Chapter 438: Shield Training—The Coordination of Combat Footwork and the Shield

Jier continued to have Aoni act as his sparring partner, encouraging him to attack boldly.

But this time, Aoni was required to stop his movements immediately whenever Jier called for a halt during his attacks.

Although it was troublesome, Aoni would not let such a good opportunity for close-range learning slip by. Even though he did not use a Shield himself, that did not prevent him from mastering the techniques of using one.

"I guarantee I will fulfill your requirements, Knight!" Aoni patted his chest and agreed confidently.

"Good, then let's begin. Everyone, watch closely, and prick up your ears to hear clearly what I say."

Jier waved his hand, signaling for the attack to begin.

Aoni charged toward Jier with long strides, his Long Sword thrusting straight—was it toward Jier's chest? No, it was toward his left waist. Because the Triangle Shield in Jier's hand had limited surface area, when it protected his chest, his waist was left exposed.

Facing the thrust, Jier's words were faster than his movements: "One-on-one, first create distance."

As he spoke, Jier crossed his legs and retreated, and while retreating, the Shield in his hand moved in the direction of Aoni's sword thrust.

"See clearly the enemy's attack position, if they expose their intent and position to attack."

Jier tilted his Shield slightly, blocking the strike. At the same moment, Jier stopped retreating and moved horizontally to his right, which was Aoni's left. He continued, "Move away from the side where the enemy holds their weapon, and approach from their empty-handed side."

Aoni was not stupid; after his attack missed, he stopped his steps and began to retreat, not giving Knight Jier any chance to advance further.

But at this moment, Jier suddenly shouted a halt: "Stop!"

Aoni stood motionless, maintaining a posture of wanting to retreat. Jier stood where he was, facing the Warriors of the Shield Squad, and asked them: "I ask you, at this moment, if you were me, what should you do?"

The Warriors of the Shield Squad looked at each other and immediately racked their brains to think, but Jier did not give them time to think: "Give me the conclusion directly, no need to think."

One Warrior said: "Aoni is retreating; he wants to avoid the disadvantageous positioning of the two of you, and get the side where he holds his weapon, or the front of his body, facing you again. So, at this time, you should chase after him and seize the moment to launch a wave of attacks!"

Jier was noncommittal and signaled for the second Warrior to speak.

The second Warrior said: "At this time, the best thing to do is to follow Aoni and circle around. He wants to get his weapon facing you, Knight, so we cannot let him have his way. Aoni is turning left, so you, Knight, should circle with him, constantly circling to his left side to strive for an advantageous position."

Jier was likewise noncommittal and signaled for the third Warrior to speak.

"I think Knight Jier is teaching everyone the footwork for using a Shield in combat, so the key lies in the footwork used with the Shield. You, sir, should have a way to turn one step into two, chase him down, and defeat Aoni, who is in an unfavorable orientation."

That made some sense, but it was not clear enough. Jier said nothing, just signaled for the fourth Warrior to speak.

The fourth Warrior said smugly: "I know now. Because this isn't a real battle, just a drill, there's no need to chase after him. If Aoni wants to retreat, let him create distance. Knight Jier will make everyone pay more attention to his footwork in the next round of offense and defense, rather than having everyone focus on whether to attack or how to attack."

Jier directly let the last Warrior state his own view.

"Hmm, I think even if it's a drill, one should still attack, right? So at this time, one should close the distance to fight, and make Aoni's unfavorable orientation become even more disadvantageous during the further exchange?"

After speaking, the five Warriors of the Shield Squad all looked at the motionless Jier and Aoni, and Aoni was also looking at Jier.

Jier smiled and said: "Everyone's points are quite comprehensive. The key to the matter at this moment is clearly the instruction on footwork. Winning in the offense and defense of a drill is not important; letting you gain experience is more important."

"Everyone, look." Jier began the formal instruction.

He pointed at the motionless Aoni in front: "Because of an unsuccessful offensive, Aoni's Long Sword was blocked by my Shield. But is this the key factor in his choice to retreat at this moment?"

Once this question was raised, everyone spoke up directly: "It is not, your movement, Knight, is the key."

Jier snapped his fingers: "Yes."

"My rapid movement horizontally toward the left side of Aoni's body orientation was the main reason he retreated. Pay attention, why didn't I move directly toward Aoni's left side at the very beginning when we were in a stalemate?"

Someone answered: "Because you just blocked Aoni's Long Sword, and the Long Sword couldn't recover in time."

