Chapter 31
Following Arrelia, Jade wore an expression of genuine envy.
At the same time, he was reminded once again of how vast the world was.
There probably weren't many people as strong as Arrelia, but there had to be quite a few who came close.
There were probably elves even stronger than her.
“It's not always a good thing. We may be more warlike than other elves, but that doesn't mean we're no longer elves. There are War Elves who dislike fighting, too. Some spend their entire lives without fighting and eventually return to nature. In that respect, we're similar to humans. Not all humans are vicious and destructive, after all.”
“That's true.”
There were certainly kind and good-natured humans.
It was only that evil people stood out more than such individuals.
“What do you think of this place?”
“It's suitable.”
“You can use your full strength here without worry.”
After arriving at a basin surrounded by mountains, Jade slowly surveyed his surroundings.
The area was so flat that it looked like a plain at first glance, but he felt he would never have found it if he had searched from below rather than from the sky.
Jade nodded at the place, which surely could not be seen from the surrounding mountain peaks.
No one outside could see this place, even if they wanted to.
“You managed to find a place like this.”
“The royal palace felt stifling, so I often wandered around while taking walks. The other members of my kind probably know about it, too.”
“Shall we begin?”
“Sounds good.”
The two sylphs were dismissed.
Whid, who had been nestled in Jade's arms, also retreated with Silestin and Elestra.
Since this was a duel between Masters, all three of them moved as far away as possible.
But all three pairs of eyes were shining brightly.
-Go, Jade! Go, Jade!
Kkyuuu! Kkyuuu!
In time with Silestin's enthusiastic cheering, Whid flapped its wings and excitedly waved its two forelegs.
It was cheering energetically for Jade's victory.
“Oh my.”
Arrelia, who had drawn her twin swords and was loosening up, smiled softly at the sight.
It was simply too adorable.
The adorable cheering of the cute baby gold drake made Arrelia forget all about the tension and merely smile.
“Hehe!”
The same went for Jade.
Arrelia couldn't hear Silestin's cheers, but Jade could hear every word.
Because of that, he couldn't help chuckling.
“Whid really is adorable.”
“You'd change your mind if you saw Whid fight.”
“Oh, that's the same for every species. And Whid is genuinely quite gentle for a drake. There are so many ferocious monsters, even among those tamed by humans.”
“That's true.”
Jade nodded as he drew the sword made from a black drake's teeth.
At the same time, he activated the mana within his body.
He was warming up the mana he had kept in reserve so that he could use it at any moment.
“Lord Jade, you're truly amazing. It's not easy to control mana that finely. Even elves can't take it to that level.”
“I've been lucky in many ways. I had an opportunity that set me on this path.”
“Is that so?”
Arrelia's eyes sparkled at the word “opportunity.”
But she did not ask any further questions.
Instead, she slowly drew up her mana just as Jade had.
“It looks like we're both ready, so shall we begin?”
“Then I'll go first. I was the one who asked for this.”
“If we're talking about skill, shouldn't I make the first move?”
“Hehe!”
Instead of answering, Arrelia lightly kicked off the ground.
Yet despite her incredibly light movement, her body shot forward at a terrifying speed.
In an instant, she had reached the tip of Jade's nose.
Whoosh!
At the same time, her twin swords danced through the air.
The two swords, so identical they looked like twins, relentlessly targeted Jade's body.
Arrelia's precise, swift swordsmanship, performed with the flexibility unique to elves, made Jade's eyes ache for a moment.
‘Even after seeing it twice, it's still disorienting.’
Her swift swordsmanship, wielded with her long, freely moving limbs, was threatening even though this wasn't the first time he had seen it.
In particular, although she swung two swords of identical length, their trajectories never overlapped.
Rather, they came flying in succession, making the attacks even more powerful.
Clang-clang-clang!
But Jade was no pushover either.
With his single sword, he effectively blocked Arrelia's attacks.
Moreover, when it came to physical ability alone, Jade had nothing to envy in her.
No, his physical strength was actually superior.
Clang!
He had realized that after several exchanges, so Jade put all his strength behind his sword.
He was waiting for the moment when her two swords crossed perfectly.
“Hup!”
Arrelia, whose light body also weighed less than Jade's, was knocked backward by the powerful blow.
Even though she had instantly summoned mana to strengthen her physical power, her body was pushed back helplessly, and Arrelia bit her lower lip.
As someone with a strong competitive streak, she was offended at being pushed back so easily.
Fwoosh!
But she had no time to continue thinking.
Jade's relentless assault left her no room to think.
Boom! Crash!
Arrelia's body staggered beneath Jade's single sword, filled with aura.
That was how formidable the aura in Jade's sword was.
With his body weight behind it as well, blocking it with one hand was difficult.
‘Why does it feel like he knows my swordsmanship?’
As wave after wave of attacks raged like a storm, Arrelia narrowed her brows.
The more their swords clashed, the stranger the feeling became.
Arrelia found it unsettling to feel as though Jade knew her swordsmanship inside and out.
‘He might have seen it on the battlefield, but is it really possible to understand it this well from seeing it just once?’
After asking herself that question, Arrelia shook her head inwardly.
Her specialty was light and dazzling swordsmanship focused on variations, performed with twin swords.
Because of that, she had more confidence in her variations than anyone.
Yet that specialty was not working particularly well now.
‘And he's very good with his left hand.’
Arrelia's eyes sharpened.
There was a clear reason why she could not take advantage of her weapon despite using twin swords.
Jade was so skilled with his left hand that she could not make use of her weapon's advantage.
Pfft-pfft-pfft!
Since he kept harassing her with a strange technique that involved flicking his fingers, Arrelia couldn't swing her swords as she normally did.
