Mercenary Systems: The Eternal Life
Chapter 24 The Battle

I wondered how to raise my character. Ever since I defeated an orc warrior back then, I had surprisingly experienced an increase spike of five times and kept growing during the journey towards Lopentine City. In RPG games I have played, usually when the character has a level increase will receive some kind of attribute points or something like that, which can be distributed into the desired attributes.

Unfortunately, in my case, attribute points were not earned every time I experienced a rate increase. Not that my attributes have no enhancement. Each of my attributes automatically receives a large number of points added with an uneven distribution. The one that received the most improvement was VIT. Now, the VIT attribute section had reached nearly a hundred points!

Well, even though the points on the VIT would be lower if I did not wear the Full Paladin Armory and the influence of one of the talents I have, namely the Paladin.

According to what Bianca said as common knowledge, orc fighters are basically formidable opponents to most people. At that time, despite being helped by Bianca, I was just someone who was still on level one. Being able to fight orc fighters is certainly damaged by a miracle, even I defeated it even though I was severely injured. In that case, I should be able to deal with the delinquents without being helped by Bianca.

It's just that I haven't fought anyone since I escaped from D'Meatros' men. Not that I'm afraid of them. In a larger city than the Port of Vorlte City, a fight might enter the realm of law if caught by the soldiers.

"THAT'S THEM!"

At the turn of the road, one by one a delinquent appeared. There are eleven of them. They may be stubborn, but I can guess that they are no ordinary delinquents. From the weaponry they wear, I'm pretty sure they work as adventurers.

No information about the opponent. It can be easy, it can be dangerous.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but thank you for not running away" the front man said with a grin. "Thinking that I was going to lose my toy had upset me. I'll let you go if you hand over the woman."

I don't know what the front man was thinking, acting like he was the one leading the dozens behind him, he was very confident.

I smiled a little. It is not right to be angry when Bianca is considered a mere toy by them, instead I am grateful because I have a strong enough reason to interfere and beat them up. There's no way I'm letting Bianca get tainted by a bunch of people with horrible stature like them, is there?

Without responding to her words, I walked forward casually. I need to put some distance to Bianca who is behind when the fight goes on. Of course, I can't get their attention to turn to Bianca at all costs.

"Oh?" The man frowned as he looked at me. "What are you doing? I think I've given you a waiver, but is this your choice?"

Unlike when I faced the leader of a group of mercenaries, the man in front of me actually unsheathed the sword early. He walked over to me with one of his hands holding a sword. "You'll regret it" he muttered as soon as he mounted the fighting horses, before lunging forward.

"Hmmm!"

The direction of his movement changed when he had eroded the distance until it was able to put me within the range of his attack in just one blink of an eye. Unlike orc warriors who attack directly from the front, my opponent is a human who is able to think of strategies in combat.

THE CLANG!

He managed to slash at my wrist that was clad in Sacred Armguard from below, but I did not suffer any damage. Not stopping there, he also continued swinging his sword at my thigh from above as a follow-up strike from the first slash. Then it ended up slightly keeping its distance while thrusting its sword at my rib area.

With his speed of movement, I couldn't react in the slightest. I only felt a slight impact on the part of the body that was attacked by it. As if it had never been attacked, I swung the shield to the side where the man who attacked me had just thrust his sword.

"Tsk, dammit. Your armour was apparently very loud," he jumped back, completely unperturbed by my shield swing which was very slow compared to his movement speed.

The man leading the delinquent looked back, seemingly intending to ask for help. However, they were being preoccupied by the twists and turns of many black hands that had sprung up from under their respective shadows. They try to escape from the loop.

"Isn't a one-on-one duel more fun?" I smiled a little behind the Sacred Helmet.

"Your armour is hard. But, will it still be able to survive from this me?"

[Blazing Sword Move: Mountain Slash]

The two slashes hit the top of the shield on both sides almost simultaneously, containing a high destructive power. Suppose the slash hits the target directly, then the person will lose both hands despite wearing metal armor. However, thanks to the influence of the Sacred Greaves and Sacred Boots, I did not falter at all while holding the stance from him.

The shield that held the stance on the affected part turned a fiery red forming a line. Suppose that the ordinary metal that it has, maybe it will melt or completely cut by the style.

It seemed, although it could not be compared to an orc warrior in terms of strength, the man in front of me had a capable ability in using his sword.

[Blazing Sword Move: Spiral Thrust]

Then, the move continued with a precise sword thrust hitting the middle of the shield, almost breaking through the metal layer that protected me from the deadly move. The hand holding the shield grew increasingly heated, so I was eventually forced to throw the Sacred Shield towards my opponent.

"What the hell is"

After dodging while fending off the throw of the shield that came at him, the leader of the delinquents looked at me in disbelief. He was indeed so confident that the two moves he had just used would be able to hurt me. In fact, it only made me take off my shield.

"So so. The equipment you were wearing seemed to be very expensive," he slowly turned his horses into early fighting horses, starting to walk to the left and right sides to find weakness in me.

"Don't blame me for making you poor after this."

I just snorted a little hearing his words. After receiving two moves from him, I was worried that maybe this time I would have to accept directly the upcoming moves if I did not manage to avoid them. But, he didn't seem to be going back to using a deadly sword stance.

Could it be that he could not use it in succession? I suspect, the style overload his body if used excessively, or caused by other conditions. In a fight, it would indeed be dangerous when one took the wrong step.

Without receiving a stance capable of melting metal, I was pretty sure that I would not receive any meaningful damage from the sword attack from him without the need to use a shield.

"Hm, my spear hasn't been taken out yet" I murmured softly. In the current situation, I can't possibly pull out a weapon all of a sudden. I need to avoid things that might harm me in the future, which is about Inventory.

I thought, there is no harm in buying Close Combat talent that allows me to have a match in combat. Provided that close combat, whether using weapons or not, I will be able to learn how to fight in a live fight. This talent is considered one of the expensive talents.

Without the need for weapons, I can continue this fight. With references to martial movements from the spectacle I remembered, it was possible that I could imitate it, and apply it.

Quest Points will be half of the amount I have, but this is worth the results I will feel in the future. In this violent world, having talent in combat was indispensable.

Maybe Close Combat won't have much influence because it was just bought. I thought, in this fight, I could use my opponent to give me fighting experience.

[Congratulations, you managed to buy Close Combat talent for 55 Quest Points]