Chapter 177 – Reunion
#177.
‘It’s still the same.’
Gaon was soaked with emotion.
In fact, he didn’t want to hide his identity like this.
I want to face each other proudly with my bare face and develop feelings for each other while communicating with Hirencia.
But now things weren’t going well. There is even a possibility that an unexpected situation will occur if the duke is caught.
I’d rather do this than that.
Sreureung-
Ji Hirencia, thinking that it would be difficult to continue the conversation as the threat of death came, pulled out her sword from her waist.
She takes a step with her left foot to shift her center of gravity forward, and raises her sword forward to protect her body. She was dignified, but her attitude was hard to find.
The moment when each other’s breathing crosses and the sun sticks its head out and shines its warm sunlight on the hill,
Kaaang!
There was a flash.
Brilliantly shining hair rushes right in front of you in an instant, aiming at your ankles with sharp thorns hidden in it.
Even in this situation, it’s only her to think of suppressing her as much as possible, but Gaon wasn’t her formidable opponent enough to take her down even with a hand-to-hand strike.
Gaon, who lightly used Ran’s technique to let the sword slip away, thrust her hand toward Hirencia’s collarbone, which was close to her.
The jet-black hand blade itself is no different from a killing weapon.
“Oops!”
Kang!
Hirencia, who was about to pour out her sword strikes one after another due to her stabbing, hastily snapped her wrist to block her attack and backed away from her.
He knew all of Hirencia’s attack patterns.
Breaking her combo is fairly easy if you target her collarbone after her first attack.
Usually, to know this kind of information, you have to fight her a lot, but in the past, he had been guided by her countless times for half a year when he was combining her fights.
It was the result of her life-and-death efforts to somehow continue her sparring with her.
“Huh!”
Gaon caught up with Hirencia, who backed away in shock, and threw her spear in succession.
The spear, which was shot in the shortest trajectory without wasting any strength, flew towards her vital point with exquisite timing.
It was an attack that attacked another gap just like before, with the speed and position that she could barely block.
Chaeeng!
“Oh!”
Hirencia blocked her attack, but this time her wrist was broken by her final attack, unable to properly dissipate her shock and she retreated.
Then, her Gaon chased after her again, and her one-sided offensive was poured out, creating her breathtaking appearance.
‘As expected, it burst too softly.’
Hirencia was weak in her heart.
She was not attacking with her firepower so as not to lose this hill, which is still her own place.
In terms of her mana amount, Gaon was overwhelmingly inferior, so if she pushed to that part, she would struggle quite a bit, but she was reluctant to attack by extending her strong energy and sweeping it away.
If there was a problem, it was Gaon too.
If this garden was turned into a cruel mess of hers, she might be able to draw out Hirencia’s true feelings, but in order not to incur her hatred, she didn’t rush to shoot her strong spirit.
After all, it was a fight between a coward and a coward.
After thinking about it for a while, Gaon pushed her harder and led her fight from the garden to the nearby forest.
Hirencia struggled to respond to the tens and hundreds of spear strikes that rained down on her even in a second, only to back away without a break.
And when she finally stepped into her thick bush, she looked around her, her eyes twinkling, and thrusting out her sword.
A flash of light exploded in an instant.
This time, it wasn’t just an illusion caused by the light reflected by her platinum hair, but a flash of light actually shot from the sword.
A platinum steel jet resembling her hair aimed at his shoulder at a speed exceeding supersonic speed.
It was such a formidable speed that if he had been careless, he would probably have suffered a bit of embarrassment, but fortunately, thanks to Gaon’s preparations in advance, he was able to block it without getting hurt.
Of course, the power contained in it could not be completely drained, and it slipped about 10m.
Gaon immediately lifted his head as he tightened his legs.
As expected, it must have been wise to attack Hirencia at once, so she immediately chased after her and prepared for a series attack.
His shoulder, which had been pulled tight like a bowstring before being shot, was thrown out, and at the same time, a rain of flashes rained down.
Papabababat—!
The flash of light that filled the front to the point where I wondered if it might be blinding me was intent on subduing it tenaciously.
If possible, he would really like to attack with killing force, but with Hirencia’s personality, it was impossible unless it was a dire situation.
And Gaon couldn’t make Hirencia so sad and angry.
I wanted her to be happy in this life as much as possible.
With that desire in mind, Gaon did his best to push the limits.
Hirencia’s attack was so fast that the eyes couldn’t keep up with it, but Gaon didn’t even allow a single attack and rather overpowered it.
It predicts the future based on changes in muscles, eye movements, breathing depth, and the type of swordsmanship used.
Before she could even thrust her sword out, Gaon’s spear had already slammed into a position to reach, deflecting a flying flash.
It cuts off the trajectory even before it continues, and continues its momentum by taking over the space in advance.
