Children from the East Coast, who are good at inventions and have a history of excellence in applied engineering, like to play a game called Jenga.
The rules of this little game are quite simple. Use some small rectangular wooden bars placed three crosswise on each layer to make a tall tower. Then the players take turns to draw out the wooden bars that make up the tower. The collapse of the tower when one person tries to pull out is regarded as failure. .
It is not that difficult at the beginning. Anyone with a little experience will understand that as long as you carefully pull out the one in the middle, leaving a supporting frame on both sides, you can ensure the relative stability of the whole.
But when the supporting structure, the contact surface of each floor of the entire tower becomes less and less, it also begins to become less stable. If you want to continue the game, you have to concentrate on it. Not only do you have to be careful when pulling out the wooden bars, but you also have to be careful about your breathing, movement strength, etc., because the already shaky block tower may be blown by you. will fall down.
The feeling of being so focused that only the building block tower in front of you is left in the whole world. If you add time limit, the hourglass placed next to you will continue to decrease with a subtle "sand" sound.
The time you can think is extremely limited, you must concentrate without any slack, and the decision you make must be correct, otherwise it will lead to failure.
It is very effective in training your ability to make correct decisions calmly and quickly in highly stressful situations.
It's no wonder that most accomplished East Coast combat professionals also enjoy this game.
"Bang - ba ba ba ba -" The feeling of the hit made Adolphus understand that this blow was basically ineffective. The spear was broken, the shield was lost, and his only sword had been worn out a lot from the use along the way. At this moment, it seemed a little useless in the face of high-intensity battles. The sword blade that is not sharp enough can no longer cut through the tough cuticle of the ghoul. He has noticed this a few times before. The refreshing feeling of cutting with a sharp weapon that hits efficiently is becoming less and less, replaced by the feeling of using wood. A dull blow like a stick hitting a thick quilt.
If a sharp weapon cannot exert its edge, it will become a blunt weapon and generally rely on blows to cause damage. However, sharp weapons are destined to be low in weight in order to be flexible and light.
The inefficient fighting method cannot cause effective damage to the enemy. If it were an ordinary person at this time, he would probably just hit the enemy with pointless attacks or start yelling and run away.
But Adolphus was no ordinary man.
He is a paladin.
He entered the church at an early age and went through many hardships. He is a paladin who has experienced hundreds of battles with the mission of exterminating heretics.
"Bang -" He raised his foot and whipped his leg directly, hitting the ghoul in the head with his powerful legs and sturdy calf armor. This attack, which was comparable to a war hammer, directly smashed its inhuman face to pieces, and the overflowing black body fluid quickly evaporated in the air, even the parts stained on the Paladin's leg armor.
And he didn't pay too much attention to this. Then he curled up his entire right arm and lifted it up. "Click-" The scratch of the ghoul on the right was blocked by the shoulder armor and arm armor, almost At the same time, Adolphus drew out the dagger with his left hand in a fluid motion and stabbed it straight into the chin.
The tenacious ghoul did not completely stop its activities even after being severely injured. Adolphus, who knew this well, dropped his sword with one hand and smashed the entire weighted ball into its heavenly spirit cap, without even looking at it. He inserted the dagger into the ghoul's chin and smashed the face of the other ghoul that rushed towards him from the left with an elbow.
His armor was full of scratches, and he was panting with scars, but his whole person was like a hunting wolf, with a restrained breath and compelling eyes.
[Even if my spear is broken, my sword is no longer sharp, my shield is shattered and it becomes difficult to defend. 】
【I still fight】
This is how knights fight.
Ancient and orthodox.
The way a knight fights.
If the spear is broken, use the war hammer. If the war hammer is lost, use the long sword. If the long sword is broken, use the dagger. If the dagger is broken, there is still a fist.
The shield will not stop even if it shatters, because every part of this armor is a shield - a shield and a weapon at the same time.
Prepared for both offense and defense, deadly and difficult to kill.
This is a classical knight who takes the lead and is indomitable. The White Church may have many shortcomings, but this spirit has been passed down from ancient times to this day.
"Crack——" The sword with the Holy Emblem on the weighted ball was thrust into the soft part of the ghoul's lower abdomen. Then, while the opponent was still struggling with his limbs, Adolphus lifted it up and threw it hard. on the ground, and then heavily trampled the ghoul's cervical vertebrae with his feet.
