NOVGO.NET Chapter 159 : Chapter 159
Chapter 159. There’s No Other Way (1)
‘His bluff is top-notch.’
Patrick laughed.
A sharp edge honed to the point of making onlookers tense.
A chilling killing intent that silenced the surroundings.
It looked quite plausible.
Even though in reality, it was all just a bluff.
“He’s an expert at putting on a show.”
An opponent of a lower caliber would fall for that bluff.
In fact, the spectators watching this duel were clenching their fists and couldn’t take their eyes off Marquis Robski.
They were overwhelmed by his overtly spreading aura.
‘Well then, shall we begin?’
Patrick, with a smile on his lips, faced forward.
One step, then another.
In contrast to the chilling presence of Marquis Robski, who looked like he would thrust his spear at any moment, Patrick’s steps felt devoid of any sense of crisis.
It was as calm and natural as a person taking a walk.
And the moment the distance between the two narrowed to within 2 meters….
‘Now.’
“Hah!”
Marquis Robski winked one eye and, with a powerful shout, thrust his spear.
His spear flew, sharply cutting through the wind.
‘It would be good to start here.’
Now, Patrick would appropriately match the rhythm and retreat or extend his sword.
From there, he would unleash a flashy combination of attacks and take the initiative.
After exchanging about 100 moves like that, they would concede to each other in a suitable atmosphere.
But….
‘Huh?’
Marquis Robski’s vision went dark.
The very next moment he realized something was blocking his view….
JJEEEEEOK!
“Keoheok!”
Patrick’s knee struck him squarely in the face.
The pain that brought tears to his eyes and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
A pain that was once familiar but had now become strange, Marquis Robski stumbled back.
“Wai… wait….”
“Wait, my ass.”
Patrick, who had already slipped under Marquis Robski, struck his solar plexus with the hilt of his sword.
“Keok….”
With a pain that took his breath away, Marquis Robski’s body bent into a ‘ㄱ’ shape.
And Patrick’s instep, rising towards his lowered head, kicked Marquis Robski’s head right up.
PPEOEEOK!
“Kuaaak!”
Marquis Robski screamed as his neck bent all the way back.
“Keeuuk….”
Just before falling backward, Marquis Robski hurriedly righted his posture.
And he clenched his teeth, looked straight ahead, and shouted.
“What are you do—. Eot?”
But there was no one in front of him.
Instead, a cold voice from behind.
“Over here.”
Simultaneously, a sharp sword strike fell towards the crown of his head.
Marquis Robski hurriedly turned around and raised the shaft of his spear to block the attack.
KAAAAANG!
He succeeded in blocking Patrick’s sword with an appropriate defense.
But….
“Euut….”
“Here’s another one.”
Patrick’s weapon was twin swords.
Another sword fell on top of the one that had already struck.
KWAAAAAAANG!
“Euueut….”
An attack much stronger than the one before.
It was a powerful attack that destroyed the ground where Marquis Robski stood.
“Keeuuueuk….”
Marquis Robski groaned in pain as if every bone in his body was breaking.
He had to look up at Patrick from a kneeling position on one knee.
‘Damn it….’
At the thought of this humiliating scene being revealed to the public, Marquis Robski ground his teeth.
He still had enough reason left to speak in a low, growling voice.
“What…. do you think you’re doing?”
“We’re dueling, aren’t we? You ask as if you don’t know?”
“You, the promise… heuup!”
Marquis Robski’s face turned pale as he was speaking.
A terrifying pressure was added from Patrick’s twin swords that were pressing down on him.
“Can’t you read the room?”
“You really….”
“Do you think this situation can be solved with your petty tricks? Don’t you know what you really have to do?”
“Keeeeeeuk….”
“Tsk tsk tsk, not only are you short, but you’re also clueless. Life must be tough for you too.”
“……”
For a moment, the look in Marquis Robski’s eyes changed.
“…ok down … me.”
“Huh? What was that?”
“Don’t look down on me. You little brat!”
With Marquis Robski’s resounding shout, he repelled Patrick’s pressure with an explosive force for a moment.
TEOOONG!
Patrick’s twin swords were momentarily flung upwards, and Marquis Robski’s spear regained its freedom.
And in that instant, his spear shot out rays of light.
Papapapang!
With the sound of the air bursting, the blade of Marquis Robski’s spear turned Patrick’s entire body into a honeycomb.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
“Uwaaak!”
A few of the spectators who witnessed Patrick’s body riddled with holes covered their mouths and screamed.
But….
“What? You can do it if you try, can’t you?”
What Marquis Robski’s spear had pierced was Patrick’s afterimage.
The real Patrick was already a few steps away, looking at Marquis Robski with a relaxed smile.
