Chapter 356: 356. All-out Attacker

The tournament, rather the festival itself, was a clear indication of the hostilities between guilds and individuals. This was one of the few times that part of the city’s restrictions were lifted, allowing people to act on emotions they kept in check for the rest of the year. The city guard, the overseer, the domain guardian controlled by the Lord Mayor himself, ensured the calm that Nerosal enjoyed. Apparently, all that was a forced calm, and the festival played a far greater role than Dallion had thought so far. It didn’t only serve to pick up the mood, it also served as a pressure valve. Unfortunately, Dallion appeared to be caught in the crossfire between guilds.

The person who was going to face him didn’t have anything against Dallion per se—he barely knew him. However, it was enough that Dallion was part of the Icepicker guild. Having him “humiliate” Mord was also a significant factor. As a result, the sight was going to be more difficult than expected, and with a mage around, the Flameforger could be as brutal as he wished.

Know anything about him, Nil? Dallion asked as he made his way to his section of the battle grid.

No, which means he’s no one significant, the echo replied. Aside from the obvious, you shouldn’t have too much trouble facing him. As long as you stick to a good strategy, you’ve nothing to worry about.

That was easy for him to say. The echo wasn’t about to face a goliath the size of a mountain. Normally, in the world of awakened, size and muscles weren’t a deciding factor when it came to strength. The almost supernatural abilities allowed people to use stats to achieve far more than training could. However, as Vend had told Dallion, physical exercises helped a lot. His opponent being strong didn’t just mean he had spent a lot of time exercising every day, it meant he had spent just as much time fighting in the realms.

The stands of the arena were packed more than ever. Those who, for some reason, had missed the previous two days had joined in there now, eager to see the “real” fights. In a way, Dallion could understand them. Having the combat grid four times as large provided a much better view, not to mention that there were far less people to pay attention to.

Not too far from the nobility sections of the arena, Dallion noticed the general. The man looked as smug as always, constantly accompanied by his two fury bodyguards. He seemed rather popular, for he was chatting with a lesser noble. Upon seeing Dallion, the general smiled, then raised a glass of wine in his direction.

“That your patron?” Dallion’s opponent asked.

“Something like that,” Dallion whispered. He really didn’t want to think of the general as a patron, although that was a valid description for the moment.

“I’m sorry for him.” The large man grunted and drew his sword.

Unlike what Dallion would have expected, his adversary had chosen a pretty basic setup: a sword and a shield. Examining them with his music and forging vision had revealed nothing unusual. What was more, Dallion had even had a brief conversation with the items while in the waiting room, to little avail. Both the shield and sword were veterans and, as such, were both laconic and loyal to their owner.

Once all the fighters were in place, a silence filled the arena. As before, all heads turned in the direction of the countess. The noble smiled, leaned back, then flicked her fingers. Chaos followed.

Two hundred and fifty-six fighters split into instances and charged forward. Dallion was one of them.

Given the size of his opponent, Dallion had resorted to a strategy of evading and counterattacks. That turned out to be easier said than done. The mountain of flesh turned out to be quite nimble on his feet. Considerably faster than Dallion, he engaged in a multi-attack that halved Dallion’s health in three out of five instances. In the remaining two, Dallion managed to leap back out of danger, though just barely. The attack didn’t stop there. The man used the initiative to do a series of piercing strikes, ending with a shield thrust.

He’s an all-out attacker, Nil said. The shield is just for show. He’s no intention of guarding with it. For him it’s just another weapon.

An all-out attacker, Dallion thought. If so, that meant his opponent would keep on attacking non-stop until he won or was defeated. What Dallion found alarming, however, was that for the moment he had only seen the man perform basic attacks. There was no telling what other skills and tricks he had.

Dallion concentrated. The opponent’s actions slowed down to a crawl. For a second Dallion was able to see the intent of his opponent, and that wasn’t all—he could sense several metal weapons hidden among the man’s clothes: daggers, disks, and a large bracelet wrapped around his left biceps.

In a fight against a guardian Dallion would always either take the initiative, or use his guarding skills until he got an advantage. In this case, he decided on another approach.

Get ready, Lux, Dallion thought, and slashed at his enemy with the harpsisword.

Dallion knew that the attack would be deflected. The whole point was for him to see exactly how it was going to be handled, and he wasn’t disappointed. In the four instances he had split into, the blade almost reached its target before the enemy reacted. Not once did the large opponent resort to echoes of his own, instead his body twisted twice as fast as his previous instances. In two cases, he grabbed Dallion’s arm, breaking it on the spot. In another, he hit Dallion in the thumb with the hit of his sword, before letting him go and snatching Dallion’s own harpsisword. Finally, in the last instance, he slammed the shield into Dallion, throwing him back.

