Chapter 185

Evan D. Sherden, Parting With The Legend. (3)

'As it is, Grandpa is already overpowered, but he even had these skills hidden under his belt?!'

Evan moaned. He felt like a fool. He never thought that Leo, who had incredible skills, might have had something hidden under his belt.

Deep inside, Evan knew that the world did not flow according to the Yoma series. There was always that possibility Leo would use unorthodox skills.

"Darn... Ah!"

"Ha."

He clenched his teeth and pushed the greatsword off him. When Leo staggered and stood back, Evan's body trembled and stumbled onto the ground. There was no way he could get back into his normal stance.

"It's over Evan, whenever this skill activates, I never lose."

"Argh, you're such a child. Do you want to beat your disciple that much?!"

"...Hmm."

At that moment, when Leo pulled Evan and tried to attack again. Evan struck the ground with all his strength, effectively bringing himself up into the air. He brushed off Leo's greatsword with his ChunJoong energy and, with his remaining free leg, drew a sharp straight line...

"Ha!"

"Argh?!"

Evan kicked Leo's other shin with all his strength. Dirty Revenge was also activated this time with no problem. As a result, both of Evan's feet were attached to Leo's shins.

"Oh my..."

"My Lord..."

Leo, who was shocked, just stood there. On his two shins, Evan's foot was stuck on to it, and he kept banging his head on the ground. When he held his head up, he saw Leo's beard.

"Evan, are you stupid?"

"Actually, this is much better than before. At least my body is not shaking all the time!"

That was true. When only one of his feet was stuck, Evan swung limply like a scarecrow whenever Leo moved. He really did seem more stable with both feet stuck.

"Then let's continue as it is!"

"Hmm, I knew it!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Leo struck down his greatsword repeatedly without moving. Evan, who couldn't move because of his connected feet, seemed like an easy target for the old man. On the other hand, Evan struggled with his unstable stance, but he still managed to block Leo's strikes. Again, his shoulders ached.

"Nothing seems to have changed!"

"No, you're wrong!"

It was time to attack now! Evan, who was endlessly blocking Leo's strikes, managed to apply strong force to his legs instantly. He had been trying to apply ChunJoong energy onto it in order to stomp him. It was impossible until now, but with the force of ChunJoong 5, it was surely possible!

"Argh...?!"

Leo could soon feel the pressure on his shins, as well as the sense of burning and the powerful burst of mana. This was incredible power that even Leo's steel-like body couldn't handle.

"What the... Just by touching?!"

A ridiculous amount of weight pushed against Leo's legs. If this continued, it would give Evan an opening.

"You're much stronger than just before!"

"It hasn't been too long since I leveled up this skill, so I hadn't mastered it yet. Now, I've gotten more used to it."

This was ridiculous. Just moments ago, he had gone through this skill evolution, and he already managed to adjust to it throughout this short battle! However, at the same time, he felt that, as his disciple, this was to be expected.

"Okay, let me show what I got now."

"What? You don't have a hidden special skill, do you? Argh!"

Leo disappeared all of a sudden. Within moments, the greatsword swung downwards towards Evan's head. Evan quickly struck his fists to block it, but it vanished as it was about to hit.

"What are you looking at? That's just an illusion!"

"Lies!"

Soon after, the sword flew in, aiming at his leg. Evan struck the ground with both of his hands and avoided its hit. However, the greatsword flew in from another direction, this time aiming for his stomach.

"It's not an illusion, it's Lion's Glide."

"I know!"

Evan thought about holding onto the greatsword, but he thought about the Dirty Revenge and stopped. Dirty Revenge was also a defensive mechanism for weapons!

'Then, I have no choice but to block it all while seeking an opening.'

Evan was getting eager. With full power, Leo's Lion's Glide was super-fast, but it wasn't something Evan couldn't follow.

"But knowing where it is coming from and reacting to it is a whole different thing!"

"I know!"

How petty of him to pull on a speed game when he knew Evan did not have any movement-related skills!

