Chapter 34: Crack

’He’s not even trying to fight back properly.’ Seeing this, Leon couldn’t quite understand the tactic his opponent was getting at.

The boy was keeping his summon moving, using its armor to absorb the Swordsman’s attacks while avoiding a direct exchange.

While it looked like it was a sensible approach, since the Ironback Boar’s body was built to take punishment, and every charge forced the Swordsman to respond, still, Leon’s summon had a clear advantage in technique, and as with his recent discovery, shocking strength and defence of its own.

The Swordsman dodged another charge and struck the boar’s shoulder with a precise hit. Its blade slid between two armored plates, drawing a sharp cry from the beast.

The crowd cheered, and Leon relaxed slightly.

’Good. Keep wearing it down.’ Leon thought to himself, but then caught something.

Just then, it looked like it had been charging something, and at that moment, the boar’s body began to glow with that same dark red energy, this time it spread across its armored plates, gathering around its shoulders and tusks.

Leon narrowed his eyes.

’There it is.’

The boar charged again.

This time, the Swordsman didn’t simply step aside, it raised its blade and prepared to intercept the attack.

The two collided, the impact sending a shockwave across the arena, and the Swordsman’s feet slid backward several steps.

Leon’s eyes narrowed, ’must be that red energy, did it boost it’s strength?’ he wondered.

The boar pushed forward even more and pushed the skeleton backwards even more, its tusks scraping against its armor.

The Swordsman twisted its body and redirected the beast’s head, preventing the tusks from reaching its torso. Even so, the force behind the charge was enough to drive it several more feet across the arena.

The boar finally stumbled past but regained its footing and turned towards the skeleton. This time, the energy around it had not desipated, but remained.

The boy grinned. "That’s right! Keep attacking!"

The boar turned and charged again.

Leon watched its movements. ’Its armor is tough, and that energy makes it stronger. But it still has to run straight at us.’

"Move aside and attack its legs!"

The Swordsman followed the command.

It evaded the charge and struck at the boar’s front leg. The blade found a gap between the plates, and the beast stumbled.

Leon saw the opening.

’Good. Now—’

"Don’t stop!" the opponent shouted. "Keep charging!"

The boar forced itself forward despite the injury, its body glowing brighter.

The Swordsman tried to move out of the way, but the boar’s sudden burst of speed caught it off guard.

The tusks struck its side, creating a loud impact that echoed through the arena.

The Swordsman was thrown backward, its armored body skidding across the floor before it stopped on its side, sword digging into the ground a little as it had used it as leverage.

The Swordsman rose almost immediately, but the damage was obvious. One side of its armor had been badly dented, not that it did much to an undead skeleton anyway.

Regardless, the attack that finally landed caused Leon’s opponent to smile, and even after the skeleton was up, he was still smiling.

"That’s what I wanted!"

Leon looked at him.

The boy had deliberately allowed the skeleton to land its earlier attacks. He’d been using the boar’s armor to buy time, waiting until its energy had built up enough to overwhelm the undead’s defenses.

It wasn’t a bad plan, and Leon gave him credit, he had walked right into it.

’Fine. Let’s change things.’

"Avoid taking damage. Take that beast down." He said. ’Perhaps, this might be my real advantage with this summon.’

The skeleton moved away from the boar, forcing it to chase.

The beast charged again, but this time, the skeleton didn’t try to intercept it. It dodged at the last moment, allowing the boar to rush past before striking its hind leg.

The boar stumbled, and without letting up, the skeleton immediately followed up, its blade flashing toward the same injured leg.

The opponent’s expression tightened.

"Turn around! Protect your back!"

The boar twisted, swinging its tusks in a wide arc, but the skeleton stepped away on time, avoiding the attack by a narrow margin.

Leon clicked his tongue. ’He’s reacting quickly.’

The fight continued.

The skeleton seemed to have tried to use the boar’s poor turning speed against it, forcing it to change directions before striking its weaker points, and every clean hit brought the boar closer to defeat. But the opponent kept adjusting.

He stopped allowing the Swordsman to attack the same area more than once, using the boar’s body to shield its injured legs.

It was clear that the Swordsman was better at fighting, but Leon’s opponent had prepared a way to make that advantage harder to use, and with the red energy still surrounding it’s body, the Swordsman could not overpower it with pure physical strength.

’So what now?’ Leon thought to himsef.

He watched another exchange.

And another... and yet another.

There was no real progress it appeared. The Swordsman already covered all angles, but the beast’s defence was just good enough to sustain it.

The beast charged again, the glow around it intensifying for a brief moment as it charged, changing its momentum mid charge to catch the Swordsman offguard. The Swordsman marginally avoided its tusks, but its damaged armor caught the edge of the attack, causing it to stagger.

Once again, the glow around the beast’s body intensified for a second, and the boar charged again.

Leon opened his mouth.

"Move—" but he stopped, the boar was already too close.

The Swordsman tried to block with its sword, but before it could shield itself fully, the boar struck it. The impact sent it crashing onto the arena floor.

For a moment, Leon couldn’t hear anything over the noise of the crowd.

Then he saw the boar turning toward his summon.

The beast lowered its head, and intensely, the red energy gathered around its tusks.

’Get up.’ Leon commanded, and to the joy of he who summons undead, his summons weren’t affected by pain or sensations, the Swordsman pushed itself off the ground as though nothing had happened. As long as there was no serious damage, this was an opponent that had no concept of pain or strain.