Hirencia was greatly agitated.
Gifted with her born genius, she will never have experienced being technically outclassed by an opponent of her caliber.
This is what Gaon wanted. Her unusual experience is bound to give her a special realization, which leads to her sense of improvement.
Even she herself didn’t know it, but at this time, Hirencia was exhausted.
Growing up with all the expectations of her dukedom, she became stagnant within the wall of the 9-star, her burdens reaching their peak, and her doubts about herself growing stronger and helpless at the same time.
Breaking them requires an unusual stimulus.
That’s why she dared to kill herself and threatened to provoke her, trying to draw out her power.
This resentment of her now will make her shake off her lethargy.
Kang! Cagan! Chaejaejaejaejaejaejae!
The sword and spear collided several times, causing shockwaves to spread.
All the giant trees around were sown and fell down by the sharp river, and an empty lot was formed.
The fight that had been intensifying came to a halt for a while as Hirencia withdrew.
She asked as she lightly brushed her bangs, which were clinging to her sweaty forehead.
“Ha… Ha! Who are you?”
“…”
Of course, Gaon just pointed her spear at her.
The mask was enchanted with perception-damping magic and voice-modifying magic, so she didn’t have to worry too much, but she wanted to be as careful as possible.
Occasionally, the observant type was able to tell people apart just by their unique atmosphere and way of speaking.
Gaon gave her time to catch her breath, then lunged at Hirencia again, spurring her to the ground.
Branches and leaves cut off by the Poongwolbo were blown up into the sky on the air current, and the two continued their workshop.
Kaaang!
After her first attack, Hirencia casually removed Gaon’s spear that was flying towards her collarbone.
She has already recognized and corrected her own quirks.
After that, all offensives toward gaps were blocked in advance, and now, in reverse, he began to press Gaon.
The bombardment of the flash, based on the overwhelming amount of mana, quickly consumed Gaon’s physical strength.
Being on the defensive before he knew it, he allowed Hirencia’s attack to flow with minimal movement and mana, and deliberately allowed the attack little by little.
Although not fatal, the accumulated damage was sublimated into an increase in physical ability due to indomitability.
Compared to that, Hirencia was fine except for being drenched in sweat.
When the wounds increased and the whole body was dyed red before I knew it, Hirencia stopped the offensive.
“Haha… Crane!”
“Whoa…”
Each other’s rough breaths landed in the clearing.
The fight continued for about 30 minutes.
During that time, strong energy poured out dozens of times every second, so the placenta of Hirencia’s Danjeon must be almost empty now.
Thinking that this was enough, Gaon pointed the tip of his spear at the floor and opened his mouth.
“Tomorrow, come alone at this time. If you spread this to anyone, I will turn the garden into a mess.”
It’s an absurd threat even he thinks.
However, it was not possible to end the meeting with Hirencia in just 30 minutes of sparring.
Until she attained her enlightenment and reached her ninth star, it was good that she continued to practice her sparring and correct her swordsmanship.
Gaon was afraid of how Hirencia would react, and was embarrassed, so he hurriedly turned his back and walked away from her.
And before he could take three steps, he heard Hirencia’s voice.
“Thank you.”
“…”
“Thanks for helping me a lot. I wish you well in the future.”
As expected, through that stupid threat from earlier, he seems to have figured out that he wasn’t the assailant who was looking for his life.
Gaon smiled bitterly at himself, content with the fact that at least he hadn’t hated her, and left the forest.
***
“Who is it…”
Hirencia, who was blankly looking in the direction where the assailant disappeared, muttered while wiping the sweat from her forehead.
At first, she thought she was a member of a crazed crime syndicate who had kidnapped and ransomed, or an assassin sent by someone with a grudge against the duchy.
However, the remains of her unidentified mask helped her to correct it by pointing out the parts that she alone was not aware of.
At the time of the fight, he didn’t know because he was in a hurry to respond, but the moment he realized that his body was intact and full of scars, he was able to grasp his intentions.
The question is, why did you do such a favor?
“I need to bring the potion tomorrow.”
His personal circumstances are unknown, but thanks to him, he was able to wield his sword without any desire.
Also, he’s got some clues about breaking down the wall, so he’ll probably be able to reach 9 stars soon.
Hirencia felt both gratitude and sorry for the masked man at the same time, and smiled brightly as she felt excited for the first time in a while.
Then he noticed the sun fully revealed and hurriedly looked at his wrist.
“Oh! I’m late!”
There were only 30 minutes left before the Knights’ departure time.
You can’t go there in a state covered in sweat, so if you consider the time to take a shower, it’s pretty tight.
Hirencia rushes down the garden.
‘I hope tomorrow comes sooner.’
His heart was pounding with anticipation.
Sensing that her steps were unusually light today, she hurried to her mansion, recalling her fight just before.
