Chapter 167: [167] Fighting In The Dark

Ark immediately swung his sword in Soo-jin’s direction, only for the blade to whistle through plain air.

Thwack!

Soo-jin’s weapon slammed into his back, causing blunt pain to flare through his spine. Thankfully, she had used the blunt edge of the sword, if not, he would have been dripping dust.

’My defence is pretty high...!’ Ark thought. For her weapon to do that much damage, it meant the sword was a high grade weapon.

He immediately spun around and sliced through the air. He felt his sword cut through the breeze, but he did not give up.

He pushed the attack, unleashing several strikes, even as they cut through plain air. She had been in that direction, there was a chance she was just evading for now, if he kept going then he would finally—

"I should have this recorded for future reference." Soo-jin laughed, interrupting his thoughts.

Ark paused. Her voice had come from the other side of the room, which meant all this while, he had been attacking air.

’Damn.’ He must have looked like a fool

He turned around and sighed.

"About the guild?" Soo-jin asked in a lower tone. Save for her voice, he could hear nothing else, not even the sound of her footsteps.

Ark tried to focus on his ears, he tried to pick out even the lightest sounds. Nothing. Was he perhaps doing it wrong?

He already knew it was not as simple as just trying to hear better. When he learned the seeing eyes, it was more like a realisation, an awakening of sorts.

For now though, Ark needed to keep her talking. First he would try to figure out her location from the intensity of her voice, then he would try to listen to her footsteps, the sound of her arms as they moved, her breathing... and then the weapon.

"Yes. I did open a guild, a pretty great one actually. Are you not going to congratulate me?"

"..."

Silence.

"Why would I congratulate you?"

?!

Bang!

This time, Ark managed to swing his sword in time. Their weapons clashed with a deafening clang, unleashing sparks that fizzled into the air.

Of course Ark could not see them, all he could was feel the heat that erupted from the impact.

He reached out into the air to grab Soo-jin, he felt his hand brush past her hair...

He had been close, so close!

...Just before her tail exploded against his stomach, sending him flying in the other direction.

[Incoming Call from—]

Ark did not even read the notification before he canceled it and put the system on silent.

"Again? Really??" He had been hit that way twice now, he could not let it happen again.

He got up and raised his sword, then made a clicking sound with his teeth as he was once again overcome by overwhelming darkness.

"Does that mean my offer is off the table? I really put a lot of effort into creating a place for you in Fable."

Ark was sure she was pouting right now, probably staring at him with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

"Thank you for your efforts. But I’m sure you knew I would never join." Ark turned around, slowly.

He had learned to not use the sound of her voice to guess her direction. Soo-jin was manipulating it somehow.

There was a short moment of silence, as though Soo-jin was taunting him...

"True. I knew you would never join." She sighed. "But it hurts nonetheless, you know?"

’Why can’t I hear anything?!’ Ark hissed internally. He could hear a few sounds from outside the building, and yet when it came to Soo-jin he was blank—

"Here."

Right in front of him?! Ark immediately lashed out. But once again, like stabbing water, his sword slipped through the wind with ease.

’Shit!’

Thwack!

Soo-jin rammed her sword right into his skull, sending pain coursing through his head, and causing his senses to scream out at him.

"How are you so bad at this? You should be able to hear my footsteps at least." Soo-jin’s once again came from the very edge of the room.

"It’s easy for you to say!" Ark yelled, holding his aching head. "Your ears are as big as satellites, of course this was easy for you."

He could not see her, but Soo-jin pulled her ears down and stared at it, looking genuinely offended by his statement.

Sure, they were long, but were her ears that big? She sighed, then frowned slightly. "You’re doing it wrong. The Patient Ear is not a regular, human sense..."

"What do you mean?" Ark asked.

Soo-jin took a step forward, watching as he constantly twisted his head left and right trying to find her.

What he did not know was that the sword also allowed her to manipulate the wind, changing the direction of her voice.

Right now, she was standing behind him, barely inches apart, but to him, she was at the other side of the room.

Soo-jin smiled as she stared at the back of his shiny head. She raised her sword just above it, practicing how she would whack him next.

’Who knew training would be this much fun?’

"It is something awakeners can do." She explained. "Regular humans cannot do it, why do you think that is?"

Ark gave it a little thought. There were many differences between regular humans and players, but if there was one that stood out among them all, it had to be...

"Mana?"

Soo-jin nodded, then she remembered that he could not see her so she spoke instead. "Yes."

While all humans had some level of mana, it was too low to be useful in any way. But awakeners on the other hand had much more, which allows them to empower their body and use skills they learn through the help of the system.

Ark still had his guard up, but he was silent, most likely considering what she had just told him.

’Mana?’ He thought.

Just like how a regular human had blood vessels supplying every part of the body with the oxygen and nutrients it needed to function— the body of awakeners had additional vessels.

These vessels were called mana veins. They transported mana from the core of the individual, to every single part of the body...

The arms, the legs, the heart, the eyes and the ears. Or in his case, the eye sockets and ear canals—

Ark paused. ’Wait. Does that mean...’

Soo-jin’s sword hovered over Ark’s head. She wanted to attack, but... ’He looks so cute as he is thinking, do I really want to disturb his peace?’

’...’

’Yes!’

Soo-jin suddenly slashed, the blade coming down with enough force to split a coconut in half. Ark’s head would not cave, his defence was too high for that, which was what made this fun.

Swish!

But suddenly—

Clang!

Ark spun around, deflecting her sword so fast that she gasped in shock.

Soo-jin tried to recover from the attack, but Ark jabbed the pommel of his sword into the inner part of her arm, just before placing the tip of his sword right underneath her jaw.

Silence stretched on between them, and then Ark said with mirth in his tone:

"I heard you."

..

A/N

It’s a little too late to be saying this since it has been a while now, but I changed Cain’s name from Cain Lancelot to Cain Order. I wish I can say there was some grand, wonderful reason for this, but the truth was that...

I forgot his name.