Fortunately, my armor was so sturdy that its exterior was unscathed. But the shock that traveled through my internal organs left me unable to breathe for a while. Even so, I didn’t lose my grip on my halberd.
Craash!
I rolled sideways, dodging the black knight’s descending halberd. I barely managed to rise, using my halberd for support. That one blow had nearly buckled my legs, but I gritted my teeth and weathered the black knight’s follow-up attacks.
In an instant, I was pushed back against the wall of the underground passage. The black knight’s Zornhau flowing into a Mittelhau combination was so fast that dodging was impossible. I blocked with my shaft, but cracks slowly began spreading through the wood.
"Raaaagh!"
Shoving the black knight back with all my strength, I knocked his halberd to the left. At the same time, I whirled my halberd in a great circle overhead with my right hand, then gripped below my lead hand with my left and brought the blade down on the black knight’s neck.
Crack!
The black knight’s upper body shuddered violently. I hadn’t broken the black plate armor, but I had dealt considerable damage to what was inside. With the enemy driven back by that powerful blow, now was my chance.
Clang! Crack!
I pressed the black knight like a storm. Mixing in various feints, I kept up my assault, trying to throw him into confusion. Yet even while retreating, the black knight calmly blocked my attacks.
With every clash of halberd against halberd, I had to endure the growing ache in my wrists. And the halberd itself, a gift from Leto, was steadily reaching the limit of its durability.
Crack!
"Ngh!"
The black knight’s counterattack struck my thigh.
I nearly fell backward, but by planting my pivot foot behind me, I avoided going down. Barely holding on, I saw the black knight take his stance for a downward strike and thrust my spearpoint to counter.
But the black knight, who had been threatening a downward blow, suddenly shifted his left hand’s grip and transformed the strike, not into a Zornhau, but into an Unterhau. It was a feint so natural that even I failed to notice it.
I narrowly dodged the halberd sweeping up from below in a great arc, but the Zornhau that followed the Unterhau boasted the greatest destructive power and speed of any halberd technique.
Crack!
The moment the head of my halberd, swung to counter his Zornhau, collided with the black knight’s weapon, my shaft snapped clean through and shattered into pieces. The halberd hadn’t been able to withstand my own technique and strength.
Thwack!
The black knight’s foot kicked me square in the solar plexus, shoving me away.
The powerful impact slammed me into the wall, and for a moment I gagged.
I was stunned by the loss of my halberd, but with no time to mourn my weapon, the savage halberd blade scraping violently up from the floor filled my vision.
Claang!
In that instant, I drew the longsword from my back like lightning and struck down hard, stopping the halberd’s attack. My longsword is a masterwork blade my father left me; it doesn’t break easily.
Thwack!
I struck the helmet of the momentarily frozen black knight with my pommel. Rocked by the powerful blow, the black knight was pushed backward. I didn’t miss the opportunity and charged.
"Raaaagh!"
"Ngh!"
With a fierce roar, I gripped the flat of my blade and thrust precisely into the gap in the black knight’s helmet. This technique, called Halbschwert, or half-swording, was a unique method devised for attacking narrow openings.
I drove the tip of my longsword into the black knight’s left eye socket. Blood sprayed, and for the first time, the machine-like black knight howled in pain. I thrust deeper to finish him, but the black knight grabbed my blade.
To pry me off, he gripped the neck of his halberd in a reverse hold and stabbed at me with the spearpoint. I barely twisted my body, and the point pierced only my gorget, but in that instant he opened up more distance between us than I had expected.
Crack!
"Graak!"
The axe blade of the halberd, swung one-handed by the black knight, slammed into my head. That single blow nearly knocked me out cold. Rolling roughly across the ground and crashing into the wall, I felt a violent wave of dizziness.
This seemed even worse than the concussion I had suffered fighting the Imperial Knights commander after my battle with the Lightning Knight. I must have lost my sense of balance, because I could hardly keep my body upright.
Clatter!
The black knight irritably yanked my longsword out of his eye and hurled it to the ground. Bright red blood streamed grotesquely down his black helmet.
For the first time, the black knight showed emotion.
His thick, clinging bloodlust seemed to close around my throat.
"...I’ll kill you."
"What, so you can talk? I thought you were a mute."
[Using medical service]
Strength surged through my entire body. The reason I could spend 5,000 points without a second thought was that my earnings to date stood at 67,220 points. My head cleared completely, and my sense of balance returned.
The black knight seemed puzzled as he watched me rise. He had definitely struck my head hard, so my instant recovery must have looked strange. Sorry for cheating, but my whole life is a cheat.
I’m beloved by the system, after all.
I noted the position of my longsword and rolled forward, timing it to the swing of the black knight’s halberd. Whoosh! The chilling sound of wind rang past my ears. I picked up the longsword stained with the black knight’s blood.
Crack! Bang! Bang!
The black knight swung his halberd wildly. Having lost an eye, he was now ruled by rage, and with his depth perception and spatial awareness diminished, his attacks had become highly inaccurate.
I attacked nimbly, driving the black knight back. Though cornered into the defensive, he was still solid, with strength to spare, and every clash sent a heavy shock through my wrists, which felt as though they might give out.
It felt like mindlessly hacking away at a lump of iron. Having learned from my fight with Leto that you must never concede spacing against a halberd, I refused to give him any distance whatsoever.
The instant the black knight’s movements grew wide, I dove inside his guard.
What I was aiming for was the armpit, the universal weak point of all plate armor. I drew my dagger and stabbed the black knight’s armpit. His body went rigid, and then his helmet slammed into mine.
Thwack!
The powerful headbutt sent a heavy shock through me and knocked me backward. The instant the distance opened, the black knight swung his halberd. Staggering from the impact, I barely blocked with my longsword.
Craash!
I blocked it, but the force drove me into the wall. A tingling shock spread through my whole body as if I had been electrocuted. Damn it—it had barely been any time since I used the medical service, and here I was, about to use it again.
But the black knight’s attack didn’t continue.
He was propping himself up with his halberd. My attack had gotten through. He looked as though he could collapse at any moment, but the bloodlust still aimed at me was chilling, like a deep, deep darkness.
"Surrender. I don’t want to kill a fighter of your caliber."
"...I refuse. I only follow my captain’s orders."
"I see. You were a knight of remarkable loyalty."
Shunk!
I stabbed the black knight’s remaining eye and brought him down.
The moment his first eye was taken, the outcome had already been decided. At last, I had grown strong enough to defeat a fighter rivaling Leto all on my own.
That exhilaration filled the hollow left in my heart by Grandfather’s death. I picked up the dead man’s halberd. It was a magnificent piece of work. So this was the Halberd of Hades?
A very satisfying trophy. My broken halberd had served its purpose, and this one would now take its place. As for the black knight’s armor, I would claim it after capturing the Guard commander.
[Princess of Bavaria’s Wittelsbach I Quest Complete]
[20,000 points, 20 gold coins awarded]
[Item Halberd of Hades awarded]
==
[All training quests of the German Swordsmanship Manual have been completed]
[1,000 points, 1 silver coin awarded]
[You may now found the Streit family school of swordsmanship]
==
[Halberd Technique Manual Stage 2 Training Complete]
[1,000 points, 1 silver coin awarded]
[Stage 3 Training Quest begins]
==
[D-Rank Warrior (Stamina 40%, Strength 40%)]
[C-Rank Knight (Military Power 50%, Courage 50%)]
And then a tremendous storm of rewards swept over me.
I had grown stronger still.