But this new information didn’t make Rohan’s situation any more favourable. His "failed" strike may have unexpectedly revealed a welco surprise, but despite how the hoplite reacted, its injury was only minor.
Compared to his own, where he had several fractured ribs and for sure a few bruised muscles, the scales were still very much tipped on the side of the hoplite.
There was one change Rohan was relieved to see. The hoplite’s gaze towards him now held much more caution than before. Him revealing that his spear was Commander tier must’ve made it weary.
’Still, it should’ve realised that despite being Commander tier, it’s still only F rank. An E rank Commander tier weapon would have dealt magnitudes higher damage to it.’
Rohan’s grin quickly faded.
Up until now, the hoplite had been fighting him with the sort of casual brutality that a grown man might use against an unruly dog. A smack here and there. Enough to dominate and humiliate, but not enough to show what it was actually good at.
Now, the hoplite grew more serious, which resulted in sothing Rohan dreaded to see. It summoned a sword from thin air — A genetic armant of its own. For the first ti since encountering this alien being deep inside territory that it doesn’t belong, the hoplite finally brought out the one thing that really made them feared across the Origin Realm.
’If their most recognisable armour creates their ominous image, their proficiency with swords completes it.’
Rohan never had the ti to think about it as he was constantly in fight or flight mode since the beginning of this encounter, but the hoplite had essentially been toying not just with him, but Elane.
Aside from their armour, the hoplites were known for only using swords. There isn’t a single outlier even in the entire hoplite race.
The sword looked exactly what Rohan had co to expect of a race just from stories alone — also bronze and elegant. It was a two handed sword, about the sa height as Rohan himself, which was hardly surprising to see at this point. Everything to do with the hoplites were larger in scale than the human equivalent.
It didn’t look luxurious or exotic like so of the weapons Rohan had seen in the Federation’s markets. The hoplites were minimal like that, they didn’t need any flare, just the perfect killing weapon.
Rohan tightened his hands around his spear to stop them from shaking.
He had no illusions about this fight — the outco was heavily in the hoplite’s favour, and there was a slim chance he would survive this. The Federations had many areas it lacked in, but careless with educating the public about their enemies was not one of them. Every child with even a hint of potential, every Awakened student, every recruit with a future, had the sa lessons drilled into them sooner or later: if a hoplite revealed its sword, run.
The hoplite took the sword in one hand and rolled its wrist once, repeating the sa action with the other hand, as if reacquainting itself with a familiar extension of its own body.
Then it looked at Rohan again, and the caution in its stance settled into sothing colder.
"You have outlived your novelty." It spoke.
Rohan snorted despite the pain in his chest.
"Yeah? Funny, coming from a hoplite who’d just been injured by a human lower ranked than them self."
The hoplite moved first.
One step, then two, and suddenly the distance between them no longer existed.
Rohan barely got his spear up in ti.
It’s bone tip scread against bronze as the hoplite’s sword carved down in a line in a precisely straight line. The impact blasted through Rohan’s arms and shoulders, and for a split second, he thought the weapon might actually split his spear in two.
It was much tougher than it looked, of course.
A Commander tier genetic armant couldn’t be dealt with so easily like that. Even if the hoplite’s sword was of a higher rank.
’It’s not Commander tier though.’ Rohan quickly noted.
’If it were, that attack might really have damaged my spear.’
Although rare, sotis the disparity between opponent’s weapons could be so high that the weaker one would be destroyed from a clash between the two. Rohan’s spear might not have been destroyed from a weapon 1 rank above it clashing against it, but it might be chipped in a place or two.
Rohan’s knees dipped from the force before he could force himself sideways and out of the direct line of the cut.
But the reaction ti of the hoplite was insane.
It struck not just once, but another two tis in that short instant where Rohan was thrown away.
It beca obvious in a few seconds that a hoplite with a sword in hand was not the sa opponent as one without. It was a completely different kind of nightmare.
Rohan retaliated where he could, stabbing and swinging at the sa dented section of the hoplite’s abdon whenever a chance revealed itself. But so far, none of those strikes managed to hit.
The first ti was due to the hoplite’s ignorance and arrogance, and it was determined to not let there be a second.
The addition of its sword chanced everything. The hoplite controlled the flow of the exchange with frightening ease compared to before, forcing Rohan to retreat backward through the ruined street, until he was cornered with nowhere else to run.
’This is bad.’
A slash clipped his shoulder and sent a line of agony through his arm. His Molten-stone skin was more like a slightly harder rock in front of the hoplite’s sword.
Another carved across his thigh, not deep enough to hit his artery or cripple him, but more than enough to cause him a great deal of pain.
Rohan hissed through his teeth and ducked under the next cut, driving his spear toward the hoplite’s ribs with both hands. But his strike failed embarrassingly as his movents beca extrely slow due to his injuries. The hoplite barely had to act to avoid his strike.
However, the hoplite’s faceless helt suddenly turned to the left, glancing off into the distance with a sense of seriousness Rohan hadn’t seen in it even after he managed to lightly injure it.
Rohan was far too out of it to do the sa. He was barely managing to keep his defence up, let alone sense whatever it was that caught the hoplite’s attention.
"Tsk. Lucky human."
The hoplite gave Rohan one last spiteful kick to the stomach before it’s legs compacted like springs, and he leapt up through the sky and into the distance.
Rohan was confused, but in his last monts of consciousness, his ears caught onto the noise that caught the attention of the hoplite.
’Is that... hooves, and... carriages?’
"The commotion ca from over here!" A feminine voice shouted, and the entourage of Awakened sitting atop horses and carriages followed her lead.
They soon ca to a stop in front of the chaotic ss where Rohan stood, knees buckled and barely staying upright with both hands on his spear.
"Where did the hoplite go?" The new arrivals looked around and looked at each other in confusion, but their expression went through several stages of emotion when they finally noticed heavily injured young man standing defiantly in the remains of the battle.
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