Chapter 614: The Hartna Knight's Martial Arts and Special Skills

The Hartna Knight twisted his body abruptly, and then the thick, scaly tail extending from beneath his skirt armor behind him swept toward Jier with a 'whoosh'.

Jier stepped back and swung his sword to block; with a 'shriek', the long sword barely sliced through the scales on the tail, wounding his opponent.

But the Lizardman's regenerative ability was indeed very strong; the wound that had just been sliced stopped bleeding immediately, and the flesh and tissue drew toward each other, sticking together quickly. If one could not see the broken scales, it would be as if the wound from just a moment ago had never appeared.

With this level of regenerative ability, it is a very difficult matter for an ordinary Warrior to fight a Lizardman.

"Watch me cut off your tail!" Jier shouted, taking the initiative to step forward and chase the Hartna Knight's tail to attack. This actually put the Hartna Knight in a difficult position; after all, he was not a true Lizardman and did not understand the martial arts of using a tail, so he had no choice but to turn around and fight Jier with his weapon.

But Jier kept his eyes on the opponent's tail; whenever the opponent turned, he would jump a few small times, chasing the Knight's new tail to attack.

The Hartna Knight would also unconsciously swing his tail to force Jier back. The two circled each other like this, and after only a few laps, Jier saw his chance, quickly closed the distance, and facing the thick tail swinging toward him, he took the initiative to swing his sword to meet it!

"Sever!"

He shouted, and the blade struck exactly where he had wounded it before. This area looked like the wound had healed, but in fact, it was much more fragile than other parts. Struck heavily by Jier's sword, it was immediately severed to the ground, scales, muscle, and even the bone in the middle of the tail included.

But Jier, having succeeded in one strike, was not very happy; he frowned and retreated quickly, while the Hartna Knight also looked down at his severed tail, somewhat stunned.

Because the feeling was not right.

Jier glanced at the Soldier Changjian in his hand and did not see any dulling of the blade after severing the bone; in his heart, he became more and more certain of his thought: when the sword struck the tail bone just now, it was not the sword in his hand that had cut the opponent's bone, but rather the opponent's bone that had broken apart automatically.

In other words, the opponent had voluntarily severed his own tail.

The Hartna Knight was also confused; he could clearly feel that his body had voluntarily severed that section of the tail just now, and then he reached behind him to touch the base of the tail.

"It is easier to get used to not having a tail."

Muttering this, the Hartna Knight chased after Jier with movements more agile than before.

Although he had been more flexible in turning when he had the tail, after all, Humans do not have tails, and after temporarily gaining such a limb, he still could not adapt to it smoothly. Now that the tail was gone, the Hartna Knight was instead able to exert his body's full strength at this moment.

He knew that he was one hundred percent not a match for this young man, but since you want to fight, then I will give you a fight. As a Warrior, as a Knight, fighting to the death is also the end of a path of honor.

The Hartna Knight held the Soldier Changjian high and brought it down in a heavy cleave.

Jier hurriedly dodged. Fortunately, his Divine Art ability of 【Grass and Wood Source】 was still active, and his movements were smooth and continuous. Without needing to consider physical function, he could perform one action after another; it did not matter if his breathing could not keep up, as the Divine Power of the Agriculture God would immediately replace the oxygen in his body to replenish what his body needed.

Boom!

The Lizardman had a tall, large build and considerable strength; the long sword struck the ground, shaking the soil and kicking up the earth.

The Knight was still not satisfied; his empty left hand picked up another long sword from a fallen soldier nearby. Dual-wielding two long swords, he used continuous heavy cleaves with both his left and right hands, constantly forcing Jier back.

"Now this is interesting!" Jier let out an excited, strange cry, swinging his sword in an upward slash that collided exactly with the Hartna Knight's downward cleave.

Bang! Clang—

The two long swords sparked from the impact, and the recoil force traveled from the point of impact into both their hands. Compared to the Hartna Knight, Jier was 'short' in stature, but he steadily absorbed this recoil force, while the Hartna Knight, despite appearing tall, failed to hold onto his long sword during the clash, causing it to be shaken from his hand.

This also had to do with the sharp claws on the Hartna Knight's lizard palms.

These pitch-black claws extending from his fingertips, while sturdy and sharp, were not suitable for gripping the hilt of a Human long sword. A Lizardman's palm is better suited for clawing at enemies than for holding man-made tools to conduct an attack.

With his weapon disarmed, the Hartna Knight immediately swiped his claws at Jier, while Jier retreated, swinging his long sword to protect his body with the trajectory of the blade, forcing back the opponent's claws.

