F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 242: Flow

Inside a vast stone hall with nothing but a long-decayed corpse sitting on a cold stone throne as a spectator, a wretched duel raged.

Daru stepped back to dodge another blow, then raised his arms to block the next sweeping blow.

He was sent skidding back a dozen meters, and before he could stabilize, Commodus was upon him again.

This was how the duel had gone in the past thirty seconds after Elara left.

Daru had been on the back foot, barely managing to sneak in a few counterattacks while being tossed around the vast hall.

Not only was the princely wraith stronger, but he was also faster and more vicious.

It seemed as if Daru was simply outmatched on all fronts.

The reason why he couldn’t muster an effective counteroffensive was that his footwork was being disrupted every time he was forced to block...and he was forced to block almost every time.

At least for now.

Daru hadn’t given up, of course. He was simply gathering information.

Commodus’ combat style, his tendencies in various situations, how he goes for the finish, and other such things.

For Daru, who had been dedicated to the sword for even he underestimated how long, it wasn’t too difficult to catch and compile such information in his head.

Ever since his battle with the servant wraiths of the Cemetery of the Damned, he had noticed that the Swordspawns level fifty and above had stopped operating in a limited moveset.

Their combat styles had become truly dynamic.

For example, Two Ashen Cleaners very seldom fought in the same way.

But strangely, Daru found deciphering these combat styles very easy, as though...as though he had lived two lives and was merely sifting through the repository of combat styles that was already buried deep in his instincts.

It was a very weird feeling.

’What was it called again...day job who?’

Whatever the word was, Daru was figuring out his opponent as they fought, dismantling the very core of his battle style, patching in bits and pieces from others, and forming an imaginary identity in his head.

This formed identity...he would know how to fight it.

He was still being battered and wounded, sent skidding and staggering from one area to another, but as time passed, he was fighting better.

He was getting used to everything Commodus had — his physical abilities, how he thought, when he preferred to use his Sword Skills.

And one of the keys that helped Daru seize more space for himself was Mountainsplitter.

He would surpass the total force of the princely wraith’s attack in that one instance and push him back.

Then, he would try to secure more footing in the battle, only to fall suppressed under Commodus’ blade again after failing to predict what the wraith would do next.

The same pattern continued for a few dozen exchanges.

Daru was wounded less with every subsequent one, though, and although he now had a level two bleeding status active and his Reinforced Steel Armor was in shambles, he was surviving and was nowhere close to being defeated.

Of course, the situation could deteriorate in a bad instant.

But that was not what happened.

Daru began to fight better instead, his movements growing more and more bold, more efficient...more flowing.

There was even a time he predicted four straight combat sequences.

His body moved on its own, but his mind was certainly there, too. He almost broke through the loop that one time.

But even if he didn’t, Daru didn’t mind.

He felt it.

It was one of those rare moments even for him. He was in his peak combat state...and was inevitable in this duel.

He was almost done figuring out his opponent, and even if Commodus introduced a new side of his combat identity, that would be swallowed up, too, in a moment or two.

There was nothing the princely wraith could do.

At least not when he’s like this.

His instructor had once told him that this state of absolute focus had a name, but he didn’t care about that right now.

All he knew was that he was absorbing everything his opponent threw at him like a sponge, and soon, Commodus’ repository would be exhausted.

And that’s when he would strike.

So, he continued enduring, getting better and better at it...until he didn’t have to anymore.

Daru recognized a pattern — the strike the princely wraith would do, and the subsequent ones, along with the possibilities, after it.

He was ready to respond to them all.

His Sword Skills were ready, too.

Daru slickly leaned to the right to dodge a familiar double downward slash from the twin gladiuses.

Then, before Commodus could recover — or rather, chain his attacks, Onimaru Kunitsuna was veiled by a chilling black aura.

A shattering clang rang the next moment, then staggering steps.

The malevolent prince was blown back.

Naturally, Daru capitalized, dashing in with Swallow Step and beginning his counteroffensive.

The lethal dance continued.

However, this time, he wasn’t being suppressed.

It was also difficult to suppress Commodus since clashing head-on with a full-powered strike would only ruin the rhythm he had built.

So, Daru carefully chose his clashes, dodging most of the time with the help of the combat insight he had gathered and only crossing swords with the princely wraith whenever he could catch Commodus pre-strike, preventing him from utilizing the strength gap.

This was how the duel proceeded for an entire minute — an even match.

Daru was now able to deal minor cuts to his opponent, while he himself rarely got wounded. It was a promising change for sure.

Only, it wasn’t promising enough.

After all, he and the Damnedlings of Egress were on a timer. His opponent, on the other hand, was not.

He still lacked something...

Efficient evasion, coupled with superb use of technique, was enough to bridge the gap in attributes and even things out.

However, to truly and completely turn things around, Daru must find a way to resist a full-powered blow from his opponent.

That way, he could strike back with a bolder and more lethal blow.