Chapter 22: Drawing the Sword

Darlos narrowed his eyes, carefully and cautiously observing the young man before him.

He was wearing the kind of black formal attire that nobles often wear, with white gloves, looking not at all like someone who would travel in the wilderness. Instead, he looked more like those nobles Darlos had seen attending balls and banquets in big cities long ago. The longsword wasn’t hanging at his waist like ordinary people, but was diagonally slung on his back. This wasn’t an easy position to draw the sword from. Generally, swordsmen would wear their longswords on the left side, making it easy to draw with the right hand from the waist. But Julian’s sword was inserted at the back of his waist, and his right hand was now resting on the protruding hilt, gently caressing it. This way, drawing the sword would become very difficult. Even if he were left-handed, it would only waste more time.

Moreover, Julian didn’t seem to intend to draw his sword.

If it were before the battle started, Darlos wouldn’t have taken this young boy seriously. With his experience as a high-rank swordsman, he could see that this young man actually had no real strength. His skin was fair, his physique slender and not strong enough, clearly someone who rarely exercised or fought. But now, Darlos was no longer so confident in his judgment. He had already seen an intermediate swordsman with elemental power and lost sword techniques, which was undoubtedly a very troublesome enemy. And now, the opponent voluntarily retreated, handing over the right to fight to this seemingly frail young man with no apparent strength. There must be some trick to it.

In any case, the battle was inevitable.

Darlos raised his longsword, holding it level in front of him. His expression was solemn. Then, a bright light flashed from the sword’s edge, enveloping the entire blade. Darlos’s figure flickered.

This wasn’t the long-lost Accelerated Charge that Judy had mastered, but the orthodox charging technique used by all intermediate and above swordsmen in this era. However, when used by a high-rank swordsman, it appeared particularly intimidating. In everyone’s eyes, they only saw a white light suddenly burst forth, then transform into a silver-white line, roaring towards Julian. Where it passed, the ground cracked under invisible pressure, and flying dust scattered in all directions from the impact of the airflow.

Unstoppable.

Ophariel, standing behind the Wraith Warriors, widened her eyes in terror, both hands tightly covering her mouth. Although she was still some distance from the battlefield, when she saw that meteor-like silver light rushing towards her, Ophariel still felt a strong sense of pressure, as if she was facing not a person, but a mountain torrent, a tidal wave, something that human power could not possibly stop or resist.

And Julian still hadn’t drawn his sword.

Got him!

Although he didn’t know why the opponent hadn’t reacted, Darlos obviously wouldn’t miss this good opportunity. He saw his sword tip about to pierce the opponent’s chest. Just a few more inches forward, and it would pierce the opponent’s body, then completely end his life. But at this moment, a crisp sound of collision rang out.

“Ding.”

There was no powerful force, nor did the direction of the thrust change, but Darlos suddenly found that his original forward momentum had vanished. That fast speed mixed with the burst of soul power in the attack suddenly lost its original function, as if frozen, unable to advance any further. At the same time, Darlos’s peripheral vision caught a faint black light coming towards him.

The combat experience of a high-rank swordsman came into play at this moment. Darlos didn’t dwell on why his attack had failed. He immediately withdrew his sword to guard his chest while rolling backward, barely dodging the attack of that black shadow. But the black light that had missed its strike didn’t stop. On the contrary, it just paused briefly in the air, then formed a Z-shape and continued forward, like a fierce venomous snake, giving the opponent no chance at all.

As Darlos rolled on the ground and raised his head, that black shadow was almost at his forehead.

How can it be so fast!?

Darlos was greatly shocked. Until now, he still couldn’t see through the opponent’s attack. Although it seemed long, it was just a lightning-fast strike. From Darlos withdrawing his sword to rolling to dodge, it was questionable if even two seconds had passed, but the opponent seemed to have known his actions in advance, following up with a chain reaction attack.

“Ha!!”

Realizing the situation was not good, Darlos could only shout loudly, then suddenly leap up. The longsword in his hand immediately transformed into streaks of light, forming an impenetrable barrier to protect his body. The power of a high-rank swordsman was fully demonstrated at this moment. Huge airflows and soul energy swirled and intertwined, then completely engulfed that dark shadow.

Relying on this strike, Darlos finally escaped that ghost-like assault. He caught his breath, then raised his head, his expression changing slightly.

Because he had already seen that Julian was still standing in his original position. The only difference was that half of the longsword in his hand was now unsheathed.

“Tch!”

No, it should be said to be resheathed, because just as Darlos raised his head to look at him, Julian had already put his longsword back into its scabbard.

Did he draw his sword? Did he?

Ophariel widened her eyes in surprise, and the bandits also looked at each other in confusion. Compared to Darlos in the midst of battle, what they saw was more direct and simple – everyone only saw Darlos rush towards Julian like a thunderbolt, then suddenly stop, then for some reason roll backward and retreat, then suddenly jump up and use the Sword Barrier. The battle lasted only about ten seconds. When everyone shifted their gaze from the landed Darlos to Julian, they were surprised to find that at some point, the longsword at Julian’s back had been half-drawn, but just as they thought Julian was about to draw his sword to fight, he suddenly put the sword back into its scabbard.

