18 | Battle Instinct vs Genius

Vi pulls out her bone lance. "The commander didn't even bother using the Gemstone to measure our levels."

The soldiers stop their training to watch the brewing battle. Some of them even start fortifying themselves with body enhancements and protection spells.

"Everyone! The commander is sparring with applicants of Traveling Adventurers status. Protect yourselves," one soldier blows a horn that echoes throughout the mountains.

Keen shifts his weight lower and does an attack stance.

If word spreads that he reached level forty nine in a single day in Esprit, he will most probably catch the attention of the game administration and his System might be compromised. A game patch or update may delete the only companion he can rely on to hasten the recollection of all his Release fragments.

"Vi, lend me your strength," he strides then stomps on the ground to make a dust screen. The time dilation of his <Sneak> doesn't activate.

"Above!" Vi shouts.

He looks up and recognizes the commander mid-air and clearly seeing him with the short sword ready to do a half-swing.

Keen grits his teeth and uses <Double Step> to dodge and prepares to cast <Blood String>.

The commander's weapon splits the ground as it lands, making a long and deep crack parallel to his swing. A green aura then envelopes him when he casts <Wind's Blessing>, doubling his speed and following his steps.

"You're fast! This is so fun!" he smirks while preparing for another attack. He casts <Strengthening and Hardening> which puts a yellow aura on his weapon.

Vi's weapon darts to the predicted location of Sir Albert after two seconds. It almost hits him, but he deflects the bone lance at the last instant. In the split second the commander's attention shifts, Keen already manages to hide his presence.

As Sir Albert savors the effective decoy strategy of the duo, Vi suddenly appears behind him with a bone lance in one hand and barely scratches his armor before he is able to turn and grab her wrist. He then uses her own momentum to throw her away to a lined group of by-standing soldiers.

Vi quickly recovers her stature and prepares for defense as the Warforce commander leaps to her direction.

A pair of bone lance shoots right ahead of the commander, stopping his assault. As if teasing, several other lances come shooting at Sir Albert's every dodge.

"That won't work!" The commander hisses with a frenzied expression on his face.

There is something different about the bone lances Keen has been throwing, as Vi observes. They seem to have elongated holes resembling the eye of a sewing needle.

With the continuous bone lances shooting at rapid succession towards Sir Albert, not one is able to achieve as much as Vi's. That is, touching his armor.

With so much battle experience, though, he is almost certain that the red-clad is more skilled than the woman who almost succeeded in backstabbing him. "What is he up to?"

◎◎◎

The soldiers' eyes are widening in awe. With so many of them watching the sparring match between their commander and the two applicants for Traveling Adventurer status, they can still hardly keep up with the speed the three are showcasing.

"They are keeping up with Sir Albert's speed," one soldier puts back his long sword in its sheath.

Three soldiers on either side of him nod in unison.

"Not only that," another soldier with a curly mustache removes his helmet, "Sir Albert didn't even bother to use the Gemstone to measure their levels. It's so rare to see him this excited about witnessing the strength of others."

"The lieutenant is right." A soldier with a magus staff casts <Increase Protection> among thirty of his comrades.

With the analysis of two of the commander's former students, all the soldiers in the vicinity start to observe the ongoing mock battle with as much detail as they can.

◎◎◎

Vi jumps to Sir Albert who has just landed on one foot from evading the last of Keen's bone lances.

"He has a plan," she tries to be as poker-faced as possible. If she hints by the faintest amount, the battle-experienced commander will surely catch on.

To give even more element of surprise, she tries using her Clone Ring. One copy with half of her strength appears before her and draws out a pair of bone lances. She then uses it to teleport herself to Sir Albert's back. Her other hand is holding the poisonous dagger.

She fills herself with as much murderous intent as possible. Her mind drifts to her experiences in the real world. Something dark and grim taps into her presence. All of a sudden, her existence becomes too gravitational that the commander fails to notice the red-clad pulling all the bone lances towards him through thin, red threads.

The bone lances punctured on the ground are placed at calculated intervals and connected to Keen's <Blood Strings>. There is not enough space to allow further movement once Sir Albert is trapped within the improvised cage.

Vi, on the other hand, teleports multiple times using her clones like afterimages just like how the Lesser Minotaur utilized earlier in the dungeon.

Keen, predicting that the commander might attempt to follow Vi's track, immediately covers her back with thin blood threads as soon as she teleports further from the scene.

Commander Albert casts <Armament> and <Increase Perception>. His eyes become more focused than ever. Finally, he can see the thin threads controlling the bone lances like needles. The red strings surround him in an barely recognizable spider web pattern.

"What is this? I didn't even detect its presence earlier," he puts aside his short sword and casts a multitude of spells with fists on his side in an offensive stance. His attention has been completely taken by Vi's surprise teleportation and resort to using a poisonous dagger. "These two seem to be intent on killing me."

He looks around, trying to find the source of the spider trap. Instead of panicking, a smile finds its way to his cheeks.

An intense aura suddenly surrounds the commander. All onlooking soldiers seem to prepare themselves for defense. Commands, skill-casting and lots footsteps scampering about put the training grounds into a large den of mixed sounds.

"You really are something," the commander takes a single step while the spider web closes in on him with the bone lances at its ends.

When Keen's <Blood String> and bone lance combination attack reduces the commander's movable space to three meters, the commander's aura suddenly bursts forth from his body like a volcanic eruption.

"He's strong." Vi sends one clone in a fair distance from the battlefield to prepare for an escape. The hairs on her skin are standing by just being within fifty meters from the Warforce commander's commanding presence. She remembers a similar sensation.

Contrary to Keen's cold, heartless aura when he is on a rampage, Sir Albert's is one that is terrifyingly immense and scorching. Two extremes, but with a similar effect to anyone weaker than them. A psychological command to succumb.

"Show me how strong you really are. Come at me with the intent to kill," Sir Albert laughs.

Keen's vampire instinct takes over for a split second and radiates a murderous intent while baring out fangs from beneath his hood. His speed is beyond human perception, so no soldier is able to follow his location.

Although finally being aware of his location, Sir Albert hesitates to make another move as a drop of sweat drops from his cheeks.

"You…what are you?" the commander inquires the beast outstretching a cold hand behind him.

Keen puts his arm away. One more second of letting the vampire instinct run wild and he would have used <Entropy> on Topsy Town's best soldier without hesitation. "Just a simple human trying to collect his lost memories."

The commander bursts into laughter. His intense aura wanes as he relaxes his breathing. "You pass. I'm sure you are capable of handling yourself as Traveling Adventurers. In battle, at least."

The soldiers fall silent once more. They are too far away, and the commander putting his guard off and raising a hand is a symbol that the sparring match is finished.

"What happened? Did the commander give up?" A soldier holding a spear and shield puts down his guard as well.

"No," the soldier with a curly mustache smiles, "…Those two Transfers. They surprise me to no end. The commander acknowledges their strength. When was the last time I saw him go all out for a mere sparring match?"

"True enough," the soldier wielding a magus staff cancels his barrier spell. "Even the two of us together during our apprenticeship didn't faze the commander."

Vi hears the soldiers clamoring into joyful cheers. "Is it over?"

"Good match. You almost made me feel I was in a war that I had to go all out." Sir Albert turns to face Keen.

The red-clad man raises both hands defensively. "I'm sorry. I played right by your hands when I put on a murderous aura as you suggested. It's still my loss."

"I see," the commander laughs again. "You're an interesting guy. I guess that's to be expected from the people who defeated the Beast of the Lake during the night."