Chương 57: Unmatched Speed

The dance continues. My fists are much faster than the axe that was made to be wielded by a larger entity. The baron's smile grows wider as it's pushed harder. Its surprise is clear when it's met with my jerking command-powered movements, but it's still not enough to bridge the gap. The distance lessens as I chase the baron with a constant flurry of punches. It moves with the grace of a professional boxing champion, weaving, bending, and side-stepping all of my blows.

At some points, it seems like I'm a tad faster, but its movements are as fluid as can be. Three minutes pass like that. I expect my massive endurance to allow me to catch up, but that's not the case. It might be because it moves so effortlessly while I'm doing the opposite. Four minutes in, it still hasn't broken a sweat. Hook, jab, uppercut. I dodge. Side-step, arched back. My fist narrowly misses its chin as its head flicks back. Harder and harder, I push. Simple attacks don't work, so I throw countless feints.

The baron doesn't react to them in the slightest, as if it knew before I lifted my arm that I was going to fake it. I even try more experimental things like leg sweeps and bear hugs. None of them work. I can't even touch him. At some point, the fight takes us to the edge of the circle. Danger Sense reacts for the first time, a soldier with a spear pulling back to stab. Several soldiers next to it try to stop it, but it's too late. A blur passes. As I begin to dodge the thrust, the danger disappears in an instant.

The hobgoblin falls to its knees, a small red hole in the center of its forehead. Alarm bells ring in my head. My gaze flickers to the soldiers nearby, and they don't try to help. They quickly move back into positions, standing ramrod straight. The spearman falls onto its face, unmoving. I turn to the baron. He stares at the corpse like a dog that just pissed on its shoe. Pure disgust. On the tip of its rapier, a single line of blood trails down. The rapier is already back in its scabbard at its side.

My urgency spikes. One Mind/Two Bodies Instead of using the skill to help me better, I focus it entirely on perception. Moving more efficiently will help stamina, but won't help much to catch him. The baron turns its head to me, and a pinprick of danger wells up on my shoulder. I yank my shoulder back to dodge, but nothing happens. He doesn't even reach for its weapon, both hands still folded behind its back. The disgust on its face is quickly replaced by confusion, then curiosity.

Both of us stand staring at each other for a few seconds before another prick of danger wells up on my other shoulder. I yank it back the same as before. Still, no movement from the baron. Its face transforms back into that disgusting grin. Like plugging in Christmas lights, dots of localized danger light up across my body. I bend my legs and launch backwards. The baron almost glides across the ground to follow me. In the end, we are at the same distance from each other as before.

Danger rises on my left shin, disappearing when I lift it. The same happens on my right shin. Laughter barks from the baron as I dance in front of it, spurred by my Danger Sense. How? How is it doing this to my skill? The next time danger grows on my leg, I ignore my instinct to dodge and keep it in place. Using One Mind/Two Bodies, I strain my focus to follow the baron's movements. Again, the danger fades as the baron makes no move. He frowns in disappointment at my lack of reaction.

More danger lights up, and this time I see movement. The baron shifts its arm and draws its weapon with impossible speed. I begin to lift my leg, but I can't move nearly as fast as I can perceive. The leather shin guard does nothing. The tip of the rapier digs several inches into my leg before being pulled out in the same motion. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

With One Mind/Two Bodies active, I get to watch the metal glide through the inside of my leg in crystal clarity. The sight is both fascinating and revolting. Due to the size of the wound, only a drop of blood leaks out. My lips pull up as I look into its eyes. I know how your little trick works now, buddy. More danger on my shoulder. This time, I do nothing until I see movement. My shoulder jerks back, and the tip of the blade reaches forward. It stops as the baron's reach plateaus an inch away from its target.

The weapon is pulled back, and the baron's eyes widen slightly before morphing into annoyance. Its agility is colossal compared to mine, but I can still win if I play this right. All I have to do is ignore the beginning of Danger Sense, then only dodge when it moves. Feeling confident, I step in with a jab. He bends to the right, stabbing at my heart. Looks like he's tired of having fun. I push into the strike and trade the stab for a punch.

The tip of the blade bends viciously as it meets my skill-enhanced ribcage. I say ribcage, but optimized anatomy is turning it into a rib-fortress. My fist connects for the first time, sending the baron stumbling back a step. He looks down at its armor. A small dent is left in the center of the chestplate. When it looks up again, I grin and hold my hand out, gesturing for him to come closer. A small, insignificant bead of blood travels from below my chestplate. Red flushes over its face, combining with fury.

