"Dang!!" The two swords clashed, and there were gaps in each other. Mira instinctively tried to overpower the opponent's sword and disarm her at close range, but Filippo's reaction was faster than hers. He immediately made a circle and stabbed from the outside, deflecting the fancy guard behind the sword's edge. The sword blade that suppressed the Luoan girl stabbed towards her face at the same time.
The girl quickly took a big step back and at the same time moved the sword in her hand sideways and raised it up. She tried to use this move to push Filippo's hands up to expose the empty door in front of him and take the opportunity to attack, but the young man's movement again After surpassing her, the moment he sensed the white-haired girl's intention, he withdrew his sword and took advantage of Mira's upward movement to change direction and stab her sword hand.
"Dang Qiang——!!" In desperation, Mira held the sword with one hand and swung to block the blow, but the moment she lowered the tip of the sword, Filippo, who was leaning forward, immediately kicked him over, "Boom! "The breastplate blocked most of the impact, but she lost her balance because of it, and the young man quickly raised his sword and struck directly at the girl's head.
"Bang Cang——!" Mira blocked it at the critical moment, but due to successive defeats, she was suppressed and knelt down on one knee.
All this happened in less than 5 seconds, because Mira was completely suppressed by Filippo because of her weaker physical strength and less experience. Various ideas flashed through her mind quickly, selecting and rejecting many ways to resolve this crisis.
——This is essentially correct. Battles are not won by waving and shouting. Only by being cautious can you survive longer.
But there are no absolutes in anything, and the idea of doing it all with one trick will eventually make you hit a hurdle that you can't overcome.
'bad habit! 'The girl came over in shock.
After all, she is inexperienced. The advantage of the systematic swordsmanship that Henry taught her is that she can always find a way to deal with it, but sometimes the simplest and crudest way is the most effective. Spending time thinking about clever counterattacks will only make you Further reaching an impasse——
"Wha-" One to the left and one to the right, the two ghouls, Adolphus and Steve seized this opportunity and attacked quickly.
On the battlefield where many people are fighting, there is no room for too much hesitation and thinking - at least for someone of her level.
"Pa—" Henry and Erica came over one after another. After killing the two ghouls at the exact location, Steve and Adolphus were forced back again.
"Boom -" Filippo, who was not sensitive enough to the crisis, was knocked unconscious by the sage's slap. Mira let go of the sword and stretched out her hand to catch the young man who fell, and then kept retreating because of lack of physical strength. Almost fell down together.
"Retreat to Horno and let her help release the control." Henry said concisely, and then rushed forward again and killed several ghouls one after another.
He and Erica were incredibly fast, as if their physical strength was endless, killing any ghoul that dared to approach accurately and efficiently - just how powerful these two people's fighting power was can be known by just looking at the environment around them. .
"Ha-hu-" "Ha-hu--" Pulling the fainted Filippo, Mira worked hard to move closer to the direction of Horno.
13 meters in diameter.
Within a 13-meter diameter distance radiating from Horno's location, there was not a single corpse of a ghoul.
They all died outside.
Under the power of Henry's sword and Erica's mithril spear, there seemed to be an impenetrable transparent wall in the air between the woods.
Hundreds of ghouls surrounded them like a whirlpool of sardines, but they were still unable to make any progress.
"Ah——" "Qiang Dang——" The girl didn't take a good step and her whole body fell down, and the two long swords she was carrying also fell to the ground. She began to feel her vision darken, evidence of a lack of oxygen.
The pressure of the heavy breastplate on the chest further intensified the pain. She began to feel out of breath, and her whole body felt dizzy and wanted to fall down.
20 minutes after the battle started.
Even gasping for air is exhausting.
"Bang -" She sat down on the ground, leaning against the tree trunk with her mouth wide open like a fish thrown ashore but unable to get the oxygen she needed.
My shoulders, arms and calves were sore that they were shaking slightly.
"Are you okay?" Horno came over. She also looked pale, but she immediately started to remove the magic influence on Filippo.
The dull-looking magic instructor Camilo next to him was pulled back by Erica early in the morning. The magician's relatively weak physical fitness made him easier to capture. But even if the mental impact is eliminated, the person still has to rely on themselves to return to normal.
"Is it okay?" "It will be fine." The two exchanged words briefly with each other's faces looking very bad. Mira held on to the tree trunk and tried to get up and run to pick up the sword, but her legs and feet became weak and slipped. down.
"Take it off," Horno said, referring to the breastplate the girl was wearing.
"Bang - Cang!" Henry, who was speeding by, cut off the head of a ghoul with a sword, then flew up and kicked another one away.
"I have to, I have to go help." The girl with white hair stuck to her forehead said breathlessly. Although Henry and Erica were superior in combat, facing so many enemies would always have more strength. better one.
But it was already difficult for her to even stand up.
The weapons and equipment on her body were very annoying, but she couldn't take them off under such circumstances.
Padrosi's popular dove-style breastplate can be made of relatively thin steel because of its slightly convex shape, reducing the overall weight by using the shape to resist weapons. Paired with the wider neck armor part to disperse the weight, it is not as constrictive on the shoulders as the West Coast style breastplate that Mira wore, so it is more suitable for long-term wear.
