Dragon Order of Flame - Volume 1 - Chapter 5.6

Volume 1

Chapter 5 Part 6

Staring at the frightful amount of ki being released by the Count, Luke asked.

“Are you not going to use your sword?”

“My son wants to fight me with his bare fists, so why would I use a sword. I’ll fix your manners for you, but I don’t plan on crippling or killing you.”

“You’re looking down on me too much. You’ll soon regret it, and when you do, I’ll give you time to pull out your sword.”

Luke snorted and changed his stance. He completely released his defensive stance, and was slowly walking towards the Count with a stance full of holes.

The Count frowned. He understood Luke’s skills very well through the Orc subjugation. Luke should’ve realized the huge gap between them, but the Count couldn’t understand why Luke was approaching him in such a way.

“You must think that I have no skill in fighting hand-to-hand.”

The Count snorted and threw out a punch. Different from the inexperienced Marvin, the Count had deep knowledge regarding hand-to-hand combat. Although weaker than when he used his sword, if the Count combined his fists with his gangchesul, there was enough force to easily slay monsters.

As if to intimidate Luke, the Count threw out his right fist. Luke’s height was barely above 160 cm., and the Count’s height was about 180 cm., so there was a big difference between the length of their arms. It was a huge mountain to overcome during an actual fight.

However, Luke did not stop his advancement, even as he stared at the incoming fist. He raised his left hand, placed it by the side of the incoming fist, and nimbly twisted his arm.

Bang!

Although it was a simple movement, the Count’s arm was bounced away considerably. At the same time, Luke’s right fist flew out like lightning.

Hoooooonnnnggg!

The sound of wind being split apart could be heard. Feeling the chill down his spine, the Count quickly retreated backwards. If he did not go through years of hellish training or tune his senses through countless amounts of battle, the Count would have been struck squarely by that attack.

Luke’s attack did not finish with that. At the same speed as the Count was retreating backwards, Luke rushed forward and threw out a round-house kick.

Baam!

As the kick landed on the Count’s thigh, a stirring sound rang out. The Count’s body was wrapped in an enormous amount of ki for defense, yet it felt like his bone was ringing and a sharp pain could be felt.

Pa ba ba bat!

The moment the Count staggered, both of Luke’s fists flew out like a violent storm. The Count blocked with his own fists, but not even 2-3 seconds in, his movements became disorderly. Luke used that gap to relentlessly explode on the Count.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

A groan was released from the Count. Luke’s attack barely utilized the movement of his upper body, so the Count had assumed that there wouldn’t be much force behind his attacks, yet the moment the attacks hit the Count’s body, the shock could even be felt within his innards.

As the Count stumbled, he flung his arm with a wide attack to push Luke back. Luke obediently retreated and asked.

“Why don’t you use your sword now? Just as your specialty is to use your sword, my specialty is in bare handed combat. I will admit that you are able to use your fists in an actual battle, but I’m easily able to take down people who use weapons during a fight.”

“Where did you learn to fight like this?”

“From my teacher, of course. By the way, when my mother passed, I had always wanted to give a good thrashing to my unknown father, and now that I’m doing it in reality………it’s quite refreshing.”

“You ill-mannered brat.”

Staring at Luke who was widely smiling, the Count put his hand on his sword. However, he did not pull out his sword.

“Since I can’t kill my son……..”

Clang!

Using a lock to fasten his sword to the scabbard, the Count removed the whole thing off his belt. Noticing that the Count was going to fight with the sword still placed in the scabbard, Luke grumbled.

“Father, with your strength, even if you fight with the sword in the scabbard, it’s still very easy to die you know?”

“At least you won’t be split into two pieces.”

The Count snorted and got into a stance. Merely, even with this, his ki underwent a drastic change. They were 5 meters apart, yet Luke could feel a sharp ki exuding off the Count that could easily rip him into 2 pieces.

‘As expected of father. He’s a completely different person from when he’s holding a sword and when he isn’t.’

<I don’t understand why you put yourself through so much hardship. Wouldn’t it have been better if you just beat him while he was bare handed?>

Watching the confrontation between father and son, Volkar spoke. Talking as if he was talking to the Count, Luke responded.

“To have a sincere conversation between father and son, they should fight with everything they have, right? Father, let’s have a refreshing fight.”

“Sound’s good. But, there’s one thing that I want to ask.”

Compared to before the fight, there wasn’t any anger that could be seen on the Count’s face anymore. He was filled with admiration for his son’s skills, and a change could be seen in his heart, because the Count now saw Luke as an equal opponent. Just as Luke had thought, the Count was destined to be a martial artist who could only converse through fighting.

As soon as Luke nodded his head, the Count asked.

“Did you hide your skills during our previous spar?”

“Yes.”

Luke candidly nodded his head.

Of course, Luke had given it his all at the time, but the Count would not have believed him if he had told the Count that his skills had rapidly advanced after that time, so he decided to just give the Count the answer that he was looking for. The Luke from during the spar, and the Luke now, had a 10-year difference in experience and skill, but who would believe that?

“I see. Was this what you’ve been planning since then?”

“It was after seeing you more closely. Knowing how strong you are, I couldn’t just show you my full power, right?”

“What a shrewd fellow. Well, let’s see what your real skills are like.”

The Count closed his mouth and stared at Luke. Luke also stared back, and as he got into position, an overwhelming tension overcame him making it difficult to breathe.