What was that?

Everyone widened their eyes, full of confusion, while Darlos’s face turned pale. He stared at Julian’s right hand, gritting his teeth.

“Flash Sheath!?”

Darlos was certainly familiar with this skill. Unlike the Accelerated Charge used by the Wraith Warriors earlier, which was a lost sword technique that hadn’t appeared for a long time, Flash Sheath was still passed down even on the current continent. It originated from a warrior’s grasp of crisis and defensive skills. As a swordsman, one could encounter danger at any time, but due to limited conditions, warriors couldn’t always hold their weapons in hand to respond. In this aspect, mages were much better off than them. In magic, there were many protective spells that would automatically activate when sensing an attack, giving the spellcaster enough reaction time. But swordsmen didn’t have such good treatment, so faced with sudden attacks, they could only rely on their own reactions. Flash Sheath was the ultimate expression of this technique. Its purpose was to compress the time between discovering the enemy and counterattacking to the shortest, almost to nothing. No matter where or in what situation, it could ensure an instant transition to combat stance, counterattacking while drawing the sword. A flash, and the sword leaves the sheath, hence the name Flash Sheath.

To learn this skill required not only sufficient strength and familiarity with one’s weapon as if it were an extension of one’s arm, but in fact, Flash Sheath was considered one of the top skills even among high-rank warriors. Because it almost ignored spatial obstacles, no matter what kind of environment, whether that environment was suitable for drawing a sword or not, in the instant of Flash Sheath, the result of having the sword in hand was already determined, impossible to change.

Because of this, Flash Sheath was one of the techniques that many high-rank swordsmen aspired to acquire. But because it was really too difficult, requiring not only sufficient power but also talent, spirituality, and even innate ability, many high-rank swordsmen spent their entire lives unable to learn this technique. Darlos himself had also challenged and tried to master this technique, but ultimately failed.

This made the previous battle very clear. When Darlos used his charge to come before Julian and launch a thrusting attack, Julian used Flash Sheath to block the opponent’s attack. Although it’s unknown how exactly he blocked it, he did block it. After that, Julian used the momentum of Flash Sheath twice to counterattack Darlos, then resheathed – and Darlos knew very well that this was the counterattack technique of Flash Sheath.

What on earth is going on?

Darlos couldn’t help but instinctively raise his head to look at the sky above, to see if it was blue or red. An intermediate swordsman mastering lost sword techniques, a young noble possessing advanced sword skills – Darlos even had a moment of doubt whether he had woken up with his underlings and traveled back to the Age of the Luminous Moon. Only in that era of red skies, full of blood and death, with grand mages and Holy Grace knights everywhere, would there be such terrifying armies and warriors. But now… where did these people come from?

The sky was still blue.

Perhaps it might be better if it were red.

“Young man, who exactly are you?” Darlos swallowed hard. Although up to now, the two sides hadn’t really engaged in formal combat, from Julian’s previous strike, it could be seen that he possessed at least the ability of a high-rank swordsman. In other words, the opponent was on par with himself in terms of strength – or at least Darlos hoped so. And he also knew very well that although Flash Sheath was considered a high-level technique, it actually didn’t have the ability to block a thrusting charge. This indicated that the young man before him still had many hidden things not yet revealed. Although Darlos himself also had many things not yet unleashed, his age was after all advanced, while the young man before him was still very young. This was the fundamental reason why he dared not act rashly. A high-rank swordsman who could perform such a high-level technique as “Flash Sheath” at this age was definitely someone to be guarded against and vigilant of. Moreover, Darlos even had some suspicion that the opponent might be… but Darlos just shook his head, throwing this absurd thought to the back of his mind.

However, faced with Darlos’s inquiry, Julian only raised his left index finger and shook it gently.

“You don’t need to know so much, Mr. Darlos. As for my intentions, I think I’ve made them very clear in the previous letter, haven’t I? So, I think there’s really nothing for us to discuss.”

Julian’s voice was soft and calm. As he spoke, he reached into his bosom and took out that silver pocket watch, raised his head to adjust the time against the sun, then squinted his eyes and put the pocket watch back into his bosom.

“Time is running short, I need to reserve some for unexpected needs… so let’s end the idle chat here.”

Saying this, Julian’s right hand fingers gently and softly caressed the sword hilt – as if caressing a lover’s body. Then everyone’s vision blurred, and that black longsword full of mysterious patterns was somehow already in Julian’s hand.

“A power-type high-rank swordsman is exactly the type I need. Holy Grace above, it seems I’m quite lucky.”

Putting away that leisurely, relaxed smile on his face, Julian slowly raised his longsword. But he didn’t immediately assume an attacking posture. Instead, he gripped the sword hilt with both hands, holding the longsword straight up in front of his chest, then opened his eyes and pointed the sword forward.

This was a declaration, and also a beginning.

Noticing this seemingly meaningless gesture, Darlos’s face turned ashen. Although this was just an ordinary posture, combined with the strength Julian had shown earlier, this stance took on a new meaning.

“Knight’s Swordsmanship…”

Like a groan, or a fearful wail, Darlos felt such despair for the first time in his life.