A Novel Concept - A death a day, MC will live anyway!-Chapter 416 - 405: Error, defeat not found part 2

The Gaesert laughed before dashing forward, leaving an afterimage in his wake. His base speed was insane. Strength and constitution might have been his highest attributes, but his agility was no less daunting.

Priam had no hope of keeping pace without the full support of his kinetic mastery. [Kinetic Sovereignty] shadowed his every motion, bolstering both his swiftness and the weight of his strikes and parries.

The Juggernaut met the charge with his spear held high. Blocks, parries, and dodges blurred together as he backpedaled. Against such ferocity, there was little else he could do. Even with Kazuki's training and the aid of [Hoplite Warpath], his martial level wasn't enough to retaliate against a Tier 2. More than raw stats, the gulf came down to experience.

Half of his draconic vivacity locked on survival, Priam clung to defense. Meanwhile, he parceled off a parallel thought, and his add-on, toward dissecting his foe's style.

Gaillard favored wide, sweeping movements. His colossal strength needed reach to manifest. When he drew his fist back, it always ended in a hook that numbed Priam's arms. Whenever he dipped low, it was to surge forward beneath Priam's guard. In those moments, his elbows and skull became his deadliest weapons.

Priam grasped the patterns, but recognition alone was insufficient. A brawl was no game of chess. His foe's agility and quickness exceeded his own. Even if he read the move, he lacked the time to counter it properly.

Damn! I need to fight on instinct.

Jasmine had tried to teach him to heed [Homo Elysian Predation], but progress was slow. By her reckoning, Priam was too cerebral, an intellectual who trusted his mind more than his body.

He needed something else.

At last, the torrent of strikes ebbed, and Gaillard stepped back.

"Why aren't you using your flames?"

Through exhaustion, Priam took a beat to process the question. "Well… I don't want to be a one-trick pony. No offense, but I already know I could beat you with Pyro. So I'm testing something else. More than that—I feel like I'm on the verge of understanding something important."

"You'll lose if you keep this up."

Priam consulted Micro and grimaced. His body was a canvas of wounds. For all his effort, blocking nine of ten strikes, the last always slipped through. Bruises of every hue marbled his torso, with several ribs cracked. As the awareness struck, the pain hit like a tsunami.

The Juggernaut rolled his shoulders and lifted his spear. "Don't want to sound arrogant, but you'll need to do better if you want to win. I'm resilient."

"Not as much as me. I was taking boar charges at ten."

"Not a competition, but I was tanking my mother's slaps at three."

"..."

"I don't need your pity, man, we've all been through tough stuff. Come on, let's get back to it."

A flash passed through Gaillard's eyes. His breathing was rapid, almost panting. Then, he inhaled, and Priam understood he was coming back. The next moment, the Gaesert lunged.

As a kick smashed into Promesse, Priam smiled. He had just realized something: as a warrior, his enemy was paying close attention to his own breathing.

Exhale on the uppercut. Breath held just before a heavy strike. Three punches, then an inhale. A wide opening of the lungs after every storm of attacks to re-oxygenate his body. When Priam swung Promesse at the midsection, the enemy held his breath, bracing for the blow.

The Champion feinted low. Instead of suspending his breath, Gaillard exhaled, giving away his intention. Not a block. A deflection before a counterattack.

The prediction held. Priam grinned. Moments later, Gaillard feigned retreat, then breathed out. The mark of an attack. He's about to surge back.

The burst of acceleration would have taken Priam unawares, if he hadn't already read the cue. [Kinetic Sovereignty] hardened the air, dragging Gaillard as though through mire, slowing the giant just enough for Promesse to pierce one of his eyes. Shock and pain warred across the colossus's features. Priam smiled.

The fight raged on. Despite his fatigue, the Juggernaut exulted. Compared to raw instinct, reading his enemy's breath was simpler. Having maximum affinity with the Concept helped.

