Close Combat Mage Chapter 278

Bonus chapter for 6M hits! This came way sooner than I’d expected; thanks for all the support as always ? I’ll post the regular chapter soon.

Translated by: Taffy

Edited by: Comfortabull

Chapter 278 – Aqua Moon Blade Technique Pt. 2

For a moment, all the people present were temporarily blinded. Once they were able to see again, they saw that a two meter long, couple fingers wide blade had appeared in the strange person’s hand. It was a long sabre that seemed like spring water.

Having strolled through many bazaars before, Suo Jia had pretty much seen all types of weapons. However, he couldn’t help by admit that he’d never seen a blade like the one in the mysterious person’s hands. Actually, he’d never even heard of such a thing before.

Despite being only four fingers wide, the entire blade was about two meters long. Its body was soft and flexible. Even when unmoved, it couldn’t remain rigid and straight. The war blade was a weapon that perfectly combined the hardness, sharpness, and flexibility of steel, a soft sabre.

With a subtle shake of his wrist, a crash rang through the air as the entire war blade flashed with a brilliant light like a bunch of fireworks. At the same time, the mysterious person said, “This blade’s name is Aqua Moon, and it uses the Aqua Moon Blade Technique. Please guide me.”

“Oh?” Picolo couldn’t help but grow curious as he looked at the long, strange sabre in the mysterious person’s hand. Similar to Suo Jia, he’d never seen such an abnormal war blade before.

“Clang.” Under Picolo’s inquisitive gaze, the mysterious person’s wrist suddenly flicked to the side and…the two meter long soft sabre suddenly straightened itself. Then…the mysterious person turned around, using the momentum from the spin to thrust his arm out and cut down with the sabre with a fierce and violent slash towards Picolo.

Picolo couldn’t help but be taken aback for a moment by the mysterious person’s slash. The large sword in his hand was held up horizontally, prepared to block the opposite party’s attack. Seeing this, the mysterious person couldn’t help but smirk. With another slight bend of his wrist, the soft sabre’s original slash was changed into a chop with its flat side.

“Clang.” A loud crash resonated through the air as Picolo’s large sword successfully blocked the soft sabre. However, because the mysterious person had turned their blade, only the side of the soft sabre was intercepted.

That wasn’t all. Because the timing of the turn had been so well-planned….although Picolo had blocked the blade’s side, the sabre’s horizontal form was still preserved.

Everyone watched as the entire soft sabre used the large sword as support and quickly curved down. Its sharp point followed the arc of the body, and piercingly slashed at Picolo.

Against such a bizarre attack, Picolo had absolutely no time to contend or defend against it. The brilliant soft sabre’s point instantly left behind a white scar on Picolo’s armor. If his armor hadn’t been pretty hard, that slash would’ve been enough to slice Picolo in half.

“Shualala…” Despite the fact that the slash had no effect, the mysterious person was not dismayed. With another flick of his wrist, the brilliant soft sabre was instantly retracted. He stood there, calm and composed, and smiled at Picolo, “The Aqua Blade and its Aqua Blade Technique cannot be blocked, like a sword slashing the reflection of the moon in water. How could you possibly hit that? Like the reflection, the Aqua Moon Blade will always stay completely intact.”

“A good blade. A good blade technique…” Picolo grew serious once more. Although he had only exchanged one attack with the mysterious person, he was already sure that both the Aqua Blade and its technique were abnormal and terrifyingly sinister. A single mishap could result in his defeat.

Suddenly, Picolo’s body flashed a blazing crimson. Since the start of the battle, Picolo had finally entered his strongest attack state; he no longer dared to underestimate his opponent at all.

“Haah…!” When the blazing fire elemental battle qi gathered together, Picolo suddenly let out a shout. He stepped out and slashed outwards, and the flaming red sword qi flew out of the sword with a shriek as it slashed down, leaping straight towards the mysterious person.

The flaming red sword qi pierced the ground and split open a deep ditch. Rock shards flew out everywhere, flying out towards the mysterious person at incomparable speeds. However, the mysterious person simply smiled. With a bend of his knees, his body was sent soaring through the air.

“Heavens,” Suo Jia couldn’t help but cry out when he saw the mysterious person jump up at least a dozen meters above the ground. It wasn’t actually the height that had shocked Suo Jia, but the way the person had jumped. He hadn’t used battle qi nor magic power to jump, yet he’d gotten so high up. That seemed completely impossible.

