Beneath the veil of nightfall, within Sunny Town.
Tyler, astride his warhorse galloping ahead, with Albert doggedly pursuing on foot in the wake.
As the chase progressed, the physical prowess of the warhorse, Moto-chan, gradually came to the fore, causing Albert, who was initially closing the gap, to struggle to maintain the distance.
Tyler watched with satisfaction as Albert’s endurance value steadily dwindled (2563-236/2964).
Given the current scenario, he might not need to lift a finger; Albert would exhaust himself trying to keep up with Moto-chan.
Before long, they’d reached the southern exit of Sunny Town. Once they emerged from there, the landscape opened up into the southern suburbs.
At that point, Moto-chan would be like a fish in the sea, sprinting with even greater ease.
However, after being led around for so long, Albert had discerned the youth’s intentions.
Not long after they entered the suburbs, Albert took advantage of a change in the terrain to slow down the youth and the warhorse, suddenly launching a sword strike from afar.
From his blade, a swath of purple-black sword energy erupted, spanning about five to six meters and swiftly hurtling towards the youth and the warhorse!
Although Tyler had a three-second warning from the red light, the sword energy was too wide, and Moto-chan’s abrupt change of direction was not enough to evade it.
In the blink of an eye, Moto-chan, realizing they could not dodge the attack, abruptly halted, throwing Tyler off before taking the brunt of the sword energy…!
The purple-black sword energy dissipated the moment it hit Moto-chan, who immediately fell to the ground, motionless.
“Moto-chan!!!!”
Tyler rushed over, checking Moto-chan’s injuries first. Strangely enough, Moto-chan appeared uninjured, without even a scrape. Feeling Moto-chan’s carotid artery, Tyler realized it had merely fainted.
(What just happened? It seemed to do damage, but it didn’t?)
Tyler looked at Moto-chan’s status information and noticed a change.
After being hit by the purple-black sword energy, Moto-chan’s 49 points of endurance had dropped to zero.
So, Albert’s sword energy strike was a curse sword aimed at draining the target’s endurance!
(A Cursed Swordmaster … so that’s what it is…)
·
Now that Moto-chan was safe, Tyler’s priority was to divert the enemy’s attention away from it.
Before Albert could catch up, Tyler “left” Moto-chan behind and quickly distanced himself.
As Tyler had hoped, Albert did not bother with Moto-chan anymore, but instead chased after him. Under the moonlight, Tyler found the nearest grove and slipped into it.
As a “Shadow Assassin”, Tyler naturally preferred to fight in areas with plenty of shadows.
·
Albert, hot on Tyler’s trail, noted that the youth’s running speed had slowed.
—(It seems he wants to fight in this grove… to limit my sword energy? Haha, naive.)
Albert fearlessly followed into the grove, not believing that the youth would have the ability to set traps in this sudden situation.
A moment later, the youth stopped running, turning to face Albert who had caught up.
Albert did not rush to attack, instead taking a moment to survey the surrounding terrain.
The grove was flat, with sparse trees that were not very old, their trunks thin, offering no place to hide.
The only thing Albert needed to be careful of was not to let the trees interfere with his sword swings.
—(Well then, let’s have some fun!
“Why have you ceased your flight, scum?” Albert queried, subtly narrowing the distance between them.
“Because this is to be your burial ground, fool.”
The youth discarded his previously evasive demeanour, his words brimming with aggression.
“Ha, you can boast all you like. Once I’ve had my fill tormenting you to death, I hope you can maintain this bravado…”
—(Decay Sword Energy!)
The moment his adversary stepped into his attack range, Albert halted his speech and unleashed a wave of sword energy.
His attack spanned a wide area, rendering it near impossible for the average individual to evade.
Yet, the youth’s reaction was swift.
With a leap into the air, followed by a spring off a tree for a double jump, he easily avoided the sweeping sword energy.
—(A wingless human attempting to evade in mid-air is a fool’s game.)
Albert instantly retaliated with a sword swing. In his eyes, the youth was nothing more than a corpse falling from the sky.
But to Albert’s surprise, the youth executed a mid-air somersault, drawing and releasing two arrows in Albert’s direction in one fluid motion!
—(Humph, poor aim.)
Albert easily sidestepped the two arrows, yet this manoeuvre hindered his movement, causing him to miss the opportunity to exploit the youth’s vulnerability upon landing.
No matter, if one opportunity was missed, he would simply create another one. 𝑜𝑽ℯ𝐿xt.𝗇𝓔t
At this moment, Albert’s “Decay Sword Energy” had cooled down. He glanced at the trees surrounding the youth, then unleashed another wave of sword energy. This time his aim was to use the trees to limit the youth’s mobility, while he himself charged at the youth!
If this youth was so adept at evading, Albert would force him into close-quarters combat with no room to dodge!
Yet, to Albert’s surprise, the youth jumped vertically and landed atop the tree crown over three meters high, then leapt sideways, easily avoiding Albert’s attack.
The trees Albert had intended to use to confine the youth’s movements had instead become his springboard.
—(I see, I didn’t expect him to still have hidden strength…)
—(Such jumping ability, he must be at least in the middle to late stages of Tier 2.)
Impressed by the youth’s performance, Albert was slightly tempted to fight with all his strength… However, years of combat experience deterred him from doing so.
“Unless absolutely necessary, always keep an ace up one’s sleeve during combat,” was Albert’s principle.
As Albert was deliberating, the youth addressed him.
“Aren’t you curious, Albert, as to how I know your name?”
Upon hearing this, Albert did find it odd. In fact, he had been wanting to ask.
However, his wealth of combat experience gave him an uneasy feeling — this was a conversation he should not engage in, lest he fall into the youth’s trap.
“Hah, I find it not at all odd.”
After stating this, Albert changed his sword grip, preparing to exert twenty percent more effort in his combat with the youth. But then, the youth made a statement Albert could not ignore.
“Are you so afraid of conversing with me? Are you scared you’ll lose? Hmph, let me be frank with you. You stand no chance of victory, for we are destined to die together.”
—(To die together…?)
—(What does he mean by that?)
Albert halted his steps. Though his rational mind told him the youth was likely bluffing, he couldn’t ignore the danger hinted at in his words.
When it came to a “dying together” scenario, Albert immediately thought of his Tier 2 skill: “Twin Doom”.