Chapter 437: Shield Training—Offensive Defense and Combat Game Theory

"That was just a simple defensive demonstration. Next, I will increase the difficulty and incorporate simple defense into my counter-offensive. How much you can learn depends on your own realization!"

After Jier finished speaking, he closed the five fingers of his right hand and opened his palm, pretending it was a short knife. After waving his right arm twice in the air, Jier nodded to Aoni: "Come on, continue the attack!"

Aoni also braced himself, knowing that being able to safely conduct combat training with a Knight whose technique far exceeded his own was a rare opportunity.

But he soon realized that the combat rhythm of Jier, who had begun to counter-attack, was vastly different.

Just as Aoni was about to attack, he was forced back by Jier's advancing shield. The opponent's right hand was held high, which looked funny, but being stared at by Jier's piercing eyes, Aoni felt immense pressure. The palm wrapped in hard cowhide didn't feel like an arm; it felt like a heavy club or a sharp cleaver.

Aoni did not have a shield and relied solely on a wooden training Long Sword; he felt he could not handle Jier's offensive at all. Therefore, as soon as Jier pressed in, Aoni could only retreat in circles.

"What are you retreating for! Aoni, counter-attack, counter-attack!" a Warrior watching from the side shouted, but Aoni was covered in hot sweat and had no time to reply to everyone about how nervous he was at this moment.

It was only when Jier stopped his steps that Aoni immediately swung his sword to launch an attack, but his hurried offensive was directly blocked by Jier's shield. The next moment, Jier took a large stride forward, and his raised right hand landed on the side of Aoni's neck, appearing slow but actually being fast.

Although Aoni was wearing a set of Leather Armor and had a raised leather neck guard at his neck, everyone present knew that if this were real, Aoni would already be dead.

"You're dead, Aoni!" Jier said calmly.

Aoni looked helpless, because he felt that from the moment Jier said he would counter-attack, the entire rhythm of the fight had been controlled by the other party.

"Knight Jier, just now when you suddenly stopped, were you inducing me to launch a hasty attack?" Aoni was not stupid and immediately asked about the part he felt was wrong.

Jier nodded: "You are quite sharp; that is indeed the case. Starting with a fast approach gave you a sense of pressure, making you retreat continuously. But when I deliberately stopped, you were certain to launch a hasty counter-attack. This is a simple induced offensive defense using a shield."

Jier turned to explain to the Warriors of the Shield Squad: "In the offense and defense just now, my core was the shield. The core of defense is the shield, and the core of offense is also the shield. Relying on the shield to block Aoni's attack allowed me to see through his combat pattern and combat personality. This made me understand that Aoni is definitely the type of Warrior who will attack whenever there is an opportunity, even if that attack is ineffective; he will still strive to regain the initiative in the fight."

"This is a good thing, but it can also be exploited by an enemy who sees through this. In this, the shield acts as a defensive delay, providing me with the time and opportunity to see through Aoni, while also giving me time to quickly think about how to defeat him."

Jier tapped his shield: "Then I launched a counter-attack. By this time, I had already figured out Aoni's combat style and personality, and I had a simple 'trap' plan. At this point, the shield acts as an offensive defense; its role is no longer purely defensive, but to pave the way for the attack. I pushed forward with the shield to force Aoni, who only had a Long Sword, to retreat, accumulating pressure on him and inducing him to perform a fixed, hasty counter-attack at the exact moment I wanted to stop my offensive."

Everyone was stunned, not expecting that such a seemingly simple bout of offense and defense contained so many theories and nuances. Especially Weier, who prided himself on being a Swordsman and made his living by the Long Sword in his hand; looking at the Steel Sword in his hand, for the first time, he felt it was so unfamiliar.

When he was at the Swordsman Academy, the teachers who taught Sword Technique had never mentioned this kind of tactic used in real-time during combat.

"Finally, everyone saw it. At the time and place I chose, Aoni counter-attacked without thinking, but this fell right into my 'trap'. His counter-attack was too fast. Some people might wonder, isn't fast good?"

Jier answered his own question: "Fast is certainly good; the faster you swing the sword, the stronger the pressure generated by the offensive. But the problem is, an effective attack with a weapon requires injecting human focus into the attack. This concept is difficult for me to explain to you; if you have the opportunity in the future, you will naturally understand it. In general, Aoni's subconscious counter-attack just now looked fast on the surface, as if he had performed a counter-attack, but in reality, it posed no threat to me and achieved no effect of a counter-attack."

