would think about it for a while or say no.”
“Alessia, if you say you don’t believe me, then you should trust me. Do whatever you want.”
“her…….”
A bewildered sound escaped from Alessia’s mouth once more.
I doubted if that really was Serena Elizabeth, the 1st Knight Commander who had acted on her own without listening to anyone for the past 8 years and had no regard for His Majesty the King.
No, what is this Dalian?
“Then, don’t attack from this side this time.”
“Uh, uh? Wait, wait?”
As Serena sprinted off the ground, Alessia hurriedly took her stance.
After checking the trajectory of the wooden sword, checking where it was headed, and confirming that it was facing the left shoulder, the two wooden swords collided as soon as he lifted the wooden sword and gave strength.
Alessia’s eyebrows slightly furrowed at the sensation of her palms tingling.
Alessia’s swordsmanship was created with the assumption of attack. The modifier “flowing water,” which is another word for Alessia Ryu, was also a nickname given to her thanks to dozens of successive consecutive attacks.
Therefore, defense had to rely on a completely different swordsmanship. In other words, it could be said to be a powerful swordsmanship only when attacking one-sidedly.
That’s why the situation was not very good now that the first attack was allowed.
Alessia repeated to herself the fact that her physical abilities were the same as that human. As I strained my arm and pushed forward, Serena’s wooden sword bounced off. It was surprisingly easy.
I thought the attack would come right after the wooden sword bounced off, but surprisingly, there was a slight gap between attacks.
I didn’t know it was because the rule that if you use a certain level of body reinforcement, you lose. From the expression in front of his eyes, it was revealed that he was conscious of the amount of mana he was wearing.
Whatever it was, the fact that this was an opportunity remained unchanged. Matching the amount of mana and having to match the amount of mana are completely different. It was enough for the other side to be conscious of that fact while fighting.
Alessia swung her wooden sword twice as a bell to briefly distance herself. Then, he struck Serena once more as she tried to come back to avoid the wooden sword.
Serena easily dodged that, but it wasn’t an attack expecting to be hit anyway, so Alessia immediately bent her knee slightly and twisted her ankle.
The handle of the wooden sword held with both hands was in front of the right thigh, and the tip extended to the right. It was in preparation for an attack.
In this state, the initiative of the attack goes to Alessia. Both of them were well aware of that fact.
Then it was obvious what to do.
Serena was about to pounce on Alessia in one run as usual, but hesitated for a moment. Anxiety that he might not have used more mana than Alessia.
And that brief pause was enough. Alessia moved. Unlike Serena, there was nothing to hold back at all. Because you can do what you do.
From the lower right to the upper left, he drew a strong wooden sword. Serena blocked the attack as if it were natural. Wooden swords and wooden swords passed by, emitting a dull sound.
Without stopping, I drew a horizontal line from the top left to the top right. This time, he lowered his head to avoid it.
Alessia quickly turned her body around following the force that swung to the right. While turning around, he lowered the position of the wooden sword, and when he looked at the front again, he struck it from the lower left corner to the upper right corner.
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Just before passing through with a slash in the chest, an obstacle appeared in the track. With a booming sound, the wooden sword grazed the obstacle instead of the chest.
from top right to top left. The wooden sword was once again cut horizontally. Maybe it’s because the distance is slightly widened, but it doesn’t fit.
Then you can narrow it down from this side. Alessia took two more steps. Pretending to hit it from above, I faked it again. Flinching, Serena reacted and looked at Alessia.
Alessia placed the handle in front of her left thigh and made a trajectory that drew a diagonal line toward the upper right with all her might.
The ability of the caster to control the power contained in the series of consecutive attacks like flowing water. It was another characteristic of Alessia Ryu.
If the opponent blocks it clumsily, it will be pierced with force, and if it is strongly blocked, it will pass by and waste physical strength. As long as the series of attacks continued, the initiative was thoroughly with Alessia.
Serena’s posture was still awkward. It was because she had just blocked an attack in front of her chest and flinched at Alessia’s fake.
I had to twist my wrist to block the diagonal attack, but that was enough time to decide the outcome with the next attack.
It firmly bends the vaguely twisted wrist, making it impossible to miss the wooden sword. That was Alessia’s goal.
The wooden sword rang loudly with a dull sound. The arm bounced back in the direction it was swung. The palms that received the recoil were throbbing and painful.
Alessia slightly distorted her expression. Twisted. Serena’s power was far greater than she expected.
I couldn’t understand how he could exert such force with his wrist half-bent.
If Alessia had been in Serena’s position and had to hold the sword swung as hard as she could, she would have missed the wooden sword. It’s because the posture is broken is more fatal than anything.
In comparison, Serena, who had crossed swords the same way, did not move at all on her face.
yes, that expression
Alessia, no, the entire Royal Knights had never seen Serena breathe heavily or show signs of distress.
It seems that they fought each other with all their might, with only one step missing, but Serena was calm and only Serena’s opponent was gasping for the most part.
Where was it? He didn’t break a drop of sweat even in the middle of summer, and he was fine even after undergoing physical training that led to the death of quite a few knights.
Clearly, the apparent disparity appears to be insignificant. There were several moments when we went to the threshold of defeat and then came back, and there were also moments when the winner and the loser were split as if they had made a mistake.
