It seemed like my strategy had gotten Vulcan excited about the fight. He had a smile that exposed his teeth as he directed his attacks towards me.

"Dragon Skin!" Shortly after launching his attack, he called out his skill, transforming his arms into dragon-scale armor.

I could only dodge those attacks, which I already considered a lot. I hated admitting it, but he had adapted to my plan with ease. I didn’t remember him having the ability to turn his skill on and off so quickly.

’Why doesn’t this brute have a cooldown?! This is a fucking cheat!!’

I now couldn’t count on Vulcan’s mana running out, because most of the time, he kept the skill deactivated, only activating it when his attack was about to hit me. That way, I would have to try another approach.

Indeed, he had thought of a way to save mana, but it was a terrible idea for defending himself. His body was now exposed to a direct attack.

’What an obvious trap,’ I thought inwardly. ’If he could activate his skill quickly to attack, he could activate it to defend too.’

But there wasn’t a 100% chance that he would manage to defend himself. If I were faster than him, I could inflict damage on him.

’Either way, no pain, no gain,’ I thought one last time before heading towards him.

Vulcan, who saw me moving to attack him with my sword, had a smile on his face and his arms spread wide, as if he were a soccer goalkeeper.

It wasn’t just a trap on his part. It was a challenge. The fastest would win, the one with the greatest resilience would win, the one with the most wit would win. The one who could bring all these traits together to overcome the opponent would become the winner.

"As you wish. Flash Thrasher!" I called out my skill to attack him.

When I called upon my Swordmaster class power, my speed increased considerably, and the sword that felt so natural in my hands moved against my enemy with agility and precision.

"Dragon Skin." Vulcan raised his scaled arm to protect himself from my first strike.

My blade, which came in with a sideways slash, stopped against Vulcan’s arm as if I were hitting a pole with a baseball bat. My attack didn’t cause any noticeable damage to him, not even a tear in his skin.

On the other hand, I had to make an effort not to turn my face away from my opponent. The heat his arms emitted was scorching. But I had to keep my head up, otherwise, he could take advantage of the opportunity to strike back.

Flash Thrasher didn’t just temporarily increase my Agility, but the three consecutive attacks after the skill’s conjuration had additional speed. It was my chance to put pressure on Vulcan and try to open a gap in his defense.

I jumped, repositioning my sword for a new attack. From the position I was in, there was a clear path between my weapon and his head. There were no scales protecting that part of Vulcan’s body.

I chose to direct my sword with a thrust towards the side of his head covered by an eyepatch.

"How daring," he said to me. "Do you know how many times people have tried to use my blind spot against me?"

"I can imagine," I said as I mercilessly brought my blade down towards his head. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

No matter how skilled a fighter Vulcan was, the wound that had marked his body forever had created a difficulty for him in combat that couldn’t be overcome.

Without his right eye, his field of vision had been reduced, so I didn’t blame his opponents for abusing his disadvantage. Vulcan, more than anyone, understood that no one would make the fight easy for him in a serious battle. And I believed he wouldn’t want that either.

That also wasn’t an immediate victory for those who tried to fight that way, and the fact that he had never lost a fight to this day, even after losing his eye, was proof of that.

Even so, I directed my blade against him without hesitation. With his right arm raised, Vulcan tried to defend himself from my thrust. He seemed to have been in that situation before, because he managed to defend himself from serious damage. I say that because my sword left a scratch on Vulcan’s cheek, creating a blood-red line on him.

But I wasn’t satisfied with that. A single scratch was as far from victory as nothing at all. But it was proof that it was possible to get past that man’s armor. I adjusted and brought my sword close to my body now that gravity was bringing me back down to the ground.

The instant my feet touched the ground again, I unleashed my third charge of Flash Thrasher. If his arms protected a good part of his upper body, the same couldn’t be said for him from the waist down, so I chose an attack aimed at his legs.

I swung my sword in a sideways slash, aiming at his right thigh. I was still attacking his blind spot, and now a region that was difficult to protect. On top of that, his arms were still raised because of my previous charge.

It seemed like the perfect attack, but it was too perfect to be true. While my sword was moving against Vulcan’s leg, my gut told me something was wrong. It was that feeling that saved me from Vulcan’s attack.

A little before my sword touched his thigh, with a quick bit of footwork, he moved his leg away from me, spinning 90 degrees, but without moving away from me. I was now in Vulcan’s field of vision, right in front of him, and his arm was coming towards me.

Thanks to my instinct, I anticipated that counterattack and moved away with a step back. But I could feel the heat of Vulcan’s scales as they passed only a few inches from my face.

I retreated a little more without losing sight of Vulcan. My breathing was a little ragged after escaping those terrifying fists by a hair.

The crowd went wild at their boss’s reversal. It was different with Tanya, because her power frightened even the other mercenaries. As a fighter, Vulcan was so charismatic that I wondered if he hadn’t been a professional fighter instead of a mercenary. The shouts of admiration he received were almost ridiculous.

"You talked about me, but you’re quite crafty yourself, Mr. Vulcan." I said to him.

"What are you talking about? I’m just fighting like I normally do, that’s all." Vulcan said, with no irony in his voice.

"Normally," he said to me. He had created an opening on purpose against me, guided me exactly where he wanted, covered his disadvantage, and still struck back with an attack. Taking a blow like that directly to the head could have been the end of me. If that was his normal, then this man was a demon.

"Don’t think you can beat me with cheap tricks," he told me, with a hint of disappointment in his voice, "I train by fighting Falco over there. Every trick my opponent can use with swords, he has already tried on me. If you’re going to fight me like that, you’d better give up."

I looked at Falco for a moment. The man whose hair had gone white with age seemed to be a very experienced Swordsman. Vulcan probably called him and Tanya to train with him, asking them to face him with everything they could throw at him.

"I understand," I said, taking a deep breath to get my head back in order. "You’re right, Vulcan. If I keep fighting at this level, nothing will change."

I positioned my sword into a combat stance again. It was like he had said, cheap tricks wouldn’t work against him. To face him, I would have to increase my own power.

"Rick!" a female voice called out to me near the crowd.

It was Diane. She had finished consoling her crying sister and was now there, watching my fight against the leader of the mercenaries.

"Win this fight!" Diane shouted to me, trying to overcome the voices of the audience. In that place, she was the only person cheering for my victory.

A smile bloomed on my face when I saw Diane, who usually tried to maintain her composure, making an effort to cheer for me. Reinvigorated by her support, I turned my eyes back to Vulcan, determined to defeat him.

Since Diane was nearby now, I could fight with everything I had. If I used that buff and won, I would need help walking back to the tent.

"Happy that your girl is here?" he asked me.

"Who wouldn’t be happy to have a beauty like that cheering for his victory?" I returned the question to him. "I don’t know such a man!"

"That is, if you win," he said, provoking me.

"Don’t worry about that. I intend to win now," I said calmly, and then called out my skill. "Ero Boost!"