The half-orc came at me fast and swung his, lighting with enchantments.

I could feel the skills behind the attack and knew it would be powerful.

His information says he is a classic strength fighter. Quite good at dealing with someone like me, who uses the speed and the light weapon.

Hun!

I moved to dodge the attack but felt the resistance.

My eyes widened in surprise.

I didn't think, the bastard, have such skill. They are rare; it is hard to get them even after reaching Lv. 30.

They are called battle law skills or battle restrictions skills or simply restrictions skills.

He had used a skill like 'No Retreat' on me.

I could resist the skill, but not enough. It will slow me down, allowing him to strike at me.

That would be bad.

So, I did the opposite and swung my sword forward toward the enemy with Blade Of Gale.

The grin on his face widened, seeing that.

He has me, with such a distance, I can not even avoid his ax. I need to clash against it and braced for the powerful impact.

Clang!

I activated the Quick Parry, the moment our weapons clashed and to my surprise, parried his ax.

He seemed to be surprised too, but reacted quickly by retreating, before moving his ax in front of him to defend.

Clang!

He stopped my attack, before attacking me. His attack is faster and stronger than the last time.

There is also heaviness in it, that I didn't sense before.

I countered, using the Blade of Gale.

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and I felt the power of his attack. He had used that made his attack heavy.

I didn't let the heaviness come at me. It would break my bones, instead used the Quick Parry like earlier to redirect the force.

He tried to stop but failed, and I moved toward him. Like the last time.

He reacted quickly and defended against the attack.

"The information had underestimated you," he said after a moment of silence.

"It always does," I replied.

It does, but this time it didn't. It is kind of accurate; I estimated my strength at the same level as they had said, but now, I am thinking, I might be a little wrong.

"Still, you are weak, and I am going to make you realize it," he said and attacked again.

Hun!

I was hit by the mental skill. Not the one he used last time, but a different one.

Scatterthought or similar, that scatters the thoughts. Distract one from what they were focusing on.

I wanted to laugh.

This is the skill; he shouldn't have used on me. Forget the high mental stats I have. I am using a skill that is the antithesis of what he had used on me.

Focus.

It neutralized the effects of the skill he had used on him.

Clang!

I parried his attack, before going at him, but he was much better prepared and defended quickly before attacking.

He changed his tactics and came from the left.

I didn't move, I just turned and defended against his attack with my rapier.

Snort!

He snorted and attacked again, with his ax being much faster than before.

I used more power of Blade of Gale and defended against it.

Clang Clang Clang!

Our weapons clashed hard and fast. He attacked me from every angle and side with increasing power, but I defended against his attacks without a retreat.

When I first saw his attack, my instinct was to retreat, but here I was fighting without a moving.

At most, I am turning to defend against him.

I am surprised and even shocked, seeing how I am fighting against him.

Forget the injuries. His ax wasn't able to enter my inner range. It was stopped by my rapier every time.

It frustrated him and made him angry before questions rose in his eyes.

"How are you doing this?" he asked, finally. "Skill," I replied, before defending against his attack.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It is the truth, but not the whole truth. The whole truth had surprised, even me, even when I had realized it.

It is training.

I have trained nearly every day with opponents much stronger than me. It wasn't just sparring, but training. I had trained to harness the true power of the skills.

Used them against a different type of people I had fought. Humans, orcs, half-orcs, and even elves.

All of whom I had spared were Lv. 30, and they showed no mercy. Pressed me till I couldn't even get up by the end of the spar and it had helped me.

Polished my skills and combat style to forge what it is today.

This man is strong, but every opponent I had sparred been stronger than him, on both levels, skills, and technique.

I had only fought them in the past month. Now, I am fighting against the enemy, which is considerably weaker than them.

Our weapons kept clashing as he continued with the barrage of attacks, with different skills and techniques.

I only focused on defense, while I read him. Find his limitation.

Now, I don't just want to survive; I want to win, and I can win, but I need to be patient. As there is a huge difference between being able to defend and attack.

"You should give up; you won't be able to last for long," he said, using his mental skill.

This time, he didn't hold back. He hit me hard, with pictures of me tired and bloody appearing in front of my eyes.

"Thank you for the suggestion, but I will fight," I replied.

He gritted his teeth in anger, before appearing to the right suddenly and attacking.

Hun!

His ax turned shiny, before suddenly speeding up and its edge is also becoming sharper. If I am not wrong, he used some sort of weapon skill.

It might be even an ax skill. Whatever it is, I can not underestimate it.

So, I reacted immediately and moved my rapier more defensively. I did it quite fast, almost immediately, as the change had appeared on his ax.

It is all thanks to the Fast Reflexes.

It is my best skill, and I am not saying it lightly. It lets me react at thought speed.

If it were not for it, I wouldn't have been able to fight against the enemy as I am right now. I would have been bloody and tired, as his skill is suggesting.

It is a really powerful skill, and it became more powerful with the support of the Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts Control.

They let me move my body in every angle and side fluidly.

It was really worth focusing on these skills. I am now getting a massive return out of it.

Clang!

My sword clashed before I parried.