Priam leaned into it, forcing his soul to let go of Pyro and Mist. The two giants gave way, leaving room for Breath.

Deciphering Gaillard's inhalations and exhalations became second nature. The warrior's lungs betrayed his every intent, letting Priam read him like a book. The colossus no longer had secrets. Some attacks were so telegraphed they were countered before they even finished winding up.

Priam punished every ponderous, overextended blow with a lightning riposte. He harried Gaillard whenever the man tried to reset. He yielded ground the moment a combo loomed.

Of course, Gaillard was no novice. Soon, the warrior adapted, trying to feint Priam's breath-reading. To the Juggernaut, it was good training.

With the pace of battle, injuries mounted, but now both bled.

Still victory was far. [Suffocating Thrust] and [Hoplite Slash] proved too shallow, too weak to matter against a Tier 2. His spear skills lacked the bite to make Gaillard sweat. Micromanagement would not save him. To win, he needed to play the macro. Not a hundred dangerous cuts, one lethal strike.

Thrust. Step back. High feint. Low feint. Swing. Priam smiled. Like a student reaching the final step of an exercise, he knew the answer was close.

Rohan perched on the edge of his seat as if leaning closer might let him join the fight. Once the jealousy drained from his chest, he couldn't help but admire the duel unfolding. Everyone had assumed Priam would use his wings and kinetic mastery to kite his opponent. Hit-and-run wasn't the most glorious way to win, but it was efficient—especially when his flames burned hot enough to melt steel. More than enough to set Gaillard's hairy chest ablaze.

Instead, the Champion had chosen the martial path.

"He's good with that spear," muttered a warrior at Rohan's right. "Gaillard's known for being a bloody monster. Just lacking a Mythic skill to hope for the leader title."

"He's no Kazuki," Léo replied, frost in his voice. "But yes, he's good."

Rohan agreed. Priam wasn't a prodigy, but he wielded his spear with the competence expected from someone trained under Kazuki Arashi. Still, if the First could hold his own on the local stage, he was nowhere near carving out a name for himself in the Wandering Islands, let alone in Elysium. Not with the spear. Rohan knew, because he stood in the same boat.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

However, it wasn't Priam's spear work that drew his eye, but his reading of the fight. His stance, his positioning, his awareness of both opponent and environment were the marks of a seasoned warrior. He was always in the right place, focused on the key elements, navigating the flow of the fight with an almost feline grace. For someone with so little true experience, it was astounding.

But not nearly as impressive as his rate of growth.

Rohan could scarcely fathom how anyone could improve so quickly. Priam seemed immune to the tension of a death duel, oblivious to pain, too consumed on getting better. At first, he had done nothing but retreat. Now he was finding his rhythm, punishing every overconfident move, every lapse in Gaillard's form. The more pressure he was under, the faster he adapted.

"Do you think he's burning his Potential to fuel his growth?" a guard asked.

From the corner of his eye, Rohan caught Esmée's flinch. Suppressing the stab of jealousy, he cleared his throat.

"Did the princess notice something we missed?"

Esmée hesitated until her brother's hand came to rest on her shoulder. "Answer. Honestly."

"His first racial Talent, [Homo Elysian Obsession] synergizes with his spirit," she explained in her melodious voice. "When the First sets his mind upon a purpose, he dedicates all his being to its fulfillment, even unto the exhaustion of his body and soul. If one considers [Hoplite Warpath], a Talent forged for violence, and his innate aptitude… one arrives at a being of nigh-infinite potential. Most people can't sustain such a state of mind, too distracted by death, or pain. Priam, however, is not shackled by such trifles. Better yet, he smiles. He is having fun. Is it any wonder, then, that he soars?"

In the princess's voice, Rohan heard admiration. He wanted to growl, to bristle, but it would have been hypocrisy. He too found himself admiring the Juggernaut's mindset.

Fuck. If only I was born a century earlier…

Activating a skill, Gaillard accelerated, a savage grin tearing across his face.

