A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 129: Dish, practice more

dish!
Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables, vegetables
Quinn almost doesn't recognize the word "vegetable" anymore.

Round 295

【Please defeat your shadow.】

Before the shadow was formed, Quinn made a knife flower.

He looked up at the sky again and waited for a second out of boredom.

Draw your sword and chop.

The sword cut through the shadow's neck, and the red light of "resurrection" fell. The shadow was killed by a sneak attack and lost his second life. The thick shadow body became thin, and then entered the shadow's attack round. The shadow's sword flashed like a fan-shaped black light, as if to cut Quinn in half.

But Quinn didn't choose to fight hard.

Instead, he rolled to the ground and narrowly avoided the knife.

He rolled extremely fast, and the time from rolling to standing up was almost the same as the time Shadow took to draw his sword and put it away. Although both of them were using a katana, Shadow, like Quinn, was not as quick at putting away his sword as he was at drawing it. This also prevented Shadow from making a second strike in such a short moment, and he could only watch Quinn stand up.

After rolling, Quinn and Shadow kept a short distance apart. He did not attack, but stared at the knife in Shadow's hand, ready for battle.

The shadow came in an instant, at a speed so fast that it was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. The two had exactly the same sword techniques and attacking habits. Quinn knew how it would attack just by looking at it raising its hand, just as the shadow knew how Quinn would defend just by looking at it raising its hand.

He swung his sword sideways, but not at the shadow, but at the sword in its hand!

Bah! !

The sound of the blades vibrating echoed in the living room, and the two swords actually knocked each other away. Quinn was not overwhelmed by Shadow's brute force as in the second round.

The reason is very simple. He didn't intend to fight with the sword, but to block.

Like the "Shadow Dies Twice" that strengthens the roll, his blocking is also strengthened by "Parry". When he wants to block, his physical energy consumption will increase exponentially, but the power of the block will also increase exponentially!
The sound of swords clashing intensively was as noisy as frying beans. The blades collided in the darkness, producing a series of sparks, like the sound of iron hammering. In just a moment, the man and the shadow had exchanged more than ten sword strikes in a row. The sword light seemed to overwhelm the firelight, becoming the only background color in this small space.

The sword's sheathing was slow, but that was only compared to its drawing. Shadow's speed was overwhelmingly superior to Quinn's. Drawing and shedding the sword seemed almost continuous in Quinn's eyes. He could only maintain his sword stance, frantically blocking and parrying.

Until Shadow's last Iai Slash came down, Quinn Dao, exhausted from continuous blocking, was knocked away and defeated immediately.

But there was something odd about the shadow.

From the beginning of the two hundredth round, it was no longer satisfied with simply killing Quinn. Instead, it killed him and then stabbed him several more times, as if to vent its anger by dismembering his body, making him experience more pain.

Its face, originally without features, unexpectedly had a pair of eyes that looked exactly like Quinn's eyes, which Ankua had described as quite pretty. Not only the eyes, but also the outline of the root of the nose and the upper half of the ears were gradually emerging.
As each round passed, the shadow was completing its face.

At this rate, after about a thousand rounds, it would probably have a complete face exactly like Quinn's.

Quinn, lying on the ground, looked at him quietly until the light in his eyes faded, the round ended, and the word "菜" appeared.

After the ability to tolerate pain has increased significantly, pain will not affect thinking, but will make the brain clearer and more agile.

Quinn could vaguely feel that when the shadow's face was completed, something terrible would probably happen.

The price of advancing to Sequence Eight is exactly one thousand soul fragments.

A thousand rounds? I'm afraid the trial can't be restarted infinitely.

The fate of a transcendent who fails to be promoted is either madness or death, but judging from the jealousy Shadow shows towards himself, there is a third possibility that is even worse.

Possessed by a shadow? Like the man in the mirror in horror stories?

Quinn couldn't help but feel a little anxious. The fate of a brave man was a secret of all generations of time travelers. There was no reference for promotion, and even Ankuya didn't know what would happen next.

But being anxious is useless in the current situation, you must stay calm and think.
The 300th round.

