Chapter 701

Chapter 701

Cheryl’s sword is swung as she closes the distance with a light step that could be described as light and airy, smiling brighter than ever before.

The staff, reminiscent of ballet, becomes heavy enough to break the ground in an instant, and the sword, swung in a way that cuts it off, precisely targets my right wrist.

There is no trace of the past where she was very poisonous and only aimed for the weak points. She was like Cheryl who always went above and beyond when she heard advice, but before the blow landed, what I felt was not satisfaction but confusion.

Because the swordsmanship itself changed beyond just listening to advice.

In fact, strictly speaking, it was an attack that could not be called swordsmanship. How could it be called a technique when there was no regularity in the posture?

-Kaang!

The attack that hits like that is so sharp that even the most skilled knights can’t even hand out their business cards. The moment you turn your esthe to defend your wrist, you can feel your sword being pushed back just a little bit.

But that was it. He was too deep to take a stance and change direction, and there was no time to retrieve his sword.

The problem is that the person who wielded the sword would know this fact better than anyone else.

Even the smile on her lips was still there, and as soon as she felt the back of her neck getting colder at the sight, she turned around with a snap of her wrist and deflected Cheryl’s sword, and at the same time, tried to swing her sword at her temple.

But Cheryl’s sword doesn’t bounce off. Rather than bounce off, it spins around with my sword as if glued together.

And following that sword, Cheryl’s body soared into the sky.

“what···?”

This is not swordsmanship, it is acrobatics.

For a moment, it seemed as if Cheryl was doing a handstand in the air, holding herself up with the strength of her own sword pressing down on mine. It was clear that she had jumped with her own strength, but it was some kind of optical illusion.

“haha!”

Before I could properly be surprised by the movement I had never seen before, Cheryl’s joyful laughter momentarily awakened my sense of alertness that had been paralyzed.

It was thanks to that that I was able to avoid Cheryl’s sword, which had just been pulled back slightly and swung around aiming for my left shoulder, without any resistance as it dug into my body.

I won’t get hurt because I have dragon armor, but it was a duel that focused only on swordsmanship, excluding the gap in equipment performance, so it was clearly my mistake.

But no matter how flustered I was, I wasn’t so flustered that I couldn’t swing an attack at the kid in the air.

I turned my body in a hurry to avoid the sword, threw the Este I was holding with my left hand to my right, and switched my grip. I aimed for Cheryl’s heart and stabbed her as she turned in the air as if she was doing gymnastics and landed on the ground.

This moment is absolutely unavoidable. If the difference in physical ability was severe, I could have stopped it by grabbing the blade with my empty hand, but right now, I am adjusting my strength to Cheryl, so that is practically no option.

In fact, Cheryl couldn’t avoid it.

I blocked it.

-Kagakak!

Cheryl’s sword, which had moved in an instant, stopped at the exact same position as my stab, then spun around and revealed its blade. At the same time, Este’s tip scraped the blade, blocking the attack and she began to slide toward the floor as Cheryl led her.

It was a very subtle slope, but it was a movement to deflect my attack with a clear intention. When he noticed this, he withdrew Este and tried to stab him again, aiming for the neck, but this time, as expected, the sword followed him as if it was stuck and blocked his movements.

If this was a normal fight, I could have used all sorts of methods to break his stance or render him unable to respond within seconds.

Yeah, if it was normal·

But now, this is a match I’ve decided to give to Cheryl, right?

At least from what I can see now, there’s no way to break through that and win the fight with just one sword while moving at the same level as him. Originally, they were both infighter one-tools, but then one of them suddenly switched to an outboxer and now they’re just stepping and going around in circles.

I had told the Laughing Bell gang to prepare for an unexpected attack, but even though it was a situation where they were just playing chess with the cannon off, this time I was the one who got hit.

Cheryl continued talking while I was clicking my tongue in the feeling that this must have been how those who had to be pierced with needles felt.

“I have finally realized that I have been thinking too superficially, even though I have the power of Aura. I still have a long way to go before I can combine it with the swordsmanship I have learned and improve it to the point where I can use it in real combat, but as you said, I will not lose in this duel.”

“I didn’t know you could come up with such an idea.”

If I had to make a metaphor, Cheryl was like a wild horse that always ran towards victory.

It is a fact known to everyone in the Ogatorp mansion, including myself, that the talent, background, and competitive spirit for this are more than enough, and it was a nature that Cheryl herself recognized.

“What did you really see and experience on the battlefield?”

So I had no choice but to ask again. No matter how good the phenomenon is, it’s still unsettling if you don’t know the cause. It’s unlikely that the child will do that, but it would be a headache if he suddenly said one day that he made a deal with the devil.

Did Siegfried and his party give you some kind of trigger? Or did you roll a lot of Shinchan to overcome the physical gap in the fight against the demons? Did you meet a good mentor while I was away?

Amidst the many speculations, Cheryl gave an answer that was completely different from what I expected.

“The battlefield is just a battlefield. There are enemies to fight and allies to protect. It is far from enlightenment. Isn’t it closer to a sense of doubt?”

I was even more dumbfounded when I saw Cheryl tilting her head and her shoulders dropping as if she was slowly returning to her daily routine.

This guy is the same age as me now...? Isn’t this really his second life?

“I just wanted to stand by your side and now I’ve finally found a piece of it.”

But Cheryl, who had no way of knowing my feelings, just smiled and answered me as she watched me looking dejected.

“So let’s practice some more. It’s still not enough.”

I was not very sharp, but I could sympathize with the words that it was still lacking, so I adjusted my sword to match Cheryl’s.

A Word from the Author (Author’s Note)

Thank you, Labian, for your generous support of 500 coins!

As I reach the 700th episode, I am grateful for the support and encouragement. I will always strive to be remembered as a hard-working writer!

Thank you, Tofu is cute, for donating 100 coins!

Actually, it wasn’t a sincere serialization. It’s been on hiatus recently. From now on, I’ll try my best to make it a truly sincere serialization without any accidents for n days!

Thank you for your 50 coin donation to Quier!

I hope you enjoyed the article!