Rudy panicked for a moment, then suddenly blinked and looked at Allen's face. After hesitating for a while, he cautiously said,
"So you can't do it, right? That was a North God Style deception tactic."
The next instant, a pebble whirled through the air and shot past Rudy's cheek into the thick fog, vanishing without a trace.
Rudy blankly touched his cheek and looked at Allen, who had assumed a throwing stance and was now lowering his hand.
The stone had come from his left hand, the one that had not been holding a sword.
Seeing Rudy's stunned expression, Allen lowered the sword in his right hand as well and said cheerfully,
"I was just reminding you that if you ever encounter a North God Style swordsman, watch out for that move."
Rudy looked at Allen for a long moment, then sighed and rose from the ground.
"I lost."
"Continue."
Surprise flashed in Rudy's eyes, but Allen had already wiped the smile off his face and continued seriously.
"Think about it the other way around. If I didn't know throwing techniques, you would have completed your magic by now, right? So finish setting up. I want to see how far you can push me if I don't know throwing techniques."
Rudy's expression also turned solemn.
"Fine."
Allen moved his legs through the mud.
"Don't get discouraged. Give it everything you've got. You don't want me to beat you twice in the same match, do you?"
Rudy crouched down and continued releasing geothermal heat with both hands.
"Don't joke around, Allen. If I complete the fog magic, I—"
He raised his head, the corners of his mouth splitting into a grin.
"I'll win."
Not long after his words fell, Rudy's figure was swallowed by the rising fog. Before long, the mist grew thicker still, reducing visibility to five meters.
Allen silently watched the spot where Rudy's figure had been hidden by the dense fog.
Suddenly, a massive Rock Bullet tore through the fog and shot toward him! The wind it dragged along punched a hole through the mist, revealing Rudy's face. In that fleeting instant, the two met each other's eyes.
Allen was expressionless, while Rudy wore a faint smile.
The next moment, Allen drew his sword and slashed at the incoming Rock Bullet. A piercing screech rang out as the battle-qi-coated blade scraped against it. The Rock Bullet split in two and fell to either side of him.
When he looked back toward Rudy's position, the fog magic had already hidden Rudy again. But his instincts told him that Rudy had left his previous spot.
Using the sound of the Rock Bullet being cut to hide his footsteps, huh? The next attack won't be such a huge Rock Bullet. It'll probably be a blade-shaped attack spell that won't stir up the fog so much—likely an Ice Blade. If I cut the Ice Blade apart again, he'll use the noise to change positions once more. So I need to avoid the attack and use the moment the fog is disturbed to judge Rudy's position, then close in on him?
Allen tried taking two steps through the mud pit, and his speed was clearly affected.
...The resistance is greater than I expected. The geothermal heat has solidified part of the mud underneath. Without a foothold floating on the mud pit that can support my weight, it'll be hard to close this distance in an instant.
Allen lowered his eyelids, then closed his eyes.
He sighed inwardly.
In that case... it's back to the Water God Style I'm best at. Good thing Dragon Saint Battle Qi greatly enhances my five senses. Otherwise, Rudy might actually wear me down here. We may both be transmigrators, but I've got the Path of the Swordsman system, and I'm four years older. Even though he opened up a hundred meters of distance beforehand, I'd still be pretty unwilling to lose like this.
Three Ice Blades silently emerged from the fog at Allen's front-left. They flew toward him slowly, carefully avoiding any excessive disturbance to the mist. The fog churned faintly, vaguely revealing Rudy's face.
Allen did not open his eyes. The smiling face of a short old woman flashed through his mind.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to create a turtle-shell secret art that just takes a beating. It's quite fitting for the current situation.
The three Ice Blades had already reached the side of his right ear.
With his eyes closed, Allen lazily raised his sword. The blade flashed between the Ice Blades.
Amid a series of crisp cracks, the Ice Blades split neatly into six pieces. Yet strangely, instead of continuing forward as before, the shattered Ice Blades turned beside Allen's ear and dropped straight down into the mud pit.
