Chapter 121 Ragnar's True Strength
The battle was chaotic, with a newly fallen warrior every second, with everyone fighting for their lives because this was a decisive battle. There was no room for mistake, as they had seen; even their Kings were not absolute. Kåre had nearly taken the life of Askild, but Ragnar Lothrok saved him.
Kåre was strong because of the weapon he used and not because of his skill set because Askild easily kept up with his supposed superior speed.
Asmund was a shell of himself, and Erik The Berserker had been defeated for the first time in this war by Kjell; Sven could see they were in a terrible situation.
He watched the arrow hit Signy's horse, he knew he needed to cut off the head, and the limbs would fall. Right now, Signy was that head.
Sven ran towards them, cutting everyone in his path as if they were no match for him, but Signy noticed his arrival and did not look remotely threatened despite the gap in their experience.
Signy quickly took his bow and arrow, the speed at which he equipped it was nothing short of spectacular, this was his default weapon, and he was a master in archery.
Signy let loose; his fingers looked elegant as the bow fired two arrows simultaneously.
Sven was surprised because he had only seen archers firing one arrow at a time, and this was his first time seeing two, both arrows aimed at his head and lower torso, respectively.
Sven could not crouch to dodge the one aimed at his head, or he would get hit by the one aimed at his lower torso.
Sven instead moved out of the way, but the moment he did, an arrow dug right into his right leg, an arrow he did not even see coming as Signy had let a third arrow loose a second after the two in the predicted path of Sven's evasion.
"W-What?" Sven thought. He mistook Signy as easy prey but Signy was far from easy, considering his skill set, but Sven knew once he got close enough Signy would not stand a chance.
"I can predict his movement. My arrows are shot in a way that only gives him a choice regarding evasion, his brain would always choose the path with the most chance of success, and in this case, it was his right." Signy told his father because he could by Asmund's face that he was surprised how he hit Sven so quickly.
The arrow in Sven's leg meant that his mobility and speed would be affected, just as Signy intended, making it even more difficult for him to avoid Signy's arrows.
"You punk!" Sven cussed out. This matchup was intriguing because Signy was in no way stronger than Sven, but he had the advantage regarding distance and intellect.
Asmund stood before his son, showing that Sven must go through him first.
"Asmund! You smell of death! Step aside, and I will make this painless for you both!" Sven warned him, but Asmund smiled.
"I am not fighting you alone…' Asmund said as Signy stood beside him.
Sven was surprised by this match-up. He knew individually they were no problem, Asmund looked like literal shit, but Signy was surprisingly formidable. He had to be wary of him.
Asmund charged toward him Sven, which allowed the distance between Sven and him to be maintained, Sven attempted to bifurcate him, but Asmund blocked it, and an arrow flew right past Asmund and straight at the head Sven.
This forced him to break the power tussle with Asmund and move to avoid the arrow. This created an opening for Asmund to knick right beneath his eye.
Sven was panting; this fighting method that Asmund and Signy used required complete trust in one another.
"Shit…" Sven muttered. What he thought would have been an easy kill had drawn him into a battle that might be his graveyard.
-
Kåre's attention turned to Ragnar, and there was no longer any point going easy on any of them, seeing as their plan had gone out the window.
"Ragnar Lothbrok, I did not want to kill you, but there has been a change in plans," Kåre said, tossing his broken crossbow as he grabbed his sword from its sheath and braced himself to fight Ragnar.
"You knew you could not win…." Ragnar muttered. Skarde had been fighting and noticed that their tactic was more of them delaying than killing.
"Were you waiting for backup? Judging from your earlier surprise, I would say no.." Ragnar spoke. Kåre kept quiet and allowed him to run his mouth.
"Come, try and take my head. I will show you why Ragnar still lives to this day," Ragnar warned, pointing his blade at Kåre.
Kåre did not hesitate to make the first move, appearing in front of Ragnar in the blink of an eye.
He dragged his blade along the ground, and Ragnar's attention was naturally drawn to it.
But that meant his attention was not focused on Kåre's other hand.
A weapon slipped from his sleeves and was thrown right at Ragnar's face but he could not get Ragnar with such petty skills.
Ragnar dodged it while simultaneously stepping on the flat surface of Kåre's sword to force it into the ground, eliminating the threat, and the commander of Kattegat slashed horizontally to counter attack.
Kåre dodged by ducking, he could not move backward due to the position Ragnar had forced his body to take. Ragnar displayed surreal dexterity because he suddenly redirected the momentum of the swing halfway, something that should not be possible, seeing the force he swung it with.
It stopped right above his head and instantaneously turned to a vertical slash.
Kåre looked up with surprise because there was no way for him to avoid this.
It followed the exact mechanics of a Brazilian kick but with a sword.
Ragnar damaged Kåre with his superior dexterity despite only using an arm to fight.
Everyone looked in surprise because Ragnar had not fought seriously in a very long time, and seeing him in his former glory was magnificent.
"Y-You landed a hit?" Kåre was in shock as a shallow cut appeared across his chest.