Jier patted the simple Small Triangular Wooden Shield in his hand and said proudly: "Because I knew in advance that he was going to counter-attack, I raised my hand and swung the shield, relying on it to knock aside Aoni's merely fast counter-attacking sword. At this moment, Aoni revealed a major flaw; his sword was deflected by the shield, and in his haste, he could not turn back to defend or attack my vitals, creating an opportunity for himself to dodge or trade injuries."

Raising his right hand, Jier smiled: "At this time, this arm, which I hadn't used once the whole time, haha, it only launched one attack, yet it was the most effective attack in the entire offense and defense."

Aoni touched his neck with his left hand, thoughtful. Knight Jier's only attack was an effective one, while the countless swords he had swung before, which seemed to be launching an offensive and pressing Knight Jier, were all ineffective attacks with no practical result.

"In combat, if both sides are unarmored, or if both sides' armor is relatively weak, then one effective attack is far better than several or a dozen ineffective ones. If both sides only need to take one sword or knife strike in a fight, then the fight is likely already over."

Seeing some Warriors wanting to speak, Jier raised his hand to signal them to speak. His training did not forbid everyone from talking or joking; on the contrary, Jier encouraged everyone to communicate rather than thinking in isolation. After all, the communication and thinking of a group are far better than one person working behind closed doors.

"Please speak."

A Warrior scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "Knight Jier, my question is, clearly in combat, enemies will tangle with me for a long time, and often the fight doesn't end even after suffering multiple injuries. Why did you say just now that taking one hit in a fight ends it?"

Jier nodded: "Because I was talking about a duel between two people in an ideal state. When there are no other interfering factors, we can assume that both sides are in their best state at the start of the fight. Of course, here we are not counting the mental excitement caused by injuries during the fight, or some other strange fighting techniques, or supernatural means."

"At the beginning, the state of both Warriors is the best, and their combat power is strongest at this time. Focus, physical strength, speed, breathing rhythm, and power are all in their best state. The game of combat is to try to maintain our own focus, physical strength, speed, breathing rhythm, and power during a long fight, while weakening the enemy's focus, physical strength, speed, breathing rhythm, and power."

"The most effective specific way is to cause the opponent to be injured!" Jier emphasized this point.

He continued to explain: "Injury causes severe pain, which will interfere with the enemy's focus, making them unable to concentrate on planning their subsequent attacks, and unable to see through your defense and offensive."

"Injury causes bleeding. A person's blood volume is roughly fixed, increasing or decreasing in proportion to the height and size of the body, but basically, losing a certain amount of blood will cause a person's physical strength to decline significantly and for a long time. General Divine Art cannot solve this state; only a small number of Divine Art can allow a Warrior to be exempt from the long-term decline of physical strength."

Here, Jier alluded to the 【Grass and Wood Source】 Divine Art he possessed.

"Next is speed! Injury, especially wounds on the legs and feet, or when the muscles inside the waist and abdomen are injured, will cause most of a person's movements to deform. If the sole of the foot is injured, one cannot step firmly on the ground; if the leg is injured, one cannot move flexibly; if the waist is injured, one cannot exert or generate force; if the arm is injured, one cannot swing the shield and weapon. Their speed will be affected, thereby widely affecting the actual combat."

"Breathing rhythm, this is easy to understand. There is a clear difference between the breathing rhythm of a person who is not injured and one who is. If they are not injured, they will be confident about this fight, confident that they can win. At this time, their breathing is powerful and rhythmic, keeping the body in a state of abundant physical strength. Once they are injured, they will think about this and that, subconsciously feeling that they might lose. At this time, their spirit is chaotic, and their breathing rhythm becomes chaotic as well. Without rhythmic breathing, physical strength will immediately fail to keep up with the massive consumption of movements in the fight, causing more unfavorable consequences."

"As for power, this is easy to understand. If there is a bleeding wound on the arm muscle, your arm generally cannot exert force."

Jier's whole set of explanations made the Warrior who asked the question nod repeatedly, and others also felt it made sense.

But Jier continued: "However, there are really too many variables that can happen in actual combat. For example, after some people are injured, they are just better at enduring pain than the average person, or some people get excited when they fight and can't feel any injuries on their bodies. These things exist and are very common."

"Besides this, there are many ways to stop bleeding in combat, such as Divine Art, Magic, Magic Potion, and even the Life Energy of us Knights."

Weier's ears twitched; he finally heard something about Knights from Knight Jier's mouth.

When he was in his family, he was young, and the elders would not tell him anything about the Knight Rank. By the time he was older, he was sent to the Swordsman Academy to live and study. Although the teachers in the academy were all Knight Rank powerhouses, they only followed the academy's teaching progress to tell them, the students, the knowledge and experience techniques they should know at each period and stage.

