Chapter 235 – Fast Movements.

Rusty’s frame rose from the smoke. It was not his largest form, nor his fastest. He had chosen to face his enemy in his all-purpose body. The gorge around him was unrecognizable. Stone had been split by magical explosions, and even the reinforced wagon lay on its side, one wheel still spinning lazily. Dead horses steamed in the cooling air. Surprisingly, the chest filled with money remained mostly undamaged.

“What are you?”

At the center of the devastation stood Varkas. His crimson cloak had burned away, and his face looked rugged from the blasts. Blood streamed from a cut across his brow, but with a single swig of a high-quality potion, the bleeding stopped.

A few men remained around him, only six lesser D-ranks and one surviving sub-leader, the strongest among them. These were not Rusty’s concern. Aburdon and Alexander approached in their own frames, moving to intercept them. Gleam buzzed close above, already gathering mana to support the two armored guides.

“Not talking? It doesn’t matter. Once you’re dead, all of this will be over. As long as I’m here, the Black Hounds will always survive.”

Varkas did not seem perturbed by the loss of most of his men. He appeared not to care about them at all. It was as if he saw himself as the true mercenary unit and the others as pawns to be spent in his advance.

Rusty gave no reply. He had switched to his original body. There was no head of Edmund or anyone else to speak for him. He needed all his mobility to win. Varkas, a wind magic swordsman, could not be underestimated. He could punch holes through reinforced steel. Though Rusty had faced him many times in the training chamber, this would be their first true battle.

‘This is it.’

He advanced with a shield and sword in hand. At first glance, he held the advantage. His armored body and defensive equipment should have resisted any cutting or slashing attack.

Varkas lowered his stance. The air around his saber began to twist. Mana gathered along the edge of the blade, no longer as pure mana but as condensed green wind pressure. Strange script shone to life along the steel. Then it surged forward, a burst of compressed wind so dense it became a blade in its own right.

Rusty did not retreat. He braced himself instead. The shield in his grip sizzled with energy as a blue layer of mana formed over its surface to meet the incoming strike. The forces collided, and an emerald glow filled the gorge.

Wind met raw defensive mana. A shriek of tearing air echoed in every direction. The compressed green blade slammed into the shield Rusty held. Even with a skill increasing his weight, his body buckled under the impact as he was driven backward.

‘Heavy…’

That was what Rusty felt. Even though this was only the first attack, his hand was barely able to hold onto his shield. His metal boots scraped against the ground as he began to slide back, but for now his body held firm. The attack subsided, leaving a small scratch across his shield of high-enchanted steel.

‘I do not think I can guard against those attacks forever.’

Rusty realized one thing. These attacks were deadly. If he took one directly to his body, he would suffer serious damage. He had only managed to defend himself because of the defensive enchantment on his shield. Without it, the strike would have pierced straight through.

“So you can block it?”

Varkas’s voice was calm, almost pleased.

“Good. I would have been disappointed otherwise.”

He spoke, then vanished. Rusty was left baffled, but his life detection skill activated almost immediately.

‘On the left!’

He thought it, but it was too late. A crescent of wind carved across his side, the green edge screeching as it bit into enchanted steel. Rusty twisted and raised his sword just in time to deflect the follow-up strike. Sparks burst in a violent arc as the saber clashed against his blade.

Varkas’s movements blurred, as if he were the wind itself. He did not rely solely on powerful saber techniques. Most of his skills focused on swift footwork and precise movement. Every step nearly left an afterimage as the air distorted around him. He was a man on the verge of reaching C-rank, armed with a strong class and high-quality equipment that further enhanced his agility and strength.

Rusty braced for each impact, blocking, parrying, and dodging as best he could. Twilight energy surged through his body as he tried to level the playing field. This was likely his toughest opponent yet, even greater than the undead spider or the summoned monsters he had faced alongside Gwen, and he loved it.

“This is… fun.”

More scratches and shallow cuts appeared across his body, yet he did not falter. He stepped forward to deliver solid counterattacks, and with every passing second, he grew more accustomed to the speed. This was the real Varkas, not the training illusion he had fought before, but the movements and patterns were strikingly similar.

“How are you…”

The mercenary leader jumped back as a blade thrust toward his neck, slicing through the collar of his coat. He leapt away with tremendous speed and paused to glance at the damage to his armor.

“…”

Rusty gave no reply and lunged forward. Though he had no skills that directly increased his speed, he could raise all his stats at once. With Twilight’s Embrace and the Fury skill, he enhanced himself. His movements grew faster and his strikes heavier. Varkas tried to parry, but the force drove him aside like a straw doll. He struggled to steady himself and had to perform a backflip to avoid being hurled into a large boulder.

“How are you…”

The man was clearly shocked by this sudden shift. Yet it was happening. Rusty was growing stronger by the second, adapting to his opponent’s movements at a rapid pace. He dodged attacks as if he knew they were coming and countered with precise cuts, leaving fresh wounds across Varkas’s body. He did not give him a chance to drink another recovery potion as he pushed his opponent to the limit.

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‘There he goes again, but now I know the trick behind it.’

Varkas vanished once more and appeared at Rusty’s right flank. This time, Rusty was ready. His blade met the green enchanted saber in a perfectly timed parry. The technique he had learned while adventuring with Gwen proved invaluable against a man who fought with only one sword.

The clash rang across the battlefield. Steel shrieked against the wind enchanted blade, and for the first time, Varkas lost his footing. Rusty twisted his arm as he deflected the strike, then stepped in and slammed his shield into the man’s gut, sending him flying nearly ten meters.

Though the mercenary captain was fast and powerful, he had one weakness. His constitution was lacking. The blow sent him crashing through loose stone before he rolled into the shattered remains of a wagon. Air burst from his lungs in a ragged gasp. His saber slipped from his grip, skidding across broken rock before embedding itself point-first in the ground.

Rusty did not hesitate. This was the perfect moment, not just to claim victory but to seize something more, a fragment of the man’s power. Throughout the battle, it had become clear that Varkas possessed rare and intriguing skills, and Rusty intended to claim one of them.

He surged forward as Varkas forced himself upright. Blood spilled from the man’s mouth, yet instead of reaching for a potion, he lunged for his weapon. Once again, he used that strange step forward, but this time Rusty was ready.