Chapter 439: Shield Training—The Use of the Shield in Combat (End)

Jier's footsteps suddenly quickened, and he moved in an outer circle toward Weier's left side. Weier remained rooted to the spot, rotating his body in place to avoid exposing his left side to the rapidly moving Jier.

On one side were the rapid, shuffling footsteps; on the other, a body like a coiled Poisonous Snake, shaking its sharp fangs at the snake charmer.

Despite the standoff, it was actually Weier who launched the attack first. As his foot stepped forward, his body lunged and his arm extended, the entire Wooden Sword pecking at Jier's shoulder with lightning speed like a chicken pecking at rice.

Jier lifted his left arm slightly and turned it, blocking Weier's probing attack.

But immediately after, Weier flicked his right wrist; instead of retracting the blocked Long Sword, he used the momentum of his body's rotation to draw an arc, aiming straight for Jier's head.

If this were a real Long Sword instead of a wooden training sword, being struck in the head like this—even with the protection of a Helmet—would cause most people to experience a moment of daze and dizziness from the impact.

If Weier then seized the opportunity to strike again, he could easily take down his opponent.

But Jier was Weier's opponent this time. Jier did not follow Weier's plan to lift his Shield to defend his head again; instead, he abruptly ducked, letting Weier's Long Sword swing through empty air, and launched a charge forward while keeping his body low.

Jier's legs kicked off the ground rapidly after he lowered his body, and with a single burst of acceleration, the Shield in his hand slammed into Weier's chest.

Fortunately, Jier did not use his full strength at the last moment; he merely used the Shield to push against Weier's chest, shoving him back several meters.

Even as Weier was pushed back several meters by the Shield against his chest, his feet remained firmly planted on the ground, dragging two long marks, which showed that Weier's stance was actually very stable and solid.

It would be very difficult for an ordinary person to push him away.

But Jier was no ordinary person.

The difference in strength between the two was simply too great; even with his legs in a low, awkward position for generating power, Jier easily pushed the well-balanced Weier away entirely.

"That's one point!"

Jier said.

After speaking, he stepped back a few paces and gestured for Weier to continue.

Weier coughed twice, loosened his right wrist and ankles, and then quickly closed in on the shield-bearing Jier.

Unexpectedly, Jier changed his tactics this time.

This time, Jier stayed put, letting Weier move left and right and probe with his Long Sword, while he strictly maintained his defensive position.

This immediately piqued Weier's great interest; he felt this was a good opportunity to showcase his Sword Technique. Winning against a Knight wasn't important—of course, it was basically impossible for him to win anyway—but showing the Knight his swordsmanship and martial arts was what mattered.

Thinking of this, his footwork changed; it was no longer the cautious, step-by-step style from before, but a method of rapid movement with small, hopping steps on the ground.

This enhanced Weier's short-range mobility, allowing him to change directions more flexibly, probing Jier's Shield response with a sword strike to the left, then a sword strike to the right.

"Oh?" Jier hadn't expected Weier to adjust his footwork, but he soon frowned—not because the pressure on him had increased, but on the contrary, the pressure on his defense had actually decreased.

Because in Jier's subjective experience, compared to Weier's previous style—which was like a Poisonous Snake, prepared, fast, and with few preparatory movements—Weier now looked like he was rapidly changing positions, attacking left and right, making Jier appear to be struggling.

In reality, Jier didn't feel any pressure. If a thrust came from the left, Jier just lifted his hand to block it and that was that; if a sweeping strike came from the right, aiming for his right hand, Jier only needed to turn slightly, using the right edge of the Sanjiaodun to block the trajectory of the Long Sword at just the right moment.

Jier stood ready, his stamina barely depleted, his breathing steady and normal. In contrast, to maintain his flexible, aggressive movement, Weier had to move his legs rapidly, hopping and shifting laterally, while simultaneously swinging his sword to probe for gaps in the Knight's defense.

He tried the left, no good; he tried the right, still no good; he tried the left again, no good; he continued to try the right, but it was still no good.

The repeated probing not only allowed Jier to see through Weier's sword-swinging technique, but also consumed a significant amount of his stamina. Every collision between the Long Sword and the Shield caused Weier's right hand to accumulate soreness and pressure from the recoil.

