Chapter 101: Chapter 100 : Debut Match (Part 1)

The battle bell rang out but…

“Huh, they’re not moving?”

The usual sand shifting that had come to be expected around this time was totally absent at this moment. And from the looks of it, they weren’t coming anytime soon. Instead of becoming blue flashes, the fighters chose to exercise caution, not making any drastic movements.

Ralf took in their decision with a look of approval, his assessment of them was raised a few notches.

‘Not bad not bad, the opening is where most mess up. Though…in this case, it doesn’t matter. Well, if they won’t move, it’s up to me.’

Thinking this, Ralf strode forward, but three steps later, he jerked himself to a stop. ‘Better leave this behind,’ he thought before stabbing his sword into the dirt beside him.

He rubbed the hilt gently. ‘I’ll come back for you in time, just give me a minute, okay.’

Abandoning his sword, he resumed his unhurried stride.

Opposite him, Garret, the highest-ranked fighter and impromptu leader of the eighteen person group watched Ralf’s approach with a scrunched up expression.

The experienced soldier had no misunderstanding about what Ralf’s previous action was. He, like every other fighter present, had seen Ralf’s footage and noted the other’s inclination for swords. He and his fellow fighters understood Ralf’s refrain from using the sword as a sign of him holding back. The fact infuriated the group.

However, angry as they were, they restrained themselves. Emotional as they were, they knew that the young man opposite them was something special.

All who had seen the footage would think that, and they, who had seen it dozens of times in the last few hours knew they couldn’t rush in blindly against an opponent of Ralf’s calibre. Thus, plans and tactics were made. They didn’t have much time to work with, but even so, they had managed to come up with several solid ideas.

And now it was time to put them into motion.

‘Kid, I don’t doubt you’re special, but your arrogance will be your downfall.’

Following the thought, Garret’s Psi sent the signal and the group of eighteen moved into their assigned spots. They did so as Ralf did, with their physical limbs. They moved slowly, on edge, ready to react to any sudden movement from Ralf.

But Ralf had no intention of doing anything. After returning to the centre, he waited patiently for his opponents to get into position. He was relaxed, as though at the beach and even went as far as plopping a lollipop into his mouth.

Still, as casual as his exterior appeared, make no mistake, Ralf was in battle mode. His mental cogs were rotating at high speed as they calculated various possibilities. Visions of imagined futures raced through his mind, some brief in nature while others were more lengthy.

‘This is their formation, I see. Not bad,’ Ralf thought as took in the final placements.

His opponents were spread out, leaving a good distance between each other. The formation could be described as a Matryoshka doll but instead of dolls, shapes with every point being taken by a fighter. The first shape was a pentagon, around seven metres off from Ralf.

The next, which engulfed the pentagon was a decagon, where Garret could be found, who Ralf recognized as someone taking the coordinator role. And finally, a triangle, where each fighter practically hugged the wall.

Taking in the formation, Ralf’s mind quickly conjured up ideas on what was to come and made preparations.

The seconds passed by in silence and tension and anticipation continued to rise sharply. The crowd watched with bated breath, vibrating in place, waiting for the inevitable signal to go off.

Three seconds later, Garret determined it was time. Releasing the signal, a blue blaze was ignited in the ring as the fighters’ Psi rushed into action.

The thirteen making up the outside shapes raised their hands and took aim.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish*….

A moment later, clusters of Psi bullets headed towards the centre at high speed. At the same time, the five closest to Ralf activated their Blink Step and charged in as well.

Beset with such a flood of information, your average fighter’s mind would be forced to call it quits. For Ralf though, the torrent couldn’t even provoke a ripple in the still lake that was his mind in combat mode. Processing everything faster than a blink could blink, he quickly formed a plan of action and immediately moved to execute.

*Swoosh*

Using the five as pseudo shields, he did a slight leftward shift to momentarily avoid the stream of projectiles. As he slot himself in that gap, his first attacker arrived.

The boot quickly enlarged in his vision as the attacker soared in with a flying kick. Usually, Ralf would harshly punish such a reckless attack, but attempting to do so now would end in immediate defeat. Instead, using his leftward momentum, he learned back before transitioning into a side flip, dodging the flying kick and giant sword slashing at his legs, simultaneously.

Now, spinning like a propeller, Ralf faced a clap from two giant Psi palms coming from either direction. He reacted at once. Kicking off the air, he sped himself up, narrowly but cleanly avoiding the mighty collision before returning to the ground, right way up. Now, sliding across the dirt, Ralf reassessed his surroundings.

He had escaped the pentagon and was now in the second layer, only five metres away from the nearest fighter. Changes were afoot. He noted that some who made up the second shape were taking to the air, and the three making up the triangle had begun a clockwise dash.

He questioned himself on what to do next in this brief interval. After a quick think, he decided to stick with his initial intention. Decision made, he dashed back towards the centre where he reengaged the close combat quintet.

At his approach, the five fighters responded. They didn’t just charge at him mindlessly nor did they play statues. Instead, after noting Ralf’s position and their fellow fighters, they naturally slipped into an assigned role.

