novelraw Chapter 69: Duel to the Death Part I
Chapter 69: Duel to the Death Part I
Without a second thought, I invested the remaining thirty-five free attribute points into Dexterity. What mattered most right now was observing how Graham fought and adapted accordingly.
Dexterity: 293 → 328
The moment the duel began, Graham made the first move. His figure blurred as he unsheathed his heavy greatsword and swung it in a savage arc. Despite its size, the blade tore through the air with shocking speed, far faster than I had anticipated from someone wielding something so massive. The sword had to be at least two hundred kilograms, but he was wielding it as though holding a feather duster.
My instincts immediately screamed, and every hair on my body stood on end. I quickly ducked and activated Wind Rush, just in time to evade the strike. The curved blade whistled past my neck, shearing through the air with terrifying force and cutting several strands of my hair.
Holy hell!
If I hadn’t boosted my Dexterity just now, that blow might have taken my head clean off.
In the blink of an eye, he was behind me—his dark blade trailing low like a predator’s fang. Jet-black and jagged like a saw forged for execution, the greatsword shimmered with ominous intent.
“Tch. So fast,” I muttered, already spinning on my heel to counterstrike with my sword—the Howling Edge.
But Graham blocked my attack like it was nothing. He met my sword with a single sweep of his greatsword, parrying the blow as if swatting away a twig. In fact, I was the one who staggered back, hand trembling from the sheer force of the impact, despite being the one on the offensive.
Is this the gap between our stats? I thought, my brows furrowing in frustration.
I was more than sure that Graham didn’t specialize in speed, yet he moved with alarming swiftness. Furthermore, his movement with the sword was many times better than mine—the kind earned through countless battles. I was only a level-one Gimmel-rank divine warrior. He, on the other hand, had already stepped into Daleth rank, even if his level was also low. The gap between us felt like a canyon.
And I felt that that canyon was about to swallow me whole.
“Not bad, chap. You’re stronger than expected. But your tricks won’t work here,” Graham said coldly, then whispered, “Execution Carve.”
A surge of dark mana erupted from his greatsword as he raised it high above his head. The blade crackled with malevolent energy, trailing black mist as it descended in a brutal downward arc. I had barely a second to react.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped hard to the right and raised my buckler above me to brace for impact. The moment his blade collided with my shield, it felt like the sky had collapsed. A shockwave burst outward as steel slammed into reinforced steel. My arm went numb instantly, the impact jarring through my bones, but I managed to shift my stance just in time, angling the buckler to deflect part of the force, causing the greatsword to hit the ground and sending clouds of dust flying into the air.
The sheer momentum knocked me back three meters. I hit the ground in a controlled roll, boots skidding across the dirt as I struggled to steady myself. My shoulder throbbed violently, every nerve screaming from the strain. I wasn’t sure I could block another strike like that.
Still… it was better than being carved in half.
“No other choice,” I muttered under my breath. “I have to go all out—Grant Plausibility.”
You have used Grant Plausibility.
You have greatly enhanced your combat capabilities for fifteen minutes.
You have greatly enhanced your skill proficiency for fifteen minutes.
A total of 240 Plausibility has been consumed.
I immediately noticed the difference. An immense surge of power coursed through my limbs, filling every muscle with electric precision. The pain in my shoulder vanished in an instant, replaced by a weightless clarity. My grip tightened instinctively around my weapon, and my senses sharpened. The world seemed to slow, each breath of wind and shift in Graham’s posture registering in perfect detail.
Unlike the time I had used Grant Plausibility to enhance Boris and Michelle, this time the boost was personal—and far more intense. My physical and magical stats, except Luck, had effectively doubled. I could tell that I now stood on an equal footing with Graham.
But the cost…
Even though I had limited the duration to just fifteen minutes—half of the time I’d used for the others—the plausibility consumed was four times as much.
It was simply too steep!
Regardless, I used the dust’s distraction and dashed forward at him, my body moving like a sharpened arrow loosed from a divine bow. I was easily several times faster than I had been moments ago—so fast, it felt like I was matching the velocity of a bullet train, even if only for an instant.
Graham’s eyes widened in shock as he registered my sudden burst of speed, but to his credit, he still managed to raise his greatsword just in time to block my opening strike. This time, however, the impact sent him skidding back.
“How…?” he asked in disbelief. “How are you suddenly this strong? This is impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible. You haven’t seen anything yet,” I replied coldly.
Without giving him a second to recover, I shifted into a spinning slash, chaining the motion into a feint before aiming for his midsection. He blocked again, grunting as our weapons collided. I could feel the strain in his defense—the rigid posture, the slight misstep in his footwork. For the first time, he was the one on the back foot.
