Chapter 99 An Efficient Way To Battle

"Now the warmup is done.

Let's get real, shall we?"

As soon as Evan spoke, he accessed the memories of the expert swordsman he possessed, those of he Second of the precious seven heroes.

He didn't scour through them looking for sword techniques to beat Sir Walsh with, but looking for the method used to activate the new energy type that was a proof of his 'master' status.

Aura.

Evan had just entered the Master level of existence so expecting him to defeat Sir Walsh in his base state without any buffs was the same as expecting the impossible.

As such, he relied on the memories he possessed on how to activate the aura that was now laying dormant within his body.

"Hap!!"

He swung his sword sideways to meet Sir Walsh's over head strike, a thin layer of white light surrounding his body as he temporarily overpowered the royal knight and forced his blade backwards.

Although surprised, the Sir Walsh regained his composure relatively quickly and sent in another attack that threatened to disarm Evan.

The young hero jumped backwards, creating a bit of distance between the two before swinging his sword wildly.

"Hmmm...?"

Sir Walsh cocked his head to the right, wondering what Evan was doing, but his senses warned him to dodge instantly and that he did.

**SWISH!! SWISHH!!!

Rolling to the side, he turned his gaze and saw that the spot he was just standing on had multiple slash marks on it.

'An invisible attack?'

He narrowed his eyes and got to his feet instantly, before kicking off the ground and closing the distance immediately.

**HUMM!!!

There was a humming sound as his sword was filled with a blue coloured energy that Evan recognized as aura.

"Royal Knights Bladework: Ark!"

He swung his sword, releasing a wave of aura that toppled all the tall trees in its path as it made its way towards Evan who tried to counter attack with an aura of his own.

Emphasis, on 'tried'.

"Tsk...."

Evan clicked his tongue as he failed in activating the aura and used his short distance teleportation skill, blink, to warp himself over to the left side of the royal knight.

With his paladin skill active, Evan infused his sword with lightning attributed magic power and slashed at the knight who cancelled his bladework technique and twisted his body to block Evan's slash.

"GGuh!"

He grunted as the lightning on Evan's blade flowed into his blade and down to his hand, numbing his fingers holding his sword and making him loosen his grip.

Nevertheless, he strengthened his body with aura in the next second, expelling the lightning from his body.

**SWISHH!! CLANGGG!!!!

The two began to exchange a flurry of sword slashes, each one capable of inflicting serious injuries on the other.

However, one thing was evident, they were not trying to kill each other.

Cuts began to appear on Evan's arm, with blood seeping through the cuts as Sir Walsh gradually overwhelmed him with his superior sword techniques.

Even though Evan had reached the Master level of existence, he did not have the techniques required of such a level.

While he had the knowledge of said techniques, he could not perform these techniques properly, and thus could not bring out their full power.

Sir Walsh on the other hand, was more skilled than the current Evan, and was also at a higher level. Most importantly, he was capable of using Aura to bypass the defences of Evan's paladin skill and inflict damage on the young hero.

Evan had tried using his aura slash skill in tandem with his concealment skill like he did earlier, but Sir Walsh seemed to anticipate it and didn't let Evan have any distance

As it was a mid to long ranged skill, his aura slash was completely useless in close range where Sir Walsh would be able to counter attack with his aura more easily.

Sir Walsh slashed horizontally with his aura filled sword and Evan bent his upper body backwards to avoid it.

He instantly rebounded and sent a lightning infused slash of his own but it was blacked by the blade of the royal knight.

Sir Walsh pulled his sword backwards and turned his body to the side, sending out a whip like kick to Evan's head which the young hero had to duck to avoid.

He placed his free hand on the ground and twisted his body, his leg moving in an attempt to sweep Sir Walsh off his feet but the royal knight conjured a barrier of ice at the last moment, preventing Evan's kick from connecting.

**SWISH!!

Without any hesitation, Sir Walsh swung his sword downwards, attempting to knock Evan out by hitting his head with the flat side of the blade but the young hero rolled out of the way just in time.

