Chapter 165: The Second Coming Of The Archer (8)
[You have assimilated with Wukong.]
[Wukong has entered the battle(5 minutes cooldown has been applied).]
[You have received The Monkey King's Martial Arts(Legendary).]
[You have used The Monkey King's Martial Arts(Legendary).]
[Your body can't handle the burden of the legendary skill.]
[The Monkey King's Martial Arts Skill has been lowered to the unique grade.]
A loud crack echoed from Jake's bow's handle.
It was so loud that everyone believed Jake's Second Coming Of The Archer had been broken. Jake even held it oddly, as though keeping the bow from parting into two parts.
The truth was the opposite!
Jake was preparing to split his weapon into two parts!
'Ever since the beginning…' Jake thought. 'I've been aiming to fight you this way.'
[You have used your bow's skill—Split And Join(Epic)(Active)]
[Split And Join(Epic)(Active)(No cooldown)—The Second Coming Of The Archer's second epic skill which enables Archer to split the bow's riser into two parts, turning them into two short swords.]
Jake widened his eyes. 'I didn't have enough time to practice this swordsmanship. But Wukong and I have fought a tricky swordsman tree soldier daily in our assimilation! I told Wukong to follow and study this particular soldier all the time! I leave myself in your care, Wukong!'
The Monkey King's Martial Arts Skill wasn't only related to staff. This particular skill was legendary and too overbearing to Jake's body because it held Prime Wukong's library of knowledge and experience.
It meant that Wukong could learn how to fight with staff from this skill and learn about other weapons and their advantages and counters. This experience could be translated to help Jake learn ancient archery and swordsmanship.
In its current state, however, it was only a breath of inspiration.
Wukong, however, had been tasked with studying the tree swordsman in The Turtle Forest.
His studies were successful.
Meaning he had taken a few pages from his library of knowledge.
[Your twin swordsmanship proficiency has been increased to Intermediate—VIII]
[You can see Wukong's trajectories.]
'Thank you, Wukong,' Jake thought before darting at SWalker. The player was beyond stupefied to see that an archer had turned his bow into two short swords. When Jake closed up distance with him and slammed his wooden blades at him, SWalker felt their weight on his arms.
He parried the blades and took a step back.
Jake, however, didn't give him any room for respite.
Following Wukong's trajectories—updating continuously to match SWalker's swordsmanship and responses—Jake adapted to each of his enemy's moves, overwhelming him with his stats.
Speed, strength, and stamina were on his side as he swung his twin swords at SWalker.
That said, SWalker wasn't a mere swordsman.
Jake had also entered his playground.
He defended himself against a stronger opponent while saving as much stamina as possible. From the outside perspective, it was clear that he was on the defensive side and that Jake was madly swinging his blades at him. But SWalker was doing perfectly fine against this sudden outcome and spent less stamina and strength than Jake.
It all boiled down to a single mistake.
A single mistake would snowball either of them to victory!
'He's doing whatever he wants…' SWalker thought, 'So opposite of me… I still haven't figured out whether I want to follow this path. Despite good results, I have never dared to show my other side to others.'
He was from a wealthy family that cared about appearances.
In fact, SWalker was hiding from his parents that he was playing the game.
He took the sword because it seemed the noblest and followed the self-made knightly codex, which sounded the most appropriate for someone like him.
But deep inside himself, SWalker had a different self.
Just like Jake had that close combat desire, which turned into Joker Form, SWalker had a different self sealed within his heart because of his family's view.
'Turning his bow big enough to reach the skies, sliding around opponents, and parting the bow into short swords…' SWalker thought before shouting aloud, "You're really doing whatever you want, huh!"
BANG!
Giving up on holding his sword with both hands, SWalker let his left hand go off the sword and swung it wide with his right hand.
The impact was so powerful that Jake had been blown off.
He landed on his two feet and looked up at SWalker.
Jake smiled, and so did SWalker.
Someone from the crowd said, "I've sparred a few times with SWalker and never seen him smiling like that. I get that he's uptight and weirdly obsessed with knightly codex, but this is something else."
"You mean, this is the first time he used a one-handed swordsmanship?"
"Yeah… and it looked like a skill."
"Damn! He must have awakened!"
"What you mean awakened? I don't think he has a special class!"
While someone in the crowd wasn't exactly right about SWalker's state, he was pretty close.
[You have created a new passive skill.]
[Please name it, or the game system will name it in your stead.]
"The Enemy," SWalker said.
Jake chuckled, "Finally laid-back?"
"Courtesy of your versatility," SWalker replied.
"Still so formal," Jake chuckled.
SWalker grinned. He was thankful to Jake, as he hadn't attacked him yet. It meant he must have noticed that SWalker had gone through some self-development or at least noticed that he had gotten a new skill.
It wasn't difficult to notice that, though.
SWalker's silver blade exuded a red-black aura that looked like the blood of darkness. He held it in one hand, causing an image of a knight to be the last thing on people's minds.
'I'll make it simple. Two-handed swordsmanship will be The Knight Mode, focused on control and flow. It'll be more defensive, where I study my enemies and learn their habits. One-handed swordsmanship will be The Enemy Mode, barely any defense, only strength, and speed! The overwhelming and crazy force solely meant to defeat my opponents, regardless of how it looks and how evil it is!' SWalker thought.
He took a step forward. "Thank you for waiting for me."
Three arrows flew past him.
Jake smiled. "No problem."
'He's creating a space… this clash will be the last one between us… today,' SWalker thought as he used his perception skill to locate the three arrows lodged in the ground. 'I'll break them before he can use them to teleport!'
The battle between the archer and the swordsman resumed.