Chapter 30: Starfire

Wade charged at the Viking who was at least two meters tall.  

He held his sword with both hands, raising it diagonally to the side.  

The first strike was a horizontal slash from left to right. Wade bent down to avoid it as he had already anticipated. After thousands of confrontations, he had already deciphered Sven’s habits.  

This man, when someone charged at him, would never dodge but would instead choose to use a horizontal or downward slash to crush the attacker outright.  

His first move was always executed with full power, so it must never be blocked head-on.  

When facing an enemy stronger than oneself, one must learn to evade the sharp edge temporarily.  

After dodging the horizontal slash, Wade smoothly closed the distance to within one meter of Sven’s body.  

Seeing that the horizontal slash failed, Sven retracted his sword. This was the follow-up “Two-Character Slash” after the horizontal strike.  

Wade’s diagonally raised sword crossed with Sven’s blade.  

He stepped forward with his right foot, holding the sword hilt outside his right hip, the sword tip angled backward. His body twisted in a spiral to gather strength, pushing off the ground to unleash power.  

He used the curvature of his blade, the rotation of his waist and hips to drive his shoulder and arm in unison.  

This was a sword technique he had realized through actual combat, effectively using the force of an opponent’s chop to counterattack. In fact, he had learned it from Sven himself.  

Anyone knowledgeable about swordsmanship standing here would recognize Wade’s stance as very similar to the standard “Spinning Sword Style,” specifically the defensive variant among its two forms.  

This sword technique was the core of the longsword art in the North Tia region, capable of offense and defense. Some called it the “Anger Strike.” It was one of the most practical sword techniques proven through thousands of battles.  

If one could skillfully switch between offensive and defensive Spinning Sword Styles, mastering advance, force dissipation, and entanglement, they could earn the title “Swordsmanship Expert.”  

Wade’s mastery of the “Spinning Sword Style” was already quite proficient, earned through countless experiences bought with death.  

Sven’s blade slid down along Wade’s sword, angled and deflected.  

Wade’s sword then traced a spiral, instantly shifting from “Force Dissipation Spinning Sword” to “Advancing Spinning Sword,” stabbing straight into Sven’s thigh and leaving a wound.  

After the first clash, Wade firmly held the upper hand.  

However, though he appeared relaxed, only he knew the lurking dangers behind it.  

He had practiced this perfect opening move hundreds of times.  

It could only be used to block when Sven changed his move, as changing the move required a shift in force direction, weakening the chop enough for Wade to endure.  

If he had used this stance to block the first sword strike, Wade would not have been able to stand firm; Sven would have violently shattered him and his sword.  

After stabbing, Wade didn’t greedily press the attack; he immediately drew back and rolled.  

For an ordinary person, a longsword stabbed through the thigh would be enough to lose most fighting capability, but Sven was different. This man’s body was incredibly resilient. It was almost impossible to defeat him with one strike; a war of attrition was necessary.  

Wade danced on the knife’s edge. Every downward chop from Sven shattered the wooden pews inside the church.  

When Sven’s sword struck Wade, he would momentarily falter, but he still fought within one meter of Sven, never widening the distance to seek an opening.  

Wade was so familiar with this Viking’s moves that when Sven’s wrist made a subtle movement, Wade’s body instinctively began to roll or parry.  

He dodged every attack Sven made, continuously carving wounds on Sven’s body.  

Sven grew “angry.” He dropped his sword and instead grabbed burning pews and clay pots, wildly smashing them toward Wade.  

He swung the pews like siege mortars. Their massive size did help him strike his target, but Wade was a skeleton. For a skeleton, whether bending ninety degrees or doing a one-eighty split, it was no different than taking a leisurely stroll.  

Such wide, sweeping attacks actually made it easier for Wade to anticipate and dodge in advance.  

He fought calmly with Sven, steadily wearing down Sven’s vitality.  

This final time, Wade made no mistakes or hesitations.  

His performance was perfect, unscathed as he pushed his sword tip into Sven’s back and drove it through the powerful heart.  

The towering figure fell forward.  

“Sven Freud, I suppose I will never forget you.”  

Wade sheathed his sword. After one thousand three hundred sixty-three battles, Sven’s memory remnant was finally decisively crushed by him.  

He did not use any tricks or environmental advantages, relying solely on his sword and himself to defeat the man.  

The remnant shattered into light particles, and the church scene vanished along with it.  

That flame began to extinguish, or rather “dissolve,” further digested and absorbed by Mia.  

Wade, deeply connected to Mia, also received feedback.  

Each time Mia digested a soul, she gave Wade a degree of feedback.  

Wade felt a heat flow surge through his body; Sven’s fragmented memories flashed before his eyes.  

He saw the Viking’s brutal battle with an ice bear on the snowy plains, his figure practicing swordsmanship in the cold wind, and his expressionless killing.  

That face seemed solemn and serene only in front of the fire.  

Fire had permeated his entire life.  

He had a special insight into fire.  

Through Sven’s memories of fire, Wade acquired some profound knowledge.  

The skill to gather fire and condense it onto a sword.  

Wade had a feeling that he might be able to restore it.  

He comprehended this extraordinary combat skill not through “learning” but directly through insight.  

From Sven’s memories, it was not a common technique but a unique, extraordinary skill that only Sven could wield, something he had personally realized.  

— Starfire.  

This was the name Sven had given this skill. On that dark, lightless ice plain, the fire did not blaze widely or fiercely; it was like a starfire, illuminating only a tiny area for warmth.  

Wade felt that wonderful inspiration. Was this what it felt like to “buy a skill book”? Quite special indeed.  

He planned to find a chance to try it somewhere with fire.  

Starfire did not control fire but borrowed its power, which was already strong enough.  

Wade was eager to test how far he could use this skill in reality beyond the dream, but before that, he needed to check the dice.  

He picked up the floating twenty-sided die. After eight days, the twenty-first face, the heart, was nearly fully dyed red. It looked just like a real heart about to beat.  

When the door opened for the first time, Wade had seen it pulse.  

It was coming soon. Not long now, at most two or three days.  

Wade might soon be able to go out into the outside world again.  

He could hardly contain himself, wanting to take one more look at the snowy plains and the sunlit sky.