Chapter 24: Steamrolling
“Third, Eleanor seemed to have some difficulty maintaining stability when she was taking the attacks just now.” Asker turned to Eleanor again. “Don’t you know how to deflect force with the shield?”
“Deflect force?” Eleanor showed an embarrassed and ashamed expression. “Can you elaborate?”
“Raise your shield.” Asker said.
Eleanor raised her shield as instructed.
“Stand with your feet one in front of the other, your center of gravity temporarily on the front foot, and your back foot lightly touching the ground.” Asker said, “The moment my attack lands on the shield, move your center of gravity to your back foot.”
“This way the shield will move back slightly.” Eleanor tried it out.
“The essence of moving back is to enhance the buffering of your arms, so as to better deflect the force on the shield.” Asker added, “When moving back, if the attack landing point is on the left side of the shield’s midline, you tilt the shield to the left; conversely, tilt it to the right. Avoid the enemy’s attack hitting your shield vertically at 90 degrees, otherwise you will have to bear all the force head-on, understand?”
“I understand!” Nuo raised her hand and said, “Assuming that an attack with a force of N comes vertically, and Eleanor tilts the shield by a degrees. Then according to the orthogonal decomposition of force, Eleanor actually only needs to bear the force of N*cos_a, and cos_a is less than 1.”
“I don’t understand.” Eleanor said tearfully. This seemed to be mathematical knowledge, right? However, she grew up in the castle, and literacy and martial arts were taught by private tutors hired from outside. She had never attended any formal school.
“Almost.” Asker said, “If the tilt angle is greater than 45 degrees, then the swords and knives that land on the shield will be more likely to slide off than be blocked. There is a kind of small round shield in Franconia, not much bigger than an adult’s palm, and Franconian mercenaries can skillfully use this kind of small shield to slide or deflect the enemy’s attacks. It may not be convenient for you to slide off attacks with the kite shield you are using, Eleanor, but you can still deflect force.”
“Okay.” Eleanor tried tilting the shield.
“Let’s move on.” Asker finally said, “The visibility in the forest at night is very low, everyone should be vigilant, especially pay attention to the sounds in the surrounding environment. I was able to find that Dream Eater just now because I heard the faint sound it made.”
Everyone nodded. Suddenly, a lark’s chirping sounded from the side. Eleanor shuddered, immediately raised her shield and spear, and looked around. Peggy also quickly disappeared from her spot. Nuo took out her mobile phone from her bag and said embarrassedly:
“Sorry, everyone. It’s my phone ringing.”
“Turn off your phone ringtone!” Asker said, both amused and annoyed. When players ran dungeons, it was already a professional habit to put their phones on airplane mode, how could they cause so much trouble?
“Hello, sis.” Nuo walked aside and answered the phone. “I’m working. Why are you still awake so late?”
“I’m working overtime on the group’s acquisition case.” On the other end of the phone, Capasirin, Nuo’s eldest sister, drank a cup of coffee and complained, “The Duke of Normandy is biting the price of 6 pounds per share and refusing to let go. My business negotiation team has been grinding with him for three days… Forget it, what’s going on with that picture on your social circle? Dream Eater? You little girl are quite capable, you have become an extraordinary being, right? What Sequence are you?”
“Life Sequence.” Nuo whispered.
“Oh, haven’t you always wanted to be a doctor?” Capasirin sighed. “It’s okay to be a doctor, but you don’t have to be an extraordinary being. Don’t you know that becoming an extraordinary being will reduce fertility? Mother will definitely cry again when she finds out.”
“Then don’t tell her yet, sis.” Nuo said coquettishly. “We are exploring a deserted island on the Black Sea now, I’ll talk to you later, bye.”
“Wait! Don’t hang up!” Capasirin sat up. “Have you joined some team? Is it reliable and formal? Don’t be one of those that cheat money and sex… What’s the name of the team?”
“I’m not a child!” Nuo said angrily. “Our mercenary group is called ‘Azure Longsword,’ do you even know it?”
“No.” Capasirin said, “Instead of joining such an unknown small mercenary group, I might as well arrange it for you. I know the leader of the Iron Cross Mercenary Group in the Holy Roman Empire, I can ask them to recruit you!”
“Sister, I joined the mercenary group because I want to become an extraordinary being, not to travel and find bodyguards, or to have a bunch of people running around to serve me.” Nuo said bluntly. “Instead of worrying about your sister, you might as well think about getting married soon! Bye.”
“You…” Capasirin’s angry voice sounded, and then the phone was hung up. Nuo stomped her foot irritably and came back with a grumpy expression.
“Okay.” Asker nodded. “Everyone, pay attention, put your phones on airplane mode…”
“Sorry.” Medea took out her vibrating phone. “I have a call to answer too.”
“Hurry up and come back.” Asker’s face darkened.
Medea stood where she was, glanced at the number, answered the phone, and said directly:
“I quit, I resign.”
“Don’t you understand what resignation means? It means I’m done playing with you guys!”
“Treason? Yes, I’m betraying you, come and bite me if you dare!”
