The sword clash, the clanging of steels echoes and a spark of fire exploded. The distance between the two is but a few feet from each other, their faces looking at each other

  The squire face was tense, but Henrik……he smiles and smirk. Which only make the squire feel weird

  Henrik could not read thoughts but if he could, he believes that the squire would be pretty perplexed why he is being hold of by a mere peasant.

  “I could read your pattern. Sometimes, it changed but some habits do not change!’ Henrik understood it by now.

  Sometimes, different situation and different time would lead people to do different things.

  In another battle, the squire would make a different move.

  But some habits are left behind.

  “You could help it” this was Henrik thought. Like a tic

  For some reason, this enemy of his would always attack from the right.

  And he could be shocked by some shout

  Maybe he is shocked when he was a child or maybe he has some kind of trauma.

  Though Henrik is not here to become his therapist. He just notices some things about this squire that he could make use of

  And that cut was not the decisive cut.

  This is his test.

  A testing cut.

  And he expected it to be parried. And just right at the cue, the squire parried it. Henrik look at the squire hand

  “It moved”

  A rising slash.

  Toward his face.

  He had fell for this before.

  Even though the squire is flustered he quickly regains his composure and this attack appear again.

  Though this time Henrik is ready

  He had seen this attack before. And he smiles. And he leaned back just enough for that strike to miss him by an inch

  He smiles

  But to those people peasant that saw this scene, they could not help but gasp.

  Around them there is still battle being fought and there is fire and screaming.

  But in this area some of the place is being held back by a defensive line and the peasant only need to fight against those people who break through the line.

  If he had run, then he might run into the place where the line is being held. Once he enters that area, there is only death

  So, ironically, the only safe place for him, is here. Fighting this squire in this somewhat empty area

  Of course, when Henrik thought of empty area, this empty area is actually very small.

  Around him there is still fighting but unlike the place where the others are fighting, there is a place for duel in this part

  On that other side, where battle lines are being held and breached, the attack is simply a hodgepodge of people rushing and killing and you could not even see the front and back as it is full of people

  Every once in a while some peasant would be felled down by the noble army.

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  And sometimes, the soldiers of the noble would be cut down or smashed by the rebel army

  But there are also some that have some time to look at this battle.

  And when they look they could not help but be shocked

  They have never seen such a smooth move in a battle before.

  It is almost like Henrik has predicted the attack. This greenhorn, who knew he had such a talent in fighting?

  Henrik did not recognize these people, but some of these people recognize Henrik.

  Henrik is not able to think too much about these people, nor do he care about these people. Right now, it is like he is on a stage. And the lights are pointed towards him and this enemy of his

  Only this enemy exist in his eyes and in his senses. This state of extreme concentration.

  Like when you read a book and you did not realise how much time had passed. When you read a book, and for a moment you are transported to the scene in that book.

  That is how it felt for him.

  The sword edge missed by an inch, leaning just enough, the edge passed so close he felt the wind passes his face.

  “Now!” he reminded himself.

  The sword is upwards, and there is an opening, his hand moves, trusting his own strength

  “Do it fast!” he urges himself. Moving the sword on his hand, he made a slicing motion

  Shritt!

  “Argh!”

  Blood spurted out a scream of pain rang out. The squire sword was knocked away and in that moment, he kicks the squire away.

  Crack!

  Clang!

  Thud!

  The squire screams in pain and stumbled back, and in that moment, he sweeps the sword that is falling on the mud, and it bounces back

  It flew in the air and in that moment the squire managed to take back the sword.

  The sword is still in his hand, but the grip loosened and it is weakening. Blood dripping down to the mud, the dark mud mixing with blood

  Henrik dashed forward, minding his foot not to get stuck.

  The squire even though he is bleeding and he is surely in pain, he is still able to deflect him and as the sword clashed, these two people clashed swiftly

  It became faster and the most amazing thing of it all, Henrik, a peasant could easily meet the slashes head on, deflecting and dodging the attack skilfully.

  The sound of clanging rang out continuously

  And the more they fight; the more Henrik smiles. That smile in the eye of the squire seems to enrage him.

  But the angrier he is, the more mistakes he makes.

  Even though he wears armours, the armours that this squire wears are not as high quality as a real knight.

  Wearing armours sacrifice flexibility, not wearing armours increases the chance of you dying.

  This squire is agile, lithe and swift in his attack. But he sacrifices his armour to be able to move the way he is moving right now.

  Not to mention, he did not have time to search for armour. It is not like he did not see some soldiers who have armours in that area where he found the sword

  But time. Time is not on his side.

  If time is on his side, he would not mind looting the body, took the armour and fight with armour.

  Yes, it would sacrifice his flexibility, but it surely would help him survive even better.

  Though, right now, Henrik did not think too much about not having armour.

  Because right now, the most important thing is the feeling of pain that throws out any other thoughts

  Henrik feel some pain on his hand.

  This pain would feel like a burn before. But now, he did not feel it as intensely. The first time, it was because he was unfamiliar.

  When he felt numb, he would drop the sword. but now, the pain is nothing to him. Unless his hand is cut off, he would not drop the sword

  The moment the sword drops, he would die. And he wanted to at least try to win in this eleventh life.

  There is only a smile on his face.

  Henrik heard if you want to unnerve your opponent, just smile

  He did not remember where he reads such words, only now that he suddenly remembers it, he smiles at the squire.

  A mocking smile.

  And the more he is like this, the more enrage the squire become. And that is good. He moves faster but this is not a video game. Just because you move faster did not mean your accuracy and hit increased

  Instead, the faster you move, the more agitated you are, the higher the chance for your accuracy to drop and for you attack to miss

  The faster he moves, the more mistakes he made.

  The squire attacked him, from right to left, from bottom to top, from slashing to stabbing, to cutting, but with each movement, Henrik could sense it

  Desperation

  Desperation is creeping in every move. A flurry of cuts, of stabbing, high and low, straight to the chest sometime even nearly reaching.

  If this desperation meets the Henrik of before, Henrik will find himself overwhelmed and unable to do a thing and even that desperation would not be detected. Henrik now, whoever could see it and could even calmly assess the situation in a battle

  Death is the greatest teacher one could have.

  How many people would have the chance to train under the condition of life and death?

  Under such training method, you would burst out with energy and every hormone in your body would be screaming to you to survive

  It is no wonder, in just eleven deaths, Henrik from not knowing anything to swinging sword is now swinging sword effectively.

  Of course, if his enemy is any other person, the effect would not be this obvious.

  It is precisely because his enemy this time is an enemy he is familiar with that he could do all of this.

  In this moment instead of attacking, Henrik save his energy. Because unlike this squire, Henrik also wanted to survive this hellish…. whatever this is.

  This is a large-scale battle. And unlike a game, after this fight, there is no potion he could eat to restore his stamina.

  He wanted to survive until the end.

  It is not just to survive this encounter with the squire.

  At least, until today battle is over.

  ..