The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 209 Unwanted Guest Arrives

"Although these mountain paths are difficult to navigate, we must have walked close to thirty li by now," Lancelot frowned and pondered. "The place where we killed those shape-shifting monsters isn't far from the Skeleton Tower. If the Divine Artifact was indeed discarded as they were climbing up, this should be the maximum range. Either we're unlucky and the Eye of Sarezdon didn't fall at this height, or we chose the wrong direction and should have explored in the other direction." Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"Should we turn back first thing tomorrow, or should we continue exploring for half a day more?" Kalalin couldn't think of a good idea either. "I think we should walk a bit further because those shape-shifting monsters would have tried to get as far away from the Skeleton Tower and its guard while fleeing…"

"Does roast chicken smell that good to you?" Lancelot suddenly interrupted the Scholar, his face filled with helplessness.

"...What?" Kalalin was baffled by the Human Knight's words, but then he suddenly heard a familiar jingling sound by his ear— it was the signal that the alert spell had been triggered.

Lancelot had already stood up, his eyes fixed intently on the Black-Armored Knight who was slowly advancing towards them.

"Enrique, that's your name, isn't it?" Frostslash appeared silently in Lancelot's hand, the killing air in the atmosphere suddenly becoming so thick that it was stifling.

The Dark Guardian didn't answer but merely raised his Longsword, issuing a clear and unmistakable challenge.

"Sigh, it seems you're not here to appreciate our Halfling companion's cooking," Lancelot sighed. "Though our last bout didn't conclude, I still wonder if we can avoid this conflict. Elothysia told us your story, and I think that..."

He didn't finish his sentence as Enrique already lunged at him, and Lancelot moved simultaneously. In this thirty-foot space, with cliffs on three sides and a bottomless abyss on the other, the most crucial thing once the fight started was to seize the central position.

Both chose to strike with full force, without any tricks, their first blow; a sharp clash of metal rang out as their swords firmly locked together.

A second later, both men withdrew their weapons simultaneously. Lancelot's Frostslash was slightly shorter, and he moved a fraction faster than his opponent. His Longsword described a perfect circle above his head, chopping harshly towards the shoulder of the Dark Guardian.

Before Lancelot could strike, Enrique realized Lancelot's advantage in speed. He abandoned the intent to continue his attack, the Longsword he had raised dropped down to protect his side, and with a half turn backward, he deflected Lancelot's attack just in time, then using the momentum from the rotation, he unleashed a powerful Horizontal Slash.

This was a maneuver high in risk and reward because the body was exposed to the attacker while blocking, and being a split second early or late could result in disastrous consequences. However, if the attack was successfully parried, the opponent's weapon would be caught half-air due to the rebound, leaving them almost no time to react to the ensuing midsection Horizontal Slash.

Enrique executed this technique without hesitation, showing great confidence in his swordsmanship. The Dark Guardian's Longsword started to turn pitch black as if it could absorb all the light around it. He was determined to land this blow, ready to bring Lancelot's life to an end.

But this level of predicament was hardly difficult for Lancelot, for he was equally a fan of this maneuver—the Rotational Parry into Horizontal Slash. For a top swordsman like him, the speed of his swordplay had already neared the physical limit, and a duel with someone of equal skill would often transform into a turn-based combat reminiscent of playing rock-paper-scissors. If there existed a technique that combined defense and attack into one action, why wouldn't he practice it?

Since he had practiced this move, naturally, he had also studied methods to break it. The most orthodox response was for the attacker to immediately withdraw their strength, allowing them to retract their sword and defend at the earliest opportunity. But this meant being forced to forsake a chance to capitalize on an advantageous attack because of an opponent's defense maneuver that did not have a high success rate.

Lancelot once brought up this issue to his uncle, who taught him swordsmanship. After an afternoon of various attempts, he had to admit a fact: withdrawing strength to retract the sword and defend was the optimal choice, unless he gambled on the opponent's inability to perfectly block and decided to chop down with full force, settling the duel in one move—it was a matter of life and death.

But the Lancelot of today was not the same as he had been ten years ago. The strength in his longsword did not diminish in the slightest; as the weapon bounced back, he too lightly leaped into the air, like an elegantly fluttering butterfly, just missing the Dark Guardian's thundering Horizontal Slash.

This was a response that broke the fundamental principles of Knight swordsmanship. Since slash-based attacks found it difficult to penetrate the defense of plate armor, a knight's duel typically wouldn't result in severe injury before one participant fell. Therefore, the most critical thing was to maintain one's balance while attempting to knock down the opponent during armored combat. Jumping—a movement likely to cause imbalance—was strictly forbidden in any school of swordsmanship.

Lancelot was confident that his response would utterly surprise his adversary, and it seemed that the reality was indeed so. With the Dark Guardian's weapon having missed its target, he left his midsection wide open, presenting the Knight in mid-air with an excellent opportunity.

He was about to thrust his longsword when he suddenly realized that the opponent had swung the Horizontal Slash one-handedly, while the other arm was tightly pressed to the side, ready to spring forward like a crossbow tightly wound.

Just as Lancelot was certain that his opponent would surely succeed with the Rotational Parry, Enrique was confident that his adversary would have a way to block his subsequent Horizontal Slash. Therefore, he did not place all his bets on that one strike but kept a fist in reserve as a contingency.

Lancelot inwardly cursed his misfortune, hastily positioned his yet-to-be-thrust longsword before him, just in time to block the fiercely launched punch.

The Dark Guardian's fist was ablaze with black and red flames, which gave off an extremely impure sensation. A hot and evil energy traveled up the sword, and Lancelot's True Qi within his body spontaneously reacted, striving to fend off the invasion of this corrupt force.

Fortunately, the punch had not landed on his body, and that peculiar energy ultimately failed to penetrate his system.

The Human Knight, hanging in mid-air with nowhere to leverage, was sent flying backwards from the impact. However, he had, after all, successfully blocked the enemy's attack and was not greatly harmed, so he quickly adjusted his posture and landed steadily on the ground.

"Tch," Lancelot grunted in dissatisfaction. Although the three moves seemed to have ended in a draw, the opponent now occupied the center of the arena, which actually put him at a disadvantage.