Chapter 256

“Ugh.”

*Crack.*

Kalkus cracked his neck with an annoyed expression.

I didn’t wait around for him to recover.

*Bang!*

I stomped on the ground and unleashed an Executioner’s Strike.

*Whoosh!*

My blade descended with overwhelming force.

“You little…!”

Kalkus leaped back, narrowly avoiding my attack.

His hand grabbed his hammer again.

The standoff resumed.

‘I probably didn’t do much damage.’

I knew.

His durability was monstrous.

In the end, this fight would be decided by a fatal blow.

I had to land a fatal blow before he did.

Still, landing the first hit was significant.

Momentum was important in a fight like this.

I couldn’t afford to lose the initiative against a natural-born warrior like him.

“You sneaky bastard! You might be wearing some fancy armor, but you won’t be unscathed for long!”

*Whoosh!*

Perhaps because he had been countered after attempting a downward strike, Kalkus swung his hammer horizontally this time.

I knew.

If I got hit by that monstrous hammer, even my mithril armor wouldn’t be able to protect me.

So I had to dodge.

*Thud!*

I leaped high into the air.

I had been anticipating his horizontal attack.

*-Falling Slash Form.*

I spun in mid-air, kicked off the air, and descended like a bolt of lightning.

I unleashed a powerful slash, putting all my weight and the momentum of my fall into the attack.

“Not a chance!”

Kalkus didn’t retreat. He met my attack head-on.

*Clang!*

A clash of strength against strength.

Normally, I would be outmatched, but the current situation was advantageous to me, from my position to my posture.

It resulted in a stalemate.

“Ugh!”

Kalkus stumbled back from the force of the impact.

But I landed gracefully, spinning and dissipating the force.

And then, immediately,

*-Flying Slash Form.*

I slashed at the empty air.

*Whoosh!*

A powerful gust of wind, a sword wind, surged towards Kalkus.

“Stop with the tricks!”

Kalkus spun his hammer like a windmill.

*Whirr! Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!*

A powerful gust of wind erupted.

The wind and my sword wind collided.

*BOOOOOM!*

The air trembled.

It wasn’t an illusion.

I could feel my vision blurring.

A cool, tingling sensation pricked my skin.

I reached for my bow.

To fire an explosive arrow.

But Kalkus moved faster.

“This is what true skill looks like!”

*Whirl! Whirl! Whirl! Whirl! Whirl!*

Kalkus spun like a top, his hammer whirling madly.

He was a whirlwind of destruction.

An unstoppable force that threatened to crush everything in its path.

And what was even more terrifying was that the dwarf whirlwind was moving.

Towards me.

“Tsk.”

*Whoosh!*

I fired an explosive arrow.

*BOOOOOM!*

The arrow exploded.

But the whirlwind continued to approach, spinning relentlessly, as if the explosion was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

I frowned.

The whirlwind hammer.

Kalkus’s signature technique was still as formidable and tricky as ever.

It was flawless.

I knew this for a fact, having been smashed in the head by his hammer countless times.

This wasn’t a technique that could be overcome with tricks.

I had to meet it head-on, with brute force.

I grabbed my sword again before the whirlwind could engulf me.

I would counter it with the best technique I could muster.

It was my only option.

I gauged the distance.

And then,

“Come at me!”

*Bang!*

I stomped on the ground and swung my sword with all my might.

*-Explosion Slash Form.*

The first secret technique of Baker’s Swordsmanship.

* * *

A bow was a ranged weapon.

The closer the enemy got, the more disadvantageous it became.

It was common knowledge.

Natasha had also thought so.

Until now.

*Tap, tap, tap!*

*Tap, tap, tap, tap!*

Two figures darted across the forest floor.

They were so fast that they were almost a blur.

And yet, they were exchanging blows fiercely.

*Whoosh!*

Natasha’s invisible sword sliced through the air.

A weapon all the more dangerous because its blade was invisible.

Only the hilt was visible, so those with sharp eyes could predict its trajectory.

But that was a dangerous trap.

Because the length of the blade could change freely.

If Max hadn’t warned her beforehand, she might have been in serious trouble.

But because she knew, she could counter it.

Even though only a handful of people in the world could actually pull it off.

Hiresia focused on her hearing.

To sense the vibrations in the air, instead of relying on her sight.

It was something only she could do, with her superhuman senses.

*Thud!*

Hiresia leaped low to the ground.

Because the blade was aimed at her ankles.

It might seem like it would be better to jump higher, but that would only make her a sitting duck in mid-air.

Even with her Void Arrow technique, it was still disadvantageous for an archer to stay airborne for too long.

That’s why she only jumped as high as necessary.

*Swish!*

She felt the blade pass beneath her feet.

Hiresia’s hand immediately reached for an arrow.

Before her feet even touched the ground, she fired.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Three arrows in rapid succession.

Each one aimed in a different direction.

Natasha slid forward, dodging the arrows.

*Swish!*

And then, with cat-like agility, she extended her invisible sword and slashed, maintaining her balance.

*Whoosh!*

Hiresia ducked.

The invisible blade sliced through the air, narrowly missing her.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

She fired two more arrows from her crouched position.

*Clank! Clank!*

Natasha deflected the arrows with her scabbard.

It was a breathtaking exchange, with no time to even blink.

A battle between superhuman warriors.

‘How fast are her hands?’

Natasha thought to herself, dumbfounded.

The biggest disadvantage of a bow is close combat.

Its reload speed.