The mysterious person’s body twisted around like a dragon through the air. As he quickly spun around, the two meter long war blade in his hand filled the sky with b.a.l.l.s of light that followed his body, heading down towards Picolo.

The Aqua Moon Blade was both wide and long. It shook violently and stirred through the air…and bright b.a.l.l.s of light at least 4-5 meters in diameter plowed towards Picolo head-on. Because it reflected the sunlight, it was impossible for anyone to detect the Aqua Moon Blade’s exact location.

Staring up at the blade’s glow that filled the sky, Picolo felt powerless for the first time. For a moment, he felt as if he was currently standing next to a lake, and in front of him was the gleaming reflection of sunlight from the clear and crystalline water surface. Picolo knew that these dazzling waves of light were the origin of the Aqua Blade Technique’s fatal deadliness.

“Chi…” A vicious whistle rang out. Finally…Picolo was able to vaguely see the moon’s reflection within those crystalline waves of light coming from the blade. The image was trembling and faintly discernable, disappearing once more as soon as it was spotted. At the same time, Picolo’s body suffered from hundreds of needle-like attacks.

Suo Jia was so excited by the brilliant, firework-like glow coming off the blade that he seemed to have forgotten everything else as he stood up, watching the mysterious person finally slash out one last time. When the soft sabre struck Picolo’s shoulder, its body seemed to take advantage of the blade’s flexibility, and rolled back up to return.

After falling back to his original place, the mysterious person whirled the blade around in his hand, and like a legendary dragon returning to its lair, the two meter long sabre blade disappeared at the mysterious person’s waist. This gave others the impression that it’d never even appeared in the first place.

Picolo hadn’t died, in fact, he hadn’t even gotten injured. The mysterious person’s hundreds of attacks had all struck Picolo’s armor instead. However, everyone knew that Picolo had already lost; it was a complete defeat, a pure loss.

It wasn’t that the mysterious person didn’t have the ability to harm Picolo with his slashes. Everyone knew that the mysterious person just didn’t want to injure anyone. If he had the heart to do it, Picolo would’ve already become a corpse by now. That unusual Aqua Moon Blade and its technique were things that Picolo couldn’t defend against, even if he wanted to. No matter how he tried to block it, the Aqua Moon Blade would always use some strange method to hit its target. Any resistance from Picolo seemed to only increase the Aqua Moon Blade’s power.

This was a technique that perfectly combined both whip and blade styles. It could become soft, hard, bent, or straight however the user desired. Blocking an attack like that was something beyond Picolo’s abilities.

He stared blankly at the mysterious person for a while…finally, Picolo sighed in disappointment and said, “Really an amazing blade and blade technique. I, Picolo, admit that I’m not your opponent. I’ve lost.”

Seeing Picolo be so open and candid, Nicole quickly pulled Suo Jia back into the darkness and sighed in praise, “I hadn’t guessed that Picolo was actually so n.o.ble. Anyone that can face defeat straight-on is not a simple person.”

“Tch…” Suo Jia curled his lips in disdain, “If that was truly the case, it’d be fine. The problem is, Picolo didn’t willingly admit defeat. He only realized that if he didn’t, he’d just be humiliating himself. It’s not like he could beat the other party up, so what could he do if he didn’t concede?”

Nicole hurriedly glanced at Picolo. Indeed…although he was diligently trying to control his expression, there was a reluctant glow that had never disappeared from Picolo’s eyes. Although he’d lost, he clearly wasn’t sincere about it.

Hearing Picolo concede, the mysterious person wordlessly sighed in disappointment and turned around to leave. Seeing this, Nicole asked in confusion, “Strange. Since he won, why didn’t he collect the betting stake? Could it be…that he forgot that it was a gamble?”

Suo Jia shook his head and replied, “No…he didn’t forget. In reality, the original intention of his fight wasn’t for the sake of any item. He only wanted to use the challenge to increase his own strength and experience. Didn’t you notice something? There’s not a single decent piece of defensive equipment on his person, he’s only wearing normal clothes.”

Suo Jia no longer cared about being discovered, and he quickly stood up and urged, “Quick, we need to catch up to him. That mysterious and strange fellow is the most suitable person to be our companion.”