Ch 109

Chapter 109: Real Talent (4)

Clang…!

I narrowed my eyes and fell into deep thought after blocking Replica’s dual swords with the Blood Demon Sword.

I began wondering why the fake relied on duel-wielding swords.

He should be able to deal enough damage output with one sword. I couldn’t understand why he insisted so much on dual wielding.

Of course, I understood that it was good to get the upper hand in the battle, but…

‘I don’t think it’s good enough to learn how to use it properly.’

After overwhelming the Replica’s attacks, we exchanged numerous blows.

While doing that, I summoned the Iron-blooded Sword and began also duel-wielding swords.

By duel-wielding swords, I tried to understand the Replica, but I couldn’t find a meaningful answer.

The Replica only knew how to do one-sided attacks.

The Replica didn’t mind getting hurt if that could let him deal a critical hit damage.

As if that were the answer.

It was the same for the Replica and me, but we couldn’t keep having the Ashen Blood skill on forever.

With the HP as the base, it allowed you to be a bit freer from wounds and other limitations. But there was a limit to it.

He probably knew that.

‘If he’s attacking like this despite knowing that, it probably means he had other goals.’

And—

I could more or less guess what that other goal was.

Should I say that it’s a frostbite strike that’s mixed in skill combos?

This was my guess, but the Replica was probably trying to earn some time before he could use the Counter Shield again.

‘He’s probably waiting for the cooldown time of Counter Shield to reset.’

The Counter Shield, fused with NamGung Hyuk’s Rolling Sword of Blue Sky, was definitely strong. And close to the damage output of NamGung Hyuk’s attack.

The Replica probably realized that technique was like my natural enemy.

So he was likely forcibly trying to imitate NamGung Hyuk’s attack.

But that strategy didn’t work against me anymore.

Because…

「Deactivating the power, ‘Iron-blooded Sword.’」

If the Replica could do it, now I could imitate him.

「Activating the skill ‘Counter Shield.’」

The Iron-blooded Sword in my hands had disappeared, and the Counter Shield in sword form appeared in my hand.

“…”

The expression of the Replica, who’d been attacking me like a crazy person, hardened. I could feel his eyes trembling a bit.

Should I say this was the result of the strategy of earning time?

I could increase my ability to dual-wield swords, so it was similar to the Replica’s abilities.

“It seems like you’ve misunderstood something…”

Unlike his hardened face, I was smiling.

“If you can do it, I can do it.”

I was just playing with him because I wanted to see if he had another hidden trick.

Slash!

I didn’t say anything else and swung the dual swords at the Replica.

Clang…!

I could see him blocking my attack with an anxious expression.

His emotionless face was now full of astonishment.

‘Now I’m finally satisfied.’

It was payback time.

* * *

Clang—!

After our positions changed, the Replica began moving faster than before.

As if he’d crossed his limits, he was now attacking while moving smoothly like a fish.

It was the Dragon Sword.

His stance of only caring about attacking was nowhere to be seen…

Just like a fish trying to go up a waterfall, the Replica’s dual swords were trying to reduce the damage received.

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

The reason was…

‘I wonder how much he’s going to try to imitate.’

After NamGung Hyuk’s Rolling Sword of Blue Sky, he imitated the Flying Sword of Blue Sky.

But unlike before, he was trying to make the sword brush off everything.

It wasn’t hard to imagine why he was doing that.

‘He’s probably trying to reduce the clash between the swords so the Counter Shield won’t save up the impact.’

Of course, it wasn’t complete like that guy’s move. After all, he’d been able to extinguish the flames I had created in Tokyo with a power.

Was it because he had to move the two swords smoothly to maintain calmness and softly deflect the attacks?

The Replica now was only focusing on swinging the sword.

If he kept resisting like this, he would be able to summon the Counter Shield again.

It was as if he were trying to say he could also block the shock just like I did.

Of course, that was a fake hope.

「Activating the skill ‘Chaotic Sword-fighting Play (C+).’」

「Increase the Attack Speed by 25%.」

「Current skill stacking progress – 10/10」

Clang!

Because of how much I swung the sword, I had completed stacking the ‘Chaotic Sword-fighting Play.’

Holes were starting to appear in his movements.

It was understandable.

There was no way a copy would be able to block an attack even the original would struggle with.

Because of that, the Counter Shield quickly saved up attacks, and the Replica knew that. That’s why he tried to increase the patterns.

FWUNG!

He quickly moved his legs and targeted my stomach.

Whish!

Just like I’d done before, he used the skill Storm Sword (C+) to increase the movement speed and try to stab me.

Slash!

After that, it seemed like he’d made up his mind. He used the Truth-seeker of Blood, and blood thorns began pouring out from his body and tried to repel me.

Of course, I dealt with those perfectly.

