My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 655: Chapter 8: Niō Displays His Might! Defeating the Elites of Little Chiba Sword Dojo!

Taniuchi is in quite good shape today.

He’s one of the long-standing suitors of Sazanoko.

He has secretly loved Sazanoko for a full 8 years, ever since Sazanoko was just a 14-year-old girl.

With great courage and thick skin, he has openly and crazily expressed his affection for and pursuit of Sazanoko over these 8 years... only to get hurt repeatedly against Sazanoko’s solid, invulnerable heart.

I’ve secretly loved Miss for a full 8 years, how long have you known Miss? How can your relationship with Miss be so good?!

Intense jealousy makes every cut Taniuchi swings at this moment incredibly powerful! It looks extremely terrifying!

The sword body of the bamboo sword is drawn into one trailing shadow after another by his fast swinging.

Taniuchi is best at offense, not defense, adopting the strategy of ”maximizing strengths and avoiding weaknesses,” he launches a relentless attack on Aoto.

Horizontal slice, downward slash, upward strike...

Chopping hands, attacking legs, striking vital points directly...

Taniuchi throws all his strength into this battle, pouring all his life’s learning into this fight that he absolutely does not want to lose.

Facing the aggressive Taniuchi, Aoto did not rush to launch a counterattack immediately.

Although saying this seems a bit arrogant... but when Taniuchi closed the distance and slashed the first cut at him, Aoto already concluded - this person is not his opponent.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, Taniuchi, who could only wield the bamboo sword with such speed that only indistinct shadows are left, is incredibly fast.

But for Aoto, with ”Gathering Spirit” and ”Eagle Eye,” Taniuchi’s series of actions, whether moving his body or swinging the bamboo sword, were just like an old movie played in slow motion.

Seeing through the opponent’s actions naturally means there’s no reason to get defeated.

Against Taniuchi’s fierce strikes aimed at his face, neck, chest, waist, and abdomen, Aoto counts down the 10 seconds needed to replicate the talent in his mind while dodging lightly and nimbly.

His figure, sometimes shifting sideways, sometimes spinning, flickers like a moon shadow on the water, elusive.

Aoto fully absorbed the lesson from the previous Marquis of Aizu swordsmanship competition—to delay striking against opponents significantly weaker than himself until after 10 seconds.

If carelessly defeating them in seconds again without lasting through 10 seconds, then there’s no way to replicate the talent.

——13...14...15...

Aoto counted an additional 5 seconds.

By the time he counted 15 seconds in his mind, Aoto roughly grasped Taniuchi’s sword path.

Currently equipped with the ”Swordmanship Talent Amplification 70 times the average person level” which upgrades to ”Sword Genius,” Aoto obtained far more than just extremely fast learning speed in swordsmanship.

It endowed Aoto with extremely high sword fighting intelligence.

After dodging another thrust from Taniuchi, Aoto started to switch from defense to offense!

At lightning speed, he switched his sword-holding stance from middle rank to upper rank, aiming directly for Taniuchi’s crown from the right upper side.

In terms of ability, Taniuchi indeed surpasses that Wada.

This strike’s speed from Aoto was essentially the same as the one that instantly defeated Wada just now.

Wada couldn’t keep up with such sword speed, but Taniuchi did manage to.

With sharp eyes and quick hands, Taniuchi raised the bamboo sword in his hand wanting to block Aoto’s strike.

However... the shock and numbing sensation after the heavy collision of bamboo swords didn’t transmit to Taniuchi’s palms as he wished.

Because at nearly the very moment he raised his sword to defend... Aoto changed his move!

Aoto injected a force of ”gentle” strength into his waist and elbows.

This gentle force led the trajectory of the palm sword to deviate greatly.

This change of move by Aoto made many spectators outside reveal faces full of admiration or astonishment.

Those with a certain level of swordsmanship attainment could all see just how intricate skills were hidden in what seemed a plain change of move by Aoto.

The suddenly changing trajectory of the sword body bypassed the bamboo sword Taniuchi raised in defense, hitting Taniuchi’s left neck.

Shigetarou Chiba, who had been closely monitoring every move of Aoto and Taniuchi in the capacity of a referee, immediately raised his hand and shouted:

”This stops here!”

”Winner: Tachibana Aoto!”

Taniuchi maintained the posture of raising his sword high, dumbly standing in place.

He looked at Shigetarou Chiba announcing Aoto’s victory, then looked at where he was just hit.

A few seconds ago, he was still launching fierce offensive against Aoto.

Mere seconds later, he was defeated...

Taniuchi’s brain found this hard to wrap around.

He encountered the same situation as Wada—unable to accept the tragic result of losing instantly like this.

But no matter how unwilling he was to accept such a result, it was useless.

Shigetarou Chiba’s judgment wasn’t wrong.

Being struck on the neck... in a real sword duel, it’s a fatal wound.

Consequently, this scene played out again in this dojo—Aoto’s challenger, full of unwillingness and frustration, lowered his head, gloomily puts down the bamboo sword, and retreated to the edge of the dojo.

At this moment, Aoto still did not hear the system sound in his mind he had hoped to hear after deciding to engage in a direct confrontation with this group of trouble-seekers...

Following Wada, even Taniuchi was惨败...

The ”Sazanoko Pursuer Corps,” struck by two consecutive severe defeats, all showed no exception, once again their faces changed drastically.

This time, unlike just a while ago when Wada retreated and Taniuchi eagerly rushed onto the stage, no one immediately went up.