Chapter 41: The Eight Tactical Forms
“True war is impartial,” Asker said solemnly to the girls, his hand resting on his sword as he glanced around. “It doesn’t care if you’re a princess, a noble, or a commoner, a helpless woman or child, or a swordsman, gunman, or mage.”
“When you truly face war, in a narrow encounter, only the strong survive. If you’re not strong enough, you get killed, it’s that simple.”
“Medea and Nuo, your roles in the team are not close combat, but enemies in close combat won’t ignore you because of that, so you must also undergo training.”
“I don’t require you to master sophisticated swordsmanship, knife techniques, spear skills, or shield use, but you must know how to counterattack, defend, or dodge when facing various attacks, and engrave it into your bones.”
“Do you all understand? Any objections?” He shouted loudly at the end.
“No more.” The girls replied sparsely.
“Good.” Asker clapped his hands, and Peggy brought a bundle of iron swords, throwing them on the ground in the center for everyone to pick up.
“Weapons in this world are divided into many types. Taking close-combat melee weapons as an example, the common ones are swords, knives, spears, battle axes, maces, daggers, and so on. Among them, knives, battle axes, and maces are good for slashing, while spears and daggers are good for thrusting.”
“Only the sword can both thrust and slash, and can be considered a versatile weapon, so we will start by familiarizing ourselves with the sword.”
Asker picked up a sword, and knowledge from Sharp Weapon I immediately poured into his mind.
He casually swung it a few times and commented: “This is a Spatha sword popular in the early Fourth Epoch. The shape is quite primitive, with no crossguard, no fuller, and no pommel to adjust the center of gravity, but it’s enough to kill. Next, I will use it to explain and demonstrate.”
“First is the attack. Taking the sword as an example, there are swordsmanship, sword techniques, and sword forms. What’s the difference between the three? The difference is that swordsmanship is composed of a large number of sword techniques, while sword techniques are composed of two or three sword forms, and sword forms are the smallest unit of attack movements, which cannot be further divided.”
“Different countries on the continent today have developed different swordsmanship systems.”
“Generally speaking, Solomon swordsmanship is the most sophisticated and complex, advocating to defeat the opponent without injury; Frankish swordsmanship emphasizes simplicity and practicality, ending the battle as quickly as possible. As for northern swordsmanship, there’s nothing to say, it’s basically all about brute force, trading blows, and attacking head-on.”
“Hey!” Sidlipha shouted in dissatisfaction.
“Although the military strength of the Solomon Empire has declined to the bottom, I still want to start teaching you Solomon swordsmanship. The reason is simple, Frankish and northern swordsmanship, more or less, rely on physical qualities, and this tactical thinking is very unprofessional.”
“Remember, there will always be enemies with better physical qualities than you. We not only have to learn how to bully the weak with strength, but also learn how to defeat the strong with weakness. This is the original intention of inventing swordsmanship.”
So Sidlipha also shut up. Her long experience in the arena forced her to admit that Asker was right.
Northern swordsmanship was actually quite crude. As long as one’s physical strength and agility surpassed the opponent, they could basically win in a one-on-one gladiatorial fight. On the other hand, Solomon gladiators, who seemed weak and small, could occasionally make a surprising comeback.
“Emperor Leo VI of Solomon, more than 100 years ago, was a war scholar who had studied the fighting techniques popular among ordinary people and Transcendents for many years, and summarized 8 basic sword forms, known as the Eight Tactical Forms: Lion’s Fang, Left Lion’s Fang, Right Lion’s Fang, Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, Dragon Cut, Wing Beat, and Rapid Thrust.”
Asker paused here and said, “Now I need a sparring partner, who wants to volunteer?”
“Me, me, me!” Eleanor and Sidlipha hurriedly raised their hands. The former was for learning, the latter was for fighting.
“Eleanor, come here.” Asker effortlessly saw through the latter’s ill intentions and beckoned Eleanor to come forward. “Now I will demonstrate the attack, and you will be responsible for blocking.”
“Okay.” Eleanor said as she held the sword horizontally in front of her with both hands, assuming a blocking posture.
“First form, Lion’s Fang.” Asker held the sword with both hands, raised it high above his head, and then quickly slashed down towards Eleanor’s head.
With a clang, Eleanor blocked the blow. Asker’s sword pressed against hers, and he explained at the same time:
“Lion’s Fang, a straight slash from top to bottom, aiming at the head. Because the human skull is relatively hard, it’s easy to get stuck after cutting in, so Lion’s Fang is generally not used for killing, but to force the enemy to move and dodge.”
“If you are facing the enemy’s Lion’s Fang, I usually recommend dodging, not blocking, because the sword path of Lion’s Fang is from top to bottom, and the weight of the weapon itself adds extra force to the straight slash, so it’s more difficult to block than ordinary attacks.”
“For example, the Franks developed the Holy Roman military swordsmanship – Mountain Splitter – based on Lion’s Fang. They use a heavier two-handed greatsword, and use the power of their waist and abdomen when slashing. Watch my movements.”
Asker said as he raised the sword high above his head again, at the same time stretching his back, straightening his waist, and then slashing down forcefully, his entire upper body leaning forward abruptly.
The sword slammed heavily on Eleanor’s sword. The huge force made her stagger back a few steps before she barely managed to stabilize her body.
