F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 288: Tricks and Power

Two young men stared at each other coldly — one with malice.

"Fine, since you’re so adamant in not cooperating. Let’s ruin each other’s run instead, yeah?"

In the next moment, Johann struck a fighting stance, facing Daru, who was already in one.

"M-M-My!! T-These novices are on fire, folks! Match after match after match! It seems like the rivalries will never end! These two have never encountered each other until this very moment, yet they’re already at each other’s throats!" Nathalie’s voice resounded, soon drowned by rumbling cheers.

Two hot-blooded young men clashing with words, soon with swords. Such a thing will never be not entertaining. Not to mention, both are very talented and have the disposition worthy of their current deep runs.

The crowd was eager to see how the confrontation would end, if only to witness someone crumble.

Even the veteran scouts were invested. The ones going really crazy, however, were the journalists.

They would have Work Food for weeks!

The food was already cooking, and soon, it was ready, served as the referee raised his hands and jumped back.

"Begin!"

The moment Daru heard the signal, he exploded into a dash. It would be unideal to allow his foe to utilize his strange abilities freely.

’Fast!’ thought his opponent.

But Taiya was used to fights of this level, as his family easily had the resources to hire opponents of such level in preparation for the Inter-Class Representative Competition.

For young masters of respected houses like Johann, the rewards were merely a bonus. It was the prestige of finishing in the highest ranking possible that was the true gain. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The reason for this is that this competition would be their first contribution to their factions.

Of course, as talented youngsters with heavy expectations on their shoulders, they wanted to do well and defeat those in the same situation to devour their rivals in their shadow.

This way, even if they’re from the same guild, they would be treated better and be given more opportunities.

It would be massive for Johann if he could upset Skylar here, especially since he would be moving to Cluster 5, Soravia, after this to join Steel Covenant, a rival guild of Ashen Crown.

The problem with his plan, however, was that he was not focusing on the opponent in front of him.

Daru, arriving in front of his foe, slashed mercilessly.

Johann snorted, brandishing his langsax to boldly meet his opponent’s tachi. The S-ranker was clearly not scared of his foe’s strength, believing that it was only the Sword Skill-empowered ones that were dangerous to face head-on.

Until he felt it.

The two swords sang a duet of steel as they clashed, the test of strength concluding a moment later.

Johann was sent flying just like the others. The S-ranker quickly found out how wrong his assumptions were.

But unlike Cody and the others, his sword specialized in terrain manipulation. A gentle pillar of earth rose to receive him, allowing Johann to recover his footing easily.

He then jumped to avoid the audacious pursuit.

Immediately after he did, the gentle earth turned violent, molding itself into an earthen sword that lay in stoic wait for his opponent’s arrival.

But Daru’s reaction time was not inferior to Lucas’ at all, perhaps even slightly superior.

He somersaulted, avoiding the earthen piercer and following his foe in the air. Their swords met with another furious clang.

Johann gritted his teeth, his forearms numb as he watched his opponent falling in a standard freefall — a stark contrast to him, who was sent flying a fair distance away again.

’How is he so strong?! Is this his Innate Sword Skill?’

He found it somewhat humiliating to be outmatched in power. After all, he was an S-ranker, and the one dominating him in head-on clashes was a mere F-ranker.

Johann thought that Daru was deliberately attempting to embarrass him in front of the crowd, resentment growing in his heart.

’No matter...such a simple and distasteful trick is worthy of that garbage sword’s tier.’

A cheap increase in weight, perhaps halved in the wielder’s hands, would explain how Omaru was so powerful in this early stage.

But Johann believed this wouldn’t take him far in life. Soon enough, its budget boons would be exhausted, and an F-ranker’s abysmally low ceiling would come crashing down upon Daru.

He took deep note of making time in the future to relish in the hateful bastard’s eventual downfall.

Catching himself with an earthen wall this time, Johann skillfully used it as a springboard, charging back into battle.

Momentum was on his side this time.

Daru, however, wasn’t as "straightforward" as his foe thought he was.

He dodged to the side, transitioning to short and strange zigzagging steps. The eyes of a few youngsters in the arena widened.

They recognized those movements all too well. Was it the exact same one?! How common was this Sword Skill?

Meanwhile, Daru split into two and burst into a confusing yet lethal charge from two sides, rushing at Taiya, who was making microadjustments on the stone floor of the main stage to stabilize his crash more effectively.

The S-ranker soon noticed his opponent, his eyes widening for no longer than a moment.

His sword flashed a mossy-dirt color, and he slashed at the ground.

In the next moment, the stone surface of the arena softened into slippery mud, easily revealing which one was the real body.

Daru almost slipped, caught off guard by the strange ability. He chose to skid to a halt with the help of his sword instead of pushing through with poor balance.

"Heh, cheap tricks mean nothing in front of real power, F-ranker." Johann sneered, to which one of Daru’s brows rose.

"I agree," he responded, "but aren’t you the one relying on cheap tricks?"

Veins popped at the sides of Johann’s head, finding the accusation hard to deny, but he did anyway.

"Fool! Unlike your sword’s bland weight increase — the cheap trick, my sword, Taiya’s terrain manipulation abilities IS the power!" snarled the S-ranker as he stabbed his sword into the ground.

A split second later, a huge earthen sword emerged from the mud, stabbing at Daru, but he easily destroyed it with a single, powerful slash as it formed.

Only two more emerged at well-timed intervals, this time from his sides.

While he was also able to deal with them, the slippery mud floor made it difficult for him to do so as easily as he could have.

In the background, his foe was moving, charging straight into the mud.

To the crowd’s astonishment, the terrain adjusted for its prince. The mud would harden and turn to solid ground to accommodate Johann’s steps. Only when he had passed would they return to being tricky terrain.

Daru had noticed his foe’s approach, but since he still had to deal with the inconveniences around him, he could only angle his tachi to block the incoming blow.

Taiya, however, seemed to be absorbing some sort of earthen essence as it brandished towards him.

The moment the two swords clashed, Daru was sent skidding back a few dozen meters, eliciting cheers from a minority.

A smirk tugged at Johann’s face, and he pointed his langsax towards his foe.

"What a coincidence. I have the same cheap trick, too, and it just comes as a bonus. What will you do now, so-called dark horse?"