Melvinger Knight Festival (2)

As George's great sword slashed through his opponent's shield, the thousands of spectator started to scream in excitement. Human could be perverse, and their thirst of blood was endless. What better to quench this thirst than watching a knight destroy another knight in such brutal manner?

"Victory goes to the GOLDEN LION KNIGHT!", the knight who oversaw the fight between George roared, which was followed by numerous clapping and screams.

After the first round ended, George returned to the knight lounge, and meditated.

Fighting against knights in duels such as this one was an invaluable source of information. George's interest in Melvinger City didn't just lie in its wealth, and the opportunity he would have by opening a business and interacting with the Billing Household. The City of Knight was the best place to train his knight skills.

[Data acquired...Similarity with the Jarash Kingdom Military Swordsmanship (Intermediate Level): 87%. The knight facing you seems to have embedded his own understanding of the sword into the military swordsmanship to better suit his unusually high vitality]

'As expected...This knight festival is a golden mine to improve my swordsmanship', George thought while smiling

[Jarash Kingdom Military Swordsmanship - Common Grade Knight-Level Swordsmanship

A style that focuses on balance between a cross sword and a shield. The Jarash Kingdom is famous for its infantry thanks to that military swordsmanship developped by Grand Knights in ancient times. Against enemies with weaker physical attributes, this military swordsmanship will show tremendous effectiveness. The bigger the difference, the more destructive this military swordsmanship will be]

After reaching the master swordsman realm, George was finding it hard to progress any further. Thanks to his biochip, he had already optimized the Lionheart Swordsmanship by erasing its flaws, and daily training in the past year had allowed him to engrave the movements in his brain, bones and flesh.

However, George was not satisfied with it. He knew that he could do better. The books mentioned that the reason lying behind the knights' inferiority to acolytes and magi was not inherent to the inferiority of the knight path. The true reason behind the lack of strong knights is the fact that the magi limited the information about knight advancement and knight progress.

In ancient times, it was even mentioned that noblemen and magi were on equal footing, proving the effectiveness of the knight path. After millenia, the magi had thoroughly dominated the world, though, and knights became subordinates to acolytes and magi in the end. But George was hell bent on reaching realms of ancient knights.

Every swordsmanship of knights possessed different essences, different parts that would serve as the skeleton of a new swordsmanship that George aimed at creating. A swordsmanship that would be created to suit his body, his style and his temperament the best. It would not be the best swordsmanship in the world, but the best swordsmanship for him.

George naturally looked at all the duels. Other knights thought that he was analysing their styles to prepare against them. But the truth of the matter is that George was merely absorbing their swordsmanship through observation alone.

Of course, even with the biochip, it was impossible to fully understand a swordsmanship just by watching it, but in the end, George did not aim at stealing the swordsmanship, but merely expand the data base so that he would be able to create the ultimate swordsmanship for himself.

As for losing against his opponents...

George was only wary of one opponent: Grik Al Brak Jakar. Unlike other knights, the black-coloured tribal man who lived in the desert was unbelievably strong, with physical attributes surpassing the standard elite knight. Besides that, he was wielding a spear and possessed seemingly limitless stamina that stemmed from a lifetime of hunting under harsh conditions.

As for the others, they could not hold a candle to George. Physically speaking, George was superior to most knights already. However, George's confidence stemmed from his swordsmanship mastery. Very few knights reached the sword expert realm. But George had already surpassed this realm. The gap in technique was not something that was easily crossed.

As the second round began, George decided to repeat his act.

In the second round, George was matched with a woman. It was rather unusual, for women were far scarcer in this sort of competition. Women possessed less strength than men biologically, and although they tended to be more precise and more accurate, the patriarchal traditions of most kingdoms made it hard for them to focus on knight training.

Unfortunately, her choice of weapons was flawed. Daggers might suit women better, as they would be able to maximize their rather high dexterity and flexibility. Unfortunately, it would force them to rely on dodging. And dodging a fast great sword wielded by a master swordsman was...impossible.

George was surprised because his first two swings were dodged by the woman, though. Nearly dodged, but dodged nevertheless. First, she rolled, and then, she jumped, actions that were unusual because...

A flying opponent possessed no footing to dodge a strike.

*SPLASH*

[You have successfully displayed [Optimized Lionheart Swordsmanship 13th Form - Horizontal Slash]. Completion Rate: 98%. You have successfully dealt 7 degrees of damage to your opponent]

George mercilessly disemboweled the woman. As blood splashed everywhere, the woman fainted on the spot. Whether she would survive...depended on her body's ability to handle the blood loss and the physician's skills.

The Melvinger Knight Festival was a very cruel arena. Those who weren't prepared to risk their lives had no rights to stand in it.

*CHEEEEEER*

This act of violence and raw brutality earned him the cheers of the crowd, that was more than happy to see him obliterate his opponent, and rise onto the next round.