Ark Undead

The two sat in silence for a while before Melanie finally stood up.

She placed her small bag in the corner of the wall, then came to the Undead and gave a graceful bow.

"Please begin today's instruction, teacher."

The Undead finally made a move. He stood up from the campfire and picked up a slender longsword from beside it. Surprisingly, the longsword was not bent, but straight, with a single-edged blade and a very sharp tip and edge.

He reached out, pinched the blade near the hilt with a few fingers, and handed it to Melanie.

Melantha respectfully grasped the straight sword in the undead's hand and took the specially crafted weapon from him.

The immortal picked up a slightly bent, rusty katana from the ground.

The two moved away from the campfire and stood on either side of the room.

"What's today's lesson?" Melanie asked curiously.

"cut."

The immortal spoke succinctly to the seemingly delicate girl before him.

“At my request, I will draw my sword.”

Yes, the first time the well-behaved and adorable Melantha lied was to learn swordsmanship.

And this armored monster who claims to be immortal.

2. Ordinary passersby with armored monsters

Not everyone has the confidence to let students actually cut them with swords, but the survivor clearly has that confidence.

As Melantha's first strike came down, the Undead had already taken a step to the right, deftly dodging Melantha's attack, which was clearly aimed and had a distinct trajectory.

He took his rusty katana and gently pushed it forward, pressing it against Melantha's chest.

The blade is too dull; it's not sharp at all.

After Melantha finished her slashing motion, she felt a slight pressure on her chest and immediately realized that her attack had been completely seen through by the teacher in front of her.

Melantha took two steps back and gripped the straight knife firmly in her hand again.

"Trajectory".

Like the sound of trees cracking and drying, the Undead uttered two words. Then, like Melantha, he returned to his original position and gripped his katana.

Melantha nodded slightly; she knew what "undead" meant—that the trajectory of her swing was incorrect.

Long before she forcefully slashed down with her raised straight sword, the Undead had already seen her gaze and the direction of her wrist's turn. Once you understood the direction of these two things, dodging Melantha's slash would be as easy as drinking water.

After Melantha steadied her breathing, she gripped her straight sword, raised her hand again, stepped forward, and slashed at the undead.

This time, the blade sliced ​​across Melantha's left shoulder, all the way to her lower right corner.

The armored monster in front of the girl simply took a step to the left of her to dodge the slash that covered a considerable area.

The blade was less than a centimeter away from the shoulder armor, and the coldness of the blade permeated the armor itself.

The Undead raised his hand again and delivered a slash, which landed firmly on Melantha's left rib.

Melantha blushed; this was the second time the undead had seen through her.

"The idea is good." The Undead didn't reprimand him, but instead offered a slight compliment. "The range is large. However, the defense..."

The Undead's idea was that Melantha's plan was good: to use wide-range attacks to try and force the Undead back, preventing him from getting a chance to attack.

But the Undead still managed to find a blind spot in the attack.

"Yes."

Melantha responded, then took two steps back and gripped the straight knife firmly in her hand.

She wanted to make the most of this rare weekly opportunity, the result of a long time she had spent persuading the Undead to teach her her combat skills.

Actually, using the word "persuasion" isn't quite accurate. But for Melanie, achieving her goal can be called persuasion.

Their meeting took place on a damp, rainy day.

At that time, Melantha had not yet started practicing fencing. She was physically weak, and even the backpack she carried to class every day sometimes left her breathless.

That day, Melansa was away studying. After class, in order to have a hot dinner in time, Melansa took an umbrella and chose a secluded alley.

The teacher's residence was located near the lower city, and with the sky darkening, the gangsters who were originally in the lower city made their way to the upper city.

Melantha, by sheer bad luck, happened to arrive at this alley. By the time she glimpsed the man approaching with ill intent through the raindrops and the gaps under her umbrella, she had already missed her best chance to escape.

The girl's fear did not break her. Faced with the thugs' unreasonable demands, she had no choice but to hand over all her valuables. This calm and rational choice prevented Melantha from receiving much worse treatment.

Those thugs clearly didn't want to offend a young girl who looked like she was from a wealthy and powerful family. They got what they wanted and were already planning to leave.

Before leaving, he spent a little time threatening the rich young lady not to call the police, otherwise the consequences would be dire.

Unfortunately, just as the thug was saying these words, a person walked up from the end of the alley.

