Ed suddenly tensed his muscles, mimicking how Motley had clamped his lance, and secured Nuolun's rapier to his forearm.
He then twisted his arm sharply, trying to make Nuolun drop his weapon, but to no avail.
After turning a large angle, he realized that the longsword generated by Nuolun's Directed Alienation was not the hard sword like those of Duolin and the others, but a rapier as flexible as a willow branch.
At the same time, Nuolun made the already slender rapier even thinner, and then pulled it out of Ed's grasp with lightning speed.
Nuolun's hands moved incessantly, the tip of the rapier constantly tearing through the air under the effect of the whip tip, dazzling Ed.
Watching this scene, Ed suddenly recalled the fencing matches in his previous life that he had to slow down several times to see clearly.
I never expected to see such swordsmanship in this world... None of the Grand Knights are easy to deal with.
Faced with Nuolun's somewhat flashy moves, Ed kept blocking and dodging, while also pondering a question—
Based on their current performance, Nuolun has absolutely no chance of winning against Motley.
Her attacks and defenses were far inferior to that close-combat Master; although her swordsmanship was flashy enough, the damage she inflicted was not significant.
Her strength shouldn't be limited to this, Ed thought to himself, unless... these are all just feints!
Just as Ed realized what was happening, Nuolun had somehow Alienation another sword and slashed at him with a move completely different from his rapier.
It's done!
Nuolun's expression remained unchanged, but he was already certain of his victory.
A slash landed squarely on Ed's joint, severing his left hand instantly, which flew up with a spurt of blood.
A severed arm!
Very good. For those with strong vitality like the Tree Worship Church, losing an arm, while not causing immediate death or excessive blood loss, can add another significant debuff—physical Imbalance.
A person with only one arm cannot quickly adjust their center of gravity and maintain balance in close-quarters combat, and can easily fall into their own trap if they are not careful.
Now that he was somewhat confident, Grand Knight Nuolun clearly saw Ed's face at that moment.
However, the one-eyed enemy's face showed no fear, or rather, there was an element of "surprise" but no terror; instead, it seemed to look like... surprise?
Between the spurting blood, dark green filaments were growing rapidly, and the gushing blood quickly became a vine formed by several intertwined and twisted Boston Ivy tendrils.
Guided by the vine, Ed's left hand made a rather strange, sharp turn in the air like a yo-yo, finally returning to its wrist position with a "pop".
Ed smiled as he looked at Nuolun, who was now drenched in cold sweat, and gave him a thumbs-up with his left hand.
That's a good strategy, very innovative.
Ed's battle today was like a job entrance exam. He planned to figure out Nuolun's true strength before considering how to assign him tasks, so he seemed to be in complete control from beginning to end.
But Nuolun, who was being interviewed right in front of him, was in a much worse situation...
What... what kind of monster is this?
Is such incredible recovery ability really something that someone with only Middle Tier Low Level perception could achieve?
And what exactly is his symbiotic plant?
Are the armor that enhances skin defense and the Boston Ivy vines that reconnect severed limbs really the same plant?
If so, what kind of symbiotic plants can achieve this effect?
If not, how could he simultaneously establish a deep symbiotic relationship with two different plants?
It is an ironclad rule that members of the Tree Worship Church must abide by that there can only be one type of symbiotic plant. If two types of symbiotic plants are introduced rashly, the body's balance will be disrupted, leading to loss of control or death.
Countless questions flooded my mind.
Nuolun felt a chill run down his spine; the shadow of death loomed over him, and the cold sweat on his back was almost freezing.
But she was only shocked by the opponent's strength; she did not attempt to flee.
One doctrine that is always emphasized in orthodox Tree Worship Church is the definition of "degeneration".
The term "degeneration" is actually a broad concept; anything that goes against the doctrine can be called degeneration.
There are only two kinds of depravity: zero times and countless times.
Having thoughts of retreating is not considered depraved, but if you actually desert in the face of battle, even if you survive, it will be difficult to turn back.
Thinking of this, her violent heartbeat gradually calmed down, and the rapier in her right hand and the slightly shorter cleaver in her left hand stood on either side of her body.
She intently observed the enemy's every move, her body already in a defensive stance, ready to attack.
Meanwhile, the plain white robes Nuolun was wearing were gradually becoming bulky.
Seeing that his opponent had adopted a defensive stance, Ed flicked his right hand, and a sharp iron birch blade sprouted from it.
With his longsword held horizontally in front of him, Ed assumed a standard seminary starting stance.
These were combat techniques he learned from Duolin. While Duolin's personal talent and symbiotic plants were only average, he did have some talent in combat.
Many players learned a trick or two from him, and Ed also learned most of it while observing the activities of intelligent life (players).
Nuolun's expression froze for a moment. She recognized it as the standard starting stance of the theological seminary's swordsmanship, but she herself was unwilling to believe it.
It felt like a ruthless thug suddenly flashing his college diploma just before committing a crime—it was eerie, hard to explain in words...
But there was no time to think further; Ed's lightning-fast attack had already arrived.
Although his rudimentary fighting skills seemed like slow motion to Seraphina and posed little threat to Willow, he was already a formidable opponent to Nuolun.
The Grand Knight Commander, wielding two swords, was now struggling to defend himself, and was being relentlessly pursued by Ed was using only one sword to close the distance to the corner of the house.
It's not that Nuolun's fighting skills are lacking; it's just that Ed, that lynx, really only used a seminary-style opening move, and the rest were all modified sword techniques.
The soft, delicate Boston Ivy connected Ed's palm to his longsword, making his weapon usage more diverse and even Shadow a kind of swordsmanship.
After throwing the longsword like a dart and then retrieving it several times, Nuolun realized that the unorthodox swordsmanship of the person in front of him was truly difficult to describe in ordinary terms.
Recalling that perfectly standard starting stance, Nuolun's assessment of Ed changed from "an enemy who seemed to have received higher education" to "an enemy who seemed to have only audited that one lesson on starting stances."