Chapter 551 - 69.Dark Crusade (3)

Cato Sicarius looked at the mortal standing across from him in bewilderment.

Although he didn't really want to do so, he had developed an almost instinctive sense of observation over the course of his long career as a Scout. This ability will make him always have a desire to analyze and practice anything in front of him.

Now, of course, it's no exception.

Sicarius quickly came to the conclusion of his loose stance and calloused hands: he was probably not a warrior at all, and that he might only be standing here because the veterans around him were joking on him

As for the calm on his face, Sicarius preferred to interpret it as a blank expression of utter bewilderment, which he had seen in many mortals who had seen Astarte, and this man was no exception.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh. However, at this moment, the door of the dueling cage was suddenly closed from the outside.

Sicarius looked back in astonishment to see his company commander, Idaios, retracting his right hand from the cage door.

"Be careful, Cato Sicarius." He admonished, and reached out to shake an iron bell beside him.

Even if he was just a scout, Sicarius knew that this meant that the battle had begun. The veterans gathered around the iron cage silently cast their gaze, making Sicarius feel a strange heat.

Now, even if he really didn't know anything about the current situation, he could sense something from other people's reactions.

Besides, even if it was really just a bad joke, it wouldn't have come to that point. Moreover, whether it is a company commander or a veteran, their attitude is very serious.

That is, they really thought that the mortal could match an Astarte in a narrow environment like a dueling cage.

Sicarius turned his head, frowned, and cautiously raised the sword in his hand. He still didn't think it was real, how could a mortal who had clearly not undergone any transformation be able to match the Emperor's Angel of Death?

A second later, he got the answer, which was two flashes of silver light that crossed each other.

They were so fast that Sicarius even thought they were faster than a bomb. He could capture the trajectory of the bomb in the air, and even predict where it would land, but not with these two swings.

They were just lights in his eyes, and even the voices didn't seem to exist. If he hadn't lifted his sword and subconsciously turned the blade sideways to block, I'm afraid he would have been stabbed through the throat by now.

His two hearts began to beat at breakneck speed, adrenaline began to secrete rapidly, and in an instant, Sicarius was in a state of concentrated combat.

His eyes were fixed on the retreating mortal, his gaze focused on his shoulder. As to who he really is, or rather, what he is, this kind of thing can be said later.

The priority now is to win this victory.

He decided to take the initiative.

Sicarius strode forward and struck a tentative stab, the blunt sword of perfect weight and balance stabbing towards the mortal's body.

Sicarius kept his hand and controlled the power. In the short block just now, he already had a rough estimate of this person's strength. He didn't want to hurt him, but the reality was what surprised him.

Because his stab was lightly destroyed by a short knife.

It was a delicate volley, and his opponent used a short knife to predict the way of training the sword in advance, and then swung the knife in advance, hitting the sword of the longsword just right, exerting a deflecting force

Sicarius clenched his hands sharply, and then he retrieved his sword. He looked at his opponent in shock, and there was a little bewilderment on his face.

"Let me give you a formal introduction, then, Sicarius." His company commander chuckled outside the dueling cage. "This is the instructor of the Eighth Legion, Carlil Lohars."

"Legion?!"

"Yes, Legion." Idaios said. "Alright, now hurry up and win against him, or you'll have to be punished on your first day in the company."

Sicarius spat out a phrase in the local dialect of Thalassa, which meant disbelief. His muscles tensed, his expression a mixture of shock and disbelief, and his taciturn opponent finally spoke.

He still just stood there, his hands down, and the two knives in his hands were clearly raised.

"Company Commander Idaios is joking with you, Sergeant Sicarius. There's no punishment or anything like that in this fight, in fact, you don't even have to be involved in this fight in the first place. ”

He raised his left hand, pointed at the audience with the blade of his sword instead of his fingers, and pointed out a veteran wearing a training shirt and holding his hands.

"The next person to fight me should be this Everedo brother, and it was Company Commander Idaios who let you in."

"You hear it all." Everedo, who had been named, nodded at Sicarius without being salty. "So try to play nicely, recruit, or I'll really give you a little punishment."

Sicarius looked at him, then at his opponent, took a deep breath, and finally threw his question out.

"Are there any rules for this fight?"

"Very sharp, non-commissioned officer, you have grasped the point that you need to be most concerned about right now. However, the rules are actually very simple, if you can hit me once in five minutes, you win. ”

His opponent replied with a smile and gently raised his hands.

"Then - the battle officially began. From now on, I will only use the same power as you. ”

He was right, and when he took the initiative again and rushed towards Sicarius, his movements were no longer so fast. Sicarius still did not dare to take it lightly, and did not even regard the conditions of victory as an insult.

He put aside a series of doubts for a moment and began to concentrate on the fight—a skill he had, and that concentration was what he was so rewarded for his Scout training.

In a time that could hardly be called time, Sicarius' mind began to analyze the situation.

He realized that from the two encounters he had just faced, it was clear that his opponent had more combat experience than he did. And he himself has an advantage that cannot be erased - that is, the length of the weapon.

His opponent's weapons are two short knives, which means that if he wants to hurt Sicarius, he will have to find a way to get close.

In fact, he is doing it now.

He was dancing lightly around Sicarius, his dagger held to his chest, and from time to time he would tentatively stab or swing it, as if to lure Sicarius with his sword, and the young non-commissioned officer repeatedly warned himself not to be fooled.