But the winner was always Serena.
‘… … How to narrow that one step, in the end, that’s the problem.’
Over the past eight years, no one in the Royal Knights has beaten Serena.
Even though I was able to use the expression that I grew up after training over and over again, the gap was still one step.
Showing everyone in the Royal Knights only one step of the gap, is that an improbable thing to do?
It was the sound of Serena taking a deep breath that dragged the lost Alessia back to reality.
The sound of deep breathing and the sound of footsteps running in this direction brought Alessia to her senses. Thinking of something else in the middle of sparring? It was like suicide.
I wouldn’t have heard that deep breathing sound originally. It was captured because its body functions were strengthened by wrapping mana around it.
Even though Serena had said that she would match Alessia, Alessia was also the leader of the Royal Knights. He was on a different level from most humans.
Coming, Alessia looked straight ahead. Lost in his thoughts, he missed the opportunity to continue his attack.
It seems that Serena accepted his offer so easily that he was startled and allowed the attack.
The first is a mistake, but the second is skill. Alessia smacked her head in her mind.
response was delayed. Serena’s wooden sword aimed precisely at Alessia’s throat and swung it. If he couldn’t block it, it would undoubtedly have the power to break his neck.
Maybe that’s why he deliberately took a deep breath to signal an attack. This is ridiculous, Alessia mocked herself and blocked the attack by holding up a wooden sword.
—-Bah!
and missed the sword.
“uh?”
“…!”
Alessia looked at the wooden sword that left her hand and flew away with round eyes. Why did I miss the first thought that popped into my head? It was a question.
Serena, the person who actually struck and blew away Alessia’s wooden sword, also slightly distorted her eyes as if she was embarrassed.
Whatever it was, he lost. Just as Alessia was about to admit defeat, Serena’s body leaked mana thick enough to make her vomit, and then disappeared in an instant.
The series of processes took place so quickly that Alessia wondered if she had been mistaken for a moment.
However, the attack that immediately followed made me realize that it was not an illusion. Serena’s body accelerated explosively.
In that brief moment when Alessia blinked once, she felt an intense pain in her head. It’s okay to be emotional. Alessia lost consciousness at the last thought.
“No, fuck.”
Blood was leaking from the right side of his face. I felt a sense of alienation because of a foreign object deeply embedded in my eye.
I touched my face with my hand. I could feel the red liquid on my fingers and the wooden handle extending out from my face.
is this how it goes? Shivering at the feeling of a foreign body covering half of his face, he remembered what had just happened.
Nothing much. Serena wasn’t getting hit at all, so I just told her to take care of herself if she was going to end it.
Why did it seem like a lot of strength was put into the posture of swinging the sword? It’s like this.
The wooden sword that Alessia had missed flew straight towards me, and before I could move to dodge it, it pierced my right eye.
Seeing this, Serena was horrified, and immediately beat Alessia to faint and came closer to me.
“Lord!”
“Wait a minute, take this out first…”
When pulling out the wooden sword, the wooden sword was inserted between the index and middle fingers while covering the face with the palm of the hand so that the pupils did not come out.
When I grabbed the wooden sword with my left hand and gave it strength, blood gushed out with a strange sound.
With all my strength, I completely pulled out the wooden sword. I could feel the blood dripping from my pierced eyes. The wooden sword was also stained with blood.
I’m glad it’s not that deep. It would have made me feel worse if I had pierced the back of the head.
As soon as I gave strength to my eyes, regeneration began immediately. The blood on the wooden sword returned to the body, and the split pupils were restored, regaining sight. I blinked. I no longer felt the foreign body.
“Enough. Why, Serena?”
“……Excuse me.”
“yes?”
Serena grabbed me by the shoulders and carefully pushed me back. Naturally, I lay down on the floor, and Serena looked at me with her shoulders propped on top of it.
“My lord.”
“I’m listening.”
“Do you remember the offer you gave me?”
“You can hurt me as much as you hurt me? Of course I remember.”
“So, I’ll do it.”
“Fulfill it? What—”
Before I could say anything, Serena stuck a finger in my eye. Crisp, with the sound of breaking the lens, the pupils were crushed.
Warm blood splashed on his face. Serena was mashing my right eye, ready to shatter half of my face. That expression was infinitely serious.
No matter how much I got used to enduring the pain, to be honest, it didn’t feel very pleasant to smash my eyes with my fingers.
The arm that was lying weak on the floor twitched of its own accord. My toes swayed back and forth against my will.
The body regenerates, and when the finger is pushed out, it is inserted again to break it, and when it recovers, it breaks again. I must have repeated that meaningless act five times, and as if it was finally over, Serena got out of the way on top of me and knelt down right next to me.
“It is done. I will gladly accept any punishment for the sin of daring to mock your lord’s body.”
“No, well… there’s no need to do that. Just tell me why you suddenly did this.”
It’s not that the reason is unexpected. Still, hearing it with your own mouth is the most accurate.
“Because I couldn’t accept the fact that my lord’s body had scars from another woman. It is overlaid with the wounds I inflicted.”
I knew it would be like that. It was an answer that was not very different from speculation.
