Translator: CinderTL
After the initial exchange, Roland knew that even with only one-tenth of his strength, he stood no chance against a transcendent professional.
Only by unleashing his full power might he have a one-percent chance of victory.
Therefore, aside from his tricks, he wouldn't hold back any longer!
The moment he activated [Focus], Roland's vision narrowed into a tunnel.
The flickering afterimages of candlelight, the rising steam from the gaps in Gondar's armor, even a pearl button that slipped from a noble's coat in the stands—every detail slowed to a crawl in his eyes.
In the next instant, Roland charged forward.
As he passed the weapon rack, his left hand snatched another iron sword.
The two blades sliced through the air in cold, deadly arcs.
"Dual-wielding?"
Gondar frowned slightly at Roland's choice.
Even with his current transcendent professional strength, his right and left hands still couldn't move with perfect coordination. In his view, attempting dual-wielding without mastering it fully wouldn't enhance one's strength but would actually diminish their combat effectiveness.
As for Roland's mastery of dual-wielding techniques...
Gondar shook his head dismissively, studying the young man's still-youthful face.
At this age, honing a single sword technique to excellence was already a remarkable feat. He couldn't imagine Roland also possessing a dual-wielding technique worthy of the title "supreme skill."
While the renowned knight pondered this, the searing heat of Battle Frenzy surged up Roland's spine, each vertebra igniting in turn. The roar of his blood rushing through his veins echoed in his ears.
With a grunt, Roland ducked low and lunged forward. His left-hand sword arced like a crescent moon, aiming for Gondar's knee joint, while his right-hand sword followed an entirely opposite trajectory, slashing upward toward the gap in the knight's visor.
This contorted posture, as if folding his body in half, flowed seamlessly thanks to Roland's astonishing flexibility.
Yet, witnessing this, Gondar merely swung his iron sword, his counterstrike arriving first.
Clang!
A seemingly casual horizontal block simultaneously sealed off both swords, sparks erupting at the point of impact.
Though his initial attack was thwarted, Roland's assault didn't falter.
In the space of thirty-two breaths, he launched seven consecutive waves of attacks.
The twin swords alternated between thrusts like venomous snakes flicking their tongues and whirling metal hurricanes.
Yet all of Roland's attacks were effortlessly parried by Gondar's simple, unadorned swordplay, the clash of steel echoing through the hall in a continuous melody.
"Not bad twin-wielding technique," Gondar muttered, nodding approvingly as he wielded his sword with one hand.
As the battle wore on, Roland grew acutely aware of the changes his body underwent under the influence of Battle Frenzy.
At first, his initial lunges were only slightly faster than usual, and the arcs his sword blades traced were still visible.
But by the third strike, the blades left blurred afterimages.
The severed air solidified into tangible currents, flipping silver cutlery off nearby tables.
Thirty seconds later, his movements began to defy logic.
During his sixth change of direction, his boots scraped deep grooves into the floor as he pivoted, the weight transfer that normally required two steps now accomplished with a mere twist of his waist.
The twin swords danced with such speed that they seemed to blur into multiple images.
On one parry, the sparks from the clashing blades momentarily coalesced into a fiery line in the air.
A minute later, tiny beads of blood began to seep from his skin, instantly vaporizing into a crimson mist in the intense heat.
The excessive proliferation of muscle fibers caused the joints to groan under the strain, but the resulting surge in strength was equally terrifying.
A single ordinary downward slash from Roland forced Gondar's iron sword down by an inch. When the blade embedded itself in the marble floor, hairline cracks spiderwebbed outward like lightning, spreading over three meters.
Though Roland had no time to check his Job Panel, he could clearly feel the increase in both strength and agility.
Moreover, this enhancement was still gradually intensifying.
After effortlessly dodging another fierce attack, Gondar's brow, hidden behind his visor, twitched slightly, a flicker of interest flashing in his eyes.
"This kid..."
Seeing that Roland's stamina hadn't been depleted by the intense combat but instead his attacks grew increasingly forceful and his speed ever more rapid, Gondar's relaxed posture stiffened slightly.
"Did he use some special combat technique?"
Gondar wasn't the only one to notice this change; the other spectators present had also observed it.
Before the battle began, the nobles watching had sneered contemptuously, assuming this would be a one-sided massacre.
But as the fight dragged on, their expressions gradually froze.
Each of Roland's strikes grew more ferocious than the last, each advance more swift than the one before.
Their elegant composure had completely vanished.
A young noble's crystal wine glass slipped from his fingers.
Expensive silk robes were stained crimson with spilled wine, yet he didn't even bother to wipe them.
His eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the increasingly rapid figure in the arena.
Roland's twin swords had become a blur of afterimages, the explosive clang of metal on metal ringing in their ears.
As the battle continued, the nobles' murmurs grew into a cacophony.
"This can't be..."
"Even transcendent professionals can't keep improving like this in the middle of a fight!"
But the reality was undeniable.
Roland's swords were shattering their understanding of combat.
At this moment, however, Roland had no time to heed their chatter.
The side effects of Battle Frenzy were beginning to manifest.
"Damn it!"
Roland cursed inwardly as he noticed a crimson haze creeping into his peripheral vision. His intricate feints and counters were being replaced by crude, primal slashes.
As his mental power continued to drain, Roland's brain, now operating under the effects of the Focus trait, began to race.
Just as his rationality was fading, he finally spotted a subtle flaw in Gondar's defense.
The knight's left shoulder had hesitated for a split second during his parry!
"Opportunity!"
Seeing this, Roland didn't hesitate. He retreated, twisted his waist, and folded his body into a near-impossible posture, like a spring compressed to its limit.
His right leg bent forward, nearly touching the ground, while his left leg stretched back to its full extent, his torso contorting like a drawn bow.
"Momentum Slash!"
With a roar in his mind, Roland unleashed the power he had been accumulating.
All the force he had previously been forced to block, the residual energy deflected by Gondar's iron sword, now erupted from his heel in a spiraling vortex of power.
The marble floor beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb pattern.
As his twin swords crossed in a blur of motion, their blades moved so fast they left two intersecting vacuum trails in the air, causing all the candles in the banquet hall to dim momentarily.
Seeing this, Gondar didn't underestimate the attack. He immediately raised his sword to parry.
Buzz!
A teeth-grinding metallic screech filled the air.
In this match, Gondar was forced to retreat half a step for the first time, his eyes widening in surprise as three-inch-long sparks erupted from his iron sword.
The trajectory he had intended to be a perfect block was brutally cleaved open by Roland's sudden surge of strength.
"Interesting," Roland murmured, a playful curve forming on his lips just as his sword tip was about to touch Gondar's body.
With an almost unnatural twist of his wrist, he unleashed a powerful vortex of air.
Roland felt his iron sword suddenly pulled by an invisible force, its trajectory veering sharply off course.
Boom!
In the deafening explosion, the two iron swords crashed heavily onto the marble floor three paces from Gondar.
The solid marble shattered instantly, the impact reducing the center of the impact zone to dust.
Affected by the strange vortex, Roland lost his balance and was sent flying sideways by the residual force.
With a series of crashing sounds, his body slammed into several dining tables, sending them tumbling before he finally crashed into a pile of splintered wood.
(End of the Chapter)
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