Chapter 52 Chapter 52 is released.
"Audacious usurper—"
The cold gauntlet pressed against her skin, and the torn sleeve slipped down, revealing a snow-white forearm with scratches.
He tightened his fingers slightly, the cold metal pressing into the flesh, rubbing the tiny bloodstains.
Su Cheng hummed softly.
They stood face to face, the huge size difference completely overshadowing her. Before her was a breastplate with exquisite reliefs, and the seal chain hanging from the cloak almost touched her hair.
She tried to pull her hand back, thinking that she might not be able to do it, but unexpectedly, the man's arm was pulled towards her, and his upper body leaned forward slightly.
Su Cheng: “?”
How come I have so much strength?
The fighting spirit in her body seemed to have been drained away. She had thought that this illusion had some kind of rules, similar to fighting with only physical strength.
Judging from their physiques, one punch from the other party could knock her so hard that she couldn't get up.
But it doesn't seem to be the case?
Now it seems that their power levels are at the same level.
"Is this your choice?"
The silver-haired man sneered.
The big hand that was restraining her wrist flipped over, and Su Cheng's arm was twisted backwards. She was forced to turn half a circle, and the back of her head hit his breastplate.
Su Cheng was seeing stars, but at least he was still conscious. He immediately raised his elbow and pushed back.
The man's right hand was still holding her wrist, but his left hand had already slid down to her waist. He lifted it up seemingly casually and spun around.
The world in her eyes turned upside down. She was thrown to the ground by someone over her shoulder. Just as she was about to get up, someone stepped on her knee.
Su Cheng bent his other leg and tried to twist his ankle.
The silver-haired man turned his ankle imperceptibly, and the sole of his boot crushed the tendon behind his knee.
He didn't move any further, letting her legs wrap around him like vines. The moment they touched his ankles, his knees bent down gracefully like breaking branches.
The knee pads dug into the indentation of her coccyx, pinning her firmly to the ground.
Su Cheng took a breath and felt like he was being crushed into a pancake.
Su Cheng: “…”
If the other person was really a person, or some kind of creature, then she had offended him and deserved to be beaten.
But what is his situation?
"Sword!" she cried quickly. "I want the sword!"
The silver-haired man stood up silently, the hem of his battle robe spinning in the air, and took two steps back, allowing her to stumble and fall towards the weapons rack.
He slowly drew the rapier from his waist.
The movement was quite beautiful, with a leisurely elegance, yet it also implied a sense of oppression that made it difficult to breathe.
Su Cheng took a breath, and without taking the time to admire it, he quickly looked at the weapon rack.
His eyes swept over the many long and short swords, hammers and axes, and landed on a heavy sword.
The sword was nearly as tall as a person and only slightly shorter than her body. The blade was very wide, with black and silver alternating on the blade surface, and dark gray patterns flowing like water waves.
Su Cheng picked up the sword with one hand.
——In this illusion, her power seemed to be elevated to a rather exaggerated level.
Now I can't even feel the weight of the weapon.
The silver-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly, and the slender sword turned lightly at his fingertips, with a cold light like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue.
Su Cheng compared and found that his weapon was much longer than the other party's, and there was no power limit, so he would not get tired after swinging it twice.
She gritted her teeth and launched the attack first.
The sword cut through the air with a strange buzzing sound, and fell down fiercely from top to bottom.
The silver-haired man leaned slightly to the side, thrust his sword lightly, and the tip of the sword hit the front end of the heavy sword accurately.
At the moment of metal collision, Su Cheng felt a shock in his palm, and the trajectory of the heavy sword was actually deviated by half an inch by this slight touch.
She quickly adjusted the angle with her backhand and swept out with the heavy sword, creating a strong wind. The silver-haired man took a half step back and dodged it accurately.
Then, before she could stop, he moved forward again and thrust his sword into the spine of her sword like lightning.
Su Cheng only felt the long blade in his hand vibrating violently and he almost lost his grip.
