# 398
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398
Whiung!
The ax passing through the air boasts fearsome majesty. A crushing sound. If you just brush against it, the flesh will fall off.
Kwasik! Coo! Quagang!
Every time the giant struck down the axe, the floor of the arena where the reinforcing magic had been applied was dented, along with a noise like breaking rocks. The fallen fragments flew in all directions.
I heard that some participants’ matches required particularly long maintenance times right after they finished, so this would have greatly increased the wizards’ efforts.
Helmut avoided the giant’s ax with light movements and observed his movements.
‘The power is great, but there are many gaps.’
Rough and violent movements like a wild boar. A gap was visible in the movement of the huge ax, which was swinging like a windmill. It’s quite big to say it’s just a thread.
‘Loophole.’
Helmut’s eyes sparkled. Do you mean axe wine?
Although it is a unique opponent, it is easy to beat, so there is no need to waste time.
The tip of Helmut’s sword plunged straight into the man’s abdomen. An opponent who seems likely to continue attacking even if you hold a sword to his throat. Injuries are inevitable. But
Pakang!
My fingertips were numb. As if I hit a piece of iron. Although it is said that it is not loaded with a lot of vis because it is meant to exploit loopholes, the sword’s power is by no means weak.
“Hehe! ‘Are you surprised?’
Helmut quickly deflected the ax that struck the top of his head with his sword.
Coogung! The ground was caved again. The entire sword that caught the ax rang as if it were being torn apart.
If the vis had not been properly loaded and protected, the entire sword would have been shattered.
Helmut, who retreated after a month, frowned.
‘Did he wear vis on his body too?’
I could feel the vis spreading evenly over the giant’s entire body.
The moment the swords collided, I felt the vis concentrated there.
A method of using Vis that is rare in humans.
Monsters strengthen their bodies through demonic energy. However, that method was not very effective for human muscles, which have limitations in strengthening them.
But somehow, this guy’s body looks like armor. It had a body as hard as steel, as strong as that of a monster.
‘Are you wearing armor underneath?’
I thought about it just in case, but I didn’t feel like I hit anything metal beyond my collar.
The light of flesh was visible through the gap in Helmut’s clothes. Extremely strong muscles, as if they had been strengthened by feeding iron powder.
Helmut recalled memories from the distant past during his time at the Academy.
At that time, I learned that in a small country far away, there were various ways to strengthen the body.
Since he did not practice swordsmanship in a traditional way, it is not strange to say that he strengthened his body using special secrets.
The giant who was smashing the stage with an ax down tilted his head.
“Are you a mercenary? “It doesn’t feel like a knight.”
The swordsmanship that Helmut displayed was the common swordsmanship of the empire, but his sword was not as neat as that of a knight.
Rather, it was closer to the rawness of the wild, a sword that had been honed while overcoming the challenges of life and death.
“Do you have room?”
How dare you open your mouth during battle? Isn’t that only allowed when Helmut himself is strong against the weak?
Helmut’s sword pierced the handle of the sword and pierced the giant’s shoulder.
Sigh! This time I feel a little more stuck. A stream of blood flowed.
‘If the attack is fast, it pierces right before the vis is concentrated.’
I got a sense. I have no intention of showing all of my skills here.
Opponents who compete with strength are actually easier for Helmut. By calculating the vis consumption rate. Maximum efficiency with minimal consumption to achieve victory.
Although he is the strongest opponent he has ever faced in the tournament, he has no problem being relaxed to that extent.
Quasat! Sigh! Sigh! The sound of a sword digging into flesh began to resonate, different from the sound of an ax blade smashing into the floor.
Helmut’s sword, which turned into an offensive attack, was fierce. If there is a gap, dig it without missing a beat.
But the vis on his sword was calm. It just wraps around the sword and the moment it digs in, it becomes more intense, like flint catching fire. This is a horrifyingly sophisticated use of Vis.
“Ugh! “You bastard!”
No matter how big you are or how strong you are, you cannot be fine even if you have more than ten holes in your body. The further I went, the deeper the wound became.
I don’t know which one comes first and which one comes last.
As if Helmut’s sword had mastered the trick, it dug in sharper and created deeper wounds. The giant’s reaction speed also gradually slowed down.
The giant who was swinging the ax recklessly finally stopped.
His eyes were bloodshot. It doesn’t matter if intentional murder is not permitted. If I get caught, I’ll crush that rat’s head!
I will personally remove the mask by cutting off the head with an axe. Anger turns into vicious murderous intent.
Helmut’s attacks are as quick as a mouse and as annoying as a mosquito. Quickly avoids the giant’s attacks and successfully executes a one-sided attack.
Vis gathered in the center of the giant’s body like a whirlpool.
“You rat!”
The giant’s ax split the air horizontally, screaming as if it were a curse. The vis was shot out in a crescent shape along the thick ax blade and rushed at waist height.
It was fast. There seemed to be no escape to the left or right.
Helmut kicked the floor and ran. His eyes were calm, in contrast to the giant’s.
