Chapter 53 - 2 Vs 1

Dustin and Raul had barely finished preparing when they saw Leon walking away from them and sat down on a low section of the wall at the side of the training ground.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, then he pulled out his phone.

Dustin stared at him for a moment, while Raul looked from Leon to the Undead Great Swordsman standing silently in front of them.

"What are you doing?" Raul asked.

"Watching." Leon replied, looking up from the screen.

"From there?"

"Yup, all the way here."

"Aren’t you going to control it?" Raul asked with a frown.

"Not really." Leon said, glancing at the Great Swordsman.

That answer didn’t exactly reassure either of them.

Leon had already given the undead the only instruction it really needed, and that was it.

The Great Swordsman stood there with one hand resting close to the hilt of its sword, waiting for the two of them to start.

"He’s mocking us." Raul said after looking at Dustin, not annoyed, his eyes told a story of ’he’s doing it again.’

"I’m not." Leon replied from the wall.

"You’re sitting down with your phone."

"I can stand if it makes you feel better."

"Tsk, this showoff." Dustin said, narrowing his eyes.

"Then start." Leon replied before looking back at the screen.

While they certainly had no idea, the difference between Leon’s undead wasn’t only their strength.

His Grade 1 Skeleton Warriors were intelligent enough to understand commands and follow simple tactics. They could attack, defend, protect someone, move to certain positions or surround an enemy, and they were competent enough with their weapons that Leon didn’t have to control every little movement.

Just like most summons, they weren’t mindless, but also like most summons, there was still a limit though. Most of the time, they relied on Leon for new or unique directions.

In that regard, the Great Swordsman was different.

Leon didn’t need to tell it where to stand, when to attack or which enemy was more dangerous. It understood combat on its own, and Dustin and Raul were about to find that out properly.

The only time Leon would intervene was to bring a new perspective, rarely in surprise, speaking even before realizes it.

"Ready?" Raul asked.

Dustin nodded.

The Dark Panther lowered its body while the Stone Golem raised both arms, but across from them, the Great Swordsman didn’t move.

"Go." Raul ordered.

The Panther shot forward, moving toward the Great Swordsman’s right side, while Dustin gave his own order almost immediately.

"Pressure it." He said, as the Stone Golem charged from the front.

Their plan was simple enough... Force the Great Swordsman to deal with the Golem while the Panther attacked from the side. It wasn’t anything complicated, but with the difference in speed between their summons, it was supposed to work well enough. Perhaps influenced by Aaron and his summon, but that is what they went with.

The Great Swordsman still didn’t show any reaction and just waited.

"Why isn’t it moving?" Dustin asked with a frown.

Just then, the undead took one step to the left, and that was all.

That small movement changed the Golem’s approach enough that Raul noticed the Panther was now coming in at an awkward angle, almost directly toward the Golem’s shoulder.

"Move right!" Raul ordered.

The Panther, being nimble enough , managed to adjust, but by then, the Great Swordsman had already drawn its sword, the blade coming free with a quiet scrape.

The Panther lunged toward it.

Raul expected the undead to swing, instead, the Great Swordsman stepped forward and drove its shoulder into the Panther while it was still in the air.

"What?" Raul said as the Panther was thrown sideways.

Dustin barely had time to react before the Golem reached the undead.

"Hit it!"

The Stone Golem threw a heavy punch, but the Great Swordsman leaned back just enough for the fist to pass in front of its skull.

Following up, the Swordsman stepped inside the Golem’s reach and struck its elbow with the flat of the sword, knocking the arm off course before kicking the side of its knee, cracking stone and causing the Golem to stumble.

The whole exchange barely took a few seconds.

"It didn’t even attack properly." Dustin said, staring at the Great Swordsman.

"Again." Raul ordered as the Panther recovered.

This time, he didn’t send it straight in.

The Panther started circling instead, while the Great Swordsman only turned slightly to keep it in view.

That was the first thing Raul noticed properly.

The undead wasn’t simply reacting to whatever came close, it was watching them.

"Left." Raul ordered, pointing toward one of the stone pillars.

The Panther moved into the shadow around it, and the darkness around its fur deepened until its outline became difficult to follow.

"Good." Dustin said after noticing what Raul was doing.

"Let’s see how it handles this." Raul replied with a slight smile.

The Panther disappeared behind the pillar before emerging from another patch of shadow a moment later.

Even Dustin almost lost track of it, but of course, the Great Swordsman didn’t, its head turned directly toward the Panther just before it emerged.

Raul’s expression changed.

The Panther moved again, but the undead followed it without any hesitation or confusion.

"What the hell?"

"That won’t work." Leon said, briefly looking up from his phone.

"Why?" Raul asked, turning toward him.

"It can detect living creatures."

Raul looked back at the Great Swordsman.

"That’s such a cheat. Fine, go." He ordered anyway.

The Panther rushed forward again, feinting left before suddenly changing direction to the right.

The undead didn’t even react to the first movement.

Raul narrowed his eyes and had the Panther change direction again... Still nothing.

Only when the Panther actually committed to the attack did the Swordsman move, using the flat of its blade strike the Panther across the side, sending it flying hard into the ground.

"Don’t rush." Raul ordered as he immediately called it back.

"It completely ignored the feint." Dustin said, glancing at him.

"I noticed."

Both of them looked toward the Undead Great Swordsman again, only to find it already standing in the same relaxed position as before.

Leon still hadn’t given it a single command, and only after realizing that did Dustin properly understood the problem.

To Dustin, this wasn’t like fighting the creature when it was still Grade 1... their theory was growth and evolution and not a totally new creature.

Now, it actually knew how to fight.

"Let’s change it." Dustin said.

Raul nodded.

The Stone Golem lowered one arm toward the ground, and small pieces of earth and broken stone around its feet began to move.

Dustin focused, causing more fragments to lift.

It still wasn’t much, but compared to yesterday, the improvement was obvious.

"Keep it busy." Dustin said.

Raul understood immediately.

The Panther rushed forward again, but this time it didn’t commit to any attack. It kept moving in and out of range, forcing the Great Swordsman to keep track of it while Dustin prepared.

"Now." Dustin ordered after pointing forward.

Several pieces of stone shot toward the Swordsman.

To their surprise, the Swordsman didn’t even bother blocking.

Dustin’s eyes widened slightly as the stones struck its armour, producing no effect whatsoever.

The stones simply broke apart.m, the armour barely damaged.

"That was terrible." Raul said, looking at Dustin.

"Yeah bro, I wonder if I can see that." Dustin replied with a saggy face