Chapter 1063: Chapter 1062: Double Or Nothing (3)
Chapter 1063: Chapter 1062: Double Or Nothing (3)
Chapter 1063: Chapter 1062: Double Or Nothing (3)
Three rapid slashes rained down on Batu, each strike of the guard's shamshir crashing down on Batu's lance as the man used the thick weapon to block each attack, his shield hanging uselessly by his side as he protected himself from the relentless barrage of slashes, each one batting the lance down somewhat and bringing the curved blade closer to his face.
Meanwhile, behind him, the two guards regained their footing and rushed back towards him, pincering him between the powerful and agile shamshir and their scimitars, which were once more clad in flames as they lunged forwards, aiming to end this battle as rapidly as they could.
"How will he get out of this, I wonder..."
Jahi's mutter was exactly what we were all thinking as we leaned forwards, frowning slightly at how he had been so efficiently and easily trapped by the guards; with his lance being locked in place now as the shamshir ground against it from above - the weight of its wielder keeping his lance in place - and two deadly killers closing in from behind, it was hard to imagine a way that he might come out of this unscathed.
He was unable to raise his boot to stomp, since that would lessen his strength and make it almost guaranteed that that shamshir would bore down on him and press him against the ground, which made us all curious on what he could do, what tricks he had remaining... or if he had just been too confident and had just cost us some money with his arrogance.
Batu tilted the lance and slightly put that guard off balance, lessening the pressure on his primary arm and allowing him to turn himself slightly as he raised his scorched stone shield, blocking the twin cuts that had threatened to cut his back into ribbons and trapping himself between the three, locked in a very deadly stance as he blocked all three attacks at once.
I narrowed my eyes as I leaned even closer, staring at him closely as I watched him use every ounce of his strength to lock these three into a stalemate, but what had really caught my eye was the way he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with oxygen before tilting his head back slightly to reveal his throat, which had previously been shrouded in shadow and covered by his armor.
Inked into that tender, delicate flesh was a Ritual Circle, and I felt slight surprise course through my veins as I realized what he was going to do, a unique method to achieve a similar result that I was all too familiar with amusing me greatly.
The first scimitar wielder fell after they unluckily got smacked in the temple with a chunk of rock, their blade blocking the view of the shrapnel and leaving them unguarded for that, knocking them out and turning this into a one versus one, the odds of the match shocking the audience a little as they witnessed a very rare occurrence of the house potentially losing. Batu began to show off as he played with the guard, making use of his shield more often now as he parried the guard's scimitar, creating openings that he never capitalized on, like he was a teacher showcasing how easily they could defeat their student as he guided the guard to improve, which incensed them somewhat as they fought with some more vigor than before. The problem I always had with showboating like this was made obvious as the shamshir guard groggily stood up, clasping their ribs and letting a vial drop softly into the sand, their injuries getting healed by a potion as they stared at the Wekalian from behind, doing their best to mask their presence as they slowly grabbed their weapon and began to advance.
The crowd of course was of no aid to the poor guard, their gasps and murmuring alerting Batu to something being off, so upon his next parry he whacked the guard with his lance before spinning around and swinging his weapon blindly to start, all while his boot lifted off the sand and prepared to summon more spikes to defend himself.
As the second scimitar guard dropped to the ground unconscious as well, the shamshir wielding guard was once again battered down to the sands as the lance struck a grazing blow on their upper thigh, taking them off balance and sadly making their return to the battle very
short lived.
"That was..."
"I imagine blue balls feels like this; I think that's one of the few times I am actually irritated watching a fight. Batu would have lost that if it wasn't for the crowd being a bunch of
pansies!"
Anput's hiss was something we could all agree on, even Leone, who tended to be rather neutral in terms of fighting; it felt so... wrong, to see Batu win in this way, but I just let out a sigh and looked towards Cyra, who was staring blankly at the arena, likely hoping that she wasn't going to be held responsible for us winning so much money.
After all, I just made myself 180 Gold - 45 placed on him initially with 2-1 odds, earning me 90 Gold with his first win, and now with this second win... that was doubled again, so I made a rather large amount of money for doing no fighting of my own.
I can see why this is addicting, and considering the delayed cheers and even a few screams of joy as people jumped up and down at this incredible turn of events, I also realized how addicting it could be, making me wonder just what crazy things some of these people had done to place a bet...
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