Swordsmanship

Brando was spotted by the guards as he passed through the first-floor atrium, as he hadn't made any effort to conceal himself. After he killed three of them, the seven-man patrol scattered and fled, spreading the news of the intruder to every corner of the castle.

Pine Castle had thirty-two guards, most of whom were mercenaries. Their captain was a mercenary leader from Jandell, a skilled fighter with the strength of an intermediate Black Iron Swordsman and a capable mind for command.

As a result, Brando walked into an ambush when he entered the second-floor banquet hall, with eleven guards participating in the setup. The moment he pushed the door open, the hall, which he remembered being brightly lit, was met with a volley of arrows from archers hidden in the upper-floor corridor.

At such close range, the arrows arrived almost as soon as the bowstrings twanged. Brando only had time to raise his hand to protect his face, chest, and lower abdomen. The blue fluorescence of his protective gloves flashed slightly, pushing the most accurate arrows aside with an expanding wave of light. Of course, a few arrows still grazed his arms and thighs.

Brando gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly. Although for him, a physique of energy level 4 meant his muscles would automatically absorb most of the force, converting what would have been a serious injury into a minor one. What would have been flesh wounds became scrapes, and even lighter weapons couldn't break his skin.

Even so, the pain was no less.

However, under normal circumstances, if Brando had known there were many guards ambushing him in the second-floor corridor, he might have retreated immediately and taken a detour to the spiral staircase on the other side. While there would undoubtedly be guards near the inner spiral staircase, the terrain there would at least not be so treacherous.

But now, things were different.

He swung his sword diagonally upwards, and a transparent ripple spread across his blade, encompassing half the hall. With a loud crash, the candlesticks and utensils on the long dining tables in the hall were swept forward in the direction of the ripple. The chandeliers on the ceiling exploded with a bang, and the railings on the corridor snapped in half, sending the guards on them tumbling down, their heads and bodies separated.

White Raven Swordsmanship, Eluin's court swordsmanship, this secret technique was one of the few long-range skills a warrior-class profession could learn in the early to mid-game. At level 0, White Raven Swordsmanship's blade wind could travel five to six meters from the sword, doubling the attack's cross-sectional width. By level 25, this swordsmanship could attack enemies hundreds of meters away, making it almost comparable to a swordsman who had awakened their Element power.

And its cost was only 3 stamina from start to finish, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the enormous consumption of awakening Element power. This was why so many people had clamored for intermediate skills back then.

Brando's earth-shattering strike caused a moment of silence in the hall, until a piece of broken wood fell from the second floor with a soft crack, jolting everyone back to reality—

"Knight!"

"Temple Knight!"

"Martha above! Mr. Apuno, let's retreat!" the guards screamed, their will to resist broken, and they began to retreat.

The sword energy leaving the body was one of the basic skills of a warrior after awakening their Element. According to tradition, the Temple of Flames would grant formal knight titles to these individuals. To distinguish them from knights knighted by various kingdoms, they were also called Temple Knights.

At energy level 3, the Strength System was nothing in the face of a knight, let alone ordinary people like them. Unless they had enough numbers to exhaust the opponent's stamina, bringing more would be futile.

"What knight my ass—!" Captain Apuno grabbed the closest subordinate to him, cursing inwardly. That was definitely a court swordsman. Had they somehow gotten caught up in a court struggle? As a mercenary leader, he was quite knowledgeable, and he even knew what kind of close confidant the noble lord upstairs was. While being caught up in political struggles wasn't new to him, this was the first time he had seen a legendary court swordsman.

That was the highest level of court swordsmanship, one of the core powers wielded by the royal family. For a mere low-ranking Black Iron Swordsman to unleash such power made Apuno somewhat envious.

But as a mercenary, he remembered his duty. He looked around; most of the guards had already fled, and the remaining ones weren't brave or fearless of death – they were too terrified to move.

Brando's single sword strike had killed four people.

Apuno had no time to grieve. He stood up, made a gesture, and shouted, "Retreat! Retreat! Have the people by the spiral staircase fall back. We can't hold this floor; we'll go up to the next one."

The remaining guards finally came to their senses and retreated from the doors around them. Some were so terrified they dropped their bows and arrows, not even bothering to discard their armor.

Apuno felt a pang of despair watching this scene. "Damn it, these noble lords are so troublesome—" he cursed, then turned back, picked up his former subordinate from the ground, and slapped him twice, startling him out of his fear. Angrily, he said, "Go to the castle's barracks and sound the alarm, understand?"

"Sound the alarm, but His Grace the Duke said that's for warning the whole city?" the subordinate blinked in surprise.

"Nonsense! If the guest dies, we all go down, got it?"

The guard blinked and quickly nodded.

*********

It had to be said that the subordinate had a bit of cunning. Fearing that the opponent might have accomplices, he dared not take the inner spiral staircase. Instead, he climbed down alone using the kitchen's rope. Although it took a little longer, he felt it was definitely safer.

