Chapter 23 Game Mode 4/6
Ushnar the head hunter is greatly troubled. This never happened to his pack before. Never in his watch have a prisoner ever escaped. But this is worse, all of his captives except one managed to breakout and get away without detection. He have sent his best trackers to recover them but they all came back empty handed.
He will loose his head for this. It's a good thing that their clan leader is out patrolling the boarders of the northern forest or they would have met their swift execution already.
He headed back to the remaining prisoner tied up on the tree. That elf was the one who cried out and alerted them about the jailbreak.
He looked at the elf tied to the tree. His head lolled down after they beat him near to death because of their frustration. The elf in his strange armour was captured by the orcs during a patrol. They surmised that the fool came this far in search for his daughter since that has been the first word he asked when his guards brought him. Unfortunately for this elf his daughter is not here and even if she is, his attempt to rescue is in vain. No one enters this forest and lives to tell their tale. They have patrols and hunters in this place no one ever escapes. This brought him back to the escapees. They will be caught inevitably but he and his pack will pay the price of being fool enough to let those prisoners elude them. His pack will all be beheaded for this.
Ushnar studied their remaining prisoner. He realised that he is now in the same footing with this elf. His son Azhug is not yet old enough to carry the axe of a warrior. His father's death will surely bring doom to his future. He cannot allow this, he need to do something to get back those prisoners.
"Leave me alone with this elf." He ordered his guards who quickly followed and left.
He will do everything. He will get the information from this elf by all necessary means just to save his son. He will torture this elf to his death if needed.
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"This will be a duel to the death merchant." He declared.
The man named Sun Tzu just looked at him waiting.
Lucas drew the curved sword from the scabbard strapped to his waist. Five scabbards dropped from the ground as the floating swords spinning around him were unsheathed. This signaled the start of the duel.
The fool didn't even bother to bring any weapon. Well, he will show him the consequence of that. He placed his left foot forward and moved sideways with his right hand holding his sword above his head with its sharp end pointing towards the merchant. Then he raised his left hand palm up to control the spinning swords.
The duel begun.
Lucas summoned his swords to spun towards the merchant. His opponent suddenly charged and run towards him. Lucas smiled, he will pay for his insolence.
To his surprise the merchant suddenly flowed into an intricate dance, circling around to avoid the swords within an inch as it passed through him. He watched as the merchant nimbly jumped, slide, vaulted, spun, leaped, shuffle and springed like a butterfly.
Well, that is not enough to avoid his swords. He drifted into a complex ripple of movements to command the swords and rushed towards the merchant.
They clashed into one another. They flowed with precision and dexterity. Lucas attacking while his opponent evading.
Lucas grinned as he swayed through his opponent. He fainted a strike on the merchant's head. His move had ensured that his foe won't be able to elude his other swords this time.
Out of nowhere a huge shield appeared on the right hand of his adversary blocking all his swords as he spun gracefully to his right.
Lucas was astounded by this. He never thought that this merchant is a battle mage like him. If he can summon a shield then he'll be able to muster a weapon too.
Just like what he is thinking, a massive two handed sword in a backhand grip materialized on the left hand of his adversary half way in his spin. Lucas stifled the chill rising in him. He will be cleaved in two at the end of the merchant's rotation. He quickly used his breakout skill but it failed to his complete horror. He now just noticed that his opponent is not just spinning, he is also creating a tourbillion that will draw anything near towards him. The vortex made his special skill impossible. He knew that the sword in his right hand will break like a twig if he parried it but it's better than nothing. With a roar, he placed his sword infront of his body to shield him and he desperately used all his elemental magic to strengthen it. Lucas knew that it won't be enough.
He always prided him self as one of the strongest earthen battle mage knight. He never lost in a duel before and now he is about to die. His thoughts raced furiously to check all his options to survive this predicament but he was not able to find any. Time slowed through his eyes while he watched the sword gets nearer as his foe completes his turn. Lucas placed all his energy to accomplish an insuperable task in strengthening his sword. He needed to survive this. He will not go down in shame. This Sun Tzu cheated him from using his deadly skills. He must not allow this. He is a prince, the heir of the royal line of Adara and one of the commanders of the Lion Guild. He will not be disgraced by this shady character and his schemes.
Lucas howled with all his might as the heavy sword collided with his blade. He felt and saw how his saber was shattered by the force from his enemy's broadsword. He watched in horror as the blade came in contact with his body armour and started to slice it. Then in a blink of an eye the sword vanished as if it was never there from the start. The small slice denting his armour is the only witness and proof of what would have had happened.
The merchant continued his spin and used the weight of the heavy shield to pivot away from him.
Lucas felt his face turned red from this humiliation. Not only did this suspicious person defied him. He defeated him and spared his life infront of this people. This Sun Tzu tricked him and robbed him of the chance to use his special skills.
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He studied how the Prince was defeated and spared by his opponent. He watched Lucas closely and saw the man's fury for being shamed in public. He observed as Lucas moved without considering the consequence of his action.
All the five swords that lay scattered on the ground after Lucas lost control of it suddenly flew towards the merchant from five directions.
His adversary immediately raised his shield and summoned his sword to defend. This time Lucas used his special skill which he only use to slay his opponents. The merchant blocked with his shield and parried with his sword and began to spin but Lucas teleported to one of the flying swords and delivered a fatal blow by sliding and slashing his foe in his left torso while dodging his heavy blade. Lucas teleported - blinked instantly to another sword passing over the merchant and landed a crippling blow to his head. In an instant he blinked again to another sword passing an inch behind his rival and cleaved him. He blinked again to another sword that was deflected by the merchant's shield and spun slashing him upwards from the right side of his hip to his upper left shoulder. This happened so fast that in the untrained eye they would have seen five Lucas attacking all at once with the last one blinking to another sword moving straight to his opponent's chest and he rammed it through him.
Silence followed as everyone were stunned on what just happened. They all watched as the merchant dropped his shield and sword, fell to his knees and slumped to the ground.