In each of the cases, there was pain. However, Dallion had gotten exactly what he wanted, or sort of. By the looks of it, this seemed to be a battle of strength and tactics. Even so, Dallion remained somewhat skeptical.

Letting himself be disarmed, Dallion lifted his left foot. After the events in the last two rounds, he had moved the kaleidervisto from that boot to the other. His action prompted an immediate reaction. Armed with the harpsisword, the large man swung at Dallion’s left calf with the clear intent of chopping it off. However, when the sword made contact, nothing happened.

For Dallion it was as if a blunt block of Styrofoam had hit his leg. For a moment, surprise appeared on his opponent’s face.

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Perfect, Dallion thought. Taking advantage of the situation, he leapt in the air, following up with a roundhouse kick. His boot landed on the other’s cheek, making him fly back and onto the ground. The haprsisword slid out of his hand, but Dallion didn’t reach to grab it. Instead, he drew his whip blade and slashed at his opponent, extrending it in the process.

While slightly dazed, the man remained skilled enough to react, blocking the attack with his shield. A moment later, he split into three instances, each jumping back to safety. Two daggers were now visible in his hand, electric sparks jumping from one blade to the other.

That was beyond reckless! Nil shouted in Dallion’s realm. When I said that I believed you’d win without issue, didn’t mean that I encouraged you to throw all caution to the wind. What would you have done if he had chopped off your leg? Even magic isn’t omnipotent.

I knew that Harp wouldn’t hurt me, Dallion replied. I counted on it.

If you ever survive to reach fifty, you’ll become a force to be reckoned with. However, the way you’re going, that’s a pretty big if! How can I drill this in your mind? You’re not immortal, you’re not invincible! You’re barely taken your first step along the path of power.

I know, Nil, I know. However, I need to take risks to continue forward.

“Was that it?” Dallion asked, adding anger in his words. “After all that talk, I thought you’ll prove more of a challenge. All you’ve done so far was try to disarm me and get kicked in the head in the process.”

“It won’t work,” the man replied. “I know about your music skills.”

And still, Dallion could clearly sense the anger within the man. After all, there was more to a taunt than music skills, and as much as his opponent was trying to hide it, that anger was leaking out. On the surface, the man might well be stronger than Dallion, but he had so many flaws disrupting him, that he felt a much easier opponent than Elvira, or even Mord. Was it possible that Dallion had grown so much in just two days?

The crowd around was going wild. A few of the fights had finished with an overwhelming victory for one side. For the most part, though, the pairings were evenly matched. Taking advantage of the increased space, the participants engaged in long and short ranged attacks. Acrobatic attacks were more the norm than the exception.

At this stage of the tournament, the betting had become more brazen. Now that bookmakers had seen enough to make adequate predictions, they were moving about the stands offering odds. The city guard didn’t bother to stop them, if anything, they were probably annoyed that they couldn’t bet as well. Only the area around the overseer remained out of bounds.

“You’re worse than Mord,” Dallion laughed as he clashed against his opponent.

The two had kept exchanging blows for over ten minutes now. There was nothing particularly flashy in the way both fought. To Dallion’s surprise, the Flameforger had turned out to be quite straightforward, relying on brute force attacks combined with counterattacks. The combination seemed strange when said out loud, but considering he had limiting guard skills, it made sense. All he could do was attack and counter the counter.

Pay attention to the patterns, Nil said.

Got it, Dallion replied. He was in the unenviable position to constantly and try to disrupt the attack sequences of his opponent. Tricks didn’t help here, and for the most part, neither did combat splitting. If the mountain of muscles managed to complete an attack chain, he would instantly use its bonus to make his attack fiercer to the point that even Lux wouldn’t be able to get Dallion out of trouble fast enough.

As the fight dragged on, Dallion was incredibly pleased he had improved his body after his last level up. If he hadn’t, he would probably be out of breath at this point. The really annoying part was that as a pure attacker, the Flameforger hadn’t invested in anything else. Being allowed to participate in the tournament he had to be less than level forty. Given a few achievements, that meant his body was at least that much as well. By all accounts, perception seemed to be his greatest weakness, but with his speed was far too great for Dallion to take advantage.

You have to make your move, Nil said. If you continue like this, you’ll lose the fight for sure.

What do you think I’ve been trying to do? Dallion leapt in the air, attempting another attack from above. His whip blade danced in the air, sending dozens of slashes towards the ground, but other than dust little was achieved. The Flameforger had parried most of the attacks, filling the air with miniature lightning.

Why isn’t he using the blades on me? Dallion asked.

Because they aren’t meant for you, Nil replied. They only affect guardians.

In what way?

They wound them directly. If your guardians weren’t as strong as they were, they would have been dead already. That’s why I told you it should be easy for you to handle him. His method of fighting doesn’t focus on his enemies, but their weapons. Once they have crumbled to pieces, he has the advantage.

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