He knew Apuno was counting on the barracks on the other side of the castle, where a small squad of White Mane infantry was stationed to support the castle guards, including a squad leader, totaling seven men. Although they usually looked down on each other, they now hoped to meet the person quickly. But before the subordinate could reach them, he was horrified to find the bodies of two sentries in deep blue military uniforms lying in the center of the courtyard—the opponent had accomplices, he realized immediately.

The subordinate reacted quickly, turning back almost instantly.

But it was a little too late. Before that, a white light shot out from the second floor of the barracks, piercing through the subordinate's chest. The powerful force of the Magic Arrow carried the guard's body forward another seven or eight meters before stopping against a pine tree.

Sharr stood by the stone window, staring outside for a long time. After confirming that the man was dead and had no accomplices, he withdrew his gaze. He took out his pocket watch and looked at the rope of the hanging bell on the clock tower—there were still five minutes until the time Brando had agreed upon.

*********

Apuno had no idea that the person he sent to report had been killed, nor that the small squad of the White Mane Legion he was relying on had been wiped out. He was now hoping that the remaining men under his command could resist a little longer until reinforcements arrived.

They were guarding the staircase leading from the third floor to the second floor. Behind them were the guest rooms, and they had nowhere else to retreat. Although he usually looked down on them, he now envied the servants and laborers, who could find a place to hide tremblingly. But he, as the captain of the guards, could not.

If the Count he was protecting died under his watch, he would probably have to change his name and flee to the mountains to become a bandit.

The young swordsman soon appeared in his sight.

Brando estimated the time; there were still a few minutes left. However, he flicked the blood off his sword, thinking it should be enough. Yet, looking at the defensive line formed by more than a dozen guards ahead, he felt a bit strange—were these guys really that weak? He had expected a tough fight.

He could tell that the guard captain was at least an intermediate Black Iron Swordsman. Logically, the opponent should have had the advantage.

However, Brando had miscalculated one thing: the advantage of skills. He had naturally assumed that he would gain innate skills from his starting level and the first five levels thereafter, and that others would be the same. But Brando, accustomed to dealing with players, had forgotten that this was a privilege exclusive to players.

As for most of the guards here, before joining the mercenary army, they were mostly local militia members who had learned some crude swordsmanship. The rest had gained experience through actual combat. Like Apuno, he came from a military background and learned Eluin's Military Swordsmanship; he knew nothing else.

Of course, even if he understood this, he would not show any mercy. He knew what the guest he was protecting meant to these people, so neither side had much room to choose.

The guards drew their bows and unleashed a volley of arrows.

Brando raised his protective gloves and casually deflected the arrow shafts, but in reality, he only needed to block Apuno's arrow, as the arrows from others posed no threat to him.

"First squad, attack!" Seeing that the arrows were ineffective and the enemy was getting closer, Apuno had no choice but to push his men forward.

He organized seven men, who cursed him inwardly for being shameless, wondering why he didn't go first in this situation. However, they thought they were doomed, but as soon as they charged out, these men felt a blur pass by them.

They subconsciously turned their heads and were surprised to find that the god of slaughter had bypassed them and was now in front of their captain—

Apuno knew something was wrong the moment Brando's figure disappeared from his sight. He had fought Sun Knights before and knew that the kingdom's knights had a skill called Charge Skill, which could instantly increase their burst speed. He felt his scalp tingle, and countless combat experiences forced him to raise his sword and parry forward. With a clang and a shower of sparks, the two swords indeed clashed—

"As expected of an intermediate Black Iron strength."

Brando mused that the opponent's sword strike had come with almost no warning; in the game, this would have been the mark of a highly skilled swordsman. He recalled suffering a major setback around level twenty, precisely because of these NPCs who improved through actual combat.

But that was then, and this was now.

With a flicker of thought, Brando gave the opponent no chance to recover and pressed his attack. This time, it was a Power Burst. Apuno was so terrified he almost lost his mind. He couldn't help but wonder just who this young man was. Court swordsmanship, knightly techniques, and now a Berserker's Power Burst – was there any fairness left in the world?

Even with his vast experience, Apuno couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine. It was fortunate that he was so knowledgeable; anyone else would likely have died without even understanding why.

Apuno, who had intended to counter-attack, abandoned all such thoughts upon seeing this strike and immediately adopted his most defensive posture. After their swords clashed, both blades bent to their absolute limit, emitting a strained, teeth-grinding tremor. Brando was relatively fine, but the guard captain was forced to retreat seven steps, nearly falling onto his backside.

Logically, Apuno, with his Black Iron intermediate strength and an energy level of at least 9, should have utterly suppressed Brando. Yet, the situation was precisely the opposite.

This was the power of skills—

As Apuno retreated, the guards on either side seemed to snap out of their daze and rushed forward to flank Brando. But Brando casually swung his sword backward, sending a wind blade that severed a head from its shoulders.

Then, as he advanced, Apuno decisively threw down his sword and shouted, "I surrender!"

The moment he spoke, the alarm bells outside began to ring—

"If you surrender, drop your weapons and get out!"

Brando growled.

The guards, as if granted a great pardon, promptly dropped their weapons and fled. They had already been trembling with fear, and now that their captain had agreed to surrender, they had no will to fight left.