Game’s Dogma

Perhaps Mask had paid him no heed, but Handsome Scholar was very, very bothered by Mask.

Handsome Scholar was strong. However, being unrivalled for too long had turned his confidence into conceit, and that illusion was shattered when Mask handed him a beating in “Where Rivals Meet”.

Ancient martial arts? He had heard about them in the army. Many of his seniors claimed to have trained in some form of ancient martial arts, but they were all defeated by his self-devised army combatives—in other words, killing techniques. He only realised how limited his outlook on martial arts had been after losing to Mask.

He had watched every video of Mask in battle at least a dozen times. The more he watched, the more terrified he became.

Every fighter had their own beliefs that were reflected in their combat style, habits so to say. A fight against other fighters wasn’t just a contest of technique and force, but also a test of one’s perception of the other fighter’s habits and the ability to formulate a counter. This was the case in many modern sports as well.

However, such a method was useless on Mask; he simply had no style nor habits that could be traced. His mind seemed to be somewhere else whenever he made a move, but after reviewing his fights for so many times, Handsome Scholar realised Mask always made the best possible move. The most troubling part was that Mask’s choices weren’t based on his habits. He could discern the best movement, attacking route, or evasive manoeuvre the moment he or the enemy struck.

Predicting Mask’s moves by studying his combat habits was an impossible feat. Every move seemed to be an instinctual movement.

How did he reach such a state at his age? These instincts take at least a decade of daily intense combat training to develop!

That parry against the bandit martial—it seemed like a simple move, but it effectively negated the full-power attack with almost minimal strength. If the bandit martial used ninety per cent of its strength, then Drako Yau used twenty per cent at most.

He’s too strong… How exciting!

Handsome Scholar’s poker face contained a tint of excitement as he swung his sword—Holy Cross!

Drako Yau furrowed his brow. This Holy Cross… this is no ordinary cross is it?

The vertical cross was forcibly tilted into an “X”, increasing its area. Albeit surprised, Drako Yau flicked his spear up calmly and parried the Holy Cross at its weak point—the cross’ centre.

Handsome Scholar showed a satisfied smile upon proving his idea right. At the exact moment Drako Yau parried Holy Cross, he lifted his buckler and bulldozed into Drako Yau.

Level 20 Paladin skill, Holy Bash!

Drako Yau had no time to react and was knocked backwards. This guy… he’s predicting my moves?

Drako Yau’s spearmanship was passed down by the old geezer. The style focused not on form but the mind. When fighting, the body would move according to the mind, and form would naturally take place along with the body’s movements, making the style unpredictable. Still, one needed fundamental skills in spearmanship before he or she could move and react instinctively, which was why the old geezer had drilled those basic movements into Drako Yau through repetitive training. In other words, Drako Yau’s mind and flesh was a living encyclopaedia of all ancient spearmanship techniques; once his mind willed it, his moves would take on various forms.

Handsome Scholar was an extraordinary talent even in the army. Upon realising the quintessence of Mask’s style, he didn’t try to understand what Mask’s “mind” was on about. Rather, he went with backward chaining.

When I use this skill, Mask will find its weakness. Others might not notice such a weakness, but Mask will definitely spot it without fail!

As Mask’s enemy, Handsome Scholar formulated his battle plan with the assumption that Drako Yau knew all his weaknesses. The battle was like a game of chess where both sides made careful moves.

“This guy…” Drako Yau uttered as he was tumbling backwards.

Not that it messed his mind up though. Before taking this quest, he had exchanged for the Celestial Hero set, which had great Defence, at the Arena, so the bash didn’t do a lot of damage to him. What troubled him was Lothbrok, who tried to sneak into the village while he was engaged in battle with the bandit martial and Handsome Scholar.

Think it’ll be that easy? Drako Yau wielded his spear with one hand and thrust his other out in a claw. The howls of a dragon could be vaguely heard.

「面具，不用管他，你去給我了結書生及那boss……哎，作為人家的老大竟然叫另一個人去了結他……算了，那拉格納交給我。」周瑜的聲音陡然自隊伍頻道中傳來。

“Mask, ignore him. Put Scholar and that boss to sleep… Sigh, I shouldn’t be telling others to put my subordinate to sleep, but whatever. Just leave Lothbrok to me,” Chau Yau suddenly said through the squad channel.

Drako Yau only hesitated briefly before heeding Chau Yu’s instructions. No one was an enemy forever; at least for now, they were on the same team.

Things were a lot easier when he only had one enemy to deal with. He didn’t even consider the bandit martial an enemy. Apart from NPCs that had their own minds, monsters that only knew how to cast skills blindly and move according to presets were no more than training dolls.

Bloodless Bladester stood in the centre, surrounded by Collis, Firefly, and the bandit martial in a triangle. Chan Ka Lok had fallen to the sudden barrage of attacks.

It’s all me now, huh?

Collis sneered and mocked him, “Go hide! Aren’t you good at hiding?”

Firefly sent a disapproving glare at Collis; to her, his attitude was no better than a spoiled brat. Her gaze quickly went back to Bloodless Bladester.

This man… What’s with that strange look? He looks more exhilarated than cornered!

“The time to go all out has finally come.”

Bloodless Bladester stopped screen-sharing to the squad channel and lifted his sword horizontally.

The soulless bandit martial mindlessly howled and charged. Under the horrified stares of Collis and Firefly, Bloodless Bladester sliced his own chest. The dark crimson cut tainted his pale chest.

Blood mist gushed out from the wound on his chest like a never-ending fountain. It greedily expanded its territory, dominating the battlefield with its trace and devouring everything within.

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