SHORT SPEARS

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Blood spurted and rained down upon Leonel as his almost foggy violet hair danced. The blood that landed on his head was burnt to ash, but those that fell down his shoulders and body began to cake, falling in a rain of their own.

Leonel took deep breaths, not looking back a single time before he continued forward.

Even in the face of the blood running down his own, his eyes shone like bright torches.

Leonel continued to pass through one statue after another, but his battles were becoming longer and longer, especially when, from time to time, existences of powerful Races would suddenly block his path.

Since the Beastman, no other God Race had appeared, but several Demi-Gods had.

Leonel wasn't too surprised by this. The Beastman had a very unique makeup, and the number of them who used weapons was quite low comparatively speaking. As such, it was far more common for them to use fists, claws, and other techniques. So the odds they would be on this Spear Path was low. When it came to pure Spear Force comprehension, although the Beastman was stronger than the opponents he faced next, he was weaker in terms of spear technique.

It could be said that the Beastman's 'technique" was more just body control, which wasn't really a spear method at all.

It was no wonder why the Idol Battlefield sent him in earlier. But ironically, that made the opponents Leonel faced next even easier to handle and deal with.

None of them could even begin to give him the same challenge that the Beastman had.

But, by the same token, the statues were becoming progressively more difficult. The more stubborn Leonel was about using their own techniques to defeat them, the more he suffered as a result.

The wounds that accumulated along his body were only growing more exaggerated, and it seemed like he might truly collapse at any moment.

Leonel entered a new statue, his breathing somewhat haggard.

'Im?'

Across from him, there was a man. He was quite small and skinny in stature, standing at only 5'6" or so and being quite lanky at the same time.

No, it was lankiness, but his body was extremely compact. He was probably not more than 120 or 130 pounds in total, with most of his mass being made up of lean muscle fiber.

However, what was odd wasn't his looks. He just looked like a normal humanoid, albeit with odd greyish skin.

No, what was truly odd was the fact he was wielding two short spears. And as though those spears weren't enough for him, his back held a holster that fanned out what looked like six more of them. Leonel blinked for a moment before the spear in his hand flickered and split into two as well. Soon, he too had a fan of six short spears on his back.

The spears were maybe four feet or so long, quite short for a spear. At the same time, their blades made up a third of their bodies, making Leonel wonder why this man didn't just use swords instead. The idea of dual wielding spears was stupid to Leonel. Dual wielding required a flexibility that Spear Force didn't usually have.

Even when you were wielding a hyper-flexible spear, the main tenets of Spear Force remained. As much as he didn't understand dual wielding, he understood the need for extra spears even less. Was he planning on losing his spears mid-battle? Or did he plan on throwing them?

Leonel wouldn't mind the latter. As high as his affinity with the Bow was, his affinity for throwing weapons was even higher than that. It was just that the tradeoff in battle wasn't usually worth it for him, so he stuck with the bow.

Suddenly, the man attacked.

'Fast...'

The spear appeared before Leonel's throat in an instant, but his gaze couldn't help but flicker with disdain. He really was wielding the spear like it was a sword.

The moment Leonel had this thought, he ruthlessly stamped it out.

Respect and Persistence.

Leonel's focus returned, and he took a step back, parrying the spear to the side with the flat of one of his short spears. However, the short man's second spear quickly followed up.

The battle quickly became awkward for Leonel. He had perfect control of both of his hands, and he was ambidextrous in that way. But he still wasn't used to using two weapons like this.

Coordinating them into a single rhythm wasn't easy, especially when he was trying to copy an opponent whose style he didn't understand.

If he was just relying on himself, he would have figured it out already. After all, with how many ways

he could split his mind, controlling two weapons was as easy as pie.

But the style of the man wasn't something he could grasp. It wasn't changing constantly, but its rhythm was just... off.

No matter how much he looked at it, it didn't feel like this man was a Spear Force master. It was like he was a Sword Force master who forced himself to use the spear.

Leonel's gaze flickered as a short sword cut across his shoulder. He pivoted to the side and decided to change tactics. Maybe he could get a better understanding of the man's rhythm if he forced him into a defensive posture first.

He spun to the side and thrust a spear right at the man's liver.

To his surprise, the man was even more agile than he expected, leaping into the air barely a half foot and doing a pirouette that caused his blades to clash against Leonel's own not just once, but twice. He landed on the ground lightly and slashed out at Leonel's now completely open chest. Leonel quickly brought up his second short spear but could only block one, despite the fact he had calculated the blocking of both.

However, midair, the man's blades clashed with themselves, changing their trajectory.