The pair of females closest to Ralf assumed the role of initial attackers and dashed in, one after the other. In the rear, the bunched up trio split, with the one in the middle, staying put while the two on his sides fanned out in a circular manner.

You are reading story The Silver Path at novel35.com

Swoosh!

Flickering right then left, Ralf slipped past the spear thrust, then immediately ducked. Sliding across the sand with a clockwise rotation, the second female’s horizontal slash sailed mere inches over his head.

Slipping past the pair, the still spinning Ralf coated his right arm in hardened Psi. Then, with his turning motion swatted away the descending slash of the previously stationary trio member that had rushed in. Like flowing water, Ralf effortlessly redirected the giant Psi blade off course while simultaneously throwing his opponent’s posture to hell.

With his clockwise momentum and unbalanced opponent, the desire to follow up with a left hook was strong in Ralf, but he resisted. Right now, he had to keep moving. Spinning till he was the opposite way he came, he activated his Flicker and zoomed backwards.

Swish! Swish! Swish!….

A moment later, the area he was in was bombarded by volleys coming from both sides.

Seeing the plethora of cracks on the swordsman’s armour as he bore the projectile attack, Ralf couldn’t help but smirk. ‘They were a bit too eager on that one. Almost did my job for me. Oh-’

His casual thoughts were stuffed away as he registered a new threat in the works. Maintaining his trajectory for an iota, he then did a Flicker backwards.

Swoosh!

A blink later, the air before him raged as a human cannonball zipped past his front by mere inches.

The term ‘human cannonball’ was apt, as within, one would find a fighter scrunched up and encased in the large spherical Psi construct. The fighter in question was one previously part of the outer triangle.

Since the initial bombardment, the trio had been circling the ring on the outside. Moving in three ‘lanes’, they accelerated themselves to several times their normal speeds. Maintaining it, they continued to circle menacingly.

Ralf had been tracking them closely; they were his biggest threat after all. He had a pretty good active defence, but against the high momentum they accrued, he had no option but to dodge. Forget a direct hit, even a tickle would guarantee defeat.

Not hitting its target, the sphere continued on at high speed. The sphere’s 100 m/s plus speed made it impossible for the Rank 4 inside to slow himself down in time before crashing into the wall. But while impossible for him alone, it was perfectly possible with aid. Having gotten in place beforehand, three fighters previously responsible for ranged fire formed a ‘mitt’ and caught their companion.

‘Oh neat,’ Ralf thought as he took in the union technique.

Impressive as it was, Ralf was unbothered. Despite its incredible speed and size, it was pretty easy to avoid for the simple reason that before it could be fired, the team of catches had to form up first. Just sensing that change was all Ralf needed to know to calculate the possible angle and dodge in time.

‘Now if they used something like Twisted Barrel or Turtle’s Slide, I’d have to get serious pretty quickly. Hmm, I guess I’ll show them how it’s done later.’

As he thought this, Ralf was forced to once again evade. Not given a moment to rest, gunslingers’ barrels rushed to lock onto his elusive form. Breaking into zigzags, Ralf slipped past the torrent of Psi projectiles.

The gunslingers were active, moving for better angles and even taking to the air. Near Ralf, one red bandanna wearing gunslinger, frustrated by his continuous failures, dove down from the above while performing a spinning axe kick. Ralf registered him at once and with a deft movement, let him fly past his backside

Boom!

Sand exploded up as the fighter crashed into the dirt. Ralf ignored him as he was forced to dodge. Zigzagging, he navigated through the stream like a fish in water.

‘Damn!’ The red bandanna, now further incensed, sprang out of the self-made crater. Finding his target, he closed in. Not wanting to miss again, he conjured a giant mallet and swung it towards his opponent’s front, horizontally.

Ralf, already shifting backwards, had enough time to dodge, but didn’t, as doing so would cause him to run into fast-flowing traffic. So instead, he summoned his Psi shield to his front and received the attack.

Bam!

Colliding with a loud bang, Ralf’s figure was blown backwards and sent hurling through the air. However, not before the volley had already flashed by.

Flying backwards, he watched as the satisfied looking red bandanna quickly switched back to gunslinging. As his hands shaped themselves into guns, Ralf registered the five behind him, doing the same. At the prospect of being riddled, Ralf’s mind remained nonchalant and untroubled as ever. His boots touched down on the ground and proceeded to draw tracks across the sand.

Already leaned back, Ralf pushed off the air with his palms and threw himself downwards.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*…

Becoming a surface board, Ralf watched as the Psi projectiles zoomed across his vision, many crashing into each other and shattering into dazzling blue particles.

‘Weeeeee, Rei really is missing out. Oh well, more for me.’

Thinking this, Ralf performed a stomping motion, accelerating his sliding motion. With it, he slipped past the row of guillotine-like sword slashes the five, who shifted back to close combat, had directed at him.

Not caring to stay as he was, Ralf’s leg bent and by kicking off the dirt, he did a backflip. Once right way up, his Psi flared and he once again threw himself back into the fray.

The fight continued.

You can find story with these keywords: The Silver Path, Read The Silver Path, The Silver Path novel, The Silver Path book, The Silver Path story, The Silver Path full, The Silver Path Latest Chapter