Chapter 26 : [The Festival of Avalon] III

"As an adventurer, you're quite polite. State your name, old man," Arthur said while drawing his sword from its sheath.

"C-rank adventurer, Rock Bernard," Rock replied, assuming a fighting stance.

Arthur coated his sword with [Mana] and dashed towards Rock. The sword in his hand glowed red.

Due to the height difference, Arthur jumped up while swinging his sword. The force of gravity made Arthur's sword swing sharper.

Rock, seeing Arthur's attack, suddenly felt like he was facing a wild beast intent on pouncing on him.

"Tch, are you a human or a beast?" Rock grumbled as he crossed his arms above his head.

When Rock's iron gauntlet met Arthur's slash, the iron gauntlet in his hand vibrated uncontrollably.

Rock then exerted his strength and managed to push Arthur back.

Arthur, who was pushed back, immediately stabilized himself in midair and landed on the ground.

'It's quite difficult to fight a [Fighter]. Their strength is truly absurd,' thought Arthur.

Arthur was currently just a 10-year-old boy with slightly advanced development compared to other children his age. His muscles and bones were not fully developed. Besides, his height was only 135 cm.

Arthur, who was still in the developing stage, had to face Rock who was in his prime. The development of his muscles and bones was much higher than Arthur's. With a height of almost 2 meters and very large muscles, Rock's figure was almost like a humanoid bear.

"However, this is what makes everything interesting," Arthur said with a wide grin.

Seeing Arthur's wide and terrifying grin, Rock furrowed his brow.

"It's so strange to see that terrifying wide smile on your handsome face," said Rock, feeling a chill down his spine.

If earlier Rock felt like he was facing a wild beast, now he felt like he was facing a devil from the depths of hell.

*GLUP

'What's wrong with me?' thought Rock.

At that moment, Rock felt like he was hallucinating. He saw Arthur surrounded by living corpses smiling widely at him.

'Im-impossible! They're dead!' thought Rock when he saw the living corpses surrounding Arthur. Rock couldn't possibly forget them, because they were his adventurer friends who had died.

"Don't be like that, Uncle. Why are you so scared? You make me look like a ghost," Arthur asked as he ran towards Rock.

In Rock's view, the living corpses surrounding Arthur suddenly ran towards him. As a result, Rock lost his focus on Arthur.

'Why did you leave us?'

'Why are you the only one still alive?'

'You're not worthy of being an adventurer!'

'You're not human!'

Facing Arthur, Rock just stood still, motionless. His eyes were full of fear.

Arthur took advantage of the opportunity and slashed at Rock's chest.

Arthur's attack managed to injure Rock, but it was not fatal thanks to Rock's high defense stat.

The pain from Arthur's attack immediately awakened Rock who was drowning in an illusion.

"W-What did you just do?" Rock asked with his lips still trembling in fear.

"Just find out for yourself," Arthur replied and ran towards Arthur again.

In the VVIP room, the Grandfather was confused to see Rock just standing still when Arthur landed an attack on him.

"It seems you've recruited a monster as your knight," the Grandfather said in amazement.

Van just kept quiet in response, but his eyes showed a cold glint.

[STATUS]

[Name: Arthur Black]

[Level: 15]

[Race: Human]

[ATTRIBUTE: -]

[STRENGTH: 650]

[AGILITY: 650]

[DEFENSE: 400]

[MENTAL: 300]

[MANA: 20,000/20,000]

[STAT POINT: 0]

[Skill:

- Blood Lust (Passive)

- Nightmare Domination (Passive)

- Indomitable Sword Spirit (Passive)

- Sword Aura (Active)]

[Blood Lust: When the user sees blood, the user's stats become stronger, but consciousness becomes weaker]

[Nightmare Domination: When the target is weaker or afraid of the user, the target will fall into the illusion of their nightmare]

[Indomitable Sword Spirit: The user has a tenacious talent and fighting spirit in swordsmanship]

[Sword Aura: Sword aura that can be used for both attacking and defending]

Oliver, who was in the grandfather's lap, sparkled when he saw Arthur's swordsmanship technique.

"I didn't expect that my psychopathic brother's swordsmanship technique is so great," Oliver said with starry eyes.

In contrast to Oliver. Olivia, who was watching Arthur's fight, became increasingly frightened. It seemed that Olivia had a deep fear of Arthur.

'Arthur's development is quite impressive, but his swordsmanship technique is quite difficult to develop,' thought Van.

Practicing swordsmanship means learning an art. Swordsmanship is developed by training and perfected in real combat.

However, Arthur doesn't fit any swordsmanship. Arthur's swordsmanship technique relies on brute force and instinct. This means that Arthur's swordsmanship technique can only be developed and perfected through direct combat.

*TING

A metallic sound rang out as Arthur's sword hit Rock's iron gauntlet.

"At first, I thought your rainbow-colored eyes were beautiful, but it turns out to be the opposite," said Rock. The impact of the illusion due to [Nightmare Domination] still lingered in Rock's mind.

"Who cares about your opinion?" Arthur asked rhetorically. Blood vessels appeared to protrude from his hands, indicating that he was exerting his strength to the maximum.

Feeling the heavy pressure on his arm, Rock frowned.

'Is it just my feeling or is this kid getting stronger?' Rock thought in confusion.

Seeing Rock lose his focus, Arthur took this opportunity. "Hey hey, don't take your focus off me!" Arthur said as he kicked the wound on Rock's chest.

Arthur's kick seemed ordinary, but it felt very painful when it hit the unhealed slash wound.

Utilizing the recoil force from his kick, Arthur performed a backflip and landed several meters away.

"Ugh. That hurts, kid." Rock groaned as he held the wound on his chest. His iron gauntlet was now covered in blood.

Arthur just grinned in response and ran towards Rock again.

"You're like a fly," Rock said as he stomped on the [Colosseum] arena.

A terrible force caused the arena to crack and chunks of it were lifted up.

Arthur, who was running at full speed, was forced to stop when he saw the cracked gap in his path.

Rock grabbed a boulder the size of himself and threw it at Arthur.

Seeing a boulder almost twice his size, Arthur channeled more [Mana] into his sword and made his sword glow in a red light.

Arthur then swung his sword and a crescent-shaped red sword aura cut the boulder in two.

Without Arthur realizing it, the figure of Rock appeared from behind the split boulder.

"Got you, naughty boy!" Rock shouted as he clenched his fist.

Facing Rock, Arthur was not intimidated at all and just smiled widely.

"Come on!" Arthur replied with a wide grin on his face.

Due to Rock's sudden attack, Arthur could only block Rock's attack with the remaining flat of his sword.

Arthur, who was blocking Rock's punch, was immediately thrown far away without being able to hold on for even a second.

'Just one punch is already painful. The [Fighter] job really has incredible physical strength.' thought Arthur.

Arthur immediately stabilized his position in mid-air and landed on the ground, then wiped the blood from the corner of his lips.