Ancient Kingdom Territory Siege Battle (5)

I understood immediately.

As soon as I saw Camellia’s eyes, some intuition arose.

A longing stirred in my heart.

A gaze as if looking at an opponent difficult to overcome.

While desperately burning with a desire to win, somewhere in the unconscious, dark jealousy and pure white admiration were mixed.

I knew such a person too well.

So I faced the murderous spear head-on.

In a warrior’s one-on-one, it’s customary to start by lightly clashing blades.

But an assassin greets by throwing a weapon outright.

The hidden weapon aimed at her brow was blocked effortlessly and fell.

“It’s been a while. Ah, can I speak informally? It’s not like we’re meeting for the first time. We’re enemies too.”

Do as you please. Rather, I don’t understand why you use formal speech on broadcasts…”

“What? I couldn’t hear the latter part well.”

“It’s nothing.”

Ah, a familiar start.

The crescent blade swinging down towards my shoulder, just like when we first met.

The countermeasure is no different from before, so I stepped firmly on the spear shaft.

Back then, she was too late in retrieving her spear.

She even got counterattacked while trying to lift it too hastily.

Camellia must have run simulations of that memory dozens, hundreds of times.

─At that time. What should I have done to win?

Until the question in her heart was resolved.

“Let’s see how much you’ve improved.”

“Ha!”

Her expression is interesting.

Her eyes contorting as if her pride is hurt.

Yet a strange smile remains at the corners of her mouth.

She’s excited at the chance to prove herself, even while feeling hurt in her pride at being tested.

Back when I was doing kendo for a long time. Until that friend died, I was probably always in that state too.

Now it’s difficult to feel the same way – but I understand that sorrow and desperation better than anyone.

That’s why I didn’t feel anger in Camellia’s spear.

Even though an amateur dared to say “I’ll see your skills” to a current first-string pro.

[Passive: Emotion Control]

[You become immune to the ‘Intimidation’ status effect.]

[Target: Fighting Spirit (Sigma Camellia)]

The spear I stepped on slips out to the side.

Good. This makes it harder for me to keep her bound too.

But won’t my side be exposed right away?

Just as I was about to stab the open flank.

The quickly raised spear shaft aimed for my chin.

As soon as her weapon was free, she changed her grip and moved the shaft first.

There’s no rule that you must attack only with the spear tip just because you’re wielding a spear.

Even swordsmen use techniques like half-swording or mordhau against armored opponents.

Moreover, this movement was as if she had anticipated how I would come out.

This is more solid than I thought.

I should have done some analysis.

Plus, I have to keep other support in mind on this side…

“Don’t worry. No one will come. That was my condition for joining.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“If Cross breaks the promise, I’ll fill your vacant position.”

“Isn’t that an unfair contract?”

She seems to be pondering what I mean.

As if she soon realized, Camellia’s teeth gritted – euk.

“There’s no way someone else could fill my vacant position. If it’s a lie, I’d be at too much of a disadvantage.”

This time, anger frosted over the crescent blade.

A series of splendid consecutive attacks.

The path drawn by the blade somehow feels tricky.

The movements used for evasion became larger than usual.

If I want to lower my body, I have to bend decisively, or if not, I have to jump over completely.

Attacks continued in succession as if precisely targeting my height.

Thanks to this, even after evading attacks, my turn didn’t come for long.

At best, I could only poke at extremities like wrists or the tops of feet a little.

A few headlines from news articles I glanced at recently came to mind.

– Camellia completely crushes Sparrow! Perfected anti-assassin strategy

– Camellia: “There’s someone I want to meet”

A perfected anti-assassin strategy, huh.

There seems to be a slight error in that statement.

What Camellia prepared should be called an anti-Gawol strategy rather than an anti-assassin strategy.

Otherwise, there’s no way she would attack as if she knows me this well.

Even that Cerberus didn’t analyze me this thoroughly.

Well, there was a reason for that, but.

As soon as I took the rear through shadows, the crescent blade’s edge flies in.

Failing the attack, she parries based on the spear shaft.

After stepping back once, I threw a knife towards her brow.

‘There’s no way she’d let something like this hit.’

I never had such expectations from the start.

But the dagger that flew right in front of her eyes would have certainly distracted her attention.

Timed to when the knife was deflected, I pulled out a doppelganger.

Precisely left and right.

I pressure Camellia with movements exactly matching the actions preset for the doppelganger.

The countermeasure my opponent brought to deal with my psychological warfare is…

[‘Warrior’s Spirit: Mind’s Eye’ effect has activated.]

[Removes all confusion-type debuffs and sees through all illusion-type effects for 3 seconds.]

She decided not to accept it from the start!