But it still weighs nearly ten kilograms.
This weight has already increased the consumption a lot just by wearing it, and if you want to enter a fast-paced and intense battle, this burden will become unbearable.
Mira, who is only 14 years old, does not have the best physical strength. Although her Luoan ancestry means that her height is no worse than that of older people, the physical problems caused by gender and age are still unavoidable.
This was bad enough in itself, but because the enemies she faced were thick-skinned and thick-skinned, her physical exertion was even more severe.
The white-haired Luoan girl cannot be as precise as Erica in hitting the enemy's weak points with every attack, and she does not have the strength of Henry to split a ghoul in half with a single wave of his hand.
The blunt weapon was hung on the horse along with supplies and other equipment and was lost because the war horse was frightened and ran away. If you want the not-so-effective long sword in your hand to cause enough damage to the rough-skinned ghoul, arm strength alone is Absolutely not enough. Therefore, every time she attacks, she must first distance herself, and then use her calves to sprint and accelerate to achieve a powerful enough attack.
"Hahu-" Horno wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down next to Mira.
Filippo slowly opened his eyes, but just like Camilo, his eyes were dull and dull, as if he had lost his soul.
"Fortunately, she can only confuse the mind and make them use their subconscious fighting instincts. They are like puppets and lack the ability to think independently." As Horno said this, he began to perform some spell-casting actions that Mira could not understand.
"If you don't know how to coordinate tactics, you will only counterattack according to routines."
"Huh——" "Qiang——" The girl from Luoan exhaled a long breath and picked up the long sword at hand. She finally turned the weapon back and took back her own weapon. Filippo's sword was also placed beside him who was still stunned.
"Bang - bang -" "Clang -" "Dong -"
Between the lightning and flint. Several more ghoul corpses separated and fell to the ground.
"..." She held the sword tightly. Although her face gradually began to regain some color, she felt that her strength had not returned.
Erica and Henry's battle.
It's a battle in another world.
At this moment, she could only watch the battle from a distance.
But even though they are stronger than the two of them, the circle that the ghoul cannot invade is gradually shrinking.
Within a few minutes of Mira recovering her strength, the first ghoul died within a circle with a diameter of 13 meters, followed by another one. Within a few minutes, they quickly covered this distance. All surfaces within.
There are more than two hundred ghouls lying on the ground. Once they lose their vitality, their entire bodies will be drained of body fluids and become mummies.
"Efficient circulation." For some reason, this word came to Mira's mind.
Such a number of corpses lying on the ground is enough to be awe-inspiring, and the two people who caused all this are still fighting non-stop.
But Mira couldn't see any glimmer of victory.
It is true that the plot of defeating more with less often appears in various adventure novels, but those who have actually experienced the battlefield will always make every effort to gain numerical advantage.
There were only about three hundred ghouls left surrounding them.
The moment Mira regained consciousness, the witch led a large number of ghouls and rushed over to surround them. Although there were many in number, they were all petite and quick-moving. There is no giant ghoul that is more powerful and difficult to kill, and no more additions can be seen after being killed.
It is not difficult to draw conclusions from this.
The witch has no more available soldiers.
This is the battlefield for the decisive battle. If everything is resolved here, it will really be over.
——Easier said than done.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-” “Bang-baa-baa-baa-” Erica, who shouted loudly like throwing a big sack, hit Adolphus’ cloak with the tip of her spear. Juan immediately threw him over and hit him on the ground. The Paladin's armor made a clanging sound as it rubbed against the ground.
"Because of him von Exio Ornolano, Adolphus! (See the world clearly with your own eyes, Adolphus)" Horno, who rushed forward and pressed his hand on his face, said The determined voice quickly interfered with the spell on the Paladin - only within this close physical contact distance, Horno's magic power could overcome the witch, thus removing the influence on his teammates.
"Pa—" Adolphus fell to the ground, and Mira seemed to have turned into a porter, not joining the fight but pulling the unconscious teammates back to a relatively safe place.
The paladin, who was bigger than the young man and wore full armor, dragged him up and left deep marks on the ground. The girl gritted her teeth and used all her strength to pull him. But at the same time, Henry and Erica on the outside began to get into trouble.
Three hundred ghouls, if replaced by the three earth dragons, it would not be difficult to defeat them at a certain cost. Henry and Erica, who could defeat the earth dragon, did not have an overwhelming advantage against the large number of ghouls. This is an incomprehensible concept to ordinary people, but once they are familiar with the war, they abandon that idea. After a simple thinking of comparing the size of a numerical value with black and white, you can understand why.
Combat is not a simple matter of attack power and defense. A large one can defeat a small one.
It also involves volume and fault tolerance.
The Earth Dragon, which weighs nearly ten tons and is covered in scale armor with few defensive holes, is the main knight capable of both offense and defense. Henry and Erica were able to defeat them, just like some veteran mercenaries could take advantage of the inconvenient mobility of knights in full armor to attack the weak spots in their armor, causing huge damage and killing them with one blow.