The same steal knife, followed by resurrection, roll, block, block, block, block.
If you don't block, you will die.

But continuous blocking is impossible. After blocking is strengthened, the physical energy consumption is greatly increased. Blocking eleven swords in a row is the upper limit of a useless person's physical strength. After that, he will be exhausted. The same is true for rolling.

This set of fighting methods is the optimal solution that Quinn has developed specifically for shadows.

First, steal a knife to activate the shadow's "resurrection" skill, and then use a roll to avoid the shadow's knife.

If you want to kill the second life, you can only rely on parrying.

In the system's skill description, [Parade] can not only block the opponent's attack, but also put the opponent into a short state of weakness.

This exhausted state is Quinn's only chance to kill Shadow's second life.

But so far, after three hundred rounds and thousands of blocks, Shadow has never been in a state of exhaustion.

This also shows that Quinn has not yet successfully used the [Parade] skill.

Although it was a trial of the promotion ceremony, Quinn felt that it was more like a teaching level prepared for him by the system. As long as he could skillfully use the roll of [Shadow Dies Twice] and the block of [Parade], he could pass it easily.

Shadow is a numerical monster and can only win by relying on mechanics.

Quinn has become very skilled at rolling. In the beginning, he was hacked to death by Shadow a few rounds before he could roll well, but now as long as he wants to roll, he can avoid Shadow's knife 100%.

The success rate of rolling is much higher than [Parry]. It is suitable for dodging, but not for attacking. After he rolls and stands up, Shadow's next knife is coming. If he wants to counterattack, he must rely on [Parry].

But
Round 454: Dish.

Shadow's nose began to take shape, and even his ears were almost fully grown.

It tore Quinn apart, assaulting his brain with agony.

His thoughts became clearer at this moment, as if even Shadow's elusive sword had slowed down.

To successfully bounce back, you need the right timing and direction.
The stronger the enemy is, the more stringent the conditions for triggering the rebound will be.
Shadow is indeed stronger than me.

But how many times has this happened? Even the most demanding conditions should have been met, right?

Relying on his unexplained fighting instinct, every time Quinn and Shadow clashed, they almost always hit the weakest point of the blade. This was the key to his ability to successfully block every time.

Logically speaking, the point that triggers the rebound should be here.

But why.
Sparks flew, the sound of metal clashing was deafening, Quinn's eyes searched among the flashing blades, looking for the opportunity to launch a counterattack.
Falling to the ground once more, Shadow dug out his diaphragm, admiring Quinn's inhuman state. His perception of everything became clear again, even the crackling of the burning wood in the fire was captured in his ears. Without even looking, Quinn could imagine the height of the flames burning.

No, no.

Perhaps the "stronger, harder" nature of Parry and the "stronger, harder" nature of Death Twice are not the same kind of strong.

The difficulty of rolling depends on the opponent's strength. The faster and stronger the opponent is, the harder it is to dodge.

Although Shadow is stronger than Quinn, he feels that he is only as strong as the Sequence Eight strength displayed by the bodyguard Graham in the jewelry store that day. After all, he can react, so the roll is very easy to roll.
However, the strength of the parry does not lie in strength, but in skill.

It is a measure of combat capability.

After fighting for so long, Quinn could be sure that Shadow was at the same level as himself in terms of combat skills. Every blow was crisp and clear. Although there were no fancy techniques, it was filled with a cold murderous intent that prioritized efficiency above all else.

He didn't know where his fighting instinct came from. Perhaps it was the fourth system that had never appeared, or perhaps it was caused by the Demon King. But this instinct should be very strong.

As for how strong it was, he didn't have a clear idea.

Quinn only knew that if he wanted to deflect Shadow's knife, he had to be stronger than Shadow in his fighting instincts.

To seize that fleeting, seemingly non-existent opportunity for a counterattack.

Round 518

【Please defeat your shadow.】

Dang, Dang, Dang——

The drumbeats before the battle sounded from all directions, far more exciting than the drumbeats at the time of death, like a battle horn.

