Guide to tamming vilanesses-Chapter 92: Duel

Completely opposed to the girl's light mood, Shin was feeling exhausted after narrowly surviving the assassination attempt.

Even after saving his life, Seraphina didn't seem completely satisfied with the fight. In fact, she was itching for a real challenge.

Impressed by everything Shin had shown, an idea popped into her head, and the woman tried to invite him to a duel.

Then she paused, noticing his hesitation.

"I know," she murmured, a slow, wicked smile curling her lips. "They always say this is the best way to motivate a man…"

She leaned forward, closing the distance until he could feel her warm breath. Her sexy eyes looked on his.

The thin crimson halter stretched taut across her full breasts, the angle giving a perfect view of her cleavage that rose and fell with each slow breath.

Her voice dropped to a sexy whisper, husky. "If you win… I'll give you a reward."

She arched her back just enough to press her chest forward, offering him a sexy view of her breasts straining against the sheer fabric.

"Reward?" Shin asked, taken aback.

Judging by her posture, the first thing that crossed his mind was sex. But Seraphina was strange, unpredictable, so he knew he could expect just about any answer from her.

That being said, if her "reward" was something as fleeting as a sexual favor, he would have rejected it without a second thought. He wasn't naive enough to believe he could tame a woman like her just by giving her an orgasm.

But as she spoke, his skepticism vanished. Her next words made his eyes gleam with a sudden, sharp hunger.

"Yes, you see, I already killed other assassins earlier today. I was thinking about reporting that I captured only three of them."

She kicked the two bodies closer to where Shin was standing.

"As for these two, they'll be yours if you manage to beat me."

Shin had no use for corpses. But the magical items the two of them carried would undoubtedly be valuable.

Especially since he was just about to enter the Tower. Aside from those who came from powerful clans, almost no one else possessed rare items. If he had then, he would be ahead of the competition.

It was an extremely tempting proposal. But there was still one small problem…

"I'd love to, but whether I duel you or not, it's obvious that I don't stand the slightest chance of winning. There is no point in even trying."

"I thought you'd say that," she said with a confident smile, noticing that she had at least managed to spark Shin's interest. "Don't worry, I'll make the match fair."

"How?" Shin asked, staring at her.

"What's your current speed?" she asked.

Just from that, Shin already had a good idea of what she intended to do. She had an ability that allowed her to alter the rhythm of her own body, something that basically translated to her agility.

She would probably lower her speed to match his, creating a fair fight.

There was just one small problem.

"I haven't even entered the Tower yet. I don't have all the system functions. I don't even have a status window. But since I'm a normal human, it should be somewhere around two or three..."

Seraphina looked slightly surprised. She had completely forgotten that detail. Even so, something still felt strange.

"Then how were you moving so fast before?"

"Because of this," Shin said, showing the dagger in his hand.

He explained that he had taken the weapon from one of the enemies and about its effect of adding 30 points to his speed. That was what had allowed him to avoid dying immediately to the assassins.

"So that was your first time fighting while moving at superhuman speed?"

"Yes," he answered simply.

The truth was that Lilel had helped him adjust to it much faster. But he was still focused on making the best possible impression.

Seraphina smiled, clearly impressed, proving that he was doing a good job.

"You really are shocking..." she murmured.

Seraphina thought for a few seconds before making her decision.

"Very well, let's do this. I'll adjust my speed to be equivalent to 31," she explained enthusiastically, laying out the plan for the duel.

It was exactly what Shin expected. Choosing 31 was also a way to give him a slight advantage, since his own speed was probably around 32 or 33.

The challenge itself was simple. Shin had to defend himself against her attacks for one minute.

If he managed to last that long, she would consider him the winner. If he failed, he would lose.

"And don't worry, I'll use this dagger," she said, showing the weapon that still had a faint green glow.

"It won't hurt me, right? Actually... I think it will regenerate my wounds," Shin commented.

Seraphina was surprised that he had managed to deduce all that while watching the fight earlier, even when he was almost dead.

In truth, Shin already knew the item. But she didn't need to know that.

"I only have one question. This thing won't suddenly switch back to the red mode, right?" Shin asked, pretending ignorance. "Because the glow seemed weaker after it healed me."

In reality, the boy already knew the answer, but he needed to impress Seraphina as much as possible.

"You're quite observant," she said. "Don't worry. If I hit you even once, the duel ends and I'll stop attacking. So that won't be a problem."

In other words, if she kept attacking beyond that, the weapon would exhaust its healing ability and return to absorbing life energy.

"So, shall we start now?" she asked.

"At least give me a few minutes to recover!" Shin complained.

At the same time, he communicated mentally with his small fairy.

'Stay ready to block one of her attacks. I'll hold out until the end. I'm sure she'll attack more carelessly in the last second.'

'Roger! I'll do my best.'

Lilel immediately began floating beside Shin. She knew she would feel that pain again when blocking an attack, but that didn't make her hesitate for even a second.

By doing this, she would also be able to analyze the incredible weapon Seraphina possessed.

And at the same time, create an opening for Shin to counterattack the woman, proving that he was even more impressive than she expected.

"I'm attacking!" Tired of waiting, Seraphina declared.

But before anything else, Shin needed to survive the next minute.

Seraphina advanced as if possessed, and Shin immediately remembered his worst nightmares.

She moved so fast that all he could see was a blur as he dodged one attack after another.

In theory, she should have been slightly slower than him. But in practice, he was completely overwhelmed by her.

She wasn't just fast. Her body was absurdly flexible, and she could change the direction of her attacks in an instant.

On top of that, she was a monster, capable of maintaining perfect precision and concentration while attacking without pause.

But Shin had fought her hundreds... maybe thousands of times before.

His body moved by instinct, remembering her attack patterns.

He managed to defend most of them, and whenever he felt there was nothing else he could do, he stepped backward to evade.

If the duel had been a fight to the death, he would soon have been cornered and lost.

But he only needed to last one minute.

Clang!

His dagger collided with hers with a loud sound, forcing him back. However, the impact didn't slow her down for even a second.

She really was a monster.

Still trying to regain his balance, and with his opponent advancing relentlessly, Shin was forced to take another step backward.

And at that moment, his back hit the wall.

He had nowhere left to retreat.

All he could do was block the next attacks with everything he had.

'Only one second left. I'll block the next strike!' Lilel warned.

Shin smiled with relief, just as he saw his opponent charging forward like a maniac.

It would be impossible to block.

But he didn't need to worry about defense anymore.

Instead, he moved his body forward, aiming his dagger at his opponent's shoulder. He only needed to land one hit to prove his worth. Killing her would only cause problems.

Seraphina admired Shin's courage in attempting a counterattack, but she didn't expect it to succeed. She was confident that her strike would hit first.

However, something blocked her.

She felt a mysterious resistance, and that gave Shin the instant he needed.

He drove his dagger into her shoulder, the force making her step back. Because of that, she couldn't continue her attack.

"Congratulations..." she said, gritting her teeth. Of course, the wound was painful.

She quickly cut her own hand with the greenish dagger, regenerating herself.

Finally, her eyes turned back to Shin.

"It's rare to meet such handsome and powerful young men," she said with a sly smile, her eyes evaluating Shin. "Unfortunately, I have no more time to spare with you. But I will keep my end of the bargain. Make good use of their items."

She smiled, taking a single corpse with her. Then, just before she left, she turned back toward Shin.

"Actually, I was thinking of giving you an extra special reward," she said, arching her back just enough to make her curves more prominent. "But I'll leave that for the next time we meet. So, try to get stronger for our next duel."

And with that, she vanished.