Veritas quickly parried the Gargoyle Knight's heavy strike, jumping to the side in order to gain some distance.
However, the Gargoyle Knight gave him no chance to breathe and immediately rushed towards his direction. Veritas received another heavy strike and he was pushed back a considerable distance.
'Shit!'
Seeing the dire situation, Veritas ran backwards in order to observe the blow coming from the monstrosity that is the Gargoyle Knight.
The statue itself could be described as being in the same height as Veritas. It looked like a normal knight on the surface, wielding a fierce taciturn stone sword in its hands.
After gaining some distance Veritas thought that he could finally have a moment to breathe. But he immediately dismissed that thought as he felt a shift in the Winds behind him.
Veritas received another strike coming from the Gargoyle Knight and made his sword flow with the Winds. He tried to counterattack but the Gargoyle Knight was too fast and immediately kicked Veritas in the abdomen.
'What the hell!- Bleaurgh!' He spat blood while he was flying in the air. At this point, Veritas was bound to hit a tree.
But, he twisted his body and stabbed his sword to the ground.
He immediately realized what a mistake it was to challenge the esteemed Gargoyle Knight head on! It outclassed him in every aspect and didn't even give Veritas a chance to attack.
But it's fine as long as Veritas gets used to the Knight's swordplay. Using the winds to his advantage, Veritas sensed his surroundings and looked for a shift in the air.
To his right, there was a slight fluctuation that couldn't even be noticed by a simple swordsman. But this was enough to make Veritas react, he sliced his sword instantly and it was met with a stone-cold sword that belonged to the Gargoyle Knight.
Veritas used the unique swordplay of Elrod to sense the winds around him.
Within a flash, the limbs of the Gargoyle Knight seemed to move a bit, so Veritas reacted accordingly and dodged to his side.
He then immediately sliced upwards to the Gargoyle Knight, which was then parried easily.
'This guy doesn't have any openings at all!'
Veritas did a backwards roll to dodge the upcoming attack of the Gargoyle Knight and he slashed upwards once more.
It was deflected again!
He jumped back and strolled away from the Knight, his movements were as fluid as the air and Veritas seemed to have vanished like the mist.
The Gargoyle Knight seemed perplexed for a moment but it then slashed to its right, revealing the figure of Veritas who struck down precisely.
'He's crazy! Absolutely crazy!'
'I can't deflect his sword, it's too heavy! I can't seem to find openings too and even surprise attacks won't work!
Veritas panted and stared at the still statue of the Gargoyle Knight, it seemed to be observing him too.
'That swordplay of his.. It's too- beautiful. He reacted to every single blow that I did!'
Veritas changed his stance to that of a charging one. His knees were almost touching that ground and it looked like Veritas was going to take a massive leap.
'Pshhhh'
Veritas breathed heavily and the air around him seemed to be sucked towards his mouth.
In a fraction of a second! Veritas leaped towards the unmoving statue and connected his blade with a swift precise strike!
It felt like a gale had just swept through the forest!
The swift strike was received well by the Gargoyle Knight and it tried to parry.
However! Veritas anticipated this and he deflected its sword upwards, causing it to be staggered.
'So- Heavy!'
Upon being staggered, the Gargoyle Knight tried to strike back but Veritas was already swift in his movement and drew a blow first!
'I wonder how it will react to this point blank strike!' Veritas aimed for the edges within the Knight's armor.
However, that precise strike was immediately blocked.
Not by the Gargoyle Knight's blade.. but rather, its hands!
The Gargoyle Knight was holding Veritas' blade barehanded!
Of course, it was made out of stone but such a swift blow would cause heavy damage if not received properly.
'The fu-'
With eyes widened, Veritas could not even comprehend what happened next. Immediately, he was in the air and there was a taciturn stone Knight flying towards him.
In the next couple of seconds, he could vaguely see the Gargoyle Knight aiming for a downward slash.
Veritas could not even react quickly as his vision immediately turned black.
*
"My head hurts.."
