F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 289: Darkest Horse, Unraveled

Daru didn’t respond.

Firstly, because he didn’t feel the need to, and secondly, because responding would mean revealing his strategy like an idiot.

Seriously, who would explain what they would do to their opponent? He couldn’t help but feel that the question in and of itself was dumb.

Johann, however, took his silence positively. The S-ranker thought he was being pressured hard.

Daru was definitely being pressured, but hard? His foe would have to work harder than this.

And harder Johann worked, confidence and motivation skyrocketing. His initial theory and in-head simulation that his terrain manipulation would devour his opponent’s straightforward style was proving true, after all.

Smirk turning into a cold grin, the S-ranker moved.

He pointed his blade to the skies, causing two swords to form from shards of earth, both threatening to stab at Daru.

But Johann wasn’t done yet.

Since the bastard was so keen on ruining his plans, he shall destroy him to compensate.

Simultaneous to his sword, Taiya, once again absorbing earthen essence, random rocky protrusions and pillars rose around Daru, making it more difficult for him to move as he wished.

Daru only stood in a defensive stance, turning his head from time to time to glance at the obstructions.

Fighting an S-ranker with such abilities is indeed tricky, and he could imagine how Taiya defeated that S-ranker Veshari, who was sent to the Crystal Hollows during the Novice Invasion event, especially now that he’s personally experiencing the annoying terrain manipulation.

But naturally, Daru has a plan.

His eyes reflected his deep focus as he watched his foe and kept the positions of the modified earth around him.

The next moment, the arena trembled lightly as Johann made his move, dashing towards his opponent with two flying swords following him.

The first one stabbed forth, forcing Daru to lean towards one side to dodge, and ruining his balance slightly.

Then came Taiya, crashing down upon him.

Daru quickly adjusted his position, raising Onimaru Kunitsuna to block. With the increased weight of his opponent’s sword, he was sent skidding back again, and then the other earthen sword shot forth.

He swatted it away with a powerful swing, but was once again held down to a defensive position in the process.

Johann took the chance to close in once more, another earthen sword hovering beside him, as he slashed down on his struggling foe.

The terrain manipulation savant was soon in full control.

Johann utilized the entire stage to his advantage, masterfully mixing his moderate advantages with his furious assault.

He gave Daru no chance to even counterattack.

A slash, a chop, an earthen sword, then a pillar moved in an attempt to block the prey’s path of retreat, only to be dodged by a somersault.

Every time Daru would jump, a tiny rock sword would form from a random protrusion and would attempt to worsen his position, if not damage him directly.

The moment he landed, he would have to defend himself against the furious earthen assault.

The match was all Taiya.

Naturally, the crowd cheered in excitement, too, even those rooting for Omaru. The depth of this "darkest horse" was finally unraveled in the very first match he faced a true top-ranker.

Those were the resonating thoughts in their minds, and while most found it a pity, they were also relieved.

People felt as if "order had been restored".

It didn’t seem like Omaru had other options, after all, as he was being pushed around, battered, and bruised — his domineering fighting style fully suppressed by the unfriendly terrain.

His body was also already bleeding red cubic particles, a level one bleeding status active, which was soon to be level two.

It seemed to be only a matter of time. Johann himself thought the same, throwing taunts consistently:

"Haha, why aren’t you keeping that same energy from earlier, Omaru?"

"What, you think top-rankers are so simple to defeat?"

"Did you believe your sword’s cheap trick would give you the championship? Delusional!"

"See? If only you agreed to my proposal, you would have left with your fragile little victorious image! This will teach you not to bite more than you can chew..."

In the stands, Lynn and a few others felt extremely vindicated, thanks to Taiya humiliating Daru while dismantling his "invincible" image in front of everyone.

It even seemed as if the S-ranker was merely toying with him.

There were a few, however, who had strange expressions on their faces. They had a sneaking suspicion of what could happen if this continued.

However, due to how one-sided and close Omaru was to being defeated — truly one small mistake away from being badly mangled by his foe, this thought remained at the back of their minds.

They were aware of it, but were not really thinking about it.

As time passed, however, this "thought" slowly crawled its way to the front.

Meanwhile, Johann was still going all out in playing with his food, relishing the satisfaction of every new wound he inflicted on his opponent.

Daru was now down to half his total hit points, and his comeback was looking more and more improbable in the eyes of the crowd.

In Johann’s, too.

"Hahaha! Come on, Daru Finnley, answer me, what will you do? Don’t tell me you’re just going to get toyed with until your final, embarrassing moment?" taunted the S-ranker again, breathing heavily in sheer delight, satisfaction, and a sense of vindication.

It was then that Daru responded with the faintest of grins.

"You haven’t even defeated me yet, and you’re already speaking as if you’ve won."

"Heh, it’s clear as day to everyone who will win, fool! Could it be that after talking so big, you believe that people will applaud you for your desperate yet helpless stand? For merely causing me trouble? Hahaha! It doesn’t work like that once you’ve decided to let your mouth fly, idiot!"

To Johann’s confusion, the grin on his foe’s hateful face only widened.

In response, the fury in his heart grew, too.

The S-ranker gritted his teeth.

"Fine, you think you’re a tough guy? Let’s see you keep that same energy later..."