Chapter 152 – Nuia (５)

“Right. This wouldn’t be Real Spirit if it let me off that easily.”

Gijun let out another dry chuckle.

The quest demanded he evade the Nuia warrior’s attacks — one hundred times.

“Easier said than done.”

He’d already tasted how bizarre the Nuia warrior’s strikes were.

Even though he’d seen them with his own two eyes, the attacks came from directions utterly different from what he’d predicted.

And the penalty condition was brutally strict.

A single hit meant instant failure.

“One wrong move, and I could be dead.”

That was the real problem.

Even if he dodged most of them, one slip-up could land him a fatal wound…

“A total loss.”

But walking away wasn’t easy either.

Not with the reward on the line.

“The Nuia Illusion Sword Technique.”

That technique — it had to be the same sword art the Nuia warrior was using against him now.

And its grade? Legendary.

A sword technique you couldn’t just dismiss.

“Of course I want it.”

Naturally, Gijun coveted that skill.

A sword technique even his eyes couldn’t track.

For someone who’d only just begun wielding a blade, the temptation was overwhelming.

Even if he trained his swordsmanship from scratch, it would take ages — and there was no guarantee he’d ever master anything on this level.

No, more likely he never would.

This was a Legendary-grade sword art, after all.

Among all Superhumans in the real world, those with Legendary-grade sword-related Skills could be counted on one hand.

“Let’s do it.”

So Gijun made up his mind.

Let’s give this a shot.

“If it comes down to it, I can always fall back on magic.”

He had no intention of letting this fight end in defeat just to complete the quest.

Even if he had to use magic at the last moment to secure a win — as long as he followed the quest’s rule and used only his sword until then, there’d be no real problem.

“First things first — I need to figure out that trick.”

That was Gijun’s revised plan.

To take on his opponent with nothing but a sword, he first had to survive that attack.

Otherwise, the wounds would just keep piling up.

‘He definitely called it an Illusion Sword.’

And that gave him a thread of a clue.

In the Quest reward, that swordsmanship was explicitly named ‘Illusion Sword.’

Meaning there had to be some kind of trick to it.

‘Let’s try again.’

Jun adjusted his grip on the blade.

Not the aggressive stance from before — this time, he settled into a defensive posture.

*

‘He’s not easy.’

Dos narrowed his eyes.

The Seeker before him was clearly a cut above what he’d anticipated.

‘I was certain he was a mage.’

From what he’d heard, the Seeker’s original class was a mage.

But the man moved with a speed that made that claim laughable.

And now, for reasons unknown, he was even wielding a sword.

‘Yet all I’ve done is graze his collar.’

His opponent hadn’t even tapped into his true strength, while he himself was giving everything.

And for all that effort, the best he’d managed was a scrape across the Seeker’s sleeve and a few shallow cuts on his body.

An utterly overwhelming gap in skill.

‘But I won’t lose.’

Even so, he refused to let despair take hold.

This was a mission Bodge had entrusted to him.

He had to complete it, no matter what, and return to his master.

That was his reason for living — his pride.

‘It’s just his collar for now.’

He tightened his grip on the sword.

‘Next time, it’ll be your heart, you bastard.’

It was true — the Seeker before him was strong.

But that was only because he hadn’t yet fully gauged his opponent’s measure.

‘There’s no way you’ll dodge this blade.’

The Nuia’s Illusion Sword.

A sword art only the most talented among the Nuia could wield.

Swift feet. Keen senses. Flexible muscles.

Even among those who possessed all these prerequisites, only brutal training could unlock this weapon.

And Dos’s Illusion Sword had truly come into its own the moment he voluntarily gave up his sight.

When his vision went dark, his other senses sharpened several-fold.

For a Nuia already renowned for his senses, that heightened awareness pushed his Illusion Sword into an entirely new dimension.

‘I need to learn his distance, slowly.’

Dos began to methodically memorize the Seeker’s range.

Every detail — his stride, the length of his arms and legs, the rhythm of his breath.

Shiiiiing!

Dos’s sword cut through the air again.

Shrrrk!

The blade sliced through something and passed through.

But not flesh.

Once again, Dos’s sword merely grazed the Seeker’s clothing.

‘Not yet.’

Dos moved again.

Little by little.

Painting the image of his opponent’s every part into his mind.

*

‘He’s getting sharper by the second.’

Jun was dripping cold sweat.

The opponent’s attacks kept growing sharper, until the sword seemed to split into two before his eyes.

‘He’s reading my movements.’

Despite being blind, his foe had grown accustomed to Gijun’s motions and was now moving his sword along paths that predicted them, as if sight were irrelevant.

‘What kind of monster am I up against?’

It was a stark reminder that the game’s difficulty was steadily climbing.

But Gijun wasn’t just taking the beating.

‘The more you get used to me, the more I’m starting to see you too.’

Literally.

The attacks Dos launched by reading Gijun’s movements were beginning to show themselves to Gijun as well.

Even more surprising, the Illusion Sword’s deceptions were gradually becoming familiar too.

Not that he could pierce the Illusion Sword’s trajectory, exactly.

Rather, he was reading the subtle tells in Dos’s body when he used the technique.

‘Don’t be fooled by the sword’s movement.’

Gijun kept drilling that thought into himself.

Since he already knew the attacks were laced with illusion, there was no reason to focus on the blade itself.

The minute shifts of the body were a far clearer hint.

And by locking onto those bodily movements, he stopped falling for the bastard’s tricks.

Gijun was growing more and more attuned to Dos’s flow.

‘Fifty exchanges already.’

