Shadow Warrior

"So why did you come looking for me?"

"If you're only here to recover this blade, you can have it."

Although he knew there was no point in saying that,

because the organization would not spare anyone who broke its rules,

even retreating because of an enormous gap in strength

could lead to execution for deserting in battle.

"You should know very well what the consequences of your actions will be."

Oris drew his longsword.

His hand gripped the hilt, steady and strong.

Galan stood several heads taller than Oris, yet when he saw Oris walking toward him,

he felt a towering presence as imposing as a mountain.

He was strong.

Though dwarves did not live as long as elves,

they normally lived for two or three hundred years.

For Oris to have lived this long, he must have accumulated experience from countless life-and-death battles.

There was no telling how many people's blood stained his hands.

"Have you passed word of me along yet?"

"The truth is, I haven't had the chance."

He gazed at Galan with a distant look.

"Perhaps you'll just run away today. The Northern Countries are so vast, finding you again really wouldn't be easy."

After receiving a definite answer, Galan finally felt a weight lift from his heart.

He did not think Oris was lying to him,

because there was simply no need.

Oris had dared to come alone and had deliberately chosen to appear after Duncan left.

That meant he was confident enough to deal with Galan under these circumstances.

"...Galan..."

Lia's voice betrayed her unease.

She summoned her Staff into her hand and gripped it tightly.

Even though she could feel the killing intent radiating from Oris,

she showed no sign of backing down.

Galan did not turn to look at her.

He only patted her shoulder,

signaling to Lia that she did not need to be afraid.

"...Looks like you have a good companion."

The moment the words left his mouth,

the nostalgic expression on Oris's face vanished in a flash, and a boundless sharpness suddenly burst from his eyes.

He closed in swiftly,

his longsword slashing up at Galan from below in a bizarre motion.

Lia quickly retreated,

using [Flight Magic] to float into the air. She raised her Staff and tried to attack Oris,

but she could not lock on to that ghostlike figure at all.

Galan swiftly pushed off the ground with his left foot and dodged backward.

The edge of the longsword swept past his face, bearing down on him with tremendous wind pressure.

His coat billowed like a wave,

and the Alchemy Longsword hidden beneath it slashed out swiftly.

He used the flat of the blade to sweep up dust from the ground, obscuring Oris's vision.

Then he ripped off his coat and threw it over Oris's head.

Galan knew very well

that if he had counterattacked directly just now, Oris would have easily blocked it and left him completely on the defensive.

Oris's left hand had remained hidden at his waist the entire time, ready to strike.

Galan could not judge what it would do.

He could imagine it:

the moment he tried to counterattack,

Oris would seize his weapon outright and follow through by cutting off his head.

The coat had barely spread open in the air when Oris cleaved it in two with a single stroke.

The powerful wind pressure sent the severed coat drifting away,

blocking the view of Lia, who was trying to cast magic.

Having lost sight of him,

she saw Oris easily sidestep all the attack spells she cast.

He looked as relaxed as though he were doing morning exercises;

they caused him no trouble at all.

Galan's body was almost pressed flat against the ground, and from an extremely tricky angle,

he launched a surprise attack the instant Oris's vision was obscured.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal striking metal rang out across the clearing.

The long blade and longsword met head-on for the first time.

Even under these circumstances, Galan had failed to gain the slightest advantage.

Rather, the moment their weapons met, he had been forced onto the back foot.

Only then did Galan realize, to his shock,

that the dust he had stirred up had done nothing at all.

Oris had been fighting him with his eyes closed from beginning to end.

There was no such thing as a blind spot for him.

This battle-hardened dwarf warrior relied entirely on his keen instincts and experience in combat.

He swung his sword freely, roaring,

as though longing for a fight against an evenly matched opponent.

A stage where he could fight to his heart's content!

The left fist held at his waist suddenly shot out,

carrying an air of supremacy over all under heaven.

The instant their blades clashed, he opened his eyes and seized an opening in Galan's swing,

driving his fist viciously toward Galan's heart.

Galan leaped backward, but it was already too late.

The immense force of the punch was already upon him.

He pulled back his long blade and held it over his heart, taking the punch head-on.

At once, he felt as though he had been hit by a heavy truck.

A terrible sound came from his breastbone.

The tremendous impact nearly stopped his heart.

If his long blade had not blocked part of the force,

that punch would have killed him on the spot.

Several beams of light descended from the sky, forcing Oris, who was trying to advance and kill his opponent, to retreat again and again.

He sensed a trace of threat from those attack spells.

His opponent showed no concern whatsoever for her mana consumption.

Every attack released an enormous amount of mana.

If any of them touched him, she would surely injure him—

even though his terrifying physique could withstand crossbow bolts.

"Cough..."

The rapid gasping gradually subsided.

Galan staggered back more than ten steps and spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto the ground.

He steadied himself again.

In that moment between life and death, he felt every cell in his body had been fully roused.

The path of every wisp of wind and the slightest disturbance in the space around him

were all clear to his senses.

His heavy footsteps landed firmly on the ground, leaving deep prints one after another.

Galan did not lose his fighting spirit because of the sorry state he had just been in.

Instead, he took the initiative and attacked, approaching Oris with a seemingly foolish, slow gait.

He raised his long blade

and brought it down in the most straightforward manner.

Yet the solid force behind the blow shook even Oris and made him involuntarily step back twice.

Galan did not stop moving.

He brought the long blade down in the same posture, but from a different angle,

each strike stronger than the last.

[Sanzu River Style]

This was a sword technique he had grasped in battle over the past few days.

It was also the most destructive attack he could currently unleash in a head-on clash of blades.

His opponent this time was a top-tier warrior far beyond Glenn.

He could not afford to hold back.

Or rather, only by going all in from the start could he seize that slim chance of victory.

The continuous slashes left no gaps, forcing Oris to concentrate on meeting them.

But Lia seized upon that momentary lapse.

[Attack Magic] streaked through the air like lightning and struck his back, leaving a deep wound.

But what she had not expected

was for Oris to take the blow without a sound. Then, as though some switch had been flipped, a powerful Fighting Spirit suddenly burst from his body.

He forcibly knocked Galan away, interrupting his assault.

Then he suddenly stepped forward, drove his left fist into Galan's shoulder, and seized his wrist in the same motion, trying to take the long blade.