103: Skim

Skim

The arrows were let loose from almost one hundred fifty hundred meters away, yet they locked onto Ryu perfectly. Considering a normal Common Grade bow could only be used at a distance of thirty to forty meters, with only some of the better ones being accurate to about seventy meters, it could be understood just how amazing the bowmen of the Dragon Corps were. Not only did their weapons have such an outrageous advantage, they were actually skilled enough and powerful enough to use them.0

Ryu stood slowly. About the only good thing about his enemies being able to launch such ranged assaults was that they gave Ryu plenty of time to prepare. For Ryu, the few seconds the arrows spent in the air were more than enough.

In truth, the foggy Spiritual Sense Ryu had access to now didn't have such an exaggerated range. The only reason he knew the arrows had launched into the air was because of their sound. It wasn't until they entered his twenty or so meter range that their faint outlines appeared in his mind. In that moment, Ryu willed his glaive to appear from his spatial ring, standing atop the rounded surface of the Core as though it was no different from flat ground.

Ryu took a deep breath. Air surged toward him, filling his body to the brim.

"Deeper." He spoke softly, his state of meditation sinking with every passing moment.

Soon, Ryu settled into the Breath of Earth. What once was a mere twenty-meter range pushed outward, reaching thirty.

Ryu rotated his wrist, twirling the glaive in his hand with a trained expertise. Time slowed to a crawl, it was almost as though Ryu's heart only beat once every ten seconds.

The chests of those watching seized. This move by Amory was truly sinister. Launching so many arrows wouldn't only take Ryu's life, it was guaranteed that the Breaking Ore would shatter soon after. Even if Ryu managed to survive, he would lose without a doubt. How could a single person protect such a large object? Ryu looked no different than an ant before the Breaking Ore.

While time had slowed for Ryu in an almost tangible sense, for those spectating, they experienced a similar reality, but for far different reasons. Even those of other Kingdoms felt it was a pity for such a genius to fall in this way. Just what was the Tor Clan thinking?

Suddenly, Ryu stepped forward, his stance incredibly light. His glaive shot forward toward the first arrow.

Many thought that Ryu was attempting to break all of the arrows he faced, but how could that be possible? Sending out fifty strikes in what amounted to a split second was impossible for anyone below the Peak Spiritual Severing Realm.

Others believed that Ryu only wanted to protect his own life. With his skill, as long as he gave up on the Breaking Ore and focused on protecting a half meter radius around himself, he would undoubtedly survive.

Of those who thought this way, Patriarch Cedar was among them. He couldn't help but be enraged by his grandson's tactics. Wasn't this simply giving Ryu a path to live?

However, Amory never thought this way. He believed that even with the high evaluation his grandfather had given Ryu, it was still too low! Not only would Ryu survive this attack, the Breaking Ore be unscathed!

It was at that moment that something magical occurred. Ryu's movements became incomparably beautiful. It was only now those watching understood the allure of minimalism. Ryu had a perfect grasp of this.

His glaive surged forward, glancing along the tip of the arrow and following along its body. Just like that, the arrow was redirected, flying harmlessly to the side, unable to harm Ryu or his Breaking Ore.

This simple movement was none other than [Skim]!

[Skim] was considered a half parry. Instead of blowing an opponent back for an explosive counter, it instead made use of an opponent's leverage against them. Using their weapon, an expert who executed [Skim] could redirect the attack they were facing by sliding their blade along the length of their opponent's weapon.

In truth, this defensive stance was looked down upon by polearm wielders. This was because it was most effective for closing the distance between two enemies, but this was obviously something those with medium range weapons wouldn't like. The number of actions a polearm wielder could take in close range was highly limited. As a result, [Skim] and advanced techniques related to it were usually left to dagger wielders and maybe the occasional short sword expert.

However, who would have thought the technique that so many polearm experts looked down upon could be used in such a way? It was absolutely mesmerizing… Nothing short of art, the dance of an expert.

Those who were spectating were correct. Ryu couldn't send out fifty strikes in a split second, that realm was too far from him now. Even if he applied the abilities of his Northern Heavenly Wind to his weapon, Ryu believed he could only send out twelve to fifteen strikes in a single second. However, for Ryu, just ten strikes was enough!

Ryu's glaive snaked forward, knocking arrows off their path. But, his actions weren't so simple. For every time he used [Skim], each arrow that slid off his blade wreaked havoc. With every deflection, a single arrow would inexplicably collide along the paths of three or four others!

Ryu's wrists twisted at unbelievable angles, resisting striking power that amounted to more than five hundred jin each time. If it wasn't for his Bone Structure giving him ridiculous flexibility, his bones would have shattered, leaving him crippled for several weeks. However, in thanks to his mother, Ryu could bring out his full strength even while tilting his body in ways that seemingly had no leverage at all.

A silence fell over the battle arena as the final arrow was avoided by Ryu with a simple tilt of his head. No one could imagine the level of calculation and reflexes it would take to replicate Ryu's feat. Not even a single scratch could be seen on his Breaking Ore, yet he stood amid a cemetery of broken arrows!

The only person who seemed completely unsurprised was Amory. However, even he couldn't have predicted what happened next.

'I'm crawling at a snail's pace toward this dream of dual polearm wielding.' Ryu sighed. 'But, there are some very clear advantages. While my striking power is far less, my degrees of freedom and striking speed is overwhelmingly faster. I guess this isn't the proper place to test this out, I'll stop playing around.'

In the next moment, the fifty thousand jin Breaking Ore vanished from thin air.

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