Chapter 44: The Duel (Part I)

The sheer length of a greatsword dictates its immense power, which is why a well-known axiom in martial arts states: "An inch longer is an inch stronger; an inch shorter is an inch riskier."

The long and strong approach is overt and dazzling, while the short and crafty one is deceitful, uncanny, and fraught with hidden peril. "An inch longer is an inch stronger" means that the longer the weapon in hand, the wider the attack radius and the greater the offensive might. "An inch shorter is an inch riskier" implies that the shorter the weapon, the closer one must get to the opponent to strike. Combat with such weapons demands swifter movement and requires bearing greater risks. The "risk" here does not primarily refer to the danger one absorbs oneself, but rather to the nature of the combat style—a life-or-death engagement capable of swiftly sending the enemy to their doom.

Kay found himself leaning into this very "risk." His weapon was a standard-length longsword, considerably shorter than the opposing greatsword.

Had Kay adhered to his previous combat style and rushed the offensive from the outset, it would have been a case of weakness confronting strength, forfeiting the advantage right from the start. After all, before he could even close the distance, the opponent's greatsword might well have cleaved straight through his skull.

A Death Knight might lack certain attributes possessed by the living, but in one aspect they invariably surpass the living by a wide margin: sheer physical strength! Thus, while wielding a greatsword remains cumbersome for an ordinary person, this drawback was vastly mitigated in the hands of the Black Knight.

Consequently, Kay adopted a strategy of defensive counterattacks from the very beginning. Although the Black Knight possessed formidable strength, the speed of his greatsword was not sluggish. Yet momentum is a force that even the dead cannot evade. No matter how ferocious his attacks appeared, once such immense power was unleashed, recovering the weapon swiftly to change tactics or defend was no easy feat like it would be with a lighter weapon. Kay was targeting this microscopic opening.

He planned to launch his assault precisely in the fleeting gap left after the Black Knight swung his blade.

The Black Knight proved exceptionally decisive. The moment Kay's left-hand sword lunged toward his head, the knight slid backward, widening the distance slightly so that the extended blade merely grazed the surface of his armor.

Though the blow failed to land solidly, it still managed to kick up a cascade of brilliant sparks.

This exchange drew gasps of astonishment from the surrounding onlookers.

After missing the initial strike, Kay did not press his advantage aggressively as he usually might have. Instead, he prudently retreated, widening the distance once more.

Against a normal adversary, Kay could certainly have seized the opening to continue pressing the attack. The problem, however, was that the figure before him was no ordinary human; by now, he could barely be classified as a living being at all. The knight's reflexive retreat had been entirely instinctual, driven by anything other than genuine fear of sustaining injury from Kay's blade.

How could a dead man possibly fear injury?

If Kay had foolishly pressed the attack, the outcome awaiting him would undoubtedly have been a brutal, life-for-life duel of attrition.

No, to be precise, it would be Kay wagering his own precious life against an opponent who had none to lose. The adversary was already a corpse, and even though the longsword in Kay's grasp had been tempered by dragon breath, granting it the power to slay the undead, the Black Knight would at most be reduced from a corpse to ashes—fundamentally making little difference. But if Kay were to take a direct hit from that greatsword, he would instantly graduate from a living man to a dead one.

The trade-off was utterly unprofitable.

Thus, valuing self-preservation above all else, Kay had no choice but to fall back.

The Black Knight before him was acting purely on instinct. Powerful though he undoubtedly was, he was hardly insurmountable; one simply had to bide their time and wait for an opening.

As the distance opened up again, true to form, the Black Knight could not resist charging forward to press the attack anew.

This time, Kay chose not to evade, opting instead to parry. Crossing his dual swords, he caught the downward slash of the greatsword. Following this, he slid his right-hand sword along the blade to deflect the greatsword to the side, while simultaneously thrusting forward with his left-hand sword straight toward the Black Knight's chest.