"Bang——!!" The moment he dealt with this ghoul, Stephen used a two-handed sledgehammer to directly hit the other ghoul flying.
The ghoul drew an arc and fell from in front of Adolphus. The overflowing body fluids began to evaporate in mid-air, and when it landed on the ground, it had turned into a mummy.
"Bang——!!"
One after another, two after three, as if a giant beast was rampaging in front of it. The ghoul's hard bones and thick skin were extremely weak in the face of the heavy two-handed hammer used to deal with large creatures.
Steve does not hold leadership power, but acts as a warrior and a mercenary, and the strength he displays is quite amazing.
"..." But this domineering fighting style made Adolphus frown. He closed the distance and approached Stephen, not to use the opponent's strength but to cover him.
"Haaah-haaaa-" He was obviously right. The domineering fighting style almost exhausted Stephen's energy in a short while. The paladin rushed forward decisively to fight the ghoul that rushed towards him. , covering Stephen who was panting heavily to regain his strength.
The mercenary leader was holding a fire in his heart.
This anger is also shown in his battles, and many places clearly seem to be venting anger.
In fact, not to mention him, even Adolphus and the magic instructor Camilo were like this.
They consider themselves to be the best in their respective fields, and to be fair, they are.
These people, who are already quite old, have seen a lot of strong winds and waves. Although they are worried about the witch, they are not as nervous as the others who were left behind.
"That's all it takes to stand up to the sky."
Although Horno repeatedly emphasized that the witch is an existence beyond common sense and cannot be understood with common sense, even though they had personally seen the overwhelming ghouls and the magical reaction that even covered the sky.
However, the witch, who appeared in human and female form, still made these people, including Camilo, the supposedly wise magic instructor, feel a certain amount of contempt in their subconscious.
This is the inherent bad nature of human beings.
Arrogance.
He thinks he has everything under control, and even if things go wrong, he still has the strength to fight.
The mental weakness caused by this kind of thinking directly led to them being taught an unforgettable lesson when they actually arrived in front of her.
There is no ability to resist, no means to resist.
That was a direct attack on the weakness of the soul. They thought they were strong and calm, and their hearts were stirred up in waves. Or the whisper in their ears keeps talking about the things they cherish most, telling them to let go of it all and return to the gentle land of their dreams. Or to sow discord and create rifts between teams that are not perfectly united.
People are tenacious because they have things they want to protect, but when there are more things you want to protect, the more things you cherish, the more weaknesses you will have.
A lone killer is the strongest, because he will not put down his sword just because his daughter has a dagger hanging around her neck. But apart from these beauties, are human beings who have lost all pursuits and forgotten love still human beings?
Human nature is a spiral of contradictions.
It is precisely because there is love that there is weakness, and it is precisely because there is something you want to protect that there is confusion in the heart.
How can something that the religion you have believed in devoutly your whole life judge as evil and must be destroyed be so pure as to be as pure as the gods recorded in the grand ceremony? Adolphus's faith is not shaky, but he is also a very smart man, otherwise he would not be able to climb to this position.
So he was shaken.
You are thousands of miles away from home fighting for the ones you love, but have you ever thought about what it would be like if you couldn't return to them? Your wife will have to work too hard to make a living and die early. When your daughter gets married, the place reserved for her natal family will be empty. You fight for them, but you won't be by their side.
Stephen said nothing the night the mercenaries and paladins blamed Horno. He neither agreed nor stopped them.
Because he understands what family love is better than most people. If it is for his children, he can do many things that ordinary people cannot do.
So he was shaken.
What you have learned throughout your life, achieved extraordinary results. You think you already know a lot of things, but you don't. The knowledge you have spent half your life learning is just superficial. You are insignificant and blindly arrogant. And all the vast things in this world are far beyond your poor and pale imagination. Not to mention knowing the basics, it is almost impossible for you to even try to understand.
It is basically impossible to say that Camilo does not have any confidence. Even though his magic was indeed as weak as that of an apprentice in front of Horno, but Horno was an elf and a once-in-a-millennium genius, so it was natural that he would be weaker than her. And in Camilo's mind, he was still a high-ranking imperial magic instructor, and if he really had some hidden skills to compete with Horno, he wouldn't be helpless to fight back.
But in front of the witch, he was as weak as a newborn baby.
None of the knowledge I learned was useful.
So he was shaken.
Physical fatigue, inner weakness.
In the witch's sanctuary, even the air is filled with toxins. If they accidentally lower their guard, they will completely hand over control of their bodies and become puppets who have lost their souls and are left with only their subconscious and instinct.
