Ch.404[Episode 404] Unexpected

Sir Dominic was a very experienced warrior and knight.

He had many knights as his masters to survive in the harsh Feralant, and learned numerous techniques and tricks simply to stay alive.

After arriving in Gacharland, Sir Dominic’s miscellaneous skills remained unknown since he was strong enough without them, but his true strength had always come from these “dirty fights.”

When Sir Dominic offered a handshake to seal one of his opponent’s hands and immediately delivered a surprise attack, Kageyasha swung his arm wildly to counterattack Sir Dominic.

He could have swung more precisely, but this youngster before him wasn’t an experienced warrior capable of maintaining composure in such situations.

Still a young warrior intoxicated by power and talent.

Sir Dominic, realizing his opponent lacked experience in handling various situations, immediately executed his next move.

He pulled the handshaking hand toward his body.

As a result, Kageyasha’s swinging arm missed Sir Dominic and cut through empty air, and seizing this opportunity, Sir Dominic immediately twisted Kageyasha’s arm, attempting to completely subdue him.

However, Kageyasha was a man of astonishing brute strength, capable of breaking Sir Dominic’s technique with sufficient power.

After breaking Sir Dominic’s move with nothing but strength and spirit, Kageyasha said to Sir Dominic:

“A knight and warrior using such cowardly tactics—ugh!”

But Sir Dominic silently launched another surprise attack on Kageyasha.

As he charged forward with his shield covering his body, Kageyasha tensed all his muscles in anticipation of the impact.

However, Sir Dominic had no intention of attacking honestly with his shield.

Immediately lowering his shield, Sir Dominic jumped into the air and kicked Kageyasha with a double side kick.

Kageyasha couldn’t regain his senses from the attack that came in a different way and at a slightly different timing than he had anticipated.

Sir Dominic fell to the ground in the same posture as his double side kick.

But this was the preparation stance for Sir Dominic’s next move.

Sir Dominic charged straight at Kageyasha’s knee, grabbed the back of his knee, and knocked Kageyasha to the ground.

Since Kageyasha’s build was two or three times larger than Sir Dominic’s, the sound of his fall echoed that much louder.

“Not yet.”

Through the dust rising from Kageyasha’s fall, Sir Dominic continued his offensive.

As Kageyasha tried to get up, Sir Dominic struck his bridge of nose with his sword handle, then pressed Kageyasha’s arm with his foot and mounted him, pressing the edge of his shield against Kageyasha’s Adam’s apple to prevent him from using his strength.

However, Kageyasha succeeded in getting up by pushing Sir Dominic’s shield with his Adam’s apple, showcasing his remarkably strong physique.

It was truly an amazing physical ability.

Sir Dominic clicked his tongue at the sight and rolled away to create distance between himself and Kageyasha.

“Ugh…”

Kageyasha realized his entire body was tingling from Sir Dominic’s offensive.

His whole body had entered a state of rigidity due to Sir Dominic’s attacks.

As soon as he realized this, Kageyasha discovered another shocking fact: not a single part of Sir Dominic’s attacks—neither the targeted areas nor the methods—overlapped.

Typically, an experienced warrior should be able to identify an opponent’s weakness at a glance.

Most warriors would then persistently exploit that weakness, and Kageyasha was no exception.

But Sir Dominic was different.

Sir Dominic was checking his opponent’s reactions in various ways like a beginner holding a sword for the first time, but Kageyasha knew it was completely different from a beginner’s approach.

Sir Dominic was now determining which attacks were effective against Kageyasha and which body parts were vulnerable, all for a perfect victory.

Realizing this, Kageyasha felt a chill run down his spine.

Considering everything said so far… it meant Sir Dominic was such an experienced warrior that he could easily handle someone like Kageyasha.

“I guess there’s no other way.”

Kageyasha once again grabbed the pouch containing metal powder.

He was about to use his special technique [And So the Fire God Rages] again.

This was Kageyasha’s strongest technique, one that had almost always brought him victory until now.

This time too, [And So the Fire God Rages] would not betray Kageyasha.

…

“…or so he thinks.”