She hung up the phone fiercely, dragged the entire address book into the blacklist, and then directly turned off the phone. Looking up, she saw the others staring at her in astonishment.
“Miss Medea…” Eleanor opened her mouth.
“Don’t ask.” Medea said impatiently. “Personal matters, not convenient to talk about.”
“Okay.” Asker waved his hand. “Have the rest of you turned off your phones? Let’s go!”
The team set off again and soon found a clearing in the forest, where three Dream Eaters were wandering.
Out of the desire deep in their spirituality, extraordinary creatures would often actively attack extraordinary people. These Dream Eaters obviously hadn’t found everyone’s presence yet. Eleanor stared at them and asked in the mental channel:
“Do we go around, or take them down?”
“Take them down.” Asker replied, “They are all experience points. Peggy, go around and wait first, see that big rock over there? Jump off the rock and launch a surprise attack. At the same time, Eleanor, charge forward with your shield, I will support you from the side. Medea, maintain the mental suggestion, Nuo, you follow Medea.”
“Understood.” The girls replied in unison.
Peggy quickly completed the flanking maneuver and said so in the channel, so Eleanor took the lead and charged out of the forest with her shield.
Opening move: Shield Bash.
The classic centurion tactic of ancient Solomon was to charge and hit with the shield, then stab the enemy’s abdomen with a short sword. In the knight tactics of the Holy Solomon Empire that had been passed down to this day, the short sword was replaced with a spear, called “Drachenlanze” (Dragon Spear).
Eleanor first slammed into the Dream Eater on the far right with her shield during the full charge, sending it flying, and at the same time, she stabbed forward with the spear in her right hand, piercing the Dream Eater’s body in the air, and then slammed it hard on the ground.
The other two Dream Eaters were startled and turned around, at this time, a figure jumped down from the big rock behind them. Peggy raised her short sword in the air, stabbed downwards in a graceful diving posture, and pinned a Dream Eater to the ground with the help of gravity. After landing, she rolled quickly and instantly disappeared into the grass behind the tree.
With a clang, the long mouth of the other Dream Eater suddenly popped out and hit Eleanor’s shield. The latter immediately deflected the force by tilting the shield, deflecting the Dream Eater’s long mouth to the side.
Asker fired continuously from the side, chasing after the Dream Eater that had fallen to the ground at first. The Dream Eater rolled left and right on the ground in a panic, but was still hit by bullets continuously. Coupled with the wound on its abdomen that was constantly bleeding, it soon collapsed to the ground exhausted.
The last remaining Dream Eater turned around and tried to flee. Asker and Eleanor charged forward at the same time, one with a sword and the other with a spear, blocking its escape route from left and right. With a flurry of slashes, they killed the Dream Eater on the spot, then turned around and finished off the remaining two Dream Eaters with low HP.
“Review?” While Peggy was collecting materials over there, Eleanor asked. She liked this kind of post-battle analysis and review session very much, which could help her quickly find her own shortcomings.
“Hmm.” Asker said, “Who taught you that Dragon Spear move?”
“My father.” Eleanor replied. “Is there a problem?”
“The movements are standard, and the rhythm is good.” Asker commented, “The only problem is, after piercing the target with the spear, why throw it to the ground instead of throwing it at other enemies?”
“You mean, use it as a temporary weapon?” Eleanor said thoughtfully.
“Dragon Spear is not just an attack skill, it is also a grappling skill. In the professional circle, control skills are often much more valuable than attack skills.” Asker said, “Imagine, now you are standing in a narrow environment, facing two enemies at the same time. You must quickly break through one first to avoid the danger of being attacked from both sides. Should you risk your firepower to kill one of them? Or should you prioritize controlling one and then take the opportunity to kill the other?”
“I understand.” Eleanor said, as if a new world had opened up to her. “I first use Dragon Spear to pick up one, and then throw it at the other enemy. If the other party dodges, I can pursue; if the other party is knocked down, I can take the opportunity to use the spear to string the two together.”
“That’s almost what I mean.” Asker said, “If we go deeper, it will be two different fighting styles. The former emphasizes the suppression of combo flow, while the latter emphasizes the active creation of opportunities for a sure-kill flow, including the depth of the Dragon Spear piercing and the direction of throwing it out are different. But now let’s lay a good foundation. After this dungeon is over, I will give you targeted training.”
“Okay.” Eleanor nodded.
“Medea.” Asker turned his head. “Is the spiritual burden of maintaining communication heavy? Can you use the ability of Fire I to assist in output at the same time?”
“Because of a certain reason you know, my Fire I is a bit unstable.” Medea said after pondering for a moment. “If you want, I can try.”
After collecting the alchemy materials, everyone set off again, and along the way, they dealt with dozens of Dream Eaters one after another. This kind of extraordinary creature was originally a fragile assassin-type mob with low HP and defense. The only tricky extraordinary ability was invisibility. Once they encountered someone like Asker who could see through camouflage, it was almost effortless to fight them.
Soon, they pushed to the first boss.
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