Chapter 379: The Grand Puppet Theater [2]

Swoosh-!

Thud-!

Swoosh-!

Ryan kept cutting down the puppets, his flames flaring with each swing, but his eyes kept drifting toward Soren. The way he moved was mesmerizing to watch. He twisted the spear and coiled through the air like a living serpent, each move flowing into the next without pause.

’So that’s his new spear art,’ Ryan thought, a spark of admiration flashing through his mind. ’It looks fluid, but the underlying intent is vicious.’

Ryan knew a technique like that demanded complete mastery over one’s body and momentum. In the hands of an inexperienced fighter, those winding arcs would leave wide openings. But Soren, seasoned by countless life-or-death battles, was executing every twist, slash, and thrust with almost zero wasted motion, turning the deceptive maneuvers into a deadly net.

’...Should I try incorporating something similar into my style?’

The thought crossed Ryan’s mind for a split second before he shook his head and discarded it almost instantly. First, his weapon and affinities were fundamentally different. Second, Soren’s new technique relied on deception and continuous flow, while Ryan’s current style rested on decisive, single-strike efficiency. And finally, he knew that blindly copying someone else’s path would only hold him back from mastering his own strengths.

’Yeah, let’s focus on my own path...’

He tightened his grip on the sword’s handle and channeled his mana. The air around him grew hotter as the blade burst into a brilliant crimson blaze.

Ryan waited for five puppets to close in at once, their blades raised together. As soon as they entered his reach, he shifted his weight, pivoted sharply on his heel, and unleashed a fully powered Quick Slash.

A circular arc of flame exploded outward in one silent flash.

The blade passed through all five targets at once with zero resistance. The puppets froze mid-stride, their wooden bodies cut clean in half before the heat of his mana ignited their cores, bursting them into glowing embers that showered the carpet.

’Yeah, this is my style.’ Ryan nodded to himself.

Just like that, they kept advancing together, carving a path through the endless rows of seats. The puppets kept coming, wave after wave, but they moved in sync, covering each other’s blind spots and cutting down anything that came too close.

Most were weak, barely worth the effort, but a few stood out. One had blades for fingers that spun like saws, forcing Ryan to duck and weave before he found an opening. Another could stretch its limbs like rubber, attacking from unexpected angles until Soren froze it and shattered it into fragments of ice. Another had a porcelain face that cracked and reformed every time it was struck, making it hard to land a finishing blow until Ryan burned it to ash with a concentrated burst of flames.

But those were just the warm-up.

As they finished all the ’audience puppets’ and finally arrived at the stage, the curtains on either side drew back fully, revealing four figures standing in a line.

"You monsters!" The first one shouted, pointing a glowing sword at them. He looked like a hero straight out of a fairy tale, with signature golden hair and a righteous expression burning in his eyes. "To slaughter innocent people without mercy... In the name of justice, I will cut you down!"

The second figure stepped forward, a massive two-and-a-half-meter frame carrying a shield in one hand and a mace in the other. His voice boomed across the theater. "I will smash you both and bring justice to the fallen!"

The third figure floated high above the stage, clutching a staff. Their eyes burned with killing intent as they stared down at Soren and Ryan. "You... will pay for this."

As for the fourth figure, they had long disappeared from view. It was probably an assassin figure.

"So these are the Hero’s Party?" Ryan muttered, recalling what Soren had said on the way. They had to defeat these four to summon the boss and clear the Gate. "Should we take two each or battle together?"

"...Let’s just enjoy the fight," Soren said, a smile curling at his lips. "This is a good chance to test ourselves."

"I’ll fight the hero then," Ryan said.

Without another word, Ryan kicked off the stage floor and burst toward the blond swordsman. The knight raised his glowing blade to meet him, his face locked in a righteous snarl.

"For light and glory!" the hero shouted, bringing his sword down in a brilliant arc.

Ryan didn’t activate his flames immediately. He wanted to test his pure swordsmanship against an opponent built around blade techniques. He raised his sword and deflected the heavy strike with a precise parry.

Clang!

