244. To the desert (1)
“Haaa…”
My arms trembled.
When I looked up, the longsword had bounced off my hand and was rolling on the floor.
As I struggled to raise my head further, I found Trier standing upright.
It was Triae that felt like a mountain today.
“You seem to have the same skills? Didn’t you practice properly?”
“It’s strange that you’ve become so much stronger in just a few months…”
I thought I hadn’t been able to properly train because I returned early.
It seemed that he had reached a higher level before he knew it.
It was to the point where I felt a wall I could never get over.
The only thing that hurt my pride was that Tree didn’t show off any new skills or moves.
There’s no way I just came here with the basics, and I must have learned something new, but I had a desire to bring it out and show it off.
“This time, let’s mobilize everything, including the internal circuitry, to stick together.”
“Are you serious? This room won’t be left…”
“If that’s the case, you don’t have to worry. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the strength of the barrier.”
I immediately raised the sword in my left hand and pulled out the barfe with my right hand.
I took a stance with two longswords in each hand.
In the past, it was an awkward double swordsmanship, but now I’m quite used to it.
There are definitely some downsides, but now I know how to make better use of them.
“Haa… I don’t know if it collapses.”
Trie sighed and began stretching slowly.
I was already a little nervous at that appearance.
This time, I was thinking of using ‘Selection and Concentration’.
It was the first time I had used it in a PvP battle after strengthening the ability.
Leaving aside the issue of dealing with Schluss Heinkel from the parallel world…
“Are you ready? It’s hard to think of me as the same as before.”
From noble mtl dot com.
“The same goes for me.”
In no time, the training room was filled with loud noises as the internal circuitry turned.
Amidst the steam rising from each other’s bodies, there was only a quiet tension between us.
Trie gives a signal while closing her eyes.
As if in response, I quickly closed and opened my eyes once.
‘Selection and concentration. Used for 1 second each for strength, agility, strength, and stamina.’
Quang!
At that moment, Trier and my model broke through the speed of sound and headed towards each other.
The two blades flew at breakneck speed and collided.
A loud sound resounded as if it were going to explode, but both of them didn’t go through with a single crack like famous swords.
‘Caught.’
Tree was obviously fast.
It was much faster than before.
However, he couldn’t be faster than me, whose ‘selection and concentration’ was tripled.
While Trier’s speedy movement looked like a slow video, I immediately swung my right hand and aimed at Trier’s shoulder with the bar.
Trae tried to counter it somehow by spilling the blade in my left hand, but there was no way to deal with Triae, who was pushed back both in terms of speed and the number of swords.
It’s already over.
It was the moment when I had such an intuition.
“What?!”
Trie’s wrist turned and slightly twisted the blade.
Instead of letting my sword flow, I decided to receive all of that power vertically.
In that state, when Trier deliberately broke his balance, Trier’s body fell backwards while receiving my strength.
With that wind, the blue flash I swung was cutting through the air before I knew it.
Paak!
“Kuk!”
Trie’s toe spun at high speed and hit my chin hard.
Thanks to his strength stat soaring to over 300, his jawbone and teeth were shattered, but he couldn’t stop the blood vessels in his nose from bursting and his brain fluctuating rapidly.
When I gritted my teeth and barely looked forward in pain, as if my brain was dancing on its own, the tree flew far away before I knew it, and landed while taking a fall.
Trie’s sword bounced off and landed far away.
“Keuuu…”
I could feel warm liquid flowing from my nose.
In an instant, blood clogged both nostrils, interfering with breathing.
The headache and dizziness in his head, which had not yet recovered, remained, and Triae, who had taken a low posture as if lying on the floor, could be seen split in two.
‘Crazy······. Did I get a valid hit while overwhelming both power and speed?’
I tried to quickly figure out what had just happened.
Clearly, even up to the moment of the first clash, I was in a situation where I overpowered both strength and speed and used the advantages of the dual wield style to drive Trier to defeat.
However, when Trier suddenly departed from traditional swordsmanship, the situation began to change drastically.
Instead of letting go of my blade, which flew in first, I confronted them by raising my swords vertically, just like in a cartoon movie, swords facing each other in a power contest.
Thanks to that, my overwhelming strength attacked Trier with the momentum to knock him over, and Trier took advantage of that power and turned it into rotational force.
It ended up hitting my chin in an attempt to become my strength.
“Cool! Cool! Cool…”
I struggled to stand up again while wiping the bloody nose with my wrist, but all the confidence I had at the beginning had already disappeared.
I couldn’t neutralize Triae even after using ‘Selection and Concentration’ for 4 seconds.
Then, how miserably would they lose without ability?
A feeling of fear and helplessness took over my body before I knew it.
I was definitely afraid of the tree in front of me.
“My defeat.”
“Huh?”
At that moment, Trier stood up and raised both of his hands and declared.
I wondered if it was an instant deception, so my body stiffened with tension.
But the tension finally eased when Trier rubbed his shoulders and sat down on the spot.
“I lost my sword… And I don’t think I can use my left shoulder anymore… Master, have you not practiced only to train the internal circuit?”
“·······.”
Bonnie Trier’s shoulders were drooping down now.