The sword landed onto the sand as Evan got up from the ground instantly and waved his hand.

A single ringed magic circle appeared in front of him, followed by a ball of flames that headed straight for the royal knight's torso.

Sir Walsh roused his magic power and created an ice spike that pierced into the fireball, causing it to explode with a small burst of magic power.

With a small distance in between them, the two locked eyes with each other as Evan heaved a sigh and tossed his sword up in the air before catching it with his left hand.

He repeated the same action and grabbed the airborne blade with his right hand once more before speaking.

"My fighting style is very inefficient. I don't make the most of my large energy reserves and myriad of skills, as such, I can't fight at full power even if I wanted to."

He opened up his status board and counted looked at the number of skills he had, counting each and every one of them.

|Name- Evan Von Bourne

Race- Body: Human; Soul: ###e# ###s###e#;

Gender - Male

Age - Body: 11; Soul: 17;

Level- 103

Existence Level - Master

Titles- The Second of Seven Heroes, Leader of the Seven Heroes, Reincarnated Hero, Wielder of Mystic Eyes, Loved By Nature, Heir of Eris Dukedom, #####c ########.

Class- Magic Swordsman

Health – C-

Energy – C-

Strength – C-

Agility – C-

Durability – C-

Intelligence- C-

Condition- Normal, Surprised.

Magic Tiers- Fire Tier 1, Lightning Tier 2, Shadow Tier 1;

Resistances- Poison, Charm, Fear.

Skills- Full Appraisal, Magic Control, Weapon Control, Paladin, Concealment, Martial Arts, Language Comprehension;

Mimicked Skills-Energy Blast, Body Transformation, Aura Slash, Blink, Inventory, Limit Break;

Available Skill Slots- 4;

Unique Skills- Mystic Eyes of Mimicry (1), Adaptive Evolution, Blessing of Destruction, Vortex. |

"Seventeen skills in total, huh?"

As he spoke, Sir Walsh's eyes widened in surprise. This was natural, it was impossible for a single being to have that many skills.

'Except for a 'Skill Eater', that is...'

"You look surprised. I understand why. Having this number of skills isn't normal.

I possess zero defensive skills, four auxiliary skills, seven support skills, two attack skills and four unique skills.

Yet, I can't seem to make the most of them."

Evan casually revealed the number of skills he had, much to Sir Walsh's surprise. Nevertheless, the royal knight did not believe Evan possessed that many skills.

He thought the young hero was just trying to mess with him. If only he knew that Evan was not joking at all.

As for Evan, he had no particular reason for telling the royal knight about his number of skills, he just heaved a sigh afterwards and took a stance.

"So, Brice Walsh, would you mind helping me use my skills more efficiently?"

As soon as Evan spoke, he warped using blink and re appeared directly above Sir Walsh's head, slashing down with a glowing golden blade.

**SWISHHH!!!

Recognizing the golden glow of the aura slash skill, Sir Walsh infused his weapon with his own blue aura and rose it to meet Evan's slash.

***CLANGGG!!!!

A loud sound rang out as the two metal blades collided with each other, the force behind the attack being more than Sir Walsh had expected as he was forced down on one knee.

Before he could get back to his feet, Evan had blinked away and reappeared beside him with a thin layer of white light glowing around his body and an outstretched leg.

"HUP!"

He sent a kick towards the defenceless torso of the royal knight, sending him flying in the air and crashing on to the ground.

"Energy Blast."

Without giving the knight time to recollect himself, Evan launched a beam of pure magic power in his direction, forcing the knight to roll out of the way to avoid the damage.

**BOOMM!!!

The beam of magic power tore through the earth and uprooted a few trees before suddenly stopping.

"Aura Slash."

Hearing the skill being called out, Sir Walsh looked up to see an airborne Evan slashing down multiple times in his direction.

**SWISHH! SWISHHH!! SWIISHHHH!!!!

Slashes of golden light poured down on the royal knight as he utilized a bladework technique coupled with his aura to fend off each one of the slashes.