Chapter 125: Mastery

The blue-glowing second-tier spear continued to stab from David’s hands. He had retreated a full ten meters, striking forty times during that interval, yet not once had he managed to deplete Kush’s white-light armor.

It could be said that throughout those ten meters, David had been completely passive, struggling merely to preserve the space in which he could survive as Kush steadily compressed it.

Yet David was not the least bit anxious. Under Kush’s relentless pressure, he had completely fused the ninety-nine-percent mastery of the spear with his own being. He thought of nothing else—not failure, not life or death. His eyes held only the spear in his hands and Kush standing before him.

With every thrust, he felt something entirely different, as though he were communicating with the spear, as though the spear were communicating with his mind through some unknown method.

Kroc, a mercenary of the Sky Wolf Mercenary Group, had practiced spear mastery since childhood. His talent and effort had carried him to the pinnacle of spear mastery.

To break through that pinnacle and reach the true master realm, he had entered the world of mercenaries, seeking a breakthrough through actual combat.

But Kroc had taken the wrong path. His devotion to the spear and his understanding of it should have allowed him to reach the master realm long ago.

He had simply lacked the most crucial step required to reach that realm, leaving him forever trapped at ninety-nine-percent mastery of the spear.

What Kroc lacked was spirit. Only by possessing a powerful spirit could one perfectly unite mind and weapon, infuse the weapon with one’s spirit, break through the shackles of mastery, and reach the perfected realm—in other words, the master realm.

Spirit could not be strengthened through practice alone. It depended on innate talent. Some people were born with powerful spirits; no matter how hard others worked or how many trials of life and death they endured, they could barely increase their spiritual strength.

That was why master-level weapon mastery was so rare. Those born with spiritual talent were already few and far between, and among them, geniuses capable of mastering a weapon to the utmost extreme were rarer still.

When Kush forced David into a desperate corner, the knowledge orb containing Kroc’s spear mastery—ninety-nine-percent mastery—fused perfectly with him, while his spirit began to connect with the spear in his hands.

David had not done this deliberately. At the moment of life and death, his entire mind had simply become completely focused, and the result had arisen naturally.

The realm Kroc had been unable to reach in his entire life was slowly attained by David during that brief ten-meter retreat.

There were many prerequisites involved. If even one of them had been missing, it would have been impossible.

Although Kroc’s spear mastery had reached only ninety-nine percent, his techniques and combat experience had long since fulfilled the conditions for advancing to a higher level.

Now that David had made up for the missing link, his own spear mastery began to transform.

David thrust his second-tier spear once more. But this time, the spear made no sound as it tore through the air. Instead, it carried an indescribable rhythm. As it moved forward, it was like a fish swimming through water, the resistance of the air reduced to an absolute minimum.

Kush instinctively raised his weapon to block and stepped forward in the same motion. But before his block was even halfway complete, the tip of David’s spear had already struck his shoulder.

Twelve thousand kilograms of force erupted without warning, making the white-light armor around Kush’s shoulder shudder violently. The force vibration that followed struck directly against the white-light armor and exoskeleton armor, and Kush bore the impact head-on.

It was the first time David’s spear had landed solidly against Kush.

Kush had misjudged the speed of David’s thrust. He had completed only half of his block when he felt the immense force strike his shoulder, and his body instinctively mobilized its strength to resist.

At that moment, the force vibration appeared.

The vibration shook his entire body. The strength he had just summoned dispersed under its impact.

The exoskeleton armor on Kush’s shoulder rang with the sound of collision, and his body involuntarily retreated two steps. Using those two steps, he also transmitted the force vibration into the earth beneath his feet.

“What an astonishing genius!”

A white-light shield appeared on Kush’s left arm, blocking David’s follow-up thrust. He spoke in admiration.

Kush had already sensed what had happened to David. The thrust just now had contained a certain spirit—a spirit that pressed forward without hesitation. It was precisely because of that spirit that the spear had suddenly accelerated.

Once David stabilized his present spear mastery, he would become a true master-level spearman.

A strength talent, master-level spear mastery, and the talent of a sniper—combined with the fact that he was still a minor, these qualities were enough to earn the attention of any organization.

“What a pity. I’m going to destroy him with my own hands.”

Kush had already decided not to let David live. Once he had extracted the answers he wanted, he would kill David regardless of what those answers were.

A genius like this, if allowed to become an enemy of the organization, would pose a threat to it.

After delivering that thrust, David sensed that the spear in his hands had changed. Previously, the spear had been the most reliable weapon at his disposal. Now, it had become an extension of his spirit.

As he thrust forward with unstoppable momentum, he felt the air part of its own accord. The spear had also become more agile, moving according to his will.

After striking Kush’s shoulder, David had thought that his strongest thrust would at least inflict a minor injury. In reality, it had only forced Kush back two steps.

The instant David sensed Kush retreat, he instinctively pursued with another thrust. He advanced two steps, maintaining the ideal distance, and the spear in his hands pierced through the air once more, carrying his spirit with it.

This time, however, the thrust was blocked by the white-light shield. Although the shield shook twice, the force contained within it sent David staggering back several steps.

Kush clearly possessed an extremely powerful mastery of the shield. He effortlessly neutralized both the force and the vibration contained in David’s spear.

Kush advanced once more, shield in his left hand and greatsword in his right. David’s newly attained master-level spear mastery lost most of its intimidation when faced with this combination of offense and defense.

Clearly, Kush possessed a complete and flawless set of techniques for wielding a shield in one hand and a greatsword in the other. It was precisely the counter to David’s spear.

Of course, the most important factor was the enormous difference in strength between David and Kush. In an unequal contest of power, when their weapon mastery was not far apart, the weaker combatant would be placed at an absolute disadvantage.

“David, you’ve succeeded in forcing me to reveal my strongest state!”

Kush spoke as he advanced.

David did not answer. His battle with Kush had returned to its original pattern: he retreated continuously while Kush pressed forward without pause.

After retreating again and again, David suddenly felt the wall behind him. He had nowhere left to go.

A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes. He swept the spear in his hands toward the surrounding walls, intending to destroy the underground passage and bury them both beneath it.

Kush had been prepared for this. The moment David’s spear swept outward, Kush’s body erupted with intense white light, and his speed doubled within that radiance.

The white-light shield drove forward into David’s body while the second-tier greatsword met the spear.

As David swept his spear, he had lost its optimal defensive capability. The spear was at its strongest only during the motion of thrusting and retracting.

First, David felt a tremendous force slam into his entire body. His exoskeleton armor rang with a deafening impact. Then the greatsword struck his spear, and the irresistible force transmitted through the blade numbed his hand. The second-tier spear flew from his grasp.

His feet left the ground, and he crashed heavily into the wall behind him. Even the wall could not withstand the impact. David’s body, clad in exoskeleton armor, was driven directly into the steel wall and embedded within it.

“It’s over.”

Kush was not excited. The disparity between them had always been vast. Even though David had achieved several breakthroughs during the battle, they amounted to no more than a minor surprise.

Protected by his exoskeleton armor, David had taken the full impact of the shield strike. Although the armor had absorbed part of the force, his body had still suffered devastating injuries.

His muscles were torn apart by the tremendous force, his internal organs were bleeding, and the bones in his left lower leg were fractured. Even the Land Giant Lion exoskeleton armor he had only recently put on was covered in damage.

The white-light shield in Kush’s hand vanished. His freed left hand swung heavily into David’s ribs.

The exoskeleton armor cracked—and so did David’s ribs.