I Refused To Be Reincarnated

Chapter 212: Adaptation vs Experience

'If I rely on my Blade of Adaptation, I can overpower him.' Adam thought, remembering the weapon's abilities. After all, he would be more resilient and hit harder. 'But I'll still have to be wary of his spells,' he added with a frown, summoning and grabbing the dark blade in his right hand.

'I'll think about it while fighting!' He declared, giving up on his ranged position and charging through the colliding arrows. Like a bullet, he navigated the dangerous area, rain of dissipating mana and negative energy washing him as he locked his eyes on the doppelgänger.

"Sigh. Fighting me in close combat is the biggest mistake you could make." The copy said, his eyes dimming. Since that man defeated him sixty years ago, he relentlessly refined his combat style. Melee was his territory, and he was confident no one could beat him.

Sadly, it also meant that the only ghost who reached this point would die in a few seconds, bringing his distractions to an end. 'Should have gone for the boy,' he thought, shaking his head bitterly.

As the man penetrated his domain, he fixed his adversary's arms, causing Adam to gulp as an icy shiver ran down his spine. Trusting his alarming sensation, he halted his movement hurriedly and jumped back.

Simultaneously, a black light flashed on his course's trajectory in an elegant arc. 'I would have lost my head if I continued!!' Adam thought, his pupils enlarging as the doppelgänger opened his mouth.

"Without your good instinct, your head would have rolled on the floor." He said, light returning to his eyes. Considering Adam's posture and recklessness, he knew he was an amateur but believed the fight could last a minute or two if his instincts were good. After all, he was a ghost ancient enough to control his mad impulses and not go easy on his foes.

Astounded by the move's decisiveness, Adam fell to the ground and took slow steps, his eyes narrowed in focus. His adversary's move started extremely low. 'From a blind spot as I drew closer,' he realised, understanding he couldn't rush.

After standing at three meters, the doppelgänger suddenly lunged at him. In a flash, he slashed horizontally, leaving Adam with three options: parry, crouch, or dodge back.

Following his battle style, he leaned back in advance, his fingers tightening on his blade's pommel.

However, as the blade approached, alarms rang in his head. Without thinking, he jumped back, narrowly dodging the deadly strike. Through gritted teeth, he subconsciously covered his left eye with his ethereal hand, fixing the ghost with his right.

'He is too precise and overwhelming. Each strike aims for the kill, no matter what I do.' He thought, the strike playing in slow motion in his mind. Right before he missed, the doppelgänger stepped forward without breaking his strike's momentum.

'What level of fluidity is necessary to achieve that?' He thought in horror, knowing if the system rated his sword mastery, it would reach the fourth tier without doubts. With that understanding, it was too risky to approach recklessly. He had to play dirty to win, and he knew it.

Clenching his weapons, he moved forward as two mage's hands appeared behind his back. Without warning, he shifted his speed from walking to racing in a second before a dark light flashed in front of him. But this time, he was ready. The hands phased through his body and exploded on the blade's trajectory, knocking it off.

With the path now free, he pressed forward, reaching one meter before noticing the doppelgänger's smirk. "I know you'll copy the Luminous Wildeblade. But I'm a Mage!" He roared, detonating the air, causing dust to swirl with the mist and obscuring his body from his adversary.

Alarmed and disgusted by the fool play, the doppelgänger dropped all courtesy, preparing to launch a barrage of arrowheads in the dust.

However, his pupils constricted. Before he could act, the mist, dust, and wind swirled around a giant spearhead like a hurricane.

"Not good." He muttered, gathering his evil energy to build defences before him and simultaneously replicating the mana technique. But he knew he couldn't entirely stop the attack. He had no time to give his spear momentum. Yet, he was confident in dodging after figuring out the trajectory using the same explosions to boost his speed.

As he completed his preparations in a flash, Adam's mana cape almost dissipated as he spent most of his energy to propel his spear like a laser ray.

BOOOM

Six deafening explosions resounded, deafening the silent canyon as the spear disappeared from their view.

The experienced doppelgänger's spearhead and defences shattered silently. However, the evil ghost's figure was gone amidst the large hole in the ambient mist.

As the deadly mana technique travelled further before drilling a hole in the distant wall, Adam suddenly spun, aware the last two explosions didn't come from him. Morphing, his Blade of Adaptation turned into a large war hammer before he slammed it to his left.

CLANK

A rain of metallic fragments exploded as the doppelgänger's weapon shattered under the strike's brute force. Then, before his eyes, the hammer twisted and reassembled into a crystalline dark spear.

'I need to retreat temporarily and show him how wrong it was to play dirty with someone of my species!' He thought, anger filling his eyes before launching himself to float away and avoid the spear. Thankfully, his cunning adversary was out of mana and didn't hurl another spearhead at him. Yet, in his escape, he failed to notice Adam's smirk.

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"I won't move. Come back when you're ready to fight seriously because... honestly? I almost got bored." Adam shouted, his voice filled with ridicule, causing a vein to almost pop from the doppelgänger's forehead.

'Just wait, childish ghost! I'll see if you can still act smugly after your friend's weapon runs through your body!' He roared inwardly, an evil smile curling on his lips. Of all the methods at his disposal, this one charmed him the most to take revenge.

After this humiliating fight and the foul play, he wanted nothing more but to see despair cover this fool's features!