Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 297

The battle between Zakid and Amelie was being broadcast live on TV, captured in detail by multiple drone cameras. Beom-seok alternated his gaze between the arena and the holographic screen beside it, analyzing the combat. These two would be his future rivals, so he needed to scrutinize their characteristics and habits thoroughly.

‘Zakid is having a bit of a hard time. Well, Amelie’s variant swordsmanship can’t be the same as Rebecca’s.’

Beom-seok had experienced variant swordsmanship through Rebecca in Osaha. Initially, he struggled immensely with the bizarre changes of her sword, but eventually, he managed to win by using a strategy of attrition and disrupting her timing. However, today, Zakid’s opponent was Amelie. She wasn’t a novice swordsman who would fall for such tricks.

With a worried expression, Jelsomina leaned toward the screen.

“Senior, what should we do? Our Grand Master is being pushed back.”

Beom-seok shook his head, disagreeing with her statement.

“He’s struggling, but Zakid isn’t the one being pushed back. It’s Amelie.”

She pointed to Zakid, who was barely parrying Amelie’s sword.

“No. He’s clearly struggling.”

“That struggle is self-inflicted. He’s not employing the general countermeasures for variant swordsmanship.”

“Countermeasures?”

Beom-seok used his arms to represent Amelie’s sword and Zakid’s sword.

“Yes. To counter variant swordsmanship, you need to block the less flexible base of the blade, like this, but Zakid is deliberately pushing inward, striking the blade’s surface. That means he’s taking Amelie’s bizarre changes head-on.”

“If there’s a method, why is the Grand Master taking such a risk?”

“The reason is simple: to close the distance with Amelie. Zakid probably believes that if he retreats to block the base of the variant sword, he’ll never be able to defeat her. Amelie wouldn’t be defeated by a sword strike swung from a slightly greater distance.”

“Then what will happen?”

“Hmm. If Zakid becomes accustomed to the trajectory of that variant sword, Amelie will lose. If he makes a mistake before that, he’ll lose instead.”

“What if neither happens?”

“Then, of course, it’ll be a draw. Sword fighting matches have time limits. Are you even a swordsman? Don’t you know that?”

Jelsomina fell silent. She had asked such an obvious question due to her nervousness. Feeling awkward, she quietly watched the arena, continuing to observe the decisive battle between Zakid and Amelie.

“Kyaaa!”

The sharp scream from nearby caused Zakid and Amelie to momentarily separate and simultaneously turn their heads. They wanted to see who had been hit. At the same time, they saw Amelie with a smile and Zakid with a frown.

Helen had been struck by Hiyas’s sword, creating a 2-on-1 situation. It could be seen as a crisis for him.

‘Damn it. Amelie is already overwhelming.’

However, Zakid’s worries soon disappeared. Hiyas wasn’t even thinking of approaching, maintaining her position. It was as if she was expressing her will to continue their one-on-one duel.

He saw a fellow swordsman from the Dark Hyenas’ main camp come out to confront Hiyas and turned his gaze back to Amelie.

‘What the heck? Why didn’t they attack together? Is it to avoid interfering with my duel with Amelie?’

Zakid felt uneasy. If it was for fan service, Hiyas should have returned to the main camp where the battle was raging. But she had been standing by as if watching, and only showed movement after a fellow swordsman from the Dark Hyenas arrived. Considering this, it seemed that Hiyas had followed Amelie with a different mission.

‘Well, since another colleague is marking her, there’s no need to worry.’

He straightened his sword and rushed at Amelie again. He had become accustomed to the bizarre variant swordsmanship through the fierce battle so far, so if he did well, he might soon find a way to defeat her. Then Hiyas’s existence would be meaningless, so his worries disappeared.

“Amelie! Be prepared!”

Zakid, who had dodged the whip and arrived close to her, swung his sword fiercely. Amelie moved backward, parrying slightly, and immediately showered him with vibrating variant swords.

With a tense expression, Zakid twisted his waist sharply as he made contact with the sword, tilting his upper body to the side. The maximum change in the sword was about a hand span, so if he wasn’t within that gap, he wouldn’t be hit.

As expected, her previous attack grazed the side of his face and ended in vain, and Zakid smiled.

‘Hehe. Amelie. Soon you will kneel before me. Wait.’

His sword suddenly drew a sharp trajectory and shot towards Amelie. It was a sword attack that was difficult to block because of the change in timing. Nevertheless, she calmly stepped left and right, evading the sharp trajectory of the sword with her body.

Cha. Cha-chang. Chang. Clang.

After a few exchanges of swords, Amelie frowned. She could clearly feel that Zakid was a swordsman comparable to herself, as the director had said. She had been dismissive because she couldn’t believe it, but after exchanging blows for a long time, she could tell.

‘At this rate, I’ll be defeated. That guy is getting more and more used to my One Sword, One Whip technique.’

No matter how unpredictable Amelie’s One Sword, One Whip technique was, all control came from body movements. All changes occurred with the waving of the shoulder or the cham [a subtle, quick movement] movement of the wrist, so if you could grasp this point, you could roughly deduce the form of the attack. However, it was not easy to detect and defend against these instantaneous changes.

It was impossible without a unique sense and a lot of experience. From this point of view, Zakid’s skill was superior to any enemy she had ever faced.

Amelie stepped back for a moment and watched the situation in the rear camp. The mission she had been given by the director, Vincent, was to hold Zakid until the main camp won. If her team’s main camp won before the crisis facing her, Chaplin Whisper would take the second round.