This is the strange armored man shrouded in black robes who just went to the upper city to buy some cheap, good wood.

He chose this alley to take a shortcut. When he turned around, he saw those thugs harassing a little girl.

In fact, the Undead never intended to care about this matter; to him, it was of no value whatsoever.

So, the strange man in black robes, carrying wood, came up to the group of thugs who were gathered in a circle and began to speak.

Excuse me.

The thugs didn't understand what "not dying" meant. In their minds, asking them to make way was a foolish choice, let alone witnessing the extortion.

After a brief moment of thought, one of the thugs pulled out a dagger hidden at his waist and stabbed the armored monster.

But the imagined scene of injury did not occur. Instead, a chilling sound of metal scraping against metal was heard.

Sizzle...

The blade slid backward across the black-robed man's body, tearing through the tattered black robe and revealing the armor underneath, which was already covered in wounds.

Then the man looked at the thug who had attacked him and put down the wooden frame he was carrying on his back.

He reached out his right hand and pulled out the rusty long sword hanging behind his back.

In the next few seconds, Melantha watched helplessly as the armored monster used a rusty longsword to cut down several thugs.

Then the armored monster looked at Melantha, who had just been surrounded, through the gaps in its helmet.

"You...you're coming?"

Melantha shook her head frantically, even the little hat she was wearing on her head was thrown off.

"No...no, I'm not with them!"

"Ah."

The armored monster sheathed his long sword, hung it on his back, then put the wooden frame back on his back and walked up to Melantha, who was standing in the middle of the road, looking down at her.

Melantha thought the armored monster was up to something, but he just spoke in a voice like a dry tree being crushed.

Excuse me.

Melantha instinctively stepped aside, and the armored monster walked past her and headed towards the lower city.

Melanie, who was well-educated, knew that she had been helped unintentionally, and that she should at least say thank you.

"Um... sir?"

The Undead stopped and turned to look at Melantha.

Not a word.

Melantha finally saw the armor hidden beneath the black robe, which was already turning black.

She mustered her courage, bowed to the immortal, and said sweetly.

"Thank you... thank you for your help, sir."

After a brief hesitation, she added another sentence.

"May I ask what I can do for you... what can I do to repay your kindness?"

The armored monster remained silent for a while, seemingly pondering why the girl had asked for repayment of some favor.

Perhaps finally realizing that he had unintentionally saved the girl, the armored monster appeared before Melantha a few seconds later.

He extended his right hand.

"money."

3. The teacher with five gold coins

The rusty katana slashed towards the girl's neck. But halfway there, it was blocked by a sharp straight blade, greatly reducing its momentum.

Seizing this hard-won opportunity, the girl used her sharp straight sword to slash at the hand of the person wielding the katana, trying to force the enemy to release his weapon.

But the katana was suddenly withdrawn, and the wielder moved up along the left path, his right hand holding the katana, and gently touched the girl's neck from below.

Melantha's hand, which had drawn her sword, froze, then slowly withdrew.

The immortal took two steps back and stood up straight, looking at the girl in front of him.

"progress."

The Undead nodded; he saw the girl's progress. Even though she had only parried one of his attacks, she had finally figured out the trajectory of his blade. She just didn't know how to defend herself after closing in.

"Swing the knife, one hundred times. Don't forget."

After saying this, the Undead went to sit down by the fire, put his rusty katana aside, and stared at the fire without saying a word.

He's always like this. As long as no one comes to him, he can sit by the campfire and stare at it all day long. Nobody knows what he's thinking.

The undead picked a piece of wood from the nearby pile of wood and threw it into the fire in front of him. The wood, which had just burned out, immediately got plenty of fuel and continued to burn.

Melantha stared at the undead's retreating figure. As a young girl, she couldn't comprehend what kind of figure it was. But she could sense the emptiness beneath the undead's armor; his heart seemed hollowed out, devoid of anything.

Melantha's relationship with the Undead is limited to that of employer and employee. Even the way Melantha addresses them as "teacher" is simply her own habit.

When Melantha gave the Undead the only pocket money she had, the Undead turned and left. But in Melantha's memory, that departing figure was deeply etched into her mind.

Later, after Melantha began learning fencing, she encountered the Undead again in the Upper City. She mustered her courage, chased after him, and grabbed the hem of his black robe.