I stopped right in front of the enemy and swung my rapier at him using Swift Blade and Weighted Strike.

The man who appeared in front of me was thin and tall, with sun-kissed skin. He had dark black hair and brown eyes that were oozing with confidence.

He is feeling that killing me would be a piece of cake; a task he will accomplish within a second.

My attack was sharp and fast, but I didn’t see any fear in the eyes of the enemy, just a faint surprise before he swung his saber at me.

His saber is fast, faster than the rapier, and it is coming directly from my neck.

My rapier moved toward it when a single saber turned into the four.

All of them feel very real. The way they are shining under the sunlight or how they are cleaving through the air.

I couldn’t find a single flaw in them and that made me panic, but I crushed that emotion immediately before it could fester my heart.

Here, I couldn’t afford to get wrong. A choice is a decision about life and death here.

There is no one here to help me. Everyone is busy dealing with their enemies. The three guards who were around to protect me were fighting against the four enemies.

Jon is keeping the rogue at bay, who is trying with everything they have to come at me.

The same could be said to be true for Stone and Zela. Stone is stopping the leader, while Zela is keeping the enemy mage occupied.

If I want to survive, then there is only me who could help me.

I made the decision in a fraction of a second. Trusting my instinct, I moved my rapier to the second saber.

Clang!

My sword clashed against the saber, and I felt a shock in my arm. The power behind the attack had hit my arm hard.

If it hadn’t been a daily occurrence for me during the training. I wouldn’t have even had a sword in my hand.

Unfortunately, it is not the only thing that came with the attack. No, with it came a cold feeling.

Like a silent blizzard on a moonless night.

For a moment, it was refreshing, but it became rapidly colder. In less than a second, I began to feel like being encased in the ice.

The enemy grinned, seeing me, shuddering, and attacked.

‘It is all in the mind,’ I repeated this sentence in my mind and moved my rapier to defend against the attack.

Once again, a flash of surprise appeared on his face. To him, it seemed like it had barely affected me; except for making me shudder once, raising all the hair on my body up. The skill seemed to have barely done anything.

Well, it is not true; the skill had affected me, but I am bearing its effects, thanks to all the practice I had.

Instructor David and even Jon, made me train under these skills to make me get used to them.

According to Jon, such skills are the easiest to deal with. As their effect is mental and not physical. I have an advantage, with my mental attributes being higher than normal and thus the only thing I need is practice.

That is what I did. I practiced with every type of elemental sensation skill.

From ice to fire to lightning. There are a lot of people in the army who have such skills and I have to take advantage of that and now, it is helping me to bear the effect of the skill.

Clang!

My rapier clashed against the real saber, and relief flooded into my heart, but it was short-lived.

A moment later, I felt like a couple of hot knives pierced into me.

It was extremely painful that I twitched all over and nearly screamed. If that wasn’t enough, those invisible knives began to twist, giving me even greater pain.

The pain from it made my world go blur, and the only thing I wanted to do was scream.

The bastard is using the skill with the torturer’s efficiency.

The places it had put those mental knives, give the greatest pain. On top of that, it is squeezing them agonizingly slowly at speed. That gives me great pain, but also tells me, there is a lot of it that remains and it is better, I give up.

Well, new flash. It is not going to happen.

It attacked again, and I swung my sword in response despite seeing blurry, with teary eyes.

Expecting death to take me in, the next second.

Clang!

My rapier struck the saber, surprising me. I had really thought he would evade my blade. C my head off and prepared to move back with the Rapid Legs, not that it would have helped me.

“The information had underestimated your abilities,” he said in a nasal voice.

“Thank you, and I would be really grateful if you stopped attacking me. I am willing to offer double what they are paying you,” I said, taking a chance.

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I really don’t want to fight the bastard. It is stronger than me and experience seeing how it is fighting. Even with all my levels and talent, he has a high chance of killing me.

I rather not take risks.

The money I could earn, but not life, and if he is willing to listen, I will even give him the cores I have gotten in the dungeon. They are pretty expensive; the latest offer Ethan gave had enticed me a lot.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Adviser, but the only thing I am willing to receive is your head,” he said and moved at incredible speed.

He appeared on my left and attacked me fast, faster than before.

Hun!

I didn’t dare to take the attack so close and decided to dodge with Rapid Legs. Only to receive a surprise, the moment I took the first step.

The ground is slippery. The only reason I hadn’t fallen was a practice against such skill and the Gymnast’s Grace, which advanced from the balance skill.

Rip!

I was not able to move as fast as I had liked to and received a cut on my shoulder.

“Fuck!” I cursed finally.

The wound wasn’t deep, but the pain it caused was so much that I couldn’t help but scream loudly. It is like someone had taken a fistful of the spiciest chilly and rubbed it on the world hard.

Tears started to flow through my eyes again and nose, but before I could move to wipe them, another attack came, faster than before.

Rip!

Its saber hit me again, this time on my face. Giving me a cut across my cheek.

Thankfully, I was able to dodge the wound in time and the wound he was able to give me was small. Still, like the previous wound, it begins to burn white hot, drawing out streams of water from my eyes.

Clang!

Another attack came, but I was able to defend against it, feeling a powerful shock on my arm, when the next attack came, I moved that same arm to defend against the attack.

I have no choice; this pain is too much. I can’t let myself have too many injuries; it will kill me.

Using a hand isn’t much better, but at least, this way, I will be able to live a few seconds longer.

If I am lucky, then a few minutes.

“You know, you should give up. Throw your sword away and accept the sweet death.” He said in a voice sweeter than honey.

I wanted to agree, because I know, despite my struggle, only death is waiting for me.

It is better to accept it quickly than prolong it in the agony.

I was about to throw away my sword. Suddenly, I realized what I was planning to do and my eyes before clear.

I immediately moved my sword to defend against the coming attack, while my heart shuddered with fear.

It was completely unexpected. I had not thought he would use a skill like that.

‘Compulsion Skill,’ I said and looked at the enemy in a new light.

It is quite rare for a combat class to have compulsion skills. It is from his combat class; the flavor of it is clear as the day.

These skills are common in legal and administrator classes. I have one, which is Persuasive, from my Masterful Administrator Class, but really rare in combat classes.

“It is you who should give up. I will pay you good money, more than what they are paying to kill me.” I said with Persuasive.

There was no surprise in its eyes with me using my skill. He likely knows I have it, but I could feel they had become unfocused for a moment.

I wonder what would have happened if the Persuasive would have been at the full power, without any restriction. Since it was an administrative class skill, I was able to harness less than a quarter of its power in combat.

Though if I had survived this, I am definitely going to practice it in combat.

This enemy had shown me a completely different path. That no one, not instructor David, Jon, or other sparring partners, did. Some old Remus instructors had said something about it, but I had forgotten, till now.

With enough practice, I will be able to use more power of the skill.

It will be hard, but it could be done. I had seen Ina do it. During the negotiations, Ina had used the skills of her Madam Class at full power, with barely any resistance.

She had been whittling them down, using them at every opportunity she could in her job, till there was barely any resistance that had remained.

Though her madam and business/admin class had better synergy than my warrior and administrator, it could be done with enough effort and practice.

It will be very hard, but I will do it. The only thing I have to do is to survive; only by being alive, I will be able to achieve that.

A monumental task, with heavy odds, that even I do not have confidence in, but I will give my everything for it.