This is the extreme of the "spear" held by an individual, but the battle is not won as long as you can fight.
The impact and defensive power brought by the size of large dragon creatures are the same concept as humans forming an army in groups. What they bring is size and fault tolerance. In an army of 100 people, if five people lose their combat ability, they can still retain the vast majority of their combat power. However, an elite force of eight people is indeed more efficient. If the same number of people appears, casualties, then the team is basically close to collapse.
The Gray Sawspine can rampage through the ghoul swarm and cause damage, but Henry and Erica cannot. Not only because they had to protect Horno who was casting some kind of spell and several other people who were in a sluggish state, but also because they couldn't afford the risk of casualties.
All they can do is maintain this protective circle.
And this would be extremely easy if there were still more than a hundred people or an army of 400 people at the time of departure.
But it backfired.
As mentioned before, even a wise man can only make the choice that seems right at the moment when faced with an uncertain future. Due to his abundant wisdom brought by many things he has experienced, this choice may prove to be correct for a long time to come, but what about when half a century has passed or a century has passed?
No one can predict everything in the future, because everything is in motion all the time, and the relationship between things will not be as simple as a straight line between two points, but like being thrown into a pool. The ripples splash out, affecting everything in the entire pool.
The risk of dividing the troops, reducing the number of people, and causing a large number of enemies to be controlled by the witch's ability is eliminated. From this point of view, it was the right choice, but with such a small number of people facing hundreds of ghouls, they had to face the problem of error tolerance.
This is the dilemma they face that even Henry cannot solve.
The witch's most powerful weapon is not the ability to create such twisted undead and command them to attack, nor is it the huge magic power that can affect the weather, nor is it even her weird black magic that controls and corrodes the human mind.
But unknown.
Just like the confrontation between Mira and Filippo a few minutes ago, there are regular things in a system. Although many of the outstanding results summarized by predecessors can be highly effective, but in In the hands of someone who is also familiar with this thing, it becomes traceable.
It has become a condition that can be used for "pre-reading".
As long as you know what the opponent will do and what is the "correct" approach in this situation, you can understand what the opponent wants to do.
You can understand what your opponent wants to do and which "move" he wants to use, and how you should respond by using each movement and the subtle force you feel with your eyes.
But the witch is not such an opponent.
She is chaos, chaos.
All actions are for the simplest and most basic purpose of survival.
But it is precisely because of this simplicity that it has unpredictable randomness, which makes even Erica and Henry, a sage like Red Thirteen, find it very difficult.
Just like a person wielding a big sword and swinging it around, you have no idea how his next attack will come, because he doesn't follow any routines or sword skills, and he doesn't understand them either.
Generally speaking, swordsmen who study systematically will not lose to such people, because they know that a guy swinging randomly like this will not be able to hit them at all and will soon run out of energy. They just need to wait for work and finally use the least labor-intensive method. solve.
But.
What if - what if you add endless physical strength to this person, and match it with a big sword that can definitely kill you with just one hit?
That would be any swordsman's nightmare.
Attack with pure and powerful force without any structure, destroying all your ideas about honor, technology, thinking and strategy.
Let you quickly lose in shock and daze.
The witch is such an opponent.
The power is so powerful that it cannot be increased, but the purpose is simple and even chaotic, so it is impossible to judge what she will do with reason and common sense.
It cannot be prevented.
"Huh--" "Boom--" Steve, who was knocked unconscious by Henry, was thrown to Mira and Horno. Except for the little unicorn who ran into the distance and disappeared, everyone on his side had already Caught back. But the diameter of the defense circle has also shrunk to only about 9 meters.
The smaller defense space admittedly made it easier for Sage and Erica to intercept, but the movement space was compressed to such an extent that it also meant that their remaining time and chance of survival were greatly reduced.
Swinging the sword and stabbing countless times; running and galloping continuously.
Although these two men, who stood at the pinnacle of human individual combat skills, seemed to have endless physical strength, they still showed no signs of fatigue.
It is an indisputable fact that they are at a disadvantage.
"What on earth are you preparing, and how long do you have left?!" In a hurry, Mira's tone became a little aggressive, but Horno, who was silently reciting the spell, did not have the time to answer her, so the Luoan girl gritted her teeth. Frowning tightly, she paced around and finally reached for the sword she had stuck on the ground - but it collided with her other hand.
"Ah, this is yours." The young man reacted and grabbed his own sword from the other side, and then shuddered as he looked at the endless ghouls.
"My head hurts so much, it feels like someone hit me with a hammer." Filippo touched the back of his head and said this, while several others finally seemed to have come back to their senses.
"...I have a lot to ask, but it seems that it is not a good time to chat." Adolphus was the first to stand up. He looked at his breastplate, which was covered with mud and scratches. He raised his eyebrows.
"Oh my god, this feels like a nightmare." Steve patted his face.
"Fireball." The first word out of Camilo's mouth when he regained consciousness was a magic spell.
"Twenty minutes left."
"Just what?"
"Anyway, let's hold on for another twenty minutes, right?"
"Well, I think optimistically——"
"If we don't hold on, at least this will be the last time we have that concern."
