66 – Climbing-1
“Really, it’s unbelievable. You don’t have to wait long, do you?”
We won this time too. Gradually, even I thought, ‘Is this right?’ I had so many victories that I thought I was doing it.
My body hurt a little, but as experience accumulated, I got used to the wound.
Precisely, it is now possible to distinguish which level of wound is a truly dangerous level of wound.
The amount of blood seen on the surface did not change, but none of the wounds on my body were deep or threatening.
Anyway, it is a wound that will be fully healed once the sword fight is over. If so, wounds that can knock me down right away are more important than wounds that are generally considered dangerous.
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Of course, blood and pain flowing from small wounds would be a disadvantage in a long-term battle, but most of them could decide victory or defeat before that.
“Thank you.”
Dana’s red hair shone beautifully.
There were many of her, but in the end it was she who I saw most often.
I often did things like a lover, but just being together was helpful.
Her sword, which seemed invisible at first because it was so far away, began to become visible little by little.
“Efforts will pay off. You can think of it as fortunate.”
“Hmm…”
No matter how you think about it, my win rate was a bit strange. It was a story that was so good that I couldn’t even think of it.
Even against an enemy that I couldn’t defeat, I fought against it and was defeated.
“I don’t think they’re watching…”
Excessive doubt is a disease. No matter how I thought about it, it was right to see that I had become stronger.
However, I couldn’t figure out why it became stronger.
“Well, you’re basically an irregular.”
Even after listening to Dana’s explanation, I couldn’t understand it properly.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re a hard worker in your own way, right? You’re not slow to learn… To be honest, you’re talented.”
“But, even if that’s true, why come now…”
“As much as you’ve made an effort to learn ‘how to fight other gladiators’, others have to work hard to fight against you.”
“What is that again?”
“It’s good that you’re humble. The speed of your growth is, in fact… A genius that can’t be explained. I can’t understand how you lived your whole life without holding a sword.”
“…”
“Still, not right now. On the day this year ends, there are not one or two gladiators who will be able to ‘skill’ you in the Colosseum, but if you fight right now, you won’t be the strongest.”
“I know that.”
During training or sparring, I used to have a delusion that ‘Actually, I might have talent?’
However, the limits were also clear. In the first place, it was me who had just learned to fight. Apart from his talent, his limitations were clear.
“By the way, the secret to achieving good results beyond skill is… After all, it’s because you’re different from other gladiators.”
“A class?”
“Including that.”
It was an ambiguous word.
“You have the physique, you have the talent. If you simply judge by strength, there will be no one who can fight and defeat you except me and a few gladiators.”
“But, just that much?”
“You can’t see it as a huge strength. But, the problem is that you have to use a different strategy to respond.”
I listened to her in silence.
“Until now, I was able to defeat you just by doing what I did. There was no reason to prepare a special strategy tailored to your strength or stamina.”
“Right… Isn’t it?”
Every day was a dark history. Not only when he was fighting Marie, but also when he was fighting Florence and even Jerry, ‘Why did I fight like that?’ I had to go through the self-reproach.
Thinking positively was proof that I was growing up, but thinking about that wrong fight, I couldn’t just smile and move on.
I went through quite a few real battles. Of course, ‘You can’t fight like this!’ Data could be accumulated.
Fortunately, it was my tenacity. Even if one or two small mistakes did happen, it wasn’t enough to give up the fight right away.
By somehow strengthening his legs, holding on so that his posture would not be disturbed, and defending desperately so that the sword would not go into his throat, he was able to aim for the next opportunity.
“But, now it’s different. There were not a few strong gladiators, but it was common for those people to have serious problems with either physical strength or swordsmanship. And… There were even more serious problems.”
“Am I not having a problem too?”
Whether it was swordsmanship or physical strength, it wasn’t enough for me to be satisfied with.
I had gotten used to the weight of this useless armor to some extent, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed long-term battles.
If I move to a similar wound with a similar movement, I get tired first.
Swordsmanship was also not at a satisfactory level.
There were many times when I was perplexed by the creative swordsmanship of the opponents.
“That’s laughable enough. Usually, savages from out of town were said to have about four… Or slightly better physiques than you.”
Well, even in a world like this, there was no way there wouldn’t be such a woman.
“What happened to those people?
However, all the gladiators I saw were beautiful women with model bodies. If there was such a person, you should have seen his face at least once.
“…Most of them got kicked out. They got into too many accidents.”
“Aha.”
No matter how rough the job is, it is half the same as being a celebrity.
If there was a scandal, such as beating people in a bar, Daisy’s personality would not have tolerated it.
“Come to think of it, few gladiators with some experience know how to fight someone like you.”
“Is that so…”
“I don’t know if it’s next year, but at least until this year, it’ll be hard to find the right solution. Well, there might be gladiators who thought that far.”
“It’s inefficient…”
Gladiators also live their lives through research and effort.
However, fighting me in a way that worked for others was inefficient. It could be said that the scope of the test suddenly increased.
Besides, being defeated by me is not such a big loss.
If I put in a lot of effort to catch an irregular like me, I could have lost countless battles with someone other than myself.
This is not even a head test. It is a battle with the body.
Knowing with your head that ‘Evan won’t work with normal sword strikes, so you have to quickly adjust your stance instead of aiming for vital points, attacking, and then continuing with a series of attacks,’ is not that important.
You should get used to it at least a day or two in advance. Even a really talented gladiator couldn’t make a choice with his head in that urgent situation.
As a habit, step on the backstab after a successful attack, and do not aim for the naked body as if it were natural to show off your skills in actual combat.
“Coming to think of it, it seems like that…”
What I haven’t experienced until now is that my skills were lacking to the point that I couldn’t even utilize such common sense tricks.
“Then, will it break a lot from next year?”
Even if there is such an advantage, it will not last forever.
Right now it may be irregular, but eventually, as time goes on, a gladiator will come out who will find a way to deal with me, even if it takes time and effort.
“Not even that. Right now, considering the speed of your growth… After the other gladiators find a countermeasure, you’ll already be able to rise to a place where they can’t even see it.”
“I hope so.”
“Of course, I won’t watch it.”
She was right. The goal I set was too high to rest on my laurels.
All of my strengths she said were elements that would not work against Dana herself.
To begin with, his strength isn’t that far behind me.
I couldn’t get an advantage over her if her sword clashed against her sword without her special virtuosity, unless she fought purely force-for-force, like her arm wrestling or lifting a barbell.
Besides, the information about me is overwhelming.
Compared to other gladiators who only occasionally sparred with me or watched my training, she was always by my side from the first time I took up the sword.
She didn’t practice sparring very often, but it was she who taught her how to wield a sword.
My strengths and weaknesses are all clearly exposed.
“But… It’s visible.”
“Next year, maybe this year. I never imagined it would be this fast.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Soon. I’ll be waiting.”
When she first faced her with her sword, defeating her felt like a distant future. Fighting her squarely and winning felt like climbing a mountain so high you couldn’t even look up at her.
But not now. She was still up there, but if I bent her head as far as I could and looked up at her, she was at least in a position where I could see her.
“I see…”
However, I can’t say that her prediction was absolutely right.
Under the premise that this growth trend continues now, it must have been that it would take that much time for me to keep moving upwards without collapsing or collapsing once from exhaustion.
“Yes, look forward to it.”
Actually, winning or losing is not important.
The reason I decided to become her gladiator after mentioning her condition for the first time was that I didn’t mean to forcefully hug her when she refused.
Just show your sincerity. Just as she burns her money to show off her money, she goes all out on this to show off her care and love for her.
So, I couldn’t stop.
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