Chapter 11: The Assassin’s Flash Step
Two missed shots, and a sword at the back of his head.
Even on a real battlefield, relying on the defense of powered armor to save one’s life was not glorious.
Aside from the equipment advantage, Claude had lost completely.
There were no cheers, no applause. The Night’s Watch knights watching seemed to have fallen into complete silence.
For a Night’s Watch knight to be defeated by an outside mercenary in an open competition was an absolute disgrace to the self-proclaimed elite Night’s Watch.
Not to mention losing so thoroughly, making the watching Night’s Watch members lose face as well.
However, Knight Commander Claude’s actions weren’t wrong at all.
He fired immediately after the starting pistol, didn’t panic when the opponent approached, and quickly raised his gun for a close-range shot. All his actions were in accordance with the Night’s Watch military manual, a textbook response.
If any other Night’s Watch knight were here, they wouldn’t be confident in performing better than him.
Then how to explain this defeat?
In the command tent at the highest point, the Commander-in-Chief and several high-ranking members of the Night’s Watch watched the entire battle on the command screen. Their expressions were solemn, and they frowned in thought.
“It’s Flash Step.” Cormac, the Sun Knight Commander, dragged the mouse, rewinding to the very beginning.
The screen showed the moment the starting pistol fired and Knight Commander Claude fired. In the still frame, Asker could be seen lowering his body slightly, his heels slightly raised.
“The Ilania Swordsman’s Flash Step?” Commander Bryce asked, frowning.
“To be precise, it’s the Assassin’s Flash Step.” Cormac replied. “This footwork is widespread in the East, but it did originate from the Assassin sect.”
“Mainstream Flash Step involves a lot of heel rotation, the purpose is to make the swordsman’s footwork more difficult for the opponent to see. However, the Assassin sect believes that heel rotation is a meaningless extra movement, because the purpose of Flash Step itself is to burst into high speed in a short time.”
“If you can instantly reach full speed, how can the opponent see your footwork?”
“With the Assassin’s physical qualities, they are indeed qualified to say that.” Phoebus said with a smile. “Because even without heel rotation, few normal people can see their speed clearly.”
“That’s right.” Cormac switched to 0.1x playback speed. “Look at the footage again, from here to here, this Asker, with the balls of his feet on the ground, took at least three steps in just 0.3 seconds, with an average stride length of less than half a meter. His speed instantly reached its peak, without any heel rotation.”
“It’s the perfect Assassin-style Ilania Flash Step.” He concluded. “Not to mention Claude, even a Templar Knight might not be able to hit him with the first shot.”
“So you think this Asker is from the Assassins?” Commander Bryce asked.
“I don’t think so.” Cormac said cautiously. “As far as I know, the Assassin-style Ilania Flash Step is extremely difficult and arduous to learn.”
“I heard that their Assassin instructors would scatter caltrops on the floor of the dining hall passage, leaving only a gap half the width of a foot, forcing the assassins to pass through with Flash Step.”
“At noon every day, when the dining hall opened, they would only provide two-thirds of the food, so the assassins had to rush through the caltrop area as quickly as possible, otherwise they would go hungry.”
“Under years of training, most assassins have festering wounds on the soles of their feet from repeatedly stepping on caltrops due to Flash Step mistakes. To relieve the pain, they have the habit of taking anesthetic drugs and wrapping their feet with painkillers and bandages.”
“And this Mr. Asker doesn’t have any smell of anesthetic drugs.” Phoebus said thoughtfully. “His standing and walking postures are also very natural. Either he’s good at hiding it, or…”
“Or he’s really not from the Assassins, but learned the Flash Step technique through other channels.” Cormac analyzed. “I think it’s the latter, because with his strength, he would definitely be the most elite White-Clad Assassin in the Assassin sect.”
“Assassins of this level, their targets are either Cardinals of the Church or royalty and nobles of various countries. We are just the Eastern branch of the Night’s Watch. With all due respect, even your head, Commander, wouldn’t be worth a White-Clad Assassin personally taking action.”
“My head isn’t that valuable either.” Bryce shook his head. “Anyway, just handle it according to normal procedures.”
“Wait a moment, Commander.” Phoebus said, “He has proven his combat skills, but Quasimodo also mentioned one thing that makes me a little concerned.”
“It is said that this Mr. Asker pierced the Black Knight’s powered armor helmet with an ordinary steel sword.”
“There’s such a thing?” Cormac said in surprise. “The material strength of military steel, even after thousands of years of corrosion, is not something that an ordinary forged steel sword can pierce.”
“The person is in our camp, we can just ask him directly.” Commander Bryce said.
On the training ground, Asker had already sheathed his sword and stood quietly.
