“How about we make it more interesting? How about we don’t use Aura or Mana, only pure skill, technique, and strength? Of course, we would adjust our strength to match with yours,” Rullein suggested as she pointed her greatsword that required to be held with two hands but she held it like a light wooden sword with one hand at Lazarus. “With that, it would be fair and more entertaining for the others to watch,” she smirked as she swung her swords, creating heavy blows of wind around her.

“Oh? And how are we going to do that?” Lazarus asked with his brows raised.

“Just swing your sword as hard as you can, and we will adjust our strength based on that,” Rullein answered, resting her sword on her shoulder.

Lazarus nodded with understanding as he closed his eyes, gathering his strength in his hands. When he swung his sword as hard as he could without Aura, it was enough to create a slash wave into the sky and crack the floor underneath his feet because of the sheer force of his attack.

Aris and Rullein were amazed by Lazarus strength, especially for his age. They weren’t the only ones that were amazed by him, everyone couldn’t believe it was possible to create a slashwave without using Aura, and that was enough to tell that Lazarus had such immense core strength. Arandil could create a slashwave with his pure strength, but it wasn’t as devastating or as powerful as Lazarus. He knew that he was still far away from reaching Lazarus’ level of mastery.

“Was that enough?” Lazarus asked in such a respectful way.

“That was more than enough,” Aris nodded as she swung her sword upward, creating the same intensity and powerful slashwave as Lazarus. “We both now have the same strength,” she added.

“I have heard from Lady Sanya that Lady Aris is the greatest Aristoria, and has the potential to surpass all of your predecessors. I’m honored to finally be able to be given a chance to spar with you,” Lazarus smiled as he readied his stance, feeling a bit nervous mixed with excitement that he never thought still existed within him.

“Yes, because I inherited their essences and their muscle memories,” Aris answered as she readied her stance, not interested in talking about such a topic. “Are you ready?” She asked.

Lazarus took a deep breath, calming his heart and removing all kinds of distractions from his mind. After a few seconds of controlled breathing, he slowly nodded, signaling that he was ready to fight against two powerful beings at the same time.

Rullein and Aris dashed toward Lazarus at the same time and at the same speed. Lazarus instantly swung his sword horizontally toward them, and blocked their attacks. For the first time in his entire life that he blocked an attack that made his whole body shook and trembled by the clash. One sword blocking four swords from two powerful beings made him regret his decision.

With no other choice, Lazarus let them overpower him and used that momentum to dash backwards away from them. However, Aris and Rullein didn’t let him catch a breath, and increased the intensity of their attacks rapidly. Clash after clash, Lazarus could see the massive gap between him and Aris or between him and Rullein. He had trained and held a sword ever since he was still a small baby, and he had never skipped a day ever since, but the skill gap was immense.

Lazarus felt what Nior felt when she sparred with Urile, his hands began to give up on him. He knew he should stop, but the excitement, to see the big wall in front of him that he couldn’t overcome made him even more motivated. He was in pain, but he enjoyed it, and he wanted to see how far he could prevent the wall from crushing him down.

Everyone watched from the sides at them without even blinking their eyes once because they would miss it. They never thought that a human body could move like that and to learn every technique that those three showed. It was like an eye opening, an enlightenment of being a warrior, a fighter. The way Lazarus held his sword like his own life, to receive blow after blow that could make him kneel, he never let go of his sword and kept fighting. That moment was when they all realized what was the true meaning of becoming a warrior, to fight with no fear, no hesitation, no doubt in themselves, and to fight until their last breath because to fight it wasn’t just to protect the weak but also for themselves to survive no matter the odds.

Aris knew that Lazarus wasn’t planning to give up even though he had reached his limit. Out of consideration of his well-being and the fact that the demon army might come at any time, she disarmed him with such precision, thrusting her sword at his sword handle in between the small gap on his fingers. Lazarus was stunned when his sword flew off his hands and fell beside him because he didn’t see it coming.

“It’s unfortunate that you’re not at your prime,” Rullein said as she turned her swords into black smoke. “You could be three times… no, perhaps five times stronger than your current self?” She tilted her head as she looked at Lazarus massaging his hands.

Arthor was surprised that Rullein was right about Lazarus because back in the old days, when Lazarus was still as young as him. Lazarus was the strongest, most feared by his enemies, and most respected by his people. Arthor remembered that the other elders had revealed how strong Lazarus was back then. Back then, there was a solid frozen wall that no sword could even scratch, they called it the Crystallized Wall where no swords or anything could even leave a scratch for centuries. However, Lazarus was the only Northerner that could scratch that Crystallized Wall, and he did quite a deep and big damage to it. That site had become a reminder and a motivation for every child of the north that to become a great knight, they had to reach the same height as Lazarus.

“Perhaps, it was a long time ago and my memories about the past are getting hazier the older I become,” Lazarus answered, bending his knees trying to grab his sword. “But I will remember this moment, to be able to spar with two powerful beings,” he chuckled as he grabbed the Dragon Slayer and stared at it thoroughly, worrying if he had damaged the blade, but all he found was nothing, not even a scratch.

“If you survived this war, perhaps I’ll teach you something,” Aris said as she stared into Lazarus’ eyes. “If you mastered it, you would receive longevity from it,” she revealed.

Lazarus was surprised when he heard Aris’ kindness, and to be able to learn something at his age by a being of an ancient race, he never thought he would be getting such special treatment. He lowered his head at Aris before he walked away to give the family heirloom sword back to Arthor since it belonged to Arthor, not his anymore.

Aris and Rullein had enough playing around since it was their request to Rasmus so that they could join the training, or perhaps to challenge Lazarus. They both left the training ground and Rasmus was waiting for them outside the building.

“You both had fun?” Rasmus asked.

“We did, but it was a shame that we couldn’t spar with him seriously since the whole city might be in shambles,” Rullein chuckled as she nodded, walking beside Rasmus. “Why didn’t you join us though? Aren’t you curious?” She asked with her brows raised.

“No, I’m not interested in that at the moment,” Rasmus shook his head as he looked at the sky. “After all, I’m not going to use a sword in the battle later, mainly using my magic,” he muttered as he looked at his palm as a cold mist came out of it.

Rullein and Aris looked at Rasmus’ hand, slowly but surely the power from the Dragon’s Blood began to spread all over his body. They were worried because if the Overlord, the Ice Dragon consumed him or took over his body, he would become a power that not even Orthias could stop, or even True Dragons.

“Are you going to utilize that power?” Aris asked.

“No, I’m not planning to use this power. I know the risks and consequences, and I don’t think the power is worth the risk,” Rasmus shook his head, suppressing the Dragon’s Blood in his body by pushing it back to where it belonged, deep inside his heart. “If something happens to me, you two know what to do, right?” He asked as he looked at both of them.

Aris and Rullein nodded, remembering the agreement they had with Rasmus.

“We will make sure that you’ll be fine, Rasmus,” Aris said with a serious expression.

“I know,” Rasmus nodded. “Thank you…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep