Chapter 28: Fight me for real this time ( 2 )

From Paul’s perspective

…

“Don’t rush through your life too fast, or it’ll end before you know it.”

A certain warrior had told me this advice a long time ago. Paul’d just rolled his eyes back then. Now, Paul can’t say this wasn’t his own fault for being lazy. He knew Rudeus was growing quickly. But he didn’t expect Laurel to be even more absurd than the both of them.

With duel daggers made of ice, Laurel dashed at him with The Sword God Style. Or at least, Paul had thought so. But no. He tosses both blades at Paul. Just as Paul was going to joke about how bad Laurel’s throw was, his boy had used an ice stick to thrust at Paul.

Obviously, Paul could dodge that clumsy attempt easily. But Paul was shocked. Utterly so. Because he had never taught Laurel that. But it was similar to a technique he knew. It was a clumsy imitation of the Hazy Cross technique from The North God Style. Was he picked up by a master when he had run away back then, or did he make it on a spur?

By the time Laurel pulled back in order to stab Paul once more, Paul had moved to the side and out of range, slashing away at the water bullets Laurel had shot out. With all his might, Paul immediately dashed at Laurel with a horizontal strike. That’s when it happened. The abnormality.

Paul had intended to use his speed to lure Laurel into thinking Paul was using his Sword God Style and strike with the Water God Style to knock Laurel out. But when he got into range, he was pulled forward.

It was as if someone had pushed him forward, and in front of him, Laurel had gone lower. Using his natural height to his advantage, Laurel lowered his stance near the floor, enough to dodge Paul’s horizontal strike. All while holding his sword upwards, aiming for Paul’s stomach.

If Paul didn’t do something, then Paul’s sword would miss Laurel, his body would have slammed into Laurel’s blade, and Paul would have been defeated. But Paul was an S-rank adventure. And an adventurer had their own tricks up their sleeves.

…

Laurel’s POV

…

I was completely stunned by Paul’s absurdity. The plan was to bait Paul into closing in. The clumsy Hazy Cross Throwing technique, created from his non-existent training, as well as the water balls, was merely a trap to lower Paul’s guard. All that to fool Paul into closing the range using Sword God Style. And as expected, Paul did exactly what I thought he would.

The moment Paul was in range, I pulled the telekinetic string immediately, forcing Paul to lose both his balance and his control over the distance. With that, I lowered my posture.

It didn’t matter how fast Paul was moving. Because from the start, I had fought with the assumption that Paul was physically stronger than him. Hence, the Hitting one's foot with their favourite axe strategy. To use Paul’s own speed and self-confidence to sneak a strike at him.

The plan had worked… at least up until the point where he was about to land the hit. At the last moment, Paul had twirled his fingers on the sword somehow and changed the direction of his swinging, turning a horizontal strike into a diagonal one, striking down at my head.

“How?”

I couldn’t move because of having too low of a stance. Clumsily, I swung my body to my right using telekinesis. I pushed my left hand backwards, trying to minimise the places Paul could strike with the standard rapier stance and aiming to thrust at Paul.

However, Paul had regained his balance when I gave up pulling him to preserve myself, and with a low grunt, he pushed his right leg forward and relied on his momentum to turn a whole circle.

[Wind Blast]

At this position, my blade had lost Paul when I kept pushing forward, while Paul was behind me at a 120-degree turn, his sword directly striking down at my temple. Since I knew I missed, I unhesitatingly used my left hand that was behind me to use wind to push me completely forward, escaping Paul’s range of the blade.

Using the flung momentum, I turned backwards while pointing my index finger in an attempt to shoot Paul. While it wastes mana to shoot range attacks, the fact is every dodge, deflect or strike Paul makes would waste his stamina. It was a one-on-one, so naturally I could waste reserves without worry, and along with my own stamina, I was confident that I would be able to tire him out sooner or later.

But I haven’t accounted for one thing. And that was Paul’s speed. Before I could aim at him properly, Paul was already striking at my face. I knew that there was a possibility that he was holding back, but I didn’t know it was to THAT extent.

[Rabbit hole]

…

Paul’s POV

…

The moment Laurel had missed, he fled immediately. Paul thought Rudeus was already a genius, but Laurel was in a completely whole different realm. That said, it wasn’t the best choice. If it was Paul, he would have chosen to stay within range to strike back. But then again, perhaps Laurel had assumed that he would lose in a clash and hence chose to open distance.

However, that was a foolish decision. Laurel would have won against anyone beneath intermediate. No. He would have won even against an average advanced swordsman. But giving his opponent time to attack like this was a mistake, because an advanced swordsman had techniques. For example, the Long Sword of Silence.

Paul stomped hard on the ground as he used the technique. It was an advanced technique of the Sword God Style, swung at a velocity beyond the speed of sound. At the moment Laurel managed to turn around, Paul was already on his head. The battle was already over. Or at least it should have been.

The floor suddenly bloated as dirt flew up, and right before Paul’s eyes, the floor ate Laurel.

“What the?”

Before Paul could understand what just happened, sudden earth spikes shot up, forcing Paul to dodge. As Paul backed away, he heard the sound of a young boy’s violently coughing.

“Cough, cough… Old man… What the heck was that speed?”

What? Did this kid blow wind to the ground to escape? Paul thought as the dirt-covered Laurel took stance. With one index finger pointing at him, while the other grasped a very long and thin sword made entirely of ice, Laurel stood tall, forcing Paul to stay at a distance.

During practice, Laurel had fought like he wasn’t afraid to get hit. Now Laurel fought conservatively. As in keeping Paul at a distance while cornering him. If Paul had gotten close, Laurel would thrust with that weird sword. If Paul were out of range, Laurel would shoot water balls at him. And on the off occasion where Paul managed to enter within range, Laurel would jump backwards while aiming that ridiculously long sword at him.

No matter how Paul was going to handle this, it was going to be either Paul’s defeat or him running out of stamina. Either way, Paul was going to lose. But Paul didn’t want to lose. Maybe one day, but not today. Not in front of the kids, not in front of his two wives, and especially not when Laurel hasn’t even reached ten yet.

In that case, Paul had no choice but to use his final triumph card. Paul lowered his stance and readied himself to pounce. It’s all or nothing now.