Chapter 112: Sparring with Judith

As soon as Elizabeth shouted for them to start, Judith rushed at Eldrian. Her speed far more than Eldrian expected, it was easily twice his normal running speed.

A skill?He questioned as he kept his spear steady between himself and her. He had expected she would try to come into his range. A large problem for her though was that a spear worked really well against charging enemies.

As she neared the spearpoint Judith did not slow down in the least. Greatly shocked Eldrian wondered just what her plan was, readying himself to react to anything strange.

Just as Eldrian wanted to thrust his spear to strike her, Judith pivoted almost on the spot. Moving past the spearhead while losing almost no speed. Eldrian completely thrown by this action scrambled to react in time. This move was not something one could simply do, it would take months or even years of training to get it down to such a small margin of error.

Defending himself was not too hard, Judith's attack being clearly shown after she had gotten past his spear's head. Eldrian quickly retracted his spear and blocked the attack with eh shaft as he moved to hold it at half-length.

This was a style he was quite used to, due to using a double-headed spear. It also allowed him to fight effectively at closer combat. Especially since Judith was using a greatsword, meaning the combatants still had quite a bit of range between them. If she had been using daggers then Eldrian felt he would actually be done for at this stage.

Eldrian's arms shook from the impact of the attack. Used to being overwhelmed Eldrian hardly flinched as he continued to block her strikes. Every other being oddly strong compared to the 'normal' strikes.

Eldrian continued to block in this manner for almost a minute. As Judith used another skill to enhance an overhead strike, Eldrian added some more momentum onto her strike. Pushing her sword far past him and causing her to overswing. As she was fixing her balance Eldrian retreated, rebuilding the distance between them.

Judith did not charge in immediately which gave Eldrian a few seconds of rest. Using this time wisely Eldrian went through what he had learned was possible with skills. According to the conversations he had before this fight it could be almost anything a trained person would be able to do.

A strengthened blow, a faster attack, a charge, a 90-degree turn, a jump backward, a lunge. Almost anything which would normally be possible with lots of practice, yet now no practice was needed.

Judith had not rushed in immediately as she was waiting for her skill cooldowns. Rushing Eldrian as soon as they were over. This time she tried to force Eldrian's spear away as she moved into a closer distance. Hoping this would force him into a position where he could not defend himself.

Unfortunately for her, Eldrian simply went back to his half-length fighting style once she passed his spear's head. Eldrian tried to move back quickly this time, using his spear's one side to pivot her attack into an overswing as the back end of his spear struck her side.

As she struggled to catch her breath Eldrian moved back again. He wanted to see what made skills special and different, so far he felt they were far weaker than spells. Due to this he was trying to extend the fight and force her to use all the skills she had.

Judith took her time to re-evaluate Eldrian, looking at him cautiously. She could not understand how he was keeping up with her without using skills.

What speed! Eldrian exclaimed internally as Judith charged again, this time in a semi-circle around Eldrian. This charge was far faster but also clearly not headed straight for him.

As Eldrian turned around he was shocked to find Judith already rushing him from his back. Starting an upward slash as she rushed in. Yet this slash was clearly a skill as it paused Judith's actions for a split second. Giving Eldrian enough time to react and bring the spear shaft into its path.

Eldrian used the hit to take a few steps back and regain his distance, back into his defensive stance.

By now Judith was irritated at the ease with which Eldrian was dealing with her. She decided to use her trump card on her next charge.

Eldrian was forced onto the back foot. Judith now fighting with no regard for her own safety. While he could easily end the fight if he went for the kill, he still wanted to feel what skills could do. As such he allowed Judith to continue on her reckless action, focusing solely on blocking and dodging.

Eldrian was perplexed as it seemed that Judith was becoming stronger and faster with time. This made it harder and harder for him to keep his distance. Judith now swinging the greatsword not as a massive piece of steel, but rather as if it was a small twig.

Shit! Eldrian turned his body just in time as Judith thrust for his chest. Bringing his spear about he tried to move the sword away from him, but the sword seemed to have a mind of his own.

