Chapter 113

Now it was Herman’s turn to be speechless. He stared at the boy dumbly. “Huh? You serious?”

“Yes.”

Sure, what he saw of Leonard’s swordplay last night had far surpassed his imagination, but he was still lingering in the External Force Tier. If someone at that level accepted a duel from a Transcendence Tier martial artist, they were essentially accepting their death. Other than scenarios where one could not refuse, it would be strange to accept such a match.

For that reason, even Herman himself had come here without high expectations, but Leonard had agreed without a hint of hesitation.

“We’ll go to the same place where we fought last night. I didn’t tell Pablo I was coming here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone tailing you.”

“I see. I did think you were being too honest for him to have sent you,” Leonard admitted. If this was some trick that was supposed to provoke his sense of competition as a martial artist, he would have refused immediately, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“He didn’t seem very happy though. I think your boss really did him in, though I don’t know the details of the situation. Pablo doesn’t trust me to that extent, you see,” Herman remarked.

“Why did he stop the fight last night?”

“Who knows? Honestly, it might be because he didn’t like that I was enjoying our fight. He knows me very well, so he might have been trying to prevent a scenario where I acted outside of his orders. Such as this one.”

On a basic level, Pablo had judged him correctly. However, he underestimated the enormity of the frustration and defiance that had built up over the years, which was why Herman sometimes acted unpredictably. Like he was doing now. If Leonard had rejected his proposal, he would have snuck away for nothing, but he was successful in obtaining a match. The two silently made a promise to fight to the death, which no one could have seen coming.

“Herman Melville.” Leonard used his full name. “I want to lay down a condition for tonight’s fight.”

“A condition? What is it?” he asked, looking curious.

The boy nodded. “You said you work for Moby Dick because you survived a fight against Pablo and wanted a rematch.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“If I win, I want you to give up on the rematch and leave Moby Dick. That’s my condition for accepting the duel.”

Herman understood what he was implying, and his face turned stony. It no longer had that friendliness, let alone any semblance of human emotion. His face twisted with bloodlust, and his gaze turned as sharp as knives.

Leonard had provoked his wrath.

Herman glared at him and growled. “What, you want to order me around too? Is the sight of a Transcendence Tier martial artist acting like a dog on a leash that amusing to you?”

“Um.”

“I was wrong about you. If I knew you were as two-faced as Pablo, I never would have come here in the first place.” As he said that, Herman moved to stand, but Leonard burst into laughter, unable to help himself.

“Geez, way to jump to conclusions,” the boy chuckled.

“What did you say?”

“I never said I wanted you to work for me. I’m simply asking you to stop working for Pablo. Since you joined him after losing a fight, I’m saying that I’ll cancel your debt,” he explained.

“How is that different?”

Leonard looked at him with pity. “I don’t think you’re tied to Pablo through any magical means because you’d rather be dead than go through something like that. But since you’re faithfully sticking with Moby Dick without anything compelling you to, it must be because you yourself see it as the price you must pay for losing. Am I right?”

“You... are.”

“So what I’m saying is that I’ll cancel your debt. You won’t be subject to the whims of me or Pablo and do whatever you wish. You can take sides, watch as a bystander, or even leave this accursed island. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Herman thought for a moment and sat back down. “You’ll free me? Why?”

“It can’t be helped that people die in battle, but I don’t like killing people who are under someone else’s orders. I’d rather fight someone who’s acting out of their own will. That’s all,” Leonard said.

“You really are special. Your way of thinking is so peculiar. But...” The man paused, his face turning grave.

The air suddenly grew tense. His demeanor didn’t seem as intense as it had been just a moment before, but it seemed like he could draw his swords at any time.

Leonard noticed this and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Why are you saying that as if you’ve already won? I know you didn’t show me everything, but neither did I,” Herman said in a low voice.

At that, Leonard lowered his hand from his hilt and let out a long sigh. “You keep concerning yourself with trivial things.”

“What?”

The boy looked straight into his eyes. “Why

wouldn’t

I propose this on the assumption I’ll win? If I die, that’s it. There would be no need to bring up anything that happens after.”

“...”

“We’ll discuss this further at District 4, midnight. That is, if either of us has anything left to say. But I don’t.” Leonard stood from his seat and disappeared into the marketplace.

Herman watched him go for a moment before chuckling to himself because he was so dumbfounded. Not only had some sixteen-year-old boy just scolded him, he’d just left him behind like that?

“Ha.

He

seems more like a Transcendence Tier swordsman.” He wasn’t even joking. There was a strange air about Leonard that made him feel that way.

He seemed like an older, more experienced master.

It was almost as if he were from another world.

Though, Herman could be mistaken.

* * *

That night, Leonard arrived on time and stepped into the barren area of District 4. There were rare storm clouds in the night sky, so not even the round moon showed its face. A dreary wind blew through the quayside, which was devoid of people. The only presence was the empty vessels, which bobbed against the waves.

He wondered what Frances and the others were doing. He hadn’t received any more messages on the communication device Russell gave him after last night.

There’s only so much information I can act on.

Even his match with Herman was not something Pablo or Frances could ever expect.

And they would only know which side it would create an advantage for once the winner and loser were decided.

While Leonard was lost in thought, Herman Melville appeared before him, cutlasses clacking at his side as always. Unlike the previous night, his hair and armor were tidy, which caught the boy’s eyes.

“Have you decided to stop dressing up like a beggar?”

Herman grinned at his comment. “‘Dressing up’? Please. I just couldn’t be bothered to maintain my appearance. But I’ll admit, it feels refreshing to clean up for the first time in years.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

As the two stretched, they bantered as if they weren’t just about to fight with their lives on the line.