It seems like that happened because my left arm took all the pressure on me while leaning the blade on my shoulder.
Besides that, I lost my sword… It was definitely my victory.
Although my physical condition was more serious.
I approached Trie and used a recovery magic with my poor skills.
It wasn’t a serious injury, so I was able to fully recover with my poor skills.
“It wasn’t a human move, just a shot. How did you do it?”
“How did you get that…”
“hehehe. I received some special training. I realized that traditional swordsmanship is not everything. Looking at it, I realized that there is too much power thrown away when giving and receiving sums. I learned how to use all of it against me. Rather, in the case of just now, Master’s power was so strong that I was able to avoid the sword of light and return the counter at the same time.”
“Ha. That’s ridiculous, really.”
I burst out laughing.
On the contrary, my strength was so strong that the counter worked hard.
I look like this even when dealing with Trier right now, but I was very excited to see what it would be like when dealing with Mine, a war machine.
Still, I was honestly pleased with Trier’s growth.
The traditional swordsmanship alone was enough to take down all the other high-ranking knights, but now that I’ve learned a strange skill, I wondered if it would be comparable to the Imperial First Sword.
I can only use this kind of power for 5 seconds a day, but it is possible to project it all day in the tree.
It was more than enough to entrust my escort to me.
“Trie. I’m going to the desert. Can you accompany me as my escort?”
“How long will you be away?”
“I’m guessing… About two weeks. At best, it won’t be more than a month.”
Of course, it was all my wishes.
Depending on how advanced the situation was, the time required varied greatly.
In the worst case, you could be held captive for over half a year.
“Hmm. What are we going to do?”
“I’m trying to unite the elves.”
“What is that for?”
Trier stuttered in surprise.
It made sense.
The Elves are now scattered in tribal units and do not show great power, but even before the advent of the Empire, they invaded the west whenever they had a chance and plundered, murdered, set fire to, and raped.
The Empire unified the humans and operated a strong standing army, and that disappeared, but the elves were still strong until then.
However, the situation changed drastically as the empire and the kingdom united and invaded the desert and occupied the largest oasis city in the name of reclaiming the sanctuary.
In the first place, the imperial army, which had no intention of regaining the sanctuary, began to fortify and harden as soon as it occupied the oasis, and the enraged elves began to harass their troops.
The Elves, who could not regain the city after consuming a huge amount of troops, had to sign an armistice by crying and eating mustard, and the land was incorporated into the Empire’s colony under the name of Desert Frontier.
A land where 80% of desert agriculture takes place, a land where all roads in the desert connect, and a gateway connecting the west and the desert.
As that important land became the territory of the empire, the elves had to pay huge tolls and customs to the empire.
In addition, food was held hostage and it was as if they were economically subordinated.
Duke Damian has been using this to set the elven tribes apart so that they can never unite again, and has been pursuing a policy of alienating each other so that they divide.
I intended to break that old tradition.
“If the desert is swept away by the forces of Asylum and Demons, the eastern front will open. If possible, the Elves should block it on their own.”
“Hmm. I get that. But if the elves unite, won’t they try to attack us first? Surely you’re going to comfort them by giving them a colony?”
“That’s not it.”
I couldn’t just give up an important colony that turned the elves into economic slaves.
In case you don’t know, you must protect the desert frontier.
That way you can keep the reins in your hands.
“So the secondary goal is to direct the anger of the elves towards Asylum and Mine.”
“How is that possible?”
“I’m going to work hard from now on.”
“·······.”
Trie’s expression went blank.
A specific plan has not been decided yet, but it was not possible.
With or without a plan, regardless of how likely it is to succeed, failure to achieve the goal will only lead to destruction.
If you only succeed in uniting the elves and don’t achieve the secondary goal, then the worst outcome will come.
You must succeed in both goals unconditionally.
“You’re not going to let me do the brain work, are you?”
“It can’t be.”
“Then I’m relieved… But it must be me or something?”
Trier pretended not to be interested, turned his head away, looked me in the eyes, and asked.
That was the look of Trier when he was already inclined to go, but wished I had made an earnest request.
She found it so cute that it made her laugh.
“Why are you laughing?”
“No. I have Fellain for anyone other than you to take, but…”
Trie’s body flinched and trembled.
Looking at me, it instantly changed into a futile expression.
“Feline is disqualified for various reasons. He has to lead the garrison guarding the imperial palace, and his skills are slightly inferior to you.”
“Hmm. Hmmm. I see.”
Trier’s expression began to relax again, and he began to hum.
It was really cute because I couldn’t do anything about acting.
“And felines don’t know when heat will come-“
“What did you say?”
“·······.”
I made a mistake.
I didn’t have to tell you the last thing.
When I glanced at Trier, he was pouring fierce glances at me.
“What did you mean-“
“It’s cold. Shall we go up now? The tea must have cooled down.”
“No. Tell me to the end. What was the Holy Knight Commander’s estrus period like?”
“·······.”
When I tried to go up, I saw Emilia standing at the entrance with her arms folded before I knew it.
She looked down at me with cold eyes.
At that moment, I froze on the spot with the feeling that my whole body was getting cold.