Chapter 121: I Conceded Three Moves (1)
Chapter 121: I Conceded Three Moves (1)
The opponent stepping up to face Patrick was a Magic Swordsman belonging to the Tower of Truth.
Anyone else might have sighed and grumbled at the appearance of a Magic Swordsman, a pillar of one of the powerful Three Great Powers, but…
“Oh, this worked out perfectly.”
That was Patrick’s reaction.
He had been curious about these Magic Swordsmen anyway.
He didn't even need to mention that brat who claimed to be the Sword Saint’s grandson, and he already had a good idea of what kind of lot the Holy Knights of the Holy Kingdom were.
However, the existence known as a Magic Swordsman was still a mystery to Patrick.
‘Magic itself is something that never existed in the Jianghu.’
Patrick was curious.
Just how strong were these Magic Swordsmen?
And what kind of potential did they hold?
There were many ways to verify this, but wasn't directly clashing with one the best method?
“I am Georg Austin of the Tower of Truth.”
Oh, he was polite.
Feeling a bit impressed, Patrick humored him slightly.
“Patrick Schneider of the Atronia Kingdom.”
“Do not be too discouraged even if you lose to me here. I am a Magic Swordsman who received elite training at the Tower of Truth. Even among them, I am one of the few top-tier experts.”
“Ah… Right. I see.”
I take back the "impressed" part.
This was always the problem with kids from prestigious backgrounds.
You need some physical therapy for proper character development.
‘Don’t worry. Big brother is really good at that.’
Patrick reached his conclusion.
“Got it. Shall we start then?”
“It seems you don’t quite understand. The strength of a Magic Swordsman raised in our Tower of Truth is beyond your imagination—”
“Hey.”
Patrick cut him off.
“Can we just hurry up and fight? Talking too much before a fight is the twenty-eighth thing I hate most.”
“…You certainly hate a lot of things.”
“I’m a bit of a delicate soul, you see.”
Since when did "delicate" and "scumbag" become synonyms?
“Anyway, let’s do this. Come at me.”
As Patrick beckoned with his hand, the Magic Swordsman named Georg spoke.
“Do not regret this! Shurion, Jepal, Brielle.”
At his command, the bracelets, earrings, and necklace adorning his body transformed and enveloped him.
“Ho, three of them…?”
Patrick observed Georg with interest.
The sight of him glowing in three different colors was quite dazzling to behold.
“They say the more Soul Weapons a Magic Swordsman can handle, the more superior they are, right?”
“That is correct.”
“How outstanding is someone who can handle three?”
“…Is that really what you’re curious about right now?”
“Yeah. I’m curious.”
At Patrick’s nonchalant reply, Georg made a sour face and said, “I’ll tell you if you beat me.”
“Really? Then let’s do that.”
Patrick beckoned again and said, “Three moves… Ah, you probably won’t understand if I say it like that. Basically, I’ll give you three free turns.”
“What?”
“Bring it.”
“How arrogant!”
Georg’s expression crumpled into a scowl.
He pointed his sword at Patrick and shouted, “Blow him away, Shurion!”
Immediately, a massive whirlwind, like a typhoon, erupted from his entire body and surged toward Patrick.
Faced with a sharp storm of wind that looked like it would shred anyone caught in it to pieces, Patrick gave a smirk and moved.
Nine Dragons Cloud-Walking Step
In that instant, Patrick’s body blurred and vanished from the attack’s range in a flash.
“Huh!?”
Georg was startled.
Patrick’s presence had completely vanished from his sight. Then, a voice drifted from behind his dazed self.
“One.”
Georg quickly threw himself forward and rolled.
As he hurriedly turned around, he saw Patrick looking at him with a smile, his sword not even drawn yet.
“Urgh!”
In that moment, he realized it.
The opponent really intended to give him three free moves.
“Are you mocking me?”
“It’s not mockery. I just got a bit curious, and honestly, my conscience tells me it’s only right to concede three moves… Well, anyway, it’s something like that.”
“……”
“Anyway, keep going.”
“You will regret this.”
Georg activated another one of his Soul Weapons.
“Jepal, scatter the light.”
A blinding flash of light erupted from his body.
“Whoa!”
“I can’t see!”
Immediately after the flash, which was powerful enough to blind even the spectators, their vision returned to reveal dozens of Georgs.
“What is that?”
“It’s illusion magic using light.”
“I see. So light-attribute magic can be used like that.”
There were some discerning individuals among the audience.
As they said, this was an illusion technique using light magic.
Among mages, it might be considered nothing more than a simple trick, but for Magic Swordsmen, it was a far more useful method.
The illusions made of light had surrounded Patrick before he knew it.
Then, the illusions of Georg, each taking a different stance, closed in on Patrick.
“Georg is trying to end this quickly.”
“He can finish it like this.”
“I thought the opponent was somewhat capable, but this is going to end anticlimactically.”
The Magic Swordsmen from the Tower of Truth watching the match thought it was over.
As far as they knew, this was one of Georg’s sure-win patterns.
Unless one was a Magic Swordsman with the means to launch a wide-range area attack or a 7-Star Knight, it was impossible to counter in that state.
“Here I come!”
Dozens of Georg’s illusions pounced on Patrick simultaneously.
Faced with the onslaught of illusions coming from all directions, Patrick smirked.
“Cheap tricks…”
In that instant, Patrick’s body split into eight, occupying the entire eight-directional range.
“What!?”
The attacking Georg was horrified.
He hurriedly raised his sword to block Patrick’s attack, but it was useless.