She tried to steady her weapon, but the man in front of her was rapidly approaching and stabbed her between the eyebrows with a sword.
——Even though she knew this was an illusion and this body was most likely not real, she was still instinctively frightened by this action.
Su Cheng leaned back, and the silver-haired man raised his leg, hooked the tip of his boot around her ankle and pushed her back.
At the same time, it wrapped around the guard of the heavy sword, the metal wings interlaced and buckled, and then it was gently pulled.
Su Cheng lost his balance and staggered forward.
He struck her on the back of the neck with the hilt of his sword and let her fall to his feet.
The girl's black curly hair spread out, brushing against the cold iron armor of her boots.
“…It’s unbearable to watch.”
The silver-haired man made a sword flower and walked half a circle around her. "I thought your courage to challenge came from your strength—"
Su Cheng gritted his teeth, pretended to be annoyed, and suddenly picked up the heavy sword and slashed at his ankle.
He dodged it easily and was about to take the opportunity to draw his sword, but she had already stopped her movement, turned the sword, and hit his knee horizontally.
The tip of the sword that had originally stabbed her wrist hit the blade of the heavy sword.
Su Cheng drew his heavy sword to block it, then climbed up and changed his posture to holding the sword with both hands.
The silver-haired man did not speak, but his blue-green eyes were still full of arrogance and sarcasm.
His rapier seemed alive, like a poisonous snake slithering through the woods, deftly bypassing her defenses and rapidly striking her shoulders, wrists, and knees.
Each contact did not leave any serious injuries, not even to the bones, only narrow wounds oozing blood.
Su Cheng staggered. Due to the accumulated injuries, his arm became more and more painful, and every time he exerted force, he pulled on the wound.
A cold light flashed from the corner of his eyes, and the severed hair flew in the air.
“…poorly done.”
The silver-haired man commented coldly, tapping her wrist lightly with the blade of his sword.
Su Cheng felt his hands were numb and sore, and he almost let go of the heavy sword and hit his feet. "...I'm a newbie!"
The tip of the sword stopped at her throat, then slowly moved up along the line of her neck until it rested against her jaw.
"Oh," the silver-haired man said coldly, "then admit defeat."
Su Cheng suddenly stepped back, and using the distance he had barely created, he swung his heavy sword diagonally from bottom to top, slashing towards his wrist.
The man stood still, raised his wrist, and accurately pierced the tip of the sword into the gap of the heavy sword's guard, twisting and picking!
The heavy sword flew out of his hand and hit the edge of the duel arena.
Su Cheng stumbled to the side and bumped into the weapon rack, causing the weapons to scatter to the ground.
She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, but her fingers accidentally touched another weapon.
A slender and gorgeous rapier, as silver as frost, with a wing-shaped guard.
Su Cheng: “…”
She grabbed the rapier. The hilt was cold and ridiculously light. It felt like it didn't exist in her hand.
This terrible fight lasted for quite a while. She could not remember anything else, but she could remember the movement of his sword.
The angle of the wrist, the distance of the steps, the trajectory of the sword tip—
Su Cheng imitated the move by raising his arm and thrusting out with his sword.
Lightness, precision, and no wasted power.
The tip of the sword rapidly approaches the opponent.
When he was about to be blocked, he retreated like lightning and just managed to knock away another rapier.
Su Cheng: “?!”
Su Cheng: "Did I block you? Did I block you?!"
This is different from using the heavy sword before!
Moreover, she was imitating the other person's movements and responded intuitively at the critical moment.
The silver-haired man frowned at her and swung his sword again.
She tried to block it hastily, but missed, and her entire sleeve was torn open. Blood spread from her wrist to her elbow, dripping onto the ground.
"Impulsive," he glanced at her, "you don't—"
The silver-haired man paused and suddenly stopped talking.
The black-haired girl imitated his posture, holding the rapier in one hand and slightly turning sideways towards him, looking quite imposing.
Her arms, chest and abdomen were almost covered with sword wounds, and there was not an inch of intact skin to be found at a glance.
