Chapter 26: Weier

On this second night of traveling together, the atmosphere was a bit better than yesterday.

Although both sides were still trading barbs and refusing to yield in their speech, and everyone would personally step into the ring to spar without admitting defeat, in Jier's view, it was still a form of effective communication.

However, the old-school Shishou simply did not like this way of communicating.

He preferred a peaceful and equal way of communication, and it would be even better if it could include some art; everyone could exchange knowledge of forging, the art of writing, paintings, music, or the like, rather than this crude, empty-handed fighting at this moment.

A Human and a Dwarf were pressing their hands against each other's hands within the designated circle, exerting force to wrestle. The Human Warrior put forth all his strength, his face turning beet red, and sweat from his entire body kept streaming down. Meanwhile, the wrestling Dwarf was grinning ferociously with excitement, the muscles on his arms bulging, exerting force from time to time, then relaxing, exerting force and relaxing again, using this to test and exhaust the Human Warrior opposite him.

Once the Human Warrior was exhausted, they would suddenly exert force to twist their arms and knock the Human Warrior to the ground.

"Oh!!!"

"Won!" The Dwarves shouted wildly, and the Humans on this side also began to clamor, especially those surrendered Soldiers who were being watched; these people shouted even more fiercely than the others, as if using this method to take revenge on the Warrior subordinates of Jier who usually treated them poorly.

The fallen Warrior was quickly carried away by his companions, but immediately after, others who refused to admit defeat jumped into the circle.

The Dwarf Warrior who had won consecutively was not afraid at all; he shouted, his face full of excitement: "Come, come, come, come and accept reality! I am the undefeated wrestling champion!!!"

"Hahaha, I didn't even realize I had this talent myself."

But the person who came up was Weier. He was empty-handed, and unlike others who complained about the heat and didn't wear tops, he was wearing a loose linen top with both sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a smile on the corners of his mouth, as if he had already seen victory before even making a move.

When Weier entered the ring, the Humans immediately cheered; everyone was quite optimistic about Weier's own strength.

"Please, Weier! Help me beat this guy's face hard! It doesn't matter if you lose, just beat his face hard!"

"Idiot, why would you lose? You should rely on your physical advantage and keep attacking while maintaining distance."

After Weier entered the ring, he loosened his wrists and ankles, while the Dwarf opposite took this opportunity to return to the Dwarf side, take a bucket of well water, and pour it over his body, which was hot and sweating.

Then the Dwarf shook his head, wiped his face, and rushed toward Weier.

The Herbalist Zuojigela was holding one of his children and standing in the distance watching this scene; he couldn't help but shake his head: "It's very easy to get sick like this. When the body is overheated, it's best not to use cold water to cool the body down rapidly. Many physical ailments come from this."

The child in his arms whispered cheers for the Dwarf; there was no helping it, the child had been familiar with these Dwarf uncles since childhood, so naturally, he was cheering for the Dwarf at this time.

After Zuojigela noticed, he whispered to interrupt the child's cheering and said a few words in his ear, after which the child changed his tune and began to cheer and root for the Human Warrior named Weier.

Weier came up and first parried a straight punch from the Dwarf with both hands, holding his breath with a flushed face to defend, then quickly stepped sideways to dodge the Dwarf's subsequent grab.

The Dwarf had great strength; if he managed to grab his hands or feet, he could easily throw him, which was how Aoni lost yesterday.

But going head-to-head with the Dwarf in a test of strength wouldn't work either; the previous person had lost exactly that way.

Thus, after dodging the Dwarf's attacks several times, Weier turned to use flexible footwork to move, always maintaining a distance that the Dwarf could not reach even if he accelerated and lunged.

"Coward! Come and fight!" the Dwarf clamored, feeling that something was wrong as he failed to grab his opponent repeatedly.

Weier subconsciously estimated the distance, then took two quick steps and delivered a kick.

The Dwarf raised his arms to defend, intending to counterattack and grab Weier's attacking limb, but Weier changed the kick into a stomp, stomping directly onto the Dwarf's arm and knocking the caught-off-guard Dwarf straight to the ground.

