Chapter 620: Act 363 – Requiem XIII
“Skill detected and can be acquired—”
“Skill type: General category. Swordsmanship classification, rule: Dragon race, space.”
“Flash Sword Level 0 [Basic] (Dragon race/Ancient): A special technique allows your sword’s edge to deflect dimensions. Each attack can ignore a certain distance in space (5m).”
“Other bonuses: (Basic: None), (Ancient Trait: Cannot be learned as an ordinary skill, experience requirement increased.)”
Upon hearing the description, Brendel remained slightly stunned in the eyes of the Knight and Antinna. However, what they could not see was everything happening on the level of thought, as Brendel’s mind rapidly exchanged ideas with Saint Ausoor.
“This swordsmanship seems a bit more complex than Wind after Nine Suns.”
“Oh? Why do you say that? My swordsmanship is not inferior to that little brat Gilt’s. If your answer is not satisfactory, regardless of how dangerous the situation is, I will teach you a lesson,” Queen Wind’s smile was laced with danger.
Brendel smiled wryly, thinking to himself that she had already given the answer. He glanced at the figure 4120 next to the learning experience, remembering clearly that the requirement for Wind after Nine Suns was 3550, but he still replied with a bitter smile, “Complexity doesn’t necessarily mean superiority; comparatively, your swordsmanship is much more refined.”
“After playing around with that princess for a bit, your tongue has certainly become quite sweet, but from the standpoint of a younger brother, if you were a bit sweeter, I would be even happier,” Queen Wind said ambiguously, making one feel that the other three legendary figures who adventured with her must have suffered greatly—after all, the Flame King’s achievement in saving the world was undoubtedly related to this senior sister’s supervision. “But even if you openly state it, I won’t be angry; after all, Gilt’s swordsmanship is a legacy of the Dragon race, while Wind after Nine Suns was not tempered by time in my era—”
This was likely one of the reasons; though Saint Ausoor had not stated it outright, it indirectly proved that in certain aspects, Flash Sword was indeed superior to Wind after Nine Suns. However, as she said, to improve a swordsmanship comparable to the one given by the Dragon King to mortals was also a great honor in itself.
But Brendel would never easily believe the elven senior sister’s words about “even if you openly state it, I won’t be angry.” He would bet that if he dared to say that, she would definitely give him a hard time—history had proven that one could not take a woman’s words lightly.
“However, with your talent, you should have no problem learning it, right?” Saint Ausoor seemed still slightly bothered by Brendel’s rapid progress in learning her swordsmanship.
She had been hailed as the most outstanding genius of the Mist Elf clan for a millennium. She started learning this ancient technique at the age of thirty-five, and by the time of her coming-of-age ceremony, she had already mastered it completely. During the mid-point of the Saint War, she even personally improved the Moonlight Sword, turning it into a magical sword technique, thereafter becoming known worldwide as Wind after Nine Suns.
Yet, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated to find that compared with Brendel, whom one could already call a monster, she seemed to only be at an ordinary person’s level.
“Perhaps I can give it a try,” Brendel replied.
“Perhaps I can give it a try—” The elven senior sister hummed lightly. Although the better the heir, the more at ease she felt, sometimes being too outstanding could provoke jealousy.
For Brendel, the experience from the Book of Mavikart had mostly been exhausted, but learning the basics of Flash Sword should pose no problem. The speed of thought exchange transcended the general constraints of time, and their dialogue was completed in an instant.
He regained his focus, the light green panel unfolded in his vision, time seemed to slow down, and behind the transparent interface, those clawing demons pounced toward him. He instinctively swung his sword to seal off their approach.
The last line of prompts on his retina just unfolded: Skill detected and can be acquired; would you like to proceed—?
“Proceed!”
Brendel parried the Lesser Demon’s claws with a swing of his sword, causing it to lose balance and fall to the ground. He then turned and drove the Earth Sword into its heart, purple-black bl**d splattering across his arm.
“Beginning to copy the data and relevant knowledge of Flash Sword—”
“Warning: Conflict with similar skills detected. Skill name: Erluin Military Sword Technique, skill type: General category. Swordsmanship classification, rule: Black iron.”
“Ha!”
As soon as this prompt appeared, Brendel almost lost his grip and threw the Earth Sword away. How could Flash Sword conflict with Erluin Military Sword Technique? Military Sword Technique is a fundamental swordsmanship, and only a higher skill encompassing its basic swordsmanship would conflict with it.
And as everyone knew, Erluin Military Sword Technique was created by blending the Military Sword Technique of the Crusian people with the swordsmanship of the Wind Elves. At that moment, Brendel suddenly thought of an incredible possibility:
Flash Sword is a basic sword skill, and within the Erluin Military Sword Technique, there is already its shadow.
“Wait, Flash Sword is a technique for using the sword, not a style?”