Using the warrior’s spirit as ‘Mind’s Eye’ means she gave up the ability to detect my stealth or position.

It means she won’t engage in psychological warfare with me, even if it allows for surprise attacks.

This is troublesome.

I delayed my evasion too much while pretending to be a doppelganger.

The spear blade tearing through my shoulder blade.

If it’s an injury I have to give anyway, I should get something in return too.

Rather, I dug in deeper and stabbed a dagger into her thigh.

[‘Vital Point Attack: Muscle Tear’ effect successfully activated.]

[‘Enhanced Bleeding Poison’ effect has been applied.]

I twist the blade and tear up to around the back of her knee as I come out.

Camellia’s elbow dug into my back, but this much is bearable.

The problem is that the spear blade is coming in at the point where I need to escape.

Just as I didn’t simply give up a score, it seems Camellia is the same.

Can’t be helped. As my shadow becomes faint, an ink-black chain rises.

Grabbing the end of the chain and pulling it taut, Camellia’s spear shaft gets caught in the middle.

I succeeded in stopping it with this.

I was thinking of grabbing it in reverse to swing, but my insufficient strength stat tripped me up.

Due to the spear shaft moving roughly, I created distance as if half-flying away.

“Ugh!”

“Don’t look down on me!”

She’s naturally speaking informally now.

Should I let it slide since I did too?

The momentum of moving the spear changed.

It’s rougher and more aggressive than before, but not lacking in completeness.

It seems she was displeased that I was holding back on skills.

Well, I understand that feeling too.

The moment that friend felt I was ‘holding back’ against him.

I also did all sorts of crazy things.

But… that’s that, and this is this.

In this war, my victory doesn’t come from killing Camellia.

I have another fight left.

“I never looked down on you. I just evaluated you coldly.”

I get that you’ve analyzed me hard.

I understand you’ve worked until you bled, and I fully comprehend how much you’ve pushed yourself.

But, you’re not at Cerberus’ level yet.

I have no intention of pouring everything out to you.

That spear is solely for killing me.

Camellia tried to make up for her lacking weight class with thorough analysis.

So when facing me, she might be able to inflate her weight class to appear ‘like’ a top-tier player.

Then how about this?

Face those I’ve fought against, not me.

Just before the attack lands.

I slow down the tempo a bit lazily.

Camellia’s expression, who had moved her spear shaft in advance, was tinged with bewilderment.

Sometimes, slow is harder to deal with than fast.

This is the off-beat that Reaper used as his main specialty.

Camellia’s parrying attempt failed, of course.

I stabbed the blade into the back of her hand and pulled it out while slicing up to around her wrist.

I kicked away the spear shaft as it tried to move again.

“Cerberus saw what you couldn’t. I don’t have habits or fixed styles. I just have ways I use comfortably.”

“Ugh!”

“Well, you’ve still improved a lot. Especially targeting my height was good. If you hone it well, it’ll become a sharp weapon.”

Next is the binary choice Cerberus forced.

While stabbing at the center of her collapsed guard, I test with my left arm.

Will she give up the arm holding the spear, or simply give up the attack?

Camellia’s choice was switching to defense.

Then I move straight to the next question.

Choose between the right instep and left thigh.

The answer was late.

Then take the left side.

[‘Vital Point Attack: Internal Organs’ effect successfully activated.]

[‘Enhanced Bleeding Poison’ effect has been applied again.]

[‘Enhanced Bleeding Poison’ effect changes to ‘Unending Bleeding’.]

I twist and break the blade inserted into her body.

After stirring up her insides once, I grabbed her face with my palm.

While slamming her down to the ground, I tried to push away the spear shaft once more with my back foot.

Am I still a bit lacking in strength?

The spear that wasn’t fully pushed away finally stabbed my calf.

Fortunately, the right one. That was dangerous just now.

“Ha… that was close.”

But now it’s over.

I made a large cut from her side to under her armpit with the dagger.

Intense bleeding continues, and I pinned her down to the ground.

I grip the dagger with both hands and stab towards her heart.

More precisely, I tried to stab.

Camellia blocked it with her trembling hands.

“Do you give up? This will only drag out time. It’s pathetic.”

“Before that, answer, just one answer.”

“What answer?”

“Why, why don’t you become a pro?”

“…Because I don’t want to.”

What an unpleasant question. I put more strength into both hands.

Although a warrior’s strength is higher than mine, in this posture, in that state, it’s not enough to hold out.

My dagger gradually got closer to Camellia’s heart.

“Even if others don’t, I know. You’re lying.”

“What do you know to say such things…”

“Answer me!”

[Though strength can uproot mountains, and spirit can cover the world─]

[Sigma Camellia receives the effect of ‘Strength Uproots Mountains, Spirit Covers World’.]