My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 117: Judgement

Kace staggered a couple of steps backwards as he took another look at Dao. The vampire appeared to be calm, and there were no signs that he was the one that had just punched him. Kace took another look around to see who else was in there with them. However, there was nobody else.

'Was it really his doing?' Kace wondered as he looked at the smile Dao was still giving him. He was about to ask Dao if he knew what had happened when he felt another fist connect with his jaw. As his head twisted to the side, he could see a small movement out of the corner of his eye.

'So that's what's going on!' He thought as he made sense of what he had just witnessed. In that very brief moment, he had seen Dao shifting his foot ever so slightly back into the position he was originally standing in. In other words, Dao was just that fast!

This time he kept his eyes on Dao, he was unwilling to let his guard down again for another sucker punch. Seeing that Kace had grown cautious of him, Dao's smile grew even wider. 'Excellent, it's just as the queen told me beforehand. His vision is excellent, but he relies on it too much.' 

Kace was preparing himself to use Kinetic Vision at the first sign of movement. His mind felt strained from the tension of watching his opponent closely. Seconds passed, and Kace wondered if he should attempt to steal the initiative. His muscle in his thigh twitched as he prepared to move forward.

The second that his muscle twitched Dao landed another bow on Kace's jaw. What stunned Kace even more though was that this time, despite watching him, there were absolutely no signs of the movements he had just made. Kace was unsure as to whether to be impressed or afraid. 'This guy! He could easily wipe the floor with me! So what's going on?'

Kace was now covered in sweat from the concentration. Not just from watching Dao closely but also from restraining himself of making even the slightest movement. It was much harder than he thought it would be to keep his body so still for an extended period of time. Every now and then, he would fail. Causing another fist to strike his body.

Over the repeated failures to restrict his own movements, he began to notice that it was always either his ribs or jaw that was targeted. After being on the receiving end of a few more blows, he began to notice that a pattern was emerging. If it was his legs that twitched the corresponding blow would be to his jaw. If it were any other body part, it would be his ribs that Dao targeted.

'Fuck! This isn't a test!' Kace complained as he now believed that he knew what was going on. 'My training has already begun!' Kace was even warier of Dao now. He could tell that the vampire had kicked his speed up a notch when he noticed what was going on. 'There's only one thing I can try.'

Kinetic Vision! Kace opted to activate it right now. Originally he did not want to expend his strength so early after arriving. However, it was obvious that he was being put into a position where he could not afford to hold back. Kace prepared himself to receive the next blow. After that, he deliberately twitched his leg.

He was hoping that he would be able to follow Dao's movement with his vision skill. So he opted to provoke Dao into striking at his jaw which had a lower surface area for him to defend. In the end, he was still taken by surprise. His eyes did not register Dao's movements until he was forced to slow down to ensure his blow landed on its target properly as he arrived right in front of Kace.

Since Kace could not track the movements that Dao made between his starting point and arriving before him, he was forced to attempt a last-second block. It was useless, though as Dao's heavy fist struck him yet again. His head snapped back as his vision began to swim. 'Fuck! How am I meant to stop him!'

Dao, on the other hand, was secretly elated. Being the expert that he was in close-quarter combat, he had not failed to notice Kace's attempt to move for a block. 'Interesting. I was positive that he could not track me a moment ago. Is it instinct, or is he adapting to my speed?' Dao was unaware that it was only because of a skill. If he knew the truth, he might even have been disappointed.

Dao decided to see how far he could push it. He absolutely had to know the maximum speed that Kace could track with his keen eyesight. From his casual stance, he noticed Kace twitch again and moved at an even greater speed to before. However, something was off. Although he was moving even faster, Kace was already moving to defend.

'Ah, I see. Not bad. However, that won't work.' Dao thought with an amused smile. He noticed that Kace would have had to have started his movements right after twitching with his current speed to have a chance of blocking him. In other words, Kace was baiting him into attacking a specific area that he was moving to defend even though he could not actually tell that Dao was on his way.

Kace felt the wind getting knocked out of him as the blow that should have landed on his jaw struck his abdomen instead. As the air rushed from his lungs, he fired a hate-filled glance at Dao who was back in the centre of the hall.

"Not bad Kace. It appears to be pointless to continue this exercise. You can't follow my moves. However, you kept a calm mind and analysed my attack patterns. So there's some good news. You're not entirely useless." Dao grinned as he reported his thoughts on Kace's efforts.