Swordsmanship has many levels.
We have mentioned that the body structures of humans and several other races are similar. Based on this characteristic, the ways of using weapons are naturally quite similar. Whether it's a Danlasso battle axe, a one-handed sword or a half-sword, or a long scimitar common in the southern region, the most effective and powerful slashing attack of a weapon that can be used for chopping is always to raise it high and lower it. The "vertical chop".
As for the more flexible "horizontal slash" and "diagonal lift", because everyone is a creature with two hands, there is naturally a rough standard for their use. There are only a few ways to move your body, and there are only a few directions for attacking with weapons. This is why most sword skills and knife skills on the mainland, and even the basic routines for using sharp weapons such as axes, are quite similar. This is evident from this - but what we are going to talk about today is advanced advanced swordsmanship.
In terms of physical skills, if you are unable to fight in close combat, then you are only half a swordsman; in terms of sword skills, if you only know how to chop, poke, and thrust, you are just getting started. It is not a simple matter to know how to cut people correctly and how to use the weapons in your hands to achieve the most effective results. There is no one-size-fits-all move in swordsmanship that can be used to kill all enemies every time. This also provides many basics. The moves are all systematic. Once mastered, you can use them continuously to launch continuous attacks.
It took Mira a short time to master all of this, and then she spent a certain amount of time trying to make every movement accurate and effective. However, even if she did all this, she could only be regarded as an ordinary middle-lower mercenary, similar to the green card, blue card, and a small number of weaker orange card classes. The only situations where powerful and precise slashing can work are in sudden attacks or when you seize an opportunity during the battle. Unless the opponent you are facing is completely inferior to you and has no armor, you just need to know how to slash and stab. If you do, you will fall into a difficult struggle - just like the girl experienced when she met those Holy See knights before.
The inherent fighting routine brought to her by the knowledge and physical abilities she has learned is to create opportunities to slash and attack through defensive counterattacks, but in fact, in the battle between higher-level swordsmen, each of their A clash of weapons can directly evolve into an attack opportunity.
This is where the swordsmanship of the long sword really begins to differ from the swordsmanship. Before that, apart from the stabbing and stabbing, they even had the same starting hand for slashing, so that you can almost conclude that all martial arts in the world are the same. Different paths lead to the same goal - but at this point, when the half-handed sword and other straight sword users begin to enter a more elite combat level, the uniqueness of this weapon as the king of hundreds of weapons is finally manifested.
"Clang - click - click -" The half-sword in Mira's hand fell out of her hand and fell into the grass.
The trees here are not very tall. There are always a variety of tree species in the warm southern tropics. The sun shines lazily and the visibility is very high. There are combat mercenaries holding their arms and a few novice subordinate mercenaries. The soldiers were watching the two of them, while the strong hunting mercenary who was the leader of the team was polishing the surface of his giant sword with the fine sand in the forest.
Several other hunting mercenaries went hunting with a few new recruits. While waiting for their return, everyone was busy doing their own things - and it felt like it took so long for the white-haired man to do so. The Luoan girl finally solidified the foundation of swordsmanship, and Henry, who had reached a certain level that he felt was enough, decided to start further teaching.
He was not holding his big sword. What he was holding was just a wooden stick taken randomly in the rain forest. The length was about the same as the one and a half swords in Mira's hands. As a kind of opponent he would encounter. Weapons of this size should be considered quite common around the world.
The girl didn't think much about it at first. She thought it was just the old back-and-forth move, but she didn't expect that the half-handed sword had just touched the stick sage and turned the tip of the sword - or rather the tip of the stick - - pointed directly at her throat, Mira subconsciously shrank her head back, and Henry immediately leaned over and then let go of one hand, reached under her arm, swung it up and twisted the Luo An girl's hand. Machinery.
Once, twice, three times.
Mira had no idea what was going on, and the half-swords in her hand flew out one after another - everyone has a temper, even when it comes to their teachers, and even girls are not usually such people who like to be angry. , she suffered failures one after another in the fields she thought she was good at due to unknown problems, and she couldn't help but become anxious.
