Chapter 7: Duel

Ethan walked slowly into the training ground and stood opposite the legendary gladiator Anderdrick.

As the referee Sarno said, "Begin."

The two drew their swords at the same time and attacked each other.

This time Anderdrick did not fight bare-handed like before.

He had seen Ethan's swordsmanship. Although it had a strong academic atmosphere, he used the sword smoothly and was definitely a master in swordsmanship.

And he also had strength far beyond his age, which forced him to be alert to fight.

Ethan did not think so much. When he drew his sword, he activated the [Short] skill.

Suddenly, a warm current surged into his body, and he felt that he had enough strength to crush stones with his bare hands.

Although the borrowed power only lasted for ten minutes, he was not in a hurry to attack. He only used half of his strength, kept his distance, and drew his sword to test.

Anderdrick was the same. Before he understood Ethan's true strength, he would not force an attack.

The two men tested each other for a while, and each had a certain understanding of the other's strength, and then they began the real offensive.

The first to attack was Anderrick. He had determined that although Ethan's swordsmanship skills were good, especially in blocking, he could be said to be perfect.

No matter how tricky the sword angle was, how fast the speed was, or how hidden it was, he could block it perfectly, and his steps were not chaotic, as if he had predicted it in advance.

But no matter how perfect the blocking was, it was difficult to cover up the shortcomings of insufficient strength.

As long as you grasp this point, you can disrupt the opponent's rhythm with the advantage of strength.

Once the rhythm is disrupted, there will definitely be flaws.

After understanding this, Anderrick already had an overall strategy in his mind. He wanted to rely on his own strength advantage to grind Ethan to death.

So he began to increase his strength and rushed forward. Each sword was fast and heavy, fierce and unusual, and he rushed to Ethan's vitals.

The opponent suddenly increased his strength. Although Ethan was prepared and could block the opponent's sword moves, he did not expect the opponent's strength to be so great. He only blocked the opponent's sword, but the force from the sword pressed him back again and again.

There was no other way, Ethan could only increase his strength, so that he could barely maintain the situation.

And Andrick had guessed that Ethan was conserving his strength, because Ethan had defeated Solace in this way before, and he would naturally not make such a mistake again.

Now seeing that Ethan's blocking strength was obviously much stronger, he knew that this was probably Ethan's true strength.

However, he also lamented that Ethan was so young and his muscles were not well developed in the past, but he had such strong strength, and it seemed that he was not much worse than himself.

But the gap is the gap. In a life-and-death duel, whether it is swordsmanship or strength, as long as there is a gap, it is fatal.

After fully confirming Ethan's strength, Andrick completely let go and showed the true strength of a legendary gladiator.

Not only was he full of strength, but he also drew his sword very quickly. One sword after another, the continuous offensive rushed towards Ethan like a tsunami.

Ethan only defended and did not attack. He relied on perfect blocking to steadily receive every sword of the opponent, and always kept his breathing and footsteps in order.

Since every successful block will trigger a counter-attack, he has been forcing himself not to use it.

The reason for this is that although the counter-attack can be used all the time, there is only one chance to catch the opponent by surprise.

He must resolve the battle once and for all, otherwise, with the opponent's swordsmanship, if he counterattacks rashly and fails, he is likely to fall into a tug-of-war.

When the ten-minute validity period of the [Short] skill expires, he will be dead.

Ethan now has maxed out [Sword Block], and his understanding of sword blocking is far beyond that of ordinary people.

Just by perception, he knows that although the opponent seems to be attacking fiercely, each sword has room for maneuver, and is both offensive and defensive.

It is precisely because he understands his situation that Ethan's tactical strategy is also very clear, that is, wait.

Wait for the opponent to show a flaw, and then use the counter-attack to kill him with one blow.

But after waiting for a long time, the opponent did not use his full strength.

As time passed, Ethan began to worry secretly.

Fortunately, Ethan knew that the more anxious he was, the more he had to keep his composure and never show it, so he pretended to be calm all the time.

He also knew that this was not only a competition of swordsmanship, but also a competition of patience, so his eyes became more determined.

Anderdrick was upset and shocked because he could not defeat him for a long time.

He had used many of his ultimate moves in the duel, and every time he used them, there were always dead souls under his sword.

But Ethan not only took it calmly every time, but also seemed to take it for granted.

This made him, a veteran gladiator, very alert.

Gladiators are a profession that fights between life and death. His professional instinct made him feel that Ethan is very dangerous, which made him more careful.

However, he was careful, but he still believed that he could kill Ethan.

Therefore, the offensive did not stop, but he paid more attention to protection.

The two began a tug-of-war in this psychological and swordsmanship game.

The long swords hit each other in the field, and there were frequent tricks, and they were evenly matched.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the sound of metal clanging was heard everywhere.

The fight was intense and exciting.

The people watching the fight often watched gladiator matches and had seen many exciting fights between gladiators, but it was the first time they had seen such an intense and exciting fight as today.

Therefore, everyone held their breath and opened their eyes wide, not wanting to miss a single detail.

Even Milochi, who was not interested in gladiator matches, was fascinated by the fight.

He somewhat regretted letting the two fight to the death, otherwise both of them would be his. If he used them to contact the nobles, he would definitely be successful.

There was also a woman wearing a white mask next to Milochi, watching the duel in the field with a gleam in her eyes.

Knight Rand, who was not far from her, had a haze in his eyes.

…

As time went by, the duel between Ethan and Anderdrick became more and more intense.

Although Anderdrick attacked more and more fiercely, the distance between him and Ethan was getting farther and farther.

After nearly a hundred moves, he already knew that there was no way to win quickly, and he had to take it slowly to wear Ethan to death, and he did so.

But at this time, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded.

Anderdrick heard the whistle and his face changed unconsciously.

It turned out that the whistle was blown by Rand. He knew Ethan's strength too well. Maybe his swordsmanship was good, but it was impossible for him to fight against Anderdrick for so long.

Suspecting that Anderik was letting the opponent win, he pretended to see the exciting part and whistled to praise him, but in fact he was reminding Anderik to resolve the battle as soon as possible.

"That noble knight thought he was acting and was urging him to act quickly."

Anderik thought of this and complained bitterly.

Of course he knew he was not acting, but he dared not ignore the knight's opinion.

So he was determined and prepared to use his ultimate move.

This move was very similar to the previous move of catching the blade with bare hands. First, he slashed a sword, then predicted the direction of the opponent's block, quickly moved forward, grabbed the opponent's long sword with his hand, and prevented the opponent from drawing the sword. Then he turned around and stabbed the opponent's abdomen with a backhand.

This was a ruthless move to exchange a minor injury for the opponent's life. Although it was unexpected, it was extremely risky.

If the opponent predicted his move, his fingers would be cut, and his back would definitely be cut.

If it were normal, Anderik would not be willing to use this move because it was too risky.

But he knew that resisting the will of the nobles would be more risky, and he was afraid that his family's lives would be in danger.

So without much hesitation, Anderdrick took a small step forward and slashed with all his strength.

Ethan blocked the sword and was about to return to his position, but suddenly found that the opponent was approaching without warning.

Out of the swordsman's instinct, he knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally come.

At this time, the ten-minute time limit was almost up, so he used the counterattack without hesitation.

After the long sword blocked, it suddenly started at the original position without any preparatory work, and slashed upward at a speed far exceeding the speed of the charged attack.

Suddenly, a gorgeous sword light burst out.

At this moment, Anderdrick was about to use his hand to catch the sword, but found that the opponent's long sword suddenly disappeared, and then there was a sharp pain in his neck, and his body fell down uncontrollably...