Mercenary Systems: The Eternal Life
Chapter 25 Battle II

The delinquent leader lunged towards me. He slashed his sword so quickly that it made me only able to see the reflection of light on his blade.

I can feel a lot of bumps on my thighs, stomach, and arms. But, of course no attack hurt me. Even though my hand was trying to fend off, my body was reflexively evasive from the opponent's attack, I still received a sword slash attack from the delinquent leader.

Rather than thinking about the attack of the delinquent leader, I tried to look at his movements to change the direction of the fight from initially defending to attacking.

After all, Close Combat's talent won't directly give me strength. At least, I started to feel a slight change in me. At first I was confused as to what to do when I lost my weapon. I could have tried to take out the Sacred Shield, but it would have made the delinquent leader turn his attention to Bianca.

Indeed, even without Close Combat, I can still fight with my bare hands. But, his efficiency would be greatly reduced. Although it is not a battle in the ring or a martial expert, the person I fought cannot even be compared to the people in my previous world. Moreover, I have absolutely no martial technique. I hope, with Close Combat, I can absorb references from my spectacle of martial arts.

Alright, I will try to use a karate fighting style that seems clearer and easier in my opinion. I started putting up the fighting horses from the basic karate technique. Nothing special, I just positioned both legs shoulder-width apart with a slight bend of the knee, placing both hands clenched at the waist, before hitting forward.

"Kuh!"

The leader of the delinquents took three steps back. He rubbed his chest using the back of the finger of the hand that was not holding the sword as if there was dirt on the spot of his chest that was hit by the straight punch that I had just done.

"I thought you were actually weak. Your punch feels like a blow from a girl. You who rely on expensive equipment don't dream of getting in my way!"

The movement becomes faster. I was forced to return to the defensive position by defending the horses of the karate base. At this time, I observed his men the one who was my opponent. Is Bianca still able to hold them off as long as I still can't defeat this guy?

After all, even though Bianca could hold it back for longer, the one who fought me could have taken advantage of her excess in speed of motion to target Bianca first.

As much as possible, I should be the center of attention of the delinquent leader. It's even better if I can beat him. But, how? My first punch was just a coincidence hitting right on his chest. I tried to attack him a few times during putting myself in a defensive position, but neither my punches nor the kicks did anything to hit the delinquent leader.

In the last slash, he jumped back. The fighting horses changed again, that's enough I recognize because I haven't seen them in a long time.

"Greath," I close my teeth. I had guessed that he would use a stance capable of making the Sacred Shield nearly impenetrable. Without using his sword slash alone was difficult to see, let alone using his truly dangerous manager. Without the Sacred Shield, this time I will definitely get injured.

[Blazing Sword Move: Mountain Slash]

Reflexively, I jumped back to avoid the two quick slashes that left a fiery red-colored trail in the air. Having just landed, the Sacred Armor that protected both ends of the shoulders grew even hotter. I could see the red vertical lines billowing on both sides of the slash marks.

"Ughh! It's so hot ...."

Though I moved a lot earlier before he used his nurse to attack me, but what the heck?!

Forced, I unleashed the Sacred Armor with the help of the System. Of course that goes for all the weapons I put on.

"Ckckck," he shook his head. "It's a pity that such formidable equipment is used by beginners like you. Could this be destiny? I can get expensive gear when I really need it now?"

In this situation, I could have lost my life by taking off the Full Paladin Armory. The VIT value is now halved. Although my vitality value was still high, without any body armor, I doubt my skin would be strong enough to withstand a sword slash. In this case, only Close Combat is reliable for now even though it depends on how I use it.

My fight with him has taken me a dozen minutes. Not only am I fighting here, Bianca is holding back her men who will definitely trouble me if they join the fight.

I snorted little.

After I observed during this fight, I discovered that this delinquent leader had forgotten Bianca's involvement. He seemed to be showing more interest in the Full Paladin Armory. After all, the Full Paladin Armory had shown its toughness. Maybe he was really more enamored by weaponry than women? I wish it was.

For some reason, thinking about the delinquent leader who had forgotten his original purpose of starting this fight made me feel relieved. I sighed softly, before starting to jump around a little by slightly changing the fighting horses.

"With no body armor and bare hands, what can you do, hm?"

The delinquent leader smiled smirked. He seemed more confident of victory, different from before when I was impenetrable by his sword slash.

Be calm. Focus. He definitely needed more time to be able to use his flagship style which forced me to take off the Full Paladin Armory. Without it, he would be much less dangerous when compared to when I fought against orc warriors. That's right, I even almost lost my life when it came to saving Bianca.

My opponent is currently much weaker, let alone that I myself have experienced an increase. Without any weaponry though, I have been much stronger than the me I used to be even though I used to wear the Full Paladin Armory.

I just don't need to rely on mere self-defense. I have Close Combat which allows me to fight well in all conditions in close combat. In this fight, I should be able to defeat him. He only had a weapon and speed of movement. He might have mastered the sword usage technique, but I also have many references in martial arts.

My current superiority is the experience of fighting against an orc warrior, while he has two reliable points aside from his deadly stance.

"The name is Taekwondo" I said suddenly as the fight had just resumed.

"What?"

The delinquent leader clearly started taking me for granted. His sword slash was not as fierce as before. He seemed to be playing me. The proof, I was able to dodge most of his sword slashes.

There was no slash wound other than in the hand that I used to fend off the sword slash that led to the stomach or thigh that was a little hard to avoid. Surprisingly, the slash wound on the hand was not so deep. Could it be that it was affected by the vitality value of my body? Despite the pain, I was still able to tolerate it compared to the pain from the more stinging heat.

He was playing me, but I was also actually deliberately showing helplessness by not fighting aggressively. He must have thought that I was more careful not to have body armor. It is true, because I still value my life.

Quietly, I was looking for the right moment to make a deadly kick move in taekwondo technique.

Taekwondo uses more legs. In the variety of his movements, both art and use for trickery are excellent. For example, a 540-degree kicking motion, in which a taekwondo expert will perform a twisting kick in the air quickly. In a real fight, the opponent won't know what the move is exactly. So, whether in the round where this taekwondo expert will do his kick, the opponent will get a surprise.

As I said, I have never studied martial arts, having only references through mere spectacle. But, I felt like I would be able to do a twisting kick in the air for at least one round.

This might be a gamble. However, I am very sure I can do it.

After all, I don't have to do a twisting kick in the air to attack the opponent in style. Depending on the opportunity that arises, I just need to adjust. For that, I need to give a fatal attack that is able to make the opponent unconscious in one attack.

To knock out an opponent, the head was the right point to attack, I guess. Alright, I managed to avoid the slash diagonally and now I am on the outside of the slash. In other words, he who used his right hand as the main force to swing the sword formed a large gap on the right as he swung his sword from the upper right corner to the left lower corner, the one on the right, and I was on the right of him.

Without hesitation, I did a sideways kick that led to his temple.