Chapter 387 Too Slow

Chapter 387 Too Slow　　"Hee.. You are quite fast." said Duchess Amberblaze with a feral grin.

Suddenly, the Duchess retracted her greatsword and attacked from a weird angle. *Clang* Duke Faltos managed to parry the attack at the last moment and pushed back a few meters away.

'Urgh.. It's heavy. How could she swing such a heavy sword with that kind of speed?!' thought Duke Faltos inwardly.

Then, a bright crimson light appeared in front of Duke Faltos.

"You are distracted." said Duchess Amberblaze shortly.

*Bang* Duke Faltos gets hit in his armor by the Duchess's greatsword and thrown away.

"What a sturdy armor?! It should be some kind of pseudo-artifact armor." said Duchess Amberblaze before pursuing Duke Faltos.

On the way to Duke Faltos, an energy beam shot toward the Duchess from the side. *Pzzt* Still, she managed to dodge the attack effortlessly and look at the shooter. Not far from her stood General Roach with smoke coming out from his left mechanical hand.

"Half-machine?! Let's see how you handle my speed?" said the Duchess playfully.

Then, the Duchess began to charge at the enemy's general. The general didn't stay idle either and continuously shot energy beams at the incoming Duchess. However, she managed to dodge the beams easily.

The middle-aged general couldn't help but have a cold sweat and become more anxious. Even his advanced mechanical left eye couldn't even capture the speed of the Duchess. Moreover, the Duchess deliberately runs around playing with him rather than going straight toward him.

"Is that all? Haa… What a letdown. I really hope you can entertain me a little bit since you are half-machine. But, I guess I asked too much." said Duchess Amberblaze.

Suddenly, a red flash appeared on the corner of General Roach. Before he could react, he felt his body get hit and slashed from the side. *Slash*

Fortunately, he has high enchanted armor and many protective barriers to hold the Duchess's attack. Still, the Duchess' attack is ridiculously fast and breaks through all of them. The general didn't even know what hit him before feeling a lot of pain in his body and falling unconscious.

"Amazing.. You are still alive despite receiving this kind of attack." commented Duchess Amberblaze.

Just as she wants to give the final blow to the unconscious general, she feels an attack coming from her side. Once again, she dodges the attack easily and creates some distance. On her previous spot appeared some slashed marks.

"Is that a whip? But it looks like a sword. What a weird weapon? Well, no matter. It is time to finish this boring battle." said Duchess Amberblaze.

Before the Duchess charged forward, Duke Faltos erupted a large amount of mana. His body gets muscular and bigger while his expression turns like a ferocious beast.

"A half-breed??" commented Duchess Amberblaze.

Half-breed is a term for people that are born from two different races. In Firuman, a Half-breed is considered a rare kind of person. Since the higher your mana core grade, the harder for people to conceive a child, It is rare for Half-breeds to be born.

There are millions or more people that become couples despite having different races. Yet only less than a thousand managed to give birth to a half-breed alive. Most of the time, the Half-breed dies during the pregnancy state or has a seriously deformed body when they are born.

Even the one that managed to survive usually has some disability, whether physically or mentally. In some kingdoms, there are even strict laws prohibiting two different races from conceiving children or getting married.

Despite this, a half-breed without physical or mental illness is usually stronger than their parent race. This kind of half-breed is called the perfect half-breed. These kinds of people bring the good and advantages of their parent race.

Still, they are very rare and only born once in one million different couples. Seeing Duke Faltos' previous appearance as a human and now changing, the Duchess Amberblaze speculates he is a half-breed of human and some other race.

'Hmm… Looking at the change in temperament and his mana signature, he is definitely not a perfect half-breed. Since I didn't see any physical deformation, it means he has some kind of mental illness. Possibly a personality disorder.' analyzed Duchess Amberblaze inwardly.

After fully transformed, Duke Faltos becomes bulkier but still retains his slim disposition. Holding the whip swords in both hands, the Duke releases a long breath and makes the surrounding area windier [Wind Force].

Looking at this, the Duchess became more interested in the Half-breed in front of her. When people talk about speed combatant type, they will always think about the user's elemental affinity and associate them with wind or lightning elemental user.

Wind and lightning elements have acceleration properties and increase the combatant's speed. As someone who is a speed combatant specialist, Duchess Amberblaze always interested in fighting people with this kind of elemental affinity.