Even so——
Those amber eyes were still sparkling, without any resentment or anger, but full of anticipation.
"I've improved, haven't I?"
She asked cheerfully, ignoring his accusations.
Then he showed a little confusion, "Wait, are you human? Uh, I mean, you should be someone's left behind-"
The silver-haired man swung his sword again.
The two sharp blades collided in the air, creating a dazzling spark, and it was like two silver snakes entwined and biting each other.
The silver light shone like ripples, swirling and dancing in the air, cutting into pieces the blood-red moon.
Every time she managed to block a sword, he would immediately point out the flaw with another sword.
"wrist."
"pace."
His sword swept across like a feather, leaving scars that were neither light nor heavy, and would not affect her movements.
And - as time went by, Su Cheng found that the wounds disappeared.
The feeling of fatigue is gone.
This illusion seems to have some kind of mechanism that will restore people to their peak state once a certain period of time has passed.
She herself didn't know how much time had passed.
In short, my mind was full of sword moves, how to draw the sword, block, dodge -
Su Cheng no longer had the mind to think about anything else, such as whether the other party was a human or a ghost, or whether he could still enter the city.
She just threw herself into the fight.
And you have to invest.
Because the interval for resetting the body in the illusion is quite long, once she is distracted, the injuries left by that person will be very serious.
She could only force herself to concentrate and keep up with the other party's rhythm, not daring to relax at all.
Because she wouldn't really get tired and could continue doing this indefinitely, she gradually developed some muscle memory.
"……reluctantly."
The silver-haired man sheathed his sword and stepped back, looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Anyway," Su Cheng took a breath, "thank you anyway, um, Mr. Montagne...?"
She discovered that the eagle carving on the other party's armor was exactly the same as the emblem on the city gate, so it was very likely that he was a member of that family.
The silver-haired man nodded coldly, "Yes, Your Excellency."
After saying that, he turned and left.
The entire duel arena was shrouded in black fog. Su Cheng's eyes went dark, and when he woke up, he found himself sitting on the street.
This is a long, gray street filled with floating smoke and dust. It is dim everywhere and the air seems to be frozen.
The surrounding buildings were all collapsed or mostly burned down, and dust was suspended in the air, as if frozen by some force.
She looked around and saw the outline of the temple building in the distance, more bell towers, and the dusty windows of shops.
——Come in!
This is the interior of Miseros!
At the end of this long street is the collapsed city wall, and corpses pierced by spears can be seen on the top of the wall.
Su Cheng blinked and found that his fighting spirit had returned.
She looked down at her hands and found no scars, and her tattered clothes were still intact.
Although there was some damage, it was the result of being beaten by the bronze eagle, not left behind by the sword fight.
It seems that the previous illusion was completely fake.
Perhaps it may only happen in the spiritual world.
At the corner of the street ahead, there was a shabby tavern with a wooden sign broken in two and lying on the ground. A figure was kneeling at the door of the store.
Looking at its posture, it seems like it is holding something, but its hands are empty.
Su Cheng took a closer look and found that it was actually a ghost!
It was the first time she saw a disembodied soul.
It looks silver-gray and translucent, and you can still see the outline of a human body.
She bravely walked over, avoiding a small, broken wooden board with the words "stewed lamb and glutinous rice cakes" written on it, the price figures at the back being blurred.
The dead soul was still kneeling on the ground, looking up at the sky, and seemed to be speaking confidently.
Su Cheng suddenly realized that he was actually praying.
She moved closer and heard the words he murmured.
"O immortal Ageless One, please grant protection to your devout believers and punish these blasphemous villains—"
Su Cheng observed carefully and found that there was a crack in the body of the undead, which was torn from the left shoulder and ran diagonally to the right side of the waist and abdomen.
His entire upper body was split in two.
Now it seems to be pieced together again, with only the faint crack vaguely revealing what happened in the past.
