Chapter 51: The Unexpected Counter

He knew how to use that power efficiently, making every movement count while forcing his opponent to waste energy responding to him.

I needed to change my approach.

If I continued fighting on his terms, I would eventually make a mistake that I couldn’t recover from.

I had to get past the reach of his weapon and force him into a position where he couldn’t use its length to his advantage.

That would be dangerous, since approaching a fighter with greater experience meant giving him more opportunities to exploit my mistakes, but staying at a distance was clearly working in his favor.

I tightened my grip on the Doom Axe and charged.

I kept the weapon close to my body as I approached, making it harder for Thors to predict the angle of my next strike.

He responded by thrusting the long axe toward my chest, aiming to stop my advance before I could enter the effective range of my weapon.

Rather than retreat, I knocked the shaft aside with the Doom Axe and stepped forward, forcing him to give ground.

For the first time in several exchanges, I had managed to close the distance without being immediately driven back.

"Stay!" I shouted as I brought the Doom Axe down in a powerful diagonal swing and activated [Thunder Cleave].

Mana rushed through the runes, and lightning gathered along the blade before bursting outward with the force of my attack.

The air crackled as the weapon descended toward the dwarf, threatening to tear through his defenses if he failed to move in time.

Thors twisted his body and narrowly avoided the blade.

The edge passed close enough to his side that I could see the movement of his clothing, but it failed to connect with his body.

The lightning discharged when the axe struck the ground, spreading across the surface in branching streaks of blue light.

Some of the current reached his boots, and his body jerked as the electricity travelled through the metal and into his legs.

There!

I didn’t waste the opportunity.

Before he could fully recover, I stepped forward and swung the Doom Axe toward his neck.

Thors managed to bring his weapon up in time, blocking the strike with the shaft before the blade could reach him.

The collision sent another shower of sparks into the air, but I continued pressing forward, refusing to give him enough room to regain control of the fight.

Persistent bastard.

I pulled the axe back and attacked again, this time aiming for the side of his head.

He barely managed to turn the blade aside, and the impact forced him to retreat another step.

His boots scraped against the ground as he adjusted his footing, while his expression grew more serious.

I grinned.

There you are.

I had finally begun to push him back.

My attacks weren’t landing cleanly, but they were forcing him to spend more effort defending himself. If I continued applying pressure, I might be able to overwhelm his defenses before he could find another opportunity to turn the fight around.

I wasn’t going to let him recover.

Activating [Lightning Step], I channelled a burst of lightning through my legs and surged forward.

The distance between us disappeared almost instantly, and I reached him before he could retreat far enough to regain the advantage of his weapon’s reach.

I raised the Doom Axe over my shoulder, pouring more mana into its runes until lightning coiled around the blade.

This time, I committed everything to the strike.

My muscles tightened as I prepared to bring the axe down, and the familiar sensation of power coursed through my body.

The blue runes shone brightly, casting a faint glow across the dwarf’s face.

For a brief moment, I believed I had finally found the opening I needed.

He had been forced backward, his footing was less stable than before, and I was close enough that he couldn’t easily escape the full reach of my attack.

Then his expression changed.

The amusement vanished from his face, replaced by a cold focus that made my instincts scream at me to be careful.

He planted his feet firmly on the ground and brought his long axe across his body, positioning it to intercept my descending strike. His movement was so precise that I immediately realized he wasn’t simply reacting out of desperation.

He had been waiting for this.

The Doom Axe collided with his weapon.

At the instant of contact, the runes engraved on his gauntlets flared with a dull, metallic glow.

I caught the change out of the corner of my eye, but before I could understand what was happening, the lightning surrounding my axe began to flicker.

The current weakened, breaking apart into scattered sparks.

The blue light running along the blade dimmed rapidly, and the power I had poured into the weapon seemed to disappear at the point where our weapons met.

Then the lightning vanished completely.

My eyes widened.

What?

I could still feel the mana within my body, but the lightning I had summoned was gone.

It hadn’t merely been redirected or dispersed by the impact.

The energy surrounding my weapon had collapsed so suddenly that I barely had time to register the change before Thors acted.

He twisted his long axe and knocked mine away from his body.

Without the force of my attack carrying me forward, I was unable to resist the movement.

The Doom Axe was pushed aside, leaving my chest exposed, and the dwarf immediately stepped in and drove his shoulder into me.

The impact sent me crashing onto my back.

Pain shot through my body as I struck the ground, knocking the air from my lungs for the second time in the fight.

Thors didn’t hesitate.

He raised his long axe and brought the blade down toward me, intending to finish the fight before I could recover.

I rolled to the side just as the weapon struck the ground beside me.

The blade smashed into the earth, scattering dirt and broken stone across the clearing.

I scrambled away, dragging the Doom Axe with me as I struggled to put some distance between us.

My shoulder protested the movement, but I ignored the pain and forced myself onto my feet.

Thors pulled his weapon free and stepped toward me, looking as composed as he had at the beginning of the fight.

He rested the long axe against his shoulder, seemingly in no hurry to attack again.

"I told you tricks wouldn’t work on me."

I backed away, keeping the Doom Axe raised between us.

My breathing had grown heavier, and I could feel the effects of the repeated impacts beginning to accumulate.

I wasn’t exhausted yet, but I couldn’t afford to keep trading blows with someone who could knock me off balance whenever he found an opening.

I tried to steady my breathing as I prepared to face him again, but my thoughts kept returning to what had happened when our weapons collided.

How...How did he do that?