"Haha!" The white-haired Luoan girl raised her long sword high and slashed at Henry with a classic rooftop move. Her slash was steady and hard without any sign of stopping. Several people watching nearby The novice mercenaries opened their mouths as if they were about to scream, while the free mercenaries at the same level as them all frowned and remained silent - Henry did not retreat but advanced, and Mira hesitated for a moment. After a while, but out of faith in him, she still slashed at full speed.
The sage had already explained when he used an edged weapon for the first time when he was sparring with her in the past. There are many differences between real combat with real weapons and combat with practice weapons, so Mira chose to use all her strength. Even if she was injured, she would still be able to grow - the girl's will and determination were seen by Henry. He then shot like lightning, blocking with a stick in one hand, and another One hand was closed near his chest.
"Crack!" The wooden stick completed its mission and broke when it blocked Mira's half-sword from cutting 80% of the way. However, it also successfully prevented Mira's attack from falling on Henry. on the body. The girl immediately realized something was wrong, but her reaction could not keep up with her teacher after all: "Pa--" The sage's right arm holding the sword came across and got stuck in front of Mira's sword-wielding hand - due to the height difference Because he put his hand on her head - and then his free left hand immediately grabbed Mira's sword-holding right hand and touched her wrist with a "swish" sound.
"Oops-" The girl realized what he wanted to do but it was too late, so Henry easily disarmed Mira again with a twist.
"Clang-clang-" The half-sword that hit the bushes splashed a lot of dew, reflecting the sun's rays. "Huh...huh..." The white-haired girl gasped with sweat on her forehead and cast questioning eyes on her teacher.
"Let me ask you, what kind of thing is swordsmanship in your opinion?" He did not start to explain, but instead asked. Henry used the common language of the West Coast that Mira was more proficient in. Several other mercenaries who did not understand this language looked at each other, but the sage had no obligation to teach them, so they could only It's silent.
"Uh...killing skills?" Mira gave this answer after only a slight hesitation. It is true that she once said that she would use a sword to control her own destiny, but removing that layer of seemingly beautiful and great If it is a whitewash, in fact, swordsmanship and any other fighting skills are just killing skills that have been effectively summarized through and through.
"That's right." Henry nodded: "Then I want to ask you one more thing, Xiao Mira, does someone stipulate that if you use swordsmanship, you can only use swords to kill people?" He said this, this sentence The words have the consistent style of a sage, not giving you the answer directly but reminding you by making insinuations - the white-haired Luoan girl widened her characteristic bright eyes, her expression full of surprise.
"A good swordsman not only uses the sword in his hand as a weapon, but also any part of his body as a tool that can be used to achieve his goal. What I taught you before was how to kill people with a sword, and I want to teach you now What's more, how to kill people without a sword." He looked directly at Mira with his calm gray-blue eyes, his tone was calm but the meaning contained in it was quite serious and serious.
"What we will encounter after this is worse than this. If you remove the sword in your hand, you will not be able to fight. You will definitely die. If you want to save your life, you must become stronger. Stronger than just the whole sword." The sword, as well as the entire body, can be integrated into one body during the battle, seizing every opportunity and using every ounce of power to achieve the results you want." Henry continued: "Similarly, the opponent's body is the same."
"Everything is traceable. From what direction does the attack come and what is the opponent's intention? I have taught you how to judge this before when you practiced using edged weapons. So what you have to learn now is to use Based on this, it is not to block the opponent's attack, but to use the opponent's attack." He said this, walked to the side and started to look for a new stick. Mira behind him stood motionless, seriously Thinking about his teacher's words.
With the two crossed swords, what you have to do is not to throw away the opponent's attack. The place where the two swords touch each other and bite together can be regarded as a fulcrum for you to draw strength. If you adjust the sword point like this to stab the opponent, you can You can force the opponent to retreat or simply cause damage - "Ah!" She sighed in realization and clenched her fist excitedly: "That's how it is!" How Henry had reacted to her in a flash of lightning before The secret girl who had disarmed her before coming over could now understand.