"This won't work for you. I am inherently stronger than you, and since I am actively defending, you can't hit me at all, Weier," Jier said, stating his judgment. This was meant as a well-intentioned reminder to let Weier try a different tactic.

But to Weier's ears, it sounded a bit belittling, even mocking.

Jier's advice failed to persuade him; instead, it made Weier launch his offensive even more fiercely.

"Eh?" Jier was confused, so he had no choice but to hold his defense and let Weier launch one ineffective attack after another.

The Warriors watching from the sidelines also split into two factions due to the current state of the battle.

One faction believed that Weier, who had gained the offensive advantage, had excellent swordsmanship, as he was able to force the Knight Jier into a defensive posture through flexible movement.

The other faction thought the former were talking nonsense, pointing out that Knight Jier had already said this tactic wouldn't work. While Weier appeared to have the upper hand, in reality, every attack was being blocked, and not a single effective strike had landed; he was just wasting stamina in vain, and it wouldn't be long before he was defeated due to exhaustion.

Both sides had their points, but more people supported the former, because from the visual perspective, it was indeed Weier launching flexible and varied attacks, while Jier was busy responding and could only defend.

Fewer people supported the latter; although what they said made sense, no one could predict the specific outcome of the battle.

This round of the offensive ended faster than anyone had imagined; before Weier could run out of stamina, the fight suddenly ended.

Just as the watching Warriors were arguing, Weier launched a rapid downward slash from a diagonal angle. This kind of attack, possessing both power and speed, should have been difficult to deal with, but this time, Jier acted contrary to his usual behavior and used his strength to actively defend.

He no longer used clever methods to dissipate the force of the opponent's slash, but instead used the front of his Shield to meet the attack head-on. Of course, Jier had a sturdy body, great strength, and a stable stance; if one didn't consider the durability of the Shield, he could receive an attack like this every time.

But Weier hadn't expected it!

Weier had assumed this attack would be deflected by Jier's Shield sliding at an angle, just like before, and he could have used the momentum of his arm and the Long Sword to flip his wrist, turn half a circle, and then use his footwork to suddenly slash the Knight from the other side.

But this time, the Knight's Shield met the blow head-on, and the recoil from the collision between the wooden sword and the wooden shield was evenly distributed to the arms of both combatants.

Jier crouched slightly, his left arm holding the Shield motionless and steady. This was not only because of his great strength, but also because he used his entire arm to wield the Shield, so the recoil on the Shield was borne by the entire arm.

Weier's right hand, which held the sword, was struck by the recoil, and that was the end of it! His right hand had already accumulated a great deal of soreness and pressure from the continuous fighting, and this unexpected jolt of recoil caused the unprepared Weier to lose his grip on the hilt.

The Long Sword in his hand flew out of his grasp.

After spinning twice, the Long Sword fell to the ground nearby.

"Oh—"

"The weapon was disarmed!"

"How is that possible?" The onlookers all let out cries of surprise, but even more incredulous was Weier on the field. He stared blankly at his empty right hand, not knowing what to think, nor knowing what to say to explain it.

If the weapon is lost, that certainly means defeat, but the problem was that he was a Swordsman; how could he fail to hold onto his Long Sword just because of a block from the opponent's Shield?

Jier straightened his body and explained to the stunned Weier, who was looking at his right hand: "I warned you before that this style of yours doesn't suit you."

Everyone looked at Jier, and Jier began to explain to everyone: "Launching continuous, fast, and flexible attacks at me looks impressive, but the results are not very good."

Jier was being modest, using the term 【not very good】 instead of a more direct word like 【useless】.

"Let me ask you, of all those attacks, which one actually hit me?" Jier's question was sharp, and it immediately made the onlookers realize the truth. Indeed, no matter how much of an offensive advantage or initiative Weier had gained in the recent skirmish, he hadn't managed to hit Jier's body even once; all those advantages and initiatives didn't count for anything.

"Every one of your rapid movements and flexible swings only looked fast and flexible. Because you were the one constantly moving, while I only had to stand in place, using less force, less stamina, and moving my Shield faster and more easily, I could fight a war of attrition with you at a lower combat cost. You chose the wrong fighting method; you cannot use fast offensive means to attack an enemy who can block every one of your attacks."

Subsequently, Jier pointed out the key reason for his victory and Weier's loss of his sword.

