She is not an investigator.

"You are weaker than I thought."

"..."

Igris clutched her shoulder, her brow furrowed deeply.

Her strength was far from enough to contend with the man in front of her, but her pride in her agility was equally ineffective against him, and simply dodging would not end the battle directly.

But Hyde did not continue the attack.

"I'm guessing you haven't learned how to use the weapons you have, right?"

"…certainly."

Igris learned her combat skills through experience in battles with others.

Such battles are chaotic and often lack lethality and specificity.

"Hmph... Come on, let's do it again."

Haiyinde raised his straight sword again, while Igris helplessly raised her longsword, but the wound on her shoulder had disappeared.

"You attack."

Hyde brandished his sword at Igris, then stood still, waiting for her to attack.

It felt strange; they weren't fighting, but rather practicing, showing affection everywhere.

Igris took a deep breath, took a sudden step forward, and slashed her straight sword toward his body.

But just as he got close, Hyde suddenly swung his other weapon, deflecting the blade in Igor Sanlis's hand and sending her staggering.

As Igris instinctively prepared to swing her sword again, Hyde's longsword was already pressed against her throat.

"Your fighting style is like that of a street thug, relying solely on (the two sharp blades in your hand), wielding them like heavy wooden sticks, comparable to a barbarian."

Hyde quickly retracted the blade from his hand and then put the hilt into his pocket, looking somewhat disappointed.

"If that's all, you have no chance of defeating me. It's over. It seems the curse here will add another person to the list."

"and many more…"

Seeing Hyde's retreating figure, Igris stopped him.

He turned his head slightly, his eyes, filled with dark circles, looking at Igris, seemingly lost in thought.

"Can you teach me?"

"?"

Igris paused for a moment, then spoke softly.

"Can you teach me... how to use a sword?"

Hyde stared blankly at Igris, then suddenly burst into unrestrained laughter, as if he had heard something so ridiculous that it even diminished his dangerous aura.

"Do you know who I am...? Are you asking a madman, a murderer, to be your swordsmanship instructor? Who's the madman here?"

Igris looked around at the mist that covered them; there seemed to be no one else there besides the two of them.

She could also sense that Hyde's combat skills and weapon proficiency were far beyond her reach.

"So...can you teach me?"

Hyde's arrogant smile suddenly stopped, and he looked at Igris, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"are you serious?"

"Yes."

"..."

Hyde fell silent. He first touched his chin, then scratched his messy curly hair, looking lost and confused.

But in the end, he still took out his weapon.

"...Then I'll show you a couple of tricks."

The Gods' Fools - The Gravedigger and the Violet: Chapter Seven, Good Guy? Bad Guy?

"Grip your weapon tightly and don't let go easily. In battle, it is your greatest asset."

Hyde, holding his straight sword, gave his instructions, word by word.

"You don't know enough about weapons. The one-handed straight sword you're using isn't suitable for head-on confrontations with enemies. Whether it's defense or offense, it's more about precision and agility. And when facing an attack, you shouldn't just stand there and try to block with your weapon. That's too clumsy and easy for others to spot."

Hyde brandished his weapon, signaling Igris to come and strike.

Without hesitation, Igris rushed over, swinging her weapon, while Hyde raised his weapon and deflected her attack, causing her to stagger.

"When faced with a slash, the best approach is to dodge backward and then counterattack. You can also deflect his weapon, causing him to slash in another direction, but this is ultimately not a safe option. Only when facing a thrusting attack that is difficult to dodge directly backward can you try to deflect his attack and launch an attack from the side."

With that, Hyde thrust his longsword at Igris.

Seeing this, Igris followed his example, raising her sword to deflect the incoming blade.

But Igris's strength could only slightly deflect the blade, allowing her to dodge the attack in a sorry state.

"...cannot be bounced away."

"Of course, no one has been born yet who can deflect my attacks."

Hyde smiled mischievously, leaving Igris speechless, but she could barely understand what he was trying to say.

In battle, do not attack blindly. Avoid frequent attacks while ensuring that you do not expose any weaknesses. When facing an enemy's attack, do not simply use your weapon to block it. Instead, try to neutralize or deflect the attack to find the best opportunity to strike and kill the enemy in one blow.

Igris's strength is not outstanding, so when facing most attacks, she can only deflect them instead of deflecting them directly like Hyde. But that's enough. As long as the attack is deflected, Igris's powerful body control allows her to easily dodge any attack and launch an attack instantly.

It won't be used in many situations, since Igris isn't a professional assassin, and her attacks should be as non-lethal as possible.

Except when dealing with cult members.

"It seems you understand?"

"More or less..."

Upon seeing this, Hyde immediately pointed his weapon at Igris.

"Want to give it a try?"

"Give it a try."

Igris also pointed at Hyde, and the blades clashed, producing a crisp, low hum.

next moment.

Hyde suddenly rushed forward, swinging his weapon fiercely towards Igris's body.

Igris did not attempt to block, but instead retreated directly, easily dodging the attack.

A smile appeared on Hyde's face, and he suddenly raised the longsword that had just fallen in his hand, but Igris did not give him the chance. She directly deflected the upward-sweeping sword, then rushed forward and placed her own longsword against Hyde's neck.

"You lost."

"Hahaha...hahahaha!"

Hyde lunged forward, startling Igris so much that she immediately withdrew her longsword and looked at Hyde, who had almost committed suicide by crashing into it, with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"What are you doing...?"

"Oh, you win, so you can kill me and leave now."

Hyde scratched his curly hair, and looked at the frightened Igris with some confusion.

Is that so hard to understand?

"I don't understand! Why must I kill you?"

"That's the rule... but you did well, I didn't teach you this trick."

Hyde refers to his upward slash, a deadly move. After dodging his first strike, Igris had ample opportunity and time to launch an attack on Hyde.

Similarly, if she did that, the attack would be aimed directly at her chest...and chin.

However, Igris did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, she continued to look for a better opportunity. Her upward slash was unlikely to be very powerful, so Igris seized the opportunity, easily deflected her, and quickly closed the distance, ending the battle.

Igris's body may not be suited for combat, but her fighting talent is absolutely unparalleled.

Calm thinking, accurate judgment, strong coordination, and decisive execution.

Aside from being relatively thin, she was practically a natural-born fighting machine.

"So I really have no other way to leave here? I don't really want to fight you... After all, we don't have any grudges against each other, and you even taught me how to use weapons."

Igris still felt she should repay the kindness, especially since the other party never intended to kill her from the beginning, and every battle was just a friendly spar.

"Other methods? Of course there are."

"?"

Igris felt that this guy might indeed be a little... abnormal.

Why are you only telling her this now? It's so important.

Do you know where this is?

Hyde didn't continue speaking, but instead asked Igris a question.

Igris looked around but couldn't see anything but mist, so she shook her head.

"This is Qi's cemetery, the place that (that old man) guarded for his entire life. The people buried here are all extraordinary individuals. The fact that you can come here can only prove one thing."

"...What is it?"

Hyde glanced at Igris and chuckled softly.

“You deserve to be buried here.”

"No, I'm only nineteen. I have a long future ahead of me."

"Hehe... Of course I know, otherwise you wouldn't have immediately asked to go back after arriving here. But perhaps you could choose to meet with other people, which would be of great help to you."

"...So, you're actually a good person by accident?"

"Good person? Bad person?"

Hyde shook his head, and his hunched body seemed to straighten slightly.

“In my time, there was no connection between good and evil. I could be a good person or a bad person. Everyone says that the truly good people are those buried in the ground. Whatever, that's me too, isn't it?”