Side Story: Subduing the Enemy

However, he didn't have that much time to wait for his opponent to lose patience first. Normally, he would have had that patience, but now he had to immediately get away to help Lucina and the others.

It would definitely be too much of a stretch to let her face two Mages alone.

Through his maneuvers, he had dragged Clinton and his group's battlefield to a more distant location, while also pulling his opponents further away from Lucina and her companion.

If the group gets too close, there's bound to be some accidental injuries or disruptions, so he decided to divide the battlefield this way.

... I wonder if Clinton and his team managed to deal with that Copy...

Galan still had some worries in his heart.

Now he regrets it somewhat; he should have left the tough opponent to deal with himself.

Both of them were weaker than the other, and if something happened to them because of that Copy, he would still feel somewhat guilty.

But there's no going back now, so the best thing to do is trust them.

"Let's deal with this guy in front of us first."

He regained his composure and calmly assessed his opponent.

In the probing exchange just now, he had roughly figured out some of his opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

Although in terms of strength, the Copy's level is not much different from its own.

However, he is not at a speed advantage.

Perhaps I can use my speed advantage to wear down my opponent, and then find the right opportunity to finish them off in one fell swoop.

The idea had barely taken shape when his feet started moving.

Unlike his previous relaxed demeanor, Galan is now taking his work very seriously.

If you want to win this battle quickly, you absolutely cannot continue to bide your time.

We have to show some real skill.

The figure, moving with ghostly speed, teleported in front of the Copy in the blink of an eye; the clone seemed to have only just reacted.

Without hesitation, he swung his broadsword up from the lower left, intending to cleave him in two.

But the moment it swung its greatsword, Galan had already turned and moved to its side.

His eyes narrowed, and he transformed his palm into a fist, striking the Copy's head hard.

To his surprise, his opponent actually extended his broadsword from a blind spot and blocked his attack.

"It was actually able to react to my attack?"

Although it still seemed somewhat unbelievable, Galan was mentally prepared for the current situation.

After all, he had just noticed that although the other party was indeed slower than him, their reaction speed was no slower than that of the other Copy.

But being able to react and being able to block his attack are two completely different things.

Moreover, the fact that he managed to stop me from a blind spot shows he's no ordinary guy.

Galan did not retreat; he rotated his fist again.

With a series of swift and unpredictable steps, he turned and flashed to the other side of the Copy, then drew a short sword from under his robes.

The reason for not using a long sword is that it's too much trouble, but it doesn't mean we can't use a short sword.

This wasn't a punch; it wasn't something that could be easily parried like before. Without any hesitation, his short sword tore through the air, and just as it was about to strike the Copy's neck, the clone reacted once again, turning around to dodge the fatal blow and attempting to swing his sword at himself.

Having learned from its previous experience, it was within Galan's expectations that it would be able to dodge his attack this time.

However, he didn't want to leave empty-handed. Since he had made a move, he was determined to see some results. With a skillful twist of his wrist, Galan abandoned his initial target the moment the other party dodged and instead pointed the blade downwards, lowered his body, and plunged it into the Copy's groin.

After all, the other party wasn't a real person, so the damage I caused to it this time was very limited, but it wasn't a complete loss either.

After easily dodging its large blade, Galan once again distanced himself from it.

They entered into a standoff.

"... It's effective, but not much. If you really want a fatal blow without leaving any future trouble, you still have to remove its head directly."

Galan shook the short sword in his hand. He hadn't used it in a long time and felt a little rusty. He wasn't sure if he could swing it skillfully later.

He strode forward and launched another preemptive attack.

In this battle, he is the one in control and must steer the entire battle to his own pace.

After several encounters, he had basically understood why his opponent, who was not as fast as him, was able to catch his attacks with just his reaction time; it was relying on instinctive prediction.

It seems that the original of this Copy must also be a veteran with extremely rich combat experience, otherwise it would be impossible for it to have developed such terrifying muscle memory.

The fact that someone could block two of his attacks in a row solely through conditioned reflexes was the first such Galan had ever encountered, inevitably eliciting a sense of surprise.

But that was all. He could barely withstand his own attack; it didn't mean he could deal with his Copy. He leaped forward, lowered his stance, and swung his greatsword sideways, a powerful upward slash. The attack was fierce, with the force of a raging storm, the air crackling with each strike, demonstrating its immense power. Galan easily suppressed his opponent with his seemingly unrefined short sword, then quickly turned and caught the attack with his left hand.

Seizing the opening when the opponent lost momentum, he swiftly chopped down on their neck.

The Copy once again dodged the attack by instinct, turning its head to dodge the short sword that Galan swung. However, this reaction was exactly what Galan had expected.

Galan suddenly kicked out, catching Chen Qi off guard, and landed a kick on its head, sending its head flying back onto the blade. Then, "Crack!"

A crisp sound came from the Copy's neck. Although it didn't cleanly sever its head with a single sword stroke as Galan had expected, it still easily detached its head from the cracks that appeared inch by inch.

"I've gotten rusty..."

3

He shook his hand helplessly, not even glancing at the pool of Mana Particles on the ground. "It seems that in the year or so since arriving at this point in time, I've rarely practiced my old combat skills... Now, in actual combat, I've indeed regressed in many areas..."

Although it can't be entirely said that he was wasting his time on frivolous pursuits, he was still doing some serious things, either busy improving the Potion's effectiveness, cultivating his relationship with Lia, or familiarizing himself with new magic in his spare time.