Amos, surrounded by five Qimian Tribe members, didn't move quickly; in fact, his movements could be described as slow.
However, Gordon could tell that his slowness wasn't due to his own limitations but rather a deliberate slowing of his movements—he was imitating the "heaviness" of using a Great Sword.
Even so, Amos, facing the continuous attacks of the Qimian Tribe, still displayed a relaxed demeanor, as if he were in his element.
He could always avoid the Qimian Tribe's attacks at the last possible moment with minimal movement.
During this time, he even had the leisure to explain to Gordon and the others: "The Evasion Distance of a roll is longer, but the opening is also larger, so be careful when using it against small monsters or those with particularly agile movements.
In similar situations, cleverly utilizing footwork and slight sidesteps works better."
Hayata looked as if she understood, but Gordon, who knew the difficulty involved, didn't know how to react for a moment.
"Uh…"
His eyes understood, his brain understood, but his body didn't.
"The Great Sword is very slow to draw, and monsters won't stay put for you to hack at them." Amos continuously sidestepped to avoid the pincer attack from two Qimian Tribe members, then rested his Katana on his shoulder like a Great Sword.
This was the movement for a Charged Slash.
"So, what you need to do is predict!"
With that, Amos suddenly turned to the side and slowly brought his "Great Sword" down in a vertical slash.
Under the astonished gaze of Gordon and the other person, as Amos swung his sword, a Qimian Tribe member seemed to have been waiting to run into the blade, jumping precisely into the spot that was previously empty.
"Ga!?"
That Qimian Tribe member was clearly terrified as well; it only had time to let out a scream before it was split into two frost-covered corpses by the ice-blue blade of the White Monkey Tachi.
"An excellent Great Sword User can charge in a seemingly meaningless position, then wait for the monster to deliver its vital spot under their long-accumulated heavy blade, critically wounding the prey with one blow."
Swinging his long blade horizontally to force back the remaining Qimian Tribe members, Amos looked at Gordon, "Do you understand?"
Gordon secretly swallowed his saliva.
The technique Amos showed him was simple, in a way; it was nothing more than predicting the monster's movements in advance, but the problem was how to achieve such a level that was almost like foreseeing the future?
"Don't get caught up in 'how to do it,' and don't be overly ambitious and blindly imitate it; this is the result of countless battles and accumulated experience transforming qualitatively. For now, you only need to have this concept in mind."
As Amos explained, he repositioned himself, "Now, look at this."
With that, he slowly swung the Katana in his hand once more, "It's clear that you already have the basic concept of using inertia to increase the continuity of your Great Sword attacks.
But that's not enough; you need to learn to control inertia, bringing it completely under your command, instead of being rigidly pulled along by it."
Gordon strained his eyes, watching Amos first swing a sword into the air, then adjust and exert force bit by bit, from his feet and legs, up to his waist, back, shoulders, and finally his arms.
The blade, which seemed to have lost control, gradually returned to his command with his full body movements, finally arcing into a bizarre curve, precisely and elegantly slicing across the throat of a Qimian Tribe member.
The angle, force, and timing were all perfect.
"The Great Sword emphasizes power, but you can't completely abandon technique. Remember, control inertia, and don't let the weight of the Great Sword control you in turn."
The successive deaths of their companions made the remaining three Qimian Tribe members more cautious, and their attacks also slowed down.
Having achieved his teaching demonstration purpose, Amos also lost interest in continuing to deal with them. His footwork and sword movements suddenly accelerated, and several sharp, cold glints flashed and disappeared.
The three Qimian Tribe members almost simultaneously fell to the ground, turning into several frost-emitting corpses.
Gordon couldn't help but swallow his saliva again. Was this the strength of a high-ranking Taichi User?
"Don't forget, control inertia."
Amos casually shook the frozen blood off the White Monkey Tachi, sheathed his sword, and walked towards the two of them.
"Two more just showed up. These guys are yours; give it a try."
"Oh!"
Feeling that he had grasped something and itching for a fight, Gordon placed his hand on the hilt of the Great Sword on his shoulder and strode forward.
"Zhu Pa, you don't need to participate in the battle yet."
Zhu Pa, who was about to follow, stopped blankly, looking hesitantly at Amos, who had passed Gordon. Seeing the latter nod his chin, Zhu Pa, still a bit conflicted, could only scratch his whiskers and return to Hayata's side.
Facing the Qimian Tribe members that jumped out from the bushes and tree shadows, Gordon directly swung the Burst Blade horizontally, and as expected, it missed.
The agility of these little creatures was definitely among the best of all the monster types he had dealt with.
If he had followed his previous habit, after a horizontal slash missed, he would have released the excess inertia and smoothly transitioned to another sword stance.
But this time, he tried to lower his body, in a somewhat awkward posture, and continued to swing the Great Sword horizontally in a circle at about knee height, following the inertia.
This was an angle that could just reach the Qimian Tribe members.
Unfortunately, he missed again, and even stumbled due to the unreasonable movement, being pulled off balance by the somewhat out-of-control Burst Blade.
"Tsk, no, that's not right."
Gordon clicked his tongue, awkwardly rolling to dodge the Qimian Tribe's well-timed attacks and creating some distance.
"Is Brother Gordon okay?" Hayata, watching from afar, couldn't help but worry when she saw Gordon looking flustered.
Zhu Pa, standing beside her, was also worried.
It clutched the cat pickaxe in its small paw, ready to rush forward and help its master at any moment.
"Don't worry, don't worry, one must experience some danger to grow." Amos stopped Zhu Pa, "Two Qimian Tribe members won't do anything to him."
On the other side, the Qimian Tribe members became bolder when they saw that Gordon was not as difficult to deal with as they had expected.
Gordon dodged left and right, simultaneously experiencing and practicing the "small-scale evasion" Amos had mentioned, while also thinking about how to better utilize the Great Sword's inertia.
Perhaps like this?
Gordon swung another sword; the Qimian Tribe members chirped and jumped away, then leaped to attack again—after a brief exchange, they had discovered the Great Sword's weakness of long attack recovery.
But this time, Gordon neither continued to swing the sword to release inertia nor rolled to dodge the Attack Up; instead, following the pull of the Burst Blade's weight, he took a big step forward while crashing his body into the sword itself.
Iron Mountain Lean!
His shoulder guard and the sword surface met with a dull thud, and the thick blade of the Burst Blade was instantly imbued with new momentum, charging forward like a giant shield.
"Clang!"
The Qimian Tribe member attacking head-on, jumping into mid-air, happened to collide with the wide, hard blade of the Burst Blade. Under the violent impact, its mask, and even its bones, shattered in an instant.
At the same time, a strong gust of wind came from behind his ear; the other Qimian Tribe member, who had sneaked behind him, also seized the opportunity to attack.
Gordon bared his teeth, a hint of ferocity in his eyes beneath the blood-stained face guard.
He reached out and grabbed the leg of the half-dead Qimian Tribe member in front of him, who had been struck by the Great Sword's Iron Mountain Lean, and, like swinging a hammer, twisted his body and swung it towards the one behind him.
"Gaa gaa ya!"
Amidst the Qimian Tribe's screams and the sound of bones shattering, the battle abruptly ended.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
There should be... around 20+ advanced chapters?
[email protected]/Kazenova
If you guys wanna check it out.