The courtyard was a chaos of steel and magic, but for Aldric, the world narrowed down to the man in front of him. Clarence Vane, the dual-wielding assassin of the War Hounds, moved like a viper. Aldric had never faced a nastier man than he, and even having a trait didn't make a difference.
"Still pretending you can do it, Aldric?" Vane mocked, feinting left before launching a rapid string of strikes at Aldric's abdomen. "Or did you come here just to die?"
Aldric didn't waste breath on words. He deflected the blows with the haft of his spear. He was fast, faster than he had been back in the valley; his levels bolstered by Reidar's power-leveling sessions made him even deadlier than he was before.
But Vane was fast too, and his movements were erratic enough to give trouble even to him. Besides, Clarence chose unique skills to fight, and fueled by them, he had generated a cadence of battle that was putting Aldric at even greater difficulty, despite him having the range advantage.