Typically, the power difference between the External Force Tier and the Transcendence Tier was absolute, but Herman didn’t let his guard down for a second. He’d watched Leonard and Conrad’s match with interest, and after their spar last night, he realized that Leonard was a formidable opponent who didn’t rely on artifacts. Even the lightning dragon the boy had used to attack Conrad when he mysteriously went berserk was not the result of a magical tool.

Not even Herman could take the boy’s power for granted.

Damn, I’m so fucking excited.

He couldn’t suppress his smile and watched his opponent’s sheaths with hunger, as if he hadn’t eaten in several days.

Leonard noticed and drew his swords.

Shing.

Four blades glinted in the darkness.

“It’s dark,” Leonard noted.

Not even the moonlight. The only light at the dockside came from a few lamps hanging on some ships, blinking irregularly.

But these two could spot a firefly in the dark from hundreds of meters away. For people that powerful, the cover of darkness was a good thing. Herman understood what Leonard was implying and smiled wickedly.

Five Elements Style

Augmented Energy Assimilation

Pure white sword energy burst from his two swords at the same time two platinum Aura Blades ignited around Herman’s cutlasses. The area around them lit up as bright as day in a radius of tens of meters, and the two swordsmen’s breaths slowly settled.

“

Hup

...”

“

Hoo

...”

They had nothing left to say. At least, not in words.

Once their breaths slowed, their processing speeds accelerated without stopping, and the color bled out of their sight as if time had stopped, their vision turning black and white.

The opponents studied each other. Even if one moved as fast as sound or as fast as lightning, they couldn’t outpace the other’s reaction. Master martial artists were hard to take by surprise, and it was for the same reason that speed started to matter less at that level.

As soon as the battle began, Leonard activated his augmented sword energy and made the first move.

Five Elements Style, Two Gods

East Azure Dragon and West White Tiger

Crazy Wind Swift Lightning

He used the principle of swiftness to limit his opponent’s options, and the principle of heaviness to limit his opponent’s range of movement.

Blue and white light raged hellishly. Even a powerful Transcendence Tier fighter would end up beheaded if they were caught in the trap. Herman moved a moment later, his cutlasses swinging wildly.

Blade Dancing

Book of Volcanoes

Unlike the Book of Storms, he didn’t accelerate gradually. Instead, his muscles and joints moved explosively, raising the amount of force they could output.

In an instant, Herman broke through the restraints set by the White Tiger Form and inflated his power again to break through the cage of the Azure Dragon Form.

“Haaaaaaa—!”

Of course, he was cut a number of times all over as he broke through, but they weren’t deep. It only looked bad on the outside.

He’d regained his edge with that one move. And just like that, Herman made his counterattack and brought his foot down on the ground.

Blade Dancing

Book of Earthquakes

Boom!

The ground shook. Leonard’s eyes shot wide open when he sensed that Herman had used a mana-based attack, which he’d been waiting for.

In murim, this technique was also called Thunder Stomp. It was a move that even Third-Grade martial artists could use, and all it did was allow one to throw back one’s opponent. However, for martial artists who’d trained themselves to use it properly, their destructive force could become several times stronger by increasing the momentum of kicking off the ground and making use of their weight.

And Herman could do even more.

I can’t block him with the Azure Dragon Form!

Leonard hadn’t been the only one to learn from last night’s battle. After facing the Ice Shell Barrier, Herman had realized that he was better off making one powerful blow than using a technique that relied on speed and a multitude of attacks.

If Leonard used a shield, Herman would simply break through it.

His cutlasses were tens of times heavier and more powerful than before, asserting their power by making Leonard’s swords fly back.

“Ugh!” The boy started bleeding from a small wound, and he uniformly changed his augmented sword energy into White Tiger Qi. If he shifted to the Black Tortoise Form, he’d be able to create a shield, but if he couldn’t turn the tables, he would be forced to stay on the defensive.

If he wasn’t careful enough in making such a quick change while fighting such a powerful opponent, he would die. Leonard was very aware of this. So, he met his opponent using the same approach.

Clang!

Even though all that happened was a clash of two swords, a shockwave went off with a boom like an explosion.

Their arms were thrown back by the force of the hit, but other swords came in to fill the space that was left.

And two swords clashed again.

As soon as the blades crashed together with more force than before, Leonard and Herman felt their eardrums burst. Even though they’d been protecting themselves with internal energy, it wasn’t enough.

But neither of them stopped.

They moved faster than the blood trickling out of their ears, making one attack after another. They had long since learned not to rely on just one sense. In fact, once they lost their hearing, their concentration heightened as they began to release the martial arts knowledge that had accumulated in their bodies.

In less than three minutes, they exchanged hundreds, maybe over a thousand blows.

And in the midst of it, Leonard’s focus slipped for the slightest moment.

Oh no.

Considering the fact that he was a member of the Cardenas bloodline and was close to reaching his original physical capabilities as Yeon Mu-Hyuk, his constitution and regenerative speed were greater than that of powerful Transcendence Tier martial arts.

Because of that, his eardrums healed faster than Herman’s, and when his hearing returned, it broke his trance. It took him less than a second to restore his focus, but if he overlooked his misstep, he wouldn’t deserve to call himself a Swordmaster.

Shing.

Just then, a chilling noise came from one of the sheaths hanging at Herman’s waist.

A sword had been drawn without the use of his hand, or even a finger.

It was Sword Manipulation.

Leonard instinctively picked up on this and felt a chill at his neck.

Blade Dancing

Book of Thunder

The fifth glowing blade shot out like a sudden bolt of thunder.