"Yes, in a stalemate, circling to the opponent's weak side is not impossible, but that is a different set of combat tactics. When we have a Shield in our hands, we should prioritize the path of defensive counterattacks. Because the Shield will bring us more defensive advantages and more combat tactics."

"I am not talking about various tactical styles now; I am only talking about the footwork when using a Shield here. Aoni launched an attack first; I could have defended in place, but I chose to retreat. Why?" Jier asked the five people of the Shield Squad.

A Warrior answered: "Because you want to teach the techniques of footwork? So you moved first?"

Jier rolled his eyes, but fortunately, the answer from another Warrior was not so cheeky: "Because you, Knight, retreated while holding the Shield, so Aoni had to chase you to attack?"

"You hit the nail on the head. Aoni, stop standing still, launch an attack at me."

Jier turned and ordered Aoni. Aoni let out a breath; he could finally move. After loosening up his body a little, he charged directly at Knight Jier while swinging his sword.

But Jier's goal was not at all in this round of offense and defense; instead, while dodging, he pointed at Aoni's footwork during the fight and said to the Warriors of the Shield Squad: "Everyone, watch carefully. Look at Aoni's footwork. If you observe closely, you will find his steps are a bit messy. This is the footwork of someone who has not undergone training or extensive combat."

As Jier spoke, he dodged, relying solely on movement to dodge, causing Aoni's several sword swings to hit empty air or go wide.

"Look, every time I move, Aoni has to follow. It seems like he is attacking, but in reality, our movements—just in terms of movement—the person who possesses the combat initiative is me." Jier pointed to his own feet; every time he moved, he either stayed still, or if he moved, he took a few quick, small steps, each step just enough to dodge Aoni's sword swings.

Furthermore, Jier's movement had rhythm—neat, short, and fast.

"I do not move continuously, so when I am still, the enemy cannot discern where I will move. I can rely purely on lateral movement to dodge Aoni's swings, or I can move toward him to suddenly compress the distance between us, making Aoni, who is gradually getting used to the combat distance, suddenly uncomfortable, allowing me to find an opportunity to win."

"I can also use the Shield to take a hit from Aoni head-on, and then, like the previous method, swing my right hand to defeat him. I can also retreat, disengage from this exchange, and win using other methods. Note that the choices just now included moving right, moving forward, staying in place, and moving backward—four directions."

Jier gestured with his right hand to indicate the four directions, and at this moment, Aoni was stunned. He had not expected that while he appeared to be chasing the constantly dodging Knight Jier, the other party actually had four directions of movement to deal with him.

"At the same time, I can also gather strength and jump upward. This method, commonly used by Knights, can easily make it impossible for ordinary Warriors to cope. Because they cannot jump, but a Knight can easily jump several meters, even over ten meters high, and launch a strike from above."

But Jier mocked himself: "However, this method can only be used to deal with ordinary Warriors, because after jumping up, without special means, a Human cannot change direction in mid-air. Experienced Warriors, upon seeing someone jump up, can know when and where the opponent will land. This danger of having one's landing spot confirmed by the enemy first is extremely fatal."

But these were of no use to the Warriors of the Shield Squad, so Jier continued his explanation.

"In a one-on-one battle, there are many fighting styles, and footwork is very important, but actually, it is not the most important thing. If you master it, you can occupy some initiative and have some advantages. But wanting to turn an advantage into victory is not absolute."

Jier said this while moving to dodge Aoni's slashes.

He retreated to dodge slashes, turned his body to dodge thrusts, and lunged forward, brushing against Aoni's body to dodge the opponent's attacks, which were full of openings. Basically, everyone could see that if this were not a drill, Aoni would have been finished off by Knight Jier in a move or two.

Subsequently, Jier used the Shield. With the Shield, Jier's movement became even more flexible.

This was no exaggeration; facing Aoni's Wooden Sword, Jier could block slightly and then move smoothly and flexibly around the opponent.

As soon as Aoni raised his Long Sword, Jier swung the Small Triangular Wooden Shield on his left arm, knocking it aside. After several times, Aoni threw the Wooden Sword to the ground, held his head, and wailed: "Knight Jier—you are bullying me too much! I can't fight, I give up!"

Jier gave an awkward smile; he had gone too far and crushed Aoni's self-confidence.

"Alright, alright, go back to your Melee Squad, and have someone else come over to participate in the training."

Just as Aoni fled toward the Melee Squad, Weier volunteered and hurried over. He said: "Knight Jier, how about I act as the sparring partner?"

Jier had guessed that Weier would participate, so he smiled and said: "You may, but don't let your self-confidence be crushed like Aoni's!"

