Clash of Blades

"I'd rather take you unharmed." The knight growled, taking a slow step forward. Liam started walking in a circle around him, "And I have no intention of going with you."

"It's your loss." The knight lunged forward, swinging his sword at Liam's halberd. I'll disarm him first and then pin him down. He's unarmored so it should be easy.

The moment the knight's sword hit the head of Liam's halberd, the halberd spun around Liam's wrist and smacked him in the helmet with the pommel. This body only has one strength stat; I need to rely on his momentum or an attack that doesn't require power.

As the knight's head rocked to the side, Liam thrust the scimitar toward the gap between his neck and chest.

[Heavy Impact] The knight spun around and swung his longsword at Liam.

Liam blocked the attack with the halberd shaft but a powerful shockwave blasted him across the guild hall. The other adventurers moved out of the way as the knight sighed and started walking toward Liam. "Give up, I can tell you're skilled, but it's even clearer you lack raw stats."

Liam lifted his head with a smile as blood dripped from between his lips. "Using your ability in a duel, I wish more humans were like you." He stood and started stretching his back.

"Humans? We're all alike." The knight stared at Liam. "Don't even try, you have no hope of beating me."

Liam grabbed the halberd by the pommel and started spinning it with one hand while lifting the scimitar in a guard.

Stats rise easily at the start and become harder to increase later, and abilities require learning and practice to get. But, I have the advantage I already know all the abilities of my previous life, albeit I doubt this body could support them.

Since I have the weapons, let's start playing.

[Halberd Arts: Level 1]

[Scimitar Arts: Level 1]

Strength: 1 => Strength: 2

******

Name: Liam Leonard.

Race: Human.

Soul Record: Black.

Level: 1

Strength: 2

Speed: 1

Mana: 1

Special ability:

[Dodge: Level 1]

[Sharpening: Level 3]

[Halberd Arts: Level 1]

[Scimitar Arts: Level 1]

******

Liam rushed forward spinning the halberd and smacked a large beer mug out of one of the tables toward the knight. The knight swung his sword and cut the mug in half, but the beer had already covered him from head to toe and mixed with the air.

Without wasting any time, Liam jumped up and cut one of the guild's chandeliers, dropping the candles on the knight and setting him ablaze. Regular beer isn't flammable, but with how shitty adventurers' life could get, they mostly look for stronger beverages and mix their beer with things like dwarven spirit or elvish lemon heart, those two can catch fire if aerosolized.

The knight screamed, struggling to put the flame out as his body burst into a blaze as Liam rushed forward.

Liam stabbed his scimitar behind the knight's leg and smacked him in the face with the halberd to trip down. As the knight fell down, Liam dropped his scimitar and lifted the halberd with both hands, ready to behead the knight on the spot.

[Heavy Impact] A powerful shockwave burst from the knight's body and doused the flames. With a slap to the ground, a second burst lifted him up and he spun mid-air. [Heavy Impact] A spinning kick flew toward Liam, but he managed to block it with the shaft of the halberd.

The explosive shockwave sent Liam rolling toward the wall and the knight rushed toward him. "You're one tricky bastard! But you're out of luck; the padding of my armor is resistant to flames. My eyes hurt a bit and I feel hot, but that's as far as fire can harm me."

The knight threw his sword with an explosive shockwave [Heavy Impact]

The sword flew at a terrifying speed and Liam barely dodged it, [Dodge: Level 1] => [Dodge: Level 2]

The sword pierced the wall and Liam started at it. This bastard! Such raw power can't be achieved below level 30. I need to run and assassinate him later. I can't face him head-on without leveling up for a few weeks.

A shockwave exploded beneath the knight's steel boots and sent him flying forward with a punch, and Liam could again barely dodge due to the large distance between them. But the knight's fist punched a hole in the wall.

"You're one slippery bastard. Do you have a dodging ability?" The knight smiled, swinging a barrage of explosive shockwave punches at Liam, riddling the wall with holes as he chased the running Liam.