By being familiar with the angle and size of the weapon in her hand and the opponent's weapon, she does not need to use powerful chopping attacks at all. Instead, she simply adjusts the angle and uses the tip of the sword to stab the opponent. This set of advanced skills opens up new possibilities for her. Combining the details of how to judge the other party's actions that she had learned before and the body she had continuously exercised, Mira felt that her vision suddenly became much brighter.
The reason why she had been defeated by others was now clear. Although she had just realized all this, if she met the Holy See knight or the swordsman of the same level again, Mira, she was confident that at least she would not lose miserably - a competition of strength and speed. It is the choice of swordsmen in the middle and lower reaches. It is the real swordsman's choice to use a calm mind, coupled with judgment and knowledge of all this, to achieve the best results with the minimum effort.
Like the stars on a midsummer night, countless things that were previously unthinkable were lit up one by one. After thinking about the puzzle, Mira was enlightened and understood the bottleneck that she had been stuck in before. She finally understood the reason why Henry and Joshua were so powerful. Swordsmanship and any battle are not about strength and speed. Values are both equally important, but a cool head and a reserve of knowledge for judgment are the factors that can truly change the situation and determine victory——
"A real battle is over before it begins." - She finally understood this sentence at this moment. It was not a cool one-sided force or speed suppression, but a cool one-sided force or speed suppression. It is about psychological speculation and calculation. Every move of the opponent is under your control. You understand all the factors necessary for victory and have the ability and determination to use it.
A battle between people with different understandings of fighting has already produced results from the very beginning, from the opponent's stance, the way he holds the sword, which foot he places his weight on, and even where his eyes fall—— A strong man at the swordsman level can observe and judge the situation through every detail, and then rely on these to win.
she thought.
The knowledge she learned from books, what Henry taught her, the fighting postures of others she had seen over a long period of time, and the skills she had mastered through hard practice. Everything merged together, allowing her to step into the next realm.
In October of the year 1330 of the Divine Calendar, in the southern tropics where there is constant summer all year round, the white-haired Luoan girl who was only twelve years old surpassed the highest height that most mercenaries who were twice or even three or four times her age could achieve in their lives. From a swordsman, he started to move towards the direction of a swordsman.
What she lacks now is just experience.
…
The mercenaries who went out for hunting soon returned. The short crossbows they carried were obviously an excellent choice for hunting small and medium-sized prey. The squinting old orange brand mercenary with a gray goatee was the hunter among the group. Expert, the small group of people who went out under his leadership have always returned with full loads since their departure for a week. Young chickens are very common in the southern border this season. It is not difficult for an experienced hunting group to bring back more than a dozen at a time.
No matter where they live, poultry are almost always edible. Although there will be slight differences in texture and taste, they are excellent sources of protein and oil for humans and many other creatures.
In addition to hunting young chickens, the mercenaries also collected a lot of wild fruits and vegetables. After fetching water from a nearby stream, they boiled the water in a large iron pot and scalded the feathers of the young chickens. They then poured away the dirty water and cleaned the internal organs. After that, put the water, cut into pieces of chicken, wild vegetables and salt for seasoning together. The wood on the raised tripod is hung under the pot and the fire is burning. The high temperature allows the chicken oil to seep out and the wild vegetables to make the whole pot of soup delicious. ——But that alone is not enough.
The leaves of palm trees are another excellent tool used by mercenaries to make food. The hollowed out abdomen of the remaining chickens that was also cleaned was stuffed with various wild fruits, and then these large leaves were layered. The package is placed directly over the fire to heat it. During the heat, the sweetness of the fruit gradually penetrates into the chicken and becomes a natural seasoning. Finally, we take off the wooden plates and bowls from the wooden cart, take out the dry grains and soak them in chicken soup until they are soft, and we have a fragrant and hearty lunch. This is done.
After a morning's rush and the physical exertion from the previous practice, the Luoan girl with a big appetite enjoyed the time happily. (To be continued.)