The injury wasn't major, but he had lost face.

This Dwarf still wanted to fight, but Weier waved his hand at him and said: "Switch to those guys you beat yesterday; I'm here today to test their skills."

The Dwarf wasn't annoyed; after a mocking laugh, he walked toward the Dwarf side while shouting: "Shishou, someone is here to challenge you."

But at this time, Shishou was using a millstone that couldn't be taken away in a nearby Farmer's courtyard to train his strength; he didn't pay attention when he heard it, but among the others nearby, a resting Dwarf follower of the God of Strength stood up: "I'll go meet the challenge, you guys keep practicing, I'll be back in a while."

This Dwarf Warrior spoke quite confidently, and he indeed had reason to be confident.

After throwing the sturdy Glove on his hands—which was wear-resistant and increased friction—onto the ground, the Dwarf Warrior strode through the crowd and walked into the center of the open circle.

Humans unfamiliar with Dwarves usually wouldn't easily recognize which Dwarf was which, but the Dwarves themselves could easily recognize who was who: "Roubing! Why are you replacing Shishou to come up and meet the challenge?"

The Dwarf follower of the God of Strength nicknamed "Roubing" smiled confidently: "No need for him to enter the ring, I'll do."

"That works too, hurry up, this Human's movements are a bit flexible, can you handle it?"

Roubing didn't say anything more; after entering the ring, he loosened his shoulders and beckoned to Weier, signaling him to attack.

Weier also smiled and strode toward the opponent.

Suddenly, Weier used his Boot to shovel some sand and dirt from the ground toward the Dwarf's head and face, then rushed forward.

But these Dwarf Warriors who were followers of the God of Strength, although their combat experience was not as rich as the Dwarf Soldiers guarding the mine, had still fought many Monsters in the mountains and forests.

He didn't take this kind of surprise attack to heart; he covered his face with his left hand, shielding his mouth, nose, and eyes, while his right hand threw a punch forward by instinct.

Fists and feet met; instead, Weier retracted his leg and retreated two steps, hopping on one foot and shaking his foot. That punch just now had hit his foot, and half of his sole was numb.

As for the Dwarf, his figure didn't even sway, and he only took half a step back overall.

These muscular Dwarf followers of the God of Strength were also quite skilled; not only was their strength astonishingly great, but their body balance was also well-maintained.

"Just a small trick, come again."

Weier also licked his lips with his tongue and rushed up again with excitement.

This time he changed his fighting style, no longer attempting to clash head-on with the opponent, but instead relying on flexible footwork to strike the vital parts of the opponent's upper body with quick kicks and punches from the Dwarf Warrior's side or rear.

But while the Dwarf might lack movement speed and flexibility, he did quite well in stationary defense.

Facing Weier's attacks on his body, this Dwarf Warrior just bulged the muscles on his body to block Weier's fist and foot offensives, and when facing offensives toward his vitals, he used both hands to protect the front and back of his head, incidentally blocking his neck and throat as well.

The Dwarf's thick-knuckled palms completely blocked Weier's attacks time and time again, and several times he almost grabbed Weier's hands or feet, which would have led to the same end as Aoni yesterday.

Aoni was watching quite nervously in the crowd; he cheered loudly for Weier, shouting and stomping his feet, wishing he could go up and help Weier.

Weier tried for two minutes; the high-speed continuous attacks made him quite exhausted, and he tried hard to control the rhythm of his breathing, but his breathing was still getting faster and faster.

He then retreated several steps, maintaining distance from the Dwarf to quickly recover his stamina.

The Dwarf Warrior rubbed his hands, looking depressed; he considered himself not much different from Shishou, but when it was his turn to enter the ring, the enemy was even more formidable, making him far less impressive than when Shishou entered the ring yesterday.

"Damn it, why is my luck so bad?" Muttering a sentence, the Dwarf Warrior refused to believe it and insisted on trying to defeat Weier to boost his own popularity.