‘As expected, there is a big gap in our gangchesul. It’s a gap that I can’t do anything about. There will be no winning chance for me if I fight him head on.’

Feeling the intimidating ki radiating off the Count, Luke had changed his prediction to that of assurance. Having had plenty of time to train his body, the Count’s muscle strength, dexterity, stamina, and reaction speed were all above Luke’s. Luke had only trained in gangchesul for a short amount of time, and physically, he was still growing, so he hadn’t had as much time to train. Comparing only their physical abilities, Luke was not a match to the Count.

What was left then, was to be above the Count through skills, but this was also not possible. Although Luke’s gangchesul was higher than expected because of his exhaustive training, the Count had plenty of experience with using his sword skills through actual combat, and it was difficult to find any weak points with it. Furthermore, Luke was barehanded, while the Count used a sword, so there a was a big difference in distance that needed to be covered. To overstate it into a figure of speech, it would be like comparing a bow against a sword. One could fire away from a distance, while the other had to get closer into attacking range.

‘All I can do is catch him off guard.’

Luke’s winning chance would come from the fact that the Count did not know much about him. Luke knew how high the Count’s gangchesul and sword skills were, so it would be easier to find the flow of things. However, the Count did not know the attribute of the Sigma Order that Luke had mastered, and there was a lack of experience in fighting bare handed opponents.

‘And the ability to release my ki outwards.’

A sparkle could be seen in Luke’s eyes. The moment he took a step forward, the Count was startled and he suddenly stabbed forward into the empty space.

Shwinggg!

With the Count’s overwhelming physical abilities, and sword skills that were polished to the limit, the sword moved with a speed that was difficult to see with the naked eye. If Luke had gone into the Count’s attacking range at this moment, he would’ve been cut.

However, surprisingly, the Count’s sword only hit the empty air. He didn’t miss on purpose. The Count felt that Luke had come within his range and had thrown out an attack with his sword. However, was it that Luke was only half a step within the range, and he quickly retreated when the sword appeared in front of him?

‘No?!’

The Count was surprised. He could not believe that he had mistaken the distance of his sword and attacking range.

Luke applied a technique onto himself that could raise his speed in dashing forward, and instantly rushed forth towards the Count. Having used the exact timing of when the sword was stabbed forward, the Count had no way to impede Luke’s dash. The moment the Count stared at Luke, who was now below him, he felt something terrifying as a fist flew toward his way.

Chwaaakkkk!

The Count’s shirt ripped. Even though the Count had exposed an opening, he utilized the overwhelming gap between their physical abilities, and dodged Luke’s attack. However, he was unable to dodge it completely, leading to his shirt ripping open and blood now trickling down from his wound.

Remaining calm, even though the attack failed, Luke continued with his next attack. He kicked the Count’s thigh with a low round-house kick, then threw out a light attack with his left fist.

Bang!

However, the moment Luke’s fist touched the Count’s body, an explosive sound rang out. Although the force behind the fist attack was light, Luke concentrated his ki and made it explode at the end.

“Aghh!”

Cutting his breath short, the Count withstood Luke’s attack. He then immediately swung his sword down onto Luke’s head.

Even Luke was surprised with this response. When the Count noticed that he couldn’t dodge Luke’s attack, he concentrated his ki on his body to reduce the damage from the attack.

Shwing!!

The moment Luke barely dodged the Count’s attack, the Count kicked off the ground and rushed towards Luke. Predicting where Luke would retreat to, the Count tried to tackle him with his body.

‘As expected of father! He’s definitely a worthy opponent!’

Luke placed his hand on the Count’s arm and then launched his foot into the air. As he did, Luke remained untouched as he easily negated the brunt of the Count’s tackle and moved backwards. As soon as he felt the attack weaken, Luke stepped his foot back onto the ground as light could be seen within his eyes.

Bang!

The Count’s neck turned sideways. Luke hadn’t even touched him, but something that couldn’t be seen suddenly bashed the Count in the face.

And, as the Count’s concentration dispersed because of that blow, Luke quickly put strength into the foot that had just stepped back onto the ground. With that strength, he transferred it to his knee, from his knee to his hip, from his hip to his shoulder, then perfectly released the built-up strength through his palm.

With perfect timing, Luke released the concentration of ki through his palm that was placed on the Count, and within the Count’s body, an explosion of ki occurred.

Boom!

“UGHH!”

The Count groaned as his innards shook. At that moment, Luke kicked out. With amazing resilience and flexibility, Luke’s leg drew an arc and exploded onto the Count’s thick neck.

Crunch!

With the kick being received from so close, the Count’s body fell to the side. Watching the Count falling, Luke was sure of his victory.

However, it was then that it occurred. A terrifying light could be seen in the Count’s eyes as he was falling, and he stabbed his arm out into the ground.

Bang!

‘This is Earth Wave!’

It was a type of skill that transferred ki into the ground, making any chosen location to explode. It was a skill that Luke also loved using before, but because his ki wasn’t high enough, he was unable to use it or defend against it.

“Ugh!”

The Count raised his body in front of the staggering Luke. The Count breathed in deeply and spit out some blood.

“What a surprise. I’m so shocked I have nothing to say.”

Staring at Luke, the Count released a dispirited laugh. It wasn’t because he was cornered into a dangerous situation by Luke. Having analyzed all the incomprehensible changes that had been encountered during the battle, the Count came up with an incredible conclusion.

“Luke, how did you reach the stage of being able to release your ki outwards?”