The Exiled First-born of the Noble House. Rising to the Top With the Worthless Skill [Null Poison]

Milworc

A big pool of blood spread under the corpse of Prudence after I cut her down.

And, seeing that corpse, a howling laughter resounded inside the room.

I could tell even at a first glance that those rumours about Milworc being completely insane were true after all but, seeing him laugh after seeing someone who should be his comrade killed in front of him, I finally understood the extent of utterly insane this man was.

I should have lunged straight at him to kill him next, but my instincts told me otherwise, and I simply stood there watching him.

“kekekke,geh HAHAHAHAH! Man, aren’t women fucking useless!? I made her my comrade cuz I thought she’d at least be of some use but, she kicked the bucket the one time shit got serious!!………hey, don’t you think so too?”

Milworc laughed like crazy, and then suddenly he spoke that last question, but unlike a few seconds ago, his face turned completely serious, and his tone of voice and manner of speaking also changed into a more polite one at the end there.

It didn’t seem like something intentional, and felt more like it was a completely different person speaking to me suddenly.

From his laughter I didn’t really understand what was going on, and after seeing him almost switch personalities, I quickly glanced towards Mielle hoping for an explanation.

But it seemed even Mielle seemed to not know much about this, and her face seemed completely pale as if she was trying her best to not vomit. Honestly it was the worst expression I had ever seen her make.

I hoped to get some help from her after my head went into a mess seeing this guy, but I didn’t really get any help from her. However, seeing a person even more bewildered than myself instead made me feel a bit more calmer again.

Not exactly how I intended it but, in front of Milworc, who was clearly lacking a few screws in his head, I once again regained my calm after feeling completely baffled like before.

“……..to be honest, I never really thought much about whether they’re a man or a woman when fighting them. Besides, you’ll be the next to die, so I don’t really care whether you’re a guy or a girl either.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever meet on the same page. Especially when you really think you can kill me here.”

Seeing her expression, I don’t think I can expect any assistance from Mielle here.

It should 2 vs 1 now but, it ended up turning into a 1v1 in the end anyway.

Since I was able to take down Prudence in just one strike, and the presences of the other members below were still far so, this battle will be decided by the most simple thing…………which one of us is simply stronger. It’s a contest of pure strength.

But it won’t be long before his reinforcements are here, so I can’t take this too slow.

Just like with Prudence, I’ll attack with the intent to kill with a single strike.

With Vendettatein in hand, as I slowly began to close in the distance between us, Milworc threw away the dagger he was using before and pulled out a rapier-like thrusting sword from his waist.

Unlike before, where his eyes seemed glazed over and staring into the distance, this time he was directly looking straight at me.

Not just his tone or words, even his atmosphere and the way he carried his body, all had changed. It really was like he was a completely different person now.

If I fight him assuming him to be the same person that dodged my [black mist] ambush, I will most certainly feel a dissonance with the person I was fighting now and end up losing instead.

This was still Milworc but, I should fight with the assumption that he’s basically a completely different person than the one I clashed blades with before.

After a short pause as we stared at each other with our swords in hand, Milworc showed no signs of making the first move so I decided to do it instead.

[Gale] and [Leg Strengthening Enhancement] were still active, as I rushed in directly from the front to strike.

I couldn’t help but try and imagine the person that dodged my attacks inside the [Black Mist] but, I forced myself to remove that version of him from my mind and instead decided to launch a more straightforward attack.

No feints, no nothing. Just a simple, step in, and overhead slash.

My attack was more designed to get a better look at how this Milworc would react but, Milworc just stood there while holding his rapier in a drawn bow like manner with his hands.

I could tell he was getting ready to counter but, regardless, I didn’t stop my move either.

I was hoping to hold my sword from striking him till the very end to make him launch his counter first, dodge that and then——-deliver a horizontal slash to cut him in two.

I ran that move multiple times inside my head as I finally reached into the range where Vendettatein could strike.

……….but, even then, Milworc showed no signs of moving, and continued to just stand still with a light smile on his face.

If that’s the case, I guess I have to either go all in with the attack and see what happens, or get ready for the counter that follows once he blocks my attack, and see which one of us breaks first.

To get a better look on my opponents movements and patterns, the latter was the better choice but, at the same time, if I get too close I’ll reduce my own gap for dodging his attacks.

I needed to push myself to the utmost limit to see through his full ability but—–even after a I took another step forward while in Vendettatein’s range, he still refused to show any signs of making a  move.

Every single pore in my body was open, and it felt like time was flowing at an extremely slow pace, that’s how concentrated I was. And yet, Milworc continued to stand there with a smile on his face.

One more step. If I take one more step closer, he’ll really have no gap to even counter me now.

Deciding that in my mind, the moment I took the next step, I activated [Strong Arm] and [Hard Hit].

I unleashed a diagonal slash buffed by my skills but—–Milworc didn’t step back and neither did he try to counter me, instead he just lunged forward with his entire body.

Vendettatein was not a longsword that could be turned mid swing very easily.

Because I let myself get so close to him, it ended up working against me as he took advantage of it instead.

I forced myself to jump backwards, and then somehow managed to slash at Milworc who had lunged in right in front of me to stop him but……..

Milworc didn’t attack me and instead, passed under my arms, by the side and behind me.

My slash from Vendettatein chased his back, but it only cut through air, and he ended up completely getting behind me.

Since I had forced myself to take this evasive action, the balance of my body was completely off, and I had no way of dealing with whatever attack came next.

I had no other choice but to activate all my defensive skills, and resolve myself to endure the strike that was about to hit my defenceless back.