(Harolds POV)

While holding the sword, I asked myself.

Why did Cody pursue me? Its because I was a member of his squad and I left.

Why do I have to fight Cody? Its because he aims to bring me back with brute force.

In other words, all of these are things that were caused by my actions, this is my fault.

Although I assumed that somebody would try to obstruct me for taking action myself in an emergency, this is close to the worst situation possible for Cody himself to chase after me.

More importantly, Cody isnt near Robinson right now. Even if they got caught up in a battle, I thought that if Cody was in the vicinity then that would be able to help to some extent.

This is truly not the ideal situation, it was like I was reinforcing Robinsons death flag instead of destroying it.

Now that Ive taken this moment in, I cant waste any more time here.

I need to get through this quickly so I can meet up with Yuno and continue the plan, but it doesnt look Cody will allow that too easily.

Even if I take advantage of my speed and make a huge number of attacks, all of my strikes that I thought were aimed at blind spots are prevented as if he had eyes on the back of his head.

That said, if I forego attack and focus on defense, a sudden outburst of sharp blows will ensue. Although its still at a level that can be avoided, even the smallest waver in concentration could prove fatal.

As expected of a character who regularly joins the heros party, albeit limitedly.

Whats even more troubling is that the weapon that Cody is using is different than what he uses in the original work. A longsword of the Order. Far different than the fighting style I knew.

In the original work, Cody used different equipment, his Willow Katana and a Bow and Arrow.

Although its doubtful that such a combination could actually be useable in real warfare, in the game you could instantly change between equipment to respond to both close and long range battles.

The current Cody is using a longsword and magic. It might sound easy to beat in the game, but all of my attacks are being perfectly dealt with. I cant grasp a single clue to what strategy I should take.

Perhaps Cody wont attack me of his own volition and stay on defense to buy time and hold out until reinforcements arrive.

If so, then Im checkmated.

Even if I try to escape by fully utilizing my speed, hell just catch up to me again by using his horse.

In that case, I have to take him down here as quickly as possible.

I released a spell as I started growing more impatient.

<>

With a clap of thunder, the three bolts of lightning arc in a spiral towards Cody.

A bolt of lightning that would easily incapacitate an ordinary person. However, Cody wasnt stupid enough to take the lightning for no real reason at all.

<>

Still, I continued to fire my magic.

This time, huge pillars of flame emerged at his feet, but with a quick leap backwards, his appearance disappeared behind the fire pillar.

Immediately after, the fire pillar was dispersed as if it were nothing.

Oh, how scary, <>

The magic he had cast was a light one.

Wind Fang was originally an invisible spell, but it clung to the remnants of the flame and shot directly towards me, faster than ever.

I decided itd be better to go straight with magic defense rather than avoid it.

Commonly known as R-guard.

Activated when pushing the left and right arrow keys and square buttons for physical defense, while pressing the R button to prevent magic damage while consuming MP.

Of course, theres no way Im actually holding a controller, so its not a technique that can be used as easily as pushing down multiple buttons at the same time.

At length, its the same thing as using magic. Form the image of a shield created out of magic power in my mind.

One suddenly manifested in front of me.

Colliding with the shield, the fangs released a large crackling sound before breaking down and disappearing.

There was no damage to myself.

But it was just a ploy to get me to stop moving, Cody had thrown away defense and started moving offensively.

I let out a groan as I blocked his sword strike. It was heavy, definitely stronger than what I could do.

Cody was pushing me back, and finally pushed me down, only to jump back unexpectedly, and quickly change back into a defensive stance.

I thought he was going to take me back by force, but I misread him. Cody doesnt want to wait for reinforcements, he fully intends to overpower m