Chapter 52
Tap-tap!
The instant the clouds swallowed the moonlight...
Theron's body shot through the darkness.
He's coming straight at me!
Kuarem raised his sword diagonally.
CLANG!
The dagger and longsword collided.
Sparks scattered.
A heavy impact climbed up Kuarem's wrist.
"...?"
What was this weight?
That kind of power should not be possible from the body of a child who had not even fully grown yet.
If he was already this strong...
In the future, he'll become impossible to handle.
But not yet.
The boy was stronger and faster than expected.
Still...
Kuarem believed he had the advantage in technique and experience.
His sword descended diagonally.
SWISH!
A strike from a Three-Star warrior.
A normal soldier would have been split from shoulder to waist.
But...
Slip.
Theron merely stepped half a pace backward.
The tip of Kuarem's sword cut only empty air.
Kuarem's eyes shook.
He dodged? From that distance?
No.
Even calling it dodging was inaccurate.
It felt as though Theron had already left the spot...
Before Kuarem's sword even started moving.
Then...
SLASH!
"Ghk...!"
Blood spread across Kuarem's left sleeve.
He had not even seen the counterattack.
Kuarem hurriedly stepped back to create distance.
"You little bastard..."
He bit his lip, forcing down the sudden surge of anger.
It was only a shallow wound.
There was some bleeding...
But the blade had not scraped bone.
Kuarem's eyes scanned Theron's shoulders and feet.
They were the eyes of a man who had spent decades fighting.
Breathing.
Center of gravity.
Direction of the gaze.
Reading those things and predicting the opponent's next move...
That was how Kuarem had survived all these years.
And yet...
I can't read him.
Nothing.
Theron's breathing was calm.
His center of gravity seemed to rest nowhere.
His gaze remained perfectly still.
It felt like staring down into a deep well in the middle of the night.
Cold sweat ran down Kuarem's back.
Had he encountered someone like this even once in the last two or three years?
But...
Nothing changed.
Kuarem attacked first.
He stepped heavily with his left foot.
His sword aimed high...
Then changed direction midway and cut toward the ribs.
One of his favorite tricks.
More than twenty men had lost their heads to similar feints.
But before Kuarem's sword could complete its path...
CLANG!
"...!"
Theron's dagger was already waiting at his side.
As though Theron had known the sword's final path from the beginning.
He read the feint?
No.
It was more than that.
SLASH!
"Ghk!"
This time...
His thigh.
A shallow but exact wound.
Just deep enough to weaken the leg.
"You damn little bastard!"
Kuarem unleashed a furious series of attacks.
Thrust.
Slash.
Strike.
The swordsmanship he had refined his entire life poured toward Theron like a storm.
But Theron moved through that storm...
As casually as someone taking a walk.
Whoosh! SWISH!
Half a step.
Another half step.
Again.
Every attack missed by the smallest possible distance.
And whenever Theron's dagger moved between them...
Another wound appeared on Kuarem's body.
"Haaah... Haaah... Haaah..."
Kuarem's shoulders heaved.
Blood had already gathered beneath his feet...
Forming a small red pool.
Meanwhile...
The boy in front of him was not even breathing heavily.
Confusion spread across Kuarem's face.
How could this be possible?
Ambushes were one thing.
But...
How can I be losing in a frontal fight?
His ragged breathing...
And Theron's calm eyes...
Answered the question.
Damn it.
Kuarem had not wanted to use something like this against a child.
But he had no choice.
His left hand quietly moved toward his belt.
Three small throwing knives were hidden there.
Each was no longer than two finger joints.
Their edges were coated in poison.
A poison that would stiffen the entire body within half a day from even a shallow cut.
Kuarem was normally too proud of his skill to use them.
But...
Being dishonorable was better than losing to a brat.
Kuarem's eyes turned cold.
Then...
THUD!
"Haaah!"
He shouted loudly and raised his sword high.
An obvious movement.
A strike anyone could see coming.
The exaggerated motion made it look as though Kuarem had been driven into a corner.
But...
Even this was a feint.
If Theron became confident and blocked the strike...
Kuarem would immediately throw the hidden blade into his leg.
One scratch is enough for me to win.
SWISH!
Kuarem's sword came down.
CLANG!
Theron blocked it.
At that exact moment...
Kuarem launched the hidden blade at Theron's thigh with his left hand.
Flick!
A perfect hidden attack.
Almost silent.
No opponent had ever noticed it before.
But...
Tap.
"...!"
The throwing knife was caught between Theron's two fingers.
Theron's eyes had never even left Kuarem's face.
"I thought..."
Theron casually raised the poisoned blade.
"Even if you were nothing but a hunting dog, you still had some pride."
Then he spoke quietly.
"Still, choosing practicality over pride wasn't a bad decision."
The only problem...
Was that his opponent was Theron.
"You bastard!"
That sentence shattered what remained of Kuarem's pride.
His eyes nearly rolled with rage.
He roared and swung again.
WHOOSH!
But an emotional sword could never touch Theron.
Theron had already stepped back.
He watched Kuarem.
It was time to end this.
But then...
HUMMMMM!
"...!"
A faint glow appeared around Kuarem's sword.
It was weak.
But mana had materialized and begun wrapping around the blade.
Aura.
So he possessed strength beyond an ordinary Three-Star.
For a hunting dog operating in some remote region...
He was remarkably capable.
Theron finally understood why Kuarem had bothered him so much.
"I shouldn't have to show something like this to someone like you..."
Kuarem stared at Theron with bloodshot eyes.
"But playtime is over."
Judging from his condition...
He was forcing himself badly.
That was natural.
Aura normally required crossing the wall into Four-Star.
For Kuarem, who still remained at Three-Star, to manifest even a weak Aura...
He's prepared to die.
He was risking his life in this battle.
If the power ran out of control...
The excessive mana flow could rupture his heart.
Kuarem stared at Theron with crimson eyes.