“Did you not know?” Hearing his strange cry, Queen Saint Ausoor seemed a bit confused: “Flash Sword is originally a swordsmanship art, as is the Moonlight Sword of the Mist Elves. You wouldn’t think it was a special technique like Wind after Nine Suns, would you?”
Wow, Brendel thought to himself. How would he know? This was an ancient skill, not something as common as cabbage. Even in another world, he had only heard about it. Who would showcase an ancient skill after learning it?
“It’s alright, right?” Saint Ausoor also realized the issue. She furrowed her brow, suddenly becoming aware that she might have been overly optimistic about Brendel. Basic swordsmanship and special sword techniques are different. Talented individuals like those with Wind after Nine Suns can indeed learn at least a semblance of it in a short time.
But Flash Sword was different; basic swordsmanship required decades of hard practice, making it difficult to achieve any results without persistent effort. Expecting to master it right away was indeed a fantasy.
However, the current problem was that Brendel seemed to have no choice.
“Mister Brendel, after all, Flash Sword is the sword technique of the former king. In the thousand-year history of the Temple of Fire, apart from the Flame King, no one has truly learned it. You really don’t have to force yourself,” Stephen, noticing Brendel’s changing expression, hastily advised, “Let Master Gherlok prepare instead, and we’ll make a final push. In such a situation, even being able to close a portal would be good.”
Before he could finish, Stephen suddenly saw Brendel in front of him already swing out a sword, as part of the whole attack, he and Antinna vanished together.
In an instant, Stephen realized what happened.
He could hardly believe his eyes; in just a fleeting moment, he had missed the most crucial scene. All he saw was Brendel raising his sword high, the head of a Hellhound soaring into the air.
But that Hellhound had clearly been far from them just a moment ago.
This was impossible.
Stephen himself could use Flash Sword, albeit just a little; as part of this swordsmanship, he could make his blade cross the limits of space over a very short distance. In fact, most temple knights could perform this move, but they often only applied it at the very end of a sword’s trajectory.
Thus, to others, it appeared that the attacks of the knights of the Temple of Fire were slightly faster than those of others at the same level.
But compared to Brendel’s displayed skill, he felt like he could just go and crash into a wall.
He repeatedly confirmed that he had simply exchanged a couple of sentences with Brendel just a dozen seconds ago—just a dozen seconds—if possible, Stephen really wanted to slap himself and tell himself this was all just a dream.
But someone was even more astonished.
“Brendel, what are you doing?!” Queen Wind shouted, unusually disregarding modesty.
“Testing my sword,” Brendel replied as a matter of course, raising his head. With that single sword, he had moved five meters forward, and there were about three hundred meters to the portal—a distant view that made the gathering little demons look like a swarm of ants.
Indeed, whether it was basic swordsmanship or special sword techniques, the differences were significant for ordinary people. But for him, it held no meaning; it was nothing more than how much experience was required.
Brendel tried it out; the physical strength consumed by that previous swing was not much, but it did expend some mana. It seemed that ancient sword techniques required a certain amount of mana as support, but Flash Sword required much less mana than Wind after Nine Suns. If one were to compare, it was roughly less than a tenth.
After all, the latter was a genuine magical sword technique.
But as for whether basic swordsmanship and special sword techniques had any distinction for him, there was indeed a difference. This distinction was realized not only by him, but Queen Saint Ausoor also sensed it immediately:
“What was that shadow you left at the last moment?” Wind after asked, somewhat excited: “That was not an illusion.”
At that moment, Brendel was also exceptionally excited inside, realizing that that previous slash had confirmed his initial suspicion. It was well-known that the basic swordsmanship within the Amber Sword could provide mutual enhancement to special sword techniques.
Then, could Flash Sword, as a basic swordsmanship, also provide enhancement to Wind after Nine Suns?
He immediately had an answer.
He tightly embraced Antinna while drawing his sword forward. His form repeatedly vanished and reappeared, each time disappearing and then advancing a distance—twenty meters, fifty meters, one hundred meters. With each flash, another shadow of Brendel would emerge on the battlefield, attacking the enemies around.
Two historically brilliant swordsmanships finally merged perfectly at this moment.
“Wait for my good news!” Brendel shouted in the center of the battlefield. His whole person soared upward, like a continuous shadow quickly crossing through the swarm of little demons.
Almost everyone on the battlefield witnessed this scene—
The young lord suddenly began to accelerate, and the monsters from Jotungrund quickly realized they could not stop him. Instead, their attacks frequently missed, hitting only one of his ephemeral shadows.
But the problem was that those were not the true shadows.
The little demons stared wide-eyed as they saw each shadow on the battlefield performing the same action, raising their swords, and using all their might to strike forward.
Piercing strike.
The immense pressure of swords instantly penetrated over thirty meters, clearing away all obstacles, whether little demons or Hellhounds. The terrifying storm immediately ripped them apart.
Wherever Brendel passed, it was like a tempest had swept through, leaving a scene of devastation.
In the blink of an eye, a pathway had already been opened.
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
