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"Bang—!!!"
The loud noise echoed in the room! Mengdie's strength had significantly increased compared to three days ago, and with her rock-armored arm, she was confident she could block the strike. But to her shock, the slash was incredibly heavy! Her feet sank into the wooden floor, and her bones ached as if they were about to shatter.
"Little girl... you're quite skilled..."
The raspy voice sounded again, followed by...
"Crack..."
Mengdie's left arm rock armor shattered completely, and the magic shards in her gloves turned to dust, rendering them powerless.
Mengdie was astonished by the opponent's strength. But before she could recover, she was kicked hard in the stomach, sending her flying against the wall. Blood trickled from her mouth as she hit the wall.
"Damn it! If only I could see..."
"What would you do if you could see?"
Before Mengdie could finish, the hunched figure appeared in front of her like a ghost. The old gardener's left hand glowed with a blue light, illuminating both him and Mengdie. The next moment, he transferred the light to his right hand, materializing a blue spirit sword, and thrust it towards Mengdie's heart!
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Pinned against the wall, Mengdie had no way to dodge. She desperately grabbed the sword blade as it neared her heart. Lightning crackled along the illusory blade, resisting the gardener's thrust.
"Hmph."
A light grunt, and the blue glow of the spirit sword intensified. The lightning was quickly dispersed, and with a "snap," Mengdie's right hand's purple magic shards also disintegrated.
Mengdie had gained a few precious seconds. As the shards shattered, she pulled herself up and rolled aside. The spirit sword grazed her underarm, slicing through her clothes and leaving a cut on her chest.
Barely escaping, Mengdie didn't retreat but instead threw a punch at the old gardener's head. His sword was stuck in the wall, leaving him unable to dodge the punch.
To Mengdie's surprise, the gardener calmly watched her fist approach. In an instant, the blue spirit sword disappeared like smoke, plunging the world back into darkness. Mengdie hesitated for a moment in the sudden darkness, and a chilling wind pierced towards her neck.
Instinctively, Mengdie tilted her head, narrowly avoiding the lethal blow, but still getting a cut on her neck. Reacting to the pain, she lunged forward, grabbing the gardener's arm with her immense strength and attempted to break it.
However, instead of the sound of breaking bones, she heard the sound of fabric folding. In the instant before his arm was broken, the gardener had shed his coat and countered Mengdie's unprepared attack.
Mengdie frowned and released her grip, trying to block his attack. To her astonishment, a cold, sharp object pressed against her throat...
"It's over... little girl..."
Over...?
Yes, it was indeed over...
And she had lost.
Mengdie's eyes still showed disbelief, but the cold sensation at her throat was real. The sudden power she had gained was a burden without the corresponding dynamic vision and reflexes. She had lost thoroughly, with no excuses.
As the blade cut her skin, Edward suddenly ran towards the gardener.
"Teacher Saldin? Is that you, Teacher Saldin?!"
Teacher? Edward was calling this near-lethal opponent... teacher?
With Edward's excited shout, the blade at Mengdie's throat trembled and then withdrew.
The crisis averted, Mengdie stepped back, alert to everything in the dark. Apart from Edward's excited voice, she heard nothing else.
A glass oil lamp slowly lit up, held by the hunched, elderly gardener. He lit several other lamps on the walls, revealing that they were in a greenhouse without any plants. The gardener's hand, other than holding the lamp, held a small gardening trowel covered in blood.
Could it be... that the weapon that nearly killed me and Edward was just a small trowel?
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