He knew that his opponent's movements were flexible and that his attacks and retreats were planned and methodical, not just fighting wildly, so he knew that if he wanted to rely on ordinary empty-handed fighting methods, he wouldn't be able to touch a single hair of the opponent; he had to launch a surprise attack to grab the opponent's hands, feet, or body parts.

Then, relying on his own superior strength, he could throw and slam the Human Warrior to win.

The Dwarf Warrior began to move; he spread his arms to expand his grabbing range as much as possible, then moved his feet, testing to force Weier backward.

Weier retreated two steps, but the circle provided for their fight was not very large; he was already in the back half of the Human side, and retreating two more steps would bring him close to the boundary of the watching crowd.

This position was a bit bad, because in this kind of small-scale combat, there was an unwritten rule: basically, as long as you didn't leave the circle, you could fight however you wanted, but once you fell into the watching crowd, you were automatically judged to have lost.

Weier's eyes darted around; he naturally saw through the Dwarf Warrior's intentions on the opposite side, but couldn't he perhaps use this point to win this fight?

Thus, as the opponent pressed in once more, Weier feigned a quick move to the right, attempting to dash out of the opponent's range of intimidation to secure more room to maneuver.

But the Dwarf Warrior had long been guarding against this; his legs were prepared at any moment for a quick spring and dash, so when Weier dodged to the right, this Dwarf Warrior also immediately leaped to his own left, while his arms simultaneously tried to reach forward—as long as he could grab Weier's clothes or limbs, there was a very high probability of victory.

But this dodging movement was merely a feint by Weier; after rushing two steps horizontally, he immediately turned in place, his legs exerting force to dash toward the gap the Dwarf had vacated on the other side.

"You!"

The Dwarf Warrior exerted force to punch the ground, braking urgently, while his other hand pushed off the ground; using the force from his arm combined with the push from his feet, he decelerated rapidly and charged back toward the fleeing Weier.

This set of movements by the Dwarf was very fast, at least the onlookers all felt it was much faster than Weier's turn.

Therefore, just as Weier was about to escape, the Dwarf Warrior caught up, blocking Weier's escape.

There was no help for it; Weier could only slow down again and retreat toward the crowd, and in this way, he had nowhere left to retreat.

Striking while the iron was hot, the Dwarf Warrior opened his arms without slowing down, and using the momentum he hadn't yet shed, he lunged directly at Weier, who was standing still and waiting for his fate.

Was it really so?

Weier's mouth curled up at this moment, his body dropped, the back of his neck pressed against the ground, his hands supported the sides of his neck, while his bent legs retracted; eyeing the Dwarf Warrior lunging over him, he exerted force with his legs and kicked upward in one smooth motion.

Thud—

This Dwarf Warrior was directly given an extra boost of force by Weier, and he crashed into several of the human onlookers, "extremely surprised" with his arms wide open.

Afterwards, Weier swung his legs, exerted force with his waist and abdomen, and rose from the ground in a motion similar to a carp leaping.

Looking at the scene of them crashing into a heap, he smiled triumphantly: "How about that? Although I couldn't knock the opponent down, this round should count as my win, right?"

Obviously.

The Dwarves had no objections to this; what they truly had objections to was the Dwarf Warrior who was called 'Meat Pie'.

"You really are a fool! To be played like that."

"In the end, you were too excited, 'Meat Pie'; you should have been steadier, forced the person into a dead end, and then just moved up to grab them—why did you have to lunge out?"

The Dwarf Warrior who had crashed into the crowd received more than a few stray punches and kicks while struggling to get up in the chaos, but he had nowhere to argue his case; having returned to the field, he defended himself to his companions with extreme grievance: "Listen to my explanation, I really didn't think much just now; after blocking left and right twice, I just lunged out."

Weier stood leisurely at the edge of the field, deliberately striking an elegant pose, and explained to everyone: "Ahem, I deliberately looked for the timing just now, specifically so he wouldn't have enough space to think, so when the opportunity seemed right at the end, he chose to lunge at me at the edge of the field."

"At the edge of the field, it seemed I had no room to retreat or dodge, but in fact, for the attacking side, it is the same; if his method of attack is chosen poorly, he will also rush directly out of bounds and lose immediately."