Su Cheng was not sure what would happen and did not dare to get any closer, so he kept his distance and continued walking forward.
The entire street was covered in smoke and dust, and everything was gray, as if a fire had once broken out, and everything was covered with a layer of dark veil-like haze.
She was walking along the dead silent road when she suddenly saw a ghost.
It fell face down and lay at the intersection in front, its body cut in half, with a clear cut at the waist.
The ghost seemed to want to crawl forward, with a mottled and worn hardcover notebook in his hand.
Su Cheng picked up the notebook and found that it was full of trivial information and all kinds of trivial matters.
But there are also some special things.
"The Grand Master sent by the High Court is said to be here to recuperate. They say he was cursed by an evil god and his strength is only one tenth of what it once was."
"Some say his last name is Montagne? Isn't that Lord Miseros's last name?"
"...I just learned that this place was originally his territory. His ancestors have ruled Miseros for generations. Oh my god, I didn't expect such a great nobleman to..."
"Today I met the Grand Master. He has silver hair and blue eyes, a majestic figure, and a face as handsome as a god, but his words are like the sharpest swords. But he is damn strong, so strong that it is impossible to feel jealous. I remembered those rumors. I dare not ask if he is really cursed. I can't imagine how powerful he should be if the curse is true—"
Su Cheng continued to flip through the pages, skipping over all the family gossip.
"Today during training, he walked past me and knocked my weapon away. He stood there and sneered, saying, 'That's a sword, not a sewing needle.' I was upset. My parents are both tailors, and I know how to hold a needle better than anyone else, at least not in this way. I talked back and asked him how to do it, but I regretted it the moment I said it. I thought he might beat me to death, but then—he actually taught me."
"Unbelievable! He is the Grand Mentor of the Black Knights, the only one in the entire church to hold this title. It is said that he has been blessed by His Majesty himself. Now, only the legion commanders and ambassadors are qualified to listen to his teachings. I am just a member of the patrol team..."
“Unbelievable! He’s the best teacher! He only said a few words, and I beat Lila, who beat me just yesterday…”
The words on the back were stained with blood.
Su Cheng slowly put the notes back and looked at the ghost lying on the ground.
There were several weapons scattered around the ghost. She bent down and picked up one of the rapiers, carefully examining the carved guard and the dried blood on the blade.
Su Cheng casually made a sword flower, weighed it, and found that it was still heavier than it felt in the illusion.
...Probably because the power index has decreased now.
She thrust her sword forward casually.
Amidst the sharp sound of breaking through the air, a faint flash of black fire appeared on the sharp blade, followed by a burst of sword energy.
A damaged low wall in front was immediately pierced through.
Su Cheng: “?”
Su Cheng: “???”
That’s right.
Now it’s different from the illusion, she has fighting spirit.
However, the ability to attach fighting spirit to weapons and release energy are beyond the power of a first-level warrior.
Su Cheng looked at his hands in shock.
She didn't have much fighting spirit, and she had used up a lot of it in just one go. If she did it a few more times, it would probably be gone.
but--
"Isn't this right?"
She said in disbelief, "Normally, I need to accumulate enough fighting spirit and strengthen my physical fitness to a certain level before I can do this..."
"That's just 'normally speaking'."
The vampire's lazy voice sounded behind him.
Sasha walked over quietly, looked down at her sword-holding hand, and a hint of amusement appeared in her crimson eyes.
"When humans learn various skills, they always like to make up boring rules, requiring you to do this first and then that. They also suppress those who don't follow the rules, thinking they're 'trying to run without being able to walk.' In fact, these are only necessary for losers. Once you have enough understanding and meet a good teacher, you can run directly without having to learn to walk."
"Of course, if you don't have enough Dou Qi, you won't be able to run for long," he said with a smile. "The captain has already given you a basic foundation. His Dou Qi is also special. With the right guidance, you might be able to run or even fly."
The vampire paused, "It seems you did have an adventure?"
Su Cheng hesitated to speak.
"...or a romantic encounter?"
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