“Facing Mountain Splitter, blocking is a very dangerous move, because the slashing force is very strong, it’s very likely that even if you make a blocking movement, your weapon will be directly cut off, and you will be killed by a Splitting Slash, Cracking the Crown.” Asker said seriously.
“Based on Mountain Splitter, the northerners invented the Jump Slash sword technique, which is to jump into the air and use Mountain Splitter during the descent, thus adding the weight of the whole body to the slashing force, almost reaching the limit of lethality.”
“I’ll emphasize it again, if you’re not sure about facing this kind of attack, don’t block.”
“Hmm, hmm, hmm.” The girls nodded one after another, thinking of the generally burly physique of the northerners, they couldn’t help but feel a little afraid.
“The second and third forms are Left Lion’s Fang and Right Lion’s Fang respectively, which are more commonly used than Lion’s Fang.” Asker symbolically slashed at Eleanor’s block a few times with his sword.
“The difference from Lion’s Fang is that Lion’s Fang slashes straight at the head, while Left Lion’s Fang slashes diagonally from the upper left to the lower right, aiming at the enemy’s right shoulder. Similarly, Right Lion’s Fang slashes diagonally at the enemy’s left shoulder.”
“The purpose of slashing the shoulder is to disable the enemy’s arm. If the enemy is unarmored, then you can slash all the way from the shoulder to the waist, creating a huge wound on the enemy’s upper body.”
“Asker.” Eleanor, maintaining her blocking posture, asked, “Is there any difference in tactics between Left Lion’s Fang and Right Lion’s Fang? I mean, besides the difference in direction.”
“Good question.” Asker said, “The difference between left and right involves the issue of dominant hand. For example, if the enemy is right-handed, then the sword is usually hung on the left waist or carried on the right shoulder. If you attack with Right Lion’s Fang, then the opponent can easily block when drawing their sword, while Left Lion’s Fang is not so easy to block.”
The girls held their swords and compared each other, finding that it was indeed the case.
“The fourth, fifth, and sixth forms are Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, and Dragon Cut respectively.” Asker demonstrated horizontal slashes, and Eleanor steadily blocked with her sword vertically. “The difference is that Eagle Cut aims at the eyes, Tiger Cut aims at the neck to the chest, and Dragon Cut aims at the waist and abdomen.”
“In terms of lethality, Tiger Cut is greater than Dragon Cut, which is greater than Eagle Cut. The throat is the most fatal part, as long as it is cut open, it will definitely cause serious injury. Precisely because of this, the enemy will often focus on defending the neck, such as wearing a steel neck guard.”
“Dragon Cut is lower, it will cut open the abdomen, and even spill the internal organs, but it will not cause immediate suffocation and sudden death like Tiger Cut, which cuts open the trachea.”
“Eagle Cut aims at the eyes, its deterrent effect is greater than its lethality. Its usual function is to confuse the enemy’s vision and judgment. Of course, if it really hits, then the enemy is blind, which is no different from death on the battlefield.”
Nuo raised her hand and curiously asked a question unrelated to swordsmanship: “Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, Dragon Cut, these three sword forms are named after three animals, is there any special allusion in them?”
“No allusion.” Asker replied. “The eagle’s claws are small, so it can only grab the eyeballs. Tigers usually bite the necks of their prey. The dragon’s mouth is the biggest, so it can only bite people in half at the waist, that’s the idea.”
“The seventh form, Wing Beat, an upward slash with the sword.” Asker lowered his arm, his sword pointing straight at the ground, but he didn’t attack, just said, “Opposite to the sword path of Lion’s Fang, Wing Beat’s lethality is not great.”
“Its function is mainly for sneak attacks – because the tip of your sword is pointing straight at the ground, the opponent doesn’t know if you are going to attack. Wing Beat is generally used as the opening move for sneak attacks, attacking the enemy’s lower body, which is difficult to defend, such as Wing Beat followed by a thrust, stabbing the enemy’s ankle or calf.”
“Is the lower body more difficult to defend?” Peggy asked thoughtfully.
“Of course, the farther away from the eyes, the harder it is to see the details and intentions of the enemy’s attack.” Asker replied. “And attacks aimed at your lower body are naturally the farthest from your eyes.”
“The final eighth form, Rapid Thrust, is actually just a straight thrust.” Asker sheathed his sword. “This needs to be explained in detail. If the opponent is a lightly armored or unarmored enemy, then Rapid Thrust has the greatest lethality among the eight forms, much stronger than Lion’s Fang.”
“The reason is, first, the sword path of the thrust is very short, a short sword path means a fast attack; second, it creates a very deep wound.”
“Of course, there is no universal tactic. Heavily armored enemies are almost immune to thrusting attacks, and you can only use armor-piercing weapons such as battle axes or maces to smash them. There is one weapon that is an exception, and that is the spear.”
“Spears rarely have horizontal slashing movements. The only killing movement is thrusting, whether straight thrusting or diagonal thrusting, it’s all about the fastest and straightest path. Combined with the knight’s high-speed charge, the armor-piercing effect of the spear is also quite terrifying.” Asker turned to Eleanor and nodded. “As for spear techniques, I will train you separately later.”
“Okay.” Eleanor nodded.
“So the Eight Tactical Forms have all been explained.” Asker said finally, revealing his fangs as the “Captain.” “Now, everyone practice each of the Eight Tactical Forms a thousand times. For those whose movements are not standard, I will personally spar with them.”
“No way!” The girls cried out.
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