As though their direction of flight had suddenly changed.
Allen's blade hovered at his side. "Looking" at the fading traces of magic on the Ice Blades in the mud pit, he smiled soundlessly.
The words Leta had said to him last year seemed to still echo in his ears.
"Drawing inspiration from Flow Arcana, one of the five great Water God Style secret arts, abandon the distraction of sensing distant information and focus all five senses entirely within the path of your blade. Capture every bit of information within one meter in front of you, allowing you to use a simplified version of Flow Arcana. Then, with the highest level of Flow Arcana you currently command, deflect the direction of all incoming physical and magical attacks as much as possible. Not bad. Interesting."
"The flaws? They're obvious. First, limited by the range of the simplified Flow Arcana, it's too passive. All you can do is cover your head and take the hits. Second, against a higher-level master, if their speed exceeds what you can sense, or if their attacks are too powerful for your Flow Arcana to deflect, then it becomes completely useless. Still, its merits outweigh its flaws. Keep it up, Allen. The moment you fully master it, you'll be a Water Saint."
"...Hm? You want this old one to name it? In the current, strike the water; remain as steady as a boulder. Call it Immovable Rock."
Allen opened his eyes, looked at the dense fog before him, and smiled silently.
Water God Style—Self-created Arcanum.
Immovable Rock.
The fog surged. As though realizing the Ice Blades lacked enough power, Rudy switched to a deliberately compressed Ice Lance. Yet the instant it approached Allen, it broke into several pieces and fell beneath him once again.
Rudy seemed to panic for an instant, then rapidly changed positions and fired several high-speed spinning Rock Bullets.
They still ended up being sliced apart and dropping into the mud pit.
Allen's gaze shifted, meeting Rudy's eyes as the fog briefly parted to reveal him. Rudy gritted his teeth before vanishing back into the thick mist.
Allen chuckled disdainfully.
"Didn't eat enough? Hit me with something bigger!"
Unaffected by Allen's provocation, Rudy fired three consecutive Rock Bullets that had been polished to even sharper points the moment Allen finished speaking.
The sword light twisted around Allen, and they were still cut into pieces that fell directly at his feet.
Allen glanced at the ground beneath him, his eyelashes trembling slightly.
Looks like he still hasn't noticed that he's nearly built up enough footing for me. I have somewhere to plant my feet now. Next, the instant Rudy casts magic again, I'll determine his position and use the Sword God Style to cut him down before he can disappear into the fog.
I can't keep taking hits forever.
Allen let out a breath, broke free from the Immovable Rock Secret Art, and then shouted,
"Rudy! I can see you!!"
The instant his voice fell, the fog directly to his left surged. The next moment, a massive Ice Lance shot out of the mist.
Allen moved.
He stepped onto a "high platform" less than five centimeters below the mud pit's surface. The sensation of being unable to exert force in the mud vanished instantly. Power traveled from his foot through his body, and Allen felt incomparably light.
At that moment, Rudy's face was about to disappear into the fog again, while the Ice Lance was already right before him.
Allen's gaze shifted. In that instant, the tip of the Ice Lance overlapped with Rudy's face in his pupils.
He smiled and moved his lips toward Rudy, who met his gaze with a trace of panic on his face.
The two were somewhat far apart, so Rudy did not hear Allen clearly. But he understood Allen's lip movements.
Allen had said,
"I see you."
The fog churned, sending out visible ripples.
Under Rudy's wide-eyed gaze, Allen stepped out from the ripples and calmly placed his blade one meter in front of him.
The sword tip still trembled and hummed.
"You lost."
As his words fell, the Ice Lance behind them snapped in two and dropped limply into the mud pit.
The fog flowed silkily across Rudy's stunned face, thickening like water.
Comprehended the core principle of the Sword God Style. Mastered the Soundless Katana. Sword God Style level increased: Sword God Style—Advanced.
Allen reached out to sheath his sword, only to discover that its edge had curled and he could not return it to the scabbard.
He fell silent for a moment, then asked inwardly.
What about the Water God Style?
Before you continue