CHAPTER 40- The First Real Duel (2)

*Swish*

A dagger came flying towards his neck at a speed that was too fast for him to block.

However that didn't mean he could not dodge it.

Even if the dagger arrived from his blind spot, he could sense the fluctuation of the mana in the atmosphere it created and determine that something was headed towards him.

His instincts and footwork did the rest.

With a smooth sidestep, he moved away from the dagger's projectile, avoiding the fatal hit.

However now it was his time to be bound in one place.

*Swish*Swish*Swish*

Daggers came flying from all around him aimed at his vitals.

His neck, his throat, his head, his chest, his abdomen…

However to Ray, who regularly practiced dodging in all sorts of challenging terrains in his training room, dodging these daggers in flat ground was an easy task.

He stepped away from each dagger's projectile, sidestepping barely enough so that the daggers always just nearly missed him.

And while dodging these daggers was not really difficult for him, it was quite annoying.

He remembered the system possessed by Number 3 which was revealed to him after using appraisal.

'Shadow Assassin System (Epic)'

And the skill that the woman was using was…

'Shadow Leap (SS)'

It was an annoying skill. This woman could jump between shadows of different objects at extremely high speed.

What made this skill most annoying was that it made the body completely ethereal and merged it into the shadow. Even if he pierced the shadow with his sword, it would not harm her.

'The only way to force her out was to remove the shadow… however…'

Ray didn't use light magic and neither did he have light type skills.

*Swish*Swish*Swish*

Every time Number 3 leaped shadows she would throw a dagger towards him aimed at his vitals.

While sidestepping, Ray calculated what he should do.

'Frankly speaking, I can defeat her anytime if I want…'

Ray had a lot of methods to actually defeat her… he could steal her shadow leap skill and follow her into the shadows; he could reveal her actual identity flustering her and making her jump out…

However he couldn't do it.

After all… he was going for the first clear condition. He wanted that sword.

Even though using all the methods he already thought of would be easily fair in battle and he had no problem being shameless to the point of infuriating, he knew the pride system all too well.

The moment he used a single 'underhanded' method, the first condition would be eliminated.

He had to strictly use battle type skills only…

And while Ray was thinking, Number 3 was at her nerve's end.

'What the hell is that movement? How did we never hear of such a monster in the empire?'

She was extremely well trained in the way of assassination and her skills had been optimized to kill.

She had an extremely high agility and precision, and she could hide her presence really well. She had everything that an assassin needed.

She had killed a lot of people before, and she didn't deny that she had indeed failed a lot of her missions too.

But this was something that never happened before.

Her left hand was almost immobilized and being an assassin focusing on stealth and escape type skills, she didn't have proper healing skills.

And above all that, no matter how fast or precisely she threw her dagger, she just couldn't touch her target.

The sheer way that her target moved baffled her.

However, seeing that he was bound to a place, unable to touch her in the shadows, she was relieved.

Shadow Leap that she was using was her strongest active skill, and could at one instance be activated for only thirty minutes. After the skill was cancelled, it entered a thirty minute cooldown.

She had been following her target using this skill, and had canceled it the moment the target recognized that he was being followed.

And it had entered cooldown state.

'Thankfully it ended at the perfect time!'

Now she was certain that her target would slowly get tired and she would have the perfect opportunity to slice his neck.

'You can't touch me in the shadows!'

Ray in the meantime had come up with four ways to defeat her without forfeiting the first clear condition.

First… he could let himself get injured heavily, which would force the woman to come out. Since he had the self regeneration physique, he would easily recover and then defeat her.

Second… he could wait for that annoying skill's cooldown to end and then take action.

Third… he could escape the area to a place with minimal shadows.

All three were easy options, but Ray went for neither of them. He didn't want himself getting injured when he didn't need to, he didn't want to waste time for that annoying skill to end and he hated fleeing from someone the most.

As such he went for the fourth option…

He would change the terrain to something that favored him!

Currently they were in the outskirts of the main city, an isolated alley quite far from the general populace. There were small buildings all around and it was almost noon.

Noon was the time when the main city was most bustling with activity and the back alleys were mostly empty.

But after what Ray was about to do, he was sure guards would hear them and soon rush over.

*Swish*

Number 3 launched another dagger.

*Clang*

However this time Ray didn't dodge.

He turned around, parried away the dagger with his sword and dashed towards the shadow of the building from which the dagger came.

Number 3 who was hiding in the very same shadow scoffed as she leaped to a different shadow.

'Fool, you'll never catch me!'

However Ray wasn't trying to catch her.

He kept speeding towards the shadow and… ran past the shadow towards the building itself.

It was a small two storied building with old decaying walls.

Number 3 seemed to be amused.

"Are you trying to escape into a building? Wha-"

However she stopped at the very next moment.

Ray wasn't entering the building at all.

He put the sword back in his spatial ring and pulling his right hand back…

He threw out a punch. A simple punch but packed with the power of an A grade aimed solely at the poor building.

*BAM*

With a loud exploding noise the building was blasted apart, bricks and debris flew away at rapid speed hitting nearby buildings shattering any and every fragile object in its way.

Number 3 looked at what he had done with a stupefied expression.

'Did he go mad? What the hell is he doing?'

However that didn't stop her from throwing another dagger.

*Swish*

Turning back within an instant he dodged the dagger and dashed once again towards the shadow.

'Shadow Leap'

And once again another building was destroyed.

Again. And again. And would you look at that… once again.

Number 3 by now was sure that her target was feeling angry and depressed at his state, forcing him to act impulsively.

"Don't worry; your death will be painful, just stop trying so hard, you can never catch me!"

However among all the commotion she didn't really notice that the playful smile on Ray's face had not changed even in the slightest since the beginning.

"You know…"

"Will you beg for mercy?"

"Its noon."

"Hmm?"

"Noon time. Sun overhead. Shortest shadows…"

Number 3 looked around. Indeed, the shadows had grown shorter, the sun was overhead after all, but she didn't know what her target was getting at.

"Is that another pathetic bluff?"

"You are truly a fool…"

Once again, a bad premonition came in her mind.

"What are you talking about…"

"Every time you are so sure of your victory… so overconfident that you fail to notice the most basic things around you…"

Without wasting another moment she thoroughly inspected her surroundings.

There were broken buildings all around.

There were shadows all around too, but now that she noticed them…

'Oh no!'

At this moment, Ray giggled softly.

"Your skill… you can leap only in shadows that are larger than you…"

And that was exactly the problem.

The broken buildings combined with the overhead sun no longer had shadows where she could leap, leaving her in a bind.

Looking around there were only three intact buildings…

*BAM*

Now there were two.

Number 3 started palpitating.

'What the fuck, how is this possible! How was I so focused on killing him that I failed to notice the surroundings! This isn't normal in the slightest!'

What she didn't know was she was passively affected by Ray's Reverse Envy aura that amplified her negative emotions towards her target, making her overlook the rest.

Ray was dashing towards her once again.

'Shadow Leap.'

*BAM*

The last building.

Ray was staring at the building with shining eyes.

"Ah, I'll miss this cute little building…wouldn't you too?"

Number 3 who was hiding in its shadow had chills running down her spine.

'I'll die if I stay here!'

And at this moment, she decided to escape.

But that was another bad decision and Ray was finally freed of the last shackles holding him back.

[Your opponent has decided to flee.]

[Host has been deemed as winner. Battle has resulted in victory!]

[Quest: The First Real Duel

Status: Completed

Clear method: (1)

Remark: The opponent has decided to flee the battle. Opponent is no longer in fighting state, it's your victory.

Rewards: 5000 points, Sword of the 9th Hero-(S)]