Fortunately, due to Henry and Erica's top combat power, they did not kill their teammates, but after regaining consciousness, everyone was holding a huge flame in their hearts.
"Boom!" The powerful flame magic ignited the ghoul, and Camilo pursed his lips tightly and cast spells and attacks one after another. Stephen and Adolphus in the front cooperated with each other to withstand the frenzy of ghouls. Henry and Erica on the other side killed and wounded one after another. The occasional fish that slipped through the net was managed by our Mira and Fei. Libo quickly resolved.
After the magic was lifted, the team with more people became more stable. Not only did they maintain the last 9-meter-diameter open space, there were even faint signs of pushing back.
But at this moment, Mira, who was relatively peaceful at the back, noticed something was wrong.
The ghouls' actions became unified.
"Retreat!" Henry suddenly shouted, and everyone quickly retreated a considerable distance according to his instructions, and the entire circle quickly shrank. The remaining more than a hundred ghouls suddenly swarmed forward.
"Uh-huh -" In order to have a good range of movement in defensive armor, the armpits are usually weak points. The relatively slow-moving mercenary leader received a blow. Although he reacted immediately and pulled out the hunting knife he carried with him to cut it off, the ghoul's claws still penetrated deeply, making Stephen, a burly man, stunned. He gritted his teeth.
"Dang-squeak-" Filippo stepped forward to cover and stabbed a ghoul, but then another one rushed up. The long sword in his hand was bent and then lost among these monsters. Among the mountains of meat.
"Bang -" Camilo launched the huge fireball brewed, but it was ineffective in the face of the ghouls stacked one on top of the other.
"They, uh, why didn't they catch up -" Filippo said blankly.
"It's the final stage."
"ha?"
Henry spoke, but the people next to him looked confused.
"Originally, she could only command, just like a hunter commanding hounds to attack. Although ghouls are absolutely unconditionally obedient, after all, due to various individual differences and other factors, they will affect each other when fighting in groups, just like humans. ."
"We also use this to defeat them."
"Have you ever heard of unified consciousness?" The person Henry explained next was Erica.
"Imagine if all of us have the same consciousness, see the same thing, hear the same thing, and even move the same thing."
"What will be the result?"
"the answer is."
"Perfect coordination."
"Wha—" All the ghouls stopped and formed a circle neatly. The distance was as accurate as a phalanx of well-trained soldiers in a military parade.
"sky--"
"Disgusting."
"...What does it mean that the attack cannot be staggered?" Adolphus, whose combat experience is second only to Henry and Erica, was the first to notice what they were referring to and why Henry immediately prompted to retreat. people.
"Yes." Henry nodded.
"...That's really unsolvable."
"Why is there no solution?" Seeing that the ghoul hadn't attacked yet, maybe it was to relieve the tension, Mira asked.
“How do you generally win when there are more than one dozen?”
"Clear the key points, arrange the sequence, and then use the surrounding environment to ensure that you don't face too many enemies each time - ah!" The girl made a sound of sudden realization.
"Yes, because of the individual enemies' positions and slight differences, even if three enemies attack you alone, it is often difficult to achieve absolute coordination and synchronization. In other words, you can determine which enemy is closest to you. Relationships like getting closer, choosing and planning attacks and dodges to ensure that you are not surrounded by too many opponents at the same time.”
"But what if they are just like things carved from the same mold, with no difference in physical abilities and monsters, and they can also be perfectly coordinated?"
"...."
"Will he die?" Mira swallowed, and then looked at Henry.
"Ten--" the sage spit out a number.
"ten?"
"Nine--"
"eight--"
"seven--"
"six--"
"..." Horno, who was standing behind them, stood up slowly. Everyone who was extremely keen because of the dangerous impasse turned to look at her.
"...This is it." Adolphus frowned.
"Orno, you..." Mira looked at her in disbelief, black bodily fluids swelled where the blood vessels on the elf's face were.
"Five--" She took a step, and everyone noticed that for some reason the ghouls all took a step back neatly.
"Four——" Horno tightened his grip on the staff.
"three--"
"two--"
"one."
She opened her eyes. The eyes that should have been radiating blue magic light now had a strange look.
They were a pair of golden eyes, with cracked irises shining brightly, and the pupil in the middle was no longer the round shape of the past, but a sharp vertical pupil.
"Thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to me."
