23 Glaring Dragon, Soaring Phoenix Pt. 2 (1/2)

Before the old man could charge at him this time though, Li Ming steeled himself, regripped his spear, and charged at the old man. This time, Li Ming was determined to control the flow of the fight. Stabbing his spear forwards, Li Ming aimed straight at the old man's wrists. However, before he could strike, the old man had also charged forwards too.

This created a weird situation for Li Ming. In the game, he would definitely had used a trinket such as his ”Firelance” trinket or his ”Wind Arrow Volley” trinket to interrupt the old man's advance and pacing.

However, this wasn't the game.

Li Ming was forced into a head on confrontation. However, the old man was aiming for Li Ming's heart and shoulders, while Li Ming was aiming at the old man's wrists. This led to a predicament, as Li Ming's target was at a different distance than the old man's.

Normally, Li Ming would have the upper hand here, as all he needed to do was hit the old man's wrists. However, Li Ming had made this far too obvious. The old man swatted his spear out of the air and proceeded to stab at Li Ming once again.

Refusing to lose, Li Ming stepped to the side that his spear was swept to in order to dodge the incoming stab. As the old man turned to face him, Li Ming's spear shot forwards! This time, he would aim for the old man's spear tip instead of his wrists!

This was a common strategy for Li Ming, as well as most mages. If they couldn't get a large lead safely, they would rather take multiple smaller leads instead. It was this mentality that set him apart from other players that shared melee range. Li Ming would often go for their weapons while the would go for his head.

Li Ming's spear chased after the old man's spear tip! Li Ming combined this with his gentle parry technique from earlier to nullify all of the old man's spear stabs.

Then, the old man took a slid his front foot forwards a bit and pointed his shoulder at Li Ming's face. From this Li Ming expected the old man to go for a ramming attack next, but what followed was actually a myriad of stabs!

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The spear tip jabbed at Li Ming over and over, threatening to bruise him all over. Unfortunately for Li Ming, he wasn't able to parry a single strike from the old man.

After a short beating, the old man stopped and looked at the now collapsed Li Ming, who was sprawled on his back.

”This is the first assault of the dragon,” the old man explained, ”its called 'Dragon's breath', and you'll find it quite difficult to dodge or block, even if you see it coming.”

”I see...” Li Ming sighed in defeat as he lay on the floor, recalling the volcano of spear jabs that had just erupted upon him.

”How many of the spear stabs could you see?” the old man asked.

”... I think I saw all of them...” Li Ming answered thoughtfully, ”But I didn't count them...”