ATAPOW Chapter 14
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Chapter 14: Concealing one’s talent and name.
Manda gave a meaningful stare at the young man whose appearance was concealed. This was the first time in his life he felt the urge to slap someone’s face.
‘If you’re not going to use a sword in a knight’s duel, then what are you going to use to fight against me? Your head? There’s only one person in this world that’s qualified to say those things to me, sadly, he’s no longer of this world…’
However, Ji Bai didn’t throw the sword away all for the sake of being pretentious. The old fogey was extremely familiar with the moves he had. If Ji Bai were to use a sword, it was inevitable that it would attract some unneeded suspicion from him. Such problems wouldn’t exist anymore once he threw the sword away.
Even so, Ji Bai wasn’t going to lie to Manda.
Your granddaddy will always be your granddaddy!
“…Indeed, the young are truly fearless!” Manda gave a cold snort. He immediately took a bow step forward. The chilly radiance on his sword was overbearing as he suddenly thrust it, stabbing towards Ji Bai’s vital point—the throat.
This was the Holy Flame Knight’s signature move, ‘The Scarlet Beheader’. It was a move that when done correctly, it would inevitably take the target’s life. Manda wanted to make the arrogant youngster in front of him understand that there was always a bigger fish. With this being said, he really hadn’t planned on taking his life; As a knight, acts such as harming innocent civilians were something he would never do. All he wanted to do was to frighten the young lad. As such, he had made sure that his move wouldn’t go out of control, and could be stopped at any time.
However, Manda was incomparably flabbergasted when he saw that Ultraman had zero intentions to evade his move. Like a tall unmoving mountain, he loftily stood in his original spot.
‘How arrogant! Looks like I’ll have to give you a lesson!’
Manda concentrated his mind. His long sword shot towards Ji Bai like a light beam, it was to the point that he could feel the sword glittering. It was as if it could easily penetrate him in the next moment.
‘Well… Looks like it’s still the same old’ Manda. Its appearance is flashy, but… ‘
“Repent for your sins!!” With a flick of his wrist, Manda pushed the sword hilt forward. The fierce glare in his eyes was now as sharp as his sword tip.
It was at this particular moment that the three bystanders couldn’t help but hold their breath.
The leaves of the ginkgo trees that were floating above their heads were instantly split into two halves as the sword edge approached, only mere inches away from hitting Ji Bai. However, in Ultraman’s eyes, its speed was like a clip playing in slow motion. He wantonly flung his head to the side, the sharp longsword pierced through the skies.
‘What?’
Manda was slightly shocked. In just that split second, Ji Bai’s reflexes had seemingly accelerated by a large amount. Ultraman, who was motionless like a dead turtle, had actually waited until Manda’s sword was twenty centimeters away from him before acting. He simply dodged by moving his head and caused Manda’s fast and insightful attack to miss.
Although Manda was deeply shocked, it wasn’t enough to impact the speed of his pursuit and follow-up attack. His hands that were holding onto the long sword began to dance, causing gusts of wind to emerge. However, it was like Ultraman was like a mudfish; every time the edge of the sword should’ve inevitably struck him, he would effortlessly sway his body and avoid it.
Every move of Manda’s was deadly and seemingly impossible to avoid, yet they were being toyed around in circles by the Ultraman’s weird motions.
‘Crackle!’ Under the chilling sword tip, the pitiful large tree behind Ji Bai was pruned. Each branch brought a wave of leaves with it as it incessantly drifted down towards the body of the two silhouettes, both who were respectively attacking and dodging.
“What is this situation? Is Teacher Manda deliberately holding himself back after seeing that the other party has no weapon?” The short-haired knight’s eyes went round as he continued to observe the two unrecognizable silhouettes underneath the ginkgo tree. He no longer held any trace of contempt. The man behind the Ultraman’s costume, who he once felt amusing, now carried a sense of profound mystery in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter who he is. He’s able to hold himself against Teacher Manda for such a long period of time with only his bare hands. That’s amazing in and of itself.” The other knight sighed with emotion.
‘Who exactly… who is this person?!’ This question was occupying the entirety of Manda’s brain at the moment.
The sudden sword strikes that Manda had launched, which he was extremely confident in and had seemingly no room to dodge, would always fail at the next moment. The concentrated rain of sword strikes had failed to even scratch Ultraman by one bit. It was almost as if he was predicting all of his actions.
In fact, the victor had already been decided.
Manda knew that he was completely defeated, yet, he was unwilling, very unwilling to acknowledge the result. He just couldn’t understand how and why he lost.
He had not suffered such a crushing defeat since that person passed away…
His fast-exhausting strength could no longer mask the unwillingness that Manda harbored. Even though this was the case, his actions were now unavoidably sluggish while his blade had lost the sharp luster it had before. His condition was like an arrow at the end of its flight, however, he was unwilling to stop and continued to flail around his sword.
“Ka!” It was at this moment Manda’s movements stopped.
His blank face looked ahead and discovered that a hand in white gloves had firmly seized his sword.
“You will undoubtedly lose your life if you get distracted in a battle.”
Ultraman’s low muffled tone caused Manda to fall into a daze. This familiar speech… it made him recall his previous teacher…
When he came back to his senses, he looked at the Ultraman who had firmly pinned his blade in front of him before finally letting out a slow sigh. “It’s my loss, thank you for your teachings, your excellency.”
“Then, can I leave now?” Ji Bai smiled as he released the hand that was holding onto the sword hilt.
“Please do as you wish, sir…”
The surrounding trio was shocked as they watched the scene progress. They hadn’t even figured out the events that transpired earlier, they were especially more clueless when it came to the outcome of the match.
“E-Eh? A-Are you just gonna leave like that? Hold on a moment little guy! I don’t even know what name I should call you!” The owner of the noodle shop, who had recovered from his daze, quickly shouted.
“There’s no need for any thanks. If you truly want to express your gratitude, then thank the faraway Land of Light!” The back silhouette of the costumed man continued to walk on ahead. He had seemingly no intention to turn back.
Without caring about what the knights beside him were discussing, Manda was in a daze as he looked at the leaving silhouette. It wasn’t until the figure disappeared that he slowly came back to his senses.