However, speed-wise, he never fell behind. His body was enhanced to the limit, and it was interacting with the senses that he developed as an alchemist and reacted to Leo's every movement.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tons of lights swarmed the arena. Aria hurried and added another layer of a barrier upon realizing that the current one would not be able to handle the overflowing mana.

"Evan, are you just going to stand there?!"

"What am I supposed to do then?!"

"Stride forward!"

Then I'll die! It was hard enough to block all of his attacks coming from everywhere, but now he's asking me to move?!

However, if he stayed here, Leo would just keep attacking. While defending, Evan desperately thought of ways to change the flow of the battle.

'There was that opening that one time..."

He had seen an opportunity before. Just as he was free from Dirty Revenge, he would have won if he had attacked Leo. However, Leo's words made him hesitate for a second, which in turn resulted in this unfavorable situation, and he wasn't able to overcome it so far.

"The flow of the battle..."

The flow of the battle was extremely important. Evan knew this from experience. However, up until now, Evan had never been backed into a corner. Even when he was dueling Leo... The problem was that Leo now knew how Evan won against him using his weakness.

'It's as if I added sharp claws to a lion. Well, it was something that I've always wanted to do, but...'

His weakness was gone now, and his good qualities expanded. The flow of this particular battle was on Leo's side. Evan was just being brushed against it.

Leo is a fierce wind. Rough, strong, yet very agile. Also, holding is not an option. Either I have to overpower him or outspeed him.

"I already taught you!"

"I never learned Lion's Glide!"

Boom! This sound of the clash was different. Leo was looking straight at Evan with a fierce expression. His sword glowed a bright gold as he goaded Evan into a corner. Lion's Glide had this deadly option of increasing its attack whenever it was used repeatedly.

"What I taught you was my movement!"

This was Leo Arpeta in Yoma Great War 2.

When Evan met Leo for the first time, he was a hero who seemed too realistic yet not too impressive. However, thanks to Evan, he had become this transcendent being who Evan, in his prior life as Yeo BanMin, knew as the legendary hero 'Leo Arpeta.'

"Since you learned it, you should make it into your own!"

"It's not like everyone can just come up with their own special skill!"

"You fool!"

They clashed, one after the other. The barrier was beginning to crack again. Evan's mana and Leo's mana had intertwined and formed an unimpressionable beam of light. Aria panicked and formed another barrier.

"You already have it! Use that in your movement!"

"I don't have what you're talking about..."

"If you don't know yet, then..."

At that moment, Evan was overwhelmed by the ray of light from the sword. He quickly turned pale.

Lion's Glide had activated Beast Parade! It was an OP skill that activated Lion's Glide, yet simultaneously flooded the opponent with sword strikes!

"First, you better get struck once!"

"This is not once!"

Evan instinctively transformed his mana into ChunJoong energy and put it forward. With Heaven Press's skill expanding the area, the energy seemed like a giant invisible shield!

In the game, it was an attack skill in a specific direction, but it was different this time. The skill was coming from both front and back!

That in itself was unbelievable, but the bigger problem was that Leo was free to move. He aimed straight for Evan's head. The greatsword he was swinging straight down was particularly precise and impressive.

Even knew that skill as well. This was the infamous Leo Arpeta ultimate special active skill, the 'Twilight Guillotine!' Leo was indeed the main character, but didn't he have too many special skills?!

"Grandpa, really?!!"

Evan had already exhausted his mana on his Heaven Press in the front. He had no way to block the strikes from behind and top. However, thanks to the artifacts he had, his mana was regenerating. What was he supposed to do with that, though?!

"Urgh!"

At that moment, what Evan decided instinctively was to move.

Concentrating his regenerating mana on his left foot, he needed to escape from these lightning-like strikes... He just needed one step.

'Huh?'

For some reason, with that one, simple light step, the world crumbled.

"What?!"

"...?!"

In Evan's eyes, it looked as if the world came to a stop. It was purely mystical. All he did was to take a simple step, and everything paused.

But in reality, an immense amount of pressure was forced in every direction. Heaven Press, which expanded the ChunJoong energy, synchronized with Evan's movement. It then changed to a forceful pressure into the region.

"Ha, what...!"

"Phew..."

