CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER 182: THE FUNCTION OF WAR PATTERNS_2

CLANG!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out as the axe blade swinging down was blocked by a Longsword that suddenly appeared in Lance’s hand.

"You want to fight..." Lance said, raising the dented Longsword, which looked as ragged as a piece of scrap iron, toward the wilderness, "I’ll indulge you~"

With that, he ran into the wilderness. Boudica didn’t hesitate to follow, swinging her War Halberd, determined to see blood spilled before ceasing her assault.

Lance also let go of all reservations and went head-to-head with Boudica. After all, as long as he didn’t kill her, he could still save her.

He had been bottling up frustration for days and now had an outlet for his aggression. He was not about to hold back. But he had not gone mad; on the contrary, since the last close call fighting with his bare hands, he had become even more cautious.

His Longsword was shorter compared to the War Halberd. To be effective, he had to close in. Otherwise, if they fought at a distance, she could better utilize her weapon’s advantage, leaving him on the defensive. Unable to attack, he would struggle to seize the initiative and might fall into her combat rhythm.

He wasn’t an old soldier like Balistan, skilled in defense, and he didn’t have a Shield, so attacking was his only option.

Charging forward with his Longsword, Lance had no intention of letting Boudica maintain distance. He stuck to her like a persistent plaster, entangling her with his sword strikes, forcing her into his own rhythm, thereby draining her stamina.

Truth be told, the difference in his combat ability with and without a weapon was significant because he had never learned hand-to-hand combat, only weapon-based fighting with mastery of various cold weapons. In a fight against a weapon-wielding Boudica with his hands alone, Lance might lose, but when both were armed, he did not fear her in the slightest.

While he might lag slightly in skill, his fundamentals were exceptionally solid—quicker reactions, greater strength, and more enduring stamina.

Boudica’s prolonged life-and-death training fell short of his swiftly bestowed "Bless" enhancement; some gaps could not be bridged by effort alone.

During their previous unarmed sparring, Boudica had detected some issues Lance had with fighting, and although she lost, it was due to the disparity in strength. She had thought that wielding a weapon would help narrow this gap.

But now, she realized a terrifying fact: she was on the losing side, struggling to defend herself against his unrelenting advances.

At this moment, she felt that her weapon did not give her much of an advantage and, in fact, constrained her.

Having been through many battles, she knew what was happening but found it difficult to break free. She had to defend against every one of his strikes with all her might, while her attempts to counterattack were consistently interrupted.

However, she was no ordinary person; she was a warrior, one of the Barbarian Tribes bestowed with battle scars.

Warriors know no fear!

"WAAAGH! The Ancestral Spirit watches over me!" Boudica suddenly roared, a surge of inexplicable strength filling her body, her eyes turning a blood red as reason receded in her mind, and pure savagery took over.

What was once an unstoppable attack was now deflected with a raise of her hand, her War Halberd sweeping across and forcing Lance back.

All of a sudden, Lance’s attack became much more conservative. Surprisingly, he abandoned his offensive and shifted to a relatively defensive stance, his Longsword held in front of him, eyes locked on the frenzied Boudica.

Spiritual Essence—just then, the glow of Spiritual Essence burst forth from her, more accurately from the war paint on her face.

Through Spiritual Vision, Lance discovered this interesting phenomenon: the face paint was not merely decorative but had real effects. For example, now Boudica had entered an excited state free from exhaustion, with increased strength and reaction, and she ignored pain. However, her consciousness seemed unable to sustain this state, becoming uncontrollably manic and bloodthirsty. This state reminded him of his previous battle against the alpha wolf; indeed, the warriors of the Barbarian Tribes had some tricks up their sleeves to survive in the Misty Mountains.

Yet now, Lance was in no rush to attack; instead, he conjured a small round Shield in his left hand.

He had learned the use of Shields from Balistan but never had the chance to apply it. This was a good opportunity to practice and observe Boudica’s reaction.

