Chapter 13: Dual Wielding
2015-01-19
Author: Zhu Sheng Floating Tower
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Soren finally had nowhere to retreat, completely cut off by the enemy from all possible escape routes, and could only wield his blade to fend off the relentless attacks from his opponent. Blind Fighting is a very powerful specialty, with astonishing effects in certain situations, such as when facing invisible enemies, or when dealing with dark magic, blindness spells, or in dim environments. This specialty is crucial; Soren had spent a lot of time mastering Blind Fighting techniques, because without this specialty in the Underdark, his combat power would decrease by thirty percent.
This specialty requires a certain level of perception; those with low perception find it extremely difficult to master!
Soren was now effectively locked onto by the enemy’s perception. The opponent, relying on Blind Fighting skills, completely locked down his retreat by detecting the sounds of his footsteps, the movement of air, slight shifts, and more. These subtle clues were easily captured in the eyes of a fourth-tier professionist. In fact, by closing his eyes, Soren heightened his awareness of these external perceptions. As he was forced to deflect the opponent’s attacks with his blade, his figure slipped out of stealth, revealing a hazy shadow.
The red-haired pirate woman suddenly opened her eyes, and a gleam flashed in them!
—”Sword Intent: Whirling Dance!”
—”Powerful Strike!”
The dual blades in her hands gleamed coldly, and she began to spin rapidly. With a powerful push off a barrel, she soared up, rotating mid-air, and her blades severed the surrounding wooden boards while slashing towards Soren’s waist. This was a combat technique of the Wandering Swordsman, gradually mastered by other melee professionists as it evolved. ‘Sword Intent: Whirling Dance’ was a killing move of dual wielding professionists, capable of unleashing a series of ferocious combos in an instant.
Bang!
Soren only managed to parry once before taking a blade to the chest; dual wielding reduces the explosive force, and the opponent only managed to hit him with her left hand. After breaking through the Stone Skin Spell, the blade barely grazed his muscle layer, bl**d splattering forth. Soren barely had time to counterattack and abruptly retreated from the cabin. Fighting against an agile dual-wielding opponent in such a confined space was very disadvantageous for him, especially since the enemy was truly skilled in ‘Dual Wielding.’ Currently, Soren hadn’t even received the specialty prompt for dual wielding.
“Trying to escape!?”
The red-haired pirate woman scolded playfully, crossing her dual blades in a chopping motion, almost giving Soren no time at all.
This was the advantage of dual wielding.
Because the speed of continuous attacks is so rapid, if there is no clear suppression ability, the opponent could be left without any chance to counter and must wait until the enemy exhausts their energy and reveals an opening. The pirate woman seemed to realize that Soren’s reflexes were astonishing, and suddenly she brought her blades together, with a crack, transforming them into a heavy curved blade. Changing from a one-handed grip to a two-handed grip, she slashed diagonally at his throat.
Twin Blades?!
Soren’s pupils constricted slightly, and he quickly ducked to avoid the blade light. With a stamp on the deck, he caused a crack to appear on the sturdy surface, and then he charged directly into the pirate’s embrace. This kind of burst had no room for blade attacks. Yet Soren’s head surged forward like a cannonball, directly knocking the pirate woman away, who slammed against the cabin door, her back cracking the wood.
Crack.
The clear sound of breaking bones was unmistakable.
Soren’s headbutt had brutally shattered four or five of her ribs. The pirate woman hadn’t expected her enemy to use such an attack method; there was no time to react and suddenly, he abandoned using the curved blade, ramming his head into her chest, the immense impact throwing her off balance as her back hit the boards, injuring her lung due to the broken ribs. This severely drained her strength, making breathing laborious.
Swish!
A blade sliced towards Soren’s back from behind.
—”Kidney Strike!”
—”Vampire’s Touch!”
Soren’s curved blade suddenly vanished, and then he stepped one leg back, assuming a basic horse stance, followed by a fist striking towards the area near the opponent’s kidney. In the next moment, the red-haired pirate woman bent completely like a shrimp. Her face turned slightly red, and her eyes rolled back as if she were a dead fish, collapsing limp.
This powerful punch was still just from Soren; if it had been a Monk’s Inch Power, the opponent would have died instantly!
—”Counterattack!”
Soren’s chest wound gradually stopped bleeding. Although he had no weapon, his elbows crashed into the opponent’s abdomen, and then he twisted her wrist, snapping her arm with a sickening crack. He followed with another elbow strike that interrupted her breathing, leaving her no time to grasp for air, before locking her other arm and dislocating it at the joint.