He had dodged Dos’s attacks fifty times.

Now he’d grown so familiar that it went beyond evasion—he could block and even counter.

‘This is working.’

A relaxed smile was already tugging at the corner of Gijun’s lips.

If he could just hold out a little longer, he’d get his hands on Dos’s Illusion Sword technique.

Gijun, a Mage, was about to acquire a Legendary-grade Sword Skill.

‘I’m becoming more complete.’

From Mage to Battle Mage.

And now, another leap to a new level lay right before him.

‘Once I have this Illusion Sword, I’ll hold a sure advantage against Bodge.’

Gijun’s magic and physical prowess.

Add Nuia’s sword arts on top of that, and even a powerhouse like Bodge wouldn’t faze him.

Beyond that, the fight against the Lord would be the same.

Weapons were never a bad thing to have—the more, the better.

‘Focus.’

Gijun steadied himself again.

He quelled the rising excitement and zeroed in on Dos’s movements.

A little time passed.

‘Got it.’

A strange light flickered in Gijun’s eyes.

Then a message appeared before him.

[Quest completed!]

[Illusion Sword Technique of Nuia acquired!]

[Illusion Sword Technique of Nuia]

-Grade: Legendary

-Allows use of the Nuian Illusion Sword Technique.

-MP cost: 100/s

‘…Simple.’

The Illusion Sword Technique of Nuia.

Its description was terse.

No lengthy options or effects tagged along.

The description was nothing more than: can use the Nuia Illusion Sword technique.

But the change that took hold of Gijun was anything but simple.

‘I think I get it.’

The moment the Quest-complete message flashed and the reward notification appeared, a torrent of information flooded Gijun’s mind.

The history of the Nuia Illusion Sword, the training regimen, and the method of wielding it — all of it.

‘Remarkable.’

The Nuia Illusion Sword was a technique far more astonishing than he had imagined.

The way it was used was astonishingly precise and, at the same time, bewilderingly complex.

‘This isn’t something you can learn in a day or two of practice.’

No, it was uncertain whether it could even be mastered through training at all.

A technique that was difficult to use even with knowledge of the method.

But as a Skill, it was a different story.

And right now, Gijun had acquired the Skill: Nuia Illusion Sword.

Chak—!

He used it.

In that instant, Gijun’s stance shifted, and Dos’s eyes narrowed.

Dos thought,

‘That stance…?’

It was a stance he knew intimately.

The basic posture for employing the Nuia Illusion Sword.

Why in the world was he seeing it on that brat?

‘Is he trying to mimic me?’

It was clear enough.

Otherwise, there was no reason for him to suddenly adjust his stance.

And now, he finally understood why the Seeker had only evaded his attacks until a moment ago.

‘So he was observing me.’

Dos was genuinely taken aback.

The Seeker had been reading his attacks and dodging them with practiced ease.

‘A monster of a man.’

Dos had to shudder.

All his resolve had been for nothing — he hadn’t even managed a proper strike against the Seeker.

Because as much as he thought he was growing accustomed to the Seeker’s distance, the Seeker was getting used to his stance just as fast.

‘But…’

Dos tightened his grip again.

Because, unbeknownst to him, the Seeker’s image was now vividly etched into his mind.

‘It took me quite a while.’

No doubt — given who his opponent was, the process of painting the man’s form into his mind had been incredibly tricky.

But it was complete now.

He couldn’t see with his eyes, but every detail — what stance the opponent was taking, what expression he wore — was now clearly drawn in his thoughts.

‘I can perceive more than I ever did with sight.’

It was true.

After losing his vision, Dos had learned to see far more.

Information beyond what his eyes had ever shown now poured in through every sensory organ.

And finally, the opponent’s form was fully rendered.

Now that it was done, there was no way he would miss the man’s movements.

‘When I had Master Bodge’s form fully painted in my mind, even he struggled to evade my attacks.’

Even Bodge had found it difficult to contend with Dos’s ability to trace an opponent’s form in his mind.

And at the same time, rage boiled up within him.

‘How dare you — you filth — insult the Nuia.’

A man attempting to mimic Nuia’s Illusion-Sword technique after only witnessing it a few times — that was, in itself, a direct insult to the Nuia themselves.

‘I will kill you. Even if I lose everything.’

For Dos, that alone was more than enough motivation.

‘Let me show you what the real thing looks like…’

Just as he was thinking that—

”!!”

Gijun moved.

Gijun’s sword moved.

Dos read the direction of Gijun’s blade.

The flow of air, his opponent’s breath, the sound of his footsteps — every wave his body sent through the air grazed across Dos’s skin.

And he predicted it.

Exactly where that sword was heading.

‘Amateur.’

He could feel it.

Where the opponent’s sword-path was aimed.

It was undoubtedly impressive.

His opponent was mimicking Nuia’s Illusion-Sword with convincing fidelity.

But there was no way it would work on Dos.

Dos understood the Illusion-Sword better than anyone, and—

—now that he had a perfect image of his opponent’s every move drawn in his mind, he wasn’t about to let himself be hit by such a sloppy attack.

‘Then…’

Dos traced a single image in his mind.

The optimal path to evade the Seeker’s strike.

At the same time, it was a perfect stance from which he could launch a counterattack without giving his opponent a single moment to breathe.

He planned to catch the Seeker’s attack in an instant and, in that same breath, take the bastard’s head.

That very thought in mind, Dos moved his sword—

Shiiiiick!

“…?!”

Blood surged from Dos’s chest.

“Wh-what….”

Dos felt a searing pain blooming in his chest.

An agony unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life.