So, until his family was destroyed and he escaped the academy to the north under the cover of his teachers, he did not know much more than the average person about the vast amount of knowledge he should have naturally acquired to become a Knight Rank.

Especially regarding some practical technical details, he knew nothing at all.

"In addition, regarding speed, in actual combat, it is also very common for enemies to become fierce because of injuries. Sometimes the opponent's speed will not be significantly affected by injuries. Unless the injury you cause is the kind that cannot be recovered in a short time, or even an injury to vital organs."

"Breathing rhythm, this is something that Warriors who have undergone certain training and are experienced in battle will basically master the technique of maintaining their breathing rhythm after being injured. This is a must; if you haven't mastered this, you cannot be called a qualified Warrior or veteran."

"Power, oh, there are too many things to say about this, because there are too many abnormal enemies. Some enemies just get more powerful the more they fight. Hmph, I specifically mention here that I am referring to those Dwarves. Especially those Dwarf Strength God Believer Warriors; fighting them, you will only understand what it means to be oppressed by power."

After saying so much unrelated to the shield, Jier rested for a while and then continued to teach the Warriors of the Shield Squad about the use of the shield.

"When dealing with Arrow, the body should be lowered and slightly curled, shrinking most of the front of your body behind the shield in your hand, trying to expose only the legs protected by leather or iron Greaves. If you use a large shield, or temporarily remove the door of a civilian house to use as a shield, you can even hide your feet."

Following Jier's explanation, the Warriors of the Shield Squad all raised their shields in front of their bodies as Jier said, curled their bodies, and hid mostly behind the shields, with only half a head exposed above the top edge of the shield.

As for the head, it is specifically protected by a Helmet.

"Just like the demonstration I did with Aoni, when facing weapons like the Long Sword, because these weapons are swung quickly and rely mostly on the cutting and stabbing of the blade for damage, to block them, you must make the shield defense keep up with the speed of the opponent's strikes, at least not too slow. If it's too slow, you can only be left with one wound after another on your body; that is purely taking a beating."

At this time, the Warriors of the Shield Squad learned from Jier's example, quickly waving the shields on their arms, letting the shields block left and right, simulating the fast offensive from the opponent. At the same time, some Warriors who had learned something were also simulating blocking, letting the shield specifically maintain the angle of the imagined enemy's attack to deflect the enemy's offensive.

"And when dealing with armor-piercing hammer-type weapons, or Great Hammer, mace, Meteor, heavy metal sticks, or Armor-Piercing Awl, you must use the shield at a large angle to deflect and push away these slow-moving weapons. Unless it is too late, do not use the front of the shield to take the offensive of these weapons head-on. Because they are weapons designed to deal with shields and thick armor. If it really doesn't work, rather use the shield than the armor on your body to block the attacks of these weapons."

Everyone nodded in agreement, because they had basically never seen similar weapons and had no experience in fighting them, so they had to stand in place and listen to Knight Jier speak.

"And when facing weapons like spears and Long Spear, the shield must be held firmly. Because the opponent's attack distance is long, and the attack surface is far wider than your own weapon, we are highly unlikely to keep up with the displacement of the spearhead. At this time, you must hold the shield in your hand firmly, defend the front of your body well, and if possible, keep your body sideways to reduce the attack area. Push the shield, rush forward quickly, narrow the distance with the opponent, and fight with the tactic that if you can't stab me to death, I will chop you to death. You must narrow the distance, otherwise, the only result will be being kept at a distance by the enemy and stabbed to death."

Everyone nodded and practiced the movement of pushing the shield and rushing forward.

At this time, Jier began to teach the techniques of footwork and movement in the use of the shield.

"Next is about the movement of footwork when using a shield. This part is divided into footwork movement in single combat and footwork movement in team battle formations. I will talk about the latter later; today I will only tell you about the combination of footwork movement and shield use in one-on-one combat."

Weier, not far away, paid attention and pricked up his ears, hoping to remember every word Knight Jier said in his mind, because he understood that this was the key technique to truly and quickly improve combat power.

Outside, no one teaches you this; you can only realize it yourself.

And yet, Knight Jier had so easily taught this important technique to the Warriors under his command today!

One must know that even at the Swordsman Academy where Weier had studied before, specialized combat footwork—that is, efficient displacement and movement during combat—was knowledge that required extra payment to acquire; for every single lesson, his family had to pay real gold and silver before the academy would bring out some basics to teach those young men and women.

Even then, some young men and girls from minor families, those not from the city's administrative families, didn't even have the qualifications to sign up and learn, even if they had the money. They could only wait until they became Knights themselves in the future to study and ponder it within the army or the family guard.

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? (End of this chapter)