Sometimes I would run to that guard and jump through him and finish the level very quickly. On a small but significant fraction of the times, his sword strike w

Sometimes I would run to that guard and jump through him and finish the level very quickly. On a small but significant fraction of the times, his sword strike would miss so it was possible to skip him without luring/climbing. Since the success rate is low, this only makes sense for that guard, as losing to that guard has a low cost: you just restart the game.