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Boudo boldly approached Lecan while shouldering his battle hammer.
His helmeted head tilted to the left.
『Ooh? That a Divine Steel Sword? Been a while since I last seen one. I see, you might just manage to cut me with that yeah.』
『I'm gonna end this fight before you clicked into high gear!』 "<Flame Spear>!"
Lecan dashed at Boudo as the <Flame Spear> landed on Boudo's face.
Boudo always starts out a fight against formidable foes with a slow walk. Then it'll gradually turn into a dash and rapid flurries of attacks. By the end, he will eventually move at high speed unleashing terrifying barrages of attacks. By this point Boudo's face looks akin to a mad bear thirsting for human flesh. The source of his <Man-eating Ursa> epithet.
Even when Boudo has reached his maximum speed, he can't hope to outrun Lecan, but since the chain attacks are a pain to deal with, Lecan intends to end this duel before it gets to that point.
Unperturbed by the flames occupying his vision, Boudo switched his battle hammer from his right hand to his left hand. Lecan drove his solid sacred silver sword on Boudo's left upper arm.
It got cut. But it didn't dig deep.
(Tch. He foresaw that.)
Boudo had anticipated Lecan's attack and used <Hardening>.
"<Power>!"
A giant battle hammer zoomed at Lecan's head.
Boudo's battle hammer has a long grip and a large pommel. Meanwhile the blade on Solid Sacred Silver sword is short, thin and light. Since the two's statures are about equal, Boudo has the upper hands in range.
"<Wind>!"
Lecan cast <Gust> to leap backward and immediately stepped to forward left. The battle hammer went to the right, gouging out the ground.
At the same time, solid sacred silver sword cut Boudo's right upper arm.
(Got him!)
Lecan's sword cut deep into Boudo's armor this time around.
Boudo could only use very weak <Hardening> when he was in the middle of attacking or moving around.
Thus, Lecan simply has to keep dodging Boudo's attacks while cutting at both his arms in the same exact moment.
This should eventually damage those arms.
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Once he's no longer able to swing that battle hammer around, the victor would be decided.
Boudo swung down his battle hammer diagonally, Lecan read the trajectory and closed in on him while dodging and cutting at his left upper arm.
Boudo immediately swung the battle hammer with the opposite end.
Lecan reflexively leaped back. He only managed to inflict a shallow cut.
A direct hit from Boudo's hammer could potentially incapacitate Lecan. Not even Great Flame Dragon's armor could stave off an <Impact Penetration>-infused strike from that battle hammer. He was made aware of this fact in their first exchange.
Boudo swung down his battle hammer from upper left.
Lecan dodged to the right and was about to leap forward when the battle hammer suddenly curved to the right, thus he dodged to the right instead.
The battle hammer dragged the hem of Lecan's overcoat.
He almost lost his balance but managed to recover by forcefully twisting his body to the right.
(Overcoat's in the way.)
"<Flame Spear>! <Flame Spear>! <Flame Spear>! <Flame Spear>!"
Lecan shot a barrage of <Flame Spears> directed at Boudo's face.
Boudo has a high innate resistance against physical and magical attacks, adding <Hardening> to that makes him virtually unaffected by magic attacks. But an explosion right in his face should make him lose Lecan for a moment. Boudo's not so good with detection.
Lecan took some distance away, took Argent Flame Wolf's overcoat and threw it in the spot.
And then he rushed at Boudo.
Boudo swung down the battle hammer from upper left to lower right.
Lecan slashed at Boudo's right upper arm.
Boudo swung his battle hammer from right to left.
Lecan slashed at Boudo's left upper arm.
This routine continued for a while.
Boudo gradually increased the frequency of his swings from two, three to even four.
Lecan could barely keep up dodging this storm of attacks as he kept cutting at Boudo's arms.
(My swings feel too light.)
Lecan has gotten completely used to <Guardian Jewel of Miko>'s Grace. Thus his slashes feel light without the Grace's help.
Nevertheless, his continued slices finally bore fruit as Boudo's armor looked diced on the arm parts he cut. Should be about time his slashes damage the flesh part.
Boudo's battle hammer strikes may be incredibly powerful but they're simple to read. Lecan had gotten used to his pattern, he could predict the trajectory now. He could cope even if it got changed mid swing.
Lecan took a closer look on the arm parts of Boudo's armor to check how much damage it had suffered.
And he was taken aback.
(It's been restored?)
(It can't be.)
(But the cuts are clearly getting smaller and fewer.)
(Does his armor have <Self-Repair>?)
(Are you saying he's not affected by the Grace Void when I am?)
Boudo swung down his battle hammer from upper left.
Lecan took a step back to narrowly miss the trajectory.
Boudo stopped the downswing, lifted the battle hammer again and took a big step forward while swinging down the battle hammer once again.
(Crap!)
This was the first cheap shot Boudo exhibited in this fight. Lecan's body which had gotten used to the straightforward pattern failed to dodge this.
Boudo's battle hammer struck Lecan dead on his left shoulder.