The Master of Uradan

Rohan was standing in front of the girl with a spear in her hand. For a short second, the appearance of the fierce woman changed to the one of a middle-aged man, with a sword and a perfect stance. But it wasn't the time to think about the past.

The young warrior slowly strolled toward the girl and waited for her to hit first. Not that he wanted to give his opponent a chance or anything, but he will use this opportunity to look at her movement.

This one, not minding this act, charged toward her opponent with a short shout. She would show him what was the strength of the members of the Blackwolf clan. The young man in front of here was indeed a warrior, but he must never have lived any hardship, even more so as a child of a nobleman.

She will show him that pure strength meant nothing!

With the most extreme speed she could extract from her body, shit hit with her pointed spear toward the chest of her opponent. Rohan, seeing the tip approaching him, didn't show any emotions.

While no one could understand what was happening, Rohan broke the demands of Daina. He used a skill.

Almost a fifth of his mana rushed toward his head. The time slowed down. The green grass was greener. The sunlight was brighter. With a critical eye, he watched all the movements of the woman. Her stance. The way she wielded her weapon. How she hit with a spear. Nothing could escape his scrutinizing gaze.

At the last moment, as the spear was only a few centimeters away from his chest, his blade appeared on the trajectory and connected with the stony pick.

The moment the two weapons touched each other, Rohan made a light move with his wrist, dispersing all the strength of the shock and sending it all in the arms of the young girl.

It was only a small movement, but the result was grandiose. The spear of Draina bounced up because of the impact, and carried by it, she lost her balance.

Her eyes widened as she saw the young warrior watching her with a critical eye. She jumped on the ground in front of her to roll forward. She stood up and put herself again in a battle stance.

She might have judged the warrior in front of her too easily.

The skill Overload came to a stop. It was a godly one for Rohan. It was short, definitely so. But it was the better way to improve his swordsmanship and study the spearmanship of his opponent.

This time, Rohan didn't wait and bolted forward. His speed had nothing to do with the young daughter of the chief, and even though he restrained himself to a rank 3 Beginner Warrior, he appeared in front of her in a second.

His blade split the air in half. Daina didn't have the time anymore to evade it, and she could only try to parry it. Without more options, she used exactly what she had seen.

She led the blade of her spear to meet the sword, and even as she felt her arms numbing under such power, she made a small stir with her wrist, almost the same one she had seen Rohan do.

Rohan felt his blade deflected by his opponent, and he watched with a funny face as his weapon moved a bit on the side, before it continued on its path.

He was without a doubt surprised to see her manage to perform the same move he had done earlier, but it wasn't enough at all. All she succeeded to do was to have a bit more time to get out of here.

She used the rebound to jump back, but she was too slow. The sharp sword only touched her forearm, letting behind its way a thin red line.

It was only a small injury, but the action was perfect. She knew that if he wanted to kill her, he could have done so without any problem. Instead, he had only chosen to mark a line on her arm.

The spectators were flabbergasted by the show in front of them. It had only taken place for a few breaths, but the fight was out of their level. But when they thought it was the end, neither of the fighters wanted to finish here.

Daina went back on the offensive and gritted her teeth. She squeezed all the strength she could to hit at a terrifying speed, thrusting her spear again and again. Since she had a better range than the faster and stronger warrior, she would use it plenty.

On the side, Deidros was watching as his sister attacked here and there, forcing the young warrior into a defensive stance. This one parried or dodged each blow. He seemed to do so with ease, but Diedros felt as if he was struggling with something.

Rohan defended himself against the pointed tip appearing in front of him. He hit with the flat of his sword to send away the blow, but not even a breath later, it materialized a new time, aiming for his flank.

He made a step on the side and attacked a part of the spear he hadn't hit before. He was starting to struggle a bit. He didn't know where the woman was finding all her stamina, but it became more and more complicated to defend without destroying the spear.

Rohan was restraining his strength and this to not even a rank 2 Beginner Warrior. That was putting a strain on his body and his mind. He was in the possibility of letting all his force explode at any moment, and not doing so increased his frustration.

But he continued to defend himself and didn't take the initiative to attack. The reason was that he felt himself winning much more in this fight than in any ones he had participated in the last few months. A challenge was what he needed to keep advancing.

Back when he was training in the shop at Blanche, he was always alone, hitting nothing but the air, and remembering the move Makin had taught him. He was just dancing and trying to perfect his moves, of course, he wouldn't be able to increase his level easily.

Even when he was fighting against opponents, that wasn't the best time at all to learn how to fight. They were useful as he was trying his best to survive while neutralizing the enemies, but when all the things he was trying to do were to survive, all techniques not trained sufficiently were just useless.

In the end, he was painfully aware that all his victories were only because of his superior strength. Most of his opponents were far weaker than him, and he wouldn't restrain himself like he was doing now.

If it wasn't a reflex engraved into his flesh, and if he needed to think about the moves he should do, then that meant his training had given him nothing. That was why sometimes he came up with stupid ideas, like throwing his potions into the head of his opponent, or throwing away all the plates that he could find.

That was simply because he didn't know what to do in these situations, and he only used the first solution that was coming to his mind. That had nothing to do with technique and swordsmanship, and his own wasn't the best one at all.

That was why he smiled during this duel when he was struggling, and that was why the woman in front of him, who seemed to hate him for an unknown reason, was also smiling.

She was using all her strength, and she was near exhaustion. Her arms were numbed under the force of the shocks spreading in her body. Her legs became like jelly. Her mind spun around.

She was struggling to keep up this excruciating effort. But she was still feeling great. She wasn't thinking about her opponent. All she thought about was to thrust. To step on the left. To hit again. There, a leap forward. Here, another thrust. And again.

She overlooked her pain. Rohan discarded his frustration.

The mind of these two fighters was filled with their moves, with the will to improve them.

Just by fighting for a bit more than a couple of minutes, they had both learned a lot.