BXBX NOVEL Chapter 236 Sparring With The Temple Knights (1)
The atmosphere inside the underground training field became tense and intimidating.
"Did I miss something?" Kayden, who quietly snuck in the training facility, whispered to the three men who were already spectating.
He was so engrossed with organizing the files for his research about the curse that he was not able to go early to witness Eli\'s first day of training.
"No, they were just about to start, the High Priest had just explained the mechanics of the sparring." Nathan answered softly.
They sat there nervously for they could already see that neither Keren nor Joab planned to go easy on Eli, who in their perspective was an inexperienced person in terms of combat.
"She needs this.." Leon tried to calm them down, he had known Eli longer than the rest.
She was tenacious to the point that she was hard on herself.
She will never let this time be wasted just because she wanted the other party to train her slowly. They were pressed for time, so she knew that there were no options but to take the harshest route.
"Everyone ready... Begin!!" The High Priests voice announced the battle to start.
Almost as soon as it started, Keren and Joab\'s figures disappeared in front of Eli, leaving only afterimages.
Without hesitation, Eli advanced forward to their position, arriving on the spot in front of the High Priest almost as soon as she saw the two disappear in her sight.
This is thanks to the shadow step she learned from the Blades!
The reason why she charged in front was because she was sure that the two would try to intimidate her on the first move.
The best way to do that was to attack head on. However, she did not hear nor feel any sign of trajectory coming towards her from the direction she was facing.
Her mind immediately concluded that the two would be attacking from her blindspot rather than straightforwardly. Thus, the safest spot is the area directly in front of her.
Boom!!!
The ground slightly shook as soon as the duo delivered their blow on the area where Eli was originally standing. Dust appeared everywhere, blurring the vision of everyone in the training ground.
It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what had happened as they saw that the ground where Eli was originally standing was now reduced to a small crater about a meter deep.
"Wheeew.. Young Eli, you are indeed not bad!" Joab whistled teasingly as he lifted his gigantic bronze war hammer without difficulty on his shoulder. He looked at Eli rather amazed.
"Indeed, I never thought that you would easily evade our attack.. This is a surprise!" Keren also swung her shining silver spear.
The two looked far from being the dignified and holy temple knights. As soon as the dust cleared, they looked like bandits who were ready to bully a weak passerby.
Eli on the other hand, didn\'t get complacent. The earthy scent of the dust around the area reminded her that she was not in her comfort zone.
Her eyes narrowed upon seeing the empty spot where she was standing earlier - if this was a real battle, she would have surely died on the spot if she was not able to dodge their first blow.
"Damn these two people! They really didn\'t hold back!" Nathan couldn\'t help but lose his cool when he saw the kind of attack that Eli managed to successfully evade.
"A ruthless attack indeed.." General Farauld mumbled.
His expression was rather calm yet his mind was already pleasantly surprised, not because of the attack, but because of the fact that Eli was already at a level where she could evade a heavy attack from two high ranking knights.
He couldn\'t help but throw a meaningful look at Leon not believing that Eli was able to achieve this level of combat skills in a short period of time.
Leon also felt the inquisitive look that was thrown by his teacher, he helplessly shook his head and said,
"Although I admit that I had my men train her according to the regime that I personally made, all you can see right now is the result of her ability to put hardwork and talents to her advantage."
"Mmm.. I am rather interested to hear that bit from you, Your Highness Third Prince.." The High Priest suddenly interjected as he magically appeared in front of them from being originally at the center of the training field.
But what can surprise the men in front of him? This skill was rather common in their caliber. So with a calm disposition, Leon turned to look at Eli who assumed a vigilant pose.
"Some of you may already know, but Eli\'s talent was not in researching new inventions. Her real talent is in music. She was able to produce music so skillfully that she charmed a rare mythical beast to volunteer as her contracted familiar.
With her level of skill in music, she could perfectly distinguish the slight difference in tone and pitch. Thus, making her sense of hearing become her greatest strength in this battle.
This was also one of the first components I focused on during the first part of her training.
My goal was to increase her synchronization rate with Baobao who had strong sense of smell and strong physical abilities, through their bond in music.
With the level of synchronization they have now, paired with her shadow step skills, Eli was able to immediately detect the movement of the enemy. Although this skill could be enhanced better if she was able to maximize her hearing abilities to the point where she could already hear her opponent\'s breathing or much better, their heartbeats."
The rest listened as most of them already know that Baobao was the contracted beast that Leon was talking about, but they never know the story on how he was contracted. This came as a surprise for all.
They discovered something new about Eli, all they knew was that she was intelligent. But they never thought that she was actually a musician.
"But her love of music was also the reason why I let her focus more on movement skills rather than hand to hand or armed combat.
My hope is that when all these chaos were settled down, Eli still had the ability to go back to the thing that she loves. To protect her hands, this is the least that I can do." Leon was purposely saying this matter for the High Priest to hear.
"I see.." The High Priest understood Leon\'s intention, casting him an assuring look. "I will take note of that. However, you must know that anything could happen in a real battle."
"Thank you, Esteemed High Priest. That to me is enough." Leon replied to the High Priest gratefully.
He knew that the High Priest had his own plans as to how he would make Eli strong enough to bear the responsibility of being the Empire\'s hope. But he still wanted to give his best to at least protect her passion in any way possible.
With the High Priest knowing the matter, he could modify his plans for Eli in a way that would not be detrimental to her needs.
Of course, the High Priest\'s words also meant that no matter how they protect Eli, there is no way they could determine the kind of dangers the future battles would bring.
"That being said, let\'s see what they will be doing next.." When the High Priest reminded them, Eli and the duo were already engaged in an intense chasing game.
Joab used the war hammer to execute his moves and he likes to strike it from above. Keren on the other hand was more flexible and likes to strike on a blind spot using the longer reach of her spear.
The two also proved to be extremely familiar with each other\'s fighting style as they seemed to be attacking simultaneously without the need to glance nor communicate with each other.
But despite this, Eli looked extremely calm as she tried to evade and dodge Joab\'s melee attacks while also looking out for Keren\'s sneaky and precise long ranged attacks.
The most surprising thing that made everyone in shock, including Joab and Keren, was that Eli would always position herself in the most awkward position that would make the duo\'s movements become entangled with each other.
Whenever the two charge, Eli would always maneuver or scoot on the side where Joab couldn\'t swing his hammer for fear of disrupting Keren\'s spear attack.
Sometimes, their weapons would clash against each other making their faces frown in annoyance.
It would always appear as if Eli was barely dodging them, however the spectators could already see that Eli had totally read them like a book. In a short time, Eli managed to figure out their attack patterns and battle habits.
Eli looked like a slippery eel, repeatedly escaping within Keren and Joab\'s grasp.
The High Priest, chuckled in amusement upon realizing the fact.
In truth he didn\'t have much expectations on Eli\'s combat skills, but she was able to exceed his expectations.
"Not bad, not bad! Now it\'s time for you two to stop playing around.. You already wasted two minutes of my time!" He shouted sternly at the duo who were engaged in the battle with Eli.