Thud!
The red-haired pirate woman collapsed motionless to the ground, her eyes visibly glazing over as she had completely lost consciousness.
“Looks like learning unarmed combat isn’t a bad idea.”
Soren picked up the pirate woman with one hand, gripping her chin to inspect her, murmuring, “The close combat techniques of the Master of Fist are indeed useful. They can force the enemy into a position with no gap to attack. It seems that if I battle a Monk in the future, I should use a dagger in close range.”
An inch shorter is an inch more dangerous, an inch longer is an inch stronger.
If the Master of Fist gets within elbow distance for close attacks, long weapons become completely useless, because when wielding a weapon, it’s the arms and elbows that move first. Facing the joint-striking techniques and explosive power of the Master of Fist, the longer your weapon is, the fewer offensive opportunities you have; instead, it’s more advantageous to use shorter daggers or shortswords. What Soren just used was the combat technique of the Master of Fist. He had once encountered a nearly legendary Master of Fist while with Vivian, who had gifted her a book of fist techniques; however, the little girl had hardly ever looked at it, while Soren had perused it extensively.
In this world, Master of Fist professionists are as dangerous as Sword Saints!
Though their offensive capacity is not very strong.
Clatter!
Soren picked up the dual blades on the ground, inspected them for a moment, and murmured, “It really is Twin Blades! It seems that few people use this kind of weapon, doesn’t it? Her identity seems quite unusual?”
Twin Blades.
That’s what Soren called them; in fact, the original name of this weapon is Ring-Hook kn*fe.
It is a rather rare unconventional weapon, more common outside the Eastern deserts. This weapon features a special ring hook at the handle, and the inner sides of the blade handles of both knives are specially made, making them formidable close combat blades. This weapon splits into two long knives; when closed, it becomes a heavy fighting kn*fe, somewhat similar to a two-handed style of the broad kn*fe. In this world, knives are categorized into two types: straight blades and curved blades.
Thus, many knives have local names, and not many people deliberately rename them.
Therefore, the weapon she used also falls under the curved blade category, leaning towards an exotic class of weapon.
“She doesn’t seem like she’s from a desert ethnicity?”
Soren examined the red-haired pirate woman, even pulling open her clothing at the chest to look for tattoos; Eastern pirates have unique markings, and their combat style is quite different from that of the West Coast pirate groups. Traveling eastward from the deserts, as one draws closer to the East, combat techniques grow increasingly refined; this area was the origin of Monks, belonging to an expansive desert region that seemed to have once had civilization but was destroyed by ancient evil artifacts.
Eastern pirates excel in using curved blades, many of whom are experts in Advanced Dual Wielding.
This includes even Monks who fight with single sickles.
“Forget it.”
Soren frowned, then cut a section of rope, binding the red-haired pirate woman like a twisted braid, wrapping it around her body almost entirely, leaving hardly any space free. He hadn’t studied the art of binding much but feared she might escape, so he used the simplest, most brutal method of braiding. This pirate woman might have her uses, as Soren had plenty of plans in mind.
The mist gradually thickened.
A shadow of a vengeful spirit emerged, followed by the ghost ship appearing nearby.
At this moment, only a little over ten minutes had passed, and there were no living people aboard the pirate ship. The Naga woman was in disbelief, seemingly unable to comprehend how Soren had wiped out an entire ship of pirates in such a short time.
—”Living Rope!”
A rope shot out from the ghost ship, wrapping around the red-haired pirate woman and hoisting her up to the ghost ship’s mast.
These ropes were exceptional; one would need over 18 points of strength to break free. Thus, if there were no weapons to cut them, ordinary pirates could easily strangle themselves hanging from these ropes. These ropes are part of the living ghost ship, akin to semi-living entities, much like tentacles, possessing remarkable agility and strength, serving as lethal weapons against low-tier enemies.
“I’ve gained over ten thousand killing experience!”
Soren checked his data page, a smile visible on his face as he thought, “It’s true that killing is the quickest way to accumulate killing experience. In less than twenty minutes, I’ve earned over ten thousand points of killing experience. If I encounter more pirate ships on the way, I might even level up as a Wizard.”
The number of humanoid beings is substantial.
A ship’s crew of pirates numbers about thirty to forty. Averaging it out, that’s at least two to three hundred points of killing experience per person. Soren easily acquired over twelve thousand points of killing experience.
This venture is definitely worth it!
………………(To be continued ~^~)