"And the reason you couldn't hold your sword just now was also within my calculations." As soon as Jier said this, Weier looked over abruptly, his face full of disbelief. Because even he himself hadn't expected his sword to fall, and yet this mistake was actually within the Knight's calculations?

"Impossible!" Weier couldn't believe it and immediately refused to accept it.

Jier nodded: "It is not impossible. Let me explain it to you and everyone else."

So Jier walked over and picked up the Training Wooden Sword from the ground. After holding it in his hand, he explained to everyone: "Just now during the battle, I noticed that in order to launch continuous attacks against me in a more flexible and clever way, Weier is accustomed to using a twist of his wrist, along with the coordination of his body and footsteps, to quickly launch a sudden two-hit attack from the other side of my front after every normal sword swing."

"I have to say this is a very excellent Sword Technique. Generally, Warriors who are not flexible with their Shield, or Warriors whose movements themselves are not flexible, are easily defeated under this set of your Sword Technique. Because after they block the first wave of the attack on the left, the attack on the right follows immediately, but at this time they often do not have time to move their defensive Shield to the right."

After first mentioning the advantages of Weier's Sword Technique, Jier then spoke of its shortcomings.

"However, as soon as I think about this set of sword moves, I can realize that it relies heavily on the palm and wrist's control over the weapon. This is control in the literal sense! Weier, do you need to hold the hilt firmly in every attack?"

Weier was stunned for a moment. He did not expect Knight Jier to even notice such a technical detail: "Yes, I have to hold the hilt very tightly."

Jier nodded: "So, a problem arises here. Holding the hilt too tightly obviously makes it easy to accumulate too much recoil damage, as well as fatigue and soreness, during the confrontation with the defender's Shield. I guess, generally speaking, you wouldn't be unable to take down an opponent for a long time after using this kind of Sword Technique, right?"

Weier let out a breath, feeling that his Sword Technique had been completely seen through by Knight Jier: "That's right, usually it doesn't take long to take down an opponent."

"But it didn't work today. I am relatively skilled in the use of the Shield, and today just happens to be the teaching and training of Shield usage, so I only equipped the Shield. Although this caused me to lose most of my means of attack, it also allowed me to concentrate my strength and energy to use it better. This also led to the fact that no matter how you attacked, you could not break my defense."

Jier finally concluded: "The frustration of continuous offensives caused your wrists and palms to accumulate too many negative states during the battle. Under normal circumstances, I suppose you would also gradually recognize this disadvantage and choose to retreat to rest for a while, or retreat to slow down the offensive to dissipate this disadvantage."

"But I took advantage of this point. Before you fully realized that your palms were uncomfortable, I used a deliberate, specially enhanced recoil effect to meet your Long Sword slash head-on with the Shield. Although I also received a certain amount of recoil impact, you were definitely the one who couldn't hold on first. Sure enough, as I judged, your sword was knocked out of your hand."

Weier sighed: "Knight Jier, are you fighting with your brain?"

Jier smiled slightly: "Isn't that the case?"

The crowd discussed it heatedly.

"Alright, today's training for the Shield Squad here is finished. After the explanation and combat demonstration just now, how much you five can figure out depends on yourselves. Now, you can train freely, practice the basics of Shield usage on your own, or join others to train together, all are fine."

Jier clapped his hands, signaling the five Warriors of the Shield Squad to dismiss and carry out their own training. Afterward, Jier stopped worrying about this side and turned to walk in front of the three people of the Archery Squad.

He said: "Now, I will teach you three the techniques and basics of archery."

Jier shook his head, signaling the three people to follow him to the campfire on the other side of the Yingdi.

The four people walked over in just a few steps. With their backs against the newly lit campfire, Jier said to the three: "Each of you demonstrate shooting a few arrows for me first, let me see what your level is?"

"Understood, Knight Jier!" the three responded in unison.

Afterward, Jier had Xueya Site move the training dummy he used to use from his carriage and placed it outside the Yingdi, fifteen meters away from the campfire. Because the training dummy was a bit of a distance from the Yingdi, it did not look clear, and there was a certain difficulty when aiming for the shot.

This is of course; if it were too simple, then these three archers might as well just go back to Torito Village to farm and not come out to fight side by side with Jier.

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