It was an incredible amount of pressure that made even mana unstable, broke skills, and defied gravity.

'I've completely taken control of the flow of the region by a single step. Isn't this Heavenly Demon Movement?'

Evan suddenly thought about a martial arts novel from his past life memory, but that was not important. The important thing was that he, with this step, now had the flow of the battle.

It would be more accurate to say that he was forced to cut off the previous flow.

"Huh?!"

"Argh!"

Leo was left defenseless because, though Evan's step was extremely short, it was actually long enough for Evan to start his attack. He struck Leo up in the air and hit his stomach hard. The moment he had made the step, his level of ChunJoong increased, thus increasing his strength by focusing his energy on one spot.

'This feels very refreshing.'

Evan never thought that he would ever feel such a sensation. Was he leveling up during a deadly battle? He was never like the main characters in a comic book, and it was very common for Evan to just die whenever danger came - and even when there wasn't any danger in the first place!

'But this is real.'

He did not mean to brag, but he knew that he was the one person who could understand this ChunJoong skill. This gave him more confidence. He had found out the direction the skill of ChunJoong should pursue. He made this god-created skill into his own just now.

"Argh, I thought it would take a few more hits. Now I understand how people felt when they hated me for being a genius."

Leo was back on his feet. It seemed like he had somehow recovered from Evan's blow. His lips were bleeding, but his grin showed his satisfaction.

"That's your step, Evan."

Evan was stunned by that, but Leo didn't attack him. It wasn't possible because both Leo and Evan were completely out of stamina or mana by this last attack. Nobody had any spare energy to move. Evan knew that the sparring had come to an end. And that meant...

"Was this my birthday present, grandpa...?"

"Well, sort of, what does it feel like making your own special skill?"

"...I can't believe it. I can't imagine I..."

Receiving a special skill from someone else and now making one's special skill from that skill?!

Was this something he deserved? Well, one thing was for sure - he did this himself. Of course, without Leo's movement lessons for the past year, this wouldn't have been possible.

"Believe in yourself. That's your talent and your true value."

"Grandpa..."

"Evan, there's no need to sell yourself short. That would be rude to people who respect you and honor you for who you are.

Leo lifted his greatsword and pointed at Evan. Leo's sword was of good quality, but there were few cracks here and there because of their fierce battle. Leo was indeed strong.

"As you know, I was strong before, but in the past year or so, I've become a lot stronger. What other words will suit me other than genius?"

"Why are you bragging all of a sudden?"

"I'm telling you that a genius is saying that you are a genius. You are a genius in martial arts and also in alchemy, which is uncommon. You're as much of a genius as I am, if not more. Not even counting the unique knowledge you have, you're already too smart for your own good."

"Huh?"

Bernard, and now, Leo? Were they capable of some kind of voodoo spell?

Leo grinned as he noticed Evan flustered by his statement.

"So it's time that you acknowledge your true talents yourself. Be supportive of yourself."

"..."

Evan was quiet, but his silence seemed to be a good enough answer for Leo.

He was about to recover his weapon, but upon seeing the cracks, he began to complain.

"Aria, I'm aching everywhere. Heal me."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way."

"Was I good today?"

"What are you talking about?"

Aria, who immediately approached after retracting the barrier, healed Leo's wounds and smiled. It was a beautiful, pure smile.

"Leo, you're always awesome."

"Huh, I know!"

"Without these kinds of statements, you would be better."

Aria healed Leo's wounds while slapping on them in between.

They were doing this couple's love thing in the middle of the arena where all the people were watching, so it was easily presumed who Bernard and Illoin learned their antics from.

So, who won the battle?

Somebody failed to read the room, but nobody answered. Everybody was busy recounting the epic battle of the century.

Belois was the only one who came up to Evan, just like Aria did, and with great effort, cleaned his forehead. Evan softly closed his eyes and left her to the task.

He could hear Belois' soft voice through his ears. Her voice was like music to Evan's ears, who currently felt all burnt out.

"Master, you were great."

"Thank you... Lua."

The next day, right before Evan's birthday party was about to start, Shine was able to bring Anastasia back from the Dungeon.