With a dull grating noise, Humbert's sword drew back by two cen. The blue
gleam of the Lightning Flash Slash flickered, implying the stop of the skill.
—As I thought, I'm better in terms of pure strength!
It might have been within expectations, but receiving this opportunity to
prove it for real gave true meaning to Eugeo. He could not hope to match
the motions of nobles, refined to the extent of even paying attention to the
angles their fingertips were at, but in just this one thing, the physical
strength tempered by waving a heavy axe two thousand times day after day
in the forest back home, was not something he would lose at. Even
Gorgolosso, who boasted about his steel-like body, praised Eugeo's body
for being "slender, but masterly trained".
There were some among the noble students trained in the High Norkiastyle
who ridiculed the Valtio-style of Gorgolosso, who was born to
common folk, as «rural swordsmanship», but putting aside performance art
which was a competition of beauty, brute strength served as a splendid
weapon for duels. And along with the adaptive Aincrad-style passed on
from Kirito, he could bring any situation into a simple clash of swords.