Chapter 2. The Northen Lights 10

On the snow field, there were a ranger and a paladin standing face to face with each other. They both took positions and glared at each other with murderous looks. The paladin broke the silence first.

“Take my spear, coward!”

Locarno made a dash for Gray, and swung his spear.
Gray quickly moved back and Locarno kept forwarding toward Gray. But Gray
evaded all spear attacks by Locarno, and their sword and spear eventually
collided.

“Grr…..”

Their sword and spear made a weird sound like
screaming, and after a while, Locarno’s body was slightly pushed backwards. Surprisingly, Gray’s
physical strength was superior to Locarno.

“Huh?”

Locarno became embarrassed, and he strongly pushed out
Gray’s sword.

Duran could not believe the situation, and said

“Physically stronger than Paladin Locarno?
Traditionally, Bifrost’s swordsmanship focuses on speed and technique not
physical strength. It is really surprising. And he has amazing reflexes and
visual acuity. He has perfect conditions as a swordsman.”

Rashid was also surprised,

“Wow, he is really great, isn’t he?”

Venom smiled at Rashid and said,

“He was upsides with Sarah, the leader of Bifrost
Valkyrie, before. He was fighting against her for more than 40 minutes.  Before that, nobody had not been able to fight
with her even for 15 minutes. More surprising thing is that he has never
learned any swordsmanship. So can you understand why I told you he is the
greatest ranger in history?”

Locarno looked really upset and he trembled with rage.

“You! Should be prepared!”

At the moment, there was blue aura on his
spear. Gray grimaced a little. He felt Locarno was preparing his best skill.

Duran shouted,

“Locarno!! Are you going to kill him?! Hey! Locarno!”

Duran knew it was his lethal move and the battle got
really serious.  Locarno just ignored
Duran’s words.

“It is a battle between real men. I need to do my best of
course!”

“Sir Locarno!”

Rashid also shouted,

“We have to stop this!”

But Venom seemed not to worry. He looked quite calm
and said,

“Prince, do not worry. You don’t have to stop this.”

“Huh?”

At that time, Locarno swung his spear. But Gray kept
his calm and defended the spear.

“Stop!”

Duran was trying to stop Locarno, but it was too late.
Duran closed his eyes and he thought Gray would be dead.  After a while, he opened his eyes and he
could not believe what’s going on.

On Gray’s sword, there was also black aura like
Locarno’s

“He can use the same skill?”

Everyone was speechless, and Venom said,

“Once he fought with Sarah, he learned her skill
immediately and used it. Sarah praised his talent and admitted he is such a genius.”

But, the one who was shocked most was Locarno. He
could not believe there was a ranger who can defend his best skill. And the
blue aura on his spear was getting faded.

“Haya!”

At the moment, Gray pushed Locarno strongly and he
started to attack continuously. His sword was fast and strong even though his movements were not based on any formal swordsmanship. Gray’s attack was fast, simple and accurate.
Locarno could not do anything except defending the sword.

Duran was really impressed and thought,

‘He was born to be a swordsman. It seems true that he
hasn’t learn any swordsmanship. But his talent is real. He is like a rough
diamond.’

After Gray’s attack in waves, they both breathed fast
and prepare their last attack.

‘After this last attack, the battle would be all over.’

They both had same thought. After a while, Locarno
jumped high and made a cut with his spear. At the same time, Gray kicked the snow on the ground
and it obstructed Locarno's vision. While Locarno could not see Gray, Gray strongly swung his sword and
Locarno’s spear flew away. Gray said,

“It’s done.”

Locarno shouted,

“It’s unfair! It was not a fair battle between
knights! I cannot admit!”

“I am just a ranger, not a knight.”

“Stop, Sir Locarno, you lost.”

Eiolin declared Gray won, and said,

“As we promised, we will just pass here quietly. Do
not attack any Calipers!”

“Damn!!”

Locarno complained, and the paladins
moved towards Ryka tribe village.

Once they arrived in the village, the Ryka villagers
prepared a big party for welcoming the paladins. Calipers has bothered Ryka
Tribe so they prepared the party and the chef of Ryka Tribe was quite close to
Gray as well.

The paladins took enough rest in the
village and prepared for climbing mountains. But there was an accident which made
them delayed.

In the morning, Rashid got up early and stared at the
shining Castle of Ice on the mountain peak.

“Castle of Ice? It is really beautiful. It would be Ok
if I just go there for a while. Sorry, sister. I will be back soon.”

Rashid looked behind for a while, and this curious prince ran to the
Castle of Ice.

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