The Black Knight was no pushover either. He released his grip on the two-handed greatsword with one hand, raised a mailed gauntlet in an upward sweep, and batted Kay's straight thrust aside.

A knight's gauntlets and vambraces are exceptionally thick—arguably the most heavily armored sections aside from the chest plate and helmet. Their purpose is to serve as makeshift shields when no actual shield is held in hand. Generally speaking, however, very few knights resort to this tactic because it demands an extraordinarily high level of skill, requiring mastery of deflection and parrying techniques. Otherwise, one genuinely runs the risk of having an entire forearm neatly sliced off by an enemy blade.

While batting Kay's longsword aside, the Black Knight simultaneously threw a direct kick targeting Kay's abdomen!

Left with no alternative, Kay bent his knee and raised his leg upward, using his kneecap to intercept the Black Knight's kick.

With a muffled thud, both combatants were driven apart by each other's force. This time, however, the Black Knight afforded Kay no opportunity to widen the distance. The very moment the gap opened, the Black Knight reversed his grip on the greatsword and delivered a backhanded diagonal slash to prevent Kay from finding his footing.

To dodge this blade, Kay was forced to check his movement and parry once more with the sword in his hand.

This interception inevitably disrupted Kay's footwork. Seizing this exact opportunity, the Black Knight executed a half-step forward before fully regaining his balance. Alternating his legs in a powerful, level rear-drive, he took a massive stride forward, his entire body slightly arched, charging aggressively like a hunting leopard closing in on its prey. Prior to this forward surge, the two-handed greatsword had been drawn back. The moment the Black Knight took his large stride forward, accumulating maximum tension in his waist and abdomen, he unleashed a thrust. The greatsword shot forward as fast as lightning, striking like a venomous viper emerging from its den.

This blow was not only blindingly fast and immensely powerful, but it was also delivered at the absolute optimal moment, making it exceedingly difficult to defend against. This technique had once been Tristan's signature move, and countless enemies had met their doom beneath it.

Fortunately, Kay had once studied this very technique and knew precisely how to counter it.

Before Tristan's strike could fully materialize, Kay discarded the two swords in his hands entirely. Spreading his legs slightly, he pulled his left fist back toward his abdomen, raised his other fist, and channeled force rising from the soles of his feet. He thrust his hips, twisted his waist, and unleashed his punch with explosive power.

This single punch landed with pinpoint precision squarely against the side of the greatsword!

Clang!

The massive sword was knocked violently to the side. Simultaneously, the Black Knight's central defense was blown wide open by the momentum. Naturally, refusing to let such a prime opportunity slip away, Kay rode the momentum of his right-hand punch, snapped his right leg upward, and delivered a vicious side whip kick straight into the Black Knight's waist!

Under the force of that single kick, the Black Knight was sent airborne before crashing heavily onto the ground!

As noted earlier, in his past life, Kay had a background in martial arts. Although he never achieved extraordinary renown in that realm, his hand-to-hand combat skills were far from weak compared to the average person. Upon arriving in this realm, Kay had never abandoned his former training. In fact, thanks to his golden finger, his martial arts prowess in this lifetime had ascended to a realm he could never have imagined in his previous existence.

To achieve this, he had consumed no small number of energy points. Truth be told, Kay's true area of expertise lay precisely in hand-to-hand combat; weapons, by contrast, were merely secondary attachments.

To put it mildly, given Kay's current martial arts proficiency combined with his physical attributes, if he were to return to the real world, he could genuinely replicate the prowess of legendary martial heroes from television and novels. (Qinggong, of course, remained out of the question—those gravity-defying feats like treading across tree leaves were entirely beyond earthly physics, and Kay could practice for another hundred years without hope of achieving them.)

As Kay sent the Black Knight flying, thunderous cheers erupted from the surrounding audience.

Only Kay himself remained devoid of any joyous sentiment, for despite the Black Knight's disheveled and battered appearance, it was merely a loss of face; the actual physical damage he had sustained was practically nonexistent.