He doesn't sheathe its weapon after striking this time and adopts a stance. In one movement, it lunges and stabs. It's only once I deem that abandoning the movement is impossible that I dodge. He misses, and I jab, which also misses. A flurry of danger bursts out across my body. Now that I know its trick, I'm able to dodge most of them and retaliate. Lines of blood score themselves across my body as I sometimes mistime a dodge. My punches keep him on its feet, but no more blows land.

I get better at dodging as the fight goes on, but it's clear that I'm on the losing side. The baron only lands a cut every so often, but that's still better than none of my punches connecting. I throw a hook, and it curves around it to aim at my collarbone. I move to the side and jab as the blade cuts across my armpit. He bends to avoid the jab and stabs at my head. My neck flicks to the left to avoid it. Thoughts fly through my head, but I can't find a way to get out. If I run, it'll chase.

With my back turned, I won't be able to gauge when to dodge according to Danger Sense. Damn! I should've learned stone pillar before the fight! I doubt I could have used it as a weapon, but destabilizing its footwork would have been more than enough. All of my active skills are being used already with the exception of heal tame and stasis. Healing's not worth the trade-off of losing brainpower from One Mind/Two Bodies. Stasis might surprise him, but its reaction time is absurd.

More puncture wounds and slices appear across my body. Time's running out. The command keeps pesky things like anxiety and panic out, which keeps me in the fight. It's not enough. I slowly step back to avoid more wounds. The baron sees what I'm doing and pushes to become more aggressive. Even with its more reckless movements, I'm unable to land a single blow. I think of ways to distract him and leave. A loose stab digs deep, shearing off one of the bone plates in my abdomen.

Alarm grows, quickly smothered by the command. An idea flashes in my mind. I hastily dodge the next few strikes at the outer edges of my body. Danger grows in my abdomen again. This time, I don't try to dodge. The blade glides through my flesh like butter. Sensing the moment, I clench my abs as powerfully as I can. The blade exits again. Damn, too late. I dodge more strikes until it aims at my stomach again. I clench, and the blade grinds across two interlocking bone plates. Too early.

As the fight becomes longer, more and more wounds appear on my body. Another strike at my abdomen. I focus on the blade as it sneaks through and pierces my liver. Now. Ignoring the nauseating feeling from my liver, I clench my abs as hard as possible. Like a toothpick caught between teeth, two bone plates slam together and grab onto the rapier. My body bends inwards as I clutch the blade as hard as possible. The baron pulls, but the blade doesn't come back. Instead, it pulls us closer.

My hand darts out and grips its neck.

"Kevin, punch as hard as possible," I whisper. I pull us down, falling on top of the baron. My right arm shifts back, muscles coiling around the straining bone. Its eyes widen, and a single word comes out. My entire body contracts as I drive my fist down. It slams into the center of the baron's face, crushing it and making the sides of its head explode against the cobblestone. Chime The baron goes limp, its weapon clattering to the ground. The chaos of the battle is gone in an instant.

My heart slams in my ears and chest as ragged breathing tears from my throat. A level-up lightens the load and places breath in my lungs. I look up, and half expect the soldiers to lay down their weapons and praise me for freeing them from tyranny. Instead, they watch with slight awe. Most of them throw awkward glances at each other as if they don't know what to do. Eventually, one soldier steps up with a shield and axe. It garbles something that undoubtedly means 'Get him! He's weakened!'

I chuckle as the soldiers get back into formation and move toward me.

"It never ends, huh?" I quickly get off the baron and dash to where I left the axe. Lifting the massive weapon with one arm hanging limp at my side is no easy task. Thankfully, it's lessened by my musculature skill. As usual, I move to the edge of the enemy's formation to pick it apart. I take One Mind/Two Bodies off of perception and put it into healing. It only takes a single kill before I ditch the giant axe for a smaller mace.

The fight with the baron is still fresh in my mind, which makes it easy to dance around the pitiful attacks of enemies who are only slightly above me in level. I work through the crowd, carving through the chaff. Spending so much of my stamina so quickly has buffed my musculature to the point of taking them out with a single strike to the head. Midway through the fight, my weakened arm becomes strong enough to feint opponents and make the cleanup easier.

Two more level-ups come from defeating the forty-odd soldiers that make up the mass. After finishing, I look over the field of corpses with pride. It isn't easy being me. I think with a smile. A quick loop around the field allows me to tie another twenty sticks of meat to my back. Another trip through all of the cabins, and I come out with more rewards. One arm weakened, and the other awkwardly balancing another bed, I leap out of the encampment and make my way home.