Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 221
Chapter 221: Silver vs. Jet Black
As expected of a beta tester and professional gamer, Hart’s true skill was on a completely different level.
All of my consecutive attacks, executed with precise cancel techniques, were perfectly defended. Even my feints and attacks that manipulated speed and rhythm to throw him off were entirely blocked.
For someone to match the speed of a short sword with a greatsword nearly two meters long, it wasn’t just about fast swings. It required a degree of predicting my attacks.
To be honest, his technique was exceptional, far from ordinary.
As expected of a world-class professional gamer.
It was almost baffling to think someone like him ended up captured in ?Helheim?.
To break through this opponent, I would have to either surpass the speed of his sword or outwit his predictions.
(Which means… I have no choice but to use *that*?)
There are generally a few patterns for dealing with opponents like this.
To execute one of them, I skillfully blocked the tempest of greatsword strikes with ?Sword Guard?. Then, with my feet boosted by an enhancement skill, I quickly retreated to a safe distance.
In terms of footspeed, I had a significant advantage.
Unable to keep up, Hart let out a heavy breath, adjusting his stance with his greatsword held at the ready, showing no signs of carelessness.
He never pushed himself to chase recklessly and always prioritized resetting his posture.
There wasn’t even a hint of an opening, a flawless style.
I sheathed my cursed blade once and lowered my posture, spreading my legs apart, with my right side slightly forward as I assumed a stance.
This opponent was undoubtedly one of the top five I had ever faced.
Holding back would make winning nearly impossible.
“That stance… From that, I’m guessing ?Angriff Fliegen??”
“Heh, of course, but what I’m using isn’t the ordinary one.”
I chose earth and wind attribute enhancement skills.
Focusing both elements into my blade, I exhaled sharply and unleashed a finishing move with deadly precision.
?? ?Grand Sandstorm Fliegen?.
Combining magic-created sand with wind to generate a massive blade, I unleashed a dual-attribute fusion attack.
“That’s certainly an impressive strike, but it won’t reach me!”
Hart activated the ?Dark Knight? status boost, ?Darkness Overdrive?. As jet-black aura surrounded him, he swung his greatsword with even more force and unleashed ?Angriff Fliegen?.
The crescent-shaped slashes we both released collided head-on, creating a massive shockwave before canceling each other out.
But then, the phenomenon I had planned from the very beginning occurred.
“Wha… my vision!?”
The disrupted sand blade scattered widely between us, completely obscuring our view of each other.
With this, the possibility of having my moves predicted during an attack was gone.
Ordinarily, this would mean I couldn’t see the opponent’s actions either, but for me, the sand obscuring visibility was a powerful ally.
(Perception skill, activate!)
The expanded perception revealed every detail of movement from everyone present in the area.
Arisa and Kuro were watching the battle closely together, while Hart, my opponent, activated ?Phalanx? to strengthen his defense, preparing to withstand any attack.
As expected of a professional gamer, his ability to quickly choose the best option was remarkable.
With ?Phalanx?, which halves incoming damage once, even if I landed a five-hit skill combo, there was a risk he’d endure it.
…Thinking about it logically, to defeat a knight focused on defense, I’d have to waste ?Phalanx? on minor attacks first and then deliver a decisive blow.
Resolving myself to end this fight here, I activated the “limited effect” of my upper-tier enhancement skills, a power usable only once per day.
Three-colored particles of light began to swirl around me, their hues shifting to silvery-white as they danced in the air.
I had only three minutes, but during that time, I could wield power far exceeding level 100.
“Let’s go, Hart-san!”
Enveloped in the silver glow, I charged forward with the skill ?Sonic Sword?, cutting through the dust cloud, and thrust at his torso with ?Strike Sword?.
“Guhhhhhh!!”
It must have felt like I had appeared before him in an instant.
Hart barely reacted in time, blocking with his left arm and successfully deflecting the force of my powerful attack.
But the cost was high, his armor, along with his forearm, was obliterated by the sheer impact of the skill.