Micro and [Kinetic Sovereignty] surged in answer to the storm of blows. The pressure was immense and [Priam's System] opened the floodgates of Potential. His draconic greed balked, but the Juggernaut's will enforced the decision: a breakthrough was within reach.

The two opponents danced to the sound of their guttural cries.

Priam shut his eyes, using his Domain to monitor his opponent's breathing. The Champion dodged, parried, blocked, and feinted, with Promesse always angled to hinder Gaillard's movements. In the space of three heartbeats, the duelists traded a hundred blows. Then clarity and inspiration came, delivered by the lightning of Potential.

As the Gaesert's skill ended, the young warrior drew a deep breath and shifted a foot back. Two signs of withdrawal. Gaillard pressed in, a predator unwilling to release wounded prey.

Priam smiled. His trap had worked. By manipulating his own breathing, he had lured his opponent exactly where he wanted him. The colossus was overextending, and the Juggernaut punished him.

[Kinetic Sovereignty]. Spear Mastery. Heroic Aura. [Tribulation Heroic Strike].

Promesse shot forward, sliding past a tardy guard, and buried itself in a soft eye. The inspection skill cast at the start of the fight had not lied: the orifices of Thick Skin were his weakness.

Opening his eyes, Priam saw surprise carved into Gaillard's face. Suspended half a meter off the ground, the Gaesert hung impaled on the spearpoint driven into his skull. A testament to the hardness of his bones, the spear did not come out the back of his head.

"Well fought," Gaillard rasped despite the extreme lobotomy.

"Well fought," Priam echoed.

The adrenaline drained from his system, leaving only pain. It didn't matter. While Zulkar roared the winner's name and the crowd went wild, Priam's eyes were only on his notifications.

Ideal upgrade available for [Battle Flow - Rare].

Prerequisites met:

[Homo Elysian Predation]

[Hoplite Warpath]

Breath Concept

Reading the intentions of a Tier 2.

Defeating a Tier 2 by manipulating the flow of a fight.

Ideal Upgrade unlocked:

[Breath of the Battle - Epic] - Through your breath, and that of your enemies, you read the tide of battle. Ideal upgrade potential. Potential Cost: 320

You have selected the skill [Breath of the Battle - Epic].

POT -320

[Breath of the Battle - Epic] - Breath is the basis of life. Is it any wonder it is also the foundation of war? By listening to your enemy's breath, you predict their movements. By manipulating your own, you mislead them. Your bodies are instruments, your breathing the music, and this skill the score. To read it is to be omniscient. To write it, omnipotent.

This skill allows you to both discern and shape the rhythm of combat.

Limited effectiveness against undead, Var Elegis, robots, Var Elegis, aquatic creatures, spaceborne creatures, specters, elementals, Var Elegis… and combatants who forget to breathe while fighting.

PERC +3

DEXT +3

META (Perception) +3

Nice. That should work against most of my rivals. Except Arnold, I guess, Priam mused, glancing up toward the stands. There, the Tyrant was already preparing to leap into the arena. His first duel would pit him against an Aelbe.

Priam had no love for that clan, yet still grimaced at the slaughter about to unfold.

Hope Léo brought a coffin. I know a homunculus about to bury his dreams.

Status:

PHYSICAL:

Strength 1 259

Constitution 2 295

Agility 1 659

Vitality 2 211

Perception 998 (+3)

MENTAL:

Vivacity (D) 666

Dexterity 988 (+3)

Memory 1 219

Willpower 1 310

Charisma 1 010

META:

Meta-affinity (O) 1 459

Meta-focus 902 (+2)

Meta-endurance 1 686

Meta-perception 876 (+5)

Meta-chance 1 367

Meta-authority 1018

Potential: 43 592 (-317)

Tier 0

[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 1 200 / 3 attributes > 1 800 / 1 attribute > 2 400

Next arc already complete on Patreon (50+ chaps ahead) if you want to find out what happens next!

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