"Don't worry, I consider my own skills to be decent enough."

Weier said in a low voice as he picked up the Training Wooden Sword from the ground.

Once the sword was in his hand, he did not launch an attack directly; instead, he tossed the Training Wooden Sword in his hand to gauge its specific weight, then gripped the end of the hilt with one hand and extended the other to the tip of the wooden sword to measure its length.

Finally, he gave the Long Sword in his hand a light swing, then gripped it with both hands and swung it heavily; the former was to judge where the center of gravity of the Long Sword lay, while the latter was to judge how much power it could generate if he swung the weapon with maximum force.

"Oh, an expert!" Jier praised. Weier smiled slightly, turned his body sideways, extended his right hand holding the sword forward slightly, rested his left hand on the belt at his left waist, and crouched in a lunge, assuming a combat stance ready to strike at any moment.

"A standard combat stance for a sword attack, very good. I can't be as relaxed and happy as I was dealing with Aoni."

Jier chuckled, held his Shield in front of his chest with his left hand, and kept his right hand loosely fisted at his side, not using it.

"Watch closely, everyone. Unlike before, this time Weier is prepared. Move in a little closer and see our combat clearly, as well as how I use footwork to gain an advantage, and how I use the Shield to block Weier's attacks and counterattack."

Jier spoke his piece beforehand, so after hearing Jier's words, not only did the Shield Squad perk up, but the other Warriors also watched the two of them intently.

"Come on!"

Jier beckoned with his right hand, and Weier immediately launched an attack.

But unlike Aoni, Weier did not stride toward Jier and swing his sword right away; instead, he approached Jier with small, short steps, moving his rear left leg first before letting his front right leg step forward.

At the same time, he did not complete every step, nor did he take long strides; instead, he strove to approach Jier securely using the shortest, quickest steps possible.

"Very good, everyone saw it. Unlike Aoni, who hasn't undergone any training, Weier's footwork clearly shows signs of training. He knows that every attack must be effective and cautious, because one effective, prepared attack is far better than several crude, unprepared ones."

While retreating slowly with his shield held up, Jier continued to explain: "At the same time, because a Warrior's thrusts and assault methods all rely on pushing off the ground to borrow force, Weier's footwork is very cautious. It looks like each step is short and dense, but in reality, he can launch a fast, direct thrust at any moment."

"I said before that the most powerful move of a Long Sword is the direct thrust; this is determined by the weapon's structure. Therefore, Warriors who know how to use sword-type weapons will prioritize the Thrust."

Jier even asked the Shield Squad a question during the standoff: "So, when facing a Long Sword's direct thrust, what should we do?"

A Warrior from the Shield Squad replied: "Dodge, or tilt the Shield to deflect the Long Sword's thrust!"

"That's right, or I can combine the two!"

As he said this, Jier dodged suddenly, and at the same time, the Shield tilted slightly, avoiding the suddenly thrusting Long Sword.

Weier had no obvious warning when he launched his attack; he was like a Poisonous Snake, swift and dangerous, completely different from the wide-open style of Aoni.

And Jier was no slouch; even though Weier's thrust was very fast, Jier still dodged it in advance by reading Weier's subconscious movements.

Weier missed his strike, immediately withdrew his hand and sword, and quickly returned his body to the previous combat-ready state. This is rare; most Warriors chain one move after another—it's not that this doesn't work, as it is the fighting style of the vast majority of people.

But clearly, for those with a certain level of combat proficiency, compared to continuous, non-stop fighting, mastering the rhythm and speed of each attack is more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing to watch.

While Weier was sensing Jier's combat personality and fighting style through his movements, Jier was also using Weier's fighting style to understand Weier as a person.

'Slow combat rhythm, cautious, fast and short exchanges, returning to a neutral stance if unsuccessful, a certain performative quality. Is this what they call the academic style?' Jier judged in his heart.

'He can adapt to the fast-paced Aoni, and he can also adapt to a dueling style like mine; confident but not careless, the Shield's starting position is very fast. Clearly, Knight Jier uses a shield often. Is he a Shield Knight? Or a traditional Knight who uses sword and shield?' Weier was likewise judging Jier's situation in his heart.

After the two made their respective judgments, the standoff ended, and the cautious probing from just before ended as well.

Next, both of them began to move extensively, and the watching Warriors observed carefully, with the Shield Squad watching even more intently to see how Knight Jier would defeat Weier, who prided himself on being a Swordsman, using only a crude shield.

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