I noted his HP had dropped by 20% as I struggled to regain balance after my trajectory was diverted, almost stumbling multiple times.
“Hah… hahahaha… Damn, this is hard to control!”
Even so, I was beginning to grasp the sensation of my enhanced stats.
Next time, I could handle it better.
Pushing off the ground, I moved at lightning speed to flank Hart from behind.
Anticipating this, he shouted, “Too naive!” and turned, unleashing a horizontal slash, ?Dual Buster?.
Normally, at this speed, stopping would be impossible.
So instead, I enhanced my jumping ability with an enchantment skill, kicking off the ground hard to leap high into the air.
“Hahaha! Even if you dodge in the air, this skill hits twice! Even if you avoid the first—”
Hart’s eyes widened in shock.
Because in that split second, I “kicked off nothing but empty air,” executing a double jump mid-air to elegantly dodge his second high-speed slash.
With a third mid-air kick, I landed right behind the now defenseless Hart.
Gripping my sword tightly, I lowered it into a ready stance, channeling all my strength into unleashing my most powerful skill—?Rage Slash?.
“Haaah!”
A decisive strike arced upward from the bottom right to the top left.
The ?Rage Slash?, a move that pierces through defense, would halve the HP of even a level 170 player if it connected.
“Grrrrrgh!!”
As he turned, Hart’s greatsword emitted a faint glow.
He used ?Arms Change? to swiftly transform his pitch-black greatsword into a massive shield.
*Is that… the Fairy Royal Shield!?*
I didn’t know what it was at first, but my ?Insight? skill revealed its details: a rare shield made by combining ?Fairy Ingot? and ?Magic Iron?. It had a unique ability to drastically reduce damage once per day.
At this timing, stopping my attack was impossible, even for me.
My diagonal slash collided directly with the great shield, generating a tremendous shockwave that sent us both flying backward.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… a shield like that actually exists?”
Barely managing to avoid falling, I steadied myself and let out a wry laugh at the unexpected turn of events.
On the other side, Hart, though slightly unsteady, landed on one knee to regain his stance.
“…You’re the first to force me to use this emergency shield I just acquired.”
He activated ?Arms Change? again, swapping the shield back for his greatsword.
With me temporarily immobilized due to the recoil, he charged forward, one arm missing, sword in hand, aiming to finish me off.
If that attack connected, my HP would undoubtedly drop to half, sealing my defeat.
But I couldn’t let that happen.
Not when I needed his approval to date Kuro.
Not when I wanted him to see me as someone worthy of entrusting her to.
“Go, Sora! You can do it!”
Kuro’s voice spurred me on just as Hart’s ranged attack, ?Darkness Thrust?, closed in to slash my torso.
In that instant, I activated the ?Gesundheit?, an ability that nullifies all debuffs and immobilization for three minutes.
The binding effect on my avatar was forcibly lifted.
At the very edge of the attack’s reach, I used ?Arms Change? to summon a gauntlet on my left hand.
With it, I struck upward at the incoming black blade, parrying it cleanly and scattering it into mist.
“You parried with your fist? Then how about this!”
Hart, who had been closing the distance alongside his slash, followed up with ?Drag Strike?, a piercing attack.
A flawless two-part strategy, leaving no openings.
While admiring his solid game plan, I focused intently on the tip of the approaching greatsword, waiting for the right moment.
*Now!*
I reached out with my left hand and caught the blade’s tip.
My HP began to chip away, but I let the sword slide across my palm, redirecting it upward and away.
My health gauge dipped precariously close to half, a single hit from a punch or kick away from defeat.
But I had endured.
With one final move, I held my magic sword horizontally, combining the powerful ?Strike Sword? with the armor-piercing ?Disable Thrust? through a skill union.
“This ends now! My victory!”
Pouring all my strength into the attack, I countered, piercing Hart’s unprotected chest with precision.
In that moment, he froze, his eyes wide in disbelief.
He hadn’t thought it possible to lose under those circumstances.
As his HP dropped below half, a bold ?WIN? flashed before me, proclaiming my victory.