Chapter 164 – Start Of Ranking Match (3)

People flocked to watch the fight between Fernando and Roman Dmitry.
In the meantime, all the top thirty players refused to fight, so people’s expectations were high on how the 30th ranker, who was the gatekeeper, would perform in the fight.

“I wonder if Fernando can last one minute.”

“It seems like an impossible thing for me.
Fernando showed a weak appearance against the 4-star swordsman.
If Roman Dmitry chooses to fully use his aura, then he might not last for even ten seconds, and if the opposite happens, then he might show a decent fight.”

“I think the same way.
I don’t know about Fernando, but I acknowledge his solid basic skills and techniques.”

The people had negative thoughts about Fernando.
They called him the ‘limit of effort.’ It was clear that reaching the 4-star mark was great, but the basic skills he knew were more proficient, which made it frustrating.

In addition, his sword technique overwhelmed those with higher ranks, but he wasn’t able to improve the power of his aura, so Fernando just stayed in the 30th rank.

One year ago, Fernando’s fight with Vertov showed his limits.
Vertov, who was ranked 99th at the time, succeeded in defeating Fernando despite being overwhelmed with a sword technique.

Aura explosion.
A powerful blow completely changed the fight.
And it appeared that it was still the same now.

Looking at Fernando, who was going to fight Roman Dmitry, people seemed sad.

Tak!

He got on stage and took a deep breath.

‘… the world is so unfair.’

He felt bitter.
Roman Dmitry looked so young.
Just looking at his appearance, one would believe that he was in his early 20s, but he was the same man who was causing havoc in the Cairo Kingdom.

From the 99th rank to the 30th rank, the monster appeared in front of him in just a week’s time.
A weird inferiority began to rise—he felt envious.

People didn’t know that every day, from the moment he woke up until he closed his eyes at night, he worked as hard as if he might die.
And he felt tortured because, no matter how fast he ran, people were catching up from behind.

Fernando stayed in the 30th rank for ten years.
He was seething with an inferiority complex toward people like Roman Dmitry because of how easily they could defeat him with their talent.

It was good, even when it felt pathetic.
He wouldn’t have put forth any effort and would have given up long ago if it weren’t for his inferiority complex.

‘Roman Dmitry.
Make me your scapegoat so that I can take a step forward.
Show me the world you live in.’

Clench.

He grabbed his sword.
He wasn’t going to be careless here.
He was weak, but he was willing to face this fight.

Flutter.

The flag fluttered in the wind.

At that moment……

Grung.

Fernando’s aura created a powerful explosion.

He did his best right from the start.
Fernando raised his aura and used it on both of his legs to maximize his speed.

Tak!

‘The start is ahead.’

Fernando studied Roman’s methods in his last fight.
Roman Dmitry was an arrogant swordsman.
No matter what kind of attack his opponent made, he would not retreat more than three steps.

Huk.

He struck his sword.
The sword cut through the wind, and aura shone on the sword.

Roman avoided Fernando’s attack.
As he expected, Roman Dmitry only took one step back, and Fernando launched another attack.

Pak!

Aura exploded on one side of his sword.

The direction of the attack changed, and the sword, which had been moving in a straight line, aimed for Roman’s neck.
It was an irregular movement.

At the same time, Fernando raised his aura in preparation for his opponent to block the attack.

Huk.

But Roman leaned over.
He had shocking flexibility, and Fernando suppressed his shock as he tried to slam Roman’s body down.

It was common sense to avoid a difficult slash, but Roman Dmitry’s movements had been restricted by the series of attacks, making it impossible to dodge the sword that was headed straight for his bent body.

But still…

Swish!

He turned his head.
He looked straight at Fernando, and he launched an attack this time as if nothing had happened.
And the attack wasn’t delayed.
Like a spring, Roman defied the force of gravity and attacked Fernando.

Kwang.

His arm bounced back as their auras clashed.
Again, it showed the difference in their strengths.
But strangely enough, Roman didn’t even try to finish the attack he was doing.

Tak.

Roman backed away.

And at the sight of him widening the distance, the people cheered, but Fernando knew that his opponent didn’t end it on purpose.

‘Why?’

His stomach boiled.
Fernando intended to win the game from the start, so he launched a series of attacks while boldly moving at his opponent.

Roman Dmitry’s move was perfect against him.
It would have been difficult to avoid if he had tried to attack the moment he moved, but it was safe to say that Roman wasn’t intending to finish it.

A mistake? No.
Judging from his last move, Roman Dmiry wasn’t the type to make mistakes.

‘Is he looking down on me?’

He gritted his teeth at Roman’s actions.
Roman always defeated his opponents first, and considering that he even took down the 40th ranker in thirty seconds, it seemed like he intentionally fought against him.

Why? Because he was the 30th ranker and the gatekeeper?

Now that he was about to go beyond the 30th rank, was Roman Dmitry intending to send a message to the top rankers? Whatever it was, his pride was hurt.
He wanted to finish this fight, but Fernando had something more important to do.

‘Trample on my pride.
Please show me the way to improve, even if it is only a small ray of hope.’

All these years of remaining in the 30th rank had made him give up his pride.

