The Foolhardies - Chapter 215 The Strong Man

Garm’s eyes went wide with surprise, and I could guess why.

When we first met, the Great General and I had a duel where I was supposed to stop his attack in order to win. I managed it, although it was a struggle that nearly caused me to pass out. Now, months afterward, stopping his greatsword’s downward slash seemed almost easy, at least that’s what he thought.

Imagine having to precisely attack a small part of a weapon in order to unbalance its momentum. That wasn’t an easy feat at all, and it would have been impossible without Fool’s Insight.

Garm didn’t know that though, and I was content with him thinking even for a moment that I was his match. Seeding doubt in an opponent’s mind, after all, is a principle of warfare.

“So, you’ve gotten better at fighting, boy,” he spat in my face.

“Or maybe you just got lamer,” I fired back at him.

Now, despite this display of attempted bravado, I was feeling very intimidated. Thankfully, Garm was so focused on my face he wasn’t paying attention to my shaking boots.

I was confident in my skills for sure, but we’re talking of a guy who was at Darah’s level here, and I’ve never beaten her in a duel. I was self-aware enough to know I couldn’t beat Garm yet either. But I could probably keep him occupied long enough for my men to beat his. At least, that was my plan. Plus, I was expecting backup soon — the ‘chosen one’ and ‘war god’ kind.

Garm pressed his greatsword down on my falchion, and I could feel the muscles in my arms tightening to brace against the increased weight.

Suddenly, my survival sense tingled, and I broke the blade lock in order to pull away from the left hook that I just noticed on my peripheral.

I took a single step back, allowing me to avoid the hook but leaving me vulnerable to a second downward slash from his greatsword.

Thankfully, I managed to block this in time, but unlike earlier, the force of Garm’s swing drove me back toward my own unit’s shield wall.

My back slammed hard into a friendly’s shield, and I heard the voice of Ian when he asked, “You alright there, Commander?”

“Fine…” I pushed off his shield and readied myself for a counterattack. “Send word to Ty and Azuma, will you? Tell them to get their asses here now please!”

I jumped forward with falchion raised high in both hands.

The path to Garm was clear almost like the soldiers fighting around us had instinctively given us a wide berth.

My falchion swung down on his chest plate but he easily blocked it with the flat of his greatsword.

However, my attack was more than a single polished strike as Garm was about to find out.

I moved my lead foot to the right, and following the momentum of my forward dash, I twisted my wrists to the left and slashed sideward.

I then moved my back foot to the right as well which now put me on his left side. I twisted my wrists to the right this time and sent a diagonal slash from upper right to lower left at Garm’s unprotected left side.

The tip of his greatsword came out of nowhere and would have skewered me in the forehead if I hadn’t turned my whole body around in the nick of time.

I spun around to Garm’s back and repeated the same diagonal slash I’d intended to attack his left side with.

Although he wore a rather bulky breastplate that was thick even in the back, I was confident my falchion’s vibro-function could break through his defense.

Sadly, that wasn’t the case at all.

As soon as my shadowblade reached his armored back, sparks began to fly similar to when a chainsaw met extra-strong steel beams. It was clear that I would need minutes to break through it. Minutes I didn’t have.

Garm reacted with a backward elbow that was again aimed at my head. Insight caused me to dodge to the right.

As his momentum caused him to turn to his left, I moved my right foot to the right just so I could rake my falchion’s shadowblade across his lower back.

Sparks flew. My weapon still couldn’t penetrate it. So I changed tactic.

At the same time as I moved toward his right side, I aimed my next slash at the space between his leg armor — and finally, I drew blood, although it was merely a tiny cut that wouldn’t have deterred the giant physique of my opponent.

Now, before Garm could slash at my neck and decapitate me, I’d already ducked down and sent the tip of my falchion rising up to his unprotected chin as I realized his armor might be a little too sturdy for my silver-tier sword.

Garm’s left hook flew my way a second time, but I knew my attack was faster. I would reach his head first before that fist hit my right shoulder.

It really was regrettable that I’d forgotten about the air pressure he could create with a single fist.

