Grey groaned inwardly, but his reaction was still fast. He let the Spear of Purpose back into Joaquin’s ring quickly along with a certain box with an exaggerated name.

Leaping to his feet, he had already summoned his fang daggers into his palms, facing off against Sir Kulin who held out a spear before him.

’Dammit. He’s strong.’ Grey groaned again.

He could feel that Kulin wasn’t of just the Established Class. His pressure wasn’t as great as Baron Giyoto, so he was probably in the Vector Class. But the pressure also wasn’t as great as Captain Terran, so he was probably in the lower tiers.

’Should I run?’ Grey wondered. ’Can I even outrun someone like this?’

Grey took a breath and exhaled, everything flowing smoothly until a pair of short blades extended from the body of the fang daggers.

Regardless, if he wanted a chance to go back to the city and do anything with some normalcy, he couldn’t have any other witnesses.

Kulin frowned. Then with a sudden stomp of his feet, he attacked before Grey could even make his own intentions any clearer.

Grey quickly crossed his blades in front of him.

’I’m really not mistaking it. Why do I feel stronger?’

A slight golden radiance pooled across Grey’s skin as he subconsciously began to use Goblin Warlord Spirit. Or, rather, Paladin Spirit.

Sparks of golden electricity flashed in his eyes and he felt like he saw three flaws of Kulin’s attack before it was even close enough to land.

For a moment, Grey wondered why the hell he had instinctively blocked when he could have definitely counter-attacked. What was he thinking?

BANG.

Grey was sent flying, but his body seemed to naturally absorb the impact. Then it flipped through the air and landed lightly on its feet as though nothing at all had happened.

’This is definitely Core Sync. Everything was just coming so fast and sharp, but it also elevated his entire being. However, at the same time, it was also receiving support from his Paladin Frame.’

When Grey landed on his feet, Kulin was already right in front of him, explosively thrusting his spear.

’So fast... but so slow.’

Grey couldn’t understand the feeling at all, but his body shifted to the side, his head tilting just enough that the blade whizzed by his ear.

Pivoting to the side an instant later, Grey slashed both blood blades at Kulin’s sides.

Chi.

Kulin’s eyes widened and he felt his life flash before his eyes. He didn’t understand how someone so slow and weak could possibly find such a large gap in his defenses.

But the moment Grey’s attack landed, the confusion doubled.

The blood blades shattered to pieces. They couldn’t even make it past Kulin’s Holy Shield.

Holy Shield was one of the most basic and easiest to receive Abilities of the Holy Knight Trial. At the expense of a few points of Holy Energy, it formed a perpetual shield.

In order to deal any damage to a Holy Knight, that shield had to be broken through first.

Usually, it cost quite a bit to trigger its activation. But a knight at Kulin’s level would get a mech capable of storing the necessary energy within it built directly into his armor.

’Fuck me.’ Grey cursed, skipping away and out of the range of Kulin’s attack.

He felt like Kulin was full of openings, but he couldn’t take advantage like this.

Grey let the last bits of the blood blade fall away and he held up his two fang daggers. Level 7 Heart Lance wasn’t strong enough to pierce through the defenses of a Vector Class Holy Knight, but a pair of Legendary daggers had better be.

Sir Kulin hesitated to follow up, but Grey quickly grew impatient and charged himself.

He ducked forward and then weaved back, sliding out of the way of a thrust and slash by Kulin in a vain attempt to keep him back.

Grey’s dagger shot forward like streaking lightning, tapping against the body of Kulin’s sword and making the latter feel as though he was about to tip forward and off balance.

It was just for a moment, but that brief instant was enough for Grey to get close again and erupt with a slash right at Kulin’s liver.

Chi.

This time, there was a crack in Kulin’s Holy Shield, but Grey had to hurriedly dodge and slip out before another follow-up attack could be levied.

Sir Kulin’s eyes were completely sullen behind the slots of his helmet. He "realized" that Grey must just be toying with him. Whoever was in front of him was a sadistic bastard who killed for fun. That was the only explanation he had.

If he turned his back to this sort of villain, he would only die quickly. He had to find a way to take advantage of their lax attitude to strike to kill.

What Sir Kulin didn’t know was that running away from Grey right now was probably about the only thing he could do to survive.

Especially when Grey cracked the Holy Shield and realized there was a mech behind it.

In that brief instant, there was a flicker in Grey’s eyes and he seemed to map out the mech’s structure from the shatter pattern of the Holy Shield alone.

And then he moved, his body following the cadence of the wind as though to ride on its waves.

Kulin’s palms sweated as he gripped his spear harder. He roared to give himself courage and then thrust out dozens of times in quick succession.

Grey’s body weaved through them, drums echoing in his ears as he practically felt the world whispering to him what would happen next.

He stomped a foot to the ground and suddenly accelerated forward, slashing out at Kulin’s Holy Shield once, then ducking and sweeping out toward it from the bottom, only to flip backward and suddenly lunge forward to complete a final thrust.

BOOM.

Kulin was sent flying backward as his Holy Shield shattered to pieces. It felt like it was Grey’s power that forced that, but in reality it was a chain reaction.

Grey hurried to follow up, but Kulin had scrambled up. Whatever logic had been dictating his actions earlier fell on deaf ears as he turned tail and ran as fast as he could away.

Grey came to a stop and cursed beneath his breath.

"Just my fucking luck."