After they stood back up, the distance between the two was only a Sanya moment, which was not even enough to separate them. Both sides could reach each other with their hands and raised their sharp knives.
Even if Joshua wanted to distance himself, his intentions would be revealed before any movement. Before completing Xiandu Ling's next move, his choice was to maintain a posture that could be adapted at any time.
The scene did not turn into a confrontation. The fighting spirit emanating from Joshua's body was not able to lock onto the opponent standing in front of him. Originally, even if they did not deliberately control it, the two fighting warriors would have generated energy.
They were intertwined, but Joshua's outward fighting spirit passed through directly, ignoring Ling's existence.
For Joshua, this was the first time in his life that he had encountered such an elusive opponent.
He does not lack experience in fighting against masters stronger than himself. Whether it is against "Sword Master" Cassius, "Skinny Wolf" Valut, "Sword Emperor" Reinhardt, and "Wind Sword"
Saint Arios, the confrontation with Victor, the "Swordsmith of Light", or Master Yun, the founder of Eight Leaves, the "Sword Immortal", but neither of them is as obvious as the one in front of them intellectually.
A guy who knows how threatening the opponent is, but whose instinct makes people unwary.
Ling's sword was heavier than the sword, making Joshua feel heavier and heavier pressure. This was not a false finger, just the explosion sound from the sword energy cutting through the air became louder and louder.
Coming to this conclusion, it was a slash that exceeded the speed of sound that he had to rely on his combat skills to perform, but to the opponent, it was just the aftermath of a normal attack.
The other party had no expression... No, it could be said that he was quite serious. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was more serious than before.
Seeing that she was no longer distracted by maintaining that fake smile, Joshua was somewhat relieved. Although the smile he saw before, which was applied to everyone without exception, was well disguised, the child had more than just facial muscles.
, even the slightly curved corners of the eyes and soft eyes imitated a smile. Most people would definitely be fooled, but Reinhardt had secretly told Joshua about this, so he could tell that there was something wrong in that smile after careful observation.
Contains any true intentions.
Recalling Lu Lei's previous encounter with Reinhardt and Ash, Joshua recalled the other party's instructions at that time.
◇
"She has unresolved knots in her heart, but it seems difficult for me to get her to open up. So can I ask you?" When he said this, Reinhardt was supervising Ash doing boring slashing and flowing water under the waterfall.
of enhanced training.
"Not even Levi...it's obviously much more convenient for me to be with Ling all the time."
Joshua came to Chasarante State to fulfill a mission commissioned by the Guerrilla Association, but with a premonition, he walked to the third largest lake in the state and met two people who had the same hometown as him.
"Sometimes being too familiar can become a barrier to communication. The child respects me very much, but because of this, there are some things she won't say to me."
Joshua did not agree immediately.
"I'm actually not very good at educating people. Maybe it's better to leave this kind of thing to Estelle."
"It's probably very difficult. Although I don't know the reason, Ling is obviously very wary of Estelle."
After hearing what Reinhardt said, Joshua also smiled bitterly.
"Is it because I changed my last name to Bright that things are going wrong?"
"The Ling I know is not so narrow-minded that she would think that 'Estil stole her family' or even feel resentful about it. Maybe it's for some other reason."
"That is……?"
◇
It's just a memory, but in reality it only happened for a moment. Seriously dealing with the opponent's devastating attacks has no room for any distraction.
The frequency of Ling's sword swings is quite regular. She attacks once every three seconds, which feels a bit like a test. And every time she swings a sword, Joshua must use three or even five consecutive strikes to resolve the terrifying
With such force, if the weapon in hand was not made of Samlian stone, it would have been chipped or curled long ago, but the actual situation is that so far it is still to a level that can be dealt with. The wrist is received
The force was transmitted through his torso to the ground beneath his feet, where he unloaded the force and trampled the grass into holes of varying depths. Although he himself could not compete with the opponent in terms of strength, how could he deal with the skills of an opponent who was stronger than himself?
, he has already understood it thoroughly.
He has known from a long time ago that strength is not his strong point, so he has never had any intention of going head-to-head with someone who is stronger than him. Avoiding the most important and taking the easy is Joshua's fighting habit, and in recent years, his understanding and understanding in this regard
My attainments are becoming more and more profound, and I am indeed making continuous progress in this aspect.
