Vazgan released a burst of death aura that knocked Duke Charles back by a few metres and temporarily destabilized his footing.
That same instant, Vazgan went on the offensive, unleashing the sword techniques of the Theoregrim knight family.
It began with a diagonal slash upward, one that Duke Charles just barely managed to parry, however, Vazgan switched his grip and drew an arc mid-air before striking down once more.
The speed of the Dullahan King clearly wasn't up to Duke Charles' level, but it was still freakishly fast nonetheless.
Duke Charles blocked by holding his sword sideways, but in the next moment, the point of the sword was lunging towards his forearm, along with a thick amount of death aura concentrated at the tip.
'That'd break my defences!'
The man saw the threat in Vazgan's strike and pulled back his arm to dodge, however, Vazgan took that opening and stepped forward with his leg and sliced in a rising upward arc.
The sequence of attacks was linked flawlessly and a part of Duke Charles' brain couldn't help but admire them. As for the other parts, they were sending the signals to his body, the ones required to make him activate his water magic.
In the short instant required for Vazgan's slash to reach Duke Charles, the water vapour in the air between them rapidly condensed and became liquid, dense enough to greatly slow the movement of Vazgan's sword that cut through it, and giving Duke Charles an extra instant to escape its range.
However, the Duke also decided to add an extra perk, generating a small ball of lightning that dropped into the mass of water that Vazgan's sword was inside.
What happened next, was simple physics.
The lightning spread through the water mass and onto the metal blade that was currently cutting through it, before moving on to the arm of the being holding said blade.
Vazgan tried to coat his arm with magic power at the last moment, but the magically enhanced lightning was too strong for the thin layer of magical protection he put up.
Displaying his amazing control over the element, Duke Charles was still able to imbue more magic power into the already discharged lightning, increasing the explosive elemental damage dealt to Vazgan.
**BOOOMM!!!
From within the cloud of dust, emerged the body of the Dullahan who took a few steps in the opposite direction from his opponent, dropping onto one knee and grabbing his sword arm with the other.
'His lightning is powerful, to think it would temporarily paralyze me even in my undead state.'
Vazgan rapidly circulated his magic power through his body to rid himself of the paralysis effect while keeping an eye on the Duke who was staring at him in silence.
"Vazgan Theoregrim, huh?"
"…eh?"
The Dullahan King let out a dumbfounded voice when Duke Charles called out his name, surprised at the fact that the Duke knew who he was.
'How? Everything about the current me is different.
He also hasn't seen my face behind my helmet so how does he know who I am?'
Vazgan's questions were unanswered as the Duke continued speaking without a care in the world.
"Your swordsmanship…it's more refined than I expected.
Was this your level before your death? Or something you attained in your quest for revenge?"
"…"
"Not answering? Oh well… it doesn't matter.
I only spoke to distract you and give those Holy knights behind you time to evacuate from the area."
Hearing Duke Charles's words, Vazgan's inferno sights widened slightly as his undead nature let him sense the life signs that were rapidly getting farther from him.
"Now then…"
The Duke's words brought his full attention back, as the man slid his index and middle fingers across his sword, coating it in his light blue aura.
His left arm was surrounded by a ribbon of water while tendrils of lightning snaked around his right arm.
Duke Charles was ready to break out the power of his HydroElectro Spell sword class.
Vazgan also realised that the Duke was stepping up his game and decided to do the same. He dispersed his magic power before rousing an energy that had become second nature to him after becoming an undead.
Death Energy.
His sword was coated in the dark energy that mixed with his aura and gave it a black-orange hue. The man's blue inferno sights burned brighter as the two took stances while gazing at each other in silence.
'Time is running out; the Eighth Finger could get here any second.
I have to finish this…quick.'
The instant Duke Charles thought that, the man had disappeared from his position, turning the distance between him and Vazgan to zero.
Then…the sound of his movement came.
**BOOMM!!
A large booming sound rang out, followed by a shockwave that spread out in all directions, shattering the earth beneath his feet as even with his enhanced perception, Vazgan wasn't able to do a thing about Duke Charles' attack!
Mind you, it wasn't that the Dullahan King could not see it, it was just that the attack was too fast and he was unprepared to react to an attack of that level of speed.
The Dullahan found himself flying in the air, smashing into a drove of undead that were about to surround an unlucky group of adventurers and smashing them to bits, before rag-dolling on the ground for a few dozen metres.
A large distance of over a kilometre had opened up between Duke Charles and Vazgan, however, Duke Charles once again displayed his amazing speed as this distance was crossed in just a bit over three seconds.
One does not need to be told the level of speed required to cross a kilometre in three seconds.
It was a speed that Ralphie could achieve, so it would be stranger if Duke Charles who was more powerful and had a higher agility stat could not reach said speed, and even surpass it even if it was just 'slightly'.
**BOOOM!!!
Another explosion rang out, followed by a lightning bolt that fell from the skies as Duke Charles attacked once more, and again, and again, and again.
It was only on the fifth attack that Vazgan managed to regain his bearings and released a burst of death energy, before going on the offensive, clashing blades with Duke Charles and kickstarting once again, another high-speed battle.
The two zig-zagged as they clashed with each other, using their sword techniques to the fullest while occasionally incorporating a magic spell or two, though Duke Charles was the one who used more magic.
There was no time to use Tier 3 spells so the Duke stuck to using simple Tier one and two spells, and the spells served as a good distraction against Vazgan, allowing Duke Charles to get in a few more powerful strikes to his undead opponent.
Now Vazgan didn't just stay there and be the Duke's punching bag, as the Dullahan King managed to get in his own share of attacks through the Third Sword's defences, even bypassing the Paladin's blessing on him and inflicting multiple cuts with death energy.
However, the attacks were not damaging to the point that the Duke could not expel the invading death aura from his body using his own powerful aura.
Even so, the few moments it took him to do this allowed Vazgan to get in a few more hits of his own, as such, although things looked to be in Duke Charles' favour, the margin wasn't so much.
Of course, it should be taken into account that the Duke was conserving a lot of his power for the day's other battles.
**BOOM!!!!
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