And for a brief moment, it felt like I was the one controlling the tempo.
But that moment was short-lived. Just as I pressed in to capitalize, Graham suddenly tightened his grip and narrowed his eyes with deadly focus. In a blur, he swung his greatsword in a wide circular arc.
“Circular Slash!”
Clang!
I barely brought my sword up in time to parry. The impact sent a violent tremor down my arm, even with my enhanced strength. The sheer force behind the strike drove me back, boots scraping against the dirt as I slid several paces to absorb the blow.
Graham didn’t let up. He closed the distance instantly, relentless and focused. He didn’t fight like a traditional swordsman. His style was brutal and efficient, every movement stripped of excess. Each swing was an executioner’s sweep—clean, heavy, and honed to kill in a single blow.
Not letting him get close, I immediately cast {Spinning Mana Arrow}, casting twice in rapid succession and aiming at his center mass to force him to evade and lose his momentum.
But he didn’t break stride.
The first projectile slammed into his chest, piercing only a centimeter before fizzling against a faint, glowing enchantment woven into his armor. The second hit his shoulder, tearing a shallow hole in the flesh, but barely slowing him.
A small wound. That was all I managed.
“I told you,” Graham said coldly, voice devoid of emotion. “Your little tricks won’t save you.”
He raised his blade again, ready to unleash another deadly skill—this time aiming to behead me outright. Not staying still, I immediately cast {Spinning Mana Arrow} three times and shot them at the ground rather than at him. The mana arrows spun rapidly as they drilled into the dirt, exploding on impact and kicking up a thick cloud of dust that quickly filled the arena.
Thanks to the thick dust, Graham’s blade cleaved through empty air, allowing me to slip away and dart back a dozen steps.
“Little slippery bastard!” Graham’s furious voice echoed from within the dust cloud.
Even now, despite the power boost from Grant Plausibility, despite matching him in raw stats—speed, strength, even durability—I still couldn’t match him in terms of technique and combat experience. That sixty-level gap wasn’t just a number, and even while my title should have been helping me to bridge the gap, it seemed that all my buffs stacked together were still not enough to level the playing field and beat him.
He was way stronger than Eikthyrnir and fought like a total expert rather than a mindless beast. Perhaps I was the one who underestimated him, not him underestimating me.
“Dammit! Is there no other way than to use Fabled Vessel?” I muttered under my breath.
In the scenarios, I could act freely. Istellia and the other gods couldn’t directly interfere or see everything clearly. But here—within her divine realm—nothing escaped her gaze. Needless to say, many divine warriors were watching our fight. If I used Fabled Vessel recklessly, I risked revealing secrets I couldn’t afford to expose…
Raphael might be overseeing this duel on her behalf, but Istellia was surely watching—perhaps not intently, as she was definitely busy as a newborn god, but watching all the same.
As I was mulling this over, a thought struck me like a lightning bolt. I realized that I could use Grant Plausibility in ways I hadn’t fully explored.
[Grant Plausibility]
Rank: Legendary
Type: Active
Allows the user to infuse plausibility into objects, concepts, or living beings, making the impossible possible. There are no inherent restrictions beyond the amount of plausibility the user possesses and the potential of their target.
Items can be enhanced and granted abilities they should not have.Skills can be enhanced beyond natural limits.Concepts and ideas can be manifested into reality.Living beings can be altered or empowered, rewriting their nature.The greater the change, the higher the cost.Until now, I’d mostly relied on the fourth function to empower myself and my allies to boost stats mid-combat. And I had used the third function once to alter my status screen, hiding my information from other divine warriors. I’d even tapped into the second function when learning magic for the first time, accelerating my mastery far beyond what should have been possible. Those uses alone had already proven invaluable.
But looking at it now, I realized… I had only scratched the surface of what this skill could truly do. There was one option I’d completely ignored: the first function—enhancing items, which, of course, included weapons.
All this time, I never had a weapon worth altering, and I simply never encountered any situation that I needed to use it. Never had a reason compelling enough to spend plausibility on it. But now, it was a different matter altogether.
“Grant Plausibility,” I whispered.
You have used Grant Plausibility.
You have permanently enhanced Howling Edge.
[Windstorm] no longer has a cooldown and can now be activated freely at the cost of mana.
A total of 155 Plausibility has been consumed.
A pulse of wind burst from the blade, spiraling around me in a sharp current. The tempestuous runes along the flat of the sword glowed faintly, pulsing with violent energy, like a storm barely leashed.
The sword now felt like a living gale, waiting to be unleashed.
“It’s time for the second round,” I said, eyes locked on Graham.