Cheap Bastard
by Afuhfuihgs
They glared at each other, shoulders tense. Every sense was sharpened, ready to react to the slightest movement. With a single breath, they decided on their actions and thoughts. Silently, with matching smiles, they kicked off the ground, neither waiting for the other, and thrust their spears towards each other’s vitals.
Kormo’s spear tip, aimed at my heart in a perfect, unadulterated line, disappeared into the dimensional portal I created. At the same moment, my spear pierced Kormo.
As Kormo’s upper body leaned forward, I felt a strange sensation in the hand gripping my spear. Without even thinking about retrieving it, I released my grip and used the Breath of the Formless to instantly pull my body backward.
Seogeok-!
The robes I was wearing were sliced. If I had reacted even a moment later, my upper body would have been cleaved in two by Wol-a. Kormo, who had been leaning forward as if about to collapse, extended one leg to regain his balance and recover his posture.
My spear hadn’t actually pierced Kormo’s body. At the last moment, he had twisted his body to deflect the attack, letting it pass through the empty space under his arm. Then, feigning injury, he leaned his upper body forward, tearing through the dimensional portal with his strength and swinging his weapon.
,”Ho, your reaction is good. And you use strange tricks, too.”
“I’m too much of a bastard to fall for such petty tricks.”
Planting his back foot for stability, he readjusted his Shadow Spear and crouched low. I could see the magic surging at the tip of Kormo’s spear. The surrounding space seemed distorted, like heat haze swirling.
“Kahaha! Then try enduring this!”
Seemingly intent on continuing his relentless assault, Kormo swung his spear wildly, as if trying to sweep the ground. With each parry, my back foot dug deeper into the ground to maintain my stance. I was being pushed further and further towards the end of the alley, but I endured, even though I could have used space magic to resist.
I wasn’t engaging in a head-on confrontation with Kormo out of some competitive spirit from facing an enemy who used a spear. From the start, I never had the arrogant thought that I could fight a Sword Master hunter like Kormo on equal terms in a one-on-one fight.
The reason I wasn’t using space magic to attack from behind, and only countering with the speed of my spear, was to lower his guard and exploit his weaknesses.
The reason I deliberately kept using the Shadow Spear instead of the more destructive Spear of Ruin was also to induce complacency. The fact that he didn’t know I could use two spears would definitely be a significant variable in the fight.
Kormo’s continuous strikes cracked the alley floor and left deep gouges in the walls. Constantly retreating, I finally reached the edge of the battlefield. There was nowhere left to run. Kormo, who had orchestrated this, gave a wry smile and tensed his shoulders.
As Kormo’s spear was swung, I realized that my moment of endurance had paid off. I had already mapped out all the spatial coordinates of the alley. Creating a dimensional portal behind me, I teleported far away from Kormo and hurled the Shadow Spear with all my might at his defenseless back.
Kormo, sensing the threat from behind as the enemy in front of him disappeared, lifted his leading foot into the air and entrusted his body to the force of his spear swing, rotating his body. The surprise attack had failed, but the purpose of the spear throw was only to buy time. It didn’t matter if it didn’t damage him.
I retrieved the Spear of Ruin from my spatial storage. In an instant, the situation had reversed. Now it was Kormo who was cornered. We were at opposite ends of the alley. Kormo couldn’t swing his spear at me at the end of the alley. But I had a way to overcome the limitations of distance. I twisted one corner of my mouth towards Kormo.
“I’m more skilled at tricks, you see.”
“This bastard… he was a mage.”
Drawing on the power of ruin, I plunged the Spear of Ruin, its blade now red, into the entrance of the dimension. Dozens of dimensional exits, each capable of targeting the opponent’s vitals from various angles, were created in front of the cornered Kormo.
Kormo couldn’t retreat further, as he was at the edge of the battlefield. Kormo, who had gained an advantage by using the spear’s ability to interfere with the opponent’s distance control and utilizing the weapon’s reach, had inadvertently trapped himself in a cage. I had eliminated the distance control disadvantage of the spear with space magic.
If the opponent had retreated and swung his spear to escape the range of attack, it would have been impossible to unleash a one-sided barrage. But the opponent had been forced into a desperate situation. By using space magic to quickly reverse the situation and corner him, I had overwhelmingly turned the tide of the battle in my favor.
