Chapter 65: The Freya Ducal House 7
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: The Freya Ducal House 7
Fine, I’ll admit it.
With a sword, I’m absolutely no match for Askal.
But does that hurt my pride?
Not a chance.
In the first place, it would be weirder if I actually beat her in swordsmanship. My specialties are my acting and mind games, not the blade.
Askal looked warily at the sword-stick in my left hand and the four daggers in my right.
"So that was a sword?"
"Oops! You caught me."
"So you were lying to me earlier?"
"It just kind of turned out that way."
"Are you planning to swing those daggers, too?"
I rattled the daggers in my right hand, making sure Askal got a clear look at them.
"Not exactly...!"
Then, I launched a dagger in a surprise attack.
Whiz—! Clang!
The blade flew toward Askal at high speed, but she deflected it effortlessly with her sword.
"I still have three left."
Swish. Whiz. Swish.
I threw the remaining three in rapid succession.
I might have zero pride in my sword skills, but I take great pride in my throwing. Each of the three daggers traced a different trajectory as they whistled through the air.
Askal deflected the first with her sword. With a sharp clang, the dagger bounced off her blade and collided with another flying in a curve, sending both clattering to the floor.
The final dagger lunged for a blind spot, but Askal dodged it with a simple, slight tilt of her head.
She did all of this without moving a single step from her spot.
"Is that all?"
Askal spoke provocatively, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
If that had been enough to take her down? I wouldn't have believed it myself.
"Ayy~ Of course not."
I held my right hand out and snapped my fingers repeatedly.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.
Every time the sound echoed through the training grounds, a new dagger appeared in my hand.
To be precise, I was simply pulling daggers out of my Pocket Dimension to time with the snaps. But from Askal’s perspective, it looked as if I were manifesting weapons out of thin air with every click of my fingers.
"How many daggers do you think I can 'create'?"
Once again, four daggers flew at Askal, each following a different path. But once again, she either swung her sword or tilted her head to dodge them all while staying rooted to the spot.
"How many do you have to throw before one hits?" she asked.
Snap.
"If I keep throwing them, won't one hit eventually?"
Clang!
"Do you think I'm just going to stand here and take it?"
After deflecting the latest projectile, Askal kicked off the ground and lunged at me. I immediately used Shadow Step to widen the distance.
Snap. Shook— Clang!
I threw another dagger while maintaining the gap.
"Tsk."
Throwing a dagger with pinpoint accuracy while moving with Shadow Step—that was one of my many specialties.
Earlier, Askal had countered my Shadow Step by charging at high speed and unleashing a relentless onslaught that made it impossible to even initiate the technique.
But she couldn't do that now. While I could maintain my speed while throwing, Askal’s momentum dropped every time she had to stop to deflect a blade.
Snap.
Shook— Clang!
Snap.
Shook— Whiz.
Snap.
Shook— Clang!
Snap.
Shook— Clang!
The only sounds in the training grounds were the snapping of fingers, the whizzing of daggers, and the clanging of Askal’s sword. The sound of footsteps was drowned out, lost beneath the rhythmic clashing of metal.
"How long do you think you can keep moving like that?"
Patter, patter, patter.
Askal spoke as she gave chase.
"Well, I'm not tired yet. I think I could keep this up for a few hours."
Snap. Shook—
I replied while letting another one fly.
If it had been the me from before I entered the Academy, I wouldn't have been able to sustain this for long. However, thanks to the elixirs and my morning training, my stamina had grown exponentially.
Of course, Askal wouldn't get tired from just this, either.
But my target isn't her stamina; it's her mind.
I didn't expect Askal’s boulder-like mental fortitude to crumble from just this. But it was enough to cause stress.
Since the sparring match began, I had been planting seeds of frustration by using Shadow Step to make things that should have been reachable, unreachable. Askal had tried to break the technique by cornering me, but my dagger throwing had made even that impossible now.
An infinite barrage of daggers.
In reality, the number of daggers in my Pocket Dimension was finite, but Askal didn't know that. It was already hard enough to land a hit with a sword at close range, and now even closing the distance had become a chore.
