.｡.:✧ Chapter 9 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The combat system in Brightest Darkness 4 was largely divided into two types.

Evasion and deflection, mainly used against humanoid enemies, and defense and rolling, mainly used against monstrous enemies. Lastly, there was the special counterattack called parrying.

Of course, evasion and deflection could also be used against monstrous enemies, and defense and rolling could be used against humanoid enemies. It wasn’t something forcibly restricted by the system.

It was simply a matter of efficiency.

“I’m telling you, Iris has a good eye for people!”

For example, if you tried to use rolling against a boss with a crazy combo pattern that could extend up to 13 hits like this, you would get hit during the post-delay of rolling, get stunned, and then get diced to death by the subsequent attacks.

The ice-covered daggers and the sword with the red blade constantly clashed, producing sharp metallic sounds. My hands tingled. Even more so than when I deflected the Human Butcher’s massive club.

Her arms looked so slender that they might break if you tapped them, but her strength was insane.

When I deflected the final 13th attack, she took a few steps back and immediately showcased the next pattern. She lowered her body forward and charged at me with her arms crossed in front of her head.

‘7-hit combo.’

After recalling what pattern it was, I also prepared to deflect it.

The 3rd and 6th attacks in that combo were slightly off-beat, and if you were caught off guard and deflected them on the beat, your combat fatigue would burst and you would die for sure.

An ice path formed behind Lizé. The path made of ice remained briefly before exploding, scattering frost-like particles. A thick mist of frost covered the area.

Being careful not to enter the area covered by the frost mist, I deflected the swinging daggers.

Right hand, left hand, then the off-beat right hand. And two right hands with an off-beat left hand. The final was a diagonal slash with the right hand.

After deflecting all of them, including the final diagonal slash, I attacked inward, taking advantage of Lizé’s momentary pause. As the sword sliced past her arm, a faint wound was engraved there, and a few drops of blood flowed down.

‘I thought it went in properly this time too.’

Even though the blade had stabbed into the defenseless exposed forearm, the only wound inflicted was a faint cut. A cut so faint that it only made a few drops of blood flow.

I had previously landed quite a few attacks, but they all ended up inflicting only light wounds. It seemed that the concept of HP from the game was applied in such a way.

Lizé glanced down at her forearm covered in scratches and shouted in a delighted voice.

“Yes, that’s it! That’s how it should be! A man should have that level of fortitude, right? The more I see you, the more I like you!”

Then she kicked off the ground and charged at me again. Her expression as she looked at me was filled with clear enjoyment. It wasn’t enjoyment of the battle itself, but rather enjoyment and interest directed towards me.

It felt like being cut on the arm was nothing to her. It was expected since she didn’t die from a single hit in the game either.

The figure in front of me leaped high into the air. Ice and frost gathered around her body. She grasped the daggers in her hands in reverse grips, turning the tips downward, preparing to smash them down.

It was an unguardable attack.

I quickly distanced myself and rolled backward. The eerie sound of ice meteors colliding with the ground was heard right nearby. Even though I rolled as soon as I saw it, it was a close call.

‘In vanilla, I could have dodged it by walking.’

Sharp ice spikes protruded in all directions from where Lizé had landed. The tips were chillingly sharp.

The person who created them walked out, breaking the spikes without any concern. Well, it would be a comedy in itself if she got stabbed by the ice she created and got injured.

The next attack followed immediately. One cross-arm slash, one diagonal slash from bottom right to top left with the left-hand dagger, and a 4-hit combo.

After deflecting all of them, I raised my sword up to my chest to deflect the final attack. Lizé was pulling one arm back, aligning the dagger horizontally.

It was a thrusting attack that couldn’t be guarded with weapon defense.

To counter it, you either had to deflect it in sync with the attack timing, evade or roll to dodge it, or use a shield. One of those three.

─Clang!

Of course, I chose to deflect it.

The blue blade, elongated to the level of a decent longsword due to the ice growing from the sword’s body, met the red blade of the Blood-Stained Sword.

My body was pushed back a considerable distance, unable to withstand the recoil. I barely managed to stop my legs by stabbing the tip of the sword into the ground. Lizé had a surprised expression as if she didn’t expect me to deflect even this.

“Wow, you blocked this too? Where did Iris find such an excellent newbie?”

Taking advantage of that moment, I shook off the frost clinging to my arms and lightly shook my tingling hands.

Since the sword didn’t have a frostbite resistance enchantment, even if I deflected perfectly, the frostbite gauge would gradually accumulate. The key was whether I could end it before that happened.

Although Lizé had quite a few small wounds on her body, I couldn’t check her HP, so I had to estimate her health based on guesswork.

In the past, when I was doing speedruns, I used to memorize even those trivial details, but later on, as I focused more on level 1 barehanded runs rather than speedruns, I quickly forgot them all.

“Didn’t you say you would control your strength?”

“No, I was trying to go easy on you. I was trying to go easy, but what can I do when you block so well? It makes me curious to see how much you can deflect. Iris and Erica would think the same, right?”

I glanced at the two watching our duel from a distance.

As Lizé said, Iris was standing with her arms crossed under her chest, staring at us without moving an inch, and Erica was looking at us with eyes filled with excitement.

Regardless of anything else, it seemed true that neither of them had any intention of ending the duel.

“Iris, isn’t this enough to pass the exam? How long are you going to make us fight?”

On the off chance, I tried to subtly persuade Iris. From my perspective, it was a no-loss situation, right? If it worked, I could skip Lizé’s final pattern and move on, and even if it didn’t, I had nothing to lose.

