The Duel Begins

"Uncle Liyade."

When Lister spoke, Liyade smiled broadly, then took a small wooden box from his chest and handed it to him.

"I can't interfere in the duel."

"You're only at the second tier, so it's natural for there to be a gap in strength. There's no need to fight to the bitter end over a woman. If you really can't beat him, just surrender. This potion can save your life too."

Lister took the wooden box. Inside was a potion.

The potion was a pure, milky white, and the liquid gave off a faint glow as it moved inside the bottle.

"Congratulations, you have obtained Lucian's Advanced Healing Holy Water (B-grade)."

[Lucian's Advanced Healing Holy Water (B-grade): Upon consumption, immediately grants immunity to all negative effects and restores 50% health.

Note: This potion's restorative effect is limited to professionals at or below the second class advancement. After the second class advancement, the higher the level, the weaker the restorative effect.]

A B-grade, excellent-quality potion, just like that?

Count Connor was generous!

From what Lister knew of current potion prices, an excellent-quality potion cost at least ten thousand gold coins, and even then, one might not be available.

It seemed he really did belong to the faction of the seven great professional families.

Even though he was the only actual professional left in the Merick Family, Count Connor still acknowledged him.

Several groups had already entered the area nearby, all following Count Connor, and quite a few looked enviously at the potion in Lister's hand.

It seemed Count Connor had other reasons for giving him the potion in public.

At the very least, he was signaling to the other great professional families that he would not abandon the alliance.

He wouldn't even abandon the Merick Family, let alone the others!

The appointed time for the duel soon arrived.

As Lister left the lounge for the dueling platform, he encountered another group of nobles slowly entering the lounge.

At their head was an elderly man dressed in splendid red garments, with special medals covering his chest.

An exquisite crown sat on his head. Seeing everyone around him bow, Lister figured this must be Duke Will II.

[Comparing enemy and allied strength... Scouting results obtained...]

[Level: Lv38]

[Class: Shield warrior (martial arts type)]

[Health: 3919/3939]

[Stamina: ???]

[Attributes: ???, ???, ...]

[Skills: ???, (insufficient scouting data) ???]

[Overall rating: C]

[Warning: This enemy is extremely dangerous. Keeping your distance is recommended.]

Just as expected, his combat strength also had an overall rating of C, equivalent to a boss-level fighter.

For the duke of a duchy, his strength wasn't outstanding, but it wasn't mediocre either.

Compared with Count Connor, though, he might not actually be stronger.

After all, Count Connor was a mage. Although his health and stamina were low, and he wasn't strong in one-on-one combat at lower tiers,

when it came to sheer attack power, he was definitely among the best of all classes, and his attacks were sure to deal wide-area AOE damage.

By comparison, shield warriors were strong in one-on-one combat, but they didn't really stand out in large-scale wars.

Lister stood where he was and waited for Duke Will II and several other heirs to the ducal title to approach before continuing on his way.

Sure enough, unlike Count Connor, Duke Will II showed no intention of speaking with him.

He walked silently past Lister, never once paying him any attention.

The Duchy of Will's dueling platform had been built from massive stones and reinforced with various seals.

It was said to withstand power up to the fifth tier and was absolutely sturdy.

Across from him, Quint had stepped onto the platform first. He wore a full suit of silver-white heavy armor.

Helmet, breastplate, belt, greaves, armguards, wristguards, boots-virtually every vital and key area was covered, with not a single spot exposed.

Lister used the system to scout him again and found that his health was nearly twice what it had been when scanned the day before.

At the same time, the armor gave him a negative attribute modifier, reducing his agility by 2 points.

Still, dressed in that heavy armor, he did look extremely formidable.

His already muscular build looked even more heroic and fearless in the heavy armor.

By contrast, the Merrick Family's heirloom leather armor Lister wore was the same grade as his opponent's equipment, but it looked far lighter.