"Alright. Give me the best you got." said the Duchess while taunting Faltos with her finger.

Then, once again, Faltos releases a massive amount of mana and makes the surrounding area more windy [Tempest Field]. Suddenly, Duchess Amberblaze feels her body is heavier and more restricted from the surrounding wind.

"This skill.. So, you are an Urfar half-breed." said the Duchess nonchalantly.

While the Duchess is talking, Faltos empowers his body using all the nearby wind elements he gathers and charges toward Duchess Amberblaze [Swift Wind] [Windwalk] [Twin Sword Art - Faint Breeze]. *Whoshh*

Faltos disappear like wind and appear behind the Duchess, like an unnoticed harmless wind. At the same time, a thousand cuts appear all over the Duchess's body. At this moment, the Duchess's body disappears without a trace.

"Tch.. I take back my word. There is no way a person like you is part of the Urfar race. You are way too slow for an Urfar. 

"I didn't need to use my skill to dodge your attack. Guess you are just like other disabled half-breeds." said Duchess Amberblaze while suddenly appearing in front of Duke Faltos.

"Impossible!! I definitely cut you!!" exclaimed Duke Faltos like looking at ghosts.

"Nothing is impossible in this world. You are just… too slow." said Duchess Amberblaze before slashing the exhausted Faltos.

A moment after slashing Duke Faltos, the Flash squad finally reaches their leader. Some of them are breathing hard from continuous runs at full speed. However, nobody complained and waited for their leader's command.

"Ohh.. You guys finally arrive. Not bad. Next time try to be faster." commented the Duchess.

"Alright, start hunting those cowards in the span of ten kilometers from here and don't leave any prisoner except fourth grade or above combatant. Now, move out!!" commanded Duchess Amberblaze.

Hearing their leader's command, the Flash squad immediately scattered into groups and went on their way. As the Duchess didn't have anything else to do, she decided to return to the Thornbridge Hold.

"Umm.. Lady Extalia, what should we do with these two? They are barely alive right now." said the vice-leader of the Flash squad that didn't participate in the hunt.

"Ohh… Seal their mana and keep them barely alive. Then, send them to the Extermination Squad. Also, tell those people to squish every information from them, be it about Traynia, friends, or their daily life." said Duchess Amberblaze before disappearing.

A moment later, the Duchess appeared on the top of the Thornbridge wall. The surrounding soldiers immediately salute the Duchess, including Viscount Eagle and Baron Ivo. They didn't salute her not because it was an obligation but because they respected the Duchess.

The Duchess Amberblaze practically ended the whole battle by herself. Even their commander, who makes Moi overwhelmed, is getting toyed by her.

Ignoring everyone's stare, Duchess Amberblaze sits on the edge of Thornbridge's wall while looking at the horizon with a bored expression.

"Ehem.. Thank you for help, Duchess Amberblaze." said Viscount Eagle to diffuse the awkward situation.

Viscount Eagle often heard some rumors about Duchess Amberblaze's behavior in the past. Hence, he is not too surprised about her weird behavior.

After a moment of silence, "Huh.. Why are you all still here? Didn't you have better things to do? Did I really need to dictate to all of you like some kind of little kid?!!" reprimanded Duchess Amberblaze.

"Urgh… I am sorry, Duchess Amberblaze. Then, we will excuse ourselves." said Viscount Eagle before commanding Ivo and the others.

Although the battle is over, many things need to be done, such as making a battle report, increasing fortification, repairing the rune barriers and wall, etc. While everyone is busy with their task, Duchess Amberblaze keeps staring at the horizon absentmindedly.

"Tch… Boring. If I knew this would happen, I would never agree to his request." grumbled the Duchess in a low voice.

"Leon…" muttered the Duchess while remembering something in the last few hours.

A few hours before the Thornbridge battle ends, inside the Royal Palace, a secret room is filled with many screens and communication devices.

Since King Leon knows that war is inevitable, he is not only strengthening the Heart kingdom's military power but also some of their infrastructures. One of them is their information gathering and communication.

Unlike the post-modern Earth, where they have hundreds of satellites in space as transmitters for faster information networking, Firuman still lacks behind in terms of communication technology. 

Although Firuman technology looks more advanced than postmodern Earth in some aspects, some of them are still lacking, like communication technology.