But immediately after, the long sword in the Hartna Knight's right hand came down in a heavy cleave. Jier did not have time to build up force to parry, and simply moving his weapon into the trajectory of the opponent's falling attack would not be of much use.

Jier's mind raced, and he raised his left forearm to block the opponent's descending weapon.

"Ha!" The Hartna Knight was extremely excited. He had not expected that he would fail to injure or maim his opponent in a formal fight, yet in a disadvantaged state, he could actually cleave through the opponent's arm with one sword—this was truly an unexpected joy!

But no one expected that after the heavy cleaving long sword struck Jier's left forearm, it would actually emit a 'clang' sound and be deflected by a Metal Bracer Jier wore on the outside of his left forearm!

Although this bracer emitted some unstable Magic Power radiance when struck heavily, it was, after all, a Magic Tool made by Yamila using exceptionally sturdy metal materials.

Compared to gold and silver jewelry, Jier had discovered the material was exceptionally sturdy the moment he first touched it, and now that he had tested it, it was indeed so.

Taking advantage of the moment the opponent's weapon was deflected, Jier raised his hand and thrust his sword into the Hartna Knight's abdomen, twisted his wrist, and then retreated two steps.

"Umm... hiss, that doesn't hurt much."

The Hartna Knight initially covered his wound with his hand, but soon let it go, because not only did the sword thrust into his abdomen not hurt much, but the speed of the wound's recovery also exceeded his expectations.

A wound stirred by a long sword would be a fatal injury on a Human, but to a Lizardman with tenacious vitality, it was like being scratched on the arm by a small knife; if left alone, it might even heal itself by the time he finished a meal.

The facts were indeed so. The Hartna Knight took his hand away from the wound; although there were pierced personal scales and the wound beneath, this wound, several fingers wide, did not bleed much. The muscles at the wound subconsciously squeezed together, firmly sealing the entire wound, and the internal organ damage could not be seen.

Visibly, these tightly pressed muscles of the wound were actually sticking together firmly due to some translucent mucus being secreted.

The Hartna Knight examined his wound and patted it carefully, finding that although he was injured here, the sensation was not great; the entire wound felt numb, not the intense pain that would erupt when a Human body was injured.

This seemed like a good thing, but from the perspective of the evolution of the entire organism, the Lizardman was actually far inferior to the Human.

A body that is not sensitive enough, while beneficial for fighting, involves far more than just fighting for survival. If one cannot perceive pain when sick, a Lizardman will either not get sick, or once he gets sick and fails to discover it in time, it is very easy for a minor illness to drag on into a major one, then creating a fatal crisis.

Humans are sensitive to pain, and any slight fever or cold will produce different changes; after all, it is easy to treat the body in time as soon as it changes, thereby ensuring the timely and effective cure of the illness.

There are many other areas where Lizardmen are inferior to Humans, which will not be expanded upon here.

"This body of mine is not bad at all," the Hartna Knight sighed, feeling some regret that he had not transformed into a Lizardman while his Life Energy was still present.

If he could have transformed into a Lizardman earlier, he would have gained a huge advantage at this moment.

Picking up the long sword that had been shaken away on the ground, the Hartna Knight held the sword with both hands again. This time, he no longer used the continuous heavy cleaves that were powerful but had more openings; instead, he used the two swords one after the other, using his waist and abdomen as the ecliptic plane, and launched a continuous, uninterrupted attack toward Jier.

"Good!" Jier's eyes lit up. He wanted to learn more from the Hartna Knight, whose martial arts were better than his own. Seeing the Hartna Knight's performance, he could not help but take the initiative to step back a few paces, hook his foot, and get a long sword from a fallen soldier into his hand. Imitating the Knight's dual-wielding movements, he used the two swords one after the other to launch a counterattack.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

Attacking with dual swords like this was faster, and the trajectories of the left and right long swords were more similar to ellipses, constantly using the sword hilt as the center of mass to draw elliptical attack trajectories.

The left sword would attack Jier's shoulder, and the next moment the right sword might follow to parry, or launch an attack toward Jier's head and face.

The right sword would point toward Jier's wrist, and the left sword might then follow up, continuously pointing toward Jier's fingers, hoping to sever a few of Jier's fingers.

The left sword stuck to Jier's right-hand long sword, the front parts of the two blades pressing tightly together, wrestling with each other—no, it was more complex than that; when Jier exerted force, the Hartna Knight would relax his force, not competing in strength with Jier, but keeping the tips of the two long swords connected at all times.

Jier intended to withdraw his right-hand long sword, and the Hartna Knight would exert force with his left hand, keeping his own long sword constantly pressed against the tip of Jier's sword, not letting Jier's long sword leave.