"However, it's a pity that the opponent's defense was done very well; it was almost impossible for me to defeat the opponent empty-handed."

Speaking of this, Weier looked at Jier, who was practicing slashes with a heavier captured Knight Sword to the side, and said to Jier: "Lord Jier, can you defeat these Dwarf elite warriors empty-handed from the front?"

The dejected Dwarf Warrior still standing in the field immediately corrected him: "We are not some Dwarf elite warriors; we are Double-handed Heavy Weapon Warriors who believe in the God of Strength."

Jier hadn't really been watching the scene of Weier winning just now; he was using a heavier Knight Sword for his daily Sword Technique practice, while also striking some poses that looked inexplicable to others, but in reality, he was using imagination to replace the gathering of real shadow power, simulating the steps of quickly concentrating power on the long sword to swing it during combat.

Hearing Weier call him, he looked over and happened to lock eyes with 'Shitou', who was also looking over.

"Empty-handed? I haven't fought them empty-handed yet. After all, they have too much strength; fighting them empty-handed really carries a certain degree of danger."

Jier casually stuck the Knight Sword Aipiedela into the ground; the solid soil, which seemed to have been trampled by people, was easily pierced halfway through by the Knight Sword.

"'Shitou', how about we spar? Relying solely on heavy objects for rigid practice can increase strength, but combat is not just that simple."

Hearing Jier's words, everyone in the overnight Yingdi became excited; the Human warriors naturally hoped to see their boss—Knight Jier—display great power and kill in all directions. And the Dwarves also wanted to see Jier's true skills; most of them had been knocked down by Jier in a few moves and were truly resentful for having lost before seeing Jier's real skills. Although they had heard from other, more formidable fellows that Jier's strength was even greater, they had not seen it themselves after all.

Many people did not have a practical perception and understanding of Jier's strength, so on the whole, they were filled with a vague sense of unease regarding the human society that Jier represented behind him.

This sense of unease was actually hidden within the old Dwarf himself.

After all, the large pit in the center of Torito Village was said to have been caused by Jier and 'Shitou' fighting, but it was more of a blunder caused by 'Shitou' putting in too much force. Although being able to force 'Shitou' to fight in this way made Jier's skills appear stronger, many Dwarves were still not very clear about how much Jier's strength exceeded theirs, relying only on the oral accounts of those Dwarf believers of the God of Strength.

Therefore, when 'Shitou' heard Jier's invitation and looked at the old Dwarf to seek his opinion, the old Dwarf didn't deliberate much and nodded in agreement.

With a thud, the shirtless Dwarf threw the stone millstone he had been carrying on his shoulder onto the ground; he wiped the sweat off his body with one of his clothes, and only then did he stride toward the open space for the duel.

Walking over, he asked Jier: "Do I need to trouble the Priest to perform a strength blessing for me?"

Jier took off his plate armor piece by piece, letting Xueya Site, Zhongtusi, and Xiao Tusi, who had come over to help, hold them temporarily. By the time he arrived on the field, Jier was only wearing a pair of long trousers; he didn't even wear boots, just moving his arms and adjusting a Metal Bracer on his left forearm.

After he readjusted and secured the Metal Bracer on his left forearm, he waved his hand and said: "That's fine, don't forget, a few days ago I was forcibly blessed by your deity."

Jier bared his teeth: "I've never seen such a thing; I said I didn't want it, and he still did that to me. So my strength has also increased; you had better perform the strength enhancement first before you fight me."

'Shitou' looked Jier up and down; he could clearly sense the feeling of Divine Power from the God of Strength on Jier's body, knowing that what Jier said was not false, so he looked toward the Wild Priest of the God of Strength.

The Priest holding the Metal Box was already prepared by this time; he walked out of the crowd, held the box containing the Dwarf God of Strength high, and performed a Prayer of blessing for 'Shitou' in public.

In this person's view, this moment was an excellent opportunity to display the power of the deity, especially since both sides of the duel were favored by the God of Strength; no matter who won or lost, it would not affect the majesty of the deity.

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