Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

that can wait,” I said as I hopped to my feet. “This won’t take too long. Just a simple sparring match.” The adrenaline was already in my system, and I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet. “Best two out of three?”

Val considered for a moment, then set down the small crate she carried. “That is acceptable.” She scanned the surrounding area and pointed out a clearing free of thick ground cover ahead of us. “I believe that should serve our purposes well enough.” I followed her to our new arena and took my place across from her. Lia stood at the edge of the clearing and watched us both with rapt attention as we looked over our gear.

“We don’t have to worry about using training blades for this; I’ll make sure my sword is blunted. I can take care of yours as well, if you’d like,” I offered as I drew my weapon and activated the enhancement through my ring.

She shook her head. “That will not be an issue. My shield is not sharp enough to cut you.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “I had assumed that. My intention was more for your weapon, not your shield.”

“My shield is my weapon,” she stated simply. As she drew the shield from the harness on her back, I noticed for the first time that she didn’t have any traditional weapons at her hip, and her offhand remained empty as she took a comfortable stance.

“You don’t use...no, alright! That’s good!” I called out, excited. The concept of fighting with only a shield confused me, which only invigorated me further to find out how the King’s Shield had earned her reputation. “Let’s begin, then!”

“As the challenger, I will allow you the first strike,” she responded confidently. Her grin had returned, remarkably impish now, and her olive eyes were alive with passion. I could tell that the person standing before me now was not the same person I had met in the throne room in Yoria.

Let’s get to know each other, Valandra. In the few steps it took to cross the field and engage her, I formulated my plan of attack. I didn’t activate any of my combat enhancements, in an effort to get an accurate gauge of her skill level. She wore the shield on her right arm, so I angled towards her left side for my opening attack. In my past experiences, the most effective strategy against tower shields was to circle the exposed side and press the attack until the wielder tired out enough to make a mistake.

It soon became clear my strategy had failed. I slashed at her exposed side in a quick rising arc, with the expectation that she would pivot to catch the blow with the face of her shield. Instead, she hardly seemed to move at all aside from a brief flick of her arm. The shield rotated around its center and spun down to catch my sword, which sent a jarring shockwave up my arm.

The force of my swing spun the shield back in the opposite direction, and I heard a quiet clicking noise as she drew her arm back in response. The shield stopped spinning and instead slid back along her arm in a straight line, to the point where her grip seemed to be directly at the outside edge. I was still trying to recover from my deflected strike when she threw her shield arm forward in a devastating punch. The shield clacked loudly as it launched down its track, extending forward to crack against the leather armor above my sternum.

The blow knocked the wind from my lungs and sent me stumbling backwards to the ground. I rolled to my side and violently sucked in air as I went through a quick damage report. A shooting pain in my chest that intensified when I breathed confirmed that I had multiple dislocated ribs, and most likely a few fractures as well. Lia let out a small squeak of alarm and began to head towards me, but I waved her away as I slowly attempted to stand. When I finally regained my breath, I wordlessly channeled healing magic to the injuries via the rune in my ring.

“I apologize for the excessive force, Lux,” Val said as she crossed to where I had fallen. “To be honest, I expected that you would be able to evade the attack. I will gather the medical supplies from the wagon and tend to the injury. Please wait here until I return; any unnecessary movement will worsen your condition.”

“What condition?” I asked as I rolled onto my knees and sprang up to my feet. I thumped my fist against my chest a few times to illustrate my point. “That was certainly a good hit, but don’t think you can take me out that easily. We said best two out of three, right?” I couldn’t help but smile. Not only was it satisfying to see the look of confidence on Val’s face change to one of confusion, but I also felt a surge of excitement at being knocked into the dust; it had been over a lifetime since someone had bested me so thoroughly.

When I retook a fighting stance, Val grinned and gave me a nod before moving back to her side of the arena. “Whenever you are ready,” she called out when she had taken her position.

Time to even the score. I channeled mana through my sword, making a point to flash each rune brightly as I activated all of my combat enhancements in turn. My charge across the field was significantly faster the second time around, though I opened with the same rising slash. There was a confident smirk on Val’s face as she spun her shield down to parry my attack again.

The follow-through of my attack naturally twisted my body, and I drew my offhand back over my head as if to throw a javelin. In the moment before my sword connected with her shield, I