Chapter 708: Chapter 708

Mira had been looking for Meilin, another of the Nine Wisemen. Her search led her to the Nirvana Empire, where her efforts and the help of Empress Alma led her to meet the knight Henry Adams, at whose home Meilin had been staying.

Now reunited, they went right ahead to start a match in the Adams Residence’s training grounds.

As soon as Henry gave the signal to start, Meilin’s delightful smile turned into a ferocious look like a predator stalking its prey, and she vanished.

Henry and his siblings watched with their mouths open, but Mira remained calm as she scouted her surroundings to find her.

(It’s just like I expected.)

While it appeared like Meilin had vanished, in reality she had just used an ability of Sages, Ground Shrink. Mira used it quite frequently as well, so she was familiar with how it worked.

It allowed the user to move blindingly fast while ignoring all laws of inertia, but that came with some limitations.

First was that one could only move in a straight line, second was that once activated, it could not be stopped. In other words, it made it impossible to dodge an attack if one’s opponent anticipated where Ground Shrink would end.

The sound she heard was slightly louder to the left behind her, and she recognized it as the particular sound effect of entering and leaving Ground Shrink, even if it was barely audible since Meilin had been using that ability for far longer, and she only needed an instant to recover and weave in her next action.

Still, it was enough of an audio clue for Mira to act in response, immediately partially summoning a tall tower shield between her and the noise.

Mira also knew that Meilin liked to use Ground Shrink as a feint before using it again to attack from much closer, as she could be far more shrewd and underhanded than her appearance would suggest. After all, it would be impossible for someone to reach her level if they were easy to read and see through.

But as Mira had known Meilin for so long, she knew about that possibility.

That shield appeared in the path between them with the perfect timing to block Meilin’s advance with Ground Shrink, guaranteeing a collision.

Instead of stopping her, the shield shattered.

Meilin had chosen to attack and break through the shield with a powerful knee strike coupled with the speed of Ground Shrink. That shield was strong enough to withstand attacks from powerful magic beasts, but it was easy work for Meilin.

Mira quickly jumped back while leaving behind a bunch of Dark Knights surrounding Meilin. That only bought Mira a little time, as Meilin kicked off the ground to propel herself into the air, kicking away one of the Dark Knights and using the recoil to turn around and barely evade the sword of another Dark Knight, after which she continued spinning around and taking them down.

(She’s definitely grown stronger since I last saw her…)

As far as Mira knew, there was only a limited number of moves that could be pulled right after Ground Shrink, one of which were knee strikes. Still, Meilin’s movements were clearly swifter and more precise than in the game days, showing how much she had improved with all her training since then.

It was not just the shield either, Dark Knights also fell in one strike when confronting her. That shocked Mira, but she was used to being impressed by Meilin like that, so she was not phased as she quickly thought of her next move.

“Then what about this?”

Before Meilin was done spinning around and could amend her stance, Mira took her next move, this time surrounding her with six Ashen Knights. Meilin was not the only one who had grown stronger.

“I’ve never seen these before!”

Ashen Knights were still Armor Spirits, but they were clearly different from the common Dark and Holy Knights. Seeing their refined and more powerful appearance was a surprise to her, but it also brought a smile to her face, as she clearly was enjoying it.

That did not slow down Meilin in the least, as she continued chaining moves like flowing water. All of the Ashen Knights began by utilizing simultaneous shield strikes, not allowing Meilin to move aside, but she found a way out by jumping up and above them.

“Then how about this!”

Meilin was moving like a wild animal evading everything, but Mira had already anticipated that escape, and accordingly began using Sage Arts of her own, specifically Refined Impact that sent focused shockwaves at Meilin.

A moment later, there was a thunderous noise as all the Ashen Knights were flung into the air, with one of them flying to the specific spot to block the line of sight between Mira and Meilin.

(So she’s finally grasping.)

That was the ability that had coined her nickname of Grasping Meilin. Its true name was Unhanded Dream, which could expand her physical reach into the confines of her perception.

In practice, that meant she was able to *grasp* anything even if it was far away, allowing her to turn a variety of Sage Arts that usually required direct touch like grappling moves into ranged attacks.

She had combined that with Furious Grasp, a powerful Sage Art that produced a destructive shockwave that sent enemies flying and crushed them.

Meilin used that to lift the Ashen Knights into the air and block Mira’s Refined Impact, which caused a powerful tremor that shook the whole training area.

All of that had opened a hole on the ceiling, and as the Ashen Knights made clanking sounds while falling down, Mira realized Meilin was no longer there.

But Mira’s ears would not miss that faint noise, indicating Ground Shrink was being used nearby.

Mira realized Meilin was going to be landing right in front of her, so she instinctively jumped back.

An instant later, Meilin’s jumping kick passed through there. Mira would have been in really bad shape if she had not dodged.

“So you dodged again!”

Meilin’s voice was filled with joy as she flew through the air, quickly using Sky Stride to change directions and rush at Mira again. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel·fiɾe·net

Meilin’s swift attack forced Mira to twist her body back to dodge again, but that was only the beginning of her next troubles.

All of Meilin’s actions had been skillfully chosen to force Mira into a close range fight, something Mira felt rather comfortable with, except that all her knowledge had been passed onto her from none other than Meilin herself. There was still a rift in skill between master and pupil, so there was no chance Mira could win like that.

The only thing keeping the match going were the Holy Knights being summoned one after another endlessly, and the multitude of partial summonings Mira used.

“They just keep coming!”

As Meilin swiftly punched and kicked the Holy Knights away, she looked thoroughly entertained, as it had been a long time since she had met an opponent that allowed her to unleash so much of her power.

The many Holy Knights served to keep Meilin away, and some others to thwart her attacks. Despite their strong defenses, they all broke after a few hits from Meilin, but that was enough to keep her at bay.

And even when she got dangerously close, Mira would use partial summoning to instantly defend herself.

Still, Mira was aware that she could not continue like that. Meilin was gradually growing used to the Holy Knights and partial summoning, so her speed was increasing.

“To think they would become less useful this quickly…”

Mira tried to switch things around partially summoning spears, battleaxes, bows, and so on, an ability Mira herself had only discovered recently, but Meilin adapted to it quickly.

And then the critical moment came. Meilin tore through a Holy Knight, stepping in mid-air for a follow-up flying kick to shatter the partially summoned shield covering Mira.