Chapter 7: Azure Dragon Rapid Assault
Asker swiftly jumped back, dodging the monster’s pincer attack, and explained to Eleanor:
“The essence of the spear and shield style lies in suppressing the enemy’s positioning.”
He thrust his spear consecutively. The monster opposite him wanted to advance and pursue but feared the continuous spear thrusts. It could only stay outside Asker’s attack range, screeching restlessly, its eyes fierce.
“The maximum range of a spear is about 2 meters (arm length + grip to spear tip length), while the shield is 0.7 meters (arm length). This means the maximum attack range of the spear and shield style is 2 meters.”
Asker jumped back again, demonstratively thrusting his spear, but missed because the distance was too great. “Beyond this distance, you must change your grip to adjust the attack range, but this will cause the weapon’s center of gravity to shift forward, making it harder to control. It’s generally not recommended.”
The monster couldn’t understand what he was saying. It seemed that after realizing it was a monster, it had completely lost its human reason, leaving only the desire to hunt and attack.
Unable to break through Asker’s defense, it turned its blood-red eyes towards Eleanor beside him. Just as it was about to pounce on her, Asker elegantly spun and swung his spear, an Iron Cutter sending the airborne monster flying.
“Generally speaking, the attack range of the spear and shield style has two layers. The optimal range for the spear is between 1.7 and 2 meters. If the monster gets closer than 1.7 meters, it means you won’t have time to extend your arm and exert force, the spear will hit the opponent prematurely, lacking sufficient power.”
“At this point, you either retreat to increase the distance, maintaining the distance between you and the enemy at 1.7-2 meters,” Asker said calmly, as the monster he had sent flying scrambled up and charged again, its limbs thrashing wildly.
“Or, you close the distance further until the opponent is within 0.7 meters. That’s your second attack range, the range for shield attacks.”
He suddenly swung his left shield forward, smashing it into the charging monster’s face. The monster, as if hitting a wall, was knocked back again.
“The optimal attack range for the shield is 0.3 meters to 0.7 meters.” Asker didn’t continue attacking but explained to Eleanor, “Remember, the purpose of the shield is not to cause damage, but to forcefully displace the enemy with impact, making them return to the spear’s attack range, and then cause damage with the spear, understand?”
“Understood.” Eleanor nodded seriously.
“Spear for damage, shield for displacement, this is the basic principle of the spear and shield style.” Asker said, casually swinging his spear a few times. “Next, let’s talk about specific techniques.”
“We’ve talked about the four spear techniques before: the controlling ‘Dragon Spear,’ the armor-piercing ‘Cloud Piercer,’ the knockback ‘Iron Cutter,’ and the defense-breaking ‘Spiral Thrust’.” Asker calmly listed the moves while demonstrating all four techniques on the monster, beating it until it howled miserably. The scene was brutal and unbearable to watch.
“Through appropriate adjustments, variations, and combinations of the four spear techniques, you can create combos with fewer weaknesses and greater power, which are the so-called advanced techniques.”
As Asker spoke, he used another Iron Cutter, sending the monster flying again. At the same time, the spear tip half-spun and vibrated slightly, drawing a sharp white arc on the ground:
“Watch carefully, this move is called ‘Azure Dragon Rapid Assault’.”
Azure Dragon Rapid Assault, one of the signature moves created and popularized in the professional circle, didn’t exist in the original “Iron and Fire” game world.
Of course, if it did exist, it wouldn’t be called such a chuuni name. With the NPC’s Western naming conventions, it might be called something like “Spear of Paulus Hector Meyer,” definitely something long and hard to remember.
Asker quickly stepped forward and thrust his spear swiftly at the monster that had just gotten up from the ground.
“Is that, Dragon Spear?” Eleanor watched his movements intently. “No, the angle of the lift is wrong!”
A normal Dragon Spear should lift the enemy with the spear tip and then spin horizontally to throw them.
However, Asker, after lifting the enemy with the Dragon Spear, didn’t choose to spin and swing his spear, but forcefully lifted his arm upwards, swinging the impaled monster in a large circle over his head and smashing it onto the ground!
The monster’s large body actually bounced after hitting the ground, showing how enormous the force of the impact was.
However, Eleanor quickly noticed that Asker had already lowered his body, bent one knee, and then thrust his spear upwards rapidly.
Cloud Piercer! And it was three consecutive Cloud Piercers!
Using the force generated from his lower body bouncing up, three incredibly destructive Cloud Piercers instantly pierced through the monster’s body. Before the latter could even scream, the force of the three Cloud Piercers sent it flying.
Asker finally retracted his spear, simultaneously rushing to its side. He pulled his right spear to his leftmost side, like a batter in a baseball game, ready to unleash his full power:
Iron Cutter!
The monster, thrown into the air, took the full brunt of the Iron Cutter and was mercilessly sent flying.
“Did you see that clearly?” Asker turned around and asked Eleanor.
“Yes.” Eleanor nodded. “First, Dragon Spear to slam the enemy onto the ground, then three consecutive Cloud Piercers, and finally Iron Cutter to send them flying, right?”
“Correct.” Asker replied. “Want to give it a try?”
“Okay.” Eleanor replied in a deep voice, picking up her spear and shield and walking towards the monster.
The opponent, having taken a full combo from Asker, could actually still stand up shakily. Its HP was truly astonishing. Eleanor quickly charged forward, first using an extremely fast Dragon Spear, hitting the monster’s shattered chest plate.
Then, swing the spear over her head and smash it towards the ground!
“No!” Eleanor pulled out her spear, quickly jumped back, dodging the opponent’s counterattack. “What happened?”
“When smashing towards the ground, why didn’t the spear come out?”
“Did you notice?” Asker leaned on his spear beside her and said calmly. “Due to the weapon’s length, before you could swing the enemy down from above, your spear tip would hit the ground first.”
“In this situation, how can you optimize it? Think about it.”
“I understand!” Eleanor recalled the previous scene again, suddenly remembering a crucial detail.
So she blocked the monster’s pincer attack with her shield, thrust her spear again with her right hand, and lifted the monster entirely.
Then, while swinging it around, she jumped upwards forcefully!
Because her body leaped into the air, increasing the distance from the ground, when the monster was smashed towards the ground, the spear tip had already been withdrawn from its body.
The monster, hit by the huge force, bounced into the air. Eleanor had already landed back on the ground, then lowered her body, bent her knees, and thrust her spear upwards fiercely and consecutively.
Triple Cloud Piercer!
The first Cloud Piercer made the opponent scream; the second drew a large amount of green blood; with the third, the monster convulsed on the spear for a moment, its head lolling lifelessly to the side, dead.
“Eh?” Eleanor was quite frustrated. I hadn’t even used the final move yet, how could you just die?
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