Feeling a slight vibration through his spear, Eldrian jumped back as fast as he could. As he did Judith's thrust turned into a sweeping attack, Eldrian barely avoiding it.

That is a nice trick... Eldrian grumbled in his head as he looked at Judith with more caution. Yet she seemed exhausted, heaving deeply as she pulled her sword back.

"I can't believe you dodged that." Judith spoked through batted breath, sweat running down her head.

"That one almost had me, if not for the delay in its activation," Eldrian replied, getting back into his stance.

His sentence shocked Judith, Eldrian was the first person who managed to hold out so long against her. Except for Therdul, but he was focusing on a defensive fighting style. Eldrian instead did not even seem to have chosen his style yet.

"I think I learned enough for now." Eldrian spoke after a few seconds of standstill. Judith quickly speaking up against this.

"We aren't done till one of us lose."

"Of course," Eldrian replied, a cunning smile appearing on his face. It is about time to fight back. He thought to himself.

Judith also smirked most of her skills back off of cooldown, Eldrian talking with her had been just what she had wanted. As soon as they all were ready she charged at Eldrian again, now knowing how quick he could interact. She planned to work around this and find an opening.

All her plans were destroyed when Eldrian also moved as soon as she did. This entire fight he had been standing still and reacting to her attacks, him now going on the initiative threw her entire plan down the drain.

'Why the hell did he never move before!' She cursed as she was forced to cancel her charge.This caused her to almost fall over, but she had done it fast enough to still be outside of Eldrian's range. At least this was what she had thought, finding instead that he was already on top of her.

'Just how fast is this bastard!' She wanted to ask, swinging her sword overhead in a hope of stopping Eldrian's spear.

Yet she felt no contact, confused she looked up. Finding Eldrian calmly standing just in front of her.

Infuriated that he did not push his advantage she quickly stood up and madly struck at Eldrian. Eldrian blocked her attacks, waiting for her to use a skill again.

She did after growing tired of being unable to overpower Eldrian, especially when her strength was so much greater than his.

Eldrian easily spotted the change in her rhythm as she winded up an overhead swing. Spotting this rhythm change was far easier than it sounded. Most players had yet to truly integrate it into their fighting. Making it clear when they were forcefully using skills.

This worked fine when they were fighting monsters as a group. But it did not work well for a dual, especially if the dual went long enough for someone to get used to your style.

As soon as Eldrian saw her windup he thrust his spear at her stomach, letting go of the spear as he finished the motion, allowing him to move out of the way from her strike.

Judith, not at all having expected this felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Not losing her focus she smirked as she let the skill do its job. Only to find Eldrian not in front of her anymore and his spear lying on the ground.

'What the-' Before she could finish her question she felt someone wrap their arms around her waist. Throwing her into the air.

Before she could recover she felt a cold piece of metal settling against her neck.

"Wow!" Everyone else exclaimed as they saw Eldrian standing over Judith. The fight had looked to be in her control the entire time. But Eldrian had changed that all in the last few seconds of the fight.

Eldrian did not comment, feeling he had done many stupid mistakes in this fight. It had taken him far too long to find Judith's rhythm and the difference when she started using a skill. On a level he was happy that he managed to predict Judith's skill usage, even if it took far longer than he felt it should have.

On a different note, Eldrian felt that Judith focused too much on skills. Having used her weapon more as an accessory, and skills as her true weapon. This would work fine against simple beasts, but not against someone who trained for combat.

"You!" She wanted to curse Eldrianf or his last shameful attack where he had grabbed her and thrown her into the air. She felt it was not within the rules of a dual. On some level though, she knew that it was perfectly alright. She was more bothered that he had actually grabbed her and thrown her like she was nothing.

"Hey Haru, would you mind fighting me too?" Therdul asked excitedly. He clearly saw that Eldrian's fighting sense was far greater than anyone in the guild. He wanted to gain as much as he could while Eldrian was with them.

"Sure." Eldrian replied, happy to have a few sparring partners while he waited for Old Sword to get in contact with him. He had no idea how long that would take.