‘Whew~ It looks like the second round will be over soon.’

The fierce battle between the main camps was currently overwhelmingly in favor of Chaplin Whisper. Although two of her colleagues had fallen in the meantime, five of the Dark Hyenas had been incapacitated. So the power ratio between the two teams’ main camps was 8 to 5. With this difference in numbers, the opposing team would surely collapse rapidly.

Somewhat relieved, Amelie pointed to the battle between the main camps with her thumb and smiled at Zakid.

“It seems that our fight will be over soon.”

Zakid, with a hardened expression, let out a long sigh. He thought he would be able to defeat Amelie soon, but his team wasn’t helping. But it was ambiguous to go and help the main camp.

Because if he joined the main camp fight, the situation would flow even more unfavorably. In team battles, her abilities shone even more than his.

The only thing Zakid could choose to do now was to defeat Amelie as quickly as possible. He clenched his sword tightly with a displeased expression. He wanted to defeat her under the same conditions, but things were not going as he wanted. With the team in crisis, he couldn’t approach the game with romantic thoughts.

“Okay. It will end soon as you said. Celestial Divine Overlord!”

Zakid, who activated his trait [a unique ability or characteristic], rushed towards Amelie with extremely developed movements.

Chang.

She barely managed to receive the first attack and was pushed back greatly. It was so absurd that she couldn’t cope properly with the force and speed.

Unable to hide her embarrassment, Amelie continued to back away, not knowing what to do in the face of his repeated offensive. The physical abilities that Zakid was showing now were something she had never experienced in her life.

“What on earth… How can he have such power!”

Amelie occasionally counterattacked, but it always missed. He had adapted to her swordsmanship and evaded her with quick footwork.

In addition, it took time to return the sword that had been pushed back by the force. It was only a moment, but in a fight between swordsmen where victory or defeat was determined in an instant, it was very fatal.

An absolute crisis situation. But Amelie had no intention of avoiding the fight. If she gave up here, her pride as the strongest swordsman would be crushed without a trace.

At that moment, Zakid, who had rushed into her arms, swung his sword vertically with force.

“Amelie! Here I come!”

The swords of the two swordsmen collided, and blue metal sparks flew. Amelie, who was pushed back by the impact, quickly rotated her body and wildly sprayed whips at him, who was rushing towards her. It was to disrupt the repeated offensive. But the hastily deployed attack could not have worked properly.

Zakid was leisurely grabbing the tip of the whip and smiling bitterly.

“Hehehe. Amelie. There’s no way such an attack would work.”

Amelie, who hesitated and stepped back, let go of the whip in her hand without regret. It was disadvantageous for her to struggle in vain because she was being pushed back by force.

She took a long, deep breath and looked at Zakid.

“Whew~ Amazing. I never dreamed it would be this much.”

“Of course. I am an orthodox swordsman. I am qualitatively different from other swordsmen who have honed crude combat techniques.”

Amelie moved slightly towards Hiyas, who was in the middle of the battle.

“I’m the same. I don’t get the title of the world’s strongest for nothing.”

“That’s right. You’re the first person to give me this much trouble since my master. But the result doesn’t change. Now that I’ve put aside my pride and decided to do my best, you’re going to lose your title as the strongest today.”

“Well, is that really going to be easy? I don’t think it’s going to be today. Or it may be impossible forever.”

Zakid waved his sword and smirked.

“Are you still talking big after being hit like that a little while ago? I’ll give you a piece of advice, but the best position is not defended with words.”

“I agree with that. Of course, you have to protect it with your skills. Hiyas!”

Hiyas, who received Amelie’s gaze, took out a spare variant sword from her waist and threw it to her. Amelie drew the sword she received and grabbed it in her empty hand. She was about to show off a new technique that she had developed after two years of painstaking effort to prepare for Beom-seok, who had completed his growth.

As she slowly approached, transformed into a dual swordsman, Zakid tilted his head.

“You. What are you doing now?”

“I’m going to fight properly now. Zakid is not easy to deal with.”

He frowned slightly and looked at Hiyas. The reason why she was following Amelie as a free-roller [a player who isn’t tied to a specific role] was because there was a reason for it. He predicted that Hiyas was her moving weapon display case.

“Interesting. I wondered why that swordsman number 44 was acting strangely, but she was your lackey.”

“Hmm. To put it harshly, that’s right. Well, shall we start again?”

At that moment, a new Tornadoes Impact was unleashed from Amelie’s dual swords. Originally, it was a special move that could only be performed with dual whips, but it was not used in the One Sword, One Whip technique because balance was important. But it was possible with dual swordsmanship, so she added new elements and incorporated them.

“Come on!”

Zakid looked at the spectacle of variant swords stirring up dust around him and wore a very tense expression. Because the sword was bending so strangely in the air, he couldn’t tell how to block it.

He stepped back and vigorously swept away the sword flying towards his waist. The intention was to disrupt his posture and reduce the extremely occurring changes.

Chang.

But the result was completely different from what he thought. Amelie was using the recoil to forcefully strike the opposite sword towards his face even faster. Zakid, startled, barely leaned back, but was forced to step back again due to the continuous barrage of sword strikes.

‘What the hell is this bizarre swordsmanship!’

Amelie’s new technique was not effective against force and speed at all. It was like dealing with a bouncy ball. If he hit it quickly and strongly, the recoil would cause an even sharper and heavier attack to unfold in reverse.

He had no choice but to confront Amelie’s new special move with the shortest and simplest movements possible. If he attacked recklessly, he might be the one to get hit.