Even if she wasn't consciously aware of it, a subconscious desire to end this match quickly was taking root.
That was why, when I had lunged earlier as if I were going to deliver an all-out strike, Askal had tried to counter instead of dodging.
Just as even the hardest rock is worn down by the relentless crashing of waves, the stress I was providing would create a small crack in Askal’s resolve.
I continued to retreat using Shadow Step while throwing daggers.
This should be enough.
Askal was watching my hand—specifically, my fingers.
Because every time I snapped, a dagger appeared. I had been snapping my fingers this whole time even when I didn't need to, just for this. To plant the idea in her head that when he snaps his fingers, a weapon appears.
One last time.
I didn't have many daggers left.
Snap.
I threw a dagger at Askal while retreating with Shadow Step.
Clang.
Askal hesitated for a split second, deflected the dagger, and then charged at me again. I had been retreating this whole time, but this time, I charged toward her as well.
Askal flinched when I lunged back at her. She immediately took a stance, but her reaction was just a hair slower than before.
Snap.
I snapped my fingers while running, pulled a dagger from my Pocket Dimension, and gripped it in my right hand. Then, I pulled my right hand back, taking a posture as if I were about to throw it at any moment.
Seeing that, Askal braced herself to deflect the projectile. But instead of the dagger in my right hand, I threw the sword-stick in my left.
The sword-stick left my hand and tore through the air toward her. It didn't trace a flashy trajectory like the daggers, but it couldn't be deflected as easily, either.
CLAAAAANG—!!!!
Unlike when she deflected the daggers, Askal swung her sword in a wide horizontal arc to knock the heavy sword-stick away. The collision rang through the training grounds with a sound so loud it made my ears go numb.
Flash!
The moment Askal swung her sword, I kicked off the ground to accelerate even further. I lunged at her and swung my dagger toward her exposed body.
Clang!
But as if she had anticipated it, Askal swung her already-extended sword back in the opposite direction. To reverse the direction of a full swing mid-motion required monstrous strength.
The small dagger in my right hand couldn't withstand the force of her blade and was knocked to the floor.
"Good work, Loki."
Askal’s sword didn't stop there; it came down toward me in a crushing overhead strike.
I was waiting for this.
The moment when Askal’s sword would reach me faster than I could snap my fingers.
The moment when she felt certain she could end the match.
This time, I didn't bother snapping.
I immediately summoned a dagger into my right hand and aimed for Askal’s unguarded face.
Askal’s expression turned to one of pure shock when a dagger appeared in my hand without a snap.
I was certain. Her sword wouldn't be able to deflect this.
I was certain. She wouldn't be able to dodge it.
Crunch!
But my blade didn't end the match.
"Haha..."
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Askal had reinforced her teeth with mana and bitten down hard on the dagger flying toward her face.
It was insane reflexes and sheer, unadulterated guts.
I picked up the sword-stick from the floor and backed away.
"It doesn't look very tasty, but I have to ask just in case. What does a dagger taste like?"
While my mouth cracked a joke, my mind never stopped calculating.
Is the first plan a failure?
I really wanted to end it with that.
Now, Askal would doubt everything about me once again. In this situation, rather than hiding my abilities, the right answer was to confuse her by showing her something entirely new.
"Shall we get serious now?"
I had been serious from the start, but I spoke with a thick layer of bluff.
I didn't bother snapping my fingers. Askal had already realized that the snapping meant nothing.
I visualized the image in my head and unleashed an illusion.
Nine more versions of me appeared in the training grounds.
"Hmm..."
I looked at the nine doppelgangers I had created.
And I pondered.
Thanks to the elixirs, my mana had increased to an incomparable level. I had never succeeded before, but the feeling right now was perfect.
I usually hate acting before thinking, but this time, I decided to just go for it.
With the nine doppelgangers already active, I created ten more.
Twenty of me now stood in the training grounds.
"""""""Now~ which one is the real one?"""""""
And twenty of me threw twenty daggers at Askal.