And he spoke to Marquis Robski.
“Well then, shall we continue?”
Ppddeuk.
Marquis Robski clenched his teeth.
The promise was broken.
That damn brat dared to take the money and break the promise.
And he had been unilaterally beaten and even forced to kneel in front of a large audience, a humiliation.
This could never be undone.
Unless he cut off that brat’s head right here.
He aimed his spear at Patrick and said.
“I will make you regret this.”
“Do you have the skills for that?”
“This is not the end. Even after this duel is over, I will make you pay the price. I will make you regret this moment for a long, long time to come….”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it. I get it, so just shut up and….”
Patrick held out a hand in front of him, beckoned with his finger, and said.
“Bring it on.”
“I’ll kill you!”
Marquis Robski, his eyes bloodshot, shot forward.
And his spear scattered a brilliant light.
It was the beginning of the real duel.
Peong! Peong! Peongpeongpeong!
Marquis Robski’s spearmanship was truly swift.
The trajectory of the spear, imbued with an Aura Blade, was only indicated by the afterimage of light.
The process of him extending and retrieving the spear was completely invisible to others.
Steps that actively utilized the spear’s reach by quickly moving back and forth.
On top of that, dazzling thrusts that came in so fast they were invisible.
“This… is a 7-star knight.”
“How can a human do that? I can’t even see it.”
“He’s a monster. A real monster.”
The spectators could only stare at the duel, completely entranced.
Peeong! Peong! Peeong!
The sound of Marquis Robski’s spear piercing the air and making it explode continued to resound.
It was a spearmanship that truly showed what the extreme of swiftness was.
But….
“Keuk….”
A sense of anxiety gradually appeared on Marquis Robski’s face.
One hit.
If just one hit landed, he could put a hole in his opponent’s body.
But….
“Why won’t it hit!”
The problem was that it just wouldn’t hit.
To his cry of frustration, Patrick answered mockingly.
“As if this would hit? You shameless bastard.”
In an instant, Patrick’s sword caught Marquis Robski’s spear, pushing it aside diagonally.
And then….
Kaka-kaka-ka.
The sound of metal scraping against the steel spear shaft rang out as Patrick closed the distance, following the grain of the spear shaft.
“Euut!”
Marquis Robski was flustered.
To have the distance closed while his weapon was suppressed?
Wasn’t this the worst possible pattern for a spear user against a swordsman?
The flustered Marquis Robski tried to retreat, but he could not be faster than Patrick.
Patrick, who had closed the distance, pulled back the sword in his other hand and said.
“Your neck!”
A chilling strike that came with the word.
Utilizing the characteristics of twin swords, the sword in his other hand flew sharply towards the neck.
‘This… I’ll die.’
A moment of life-and-death crisis.
What Marquis Robski did was something a 7-star knight would never do.
He let go of his own weapon and threw his body to the side.
Shiiiik!
Patrick’s strike passed by, cutting a few strands of his hair.
To him, who had barely managed to throw his body aside, Patrick said with a smirk.
“Wow, you let go of your weapon? Your weapon?”
A familiar spear was rolling at Patrick’s feet.
Confirming it, Marquis Robski’s face flushed red.
“Damn it….”
He could hear the audience murmuring.
There was no one who didn’t know how humiliating it was for a knight to lose their weapon.
And yet, a 7-star knight had thrown away his weapon and thrown his body.
From the audience’s perspective, it was quite a rare spectacle.
Meanwhile, Patrick shrugged his shoulders and said.
“We have to continue, right?”
“……”
“Here, catch.”
Patrick kicked the spear that Marquis Robski had dropped and threw it to him.
Marquis Robski, despite his flushed face, could not refuse it.
He grabbed the spear again and took his stance, but his face was full of humiliation.
‘To be treated like a complete fool…’
At this point, he had no choice but to admit it.
That his opponent was stronger than him.
‘To think there would be an opponent who could beat me in speed.’
His specialties were speed and distance.
Utilizing the characteristics of the spear, he would gain an advantage in distance and then finish off the enemy with an attack faster than anyone else’s.
And yet, in that very speed, his opponent was ahead of him.
The fact that he was behind in his most confident area meant that the chances of winning this duel were slim.
‘How? To that young brat…’
From the moment he heard that he had defeated Marquis Raines, he had thought he was beyond ordinary.
He had thought that perhaps, as the world evaluated, he might one day be known as the strongest on the continent in the future.
But he had never thought he would be stronger than him at this point in time….
‘For there to be such a difference.’
If he lost like this, it was obvious that the fame he had built up so far would crumble.
What should I do….
How can I protect it?
Honor, wealth, power, the treasures I have built up one by one, starting with my bare fists.
My everything.
What must I do to protect it?
