“This will be your test.” Honorable Zhen flexed his muscles while lifting his sword over his bald head. “Good luck!”
Julian narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the handle of the very long sword, which was even longer than some spears.
A regular person wouldn’t be able to use such a sword efficiently.
Therefore, Honorable Zhen was very curious about the man’s prowess with such a weapon.
“Very well!” Julian lifted the sword, rested the blade against his shoulder, and then lowered his stance.
‘He can effortlessly move that sword around as if it doesn’t weigh anything, and his posture is excellent.’
Honorable Zhen quickly determined with a single gaze.
Julian put all his weight on his front leg, and as rocks rolled by his foot, he suddenly shot forward with formidable speed.
‘Impressive speed while carrying that weapon,’ Zhen thought.
Julian’s muscles trembled as he moved the sword slightly before powerfully swinging it across the air.
Zhen jumped one meter above the ground and smashed his shortsword into the incoming curved-bladed sword.
Cling—sparks flew as two mighty weapons collided.
“Ngh!” Julian groaned as he wondered whether he had accidentally smashed his sword against the mountain wall.
However, it was only Zhen whose block could be considered a mountain wall.
Zhen smiled carefreely and then pushed the long-bladed sword away.
After landing on the rocky ground, he shot forward and swung his sword, but Julian quickly blocked it.
However, the sheer strength of the attack made Julian slide across the rocky ground, and after five meters, he came to a stop while the soles of his leather boots were smoking as if they were on fire.
Tap, tap—Zhen rapidly ran, almost looking like a blur.
Julian quickly cut through the air and even through Zhen’s afterimage, but his real body had already vanished.
‘Where?’ His eyes swam around as he tried to find Zhen’s real body, and soon he caught sight of a person appearing behind his back.
He quickly spun the sword around and blocked Zhen’s sword, which was an inch away from impaling through his back.
“Oh, do you have eyes on the back of your head, perhaps?” Zhen asked with an amused tone, somewhat impressed by Julian.
“No.” Julian replied and smashed the sword into Zhen, but he moved quickly out of the way.
After the attack missed, Julian lifted his sword and rested it against his shoulder while he watched Zhen retreat a couple meters.
“I assume you didn’t come here to be trained by a mere Honorable like me, correct?” Zhen asked.
“I heard that there is a person called Wisdom King who resides in this temple.” Julian said, his gray eyes gleaming. “I want to learn from him.”
“Unfortunately, I think you are too late.” Zhen smiled. “He already has a new disciple. A player, like you.”
“Huh.” Julian came to a stop and frowned. “Who? No, it doesn’t matter. Does Wisdom King not want to train more than one?”
“It depends.” Zhen traced his finger across the blade of his sword and glimpsed at the gray-eyed man. “He rarely trains anyone. However, his new disciple is rather impressive.”
“Impressive?” Julian raised his eyebrow. “I want to talk to this Wisdom King. Among players, there are not many who can best me in combat.”
“Oh, it’s not combat-related.” Zhen laughed. “Do you know about the World of Souls and the soul scent?”
“I do, Julian answered.
“How long did it take you to hide your soul scent?” Zhen asked curiously.
“One week,” Julian replied confidently.
“Oh…” Zhen looked calm, but inwardly he was very impressed.
Being able to hide soul scent within a week was an incredibly impressive achievement.
However, he had already seen a certain someone be able to do that in one night’s time.
“Wisdom King’s new disciple…” Zhen paused for a moment and looked directly into Julian’s eyes. “Managed to do it in one night.”
Julian’s pupils shrank in shock and disbelief.
‘Who is this player, and have I heard of him before?’ Julian felt his heart pumping with greater excitement.
He cracked a small smile and said, “What do I need to do to be able to meet with the Wisdom King?”
Zhen looked at his gray eyes and was impressed to see an invisible flicker of fire in them.
After telling about the Wisdom King’s new disciple’s achievement, he expected this player to feel dejected.
However, that did not happen.
Instead, the player’s eyes flickered with new-found determination and excitement.
“If you manage to defeat me, I will let you meet him.” Zhen stomped on the ground, causing it to crack and rocks to scatter. “It won’t be easy!”
“Heh.” Julian grinned in excitement, his own determination shining through.
The air grew tense as the two gazed into each other’s eyes.
After a small pebble rolled down the mountain and crashed into the ground, both of them lunged forward and smashed their swords together, sparks flying in every direction.
“ōrusutoraiku!” Julian screamed and smashed the black blade into Zhen’s guard.
It was such a powerful strike that Zhen’s knees sank to the ground, clearly unable to withstand the sudden strike.
“Ngh!” Zhen quickly rolled backwards while the black blade cut through the ground.
He managed to barely escape the strike, but it left him wary of his opponent’s strength.
Julian pulled the sword from the ground and chased after Zhen.
As he switched the grip to a side grip, he extended both arms and did a very large slash at Zhen, closing all escape routes!
“Dai Sutoraiku!”
Zhen blocked the strike, but he soon noticed it was a dire mistake.
The powerful blow caused his feet to leave the ground and sent him flying backward.
While in mid-air, he quickly rolled around and landed shakily on the ground, almost falling down on his back.
His heart raced as he realized that the fight almost ended because of that one mistake he made.
He couldn’t afford any more slip-ups.
However, at the same moment, a shadow appeared over him.
Zhen’s eyes shrank like a cat’s when he was endangered.
Julian raised his sword above his hooded head while the mountain’s shadow fell over him, blanketing him with darkness.
His gray eyes looked darker than ever before as he prepared to strike.
The intensity in his gaze was palpable.
“Pawāsutoraiku!”
Swoosh—the sword came raining down and smashed right into Zhen’s shortsword.
Crack—almost instantly, the shortsword’s blade cracked.
Zhen’s eyes flickered with panic, and he immediately abandoned his sword and dodged the strike.
Julian’s sword smashed into the ground, splitting the ground in half with a large crevice appearing out of nowhere! 𝐎𝑽xt.𝚘𝑚
The force of the impact sent shockwaves rippling through the earth.
Julian’s eyes followed Zhen like a hawk who had found prey.
He quickly followed after and repeatedly slashed his sword down, but each strike missed as Zhen dodged them all with overwhelming speed.
Zhen nimbly moved behind Julian’s back, pulled out a pocket knife from his pants’ pockets, and pressed it against Julian’s throat.
“?” Julian snapped his eyes towards Zhen while feeling the cold metal touching his skin.
“You have lost,” Zhen said while panting heavily.
“Seems so.” Julian replied and dropped his sword as a sign of resignation.
“Since you didn’t defeat me, you aren’t allowed to meet the Wisdom King.” Zhen put the pocket knife back in his pocket and backed off from the player.
“Yes, I know.” Julian picked up the sword and put it back in his inventory.
He then fixed his hood and began walking away from Zhen and the village.
‘He gave up like this?’ Zhen thought in shock and wondered whether he overestimated that man.
However, then Julian came to a stop and turned around to look at Zhen.
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
With those words, he left.
“Huh.” Zhen shook his head and laughed. “First Ambrose, now this Julian. There seem to be quite a few interesting players out there.”