[Secret Quest]
[Rank: A]
[Mission: Defeat the Sword Traveler]
[Description: The Sword Traveler challenged you to a duel!]
[Time limit: 3 minutes]
[Reward: Given by Sword Traveler Lancelot upon defeat]
lightsnοvεl [Punishment: You have to reveal all the knowledge about Reinhardt—Your reputation as swordmaster will also suffer!]
…
‘I don’t really care about having to give away the information about Reinhardt, but the reputation seems important.’ Ambrose thought.
‘It might damage the image my students have of me, and with a lesser reputation, it will be harder to recruit new people to my dojo.
‘I also wonder what kind of reward I will receive from him.’
Bella stood behind the tree, watching as the two powerful swordmasters faced each other.
The atmosphere was suffocating, as the fight might end with a single slash. This was a true battle between true masters.
A single mistake would end in death.
Lancelot put the sword so it pointed straight towards the sky. Then he moved it next to him, placed it against the side of his torso, and slid his foot forward.
The stance looked like he was readying himself for defense. However, his weight was on his front foot, as if he were preparing for a lunging attack.
It was impossible to see his intentions.
Ambrose moved into his usual stance—his sword in front of his body, both hands grabbing the handle, and his feet slightly apart, his right foot slightly ahead.
It was fully aggressive stance.
The time was slowly ticking down on the quest, but Ambrose kept a calm state of mind. The biggest mistake was to get impatient because of the time limit.
To the onlookers, it would look like both were scared to attack. However, an invisible battle was happening between them.
Both of them thought of thousands of different scenarios.
Some of them ended in Lancelot’s victory, while others ended in Ambrose’s crushing victory.
At that moment, Ambrose took a powerful leap forward, and all the thousands of scenarios vanished, only one remaining—the scenario that he chose to be the perfect one.
Lancelot immediately switched into a fully defensive stance and retreated a single step. In that split second, his eyes widened in shock as he realized that it was a big mistake.
“Too late.” Ambrose whispered and kicked up the dirt below his feet, blinding Lancelot momentarily.
“Mortal Style, Kanone!”
The wooden sword shot forward like a cannonball and approached Lancelot’s unguarded chest. It looked like it was a free hit.
At that moment, a slight smirk appeared on Lancelot’s lips.
He flicked his wrist and curved the sword around, slapping the wooden sword away. His blinded eyes opened with dirt covering his face, and he then front-kicked Ambrose in the chest.
Smack—a loud smack sounded, and it looked like Lancelot managed to get a successful hit!
However, he then noticed something was wrong.
Ambrose tanked the front kick with his abdominal muscles, not moving a slight centimeter and not even showing any pain in his face.
He then wrapped his arm around Lancelot’s leg—like a snake coiling around its prey—and flipped him over.
“Heaven Drop!”
Lancelot watched as his vision flipped upside down, and he was about to crash into the ground at a very bad angle, which might end up with his neck broken.
However, with incredible athletic abilities, he touched the ground with his hand and flipped himself over, landing safely back on the ground.
At that moment, he swung his sword like a whip and aimed it at Ambrose’s neck. It was a quick and effective slash.
If anyone else was his opponent, nine out of ten times, they would be unable to dodge this attack, especially since it came from such unexpected timing.
Just a moment ago, it looked like Lancelot was about to lose, even perhaps get his neck broken, but he then miraculously landed back on his feet and unleashed a deadly attack without a moment of hesitation.
It was as if the previous moment didn’t face him in the slightest. Others would have even been stunned for a moment.
However, it was clear that this wasn’t Lancelot’s first time in a losing position.
Ambrose knew that he couldn’t use his wooden sword to defend against the attack. The silver-handled sword would slice straight through like a hot knife through butter.
“Self-Possession!” Ambrose quickly activated the phasing ability of his soul.
It was extremely risky to do so, as if he was attacked by Inner Power attack, his soul might really die. However, he didn’t sense any Inner Power in Lancelot’s attack.
The silver-handled sword went straight through as if it were trying to hit a ghost.
Lancelot’s eyes flashed with surprise.
Ambrose quickly deactivated Self-Possession and placed the wooden sword against Lancelot’s throat. It was as if time had frozen as both swordmasters looked at each other.
Then Lancelot smiled and dropped his sword. “I yield. You win.”
“Mm.” Ambrose sheathed the wooden sword and touched his stomach, as there was still some numbing feeling left. It was very uncomfortable.
“Haha, I did not expect to lose.” Lancelot picked up his sword, sheathed it, and sat on the wooden log. He breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath.
Ambrose received a notification that he had successfully completed the mission. He then turned to look at him, wondering what his reward would be.
“You thought further than I; that’s how you won.” Lancelot smiled. “You used the dirt to blind me momentarily, but you knew it wouldn’t be enough.”action
“I knew you wouldn’t have been able to use your sword; hit me as you had to deflect my wooden sword.” Ambrose said. “That’s why I knew you would kick me, as it was your best option.”
“You planned to tank the kick as you knew I was a swordsman, not a physical fighter.” Lancelot looked at his physique. “Seeing my body, you knew I couldn’t hurt you enough with the kick.”
“Yeah, I then planned to counterattack and send you crashing to the ground.” Ambrose shrugged his shoulders. “I planned to end the fight there, but you managed to survive that.”
“I thought you hadn’t thought further than that, so I went for an immediate attack.” Lancelot sighed and scratched his hair. “But then, what the hell was that?”
“You took me by surprise, I admit that.” Ambrose said. “However, if you had survived all that, I had one more hidden card in my sleeve. I knew you wouldn’t expect that.”
“Yeah, I didn’t…” Lancelot laughed.
“You still need the information?” Ambrose crossed his arms. “I can give you them.”
“No.” Lancelot shook his head and stood up. “I lost. I do not deserve to know. One day, I’ll come back to defeat you.”
“Very well.” Ambrose nodded.
“Here.” Lancelot rummaged through his pockets, took out a strange token, and tossed it over to Ambrose. “You won; you deserve this. The token of my defeat.”
Ambrose caught it mid-air and looked at it. His eyes soon widened in shock as he realized what this was.
“I’ll be seeing you again, Blade Master.” Lancelot hopped inside the fancy carriage.
The black-robed driver then whipped the horse and drove off, wheels rolling down the dirt road. They were soon out of sight.
“Jesse, what did you get?” Bella asked curiously, thrilled about his victory but also curious about the item.
“Upgrade Class Token…” Ambrose grabbed it tightly and smiled. “Finally, I found another one.”