Whenever she tried to unleash anything, he disrupted her at an uncanny timing, so she couldn't do what she wanted even when she tried.
‘But it's not as if I have no options.’
Arrelia's momentum changed despite having been driven entirely onto the defensive.
With a heavy resonant boom, aura blades surged from her twin swords.
She had finally begun to use her true power.
Hummm!
As if responding, Jade also raised an aura blade.
Before long, three aura blades collided in midair.
Kraaang!
With a collision far louder than anything before, the earth was torn apart.
Yet the two people who had collided simply swung their swords again, as though they had been completely unaffected.
Boom! Bang!
The clash of overwhelming power repeatedly produced thunderous explosions.
The atmosphere also began to change gradually.
Arrelia, who had been on the defensive, was quickly regaining her momentum.
As if declaring that she would no longer hold back, Arrelia swung her swords faster and faster.
“Tsk!”
When the twin swords, already fast to begin with, became even faster, urgency appeared on Jade's face.
He tried to harass her by firing the finger wind he had practiced with his left hand, but it was useless.
No matter how much aura the finger wind contained, it was powerless against a fully manifested aura blade.
Moreover, just as Jade was becoming accustomed to Arrelia's swordsmanship, she was becoming accustomed to his as well.
Clang!
Jade blocked the sword tip that stabbed in like lightning by raising aura around his left arm.
He defended himself by creating a small barrier, much like a protective aura.
But the aura blade was so powerful that the moment they collided, countless cracks spread across the circular aura barrier.
‘Is it the difference in experience?’
As the flow of the battle clearly shifted away from him, Jade gave a wry smile.
He had known from the beginning that Arrelia was strong.
He also knew that the number of years she had spent training with a sword was incomparably greater than his own.
But now that he was actually being driven into a disadvantage, he couldn't hide his bitter feelings.
‘But I won't lose easily.’
Not all Sword Masters were equal simply because they were Sword Masters.
Masters had ranks, just as Experts did.
And Arrelia was clearly a master of a higher caliber than him.
So Jade quickly composed himself and did what he could.
Hummm!
His physical abilities and mana were superior to Arrelia's.
So Jade made full use of those advantages.
“Haaah!”
When he charged headlong, prepared to risk injury, Arrelia flinched.
Just as Jade knew his own strengths well, she also knew her own weaknesses.
That was why she avoided a head-on confrontation.
She could contend with him in a short-term clash of strength by using mana, but a prolonged battle would be difficult.
Swish!
Knowing that, Arrelia increased the distance between them.
There was no reason for her to give Jade the kind of fight he wanted.
Besides, at her level, distance was hardly important.
Ssswish!
The two aura blades, stretched out like rubber bands, rushed toward Jade.
She was attacking him while keeping a sufficient distance between them.
Boom-boom-boom!
Arrelia swung her sword without pause, as if bombarding him.
She seemed determined not to allow him to approach even a little.
But Jade did not simply let himself be beaten.
Like Arrelia, he extended his aura blade and sent slashes flying.
Boom! Kraaang!
As a result, the basin was reduced to a wasteland in an instant.
Once the two Sword Masters truly unleashed their power, nothing remained standing.
The two spirits and Whid also moved even farther away.
“Hoooh!”
“Hmm!”
After exchanging attacks and defenses for a long while, the two stopped at the same time.
Then, as if they had planned it together, they withdrew their aura blades.
“Shall we call it a draw for now?”
“Anyone could see that I lost.”
Jade said that as he sheathed his sword.
Unlike Arrelia, who looked perfectly fine, his clothes had been reduced to rags.
He had suffered no life-threatening wounds, but the result was obvious just from looking at his clothes.
“It wasn't a duel fought at full strength. If we fought seriously, would I really have won?”
“That applies to you as well.”
“Oh, you know very well that I can't hold a candle to you in spirit arts. Swordsmanship is the only area where I have the advantage, and even that gap isn't large, so please call it a draw.”
“The gap isn't large?”
Jade let out a quiet laugh.
Of course, it was true that he had not used his full strength.
His true power lay in spirit arts, after all.
But the same was true of Arrelia.
“We both have a trump card, so let's call it a draw. Though I feel a little embarrassed saying that after all this. Hoho!”
“I learned a great deal.”
“So did I. I suppose you could call it a truly thrilling duel, the likes of which I haven't had in a long time. Your unusual fighting style gave me a lot to think about, in particular. I wouldn't say I lack experience, but there were so many attacks that felt completely unfamiliar. So, could you do this one more time tomorrow?”
“I'm happy to.”
Jade readily accepted Arrelia's request.
He was already short on experience, and sparring with Arrelia had been an enormous help, so he had no reason to refuse.
“Thank you.”
“It helps me, too. Though I'm not sure I can live up to your expectations.”
“You don't need to try too hard.”
“I can't do that.”
Jade smiled and shook his head.
He had gained a great deal from today's duel and intended to put it all to use in their next one.
Kkyuuu!
As soon as the duel ended, Whid was the first to fly over.
Then it examined every part of Jade's body.
Jade had no major injuries, only many minor scratches, so Whid inspected them.
“I'm fine. Injuries this minor will heal quickly.”
Fwoosh.
The moment Jade finished speaking, Undine, an intermediate water spirit, appeared.
The spirit was there to disinfect his wounds and speed his recovery.
But Whid's eyes drooped despite that, as though it was still worried.
“You little rascal.”
Jade chuckled as he stroked Whid's head while it fretted helplessly.
His heart felt warm because Whid was worried about him like this.
Yet even after Undine appeared, Whid's expression remained gloomy.