It was hard this time, and I felt the pressure on my hand. The weapon skill, he is not only making his attacks powerful but also helping to resist a parrying attempt.

I didn't go for him as I parried and instead moved my sword defensively to defend against another attack.

Minutes passed, and he kept attacking, while I defended patiently.

It's not like, I didn't want to attack. I do, but I know, I have to read the opponent well. See what he has before making my move.

He is showing me everything he has, using mental, physical, weapons, and other skills.

He has really good skills. No wonder, they had sent him for him. I would really like some of his skills, especially the distracting one.

While we are fighting, others are fighting too. More intensely than us.

A lot of people are dying. Soldiers and officers. Even Lv. 30s aren't spared.

'It's time,' I said finally.

It has been over twenty minutes since I have been fighting against him. Studying his skills and techniques, along with his limitations.

It's time, to use what I have learned and finish this battle.

Clang!

I defended against his attack as I usually do, but this time, I didn't move the rapier back to defend against another of his attacks, instead I stepped forward.

I used the Blitz Steps.

I moved left, to avoid his ax, but he isn't weakling. Despite his surprise, he acted fast.

Rip!

I wasn't able to avoid, his attack, and his ax cut through my arm. It had expertly avoided the guard and moved to cleave, my whole arm off.

Unfortunately, his ax was fast, but not fast enough.

I was able to move quickly enough, that I had received a deep cut and burning pain from his pain skill.

As I avoided his ax, I had launched my own attack. I didn't hold back and moved my rapier with the full power of the Blade of Gale.

Rip!

My rapier tore through his chest to stomach.

The cut was long, but not deep, and critical parts were protected by the armor.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't give him a chance. I moved to his right with the Blitz Steps and attacked him again.

Clang!

He defended with his ax, but I parried, going after him. He avoided my sword, by inches.

"Die you bastard!" he screamed and attacked back, with all his fury.

I grinned and swung my sword in repones.

Clang!

I stopped his ax and parried it despite his efforts, before moving to attack.

Rip Rip

He responded immediately, and his ax cut through my stomach, while my rapier gave him a cut across his army.

The battle became bloodier after that as we started trading injuries to finish off each other.

Injuries begin to appear in every part of us. Arms, legs, chest, back, except for head every part of us had become bloody, but it didn't stop us.

It made the battle even more intense.

"I have to say, you are quite strong, but you will lose this battle. As you can see my injuries are healing, but yours aren't," he said and attacked.

He is right about that. His injuries are healing, mine are not.

Healing skills are really rare; in my army of over fifty thousand, only two people have healing skills.

"We will see about that," I replied as I defended against his attack and moved at him, getting a cut on my chest, while giving another cut on his clavicle.

He attacked again, going for my chest, with enchantment blazing.

I swung my sword to counter.

There is nothing special about it. It looked like, hundreds I had tried before, but the enemy was alert as always, to defend against my tricks.

There were no tricks this time, till our weapons were inches away from each other.

When I activated, my second offensive skill.

Clang!

Our swords clashed, as always, but this time, his eyes widened in a big surprise.

I used Mauling Strike, which I have been saving, till now.

I have a few offensive skills. Three to be exact, four if I count the Sharpness. Of the three, Consecutive Strike is nearly useless; that leaves Blade of Gale and Mauling Strike.

I wanted to use it earlier, but I didn't, because it was the only thing, that would give me a chance to kill the enemy.

The enemy was surprised, by Mauling Strike. It sent his ax away, further than he liked.

Seeing that, I smiled and blasted him with the full power of the Lord's Presence and moved forward with every bit of power, I could harness from the Blitz Steps, before attacking him.

His eyes widened in alarm as he tried to retreat and bring his ax forward to defend, but he was slower.

The earlier attack had provided me with a precious fraction of seconds, and I was going to use them.

My rapier reached his chest, and its enchantments flared as it reached his chest.

There used to be a chest place, the enchanted one, but I had broken its straps, making it hang around his stomach.

Puch!

He looked at me in horror as my rapier touched his chest, before piercing inside smoothly and tearing his heart apart.

"No!" he screamed, while I moved, dodging his ax.

Rip!

Though not completely. It had given quite a big cut across my back.

I stopped and looked at him, taking a step toward me, before stopping as the light in his eyes began to disappear.

Even skill can't heal the torn heart.

Pachack!

Seeing that, I felt relieved, but the next moment. I decapitated the body; I didn't want him to rise as the undead in the battle.

As I did with it. I quickly took out the healing potions and spread them across my injuries before dealing with one.

Hun!

I had just finished dealing with injuries and was about to move toward the undead when I felt all the hair rise across my body.

I quickly turned and saw three Magic Bolts coming toward me.

Rip Rip Rip!

I reacted immediately and swung my rapier toward them, cutting three of them.

It immediately broke their structure and turned them into energy.

The mages. I don't like them. I had trained against them, but I rather not fight against them.

Thankfully, the mage who attacked me was already fighting against our mage and used a moment of distraction to attack me.

I looked at him, before moving toward the undead, when I nearly stopped.

There is a message from Valentina. Message I have been waiting desperately for.

It had the words I wanted to hear.

She had succeeded.