Cautiously and sensibly, he moved slowly through the dueling cage, keeping the tip of his sword on his opponent.

This caution caused the veterans in the audience to make a slight noise, and it also made Idaios's face smile.

However, the smile quickly faded from his face. He stretched out his hands, grabbed the cage's bars, and began to shake and urge.

"Attack, Sicarius! I order you to attack! ”

"Can't do it, sir!" Sicarius didn't look at him, shouting in reply. "My opponent is very strong, I have to play a defensive counter-attack strategy!"

His opponent laughed.

"It's not a good thing to talk about your tactics rashly, brother non-commissioned officer." He said mildly.

The next moment, a short knife was thrown out by him.

The throw was uninspiring, and it was abrupt to the extreme. Although it wasn't too fast, it still made Sicarius's hair stand on end.

He subconsciously tried to close his sword to block, but at the last minute he dismissed the urge and dodged the dangerous throw with a simple move.

The short knife slammed against the railing of the iron cage with a crisp metal crashing sound. At this moment, his opponent also crept in, running almost to the ground, holding his knife and charging straight towards Sicarius.

The distance between the two had been narrowed to a few steps in the successive temptations just now, and now there was no need to say more. In an instant, a flash of silver light pierced through the sword's defenses and reached Sicarius' throat, causing a wave of pain.

The young non-commissioned officer took a step back in frustration and pursed his lips - he had already calculated that the throw was a false move, and he had already prepared for it, and he wanted to meet the onslaught with his sword, but he was still a chess piece.

His sword was subconsciously defended at the last moment, instead of slashing out at its original angle. If he can cut this sword out, then, at the very least, it will be a situation of killing each other.

He lowered his sword, the bell rang again, and the cage door was opened. Sicarius walked out silently, the blood that had been almost boiling just now had now completely cooled.

He kept the reason for this defeat firmly in his heart, but he still couldn't avoid the urging of curiosity, and asked a question to the company commander who was close at hand and opened the cage door for him with his own hands.

"Sir, you just mentioned the Legion?"

Idaios showed an ambiguous smile: "Huh? Have it? ”

"I'm sure I heard it right"

"You heard it right." Another voice said, it was the voice of his opponent.

Sicarius looked back and saw him magically disappear the knives into his sleeves. At this moment, he no longer looked like a threat.

Sicarius was sure that even if he was wearing a helmet and letting the tactical eyepiece analyze the man, he would probably only get a 'harmless' hint.

"But—" Sicarius frowned. "-You're just, mortal?"

The more he talked, the more ridiculous his conclusion became, what mortal could defeat an Astarte in a cage with a near-crushing attitude?

Not to mention what was revealed between the three words before. Sicarius knew that there had been many similar battles long before he arrived.

In other words, this so-called mortal has been fighting in the cage for many games, and the opponent he is facing is not a recruit like him who has just been selected into the company. He was dealing with real veterans in the Fourth Company.

"I'm glad you can say that." Carlil said with a smile as he lay on the edge of the cage. "But, to be honest, Commander Idaios, you shouldn't have pushed a new recruit who was recovering from a serious injury in front of me."

"yes." Veteran Edovi grunted from the side. "That's right"

He gets a glare from Idaios.

"It's not a big deal to recover from a serious injury, Instructor Carlil. Long before I started, I knew Cato Sicarius was ready. And his performance inside the dueling cage just now proves what I think, doesn't it? ”

Carlil nodded, and the veterans of the Fourth Company listened intently to their company commander's words.

"Although he didn't win, he showed several rare qualities. In my opinion, these qualities are things that some brothers who have been fighting for more than ten years have not learned. ”

For example, he does not take the enemy lightly, and he can keep his sanity and continue to analyze the situation after receiving shocking news in battle. The most important point is that he does not blindly follow the orders of his superiors or superiors like everyone else. ”

"Cato Sicarius has his own set of views on the combat situation. While the strategy of defending the counter-attack turned out to be wrong, these mistakes could be corrected through training. In other words, I think—"

Idaios turned his head to look at the bewildered and stiff Sicarius, smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"—he is fully qualified to join the Fourth Company."

The recruit's face flushed, barely holding back his expression, trying to hide his emotions at the moment. He's tried hard, but he still can't help but smile a little more obviously.

Idaios laughed and pushed him into the old soldiers, and they began to introduce themselves to him, as well as comment on his performance and tactics, and the misacceptance was easily accomplished, but Idaios was not involved.

He stood there and glanced back at the man in the dueling cage. The latter's expression was incomprehensible to him, the calm was as endless as the sea, but Idaios was still willing to imagine some images.

Hundreds of years ago, in the days when the Warband was still only a legion, how would this instructor, who was personally recognized by Robert Killiman, teach the children of the night of the Eighth Legion?

He used his imagination as a servo skull floated out of the pipe on the ceiling, a convenient passage for them.

The silver, aquila and laurel skull swayed to Idaios, issuing an order, or summons, in a cold synthesized voice.

"Please go to the Primordial Executive Yuan, Company Commander Idaios."

"I see."

It responded, but instead of just leaving, it floated to the edge of the cage again, and the synth sound sounded again.

"Please go to the Primordial Executive Yuan, Instructor Carlile."

(End of chapter)