I felt the wave strike my shoulder, and in an instant, I released the tension in my muscles and forced my entire body to fall to the left in order to cushion the blow I knew was coming. It only half worked.

The impact from the air pressure was already enough to blow me back so I managed to avoid Garm’s fist. Only, that air pressure was enough to bring forth intense pain, the kind that might have dislocated my arm if I’d caught it unaware.

Point to Fool’s Insight once again, I thought as I skidded to a stop five feet to the left of Garm. “All that effort for one lousy cut…”

And yes, if you were paying attention to that blow-by-blow account, I did just perform a combo that went all the way around him — all within a matter of seconds it took someone to take two bites of a sandwich. So it was really vexing that I only managed a single clean hit at that time.

“Impressive… I see you have a future as a dancer,” Garm chuckled.

He left me no time to think up a cool verbal counter though as he launched himself into the air a second time in the style of Superman.

I jumped forward to get out of his way, but just like the man of steel, Garm slammed his left fist onto the ground in an attack that would level the sand beneath us, rendering my escape moot.

Sand exploded out of Garm’s point of impact which momentarily caused my vision to blur.

I stumbled and just about caught myself before crashing onto an enemy soldier who’d found the courage to interfere in our match with a thrust of his spear.

As the spear tip came rushing forward, I ducked, slid my lead foot forward, and gutted the interloper.

That’s when my survival sense tingled a second time.

I manage to pull out my falchion from the dead enemy soldier’s gut and duck at the same time, which meant I narrowly avoided the greatsword that swung above me.

Then I turned around and swept my falchion to the right, but Garm had already stepped back.

In return, his greatsword’s shadowblade came swinging down on me once more, and so I rolled to the right to avoid it.

As the greatsword’s tip slammed onto the desert floor, more sand flew into the sky. This obscured Garm’s vision long enough for me to attack his right side.

My falchion swung down on his outstretched sword arm.

Blood spurted out of the cut I’d made on his forearm, but it came at a cost.

Somehow, Garm had tightened his muscles at the moment of impact, causing my shadowblade to get stuck in place despite its vibro-function.

I managed a, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” right before I felt the impact of Garm’s fist in my gut.

Imagine getting hit by a car head-on and you’ll have an inkling of what just happened to me.

I slammed into the back of an enemy soldier, knocked him over, fell backward on the sand, and continued flipping backward until I knocked over a few more enemy soldiers to the left of my shield wall.

In my head, underneath the screams of pain bouncing up and down my brain and echoing throughout the rest of my body, a thought came to mind which I voiced out a moment later despite the taste of blood in my mouth. “Now I knew how bowling balls feel.”

My vision cleared just in time for me to watch Garm’s fist come barrelling toward me once more.

I tried to get up, but the dizziness from all those backward spins made my feet wobbly, and I barely managed to sit up before Garm was on me yet again.

He launched his left fist forward.

I braced for impact.

It didn’t come. A wall of ice had gotten in its way.

Ty pulled me to my feet.

“Dude, didn’t you say we were going to fight him together?” Ty reminded me.

I knew I couldn’t take Garm alone but what choice did I have at the time.

“Yeah, well, you were late…” I spat out the blood inside my mouth. “Ty… your wall’s breaking.”

“Ye-yeah… we should pull back some more,” Ty said.

We stepped back while watching the thick ice crack under the pressure of Garm’s fist on the other side of it. Seconds later, that wall came crashing down, revealing a very smug-looking Garm with his fist in a forward stance that wouldn’t be uncommon at a karate studio.

However, both Ty and I were already in battle stances of our own. I with my falchion raised in front of me and Ty with the tip of his staff pointed forward.

“Let’s try this again,” I said. “Three versus one this time.”

My pronouncement left Garm momentarily confused, but then the spear tip coming from his blind spot which he narrowly dodged by tilting his head to the side brought clarity to Garm’s face.

“You sneaky little mudstains,” Garm hissed as his hand came up to wipe at the blood from the cut that grazed his cheek. “Fine, come at me all together then!”