Chapter 445: Close-Quarters Training: Combat Posture and Basic Weapon Usage

After Jier finished pointing out the posture for the four men's torsos, he walked back to their front, assumed a standard combat stance, and emphasized that they should pay attention to the state of his left and right arms, as well as the orientation of his head and the direction his eyes were fixed on.

Seeing that the four men had made adjustments, Jier stepped forward to correct them one by one.

"Make a fist with your left hand and place it at your left waist. Since you have no off-hand weapon equipment, everyone will just keep their hands empty for now. Later, when conditions allow, you can prepare some auxiliary weapons or equipment for your left hand to assist in combat."

Jier counted on his fingers: "For example, a sword sheath to go with a right-handed Long Sword. After holding the sword in your right hand, your left hand can hold the sword's sheath. It can help you block some attacks, or you can use it to restrain the enemy's weapon, or suddenly jab the enemy with the sheath."

"Or perhaps prepare a Short Sword, or a Dagger! In the gap after the Long Sword launches an offensive, the Short Sword or Dagger in your left hand can help you fill the void in your attack sequence, forcing the enemy to be pushed back by your continuous offensive and be forced into a disadvantageous, suppressed position."

"However, I recommend that if you have the means, you can prepare a Hand Shield to hold in your left hand. It is very small—excessively small compared to a regular shield—but its defense is no less than that of a standard shield. A flexible and sturdy Hand Shield allows you to have both offense and defense in your combat, with strong balance, and it can adapt to many combat situations."

"Of course, a professional Hand Shield is not cheap after all, as it needs to be made entirely of metal, so you can prepare a standard wooden Mudu, worn on the left forearm to assist in combat. Compared to a Hand Shield, it is easier to train with and has better defensive coverage. Although it is not as flexible as a Hand Shield, it is easier to obtain and easier to practice with, which is more important for all of you."

"Besides these, there are other things you can hold in your left hand as an off-hand weapon. For example, some peculiar objects, or Magic Tool with magical effects, a Statue of the God, or amulets of that sort."

Jier then went on to talk about the Warriors' right hands: "The Long Sword or other Single-handed Weapon needs to be tilted upright, held facing the enemy from the front. Everyone adjust yourselves; I won't correct you one by one."

"As for why this is necessary, it is very simple: because this makes it easiest to control the weapon, and the response will be faster when launching an attack. A Warrior's first priority is attacking! Of course, some might say, isn't a Warrior's first priority ensuring their own survival? In fact, attacking is the greatest guarantee of a Warrior's survival."

"Attack, seize the time to defeat the enemy, and you will naturally be safe. Unless you are a Shield Warrior yourself, defense is not your combat priority. Remember, as long as there are teammates present during a fight, you must attack as much as possible; leave other matters to your teammates."

"Do not extend your right arm too far forward, nor keep it too close to your body; neither is conducive to combat. Maintain a suitable, comfortable distance and posture that facilitates the exertion of force; that is sufficient."

Jier then pointed to his own eyes and said to the four men: "Next is the orientation of the head and the observation state of the eyes."

He walked up and slightly adjusted the Warriors' heads, making them face the direction their bodies were meant to fight in, not letting them look around.

"Keep your head facing forward. Where is forward? The direction your weapon is pointing is forward. Do not look around at will during combat; instead, watch the enemy. Otherwise, when you look elsewhere, the enemy will find a flaw. They only need to take advantage of it with a lunge to put you in an unfavorable situation."

"At the same time, your eyes must look at the enemy, trying your best to stare at them. Of course, if it is not a one-on-one fight, your eyes must pay attention to the enemy's surroundings, as well as your own. When you take a moment to observe the surroundings, try to rely on your peripheral vision to keep track of the enemy's movements. The movement here must be fast; a quick scan left and right is enough to roughly judge the situation around you. Additionally, please trust your intuition; trust your combat intuition as a Warrior."

Jier emphasized: "When you feel that the enemy is about to launch an attack, then trust your intuition; the enemy will likely attack. Because compared to other situations, you, who are fighting the enemy head-on, must be the one who understands the enemy's current state best. When you fight, you will sensitively perceive the situation on the battlefield and the enemy's situation. Please trust your intuition and judgment."

"When the enemy is about to attack, their footwork changes, their expression changes, the content of their shouts, and the rise of their momentum will all have subtle changes. When the enemy is about to retreat, they will also have some subtle changes. You may not be able to put these changes into words directly, but I can tell you that even if you don't understand it yourself, your intuition will certainly not be wrong."

"Your intuition might not be accurate at first, but as your combat experience grows, these things will become more and more accurate."