Even the fastest and most skilled archer would take at least a few seconds to nock an arrow.

But what was this?

She was firing multiple arrows in the blink of an eye.

It was no longer a ranged weapon.

It was a deadly threat even at close range.

(TLN: sounds like a gun tbh)

Natasha could feel that the slightest lapse in concentration would result in a fatal blow.

Her head throbbed from the strain of maintaining such a high level of focus.

‘She’s a truly troublesome opponent.’

Natasha frowned.

Meanwhile,

Hiresia was thinking the same thing.

‘She’s really annoying.’

An invisible blade.

It was definitely tricky.

But what was truly troublesome was the opponent wielding it.

Her attacks were fast and sharp, and her defense was flawless.

And she kept closing the distance, refusing to give Hiresia any breathing room.

This was a difficult opponent to deal with.

Because there was no clear way to break through her defenses.

Hiresia had two options: take a risk and make a gamble, or keep chipping away at her defenses until an opening appeared.

Both were difficult choices.

And yet, they continued to exchange blows relentlessly.

The stalemate continued.

It was Natasha who made the first move.

“Reverse Moon.”

She muttered the name of her technique out of habit.

She had done the same in the underground chamber on the island.

But no one in the world would mistake it for empty boasting.

Hiresia kept her gaze fixed on Natasha, her expression cold and alert.

Natasha’s sword moved.

It was a movement that didn’t seem much different from her previous attacks.

Hiresia focused on her hearing, trying to predict the attack based on the vibrations in the air.

But at that moment,

*Switch!*

Natasha suddenly switched her invisible sword to her left hand.

And…

‘Reverse grip!’

Hiresia’s eyes widened in surprise.

*Whoosh!*

She leaped back, trying to dodge.

But.

*Nick!*

For the first time, the blade grazed Hiresia’s body.

Blood splattered from a cut on her right waist.

Hiresia winced.

It was natural for both humans and elves to be born with a dominant hand.

That’s why no one would expect someone to switch a one-handed weapon to their non-dominant hand.

That was the first surprise.

And then,

‘The vibrations changed.’

Even just switching the weapon to the other hand would change the movement, but a reverse grip completely altered it.

The vibrations in the air were different.

That’s why she hadn’t been able to dodge completely.

But the wound was shallow.

It wouldn’t hinder her.

However, Hiresia’s mind was racing.

Because it had given her something to think about.

So what should she do?

‘I’ll make things complicated for her too.’

Hiresia decided to make a gamble.

Transformation Arrow!

She nocked three arrows simultaneously.

It looked no different from her previous actions.

Natasha thought the same.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Until the three arrows were fired.

Natasha’s eyes had already tracked the arrows’ trajectories.

Right shoulder, center of the neck, left shin.

She would block the top two and dodge the bottom one.

She raised her scabbard.

She didn’t draw her sword, so she could immediately follow up with an attack.

But then.

Her scabbard froze.

Her eyes widened in shock.

‘No?!’

The first arrow, aimed at her right shoulder, seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if time had been reversed.

It wasn’t an illusion.

It couldn’t be.

Because the third arrow, aimed at her left shin, was already flying towards her at lightning speed.

“Ugh!”

Natasha dodged, but her surprise had delayed her reaction.

*Nick!*

The arrow grazed her shin, drawing blood.

The remaining arrows finally arrived.

But the second arrow came first.

*Thwack!*

Natasha, annoyed, sliced both arrows with her invisible sword, still held in a reverse grip.

They had exchanged blows, each one drawing blood.

Hiresia and Natasha’s expressions grew even more serious.

Because they had realized that this was a truly difficult battle.

“You hid your ambidexterity well.”

“You were hiding that technique too.”

Words were unnecessary.

They were enemies who had to eliminate each other.

*Clank.*

Natasha sheathed her invisible sword.

It was clear that she was preparing to draw it again.

But something was different.

She moved both hands behind her back.

It would be a completely useless action for an ordinary swordsman.

But for Natasha, who was ambidextrous, it had meaning.

Left or right.

Hiresia couldn’t predict which hand she would draw from.

“So that’s how you want to play it?”

Hiresia narrowed her eyes and prepared her next move.

* * *

*BOOOOOM!*

I stopped the whirlwind.

But it came at a cost.

My sword arm trembled uncontrollably.

I had forced myself to withstand a tremendous amount of force.

It wasn’t just my arm, every muscle in my body ached.

“You bastard!”

Kalkus’s face was red with fury, but other than that, he seemed fine.

The gap between us.

I had to admit it.

No matter how hard I trained, I couldn’t reach the level of a Red Rain executive and the strongest dwarf warrior.

But even if I acknowledged it, I couldn’t give up.

This was a fight for survival.

I would survive, no matter what.

I would.

‘…I have to use it.’

I finally made up my mind.

Old Man Baker’s true secret technique.

The technique that had earned him the infamous title of “Master Slayer.”

But it was an incomplete technique, incredibly difficult to execute.

I could only successfully pull it off once out of every five attempts.

That’s why I had been hesitant to use it.

Because the chances of it backfiring were overwhelmingly high.

If I failed to execute it properly, it would be my own undoing.

But I had no other choice now.

It was all or nothing.

I calmed my mind as much as possible.

“Take this!”

Kalkus charged towards me, low and fast.

He was aiming to crush my skull with a powerful blow.

But.

I wasn’t focused on the outside world.

I was focused solely on my body.

I held my breath.