As soon as Kageyasha took out the pouch, Sir Dominic instantly saw two, three moves ahead.

In the previous round, Sir Dominic had been greatly disadvantaged by Kageyasha’s special technique.

A technique that seemed designed specifically to target Sir Dominic.

Looking at Kageyasha, Sir Dominic predicted that he would certainly showcase his strongest technique when at a disadvantage.

It wasn’t a logical deduction.

It was merely a prediction at the level of “it’s likely to happen.”

However, for Sir Dominic, who had gone through all sorts of hardships and adversities, in battle, such predictions became prophecies.

Sir Dominic subtly raised his shield while slightly bending his legs.

As if ready to dash forward at any moment.

And then…

“And So the Fire God Rages!”

When Kageyasha shouted those words and threw the pouch containing metal powder as a weapon, Sir Dominic sprang forward with surprising speed.

The world seemed to move very slowly.

In this slow world, Sir Dominic moved leisurely, deflecting the halberd with his sword and strongly striking the pouch of metal powder with his shield.

And then… the world moved quickly again.

As everyone would know, this was the effect of Sir Dominic’s special technique, [Cinematic].

…

The flames that should have been burning on Kageyasha’s halberd rose from Sir Dominic’s shield.

“Good heavens.”

Kageyasha lamented at the impossible sight.

Kageyasha was looking into Sir Dominic’s one remaining eye.

Sir Dominic and Kageyasha’s faces were close enough to feel each other’s breath, allowing Kageyasha to see Sir Dominic’s bright smile up close.

A shadowy, gloomy, cruel, and wicked smile.

“Heh.”

Sir Dominic let out a faint laugh as if unable to contain himself and pushed Kageyasha away with his burning shield.

The burning shield set Kageyasha’s collar on fire, but Kageyasha couldn’t react to such a trivial matter.

Kageyasha’s attention was solely focused on how Sir Dominic could have stolen his special technique.

“Quite a unique method of enhancement.”

Sir Dominic said as he scraped his burning shield with his sword.

Then, a flame effect also appeared on Sir Dominic’s sword.

As flames rose in both of Sir Dominic’s hands, shadows began to fall across his smiling face, making him look like an evil serpent to Kageyasha.

That’s how terrifying his face was.

“…Unbelievable.”

Kageyasha felt something was fundamentally wrong with this situation.

So he looked at the referee, but the referee was just watching the fight between Sir Dominic and Kageyasha with an amused expression, grinning without any intention to intervene.

In fact, the reason the referee didn’t intervene was very clear.

It was due to the nature of Kageyasha’s special technique.

To be precise, Kageyasha’s special technique involved sprinkling metal powder to create flames and then enchanting weapons.

Until now, he had only enchanted his own weapons, but in reality, the technique could enchant any weapon.

Therefore, Sir Dominic had succeeded in stealing that brief moment when the metal powder was flying to enchant his own weapons instead.

Sir Dominic knew Kageyasha would use his special technique as a last hope, and by exploiting that special technique, he crushed even Kageyasha’s final hope.

All of this was the result of Sir Dominic unconsciously looking two, three moves ahead.

“Ha, haha.”

Kageyasha could only laugh hollowly at this overwhelming difference.

Now Sir Dominic was virtually complete.

Technically, Kageyasha couldn’t beat Sir Dominic, and experience-wise, Kageyasha couldn’t beat Sir Dominic either.

At least in terms of strength and attack power, Kageyasha had the advantage, but even that advantage disappeared when his special technique was stolen.

Kageyasha turned his head to check the remaining time.

Only 15 seconds left.

The clock showed just 15 seconds.

Throughout the entire match, Kageyasha had been completely overwhelmed by Sir Dominic’s offensive, unable to do anything but take hits.

Defeat.

A perfect defeat.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Kageyasha just laughed at this overwhelmingly thorough defeat.

And finally, when the timer reached 0 and Kageyasha’s defeat was completely confirmed.

Kageyasha spread his arms to congratulate Sir Dominic’s victory as he slowly approached.

“As expected of the world’s greatest warrior, uncle!”

Along with those unexpected words.