Knights are the special force that nobles keep around to protect themselves. They are trained to beat and restrain monsters, bandits, and cocky adventurers that dare misspeak to a noble. They aren't opponent that could be defeated easily. The whole reason Liam thought he could beat him, is because of the knight's old-looking armor and the fact he came alone, which is usually a sign of a weak knight being sent around for errands.

No, I should've guessed they'd send someone experienced to get me. I need to get out of here, killing the cultists trying to revive me and tormenting the hero would need to wait…First, I'll hang this city lord's head in the plaza.

****

In the city lord's mansion… "Sara! Lilia…" The city lord's wife rushed in crying as her two daughters walked in with their father.

"Thank the gods, apparently an adventurer found them in a goblin nest and saved them. I already sent Ricardo to bring him here." The city lord said with a happy face, almost crying himself. It's been five days since his daughters and their maid Aisha went missing on their way to their grandma. Albeit he had taken all precautions by disguising and sending them with a family of trusted farmers, they still got attacked by monsters.

"How did it happen?" The mother asked with a worried face.

"Goblins have just moved into the mountain. The mountain road we thought was safe had become infested with them in the time it took us to reach it." The maid Aisha replied.

"They told me, the adventurer's name was Liam. Low rank but with how they described him fighting the goblins, and counting the bravery needed to charge alone into a nest of beasts, I doubt he'll stay low rank for long." The city lord nodded, "Let's wait, Ricardo will bring him soon."

"Father…you sent Ricardo?" Sara gasped and so her sister Lilia added after her, "You could've sent other knights…"

"Don't think of the costs, I would send my best knight to bring the hero that saved my daughters." He laughed.

"Dear, Ricardo is a retired war general; you can't be sending him around doing errands." The wife sighed, "Go you two. The maids have prepared the bath." She looked at Aisha, "Take of them there, I'll work with the maids to prepare for Liam's arrival."

Aisha bowed gently, "As you wish."

****

The guild's main door burst open as Liam's body flew out with Ricardo chasing him with an explosive leap. "You move a lot! Don't you?!" Ricardo said with a smile as he swung a dropkick toward Liam. [Heavy Impact]

Liam rolled away and Ricardo stomped the ground, shattering it. "Why are you running?" Ricardo shouted and lunged toward Liam again.

Liam took a deep breath. If Ricardo is charging forward… he'll fix his halberd in place and let him get pierced.

ZON! Ricardo disappeared.

"Teleportation?!" Liam gasped, but at that moment he took a punch to the back and was knocked down. [Heavy Impact]

"To think you'll recognize teleportation is a fraction of a second…You're one skilled bastard." Ricardo sighed. It's been a while since anyone had forced him to use that. He still had many more skills, but [Heavy Impact] was enough to deal with most people.

He whistled and his horse came in. "Did you wait a lot, Lucy? Don't worry; I'll get you plenty of hay tonight." He patted her head and laid Liam on her back. He then took Liam's weapons and tied them to Lucy's side.

"People of the guild!" Ricardo shouted, "Sent the bill for repairs to the lord's mansion." This might seem bad, but the lord didn't actually care as he could use the repairs as a tax write-off. He too pays taxes to the king, and saying he's fixing the city and guild would earn him slack.

Liam smiled as he wasn't knocked off, just pretending for now. I'll murder the lord's whole family when we get there.

Several minutes later, Ricardo reached the lord's mansion, and the city lord himself was waiting, "Ricardo, did you bring Liam?" He rushed out.

"Yeah, he's…" He turned around, and Liam wasn't behind him on the horse. "Wait! Did he fall off on the road?" Ricardo gasped.

"Ricardo! I don't see him anywhere." The lord growled.

"Wait! Look, this is his blood, I had to knock him out as he refused to come… but I'm sure he's somewhere on the road, I'll go looking for him." Ricardo rushed back out to search for Liam.

Liam on the other hand wasn't on the road, he slipped right after that entered the lord's garden, and was sneaking around in the bushes. I'll start with his wife and daughters, those are easy to kill and can be used as hostages.