Chapter 38 - GND

With dozens of bodies littered among the grasses, a man approached MasterAhn and Sword while the latter was sheathing his sword.

"Oh, are you here to fight? Isshin…?" MasterAhn asked while maintaining his calm.

"Hm… We've known each other for far too long, I would've preferred we don't do this. Just give up, Ahn. It's over, we have the high ground." Isshin chuckled a little and loved to the side.

"You think I didn't get that...?" MasterAhn too let out a small chuckle. "Anyway, did you really thought we'll give up this early on? Hell no, screw yourself." MasterAhn replied calmly once again, his voice bearing hint of confidence even.

Isshin began cracking his knuckles. "Then… I'm sorry for what I'm about to do here…"

"Get ready…" His smile vanished as he whispered to Sword.

"Yes...!"

Isshin cracked his neck nonchalantly before dashing forward at an insane speed, appearing almost instantly in front of MasterAhn.

"That's fast—!" He wasn't able to finish his thought before Isshin grabbed his face and slammed him onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as the soil beneath them was thrown up.

Boom—!

"Dammit!" Sword swung his weapon which managed to slash Isshin's wrist. However, it wasn't enough as it didn't managed to sever his hand that's holding Ahn, but the attack made it loose and severed enough that the latter managed to yank the hand out from the rest of Isshin's arm and flee.

"Tsk!" He immediately pulled away his Dao and took a step back before lunging forward once again, this time with the intent to stab the enemy's throat.

"Heh!" Isshin smiled and simply blocked it with his hand, however, the mana-infused weapon managed to penetrate his palm and went for his face.

Isshin, despite his wounds, simply grabbed the Dao that's going through his left palm with the said hand and pulled Sword towards him, catching the kid by surprise. As soon as the latter is within range, Isshin punched him in the gut with the stump of where is right hand was moments ago, sending Sword away by not so much but managed to force his weapon out of Isshin's grasp using that force, grabbing onto it very tightly even when he was flung away.

"You're really as reckless as ever." MasterAhn spoke as the two regrouped.

"Heh, as if you don't know me already. Let's get this over with!" He shouted with exhilaration while his hands regenerated quickly from bones to flesh and was back to its prime as if nothing happened.

"Tsk, such annoying skill, where'd you get that from this time?"

"Just some quest, a pretty hard one, though." Isshin replied before once again lunging forward.

"You goddamn berserker!" MasterAhn finally pulled a bow from his inventory and equipping a quiver full of arrows that then materialized on his back.

Sword rushed forward to the advancing Isshin while MasterAhn covered his stride, shooting Isshin while maintaining his distance.

Whoosh—!

Arrows flied everywhere as the two worked together to bring the opponent down.

"[Haste]" Sword uttered. Embodying the SpellBlade build since Eternal World, which he had only joined during its last years. Sword was a prodigal player with one of the fastest growth in terms of skills and power in the game series' history.

His build allows him to use Dao sword arts that he practices in real life, and the ability to cast spells to produce desirable effects, enhancing his combat capabilities. For example, [Haste] enhances his speed greatly, allowing him to keep up a barrage of attacks to overwhelm opponents.

With the spell currently in effect, he began assaulting Isshin from all angles, slashing him all over with his mana-infused weapon. However, the latter remained unfazed, single-mindedly going for MasterAhn while constantly regenerating.

"It's useless, kid." Isshin snickered.

"You must be stopped here!" Sword rushed him and slashed him by the neck, which is pretty shallow and was quickly healed after.

"What the—!"

Isshin quickly grabbed Sword by his clothes while the latter tried to retreat after that attack and just as quickly, slammed him onto the ground so hard that another cloud of dust was kicked up and made him spat blood.

Boom—!

"Gah—!"

Technique mostly beats power, but if the opponent is as powerful as Isshin is, then Sword's techniques are pretty much negligible when deciding how the fight will go.

Not only that, despite Isshin being technically the fourth in Eternal World's final rankings and MasterAhn was third, Isshin is a close-quarter combatant, while MasterAhn is an extremely long-ranged fighter due to how his skills and build works, he's way more ineffective in these ranges. But that doesn't mean that MasterAhn have no way of fighting in this range. It's just that Isshin is way more powerful than he is in this range, and the inverse is true if the two was fighting in MasterAhn's preferred range.

MasterAhn quickly shot at Isshin multiple times, infusing a lot of mana in each arrow. This allowed every shot to cause knockback on him despite his regeneration, allowing Sword to flee his grasp by using the opportunity to cut his hand again.

"Tsk, just die already, you two…" Isshin said in annoyance.

"Nope, you're the one who'll be dying!" Sword smiled.

"What—" Isshin quickly looked down on the ground and saw it glowing red and swelling. "Explosives—!" But before he was able to react, he was caught in the blast, quickly stripping him of most of his health.

"So that's why they are not fighting as effectively as usual! They're waiting for me to step on it, fuck!"

MasterAhn quickly swapped up his ordinary bow for a metal long bow and kneeled on one knee while also retrieving a long, thick arrow from his Inventory and began channelling his remaining mana onto the attack as he aimed for Isshin.

"Sword!"

"Yes!" Just as they planned, Sword will conserve his mana until Isshin stepped onto the trigger for the explosives and then they will kill him right after with everything they have.

"[Sharpen], [Propel], [Greater Strength], [Negate], [Lesser Dexterity], [Star-Killer]..." Sword had already cast all of these in advanced and as layers upon layers of buff was granted onto Sword and his weapon, he took a deep breath as he dashed forward at a speed far surpassing Isshin during the start of the battle. Leaving behind an afterimage even and sounding loudly as if a secondary set of explosives were detonated when he quickly broke the sound barrier.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Isshin watched with an awkward smile as the kid decapitated him in an instant and the arrow from MasterAhn quickly disintegrating his head into nothingness with blood and brain-matter scattering everywhere as soon as the arrow made contact with it.