Even if it ended here, it didn’t seem like Lizé or Erica would fail me.

Iris seemed to ponder for a moment before slightly nodding her head.

“The skills you have demonstrated so far are more than enough to qualify. In terms of the exam, there would be no problem ending it now. If both of you want, we can end it here. Is that alright with you, Lizé?”

“What? Wait. End it here? Are you serious?”

“I think you’ve sufficiently confirmed his skills. I told you to conduct the entrance exam, not to fight to the death.”

“No, I still have so many techniques I haven’t used yet! You have no sense of romance, Iris!”

“Go find romance somewhere else. This isn’t romance, it’s an entrance exam.”

“Ugh… Then just one! I’ll test just one more technique and then pass him! If I, as a knight commander, unleash so many attacks but can’t even hit the newbie once, what will become of my dignity? And honestly, Iris, you’re also curious to see how much the newbie can deflect, aren’t you? Right?”

“……”

Iris seemed to be in deep thought. From my perspective, it was an utterly absurd situation.

‘That kind of excuse works? Really?’

“…Do as you please.”

‘It actually works.’

Was this also due to the change in common sense, like the attire? Why did that work?

Regardless of my bewilderment, with Iris’s permission granted, Lizé’s spirit soared, and she raised her daggers again. I, who ended up having to fight one more time, also took my stance again.

Since she said she would only use one more technique and then end it─

‘…Wait a minute. One technique?’

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine. The feeling was very, very bad.

“Alright, newbie! I’m a bit sorry, but I have to uphold the dignity of a knight commander!”

“What’s with using a technique like that in an entrance exam when you said you would control your strength? And what if I block that too? Then your dignity and everything else will be gone!”

“You’re going to block this? Our newbie is quite bold! Well then, good! If you can block this too, I’ll grant you one wish! It can be something naughty too! How about it, are you more determined now?”

“I don’t need anything like that, so please stop!”

“Sorry, that’s not possible! But I really mean anything, so think carefully!”

Lizé smiled brightly and covered her daggers with ice. Her entire body was covered in white frost, and the surrounding air rapidly cooled. Seeing that, a deep sigh escaped my lips.

‘In the end, it came to this. What was the name of that technique again? Frost Storm Assault?’

Frost Storm Assault was the final combo added to Lizé’s boss fight in the Darkest Light Mod.

It had a whopping 20 hits, with each hit dealing insanely high damage, and it had crazy homing properties that made it nearly impossible to dodge with rolling.

Therefore, it was a crazy pattern that essentially forced you to either equip a greatshield or deflect each and every attack. If you were really unlucky, you could die instantly from frostbite activating while deflecting the combo.

Moreover, in a truly wicked twist, it was a pattern used only twice in the entire boss fight, so it took an enormous amount of time to study it.

As Lizé lightly swung her arms vertically, an ice path formed between us. Now I had to focus. I erased all stray thoughts and focused my consciousness solely on the daggers in her hands.

Leaving a blurry afterimage, Lizé’s body lunged forward like an arrow.

‘First, the initial 4-hit combo.’

I spun my body counterclockwise, and in that state, a 2-hit combo with a spin was launched. As soon as the sword and daggers collided, I felt a sharp electric sensation in my hands. I nearly dropped the sword.

But there was no time to dwell on the pain. A storm of frost enveloped the daggers. After deflecting the first 2-hit combo, I immediately pulled the Blood-Stained Sword up to my chest.

As soon as I raised my arms, a strong impact grazed my chest twice. My body was pushed back a considerable distance. It was a speed I couldn’t have blocked if I had tried to see and block it.

As if that wasn’t enough, the surrounding area was thickly covered in frost and chill, making it difficult to even see Lizé’s body, which was barely an arm’s length away.

In the game, there was at least some visibility, but now it wasn’t the case. Honestly, even the outline of the daggers was faint now.

I gave up on following with my eyes and instead moved as my body remembered, not my head. I swung my arms as if riding a rhythm, recalling the memory of using the right mouse button to deflect.

‘Next, the 8-hit combo.’

As soon as I had that thought, the sound of blades clashing against each other was heard exactly 8 times, and my body was pushed back a considerable distance again. Lizé immediately pounced. There was no time given to regain my posture or catch my breath.

Now, frost was thickly clinging to my arms and legs, making it difficult to even move. There was a limit to forcibly moving my limbs. It felt like frostbite would activate on the 19th or the final attack.

‘I can’t endure like this. I need to land a hit in the middle to cancel the attack.’

By the time I had that thought, the 16th attack came flying. I deflected it and racked my brain. After this, if I deflected the 17th attack, there would be a very brief moment to land a hit.

It was an attack that required very precise timing, but if successful, it could stun her and cancel the pattern. I made my decision and prepared to attack while deflecting the incoming dagger.

Immediately, my body became heavy.

It felt as if something was pulling my entire body down, causing my legs to sway greatly. As a result, the tip of my sword faltered for a moment.

‘Combat fatigue…!’

I composed my suddenly heavy body. The combo hadn’t continued yet, so there was still time. Just before I swung the Blood-Stained Sword again, I saw the corners of Lizé’s mouth curl up.

I examined her stance. At a glance, it looked like she was standing awkwardly. But I knew what that meant.

If I attacked now, my sword would be immediately parried, and I would be hit by a counter.

Before I could forcibly twist the trajectory of my sword after realizing that fact, someone intervened between Lizé and me, leaving a blurry afterimage.

“Enough!”

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