Jier clapped his hands and said to the four men: "That is the basis of combat posture. Next, I will tell you the correct way to use weapons!"

The Warriors began to complain: "Ah? Does this need to be taught too? Sir, is this really necessary?"

Jier nodded: "It is very necessary, truly."

In order to make these Warriors, whose foundations were not very solid, understand just how poor their level was, Jier randomly pointed at a Warrior and signaled him to use the metal Long Sword in his hand to launch a round of attacks at him.

"Knight Jier, but you have a wooden sword in your hand?" The Warrior looked at the Iron Longsword in his own hand, then at the Training Wooden Sword in Jier's hand, his attitude somewhat hesitant.

Jier beckoned: "Come on, you don't really think you can hurt me, do you?"

The surrounding Warriors laughed one after another, and only then did this Warrior step forward, preparing to follow Jier's order and launch a dangerous attack at him.

But before he could even move, Jier called a halt: "Combat posture! Forgot what I just taught? You run four laps around the Yingdi first; once you're done, we'll start!"

"Ah?" The Warrior felt wronged; he really hadn't expected that the combat posture he had just learned would need to be put to use so soon. With no other choice, he had to put away his weapon and run with a red face under everyone's gaze.

Because the Yingdi was not large, four laps were nothing. Besides, most of the Warriors were young farmers from the village before; if nothing else, their stamina was top-notch.

Soon, the Warrior finished running and returned to Jier's side.

This time, without Jier needing to say much, the young Warrior drew the Long Sword from his waist and assumed a combat posture just like the one Jier had just taught.

"Not bad. Now, attack. Launch an attack on me," Jier ordered.

"Ha!" The Warrior didn't say much, raised his Long Sword high, took two quick steps, and delivered a Diagonal Chop straight at him.

But Jier only took a side step, avoiding the majority of the attack range of the opponent's strike. At the same time, the Training Wooden Sword in his hand did not directly parry the opponent's blade, but instead brushed against the trajectory of the opponent's weapon, grazing it slightly at an angle, and used that force to change the trajectory of the Long Sword in the young Warrior's hand.

This caused him to miss completely, failing to even touch the edge of Jier.

"Good, stop there." Jier called a halt to the sparring, and then used the swing the Warrior had just made as an example to explain the basic usage of weapons to the other three.

"First, it's the footwork when attacking. Please demonstrate again how you rushed at me just now."

Hearing this, the Warrior returned to the position where he had launched his attack, assumed the combat posture again, and then rushed forward two steps quickly.

"Good, stop." Jier called a halt and asked the other three: "Did you see anything?"

The three young Warriors, whose foundations were equally poor, shook their heads, all indicating they didn't know.

"His footwork was too scattered, which caused him to swing his sword when he rushed in front of me without using much of the force from his forward charge." Jier pointed out the answer. He let the Warrior demonstrate again, but the difference was that this time Jier was beside him, also starting from the starting position and rushing forward two steps quickly.

The same distance, the same launch of an attack, but the forward footwork of Jier and the Warrior were completely different. Anyone who wasn't blind could see the difference.

Then the two demonstrated the forward charge and sword swing again. After the young Warrior rushed forward two steps with scattered footwork, his body had a clear pause and deceleration, and only then did the Long Sword in his hand swing down after the deceleration.

But when Jier demonstrated, his forward charge and sword swing were done in one go. Not only was the speed faster, but his combat attitude was more determined. Even though Jier didn't use his heart or strength to swing the Training Wooden Sword in his hand, the wooden sword still heavily cut through the air, making a whistling sound.

The force was clearly stronger, and the speed was faster.

"Did everyone see clearly? I judged the distance with every step. After stepping out, every step provided support for my body and accelerated it. By the time I wanted to swing the sword, my speed had reached its maximum, and I didn't have a hesitant deceleration action. I swung the sword directly by taking advantage of this forward charge; the sword edge was fast and heavy, even if I didn't use force, it was the same."

After Jier explained, the eyes of the four Warriors lit up. It was as if they had suddenly discovered a key trick, or it was similar to the feeling of crawling out of a narrow crevice and suddenly facing a vast wilderness on top of a hill.

"So that's how it is!"

"You have to accelerate, don't decelerate; the forward charge and the attack must be connected!"

"I understand!"

"There's such a trick to it!"

The four men beat their chests and stamped their feet, finally realizing that their previous attacks had all been wrong.

Jier shook his head and then went on to talk about the mistakes in weapon swinging: "There is also a problem with the weapon. Do you know what it is?"

