The next day, there are more undercard matches between knights and competitors who didn’t make it to the main competition.
But despite them losing in the qualifiers, these people are strong. Even Siphon gives their moves a nod of approval.
Apparently they kept drinking even after I went back to my room last night, but he doesn’t look hungover.
I’m guessing once he gets permission from Yuno to drink, he’s careful not to upset her. I did see him hungover multiple times in Elesya.
“Oh, I fought that guy in the qualifiers. I thought he was good.”
The person Siphon is talking about puts up a good fight, but ends up being pushed back and defeated.”
“It was just a bad opponent. I think he got paired up with someone pretty high up there.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think, Ryuryu?”
“Yep. That guy’s one of our strong ones. Putting up a good fight against him means he’s also one to look out for.”
I knew he had good moves, but I can’t judge people that well. They’re just that better than me at this.
“Oh, it’s Geitz. He’s fighting a knight this time.”
I remember this knight from the mock battle with the beast king.
“A spear user…”
I look at Elsa and Alto, and see Kaede talking to them.
Shizune is looking at them like she wants in too.
“Does that play into Geitz’s advantage?”
“Why do you think so, Sora?”
“I don’t know a lot about spears, but when I think of them, I imagine people thrusting. I feel like it’d be easy to block with a shield.”
“That makes sense, but you can attack in other ways… Like sweeping. Having a long reach means it can target the legs too, so there’s more to deal with.”
I do feel like protecting your legs with the shield would be tough.
Geitz can do it with his enlarged magic shield, but it also blocks his view. I’ve seen him use it against monsters, but not in mock battles. But that’s because when he fights monsters, he’s on defense while his party attacks.
Once the match starts, Ida attacks mostly with sweeps and slashes.
Geitz is busy moving his shield up and down, and jumps to take distance when he sees he can’t block.
Ida moves at a frantic pace, never giving Geitz room to rest. He’s using those physical abilities characteristic of beast people to quickly move around and attack.
“That spear is special made. It has a nice flexible effect.”
“But doesn’t that mean it’s not suitable for thrusting?”
It does look bigger than the average spear.
“That’s why it’s special. Here he comes.”
Just as Siphon says, Ida sees Geitz’s balance is bad, and thrusts with his spear.
Geitz blocks with his shield, but can’t stop the momentum from blowing him back.
“It didn’t bend?”
“It might be a technique, but in any case, it’s a peculiarity of the spear. That’s why when it hits, it doesn’t bend, and gives that impact.”
Getiz’ balance had been thrown off, but it’s still something for him to be unable to block it completely.
“I see. So his opponent is trying to throw him off the ring.”
That attack threw Geitz into a corner of the ring, but that’s not unfair.
Those are the rules, and that’s how Geitz won the first match anyway. It’s just one of the options to defeat the opponent.
Ida doesn’t stop, pushing Geitz back bit by bit until he has nowhere to go.
Geitz loses his balance again, to a sweeping attack. He would normally jump back, but being unable to do so made him land in an awkward position.
“It’s over.”
Says Siphon, and he’s right.
Ida puts all of his strength into a thrust, sensing an opportunity, and Geitz enlarges his shield to block it.
The spear clashes with it, and Ida is blown back to the center of the ring.
…And he doesn’t get up, instead disappearing.
“Was that Reflection?”
It’s a Shield Master skill.
It reflects attacks, and its power increases proportionally with the power of the original attack. And the weight of the shield also matters.
“Yes, that was what Geitz was after. He purposefully got pushed to the corner, and invited an attack by losing his balance. It would’ve been tougher for Geitz if he didn’t thrust like that.”
As a result, Ida tried to blow Geitz back again with a big attack, and received a counterattack.
The crowd cheers at this unforeseen comeback, and Geitz is declared the winner of his second match.
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The person Siphon is talking about puts up a good fight, but ends up being pushed back and defeated.” -> The person Siphon is talking about puts up a good fight, but ends up being pushed back and defeated.
Thanks for the treat, and have a nice weekend.
Thanks for this weeks updates, & have a good weekend. 😎👍