While the two were having this strange clash with their long swords, the weapons on the other side were a different scene.

The Hartna Knight ignored Jier's swinging and thrusting long sword entirely, letting them cause some painless 'minor' injuries to his body, while actively and constantly thrusting and hacking his own long sword toward Jier's vital points, such as his neck, head, and face.

This forced Jier to constantly defend.

But defense was not easy either; the Hartna Knight would occasionally flick his long sword, actively striking Jier's defending sword, and then immediately point the tip of his sword toward Jier's face. Once the Hartna Knight succeeded, Jier, having had his steel Faceplate flipped open, would be disfigured at best, or killed by the Hartna Knight's desperate counterattack at worst.

At this moment, Jier would often try to tilt his head back and retreat, widening the combat distance between himself and Knight Hartna. But after Knight Hartna transformed into a Lizardman, his height and arm length were far beyond what Jier could avoid by simply taking a small step back and tilting his head.

With no other choice, after his Long Sword in his left hand was knocked aside, Jier had to use the Magic Amplification Bracer on his left forearm to block; this item was very sturdy and could be used as either an Arm Guard or an arm shield.

However, in the midst of handling different offensive and defensive maneuvers with his left and right hands, Jier made frequent mistakes; after all, not everyone can easily make their brain handle two nearly opposite things at the same time.

Many Warriors cannot even adapt to one type of offense and defense, let alone two different, or even opposite, combat maneuvers.

Facing the predicament, Jier gritted his teeth and persisted, and during an opening, he took the opportunity to lower the metal Faceplate on his face.

But the next moment, Knight Hartna's body spun violently, and the two Long Swords in his hands, like the teeth on a circular saw, slashed continuously at Jier while spinning at high speed.

The best defensive method at this time would be a shield, but the surrounding ground either had wooden Soldier Shields, or the usable Knight Shields were too far away to reach in time.

Jier could only barely hold up his two Long Swords vertically, using them to withstand Knight Hartna's frantic and swift spinning slashes.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

Clang—

Knight Hartna had merely exhausted the Life Energy surrounding his body, but that did not mean his combat experience and martial arts had disappeared; at this moment, this suddenly unleashed spinning slash struck the same spot on Jier's left-hand Long Sword four times in just one second.

In an instant, Jier's left-hand Soldier Changjian could not withstand such a blow and snapped at the point where it had been repeatedly struck.

The next moment was for the Long Sword in his right hand.

Jier was somewhat surprised; why was it that when it was the same collision of sword against sword, his Long Sword was the one that broke, while the opponent's weapon was fine?

Clang, clang, clang, clang—clang—

With this, even the Long Sword in Jier's right hand broke.

But fortunately, Jier performed an agile backflip, followed by a side roll, widening the distance from Knight Hartna. And Knight Hartna, who had initiated the spinning slash, was unable to move quickly to chase the retreating Jier at this time due to the continuous rotation of his body.

He even had to wait until he slowed down and stopped before he could launch a new round of attacks.

This spinning slash technique had prominent advantages and disadvantages; it was a lethal move during close-quarters combat, but once it failed to take effect and the enemy retreated, widening the distance, the user instead became a target that could only spin in place.

"Learned another move." Jier discarded the two Soldier Changjian in his hands, not taking the opportunity to sneak attack Knight Hartna who was slowing down, but instead focused on widening his eyes, observing every movement of Knight Hartna.

When Knight Hartna completely slowed down and steadied his stance, Jier saw the dual swords used by Knight Hartna, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Because he understood why, when it was the same clash of weapons, the opponent's weapon did not break, while his own was severed in an instant.

It turned out the secret lay in the blades of the two Long Swords Knight Hartna was holding at that moment.

The opponent's blades were covered in dense, closely packed blunt points; at a single glance, Jier understood that Knight Hartna had just allowed his own Long Sword blades to collide evenly with Jier's Long Swords.

Knight Hartna's side received impacts evenly across every part, keeping the overall weapon strength unchanged, with the weapon only becoming slightly duller and needing re-forging or sharpening after the battle. As for Jier's side, because it happened in an instant, every strike hit the exact same spot, and the damage received in a short time accumulated, which was why his Long Sword broke quickly.

"So that's how it is? Is this something that can be achieved through training?"

Jier was somewhat shocked, because when a person is spinning, having to control their Long Sword to receive force evenly, and ensuring each attack lands on the same spot the enemy is blocking—is such precision of control something a Human can achieve?

However, Knight Hartna had already successfully unleashed it before Jier's eyes, forcing Jier to admit that there were indeed people who could achieve this.

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