The moment he saw two twin swords piercing accurately toward his neck and lower abdomen, he squeezed his eyes shut.
Thwack!
“Gah…!”
Georg felt something strike his chest with immense force and was sent flying backward.
After tumbling on the ground for about three meters, he hurriedly scrambled to his feet and gasped.
“Are… are you also a Magic Swordsman?”
“No, I’m not?”
“Don’t lie to me! Then what was that illusion technique just now?”
“What illusion technique…?”
With a smirk, Patrick’s body blurred slightly.
When he reappeared, he was to Georg’s left.
“Urgh!”
Georg swung his sword reflexively.
However, his sword passed right through the Patrick on the left, and instead, a voice came from behind him—or rather, from the right of where he had originally been standing.
“You can pull off afterimages like this with pure technique. The key is speed and tempo. And properly distributing the lingering scent of your Qi.”
“……?”
Georg stared blankly at Patrick’s words.
What Patrick just said was something he had never heard in his life.
Just like when he attended a high-level mage’s theory class, he couldn't follow it at all.
“Anyway, one move left. Give me the best attack you’ve got.”
At Patrick’s words, Georg bit his lip hard.
“Fine. Don’t regret it.”
A powerful Aura flared up on Georg’s sword for the first time.
‘Is he around 4-Star?’
It seemed he had trained diligently as a pure swordsman, not just as a Magic Swordsman.
And that wasn't all.
“Shurion, dwell within my blade. Jepal, scatter the light. Brielle, dwell within me.”
Three lights erupted even more intensely from his body.
Wind blades were layered over his Aura, and dozens of clones were created.
Simultaneously, all the clones began to move irregularly in all directions, teleporting through space.
‘Oh… this is actually pretty cool.’
He had heard that mages could move through space.
However, he had also heard it was impossible unless they were high-level mages who specifically studied spatial magic.
But Georg’s Soul Weapon, Brielle, was a rare one that utilized spatial magic.
While his actual body continued to move through space, the light-based illusions showed the same movements.
On the stage, dozens of Georgs flickered in and out of existence in an instant.
“This is insane. How are you supposed to beat that?”
“Is that man the secret card the Tower of Truth sent to this Arcana?”
“It certainly seems so.”
The audience marveled, and the competing contestants looked troubled.
The contestants agonized over how they would deal with that if they were in Patrick’s shoes.
Though they were talents handpicked from various nations across the continent, there weren't more than five men present who were confident they could handle Georg’s technique.
“Now, here I come!”
At Georg’s declaration, Patrick smirked. He drew his twin swords for the first time and said, “Bring it.”
The moment he finished speaking, dozens of Georgs attacked Patrick simultaneously through space.
While only one of them was real, to the observers, it looked as if dozens of Georgs were attacking Patrick at once.
And in the next moment…
Twin Dragons Eight Sword Styles
Fifth Form
Dragon Scale Whirlwind
A wind far more massive and violent than the whirlwind Georg had used enveloped the entire stage.
It was a finishing move that manifested Sword Qi into the shape of a cyclone, rather than wind created by magic.
In other words, every single strand of this wind was Aura.
“Guaaaargh!”
Boom!
Georg was sent flying back like a child hit by a carriage.
Collapsing on the floor, he looked at Patrick with a horrified expression and gasped.
“This is… Tornado Storm! Are you truly a Magic Swordsman?”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Why are you giving weird names to another sect’s technique?”
“…What you just used wasn't magic?”
“Nope. I’ve never even learned magic.”
“That… that can’t be. You clearly just…”
“Ah, enough.”
Patrick cracked his neck from side to side and said, “As a senior of the Jianghu, I conceded three moves.”
“Huh?”
What was that?
He didn't know what it meant, but he had a bad feeling.
As Georg tried to back away hesitantly, Patrick gave him a bright smile.
“Therefore, I declare that all the violence that occurs from this point forward does not go against justice.”
No.
That’s not it.
Originally, conceding three moves to a junior was an act of mercy from a senior and meant to help the junior grow their talent.
It was absolutely not a license for justified assault. It definitely shouldn't be…
“Here I gooooo!”
In this moment, the principles of the Jianghu truly fell to the ground on the Pangemonia continent.
“Gah!”
Georg was horrified by Patrick’s form, which had closed the distance in an instant.
He had to respond somehow, but his entire body froze, completely caught off guard.
In Georg’s vision, Patrick’s fist grew larger and larger.
Crack!
“Agh!”
As the fist that had slammed into his face pulled away, thick blood trailed after it.
Then Patrick spoke.
“How can you lose focus just because you got hit once?”
The continuous attacks followed…
Thwack! Crack! Bam!
He struck the thigh with the flat of the blade, stomped on the opponent’s foot, and then bashed the head again.
The powerful barrage brought tears to Georg’s eyes. But…
“Haaah!”
He forced himself to swing his sword.
Funny enough, at this moment, the advice Patrick had given was worth following faithfully.
If he didn't counterattack, he would only suffer more.
So he had to counter—
“Too clumsy!”
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
‘I… I should be getting hit less…’
Why was he getting hit more?
He couldn't understand it.
All he could hear now was the boisterous laughter of something evil and the extreme pain spreading throughout his body.
“This brat, how dare you throw a tantrum while an elder is educating you! A tantrum!?”
Crunch! Snap!
“The skill of a Magic Swordsman? The Tower of Truth? You brat, is this all you’ve got? I hate punks who act arrogant without knowing their own place thirty-ninth most!”
Bam! Pow! Crash!
“Hahahaha! This is fun!”
Crunch, snap! Thud thud thud thud!