The close-fitting, silver-gray leather armor, together with Lister's height of 1.85 meters, his black eyes and his short, jet-black hair, both rare in the duchy,

gave Lister an air of mystery that piqued people's curiosity.

At a signal from Will II in the lounge, a knight in silver armor outside the dueling platform immediately announced:

"I hereby declare the duel between Lister Merick and Quint Will officially begun!"

Lister bent slightly forward, one hand gripping the hilt of the blade at his side. He felt no urge to rush into an attack.

At lower tiers, shield warriors were like "iron turtles," with a huge advantage in one-on-one duels.

On top of that, his opponent had a shield-counter skill. If Lister rushed to attack, he would only give Quint an opportunity.

Quint held a sword in his right hand and a greatshield in his left as he advanced toward Lister one step at a time.

Confident in his own third-tier strength, he paid little heed to Lister, who was only at the second tier, believing he completely outclassed him.

When they were less than five paces apart, Quint suddenly charged!

Even in heavy armor and carrying a greatshield, he charged at considerable speed.

Unfortunately for him, compared with the three-headed dog, his charge was far too slow.

Lister simply waited for the right moment, then sidestepped to the right with a quick shuffle, dodging the straight thrust of Quint's sword.

As expected of a shield warrior's swordsmanship. In Lister's eyes, it really was like a child playing house.

Not only was the attack too slow, but the direction of the thrust wasn't ruthless enough either. It fell a little short.

Quint wasn't discouraged by the miss. He turned smoothly and followed up with another sword strike.

Unfortunately, Lister dodged again with a quick shuffle.

"Is dodging all you can do?"

Quint asked Lister with some disdain.

Though both sword strikes had missed, Quint merely thought Lister was a little slippery and only knew how to dodge.

He didn't think Lister was particularly strong, nor did he believe Lister could keep dodging forever.

Boos rang out from the spectators around the dueling arena. They all found the fight unsatisfying.

They rarely got to see such a vicious duel between nobles. Now that they had the chance, they had come to see both sides draw blood, not this fight without a single clash.

The many nobles in the lounge, by contrast, wore varying expressions.

Count Connor was standing beside Duke Will II.

After seeing Lister dodge twice with such ease, he immediately realized Lister was no weakling.

At the very least, he wasn't just an ordinary second-tier warrior as Connor had thought. His combat instincts were frighteningly sharp!

He had thought that, with the third-tier Quint fighting a second-tier professional like Lister, there was no doubt who would win. It was only a matter of time.

He had even considered how to intervene if Quint struck too ruthlessly.

Now it seemed he had thought about that a little too soon. This duel really wasn't the one-sided affair he had imagined.

Even the heads of the other professional families looked astonished when they saw Lister's nimble dodges.

It was hard to imagine that the sole heir raised by a declining family like the Merricks actually had some skill.

"I'd say Quint's chances in this duel are looking shaky!"

Count Connor said to Will II beside him, a smile on his face.

"You're celebrating too soon. The fight has only just begun, and our Will Family doesn't use swords!"

Will II's expression remained impassive, but his eyes were fixed intently on the dueling arena.

Although he didn't like his youngest son, the truth was that the boy's talent as a professional wasn't bad.

To have cultivated to this level at his age, his talent was among the best of Will II's children, second only to his second son's.

For this duel, Will II couldn't possibly have sent his eldest or second son, both in their forties and approaching fifty, to fight Lister.

The only one of suitable age and strength was this youngest son, whom he disliked.

He had thought they were merely facing the fallen Merick Family, and he had never heard that Lister had shown any great talent for cultivation as a child.

This had indeed come as something of a surprise. With his mere second-tier strength, Lister had actually kept Quint from securing victory for the moment, but Will II wasn't worried.

The Will Family excelled as shield warriors, whose main skills were defense and shield counters. Quint's swordsmanship was indeed a little weak, but shield defense and counterattacks were the family's true strengths!