I unleashed a relentless assault, not giving him a moment to catch his breath. Each strike was imbued with the power of ruin. Moreover, every blow was a direct hit aimed at his vitals from all directions, without a single feint. From Kormo’s perspective, he had no choice but to pour all his strength into blocking my attacks.
Even if our maximum speeds were similar in a one-on-one exchange of blows, I was at a disadvantage in terms of power compared to Kormo. However, it was nearly impossible for him to close the distance, as he was blocking attacks from all directions and could only repeat the simple action of ‘thrusting his spear’ at the dimensional portals from afar. Especially since that simple thrust was a blow imbued with undeniable power.
Kormo’s fatigue rapidly increased, and the damage accumulated. Whether he used the power of chaos or not, the power of ruin wasn’t completely effective, as it hadn’t been in the fight against Professor Dwin, but the power contained in the Spear of Ruin was enough to tear away human flesh.
“You cowardly bastard! I expected a duel between spear users…! Fight fair!!!”
Kormo shouted in a voice filled with rage. I couldn’t help but laugh at his words. The reason I had chosen the spear as my weapon was because of Kormo right in front of me. In the early days of my possession, when I was wondering how to become stronger, I had thought of Kormo from Confession and laid the foundation for my fighting style.
Kormo and I have the same fighting style. To corner the opponent in a ‘battlefield’ where the unilaterally advantageous opponent cannot cross the boundary, and to pour attacks by taking advantage of the spear. But I didn’t have the ‘battlefield’ that Kormo had.
No, I didn’t need it. By obtaining Rosaline’s space magic, I could impose unilateral distance restrictions on the opponent, unlike a ‘battlefield’ where even I couldn’t cross the boundary.
Repeatedly launching fatal attacks with simple thrusts from a distance. Forcing the opponent to accept the loss and attempt to close the distance was the ‘cheap bastard’ combat style using space magic that I had envisioned.
I remembered playing fighting games with my friend at the arcade and only spamming fireballs from a distance for three rounds in a row, which led to a real fight. I planned a combat style that would unilaterally force the opponent to take losses.
I was even told to give up the spear because I lacked talent. Since I didn’t have innate magical power, I needed tricks to surpass my skills in order to survive in the academy where the continent’s talents gathered. I felt a strange sense of emotion as even Kormo, the originator of my combat style, called me a coward, and I said with a bright smile.
“To be recognized by you, I’m truly happy.”
“You son of a bitch!”
His arms, shoulders, and even his thighs. I saw Kormo, with chunks of flesh torn away, finally try to reverse the situation by gripping his spear shorter. An immense bolt of lightning, charged with magical power, surged towards me like a flash of light from the tip of his spear.
Kwaaaaaang-!
A blinding white flash surged forward, overturning the alley floor with a deafening roar. But I was already calmly reading the flow of the fight, simply thrusting my spear and changing the settings of the dimensional exits.
It was obvious that the opponent would do something to change the situation. I had already finished preparing to deal with any sudden variables. The blinding white flash that had surged towards me was swallowed by the massive dimensional portal I had created in front of me, returning to its owner and turning Kormo’s left arm to ash.
“Kkyaaaaak…! You little shit…!”
Kormo, who had been diligently swinging his spear with both arms to block the attacks, had lost one arm. Moreover, his fatigue was constantly accumulating as he tried to block the relentless barrage of attacks. Now, all I had to do was prepare for his counterattacks, toy with him as much as I wanted, and then deliver the final blow.
Kormo didn’t give up and resisted fiercely. But Kormo could only take two steps towards me, who was far away and launching ranged attacks. Kormo’s left side was defenseless because his left arm was gone.
Due to the relentless attacks targeting his weaknesses, Kormo, whose thigh was torn by the spear blade and half gone, could no longer maintain his stance. Kormo had already sensed defeat when his attack, which had been poured with magical power, failed. It was very easy to plunge the Spear of Ruin into the head of Kormo, who screamed in near-despair and collapsed on the alley floor.
The battle was over, and I gasped for breath. I, who had not reached the realm of transcendence, had defeated Confession with tactics alone. An emotion, whether it was a sense of accomplishment or something else, made my heart pound. Even if someone saw this fight and called it cowardly or cheap, in a life-or-death battle, the one who survives is justice.
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