As all sorts of imaginations floated in his mind, Patrick spoke.
“Looks like you still have the leisure to be using your head.”
“……”
“Brat, if you’re a guy who lives by the sword, there’s only one choice in times like this.”
“……”
“You fight and win.”
Damn son of a bitch.
Who doesn’t know that?
Of course, he knew.
The best choice to wash away the humiliation so far was to win against that Patrick Schneider.
If he did that, everything would return to normal, no, it would raise him to a position higher than before.
The Divine Spear of Decator who defeated the Double Dragon who had defeated Marquis Raines.
Just thinking about it was ecstatic.
But….
‘Damn it, damn it all…’
He just couldn’t see the possibility.
Marquis Robski was not such an amateur as to not know the difference in skill after exchanging this many blows.
Rather….
“What? Are you going to give up?”
“……”
At Patrick’s words, Marquis Robski’s body flinched.
What Patrick had just said had hit him right where it hurt.
And Patrick looked at Marquis Robski with eyes full of contempt and said.
“You’re going to give up and be reduced to a loser? Well, that’s not bad.”
“……”
“If you don’t have the skill, you should at least be quick to grasp your situation. Am I right?”
Marquis Robski’s body trembled.
This humiliation and disgrace that enveloped his entire body was by no means unfamiliar.
Rather, it was something he was very familiar with and sick of.
[You have talent, but your physical condition is the worst. It will be difficult for you to make it big as a swordsman.]
‘Shut up! Who are you to judge me.’
[How dare a bastard with a worthless family shame me in the exam?]
[Just quietly pick up the scraps. Don’t get cocky just because you have some meager skill.]
[I can burn your entire family to the ground.]
‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Do you think I’ll be crawling at your feet forever. Someday, I will repay you a hundred, a thousand times over.’
A poor and insignificant family.
A physical condition far below average.
In his youth, no one said that Dustin Robski would make it big.
What did he do in those days?
How did he speak to a world that shouted at him to give up, to sit down, to be suppressed?
“Go eat shit.”
“Huh?”
“Huuuuuu….”
Robski suddenly took a long breath to compose himself and then retook his stance.
He spread his feet, which had been nimbly moving back and forth, slightly wider than his shoulders and fixed them to the ground.
The hand holding the spear was slightly behind the center.
He relaxed his shoulders, widened his field of view, and emptied his mind.
‘Yes. I…. I too, in the past…’
He felt as if his past self and his present self were overlapping.
Distracting thoughts disappeared, and the boundary between his spear and his hand blurred.
Marquis Robski, who had completely taken his stance, said.
“Come.”
A smile spread across Patrick’s lips.
“Hoo.”
He had changed.
The unnecessary clutter had disappeared, and the man himself had become like a single spear.
Perhaps, he had originally been like that.
Before he became intoxicated with success and corrupted by the poison of arrogance and pride, Marquis Robski must have been such a person.
‘Yes. If you’re a 7-star, you should at least be at this level.’
Patrick did not rate the 7-star realm itself that highly.
But he acknowledged the effort and tenacity of those who had reached the 7-star realm on their own in this Pangemonia continent, where the understanding of martial arts was meager.
Moreover, considering that Marquis Robski, with his obviously poor physical condition, had chosen the spear, a weapon that was not common in this world, and reached the 7-star realm….
His younger self must have been a completely different person from who he was now.
Patrick held his sword and took his stance.
And for the first time since this duel began, he spoke in a serious voice.
“Patrick Schneider of the Kingdom of Atronia.”
“……”
“Here I come.”
And as his words ended, Patrick’s entire body became a single streak of light and surged forward.
‘Come!’
Marquis Robski’s body reacted faster than his thoughts.
A full-powered strike.
It was different from the flashy consecutive attacks he had been unleashing while quickly moving back and forth.
It was an attack for the desperate moment that would decide the life and death of the enemy and himself.
And this was also the spear of Marquis Robski, who was originally called the Spear of Decator.
A simple and plain, but endlessly fatal, strike.
‘I did it.’
Marquis Robski was certain of his success.
It was a perfect timing beyond compare.
Now his spear was about to pierce Patrick’s heart.
But…
‘Heok!’
A split second before the attack succeeded.
Patrick got faster.
He increased his speed once again from an already accelerated state.
He had accelerated twice in the middle of his attack.
[ Twin Dragons Eight Sword Forms: Third Form: Ultimate Flashing Dragon Strike. ]
In that fleeting moment.
Marquis Robski was captivated by his opponent.
Even though this attack, which could take his life, was about to hit, he was absurdly mesmerized by the strike.
To turn the result into a victory right before defeat.
‘This is truly the extreme of speed….’
KWAAAAAAANG!
***
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