Fernando struck his sword again.
His aura exploded, and the attack he attempted was clean.

When it came to sword technique, he could be called the most overwhelming one, but when it came to aura, he would always falter.

He knew it too.
The fact that everyone laughed as the fight progressed, but Fernando continued to do his best against Roman Dmitry.

Kwang!

Again, his attack was blocked.
The timing was good.
His attack should have worked, but it couldn’t break through Roman’s defense because his aura wasn’t enough.
He was upset, annoyed, and angry.

But then…

[From now on, move your mana as I say.
Then it will get much easier.]

He heard a voice in his head.
Realizing that it was Roman Dmitry’s voice, Fernando’s eyes widened.

His head was a mess.
What kind of trick was he up to? His rationality told him to ignore it, but Fernando stopped attacking.

[Fernando, a 4-star swordsman, the reason you are weak compared to your skills is that your aura doesn’t move smoothly.
Aura is a force that exerts destructive power through an eruption-like process.
If you know your physical limitations and still stick to them, you will never progress.]

His eyes trembled.

Roman moved forward.
He couldn’t understand how he could hear Roman when he wasn’t even moving his lips.

Kang!

Kakakang!

They exchanged clashes, and Fernando pushed Roman to the side as he continued to listen to him.

[The eruption of general aura refers to accepting mana and exploding it through a path.
However, mana doesn’t always just have one path.
All the swordsmen of Salamander follow a standard system and use the same path of mana, but in reality, that isn’t all.
If the path of mana you use has been cramped or blocked since birth, why didn’t you think of opening another path?]

The method of mana.
The skills honed since childhood form a path suitable for aura usage.
When mana spreads throughout the body along a certain path, high-level swordsmen are able to exert powerful auras and widen the path of the mana.

Fernando was like everyone else.
Having formed a passage through a commonly known method, he was only able to use a weak aura.

But that was different from the truth.
The system that this world practiced suppressed his creativity.

[It has been a long time, so it must be hard to open a new path, but isn’t it worth a try?]

Roman’s sweet words were totally enchanting.
The people’s eyes? His honor? All of those didn’t matter.
Fernando focused on Roman’s words, not caring if they were a joke or not.
He was ready to accept the new change.

Even after decades of hard work on the known method, he realized that the old method was like a sand castle in front of Roman’s words, whom he didn’t know too well.
He felt Roman was earnest.
He wasn’t sure if Roman could be trusted, but his instincts were telling him to try it.

It was then that the sparring changed.
Roman pushed Fernando and told him how to attack, and Fernando did so accordingly.

The one-sided match, the fight that should have ended in just one minute, went on for ten minutes.
By the time the people were getting bored….

Swish!

Mana rose.
Fernando’s eyes widened at the feeling of his mana moving on a new path.

‘… so it was possible?’

A very minute change.
This wasn’t the stage of aura eruption, but he knew just how difficult doing this was.

Smile.

Roman smiled.

At that moment….

[Now let’s end it.]

Flash!

The sword filled his view, and Fernando hurriedly tried to block it, but the attack shook his consciousness.

Puak-

He was stunned.
After coming to his senses, Fernando blankly looked at the sky.

‘Why didn’t I think of opening another passage?’

Stupid.
Even though there was room for improvement, he didn’t even recognize it and kept making the same mistake for decades.

Actually, this was expected.
It was difficult to escape from common thoughts, and mana was something scary to experiment with.

It was a dangerous challenge, so people would follow the established system over experimenting on their bodies, so Fernando thought the method wasn’t the problem.

Everyone was getting good results with it, and he was the only one that experienced a problem, so he continued to blame himself.

Furthermore, the existing method was born from trial and error.

“Tsk. He is broken.”

“They said the 30th ranker is the gatekeeper, but this shows how strong Roman Dmitry is.”

“Roman Dmitry is a monster.
Still, he is ranked 30th.
How could he think about fooling around for ten minutes? Fernando was played with like a child.
I saw him lose the explosiveness of his aura.
He looked so helpless to me.”

“This is the difference in level.”

People whispered around Fernando.
They were the onlookers who hadn’t left yet, and when he heard them talking, Fernando returned to his senses.

‘Roman Dmitry…!’

The people’s ridicule didn’t matter.
A being who showed him a new path.
In order to make use of the new possibilities, he had to follow Roman Dmitry.

Jump.

He got up.
Roman hadn’t gone far yet.
While the surroundings were filled with people, Roman Dmitry was moving away.
People looked at Fernando pushing them and wondered what the matter was.

“Mr.
Roman!”

Thud!

He fell flat on the ground.
Seeing Roman’s gaze on him, Fernando shouted,

“Thank you so much for teaching me! I will not forget the grace Roman Dmitry has shown to me!”

Whisper.

“What is this?”

“Teaching?”

The people were shocked.
The fight between the two was one-sided.
They thought Fernando looked unsightly, so what was this?

Roman stopped and looked at Fernando, who was lying on his stomach.

‘The 30th ranker, gatekeeper.’

It wasn’t shocking—this situation and Fernando coming to him—Roman Dmitry has been waiting for this to happen.