Chapter 1857 – I Surrender
“Great! Well stabbed!” Lorna beside me suddenly shouted loudly, mingling with the cheers of the surrounding audience. The sound shook the surroundings, startling me.
I turned my head and looked at her excited expression, wondering why she was so agitated. She usually appeared so mature and aloof. Why had she suddenly become so passionate?
After shouting, Lorna turned her head and looked at me doubtfully, “Jayad hit him! Aren’t you happy?”
“Ahaha, I, of course I’m happy.” I forced a smile. It wasn’t that I was unhappy, but facing such a weak opponent, hitting him once didn’t seem like something to be particularly excited about, right? It wasn’t like he instantly killed the opponent.
“Keep it up! Quickly defeat him!” Lorna turned her head and continued to shout towards the center of the arena. Just like the passionate audience around, she no longer looked like a nun at all!
I covered my head, looking at the now silly Lorna. It seemed I had underestimated the lack of entertainment in this era. To get so excited over a match, or perhaps she couldn’t help but get excited when she saw Older Brother Jayad fighting?
Another possibility was the gap in mindset. Lorna felt no psychological pressure or burden and could view this as a pure competition.
As I watched the match, I was constantly calculating how many more people I needed to defeat before facing Albrisque, how not to expend too much energy before confronting him, and how to fight him when the time came. How could I possibly enjoy the match?
“Contestant Norton, you’ve scored one point!” the referee announced. In this match, if there was no knockout or voluntary surrender, the victory would be determined by points scored when time ran out.
“Hiss!” The Magic Knight looked terrified at the wound on his waist. His Magic Armor had already been cut open, and the knife mark revealed the chainmail beneath, which had also been sliced through.
His armor had been charged with magic power, making its defense extremely strong, far surpassing that of fine plate armor. Even if two horses charged at each other and he was hit head-on by a lance, the armor would only bear a slight mark, and he wouldn’t even feel the impact.
Such an impregnable armor had actually been sliced open by a short sword. That short sword, inlaid with a ruby, was definitely not an ordinary weapon. He had been careless.
The Magic Knight immediately swung his magic sword, and nine brilliant blue magic greatswords floated above his head, their tips pointing at Jayad, as if they would shoot out towards him if Jayad got any closer.
“Cheating! This is clearly magic!” “Can this even be considered swordsmanship?” Another group of audience members started booing. To be honest, what they said wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
If simply forming magic into a sword shape counts as swordsmanship, then I could also condense seawater and ice into a sword shape and shoot it out, followed by the power of a magic burst. Would that also be considered swordsmanship?
But it also seemed inappropriate to say it wasn’t swordsmanship, as it was indeed a spell that condensed magic into a sword formation. It wasn’t intentionally shaped like a sword to mimic actual swordsmanship. It seemed like either interpretation could be valid, and the specific judgment would depend on the referee.
“It’s permissible. This is a battle technique attached to the magic sword, and it is naturally a part of swordsmanship.” The referee made his ruling and waved for the match to continue.
As soon as the words fell, Jayad’s figure disappeared in an instant. He charged towards the Magic Knight in a Z-shaped trajectory like lightning. This speed was so fast that the Magic Knight couldn’t even see him.
He was so scared that he immediately waved his hand, and a magic shield protected him. But as soon as it was released, the next second, a short sword pierced through the magic shield and directly stabbed in.
Terrified, the Magic Knight swung his magic sword at the blurry figure in front of him, but only hit empty air. Then he felt a chill on his neck as the gap in his magic armor was sliced open.
Only then did his sword formation sense the enemy. It shot out swords towards the front, at his feet, and behind him, all missing. They all struck the ground; the magic flying swords couldn’t keep up with Jayad’s speed at all.
Moreover, Jayad only passed by once before immediately turning back to stab again. This time, the Magic Knight didn’t even react. He only felt a pain in his back as another greatsword flew towards him from behind.
When he turned around, all he could see was the greatsword stuck in the ground. He couldn’t see his opponent’s figure at all. Then the wind whistled again, and his opponent attacked from the side and back.
He could only condense a magic shield with his left hand and strike fiercely in that direction, attempting to widen the attack range to hit the unseen enemy. The result was the magic shield being pierced by the short sword’s point-to-surface attack, and his left hand was also injured.
In reality, his use of magic shields and magic barriers was a blatant foul. If the greatsword circle formation could still be considered swordsmanship, these two were definitely defensive magic, and he had used them in his desperation.
However, the referee did not issue a penalty or stop the match. It wasn’t because he had taken bribes, but because he needed to concentrate fully to keep up with Jayad’s movements. Furthermore, the referee felt that without magic, the Magic Knight would have been instantly killed, and the match would have been boring.
He wasn’t the only one with this thought. Even the audience, who had been booing loudly just moments ago, were now, without exception, not complaining but intently watching Jayad’s movements and cheering him on.
From the audience’s perspective, Jayad was like a phantom that followed the wind, constantly appearing around the Magic Knight and leaving him with wounds again and again. Especially when he flashed by with the short sword held upside down, it was hard to say whether he was a knight or an assassin.
“Great! Too amazing! How did his speed become so fast?” Lorna cheered and exclaimed, the high-speed zig-zag trajectory that seemed to defy human capability.
“Older Brother Jayad probably couldn’t move this fast before. Those blacksmiths helped him adjust the Hawk Armor, and now it can change its wind control direction 360 degrees without dead zones. It can also instantly spray and stop, which allows it to forcibly change direction like this,” I said.
Lorna was stunned when she heard this and took some time to understand what I was talking about. This was my advantage over her. Lorna’s All-Seeing Eye might be able to see the parameters of that Steam Armor, but she had no idea what those parameters meant.
“Stop! I surrender!” the Magic Knight shouted. The next second, Jayad appeared in front of him, his short sword pointed at his neck, but he stopped.
In fact, even if he didn’t call for a stop, Jayad wouldn’t have killed him. Jayad had already had countless opportunities to kill him, whether it was the second time he was about to slit his throat or the third time he was stabbed in the back, both were fatal wounds.
Jayad had held back each time. He himself had no injuries at all, only sword marks on his armor. It was precisely because he understood the vast difference between them that the Magic Knight cleanly surrendered.
