玉蒲团之云雨山庄

After hearing the sound of the loud thunderclap, Lyan reluctantly leaves the book he\'s reading and heads toward the direction of where the sound came from.

It\'s not hard to search for where the thunderclap came from since when he ran for a while, he immediately saw a crowd gathering and looking at something that seems to be an interesting scene.

"Tch!" Lyan clicked his tongue and went stealthily to climb one of the buildings, and when he observed the scene from above, his suspicions turns out to be correct.

"That girl... What is she doing...?" Lyan facepalmed himself when he saw the figure of Griselda holding a swear that he doesn\'t know where she got it from with a fearless look on her face.

The one being her opponent is a man with a decent build. He\'s not the brawny type, but his body could be considered to be quite robust. His stance on his sword looks refined and his eyes glimmered with calm and calculating eyes.

"Hm~ You\'re not bad. To dodge the attack with such a speed, you\'re at the very least have the skills to be accepted as the capital\'s knights," Griselda praised the man.

"Thank you very much. If I didn\'t dodge it, it will surely be trouble, after all. I don\'t really have any wish of dying or getting crippled in such a remote town, you see..." The man uttered with a wry smile. For those who are observant, it\'s obvious to see the sweats that are gathering on his forehead and his neck are not due to having an exhausting battle, but sweats from nervousness.

When one\'s ability in battle heightens, one will understand better which is the easy opponent and which is the dangerous one. It seems that the man standing before Griselda is experienced enough to recognize Griselda\'s magnificent skills and judged that she is a dangerous opponent.

Lyan doesn\'t know how the battle started between them, but after looking at the reaction of the man, Lyan started to get interested in the man before Griselda. His calculating eyes that are calmly analyzing the situation and forming a plan show that he\'s not just your normal mercenary.

The spectators that are watching from the distance are looking at the sight with excitement all over their faces. From their look, it seems that it\'s not going to be a battle to death but just a normal duel between two fighters.

"Man should be the one doing the chasing, right? Now come!" Griselda taunted the man with a gesture with one of her hands.

"Then I\'ll do so!" The man doesn\'t hesitate and lunged at her with a quick dash and give a strike with a great momentum.

Griselda dodged easily by lowering her body, but her eyes noticed the strange movement of his other hand.

(A throwing knife?) (Griselda)

Griselda dodged the knife thrown aimed for her left foot and draw backward, at the moment she lifted her feet, the man lowered his body, spins, and swings his sword, aiming for her right leg.

(He\'s aiming for an unexpected angle, huh?) (Lyan)

But Griselda does not falter. She remain standing without pulling her leg, but instead, she made a thrusting pose with a terrifying speed and thrust her sword, countering the attack with another attack.

(S-She\'s faster!)

The man that noticed that his sword will lands slower than the high-speed thrust of Griselda breaks a sweat and cancels his swing while rolling to the side, dodging Griselda\'s thrust.

"Not a bad call, but you left your body open!" Griselda took the initiative and charged. Taking a full-body thrusting stance, she lunged with a speed that made the audience let out an "Ooh!!" reaction.

*Clank!*

The man managed to deflect the sword to the side, but the sword managed to graze his shoulder a little.

"There are still more coming!" Griselda presses even more. Barrages of slashes mixed with thrusts came from her. The man desperately blocks and evades them, but he\'s still slowly accumulating damage all over his body.

"Tch! I guess I\'ll be losing at this rate! It can\'t be helped!!" The man suddenly concentrate most of his mana on his feet and stomped the ground with powerful force.

*Boom!!*

Griselda that had been attacking with a great speed stopped her attack as the ground slightly shakes and the clouds of dust rise up the air, blocking the vision.

"Hmph! There\'s no use for hiding!" Griselda gathered her mana on her sword, creating lightning sparks to be emitted from the sword, and swung with a powerful force to disperse the gathering clouds of dust. But suddenly-

*Slash!*

"Heh! An ambush, huh?" Griselda chuckled as she easily dodged the slash of the man\'s sword by twisting her body to the back.

"That\'s not all!"

Suddenly the man\'s other hand moved and revealed that it was holding another sword.

(Dual-wielding?) (Griselda)

Griselda that had her posture broken because of dodging is at a disadvantage as the coming sword is about to hit her defenseless body.

"Hiding an ace under your sleeve, huh? Not bad!" (Griselda)

The sound of electric sparks that sounded like bird chirps appeared from Griselda\'s right foot as her feet shone with silver-blue light. And-

*Whoosh!*

A high-speed kick that lands precisely at the sword\'s hilt, forcing the man to lose the grip of the sword and let the sword flies far above to the sky. It\'s quite a sight to see how Griselda\'s feet move so elastically 90 degrees above in such a position.

"Y-You must be kidding me..." The man made a wry smile as he could not believe what he just witness, but still, he must not lose as he still has the momentum.

The man raise his leg and made a kick, aiming for Griselda\'s abdomen.

"Not so easy!" Griselda caught the man\'s foot, but that was what the man aimed.

With Griselda\'s powerful strength, he could make her grip on his foot as a footing and jumped, twists his body, and made a powerful swinging kick aimed at her head with full concentrated mana.

Remembering the impact given from his mana-concentrated stomping to the ground before, Griselda dodges and retreats behind.

The man that got released immediately dashed to chase over her, and made another slash.

*Clank!*

His attack easily got deflected.

"Not bad! I guess you\'re at least stronger than the new recruits of the kingdom\'s knights!!" Griselda attempted to sweep the man\'s leg, but he suddenly made a high jump.

"Hm?" (Griselda)

The man reached his empty hand to the sky, and grabbed something.

"Take this!!!" The man shouted.

The thing that he grabbed after he made a high jump turned out to be the sword that got flung away by Griselda\'s kick before, and he immediately concentrate his mana on both hands and made a powerful strike with both swords.

*Boom!!!*

The supposed to be metallic clanks sound that appeared because of the colliding of two metals somehow became a loud explosion-like sound. Powerful winds were sent all over the directions, making more cheers to erupt from the spectators.

After hearing the sound, it felt like Griselda that was the side that was receiving the heavy blow was supposed to be defeated or at least receive heavy damage, but-

"Tch! Still not got through, huh? You\'re damn too strong, missy!" The man uttered with a wry smile as he pulled back before once again colliding his swords with Griselda\'s.

"You\'re pretty strong as well. It\'s been a while since I have such a good exercise, so entertain me well!!" (Griselda)

"My pleasure!!" The man replied with a big smile as he accepted the challenge and started the bouts of swords with Griselda.

Under normal circumstances, it is obvious to think that the one wielding two swords will be able to deliver more blows and slashes toward an opponent that is wielding only a single sword. But the scene before them turns out not to be as so.

Griselda that is wielding only a single sword blocked the incoming barrages of attacks from the dual-wielding men with great speed and started to even counterattack and overwhelms the man. The bout of swords is very quick and hard to see for the spectators that have no experience in high-speed battles. But for Lyan, it\'s something easy for his eyes to catch on to.

"Looks like they are having some fun. I wonder if he accepts if I ask him to have a spar with me too? I will probably won\'t end up intact if I spar with Griselda, after all," (Lyan)

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army