Chapter 222 - Distance (8)

The horse-face kept charging at Luke, always in a straight line, but Luke focused on evasive maneuvers. He wanted to save his energy, for when the monster shows an opening, but just dodging was the best he could do without Rina and Shalia's support. Eventually, Luke found one chance. The horse-face tried to split in half with an even bigger side slash, but instead of running away, Luke jumped and tried to stab the horse-face right eye when he confirmed that he dodged the strike. However, the enemy also reacted on time and began to move its head, but Luke used Sonic Blade, and the enemy got hit… only on the cheek. At the last moment, he suddenly increased his speed.

"That was a good one," the horse-face said while he touched the small cut on his face. "Was it with this that you defeated my friend? For a human, you are not half bad, but you don't have the power to have defeated him. Not even with the help of those worms."

"Worm you say, huh…" Luke said while glaring at him. "You call others worm… but your people are the ones acting like parasites."

Call him old-fashioned, but Luke really hated when his friends were insulted. He could be insulted as much as possible, he could endure it since he was full of flaws, but he couldn't endure that. 

"What nonsense are you Speaking… even your people act like this way," the horse-face said. "Isn't your story filled battles for land and resources? How come you are different from us?" 

"My story isn't filled with that, only with the embarrassment of my teenage years," Luke said. "I didn't take thousands of lives, unlike you assholes, but I will be happy to dirty my hands with your disgusting guts, horse-face."

"Well, to do that, you will have to damage me more than this," The horse-face said and then revealed his face was completely healed. 

He moved his ax behind his back very slowly in the next moment, and Luke knew that something troublesome was about to happen. He assumed his defensive stance because, just as he had expected, he didn't see the next motion of the enemy…

The horse-face threw his ax at Luke, and thanks to his spear, he managed to block it, but he was sent flying while being pushed backward like a cannonball. Luke tried to move the ax to the side and dodge it, but the sheer power of the throw didn't let him. As if that wasn't enough, he felt shivers and then he suddenly felt a presence on his right side. When Luke realized what had happened. He was already falling toward the ground even faster than before.

Upon impact, he created a twenty meters long crater. He made the entire region tremble, but despite that, Luke survived with only a few broken limbs. It was all thanks to his new set of armor… Still, that armor could take only so many of those hits.

"Shit…" Luke said and then bit his lips in annoyance. 

The horse-face landed nearby and waited for Luke to ready himself. He was playing with him… or maybe he was being careful since he wasn't fighting at his best. He had been analyzing Luke, and he knew that he wasn't strong enough to have defeated his friend. So, he assumed that Luke had a card up his sleeve… which was weird since anyone who had Appraisal would have known it by now.

When the enemy dashed at Luke again, he used Stinger as well, and he added Sonic Blade. As if the enemy could see all of that in slow motion, he changed his posture to dodge the attack. Still, when he moved his head, he saw several purple arrows appearing around his head. In the end, the horse-face stopped his attack and then swung his ax to repel those. 

"No, no, no… you can't use magic in a duel," The horse-face said.

"A bit too late to add that rule," Luke said.

As if Luke could care for that kind of nonsense, if it was a battle to the death, then, of course, he would use all his cards. Nevertheless, the poison arrows didn't work even at point-blank range, so insisting on them was a waste of time. In any case, the enemy didn't insist on that argument, but it was obvious that he was pissed. Instead of a proper duel, he just wanted a fight where he had all the advantage, or maybe his stupid ego just needed that kind pat in the back.

The enemy charged again, and then Luke went for his throat. While holding his ax to strike, the enemy used the other hand to hold Luke's spear. That had been a mistake, though.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH"!" Luke used Hoar.

Four about one-fourth of a second, the enemy was paralyzed, and Luke felt the grip of the enemy weakening in his sword. So, he pulled back his weapon and then went for the enemy's throat again.

The horse-face twitched his neck to dodge the attack, but Luke's spear still scratched him. Once again, the enemy used a roundhouse kick and this time, Luke got hit by it, and he felt his whole body cracking while he was rolling on the ground. When he got up, he spat a mouthful of blood and then found the enemy glaring at him. The difference in speed wasn't that big when Luke tried his best, but it was annoying that he could only scratch the enemy while the horse-face could kill him with three of those kicks.

Despite that, Luke didn't show anything in his eyes aside from the wish to kick the enemy's ass so hard that he will have a hard time pooping for the rest of his life if he manages to escape.. Nevertheless, Luke realized that Hoar was effective if only a little… still, it had potential and he couldn't ignore it, even more so on fights against fewer enemies like that.