After about two minutes of fierce fighting, Ling suddenly took a step back, putting Joshua on high alert.
"I tried to increase my strength little by little, but I didn't expect that even 100% of my strength would not be able to overwhelm you after I released it. Maybe Joshua, you are more difficult to deal with than Leos."
Ling seemed to be talking happily, her face regained its relaxed expression.
"That's not the case. I'm just better at fighting defensively. Because I seem to be fighting against people stronger than me lately."
Although he was complimented by Ling, Joshua did not think that he was stronger than Uncle Leos. He had just fought against him in Regram not long ago, and he could clearly feel the gap between him and his opponent.
It's just about age.
"Originally I really didn't want to take off the restraints. After all, it goes against my original intention... It's hard to leave room to stop at any time like I did just now, but if the opponent is Joshua, it shouldn't matter, right?"
He said that he had used 100% of his strength, but was he not serious at all? What on earth is wrong with this child? Joshua thought to himself.
"Feel free to come over here!"
Of course, in response to these words, Joshua also drew out the second sword "Liu Shui" attached to his waist.
Dual-sword style...or dual-wielding weapons is a difficult skill to master.
Both East and West Semria have actively tried to dual-wield two weapons, but because there are very few people who are good at using them in actual combat, they are not widely used. Although there is a legend of dual swordsmanship left by Roland Vandel, currently in the martial arts world
The mainstream is still to use a weapon to fight.
The two-sword style pursued by Joshua himself holds a tachi in each hand, so the strength of one hand is bound to be less than the "eight-leaf one-sword style" that holds a tachi in both hands. However, the combination of two tachi can develop more colorful and complex styles.
In addition, the powerful sword style, coupled with the fact that most dual-wielding swords focus on "skill" rather than "power", has already gained considerable popularity. Even the "Sword Immortal" did not persuade him to give up the path of studying the two-sword style.
It has nothing to do with kata-ryu, just style. The two-sword-ryu fighting method used by Joshua is roughly divided into three types.
The first is to completely abandon defense, turn all physical strength into offensive resources, and use faster attack frequency to bring higher killing efficiency. When he was still "Executor No. 13 Black Fang"
When he was a child, he would fight more in this way. But now he rarely does this.
The second is to attack with the right hand of the active hand that is skillfully used, and use the left hand of the auxiliary hand to deflect the opponent's weapon for defense. In a one-on-one battle, a auxiliary holding a sword like Joshua is more powerful than Dubalina.
A standard equipment that holds a sword in one hand and a shield in the other requires much higher skills and extremely tests the user's physical coordination and endurance.
The third way is to use both swords for defense. You can even cross-hold the swords to increase the stability of your posture, making your posture more stable and less likely to be defeated. He calls this the "Sword of Protection".
And although he has this fighting style, he rarely actually fights in this stance.
Joshua's posture was the second combat posture integrating offense and defense. In front of him, Ling, who had retreated more than twenty moments, lowered his sword and fiddled with a device on his wrist a few times.
Even though he was more than twenty feet away, Joshua could find that the atmosphere seemed to be a little different. He couldn't tell the specific details, but it seemed that Ling's figure had become even more ethereal than the elusive posture just now.
"The long-lost weight has been lifted. Compared with before, there is probably no change in strength, but the speed is completely different. Because I don't plan to test it bit by bit like just now, Joshua should be more careful."
As soon as Ling finished speaking, Joshua found a thin figure left in front of him - no, it was an afterimage. Chill came from behind. Joshua, who had no time to turn around, immediately held it with his backhand to resist, but this
The force-removing technique that worked well before did not take effect. He was pushed up into the air and flew out like a cannonball.
Joshua quickly tried to adjust his posture in the air and be ready to deal with the pursuit, but Ling, who was standing on the ground, had no intention of jumping up and launching a double strike, but watched helplessly as he landed and regrouped.
"Why didn't you pursue me just now? If I couldn't adjust and was attacked again in the air, I would have lost."
"It's not that I mean to give you a chance, it's just a matter of my fighting habits. Because my body mass is too light, I can't use my strength in the air without a foothold, so I won't let myself fall into that kind of dangerous situation.
go."