The surrounding area was buzzing with discussions like a beehive. The Night’s Watch knights whispered to each other, their gazes towards the field filled with shock and doubt, confusion, and mostly undisguised hostility.
“Asker is so amazing!” Nuo grabbed Medea’s arm excitedly, her eyes sparkling.
However, she quickly noticed the uneasy change in the surrounding atmosphere and complained angrily, “What’s wrong with these people? My Asker clearly defeated the other party, why are they all so cold?”
“Oh, it’s like this when fighting on away turf.” Medea said leisurely.
Looking around at the surrounding audience, she could hardly read any friendly thoughts. Medea suddenly raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a mischievous smile.
“Team Leader, you’re so handsome! I love you!” She shouted at the top of her lungs as if she had become a fangirl.
The surrounding OO@@ sounds immediately exploded. Many Night’s Watch members even stood up, pointing in this direction and shouting excitedly, but it was impossible to hear clearly because of the noise.
“Medea!” Nuo next to her was also shocked. If she hadn’t known that Medea had androphobia, the nun would have really thought that her best friend had suddenly become a love rival.
“Don’t do this!” She hurriedly pulled Medea’s arm, trying to make her sit down and shut up. “Don’t deliberately provoke them! You’ll be beaten!”
“Let them come.” Medea said nonchalantly. “Let them try to touch me! I’ll explode on the spot! Blow them all up!”
She shouted “I love you” and “You’re so handsome” a few more times before Asker finally turned around, his face filled with the helpless look of someone caring for a mentally challenged child.
“Stop it.” He said mentally.
“This is fun.” Medea said through the mental connection, her tone filled with the joy of a successful prank.
On the other side, Claude, the defeated Knight Commander, stood there blankly, his mind in a daze.
I lost?
How could I lose?
Lose to an unorthodox outside mercenary?
I’m an elite Night’s Watch veteran equipped with powered armor and with over seven years of service!
Powered armor… Right, his sword just now pierced my helmet, logically speaking, it shouldn’t be able to pierce it at all.
If this were a real battlefield, I wouldn’t have been injured at all!
I haven’t lost yet!
Knight Commander Claude, in his despair, seemed to have grasped a lifeline. His spirits lifted, and he raised his head, about to speak.
Phoebus, the Morningstar Knight Commander, put his hand on his shoulder from behind.
“You fought well.” Phoebus said in a deep voice. “You’ve done your best, go and have a good rest.”
“Commander Phoebus!” Claude said eagerly. “I haven’t lost yet! His sword couldn’t pierce my helmet…”
“Enough!” Phoebus shouted in a low voice. “Inferior in skill on the battlefield, and still relying on equipment advantage to save face, as a Night’s Watch knight, don’t you feel ashamed?”
Claude immediately looked ashen upon hearing this, his whole being falling into a state of dejection.
“Go back and think about where you lost.” Phoebus said, then suddenly added, “Take off your helmet and give it to me.”
“What?” Claude asked listlessly.
“Lend me your helmet.” Phoebus emphasized. “You can go to the quartermaster and get a new one later.”
Claude obediently took off his helmet and handed it to Phoebus. The latter took the helmet, walked onto the field, and said to Asker:
“You have won, Mr. Asker. As we agreed earlier, I will approve your trade application and submit it to Commander Bryce.”
“Another piece of good news is that Commander Bryce was also watching this battle. Regarding Quasimodo’s account of you piercing the Black Knight’s helmet with your sword in the end, he hopes to witness it with his own eyes, is that alright?”
“No problem.” Asker nodded.
Unlike the abilities of supernatural characteristics, supernatural swordsmanship wasn’t something worth keeping secret – especially the Dragon Kingdom’s Celestial Ninefold Strike, which no one on this continent could understand.
Even if they filmed the whole process with a camera, then played it back in slow motion for analysis, or took the helmet to a physics lab or materials lab for research, there wouldn’t be any results.
So Phoebus raised the helmet high.
Asker’s sword flickered, the blade humming as it thrust forward.
Celestial Ninefold Strike – Heavy Break.
The sword pierced the helmet without any hindrance, like chopsticks piercing tofu.
The tip of the sword stopped in front of Phoebus’ eyes. He held his breath, his pupils constricting.
Just now, the faint hum of the sword had briefly attracted his attention.
When he came back to his senses, he realized that the sword had already pierced through the powered armor helmet, and a few more inches forward would be his forehead.
And his skull was definitely not harder than the powered armor helmet.
The surrounding Morningstar knights suddenly stood up, many of them even reaching for their guns before being stopped by their companions.
“Is that enough?” Asker let go of his sword and asked calmly.
“That’s enough.” Phoebus took a deep breath.
Then he realized that his back was already covered in cold sweat.
Leave a Reply