Chapter 89 First Blood
The sound of the shattering sword was entirely different from the constant clangs that had echoed until now. It made the young man pause in his actions and look at Duncan.
Duncan, for his part, blinked uncomprehendingly at the shattered sword in his hand.
Before Duncan could fully react, the young man took the opportunity to punch Duncan right across his ribs. Duncan doubled over in pain as he heard his ribs crack.
The young man followed up with a kick to Duncan's face that sent Duncan flying. Duncan's back once more crashed into the walls and he slid down groaning painfully.
The problem with getting kicked by a cannibal was that the nails on their toes were as tough as the nails on their fingers. As a result, Duncan's face was scratched up pretty badly. There were three scratches that ran from Duncan's cheek to the upper side of his head along the right side.
Fortunately, the scratches had barely missed Duncan's right eye. But, it didn't mean that there weren't consequences. Blood flowed out of those scratches and covered the right side of Duncan's face in no time.
By the time, Duncan stood up from where he fell, his entire face on the right side was bloodied and the bleeding didn't look like it would stop any time soon. However, Duncan had far more problems than a bloodied face to care about now. His breathing was shallow as the punch to his ribs had broken them.
As Duncan stood up, he vomited some blood on the ground. There were pieces of flesh mingled with the blood causing Duncan to be in a daze for a moment. The sudden breaking of Duncan's sword had now put him at a severe disadvantage.
Gritting his teeth, Duncan unsheathed the other sword he had in his possession. This was the sword that he had obtained from Granny Jiao. Until now, he had been using the sword that the sect gave him.
Duncan didn't know how long this sword was going to last if even a low-grade sword given to him by the sect couldn't hold on to the force the young man had unleashed. As much as he would like to keep this sword from Granny Jiao undamaged, he knew he didn't have any other option at present.
While Duncan was no stranger to fighting with his fists, after all, he had been brawling with his fists before he set out of his hometown, he knew clearly that brawling and fighting were entirely different concepts.
While he knew how to throw a punch, it didn't make much of a difference if his opponent was more powerful than him. If even a sword couldn't make a dent in his skin, what was his measly punch going to do? It was not as if he had learned some fist arts to maximize the power that came from his fists.
So, the only option left for him now was to use the sword that Granny Jiao had given to him. Duncan felt his heart ache just imagining this sword cracking and shattering into pieces just like the other one did. It made him feel angry for the first time since this fight began.
Duncan ground his teeth angrily and stood up holding his old sword. He eyed the young man who was leisurely watching him from the distance and enjoying his pain. Something deep within him snapped at that moment and Duncan decided that if he was going to die here, then he was taking down this bastard with him.
Spitting out a wad of blood that had accumulated in his mouth, Duncan eyed the young man with anger in his eyes. Looking at the young man standing there unfazed and having no indication of being in a fight, Duncan felt his anger rise more.
There was nary a scratch on the young man. Even after hitting his sword for such a long time, there wasn't even a nick on his body. It irritated Duncan more than anything.
He had lost several fights while growing up, it was bound to happen when you are younger and weaker than the older kids around the block. But, even then none of his opponents looked as if they took no damage at all. Even if he was beaten black and blue, he would always leave his opponent with a black eye at the least.
Duncan knew that the chances of walking out of here alive were really slim. He was on the verge of death here. And the person who was going to kill him having no damage at all rankled him more than he cared to admit.
It meant, he hadn't put up much of a fight. And that was a no-no in Duncan's book. He was fine with losing, and even dying. But, to die in such an ignoble manner wasn't something he was fine with.
Duncan decided to throw defense out of the book and concentrate solely on offense. Anyway, he was going to die here, it didn't matter how long it took for him to die. All that mattered to him currently was to make his opponent bleed at least once.
Snarling at the young man, Duncan executed <Wind Chasing Steps> and went into full attack mode.
The young man saw this and sneered in his heart. Even if he stood here and let this prey attack him repeatedly, the prey wouldn't even be able to make a scratch on him. To him, this was the final struggle of dying prey.
But, it didn't mean he would let his prey die that easily. No, he was going to make his prey cry out in pain and beg him for mercy just like he did under her. Just thinking about that demonic witch made his blood boil.
Duncan didn't hold back even an ounce of his strength when he attacked the young man. He used the <Absolute Cut Sword Arts> to its maximum effect and swung at the young man.
Even though Duncan was angry, he had enough presence of mind to understand that holding back even a little was foolish at this point. And his attack point was also carefully selected.
Duncan didn't go for any vital spots knowing full well that it would be protected. His goal was to make his enemy bleed and if possible injure him severely. For that he had to connect with his attack. But, the opponent wouldn't just sit there and let him attack as he wanted.
He would definitely block or retaliate. So, why bother going for hard-to-access parts when the opponent was going to willingly use a part of his body to block? While it looked like Duncan was aiming for the opponent's head, he was actually aiming for the hand that was going to block him.
The follow-through of any attack and the amount of pressure put forth would change depending on the distance between the target and the attacker. Even a small difference mattered. So, Duncan was essentially feinting while not feinting.
BANG!
Duncan's sword clashed hard with the young man's hand. The effect caused Duncan's bones to rattle a bit. But, Duncan gritted his teeth and pulled away. As he retreated, Duncan noticed that there was a slight impression of Duncan's sword on the opponent's skin. While it hadn't broken through the skin, the attack had made an impression at least.
Duncan smiled inwardly and once more attacked in a similar manner. The young man blocked each of Duncan's attacks in a nonchalant matter. He didn't care much for the attacks and was only indulging Duncan to break his heart.
This continued for a while. With Duncan putting in his everything to attack, the young man and him blocking Duncan's attack nonchalantly. It made a strange sight. However, even after a while, Duncan wasn't relenting even a single bit.
The young man frowned impatiently as he was getting bored of this game. While he wanted to play with Duncan, he wanted it to be on only his terms. He didn't feel like indulging Duncan any longer.
Just as he made the decision to end this charade, his eyes suddenly widened in shock after blocking the latest attack from Duncan. Duncan retreated with a triumphant smile on his face. Duncan sneered at the young man and grinned madly.
A drop of green blood rolled from the young man's hands and fell on the ground. This drop looked much thicker and was wafting with a rotten smell that was even greater than the ones Duncan had spilled in his cave.
The young man's eyes comically widened as he looked at the wound on his arm. There was a small cut running across the back of his arm that he used to block Duncan's attack.
If one were to pay proper attention, then one would be able to note that all of Duncan's attacks were concentrated on a single area of the young man's arm. Duncan had repeatedly attacked the same area and applied enough pressure to break the skin in that area. When damage accumulated to a certain point, there will always be a tipping point.
And Duncan's last attack was that tipping point.
The young man's initial surprise turned into rage. He looked down at the spilled blood angrily and the playfulness in his eyes was no longer present. The sadistic gleam had only intensified now. He was done playing around with Duncan.
Never in a million years did he expect such a weak prey to be able to injure him. It was a huge insult to him. And he wasn't going to stand for that. He was going to hurt this prey so badly that the prey would wish that it was dead.
Duncan looked at the angry young man before him and smiled at him provocatively. Seeing the young man bleed, only made Duncan more determined to injure this cannibal who had driven him to the edge of the cliff.
With resounding roars both of them vanished from their spot and clashed midair, holding nothing back.
*****
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