He flexed his finger. And he could feel it. Not only his body but the energy in his body that for a moment felt inexhaustible.

  “It is stronger”

  “A rule?” Henrik thought to himself.

  There are still many things he did not know about this mechanic. But now, he seems to be grasping one of it.

  “Is it that when I overcome my death cause, I would improve? A somewhat progression-based mechanics?”

  Henrik had tried to systemize his…. peculiarity.

  It is only in this way; he managed to maintain his sanity after ten deaths. If not, he probably would go crazy when faced with such an insurmountable hellish start.

  “It is not dying. It is overcoming the things that causes death?”

  Henrik would like to think more about this and summarize all of his experience but then suddenly someone is rushing towards him

  Henrik heard him coming

  After all, he comes toward him while shouting. Only a deaf could not see it coming.

  “You have killed Bodor! I will kill you!”

  “Bodor? Who the fuck is that?” Henrik thought to himself.

  But just because he is having his own internal monologue right now did not mean that the man that are rushing toward him like a charging rhino would stop and let him finish his inner monologue

  He struck almost immediately.

  Henrik did not even have any time to make sense of this situation.

  All he knew he needs to survive and the sense that he had honed after ten deaths shows its power.

  This person struck at him left and then right, heavy blows, meant to overwhelm him.

  But Henrik could easily dodge it. In a way, he could see it now.

  “Improved?” he thought to himself. After the sudden rejuvenation of his stamina now he seems to even be proficient at dodging.

  At this moment Henrik suddenly understood something. But now is not the time to reorganize the information that he had just understood.

  He dodges and deflects and the sound of clanging echoes again. Henrik then gave ground, but not out of pressure.

  He smiles

  Swoosh

  Henrik could swear he could feel the sensation of the wind as the sword is about to cut him. But he had seen this attack

  Even before, this soldier swings it fully, he could tell where the sword is going to go. And so, he readied his move

  And then he steps diagonally all the while bowing to escape a swipe

  He rolls and then gets up, his foot on top of a broken plank probably from some broken carriage.

  “Hyargh!” the soldiers lower his position and tries to stab him, and Henrik move toward the left, the sword edges nearly missed him by a few inches and then suddenly he swipes it downwards

  It is targeted on his knees.

  “He wanted to cripple me” But Henrik could see this.

  If this was before, he would not know it until the hit connected. This time however, it is different

  “Hyargh!”

  Henrik jump and then retreat a few steps backwards.

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  He makes sure his steps are steady.

  Fortunately, enough the area he is in now is quite sturdy.

  While it is still muddy, the ground is not as soft as that one before

  The mud still sucked at his so-called boots, but his strength is now…improved, if he had to give a term to it

  The person attacks him again

  “Another squire?”

  Henrik thought to himself.

  But unlike before, Henrik could see the attack and could even understand the rhythm of this battle.

  He slashes and Henrik would either deflect or dodge. And unlike before, his dodges and his deflection is even more effortless than before.

  There is a sense of familiarity to it that he did not really know how to explain

  Henrik suspicion deepened.

  The squire swings, slashes, stabs swipe, all kinds of manner of attacking and Henrik effortlessly dodges it.

  Not because he suddenly becomes adept at swordsmanship or dodging, it is just that this person lacks the sophistication and the expertise that the squire he had killed before

  If the squire before is level 10, then this new enemy is level 7 or 8. So, his method seems clumsy, his movement seems slow and most importantly, he is easy to read

  Though, dying nine times also taught him to be calm. And even after killing that squire and now being attacked by another men, maybe because death seems so close and so familiar to him by now, that he is really calm and unfazed of being attacked

  But the same could not be said for this person. Even though this person was the one that attacked him, and the advantage should be on him, the thing is this person swings hard but with emotion.

  And while in many cases having emotions and passion when doing something is a good thing, it is not when such emotions is unleashed during such a battle.

  Emotion could help you but that also depends on what kind of emotions you are feeling.

  As for this person, the emotion is clearly anger. And usually, anger doesn’t really make people choose the right action or decision.

  Most of the time, anger would make you choose a decision that you would regret. That is how it usually is.

  And the first mistake is that anger makes your movement bigger. It is like abandoning caution

  And that is exactly what happen right now.

  The soldier swings his sword and from the moment he shifted his movement to swing, Henrik could see it and he could not help but smile

  “Now, that is a mistake. And if one mistake appears, another mistake would surely appear later”

  Swinging with all of his might, makes the swing bigger. The swing of the arc is bigger also means that there is more space for Henrik to attack.

  And the bigger the swing, the easier it is for him to detect the attack even before the attack even manifested and ready to be executed.

  Henrik is accustomed to fighting that one squire whose level exceed this one and now that he is face to face with someone who is a few level lower, then the moves come naturally.

  Henrik also felt that since his rejuvenation, after he passes that death obstacle, there is some kind of understanding that dawns on him

  Not like some kind of information streaming into his mind. It is more like he felt his proficiency in certain skill had improved.

  His dodging is improved and even his reflex seems faster. He could see things he did not see before. Like the movement of this person

  And once he saw the movement of the shoulder, he knows where this person is going to strike.

  Before, even with his full concentration, he could not notice or even discern such method. But now, it comes naturally to him.

  Like something inside him has awakened.

  Around him the fighting becomes more intense. Just because Henrik had defeated a squire did not mean the battlefield suddenly ends and the war is won.

  Henrik victory is just another happening in this big battlefield

  “I know the rhythm” this soldier exhaled with each swing.

  “He is getting weaker, his movement is getting slower, his stance is unstable and the attack is also not as strong. It lacks the swiftness of before.”

  Anger clouded his mind, and his emotion get the bets of him, to much energy and too much wasted movement

  Henrik even have the time to think of such thing even as he is dodging and deflecting

  Clang!

  Clang!

  Clang!

  Each sword attack is deflected.

  Each of the strikes when clashing produces a clanging sound.

  “What a good sword!” Henrik thought to himself.

  The sword that he had regarded as the only chance of defeating the squire that blocked nine of his lives…. he never thought that this sword is this powerful

  It must be quite a high-quality sword

  “I notice the sword does not feel that heavy now” before he also felt the sword is heavy. Not to mention his body is not exactly muscly.

  Just holding and swinging it takes a considerable amount of energy before. But he did not think about it before. Because the more you think about it, the more you would be distracted by it

  So, he did not think too much about the sword weight.

  And at that time, he was wrestling with life and death and the adrenaline that was rushing inside him was enough for him to ignore the weight and do his best.

  It also helps that he already knows what the squire was about to do. But now, he felt something else

  Everything felt easier. Everything felt lighter. From his reaction time to his movement to even his strength

  The sword on his hand did not exactly feel like light like a feather. But….it is not as heavy as before

  If this is a system it is easy to determine it if the stats are presented as numbers. But Henrik could only guess

  And before, Henrik need to dodge a few of this attack but now three times in a row, Henrik simply deflected the attack in almost effortless manner.

  There is no hesitation, and the move is swift and fast

  “The fourth cut would be slower” And just as expected, this soldier fourth cut is slower and Henrik kick the ground and retreated back, disengaging from the fight swiftly

  And there is a smile on his face

  There is confidence in his heart.

  “I can win this!”

  ..