Quinn didn't take advantage of the brief moment before the start to play with knife flowers or daydream, but instead focused his attention on the drums.

After three drum beats, the shadow will be condensed and the battle will begin.

He always thought that the drum was a quirk of the system, added to the background music or something, like the "three, two, one, fighting" announced by the announcer before a round in a fighting game.

However, all the designs of this battle are reasonable and necessary.
I can be resurrected instantly, but my shadow can't?

What's the point of waiting for three seconds? It doesn't even take half a second to steal a life. In the final analysis, the system doesn't need to have such a generation process, and even go to the trouble of creating a second life and an invincibility to prevent him from stealing two lives.
As his hands lost strength, Quinn was defeated by the shadow again.

When you are promoted, you will encounter a shadow. Its numerical explosion is as strong as a monster. You cannot defeat it no matter how hard you try.

Quinn fell on the sofa, watching indifferently as Shadow used a knife to cut a hole in his leg. The pain stimulated his brain, making his perception of the world calmer and clearer.

What are those three seconds before a fight for?
This time, Quinn waited an unusually long time for a new round, perhaps because the knife wound in his chest wasn't so quickly fatal, but he was too lazy to resist and just watched Shadow slowly torture himself.

The longer he remained immersed in this state of pain, the more efficient his thinking became.

etc.
Quinn's eyes narrowed.

He simply raised the knife and slashed it across the neck, starting the next round cleanly and efficiently.

Round 519

【Please defeat your shadow.】

The drums beat, the fire in the fireplace burned, and shadows grew from the ground little by little. Quinn raised his knife as usual, but he didn't aim at the shadows.

He was like a samurai committing seppuku, slashing his left chest with a blade. A blood mark instantly appeared, and the flesh turned inside out. There were a large number of blood vessels and nerves distributed near the heart. The pain instantly rushed to his mind, making his scalp tremble.

With such a deep knife wound, Quinn would soon lose his combat effectiveness due to blood loss.

Three drum sounds sounded, and he drew his sword and stood up. As the sword cut through, the Chinese character for "resurrection" fell on the shadow along with the red light. Quinn seemed to be able to feel the burning jealousy in its eyes.

After five hundred rounds, Shadow transformed from a faceless creature into a monster that could express emotions with its eyes.

The knife flashed, and Quinn repeated the rolls he had done over five hundred times before. This violent movement squeezed the wound on his chest. He felt his flesh squeezed against each other, causing even greater tearing. The pain was amplified, but so was his sensitivity.

The shadow swung out the same sword, fast, accurate, and ruthless. The power and weight of the sword were displayed to the fullest, and it went straight for Quinn's head.

Quinn raised his eyes, his gaze calm and sharp beneath his forehead where veins bulged with pain.

slow.

He could feel every grain of the thread wrapped around the handle touching his skin, he could feel the wind blowing towards him as if it was about to cut his skin, he could feel the fire reflected in the shadow's eyes, as if it was about to devour him -

It's now!

Quinn held the sword horizontally and smashed it with both hands. See! Cut!
Boom! ! !
The two swords collided, producing the most brilliant sparks in the past five hundred rounds. The shadow retreated in disbelief, and the sword in its hand was almost sent flying by an unreasonable elastic force.

The stumble lasted for a very short time, less than half a second.

But this little time is enough for the sword in Quinn's hand.

With a flash of the knife, the shadow's head fell to the ground. This time there was no "resurrection" to give it a third life.

The shadow's newly formed gaze was fixed on Quinn's feet, its mouth still only a tiny outline, preventing it from making any sound, unable to vent its anger as it ended.

Quinn kicked the head with half of his face away.

Damn, that valley effect has struck.

"If you're not good at it, just practice more."

This time, the drum beats were far more passionate than before. Boom, boom, boom, boom, followed by a lonely flute sound announcing victory. The severed shadows turned into streams and flowed back to Quinn's feet.

As the shadows flowed in, a comfortable power sprouted within the body.

[You are currently in the eighth order of the Brave Fate——]

Sekiro

(End of this chapter)