Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 57: No Different from a Gorilla

Handgelenk Ziel (Wrist Target). It was a readjustment of the secret technique False Attack for shortsword use. It could be called a kind of arrangement, but a knight who knew Eine Angriff would shout "What nonsense!" and say it was a completely different secret technique.

Rowan’s shadow battles, whose imagination wasn’t from this era, held tremendous value to that degree.

If he raised his reputation fairly high, he could earn money even in old age as an instructor in a territory. He could guarantee a future receiving one gold coin as annual salary. Rowan’s imagination was that excellent.

Using a secret technique for hunting medium-to-large monsters on an orc was fairly funny, but Rowan thought it posed no particular problem.

The twin axes being swung had precisely the mystery of misalignment. Content he’d heard from Rakson. Rakson, who had fairly strong ambition for success, had come to Black Mountain Village with as many as ten criminal serfs when he retired.

It was tremendous, beyond abundant, for what a soldier who’d started from the bottom had achieved.

Even in modern times, few people commanded ten people like slaves. In that sense, Rakson was literally no different from having grasped a handful of dirt, changed it to gold, and retired.

Rowan’s social skills—making dinner fairly harmonious while smiling outwardly, generously giving copper coins, goods, and labor to a successful retired veteran without haggling—had let him receive most of Rakson’s knowledge.

One part was combat technique knowledge, the fundamental movements and principles of armed conflict. Another was secret techniques, those closely-guarded moves passed down from master to student. And yet another was practical know-how, the dirty tricks and survival skills that no manual ever recorded.

’The mystery of misalignment.’

Attacks executed from different directions, different heights. Something anyone handling dual weapons should be able to do. While Rakson had clumsily shown both theory and practice, for Rowan who’d sweated to grasp what it was while others yawned during sunny lunchtimes, it wasn’t familiar to the eyes but was familiar to the body.

’Blocking is important.’

He stepped back from offense and immediately entered defense. He skillfully blocked with shield and shortsword. Then he stepped forward again. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

’Huh?’

When Rowan stepped forward, Brother Amantous stepped back and swung his axe. This time he aimed at the shield. Rowan bent his forearm and pulled back his shield. Naturally his vision became more obscured, and he hesitated about approaching.

As his body moved forward in careful increments, the shortsword moved here and there through the air, probing, testing, creating false openings. Orc warrior Amantous’s eyes went to the sword then returned to Rowan’s body center, recognizing the feint for what it was.

’He’s become passive after seeing the poison.’

A problem. For an orc wearing light armor, poison was fatal. That was what Rowan had hoped for too, but the situation was subtle.

The orc who should charge wasn’t charging, and because it didn’t become a fierce fight, definite strikes weren’t being exchanged between them. Only fighting at the engagement range of their respective weapons occurred.

Naturally there was no way Rowan would lose at that engagement fight, and no way Brother Amantous would be pushed back.

Rowan had swung swords while doing this and that since childhood and received teachings from Rakson. The level of a retired veteran who’d been through thick and thin was at least average. And Rowan was an excellent student.

Brother Donetous, who’d become a Hydra Slayer by chance and earned the Hydra’s Tattoo, and Brother Amantous, who’d trained with him since childhood, practiced while trying to follow everything he did to the end.

The two called each other by childhood names because they’d left the tribe on their own before receiving names in the orc tribe. In such a barren environment, orcs became more vicious.

No ordinary fellows.

The disadvantage in a drawn-out fight was Rowan’s. Because Rowan couldn’t trust the mercenaries, while Brother Amantous trusted his brother.

That difference made Rowan act aggressively. He rushed in boldly with his shield forward.

"RAPAAAAAAAGH!!!!!"

Amantous’s axe struck the shield fiercely while he shouted an unknown word loudly. Rowan’s heart sank at the feeling of his wrist tearing. It was tremendous strength. The force transmitted through the shield was incredibly powerful.

Even being big had its limits in normal circumstances. Just like you couldn’t compare a gorilla’s grip strength to a human’s even with the same build, the fundamental difference in muscle density and structure, the strength shown was tremendous for his physique, suggesting supernatural enhancement.

When the shield was pushed aside by the overwhelming force, Rowan placed his shortsword low, dropping it beneath the orc’s natural sight line. Brother Amantous, with his large physique towering over the human, couldn’t close in despite seizing the opportunity, despite having forced an opening.

Like before, he was sensitive about poison.

’A knight?’

Brother Amantous’s eyes narrowed. Lowering the shortsword to the bottom. That was enough to remind him of the human knight’s secret technique he’d heard countless times in the orc tribe: the trap that catches the green wave (mus yos hav zoov).

Also called the cunning snake’s movements targeting strong orcs, it was already a well-known human knight’s secret technique among orcs. But because each knight used an arranged version of the secret technique, it was hard to counter.

’But he doesn’t look like a knight.’

Human knights wore full plate armor and showed not one bit of skin. Rowan wasn’t dressed as a knight. Not one piece of silk with the family crest that knights couldn’t give up—even though it was so visible in forests—was on display.

Rowan had just hastily placed the shortsword at the bottom, farthest from the orc’s field of vision. He quickly pulled back his shield to solidify his defense.

’No different from a gorilla wielding weapons. I need to be cautious.’

Rowan caught his breath. This time too, Rowan charged first. The orc was passive, and he knew he was a skilled warrior who couldn’t decide the match at engagement range. Still, he charged because unlike the mercenaries who knew about orc warriors, Rowan was ignorant.