Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!
Chapter 325: Then Get a Little Closer

Chapter 325: Chapter 325: Then Get a Little Closer

Yang Yu sheathed his sword and extended his index finger towards Qi, who was acting as the referee. Pointing at him with a smile, he said, "Next, it’s your turn, Qi."

"Bastard!" Qi clenched his hands tightly at his spot. "Yang Yu!"

Glaring at Yang Yu ferociously, his eyes revealing determination, Qi strode towards Yang Yu.

Seeing this, Yang Yu’s face broke into a smile, and he opened his arms wide, finally voicing a line he always wanted to try, "Ho-ho, instead of running away, you come towards me. It’s not easy; just like before the end of an exam when students scramble to finish their answers, your captain, Sekamens, desperately told you of my strength. Yet, you didn’t run away, you moved closer to me instead."

Marching with resolution, Qi continued to close in on Yang Yu, "If I don’t come closer, I won’t be able to knock you down."

"Ho-ho, then come a little closer."

Yang Yu walked toward Qi as well.

Suddenly, Qi’s figure disappeared.

Using the assassin’s most common "Stealth" skill, which temporarily shields one’s shape and presence, Qi drew his dagger from his waist and launched a sneak attack on Yang Yu in one swift motion.

Defeating Sekamens with ease proved Yang Yu was no ordinary opponent, but still, with the chance of dating a beautiful woman, Qi was far from ready to give up.

He had the assassin’s inherent speed advantage; if he could use it wisely, one-on-one, he still stood a chance of winning.

Yang Yu stopped walking, his right hand resting on the sword hilt yet with no intention of drawing his sword. Instead, he prepared the move he had specifically reserved for Qi, "Shield Counter."

Red spurs instantaneously covered the shield, and then Yang Yu violently swung the shield smashing it into Qi’s face, who had circled behind him.

Qi’s corpus reappeared in the air, tumbling towards the edge of the Duel Arena.

He thought that with this move he would at least inflict some damage on Yang Yu, but to his utter surprise, Yang Yu seemed to see right through his movements, swinging the shield fiercely even before Qi could strike.

The dagger stabbed into the ground, and Qi, just barely stopping his tumble, was about to breathe a sigh of relief and get up, only to see Yang Yu charging at him.

Startled, Qi sat down hard on the ground, pushing off with his feet frantically retreating towards the edge of the Duel Arena,

"I quit, I quit, I surrender! Just stop!"

Lifting up his arms, Qi crouched into a corner, fearing Yang Yu would slash his face with the sword.

Yang Yu’s attack stopped abruptly, and he put the slightly drawn sword back into its sheath.

With the Experience Bag secured, naturally, Yang Yu had no reason to continue his assault.

As Yang Yu’s attack never landed, Qi cautiously lifted his arms and saw Yang Yu smiling affably, reaching out a hand to him.

This smile didn’t seem like one of pure joy from having just beaten them both.

There had to be a deeper meaning behind it.

In an instant, Qi felt goosebumps all over.

That’s right... Could it be that Yang Yu had a special relationship with Iyas, and seeing me trying to chat up Iyas with a smile on my face, he staged this play to teach me a lesson?

The alternative interpretation of "If he wins, Yang Yu will properly introduce him to Iyas" was, if he lost, he should never think of Iyas again.

Really now.

If you weren’t satisfied, you should have said so earlier, making me take a beating for nothing.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and after hesitating for a moment, he still reached out and took Yang Yu’s hand, using it to help himself up.

He tried his best to hide the awkwardness on his face with a smile.

"Yang Yu... your Excellency, you’ve become stronger than I imagined, to easily see through my movements even when I’m in Stealth Status."

"I didn’t see through your movements,"

Yang Yu chuckled,

"Backstabbing is a common tactic among assassins; many people pay extra attention to guarding their backs, and I’m no exception. I merely made a quick calculation of how long it would take you, with your Speed, to reach behind me, and then I took a gamble, nothing more. And it turned out I guessed right."

Looking at Yang Yu’s smile, Qi couldn’t muster a smile at all.

Who are you kidding! With that confidence, you definitely saw through my movements. I’m not falling for your polite words.

Releasing Yang Yu’s hand, Qi returned to Sekamens’s side with a forced smile, whispering something into his ear.

Sekamens nodded in agreement and then approached Yang Yu.

"I’m utterly defeated. You’ve won fair and square,"

Yang Yu shrugged, carelessly putting away his Shield and sword into the System, saying with a laugh:

"Don’t look so regretful. I can tell that you’ve grown a lot these past few months. As long as you keep working hard, one day you’ll catch up to my pace and be able to fight me on an equal footing. Let’s have a rematch the next time we meet."

Wearing a bitter smile of resignation, Sekamens nodded.

But Qi quickly waved his hands in refusal, "I don’t want to compete with you again. It feels like no matter how hard I try, I’ll just get thrashed one-sidedly by you. I won’t bother Iyas again, please spare me!"

Hearing Qi’s words, Yang Yu frowned slightly.

He had only been thinking about how to end the fight quickly and hadn’t considered that being too swift might leave the other party feeling dissatisfied.

To be a man, one needs to be enduring, to give and take, to master a steady rhythm, only then can one capture others’ hearts and keep them thinking, "Ah, I can counter-attack" or "Next time I will definitely win," constantly coming back for more challenges.

Yang Yu regretted his earlier approach and decided that in future duels, he had to appear more balanced in strength to keep the Experience Bags willingly coming to him.

Just as Yang Yu was about to end the duel and check on Iyas’s condition, and to look into the recent affairs of the Chaoyang Chamber of Commerce, Sekamens beat him to the punch,

"Yang Yu, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you. What are your plans after completing your training?"

"Well..." Yang Yu didn’t reveal his future itinerary but instead asked back, "What about you? What’s the matter? Don’t be shy, just speak your mind."

Collecting his thoughts, Sekamens didn’t beat around the bush,

"To be frank, bringing Rococo here to rest was just convenient; we have a different purpose for coming here."

Sekamens took out a worn-out sheepskin map from his bosom and handed it to Yang Yu.

Upon opening it, Yang Yu saw that it depicted the very area they were in.

However, Yang Yu couldn’t understand the writing on it.

What surprised Yang Yu was that, despite his inability to read the text, he felt a sense of familiarity with it.

After pondering for a moment, Yang Yu suddenly remembered that the writing resembled the sporadic annotations on the murals in the underground relics of Fairyland.

"This map is... what exactly?"