Jier asked the young Warrior who had just demonstrated the sparring. The Warrior shook his head with a smile on his face, clearly still immersed in the excitement of having suddenly learned the trick of how to attack.

Helpless, Jier had to ask the other three Warriors. As it turned out, they were the same; they all felt that there was no obvious problem with the way the Warrior had swung his weapon just now, but since Knight Jier said there was a problem, then there must be one.

Jier had no choice but to point out the problem to them and decided that in future training explanations, he would not ask the Warriors questions; he was just asking for trouble.

"The mistake is that he showed his intention to attack and his attack movement too early. Everyone think carefully: wasn't it the case that before he even rushed over, he had already raised his Long Sword, preparing for a downward Diagonal Chop?"

The four men thought about it. Indeed, before the attack had even begun, that person's weapon had been raised before his feet.

In this way, it was indeed as Knight Jier said: the method of attack was exposed before the attack.

"You might say, in such a short time, if the enemy sees the movement of me raising the weapon, would they have time to defend or parry? Just look at my movement from just now, and you will know: they do have time."

Jier held up a finger: "As long as you train with your companions like this often, and accumulate experience in improvising during combat, a qualified Warrior can grasp these 'obvious' 'hints' and react to defend."

"Like just now, I quickly moved a step to the left and used the Wooden Sword in my hand to deflect the weapon you were swinging, and as a result, your weapon couldn't hit me at all." Jier demonstrated on the spot how he had dodged just now.

The Warriors saw it then, and sure enough, one cannot make moves in advance during combat, otherwise, one would be easily seen through by someone like Knight Jier.

They thought about it one step further: if this hadn't been a sparring drill, then after Knight Jier saw through that Warrior's attack move, he would only need to dodge completely and counterattack simultaneously, and that Warrior would have already been dead.

It was a matter of an instant.

"From my observation, your combat moves are still too monotonous. You always like to use downward diagonal swings during combat, but the problem is, most of you are using a Long Sword; a straight Thrust is the attack method with the greatest power for a Long Sword."

Jier raised his sword and took a step to perform a straight Thrust; the move was lightning fast, and many people's eyes couldn't even react before Jier had already finished the Thrust and retracted the sword.

At this moment, the four Warriors facing Jier felt a chill rise from their backs, and at the same time, their hair stood on end; this was being stimulated by Jier's combat killing intent.

"How is it? Fast speed, great power, hard for inexperienced enemies to defend against. As long as the weapon can pierce the enemy's vital point, the battle can be ended immediately. Most enemies are finished after being pierced in a vital point once; only those wearing full armor can effectively deal with this kind of fast Thrust."

"Now learn from me, watch how I perform this Thrust."

Jier then slowed down his movements, letting the four Warriors follow him to learn.

First was the standard combat stance, then the right leg lifted and stepped forward half a step, while the body leaned forward. As the body leaned forward, the right arm holding the sword extended forward quickly, and the wrist followed the momentum to lower the upright Long Sword, letting the entire Long Sword thrust forward.

Even though only half a step was taken, compared to the standard combat stance from just before, the maximum distance of the Thrust was about more than half a body length.

This attack distance surprised the four Warriors; it turned out that as long as the whole body was put into motion, the attack distance of the weapon could actually extend this much. They had previously relied entirely on footwork movement; wherever they walked, the weapon in their hands could only reach that far.

"Right, just like this: foot steps, body leans forward, right arm extends quickly, right hand lowers the Long Sword in hand, one, two, three, four. Once these four steps are done, a whole set of Thrust is completed."

Jier then retracted his right leg, straightened his body, the extended right arm bent again, and the straight-thrusting Long Sword stood upright again; the whole person returned to the initial combat stance.

"Everyone repeat it: one, foot steps; two, body leans forward; three, right arm extends quickly; four, lower the upright Long Sword. At the same time, your eyes must confirm the enemy's body weakness, and let your weapon attack the enemy's weakness."

Jier instructed the four Warriors and had them repeat it several times; only after confirming they had mastered it did he continue to teach the next move.

"Next is the swinging slash you use most often. It is divided into vertical chopping, diagonal slashing, and horizontal sweeping. They all look like swinging slashes, seemingly the same; you used to randomly choose one to launch an attack on the enemy, right?"

The four Warriors nodded; they had been hit on the mark by Knight Jier. They indeed hadn't felt there was any difference; it was all swinging, so they used whichever they wanted.

But since Knight Jier said so, it meant it definitely wasn't like that.

Sure enough, Jier then said: "That is not the case. Although they are all swinging slashes, the methods of action are completely different, which is to say, their applied targets are different."

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? (End of this chapter)