With his left hand on Torrent's reins, Bai Shi swung his straight sword in a graceful arc.
The first soldier to charge forward was immediately decapitated, his body slumping to its knees.
“This is what I call a fight!”
Torrent was incredibly fast, the wind pressure pushing against Bai Shi’s face.
The jarring ride did nothing to disrupt Bai Shi's attacks.
Aided by Torrent's superior mobility, Bai Shi picked off the foot soldiers one by one.
Every swing of his sword drew blood.
When one raised a greatshield, he struck down at the helmet from above.
When one raised a spear, he pulled away to sever its shaft.
When they tried to surround him, he leaped out of the encirclement and charged back in.Before long, the Gatefront had become a hellscape of flying gore and scattered limbs.
In little more than ten minutes, only one enemy remained standing.
His attire was clearly different from the other soldiers. He wore a heavy helm with only a narrow, cross-shaped slit for vision, topped with a long, gray plume.
Over a two-toned surcoat similar to what the soldiers wore, his pauldrons and vambraces were much heavier.
A massive, shield-like metal emblem bearing the image of a two-headed battle-axe was fixed to his left breast.
The men he had killed were mere soldiers; now, Bai Shi faced a true, ordained knight.
In the Lands Between, feudal rank was synonymous with strength.
And while knights were the lowest rung of the nobility, their power was incomparable to that of common soldiers.
During the battle, whenever Bai Shi had tried to attack him, the man had always managed to block with a slight shift of his greatshield.
His spear, meanwhile, had come close to striking Bai Shi several times.
Thanks to Torrent's intelligence, he knew to sprint forward on his own, shaking off the long spear each time.
Bai Shi knew he couldn't break his opponent’s defense from horseback. He pulled back, dismounted, and gestured for Torrent to move away.
“Come on. Let’s see what a knight can do.”
Bai Shi drew the ceremonial twin straight swords he had taken from the Grafted Scion. Even in the last fight, he had felt them thirsting for blood.
The moment he gripped the hilts, it was as if he had become the Grafted Scion himself. An array of techniques flooded his mind.
A weapon carries the story of its warrior; as long as one’s attributes were sufficient, one could inherit the techniques contained within.
And the single point Bai Shi had put into Dexterity was just enough to meet the requirement.
The Godrick Knight charged, spear in hand.
But Bai Shi remained unhurried. He crossed his twin swords, focused, and channeled a surge of energy from deep within his body into the blades.
A golden sigil of the ancient Erdtree materialized, and the swords began to radiate a golden light.
Ash of War—Golden Tempering.
This was no mere flashy effect; the blades were now wreathed in a holy luminescence that dealt additional damage.
By the time the enchantment was complete, his enemy was nearly upon him.
The Godrick Knight held his greatshield before him, leaving only his spear exposed, and charged toward Bai Shi like an unstoppable truck.
He took a large step with his right foot and twisted his torso, thrusting the spear forward with tremendous force.
This thrust, empowered by his charge and the full force of his body, was truly unstoppable. It would have pierced right through both armor and flesh.
But Bai Shi was prepared. He ducked swiftly, and the powerful thrust fell just short.
In fact, the twisting of his hips and shoulders had pulled his shield back, leaving the right side of his body exposed to Bai Shi.
Seizing the opening created by his opponent’s wide attack, Bai Shi pressed forward and thrust twice with his swords, piercing the chainmail beneath the surcoat. Blood flowed freely. But he only managed two strikes before the knight changed his spear’s trajectory, bringing it down in a chop.
Bai Shi was forced to roll left, but he was immediately met with a brutal blow from the greatshield.
He was still unsteady as he rose from the roll, and the impact knocked him flat on his back.
This is bad.
Not daring to linger on the ground, Bai Shi immediately rolled aside. A moment later, a greatspear stabbed into the spot where he had just been.
Using the momentum of his roll, Bai Shi pushed off with his right hand and swung the sword in his left, striking the Godrick Knight’s helm.
The frog-mouth helm’s defense was formidable, however, and the blow merely left a dent.
Yet as a feint, it had served its purpose.
The blow to the head had clearly rattled the Godrick Knight.
Moreover, the strike carried additional holy damage; the energy swirled inside his helm, forcing him to halt his pursuit.
He pulled back his spear and raised his shield, waiting for the pain in his head to subside.
Bai Shi used the time he had bought to get back to his feet, holding his twin swords in a defensive stance.
Bai Shi licked away the blood trickling from his nose. Though the last exchange had left him looking a bit ragged, he still had the upper hand.
Aside from being knocked down and getting a bloody nose, he hadn’t taken any real damage.
His opponent, on the other hand, had taken two stabs to the torso and a slash to the head. While the holy attribute wasn’t particularly effective against these subjects of the Golden Order, it was elemental damage, and that always had an effect.
A knight is a knight for a reason—an elite of the army. He’s skilled at seamlessly switching tactics and adept at finding openings.
But that’s as far as he goes.
Bai Shi switched from defense to offense and charged. The Godrick Knight sank low, bracing his shield with his bent left knee and stepping back with his right for stability, planting the greatshield firmly before him.
Bai Shi unleashed a flurry of rapid thrusts, alternating between his twin swords. The sheer speed of his storm-like assault forced the Godrick Knight into a full defense, leaving him no room to counterattack.
The high-paced assault didn't last long. For a brief moment, as if from exhaustion, Bai Shi’s movements slowed by a beat.
The Godrick Knight did not let the opportunity pass. He swatted Bai Shi’s sword aside with his shield, stomped his right foot forward, and threw the full weight of his body into a spear thrust.
He would stake his honor as a knight on this one thrust—it would pierce his foe!
But Bai Shi wasn’t flustered in the slightest. Instead, a dangerous smile played on his lips.
Bai Shi simply dropped the sword from his left hand, allowing mud to sully the sacred blade.
He swung his left arm around and clamped the spear under his armpit. Ignoring the spearhead as it tore through his glove and the chainmail beneath, he slid his hand along the shaft and grabbed the knight’s hand.
“Got you.”
Bai Shi planted his right foot firmly on the knight’s extended right foot and yanked hard with his left hand, pulling the man right out from behind his shield.
The Godrick Knight spun halfway around before being pulled down onto his back at Bai Shi’s feet.
The blade in his right hand plunged down, mercilessly stabbing through the helm’s eye slit.
The Godrick Knight’s body went rigid. He convulsed twice, then moved no more.
Bai Shi pulled the still-glowing ceremonial straight sword from the knight’s skull as gracefully as a young king drawing his sacred sword from a stone, though the blood dripping from the blade spoiled the pristine image.
He casually flicked off the lingering brain matter and blood, then sighed in relief. Everything had gone according to plan.
The Godrick Knight was certain to seize the opening Bai Shi presented.
It was an opening Bai Shi had deliberately created; he was trading injury for the kill.
When switching from defense to offense, a spear wielder must step forward with the same-side foot, making it their center of gravity, and lean their body into the thrust. This is the only way to achieve both reach and power.
But with that foot pinned by Bai Shi and his body already leaning forward, the Godrick Knight was completely unable to regain his balance and was easily toppled.
And with that, every enemy at the Gatefront had been eliminated. All that remained was the pleasant task of looting.