Chapter 472
Lament, in its altered state which seemed to reflect the night sky, possessed absolute sharpness. Reaching Master class and being able to manifest Aura Armor would not help me. The only thing that could defend me against it was a holy relic.
While Lament’s offensive power was ridiculous, that was not the fundamental issue. The biggest problem was that my swordplay originated from Ellen.
I had learned swordsmanship from Ellen at the Temple. While I had trained with Sabioleen Tana later on, the root of my swordsmanship came from Ellen’s teaching. Everything I had learned, from swordsmanship to hand-to-hand combat and suppression techniques, I had learned from her.
Ellen, with her incomparable talent, had taught me everything. Therefore, Ellen was inevitably my superior in terms of swordsmanship.
We had crossed swords countless times over a long period of time. Ellen knew exactly what I understood about her swordsmanship, how I used it, what my habits were, and which movements I usually used. Strictly speaking, Ellen knew me better than I knew myself. That was why Ellen had managed to read all my moves in the staged fight earlier in the day, allowing us to engage in such an extreme show of sword fighting without seriously injuring each other.
Of course, I had surprised her with an almost suicidal move in the end, but that was because that move was clearly beyond what she would have expected from me. Therefore, aside from the personal devastation that the fight with Ellen had brought me, it also confirmed a fact I had mostly expected: I was still weaker than Ellen.
Even if she did not have Lament, with its absolute offensive prowess, I still wouldn’t be able to defeat Ellen.
Even if my overall physical abilities had now surpassed Ellen’s, Ellen’s physical strength had been greater than mine for a long time. Even without that edge, her style of swordsmanship relied on deflecting attacks and then thrusting, or evading attacks and then counterattacking, instead of trying to overpower an opponent with brute force.
Ellen’s swordsmanship was tailored for opponents stronger than herself. Therefore, no matter how much my physical abilities had improved, reaching Master class and relying solely on overpowering force would not work against Ellen.
The staged retreat earlier on had been meant to demonstrate that the Demon King had fled because he was weaker than the Hero, and in reality, that was very much the case. Even without her two holy relics, Ellen could defeat me. And if Ellen, equipped with Lament and Lapelt, truly intended to kill me, I would genuinely lose my life.
Ellen knew me too well. The common saying that “the student would surpass the master” did not apply to this world. Ellen’s talent far surpassed mine, so there was no way a student like me, someone far more inferior, could surpass her.