Veritas woke up in the middle of the day, surrounded by trees that swayed across the winds. Sunlight shone brightly towards him, and Veritas felt an unusual warmth in his chest.
He looked down and saw a gaping slash that bled out along his armor.
The once pristine, and marble armor was now crimson red with blood.
Veritas could see the ruins in the distance but the Gargoyle Knight was not around him anymore. It probably got out of its range and moved back to the ruins.
'I got lucky...'
That said, it was a humbling experience for Veritas to know defeat. It wasn't even a fair match, he was dragged along and toyed with!
'He's too strong. No wonder no one could subjugate him.'
The unusual swordplay, the hardness of its shell, the heavy blows, and the calculative strikes! It was all too elegant for Veritas. If not for it being hostile, Veritas would've already asked to be its disciple.
He could vaguely piece together its movement though. Veritas already staggered it once, but he did not expect the knight to just straight up grab his blade!
He made a mental note and stood himself up to head back to the camp.
The wound that he suffered was quite heavy, and blood was drawing out of him relatively quickly.
There was only one thing on Veritas' mind at this point. It was to drink the potion that his mother had concocted for him..
Veritas already saw the scenery of the ruins and he determined that he was not that far from the camp..
The grueling minutes that it took him to drag his own body with the pain was not an ideal start for his trial.
Upon reaching the camp after the torturous minutes that he experienced, Veritas made his way to the carriage and grabbed one of the high-leveled potions. He immediately splashed it to the gaping slash in his chest and sat down to rest.
In a matter of seconds, the potion worked its wonders and the hole patched itself up.
Veritas was at awe by how effective the potion that his mother made.
'Figures, Mother made it herself after all..'
The Apothecary was famous all-across Elrod for making highly potent potions. Her commissions cost around hundreds even thousands of White Elrodite!
With that, Veritas noted that there were only 11 high-leveled potions left. He couldn't get careless anymore.
For him, today was just an introduction to see the great risk that the Gargoyle Knight possessed.
It exceeded his expectations and even disrespected him. Veritas thought that he was already one of the most powerful swordmasters across Elrod. Hypothetically, he could even beat the Head Wielder Mikella Reiloush!
But the harrowing discovery that he experienced today made him realize his weaknesses.
'I'm still too weak.'
The adrenaline caused by the rigorous battle had finally run out and Veritas immediately felt the heavy exhaustion.
He felt tired, and wanted to sleep for long hours.
Alas, he did.. He gave in to the drowsiness and slumbered in the middle of the forest.
There was no one around to guard him nor attack him. Still, Veritas felt confident when sensing other people or creatures in the vicinity.
So, he slept for 4 long hours.
Upon waking him, Veritas was greeted with the loneliness of the forest. He was all by himself, sitting down near the carriage with an empty vial by his side. Veritas no longer felt the weariness and pain that he experienced earlier.
The sun was striking above as the clock had finally turned noon.
Veritas' stomach growled, signaling him to finally eat his portion for the day.
This compelled him to eat but he had things on his mind that he needed to do first.
'I need to check if that Knight is still there..'
Thus, Veritas walked to the direction of the ruins. He did not rush though, and he walked with a considerable pace.
Upon reaching the ruins, Veritas saw the castle that once stood mighty in the past. It was now turned to ruins though.
Veritas squinted his eyes and searched for the Gargoyle Knight.
'There you are.'
It was standing guard once more in front of the ruined castle..
'As long as I don't get too close..'
Earlier, he realized that he needed to get at least 10 meters near the statue before it moved. So, Veritas took this to his advantage and observed the statue from the distance.
He was not too far nor too close to it.
Veritas only managed to land one strike towards the abomination. So, he tried to search for any damages that he could've caused.
'Nothing..'
His spirits were down, it was only normal to expect such failure but his strike was as swift as the wind and could even cut a head off cleanly!
This caused Veritas to shift his strategy quite a bit. Thus, he left and went back to camp.
However, Veritas didn't quite notice a difference that could lead him to plan differently. He.. actually caused damage to the abomination!
Inside the statue's hands, was a miniature crack that was hidden by the blade.