#58. Creative Solution
I figured bare-knuckle fighting techniques naturally fell under the umbrella of swordsmanship. After all, medieval knights trained in wrestling alongside their blade work, so it wasn't entirely off-base. But deliberately pitting me against them with just a blunted training sword and no armor? Countering with fisticuffs there would be cheating, no question. Even if pounding them with punches and kicks would be way faster than flailing around with a sword that barely scratched them. The whole point was to actually use the damn sword.
Whoosh! I dodged the shadow puppet's blade and gripped my training sword tighter, swinging again.
The puppets' attack speeds weren't anything special. No need for my Instinct skill—I could handle them with pure reflexes.
Crack! The blunted edge struck the puppet's side, but it barely registered any damage. Less impact than when I'd smacked its temple earlier. The torso didn't feel particularly tougher, though. There had to be some condition for dealing damage. Figuring that out was priority one.
Thud! Another puppet lunged at me, this one wielding a hefty hammer. It didn't seem overwhelmingly powerful, but it wasn't so weak that I could tank hits endlessly. With time, more would join in—one by one—until I'd face all five at once. Their skill levels weren't a joke; handling a quintet simultaneously would push even me to my limits. I needed to thin the herd before they all mobilized.
"Hup!" I tensed my muscles and stomped hard on the lunging puppet's footing.
Thud! Of course, my foot passed right through its leg. But I could still crater the ground beneath it. The impact disrupted its balance—waist, knees, even shoulders twisting out of alignment, exposing a glaring opening. I thrust straight for it.
Kwachak! The stab pierced deep into its chest. Not perfect, but effective enough. I didn't know the exact mechanics, but my attack forms were clearly influencing the damage output. Slashes weren't landing well, but thrusts were penetrating better. Time to pivot to stabbing.
I yanked the sword free from its chest and, without looking, whipped it backward.
Clang! It clashed with the axe and sword from the puppet behind me. A chip flew off my training blade. Damn, durability was an issue no matter what. It hadn't even been a proper exchange, and it was already damaged. No way they'd toss me a fresh sword if this one snapped—I had to nurse it along.
But this confirmed their weapons' power output. Yeah, that approach would work.
Iron Wall
I gripped the slightly chipped sword tight and charged the axe puppet. It swung at precise range. Normally, I'd parry or deflect with my blade and counter. But...
Clang! I activated Iron Wall on my left arm and used my forearm as a shield to block the axe. As expected, I couldn't damage their bodies with punches, but blocking their weapons with mine worked fine. Otherwise, their attacks wouldn't land on me either. Weapons were the exception—I'd banked on that.
My arm got a shallow gash from the axe blade, but it was nothing battle-changing.
Kwak! I closed in and rammed the sword into its chest with everything I had. Still middling power, but forcing it in got decent depth. The thrust tilted its center of gravity backward sharply.
Scraaape! I swept my foot wide across the floor. The off-balance puppet tripped into the crater I'd made earlier and toppled. I followed up, driving another deep thrust home. Done.
Kwajik! The shadow puppet, pierced through the torso, dissolved cleanly.
"No EXP, huh." I muttered, pulling my sword free and spinning around.
Time ticked on, and now four puppets moved in tandem. No real threat. I'd already mapped out how to dismantle them.
Clang! I bashed away the lead puppet's weapon with my training sword. Each clash chipped the blade further—durability limits biting hard. Didn't matter.
Clang! Clang! Kang! Ignoring the damage, I pressed one relentlessly, our blades crashing repeatedly until—kang!—the training sword shattered.
Half the broken blade spun into the air. I snatched it mid-flight and jammed it into the puppet's neck like a dagger.
Kwajik! If single hits lacked punch, rapid-fire stabs would make up for it, right?
Stabstabbstabstabstabkwak kwaak! Gripping the raw edge barehanded, I hammered its neck over and over. Weak individually, but hammering the same spot built up damage. Once the blade was half-buried, I wedged the jagged broken end from the opposite side with brute force. Clamping both halves like vise grips, I tumbled back, twisting with rotational force to shear through its neck.
Kwaduduk! More like ripping than slicing, but another down.
The hammer puppet closed fast from behind. I hurled the broken blade half from my left hand at its face. My throwing specialty didn't falter here.
Kwak! Dead center. Not deep, but irrelevant.
"Perfect." I leaped, slamming a dropkick into the embedded blade.
Kwajik! Not hitting the puppet directly—driving the blade deeper with my full-powered dropkick. Another kill.
I recovered the fragment and snapped it into three sharp shards with my fingers, slipping them onto my digits like shuriken or knives for throws.
Two left: the sword type that had stabbed my chest earlier and a fresh spear type. All three shards nailed the spear puppet's legs. Leg strength and mobility mattered for proper thrusts. It still managed a solid stab despite the damage, but its speed halved—glacially slow.
Grab. I hooked the spear against my side and closed distance, slashing its shoulder with the broken sword remnant. I buried the edge deep into key muscle groups, crippling its grip. Then I wrenched the spear free.
This spear was mine now. I hurled it at the swordsman, its sturdy shaft channeling my full strength to punch through its chest. Shadow weapons dissolved when separated from their owners, vanishing right after impact. It reappeared in the spear puppet's hand, but with wrecked legs and shoulder? No chance. A flurry of neck stabs finished it.
Five down, all dispatched uniquely. I'd improvised fast under severe weapon restrictions—better than I expected from myself.
"This is solid training." Perfect for honing adaptability, tailor-made for a solo player like me.
Glancing at Rizmel, who'd been pacing anxiously at a distance while I thought that...
"Oh, for heaven's sake."
Something was wrong—she clutched her face, sighing heavily.
Rizmel inspected the gash on my forearm first—the shallow cut already mostly healed by my Combat Healing skill.
Combat Healing — Active (Minor wounds recovering)
Confirming my arm was fine, she sighed again and yelled.
"That's not how you do it, you muscle-headed rookie!"
"Huh?"
"It's not just the brute-force weapon handling...!"
Rizmel picked up a scattered training sword and tapped the floor, summoning another shadow—just like the ones I'd fought.
She swung lightly at it.
Shwick!
"What the...?" The puppet cleaved neatly in two, reverting to shadow.
"These are designed not to be cut unless you trace a precise sword path."
She summoned more and demonstrated clean slices.
"Exact paths slice them effortlessly. It's a test of refined swordsmanship."
Ah, that explained the varying damage per attack. I'd thought it was testing creative swordplay improvisation.
"But... haa... you're the first to beat them like that."
Still, a win's a win, right?