The sharp ring of steel echoed through the grand theater. Ryan absorbed the impact through his shoulders, pivoted swiftly, and sliced at the knight’s torso. But the hero construct moved fluidly, twisted his waist, stepped inside Ryan’s guard, and delivered a rapid thrust aimed straight at Ryan’s throat.

’He’s fast,’ Ryan realized, his eyes narrowing.

Swoosh-!

He raised his sword just in time to parry again, then swept it upward, throwing the hero off balance. Exploiting the brief opening, Ryan stepped forward and launched a piercing counterattack directly at the hero.

The hero reacted instantly, stomping his lead foot onto the stage floorboards.

"Radiant Vanguard!"

A sudden burst of blinding golden light erupted from his sword, forming an ethereal barrier of compressed mana that slammed into Ryan’s blade, pushed him back three paces, and seamlessly transitioned into a thrusting follow-up attack.

As the glowing tip of the hero’s sword lunged toward his chest, a sudden prickle of cold static raced down the back of Ryan’s neck. The soundless air behind him distorted, revealing twin daggers slipping toward his neck.

Swoosh-!

Ryan dropped his weight, letting the hero’s strike pass over his head as he twisted mid-air to slip between the two opponents. The hero’s sword thrust into empty space, clashing with the assassin’s daggers in a metallic screech.

Before either opponent could recover from the collision, Ryan planted his foot, using the momentum of his mid-air spin to drive his blade straight into the hero’s flank.

The edge caught the hero right beneath his armplate, cutting deep through the outer armor and releasing a shower of bright sparks. The heavy blow forced a muffled groan from the hero, making him stumble two steps sideways.

Ryan pulled his blade back for a follow-up, but the assassin had already moved to his right, slashing viciously across his ribs. He quickly shifted his stance and snapped his blade up in a swift, sharp arc to meet the incoming daggers.

Clang!

The collision pushed the assassin back a few steps, but Ryan couldn’t follow up with a counterattack as dozens of swords of light rained down on him.

’Shadow Steps!’

Ryan’s body instantly vanished into a blurred trail of speed. He wove between the falling swords of light, every blade of energy piercing empty floorboards right behind his heels. Before the light show faded, he executed a shadow blink, vanishing from the hero’s sight and reappearing directly behind him.

He didn’t give the swordsman a second to turn. His blade flashed in a blazing arc, the strike slicing cleanly through the hero’s neck. The head and torso crashed to the stage in a burst of embers and molten metal.

Without pausing to watch the hero crumble, he slammed his heel onto the floorboards.

Whoosh-!

A wave of vivid black fire erupted outward, sweeping across the entire stage. The spreading flames outlined a faint human silhouette creeping along the left prop wall, instantly forcing the assassin out of hiding.

’Shadow Steps!’

Ryan closed the distance and sent two crescent-shaped fire slashes flying toward the assassin. It reacted instantly, its silhouette flickering into nonexistence as it attempted to blink away through the shadows.

Ryan merely smiled. Having tracked its movements throughout the fight, he had already calculated the exact maximum range and timing of its short spatial jumps.

’There!’

Ryan pivoted toward a spot three meters to his left, drawing his blade back into his waistline. The moment the assassin reappeared in the air, his daggers mid-raise, Ryan unleashed his Quick Slash.

A single line of intense black heat split the air.

The assassin’s head separated from his shoulders, the clean cut holding for just a heartbeat before the entire figure dissolved into a harmless cloud of dark fog.

"..."

However, Ryan didn’t even pause. Reversing his grip on the hilt, he deftly jabbed the blade backward through the narrow gap between his arm and chest, thrusting it into the empty space behind him.

Pfft!

The tip sank deep into the real assassin who materialized behind him.

"Ah..."

A faint gasp escaped the assassin’s lips as black flames flared along the steel, burning it away from the inside out until nothing remained but fading cinders.

Ryan exhaled slowly and straightened up. He had wanted to test his pure swordsmanship, but in the end, he still ended up using a technique.

’Well, at least there’s still a boss.’

He then turned toward Soren, who had already brought down the mage and the tank. The mage was shattered into fragments of ice, while the tank was reduced to a headless sculpture of ice.

"Get ready," he muttered to Ryan, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. "We have company."