"I understand what you mean. With your strength, it is indeed reasonable to worry. If you do this in a place where you have no foothold, you will easily blow yourself away."
No matter how strong the force is, the effects of force are mutual and this cannot be changed.
Joshua didn't know that Ling had the "Moon Step" as a trump card that could perform three-dimensional maneuvers in the air, so he easily accepted her statement.
"Shall we continue?" Joshua had already adjusted his breathing, and the contusion on his arm would not affect his combat effectiveness. Although he suffered a loss, he was not clueless about the attack just now.
"Go on." Ling nodded, and then disappeared again.
However, when she drew her sword, it missed the mark by a hair.
When she was a little confused, Joshua, who moved behind Ling with "Air Cicada", swung his sword towards Ling's position.
Before she had time to think about it, Ling's body flashed to the right. When she appeared again, she looked at Joshua with a somewhat puzzled expression, as if she was asking him how did you avoid it.
"Your current speed is indeed terrifying. But there is an obvious shortcoming. You are not aiming at my body, but you are trying to knock my sword away, right?"
"It only took one time to see through this. Joshua, you have exceeded my expectations."
"The experience of a guerrilla, the 'Eye of Seeing', or something similar, you can call it whatever you want. As long as it is discovered in advance, it is not impossible to deal with it. I can't avoid your surprise attack even though I know your intentions. Unless you can
It’s only possible if you’re ten times faster than me.”
"Well, you are right, and that is indeed something I can't do."
Ling did not deny Joshua's judgment. Although Joshua felt that it was not her ultimate speed just now, he himself was also a leader among Semlian speed players. Even the "super speed" Du Barry
It may not be faster than Joshua who has now mastered "Empty Cicada".
"Ah, that's it for today."
Ling suddenly sheathed the sword, which surprised Joshua.
"The winner hasn't been decided yet, is that okay?"
"Because Joshua is really difficult than I expected. If the two-sword style is transformed into a defensive posture, it will be difficult to lose. I already know this very well. Even if you are not an expert level yet, you are already
Do you have the fighting power to match that of an expert? In addition, someone has come down from the mountain? Perhaps the noise of our battle just now was too loud, and the residents of Baron Yomire noticed it."
Ling's villa was built under the foothills of the southern side of Youmil, and it was actually only a few thousand sub-moments away from the snow-capped mountains. There were continuous sonic booms and explosion craters. If they continued, they would lead to the Essinger Mountains.
It is not impossible for an avalanche to occur, although the probability should be very small... In short, choosing the battle location here is really unconsidered.
"Next time we have a chance, let's fight at Crossbell Martial Arts Hall. You can fight freely there. I chose this location because of the beautiful scenery of Spinner Creek. I don't want to ruin the scenery here.
"
Ling pointed to the grass, where there were holes made by Joshua.
"Ah, I'm really sorry about this..."
"Joshua, there is no need to apologize. It won't take much effort for me to ask my puppets to repair the turf. Joshua, will you go back to the villa to rest first?"
"No need, I plan to return directly to Lu Lei to continue the unfinished mission yesterday. If Ling is the case, he will leave this city soon, right."
"Well, I will go back to Crossbell as usual. Before leaving the empire, I will go to Tolista first. Although there are no classes at Thorz, I still have to say hello to Principal Van Dyke. After all,
Next month is Thorz's independent enrollment entrance exam, so you have to prepare in advance for the mathematics test paper that will be used for the entrance exam next month."
"What about the kid from the association?" Joshua asked, naturally it was Seria who was still in the villa.
"You will probably follow me until the mission over there is completed. If there is any big movement in the association, I will also inform you. Although Estelle doesn't know about it, Joshua, you are not going to stay away from Xiangke, right?
"
"It goes without saying. Both you and Levi are my family. If there is anything I can do to help, don't be polite."
"If possible, I hope you don't get involved. After all, both you and Ash are the 'Orphans of Hamel' targeted by the 'curse'."
"Then I can't escape even more."
Seeing that Joshua would not change his mind, Ling did not do any more persuasion. We are all determined people, and it is not a bad thing to be able to cope with the upcoming challenges together.
The feeling of fighting side by side as a family is not bad for both Ling and Joshua.