Chapter 225: Beat Paris’s Pride

On the castle's grassy field.

Parris swung her greatsword, and Rondo was sent flying.

Lasse, who was waiting for his turn in the round-robin, felt a chill run down his spine: "My Lord Baron, where did this female mercenary come from? She's too violent."

"How do you assess her strength?" Liszt, watching the fight, was quite pleased.

"Rondo couldn't last five rounds, and my strength is about the same as his... Her strength is at least that of an elite Earth Knight," Lasse said honestly, but feeling that it made him seem weak, he added, "If it were a battlefield contest, it would be hard to say. Her fighting style isn't suitable for charging."

Liszt agreed with this assessment. Parris's fighting style was more suited to close-quarters combat, making her sword skills highly effective, though it was difficult to judge her performance in a charge.

However, he was just hiring a bodyguard, and excellent sword skills were sufficient. He then said to Lasse, "Rondo has been defeated, it's your turn now."

Lasse took a deep breath, drew his fine steel longsword, put on a look of determination, and charged forward.

After five rounds, he was thrown out just like Rondo.

Defeating two Earth Knights in succession, Parris hardly panted. The power of the Chiang gave her physical attributes far surpassing those of an Earth Knight with Aura. While Earth Knights could unleash secret Aura techniques, Parris had magic within her, though she couldn't use Aura. It was a special kind of magic belonging to the Light Dragon.

It granted her the ability to manipulate light, hiding her body behind it.

During battles, she would channel her magic to distort and manipulate light, causing confusion for her opponents. As a result, she could only utilize about seventy to eighty percent of her full capabilities.

Clap, clap, clap!

Liszt clapped his hands, satisfied with Parris's strength. He believed she was indeed worth the high salary of one gold coin per month: "A splendid battle, Rondo, Lasse, you've both done well. I made you fight in a way you're not accustomed to. Take a good rest and have a cup of milk tea... Parris, it's hard to imagine how skillfully you wield such a massive greatsword."

Hiring Parris as his bodyguard was not an impulsive decision, nor was it due to any infatuation with her beauty. In fact, that monstrous and terrifying arm had already left a deep impression on him, ruining many of his pleasant imaginings and preventing him from seeing Parris as a beauty.

The reasons he hired Parris were:

First, it was part of the reward for the Smoke Task, which he couldn't bear to give up; second, as a Black Dragon Chiang, she possessed secrets about dragons that Liszt found intriguing and wanted to study; third, her killing of a noble was justified, and the stain had been washed away; fourth, with Maggie in Flower Town, Parris was unlikely to pose a threat, and it would be a waste not to keep such formidable combat strength around.

Lastly, there was one more reason: his intuition told him that Parris wasn't a particularly shrewd woman.

Her actions were rather ostentatious. Despite being on a serious mission to save her sister, she still insisted on entering the study to check out handsome men. Considering her background—failed magic studies, used as experimental material, turned into a thief, and ultimately deceived into a death mission—it was clear she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

And she had been easily persuaded by him to offer herself at a lower price.

In every way, she didn't seem like a shrewd person.

A woman being too shrewd was undesirable, and a powerful woman being too shrewd was even worse. A woman like Parris, who was strong but of average intelligence and not deeply calculating, was more reassuring.

"My Lord, don't you want to test my strength yourself?"

On the other side, Parris, unaware that she had been labeled as "all brawn and no brains," casually swung her greatsword and taunted.

Faced with this level of provocation, Liszt remained unperturbed internally.

However, he smiled and said, "You can rest first." He had no opponents left in Flower Town, and sparring with Parris was a good idea.

His Magic Eye could see through invisibility, which would be perfect for deflating her arrogance.

"Two Earth Knights who aren't even elite haven't exhausted me at all," Parris said disdainfully. Lasse and Rondo had already gone to the apple table to rest and hadn't heard this insult.

Liszt didn't act pretentiously, patted Hiddleston's head to keep it in place, and slowly approached Parris.

He slowly drew his Red Blood Sword. Since the opponent was a Black Dragon Chiang, enhanced by dragon power, using the Red Blood Sword, which also had dragon power, wouldn't be unfair.

"By the way, Parris, does engaging in combat like this consume your lifespan?"

"As long as I don't transform, it's normal consumption. Otherwise, wouldn't I be useless, losing years of life with every move?" Parris held her greatsword with both hands, her earlier relaxed expression replaced by a serious one.

She sensed the surging Aura emanating from Liszt.

Compared to Lasse and Rondo, he was much stronger. Facing this handsome, noble, and capable lord, she felt a bit inferior.

Society was structured this way: mercenaries and thieves were the lower class, while nobles were the true upper class. One could despise the hypocrisy of nobles and kill them in revenge, but if given the chance, everyone wanted to become a noble. Regardless of their status, people always felt inferior to nobles.

No snow fell, and the sun hung in the sky, its warm rays melting the snow on the grassy field.

The clover underfoot provided a good barrier against the mud.

The leather boots felt soft as they stepped on it.

Liszt didn't use his Magic Eye yet; he intended to first experience Parris's light-manipulating combat style and feign weakness.

"Great Fire Wave!"

The technique from the *Fire Dragon Drill* Aura manual burst forth, turning the Red Blood Sword into a flame, doubling the power of his Aura technique.

With just this opening move, Parris had to use her light manipulation to block the flaming sword.

For a moment, Liszt felt his vision blur, and Parris seemed to have instantly moved back a step. Instinctively, he wanted to adjust the trajectory of the Red Blood Sword.

But he restrained himself.

He continued to attack the original spot.

Clang!

The Red Blood Sword was blocked by the greatsword, and Parris reappeared in the same spot, but she had shifted one step to the right, so Liszt's attack missed.

In the following rounds, no matter how hard Liszt tried to control his visual perception, he still couldn't pinpoint Parris's true position.

This unpredictable light manipulation was very frustrating.

Had it not been for his powerful offensive capabilities, the broad range of his attacks, and the explosive nature of his fire-attribute battle aura, which forced Parris to be cautious in her defense, he might have been swiftly overwhelmed.

However, it was precisely this peculiar fighting style that continuously elevated Liszt's combat experience, gradually enabling him to predict Parris's movements and preemptively attack her positioning. Gradually, he turned the tide, forcing Parris into a defensive stance where she could no longer counterattack.

"Her physical attributes are on par with Marcus; without the manipulation of light and shadow, I can defeat her at any time!"

Liszt's mind was clear, having accurately gauged Parris's true level. Thus, he no longer held back, quickly activating the Magic Eye.

In the next moment, the magical humanoid form completely exposed Parris's movements through the manipulation of light and shadow.

The red-blooded sword erupted with battle aura as he swung it forcefully towards the position where Parris was retreating, unleashing his ultimate technique: "Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill!" With a look of astonishment on her face, the red-blooded sword, enveloped in explosive battle aura, sent her flying through the air despite her heavy greatsword.

He gracefully twirled the sword.

The red-blooded sword was sheathed.

Liszt suppressed the urge to pant, walked over to the fallen Parris, extended his hand, and pulled her up, smiling: "I understand your strength now. Without unleashing the power of the Black Dragon, your manipulation of light and shadow is slightly superior to that of an average elite earth knight."