He was extremely interested in these Supernatural Powers now~

As the War Halberd swung, Lance felt its dominating power upon contact with the Shield. The enormous force transmitted through it split the riveted metal surface, penetrating to the cushioning wood beneath. His steps involuntarily retreated to absorb the full impact, and he could not help but feel a sharp pain in his arm.

If that halberd strike had landed on a person, it would have cleaved them in two. Even this Shield would not withstand many such blows.

But that’s not how you use a Shield. The key is how to deflect force, how to guide an enemy’s weapon with the Shield, how to hide one’s body behind the Shield, how to target the enemy’s point of attack, thereby making all the enemy’s strikes land on the Shield’s surface... The use of a Shield involves much finesse, and under the half-lifetime of experience taught by Balistan, even someone as slow as Lance would learn something—not to mention he was far from slow, but rather quite intelligent.

In fact, he had intentionally withstood the earlier attack in its entirety to gauge Boudica’s current strength.

After getting a general idea of the situation, Lance didn’t continue to foolishly withstand blows. Instead, he started to utilize the techniques he had learned and began to use the Shield to control his enemy.

Having had numerous sparring sessions before, he had a solid foundation and quickly got into the zone, rendering Boudica’s attacks futile against his Shield.

"Coward!"

"You weakling!"

"Why don’t you dare fight me?"

Boudica’s limited vocabulary couldn’t support much taunting. Lance didn’t care about these outbursts. Interestingly, he noticed that when Boudica lost her temper, her accent actually became normal. What was the principle behind that? Does adrenaline surge make intelligence take the high ground?

However, before Lance could break her defense, Boudica’s own broke first, her physical strength slowly fading. If the fight dragged on, she would enter a state of weakness and wouldn’t even think of defeating him.

"ROAR!"

Boudica suddenly leaned forward and let out a roar that was unlike her usual intonation; it was more like she was imitating the call of some wild beast.

From Lance’s perspective, he saw the Spiritual Essence in the Void trembling, and the sound wave seemed to carry some force that impacted him.

And then... there was no "and then."

He could see the spiritual fluctuations caused by the alpha wolf’s roar even without Spiritual Vision. In contrast, Boudica’s roar was so subtle that one might not have noticed its spiritual effect without paying close attention.

Although the alpha wolf’s roar hadn’t been effective either, its presence at that moment was as oppressive as a boss transitioning into its Second Phase.

But Boudica’s roar seemed like a critically wounded beast’s forced intimidation, revealing even more of her weakness.

Yet, Lance’s pause to observe gave her the false hope that she had intimidated him. She immediately raised her War Halberd and leaped at Lance with a chopping strike, emitting a bizarre howl as if with this one blow she intended to finish him off completely.

Howl Finish!

She was confident that her all-out strike would cleave not only the Shield but the person hiding behind it as well.

As the Shield face met the axe blade, Lance turned the Shield to deflect the force along its curve, then exerted strength to direct the War Halberd that was chopping toward him into the ground.

Deflect and release!

The War Halberd struck the ground, making the earth tremble. But that was all; the generous mother earth could tolerate her children’s tantrums.

But Lance would not tolerate her provocation. He directly reached out and grabbed the handle of the War Halberd. As Boudica’s hands trembled from the recoil of her missed strike, Lance easily snatched the weapon from her grasp and casually tossed it aside.

"So, you’re ready to kiss my fist?"

Lance’s Shield disappeared from his hand; he flexed his fingers and then clenched them into a fist.

When Boudica came to her senses, all she saw was that fist, the size of a clay pot, growing larger.

The next second, intense, stinging pain shot through her nose, completely overwhelming her other senses and forcing out a pained grunt.

Staggering, she bled from her nose.

But Lance had no intention of letting her off so easily. Another round of aimless punches loomed over her once again.

Those who dared to challenge his authority were bound to pay the price~