‘Let’s end it now.’
I took off enough power. Now it’s time to take the life of the prey. Of course, we do not forget that this is a competition.
It has a strong and large body that cannot die from even the slightest wound.
‘I’ll tease you as much as I want.’
To admit defeat! If this much Vis is exploded, there is bound to be a gap before the Vis flow recovers.
Helmut jumped forward as if he were flying, landed and tried to burrow into the giant’s body.
However, Helmut was taken aback for a moment. The attack that was thought to be over continued. The separated ax blade was flying towards him, exposing its blade.
It is not easy to avoid it by changing direction in the air.
‘I accept it.’
Bis bloomed brightly on Helmut’s sword. The center of the sword blade and the center of the ax blade collided exactly.
Quaaaang! It felt more like a collision of rocks rather than metal clashing with metal.
If something was even slightly off, it would not have been able to withstand the collision of the black iron and would have shattered into pieces.
My arms were numb. In the aftermath, the leg that had just landed was pushed back.
‘Throw your weapon…?’
At that moment, Helmut felt the giant’s blow digging into his abdomen.
Where the ax blade flew off, a jagged blade like a spear blade stood up.
It seems like it was a secret secret hidden like memorization. The giant’s strike, which shook off the heavy ax blade, was frighteningly fast.
I almost couldn’t react.
‘But that can’t be true.’
Helmut immediately denied it. I was just a little surprised. Isn’t it true that it’s an unexpected blow coming from an obvious opponent? Wouldn’t it be polite to act a little surprised?
‘I’ll give you a treat in return.’
My legs felt strong. His upper body, which had been tilted back as if he had lost his balance, came back forward and the sword slid in his hand.
It may be possible to stop it again, but there is an easier way.
Helmut naturally moved the tip of the spear out of the way and dug inward. In an instant, it reached the giant’s nose.
It seemed like the bulging muscles would somehow clear Helmut from that threatening gap.
But the giant couldn’t do anything.
Because Helmut’s blade flew diagonally upward from the bottom and stopped in front of the giant’s right eye.
Silence where no sound can be heard. In an instant, turn around and turn defense into offense.
It is an instantaneous process that takes place in a very short period of time. A sword that is not overt or flashy, just for achieving victory.
Soon the giant let out a loud noise. A mixture of admiration and astonishment bordering on fear.
“Ugh! Oh no?”
It felt like I had become blind all of a sudden. Because I couldn’t see anything except something flashing before my eyes.
However, the cold energy of the blade seemed to tear open his delicate eyeballs, so the giant was finally able to understand what it was.
How so fast? The question produced an answer in no time.
Because it’s strong.
A sword that only the strong can see.
The premonition that slowly builds up little by little finally reveals itself as an eerie shock at the end.
The iron mask in front of me was strong. Enough to hide his own strength so that even he, a platinum-plated mercenary, cannot feel it right away. Absolute difference.
The giant only realized that now.
Helmut asked leisurely, raising his sword.
“You can’t even strengthen your eyes, right?”
In the past, Naho’s weak point was also his eyes.
Helmut’s sword, with its vis quivering, stood in front of the giant’s pupil. What remains in front of the quivering pupils is a gap the size of a needle. This is the best position to force them to admit defeat.
The sharp blade of a sword stopping in front of you will freeze the heart of even the most seasoned warrior.
As Helmut had intended, the giant who remained frozen opened his mouth only after a while.
“I lost.”
His voice was so breathless that it was hard to believe that he was the one who had gone berserk and devastated the stage just a moment ago.
Helmut then lowered his sword and returned it to his waist. The giant’s momentum was so fierce that the organizers, who were overwhelmed, reacted late.
“Dark victory!”
Helmut did not offer to shake hands, and Geohan had no intention of accepting one.
However, they received applause after finishing the game.
The cheers of the unidentified man in the iron mask went beyond the stage and filled the sky. As if congratulating him who has emerged as a strong candidate for the championship.
“…damn you little bastard.”
He muttered like a giant was spitting out words. The jawline, the skin under the ear that is revealed at first glance, and the hand. He was a young guy who was clearly inexperienced.
That’s not to say I looked down on him, but I didn’t know he was hiding this much skill.
I can only describe it as an amazing sword. The shock even made me forget my anger.
Helmut, who was about to leave the stage, asked a question he had been putting off.
“So are you going to answer my questions now?”
“question?”
“Have you shaved your head? “I wonder if he was originally bald.”
‘This chewy.’
The giant’s face was cruelly distorted. However, facing the winner’s oppressive gaze that seemed to tell him that he had the right to hear the answer, he couldn’t help but spit it out.
“…I shaved it because I had hair loss.”
The giant’s eyes filled with resentment.
The Iron Mask guy who asks that question even looks like he has a lot of hair!
But Helmut couldn’t figure out why he did that. Helmut tilted his head and turned his back.
The next game was the one he wanted to avoid the most and was expected to be the hardest of the tournament.
After crossing the area, there is the next stage, the final. And in that final, there was the moment he had been hoping for.