「You’ve activated the skill ‘Truth-seeker of Blood.’」

Not only that, but his last move had been beneficial to me.

‘We have the same level of Truth-seeker of Blood… so there’s no way it would work.’

I took control of the blood thorns that were trying to attack me.

It was as if the blood thorns that were pouring out of the body of the Replica had recognized me as their owner.

I didn’t miss that opportunity and absorbed those with my Counter Shield.

BOOM—!

「Charging complete.」

「You can reflect as an attack the damage saved up in the skill ‘Counter Shield.’」

Of course, while making sure the impact hadn’t diminished.

Just with this, I was almost sure that I had won…

‘But I’m going to make sure of it just in case.’

I didn’t stop there. I used the blood-controlling ability to grab them.

I used part of the blood to fortify the blade, and then absorbed the rest with my body through the sword.

BZZT…!

The electricity of the blade got mixed with the fire and red thunder started to pour out.

It seemed like the Replica felt he was about to lose, so he lept toward me like a beast.

「The user’s concentration increase rate has been fixed at 10 times.」

「You’ve surpassed your limits.」

「If dismissed, you could receive huge recoil.」

But those beast-like movements felt slow to me.

Was it because the world felt slow to me, thanks to the skill? I slowly lowered my body, twisted my waist, and rotated the sword.

And—

The red thunder hit very precisely.

「The damage saved up in the ‘Counter Shield’ is being emitted all at once.」

While using all of the damage that I had saved up to that point—

「The skill ‘Battle Concentration’ has been deactivated.」

「You’re soon going to receive the recoil for having concentrated beyond your capabilities.」

BOOM!

The newly optimized Rolling Sword of Blue Sky swept away everything in front.

* * *

「Congratulations, you’ve defeated the 12th floor of the Tower of Trials.」

「As a reward for clearing it, you’ve obtained ‘Ancient Emperor’s Grey Crown (A-).’」

「You’ve obtained ‘80,000 points’ as a reward.」

「You’ve obtained ‘3,500 SP’ as a reward.」

「As an extra reward for clearing it, you’ve obtained the skill ‘Last Stand (B-)’ as a reward.」

「Move to the waiting room.」

I looked at the Replica, who had collapsed on the floor of the ruins.

After seeing that most of his waist had been blown away, I thought that not even I would be able to survive in such a situation.

‘Is he really dead…?’

I felt relieved after thinking that I’d killed such a monstrous clone.

「The proficiency rate of the skill ‘Counter Shield (B)’ has reached 100%.」

「The rank of the skill ‘Counter Shield (B) has increased.」

「The proficiency rate of the skill ‘Chaotic Sword-fighting Play (C+)’ has reached 100%.」

「The rank of the skill ‘Chaotic Sword-fighting Play (C+)’ has increased.」

Not only that, but while fighting, the proficiency rate of two of my skills had reached a 100%.

The Counter Shield reached B+, and the Chaotic Sword-fighting Play, B-.

The corner of my mouth went up after realizing I’d gotten stronger.

But that only lasted for a short while. I soon realized my body wasn’t in a good state.

My eyes and ears hurt.

Blood was pouring out of them as if it were raining.

Seeing how dizzy I was feeling, it seemed like I would have to enter the waiting room as fast as possible if I wanted to recover.

「The skill ‘Ashen Blood’ has been activated.」

The skill Ashen Blood activated, and I felt that my body was starting to get better.

After all, Ashen Blood had an incredible capability that allowed him to recover even his arms and eyes if blown away.

It was understandable that such little damage wouldn’t be considered impossible to recover.

“Oof, haa…”

I tried to get hold of myself and tried to control my breath.

Was it because of the last attack? Or that I had dismissed the Battle Concentration?

Or maybe because of both reasons…

But I was sure of something.

‘I can’t handle this crazy technique yet.’

Rolling Sword of Blue Sky. No, how should I call this technique? I wasn’t sure anymore.

From how it looked, it seemed like I should call it Light Sword.

The Rolling Sword of Blue Sky was so hard to use that I had to take my concentration to its limit.

If I added more skills on top of it, I would receive a huge recoil.

‘If I ever want to use it in a real-life battle, I will have to think about it carefully.’

I used Truth-seeker of Blood to absorb blood and turned my head around.

I looked at the corpse of the Replica, which was lying on the floor on top of the runes.

No, to be more precise, I was looking at the Necromancer skill’s effect on top of the Replica’s corpse.

‘The spirit of another me, huh? Interesting.’

It was an enemy with the same stats, skills, and powers.

The Replica had lost to me because of a small difference.

I wasn’t sure what I would be able to get by absorbing the spirit of such an opponent through Necromancy…

「You’ve absorbed the soul of challenger ‘Han Sungyeun.’」

「Proficiency rate has increased to 28%.」

But that was something I was about to learn.

——