Chapter 67: One against two.

Chapter 67 - One against two.Even though Lee got rid of one opponent, the fight became much more difficult.

Turns out that the earlier exchange was more lesson to the boy scouts than him. The scale-covered guy quickly reassessed the tactics and gave the shorty few instructions, annoying Lee to no end.

Now, no matter how he tried, at no point it was possible to position himself in any other way than directly between the two opponents.

Lee was rather confident in his speed, but no matter how he jumped, rolled, sidestepped or feigned attacks, the short guy made sure to keep Lee between the two of them. The shorty turned out to be more annoying than a mosquito, and many times quicker as well.

The upside was that while mostly focusing on positioning, his attacks were rare and weak at that. Mostly his spear left a long mark across the back of Lee's breastplate, but it was only a matter of time until he managed to get in a heavier hit.

Seeing there was no way to directly deal with the quickest opponent, Lee began to attack the scaled guy first. Fortunately this one mostly tanked Lee's hits, although the parries were nimble and at no point Lee actually touched his armor.

If they were one on one, the situation might've been different, and realizing this Lee changed his tactics again.

Technically he still faced the scaled guy, but mostly went back in the defensive mode. He couldn't effectively attack the opponents while they landed a hit only now and then. The few pokes and smacks that went through, apart from making him slightly dizzy, didn't directly hurt – having the armor actually worked in his favor.

To the bystanders it looked like Lee gave up on winning by overpowering the opponents, and tried to wear the two down. Of course, it was obvious he was spending much more energy, in addition to occasionally getting hit.

It was only a matter of time until he fell, but his choice got a barely visible nod of approval from the cyclops.

Butalax was slightly upset since his guy was starting to loose, but as the reality check hit in, even he understood that the fight couldn't go any other way.



After running for so long Lee already had to be tired and to win against two opponents of equal strength was a delusional dream. He was a kid after all.

Seeing the newcomer was loosing his momentum, the spectators began to cheer – apparently fights like these were not something they saw on a daily basis. It was not like they rooted for their boy scout buddies – it was obvious who was going to be the winner.

But the longer the fight went on, the more intense it became.

As Lee's movements became slower, the shorty had much easier time keeping him between them. The scaled guy also began to attack more confidently and a couple of times landed hits on Lee's right shoulder.

It quickly became clear the newcomer was ignoring the thrust attacks since they only left scratch marks on the armor, thus both opponents focused on landing a well timed smack on his head. And it was only a matter of time until they succeeded.

Of course, if the opponents and spectators knew it, Lee knew it even clearer. But there was no other way around it. All he could do was to wait for an opening, and while it didn't seem that the scaled guy will ever give him one, Lee's initial guess turned out to be right – the shorty was much more generous.

While continuously rolling and jumping about, there were some chances to hit and even kick the shorty in the chest, but from his own experience Lee knew such attacks didn't matter.

The two guys were continuously striking him, but while the hits were unpleasant, thanks to the armor he could shake it off as simply annoying. It became problematic when the two noticed that as well and instead of thrusts went into full smacking mode.

And that was when Lee went for it. He didn't math out his attack, or plan it, it somehow happened on its own.

At one point when the two opponents raised their spears at the same time, instead of rolling away as usual, he squatted and with a wide motion cleaved at shorty's knees. The guy didn't expect the sudden attack and lost the footing, but Lee payed for it by allowing the scaled guy's spear land on his back.

For the first time he received a direct hit and could only thank cyclops for the foresight. If not for the tin can he was currently dressed in, instead of the loud boom made by the spear hitting the breastplate, there would be cracking sounds of his bones breaking.

But there was no time to think.



The shorty was on the ground and Lee couldn't let the opportunity to slip by.

Ignoring the daze caused by the scaled guy's attack, from the squatting position Lee directly jumped up and on the way down, using the inertia, smacked his spear on the shorty's head.

Obviously, he would've never attacked the kid this way if he wasn't wearing a helmet, but the booming sound that overshadowed the scaled guy's earlier attack made Lee regret his action. A heavy concussion was the lightest injury his short opponent suffered – that is if he was still alive.

But then everything turned dark.

For the first time since the fight started for a split moment Lee turned his back to the scaled guy. And even if he missed the first hit, landing it on Lee's shoulder, the second – a wide swing from the side, neatly hit Lee's helmet.

For the spectators everything happened in a blink of an eye – Lee sweeping shorty off his feet and then smacking him, but at the same time getting blasted on the head. There were two loud consecutive booms that led to two opponents lying unconscious, and the third one left standing, completely lost.

The scaled guy was finally getting fired up when the fight was suddenly over.

The crowd fell silent, but the cyclops nonchalantly went over to the unconscious fighters, took off their helms and checked their vitals. Afterwards he called over few of the spectators and ordered them to bring the two away.

Seeing cyclops's reaction, a smile returned to Butalax's face. He walked over to the man, they exchanged few sentences and then the big-eyed guy from the blob farm left. On the way out he stepped in one of the buildings to collect a small reward, but for a simple local farmer like him it was not bad at all.

Lee didn't know the fight was a test to see how long he was capable of holding against three opponents, not whether he could defeat any of them.

What caught cyclops's interest in Butalax's story was not Lee's current strength or agility, but the tactics he used when fighting multiple enemies. Butalax didn't know, but cyclops, being one of the instructors here, very well realized that the physical abilities could be trained, while the intuitive approach to the battle was an inborn trait.

Obviously he had no clue that during the fight Lee mostly analyzed the proceedings instead going by intuition as a good fighter would, but no one could guess this was Lee's fourth life, or at least – the fourth one he remembered.

While Lee and the shorty were carried to the infirmary, the crowd didn't disperse. Cyclops held a short lecture analyzing the fight. He didn't want the kids to get the wrong idea – Lee holding out against three and afterwards – two, was impressive from the children's point of view, but as they will grow up fights will never go like this.



"What do you think of the newcomer?" He asked the crowd.

"Quick!"

"Bold!"

"Vicious!"

There were tens of answers, most of them words of praise. Even though Lee lost, he did manage to knock one out and his earlier actions after the accident with the potato-head earned respect in the eyes of his peers.

"Alright!" The cyclops interrupted, "But what if it was a fight between four elemental warriors? How would you describe him then?"

The crowd fell silent as everyone imagined the powerful elemental blasts that followed attacks of the warriors covered in red flames.

"Stupid! Every single action was stupid!" Cyclops's answer to his own question stupefied the kids. Seeing their expressions, he said, "Bring me a breastplate!"

Then he grabbed the spear Lee dropped after getting knocked out, called out two guys from the crowd and made them hold the piece of armor that was brought over. Then, without using any elemental energy, by holding a spear in one hand, he performed a simple thrust at the breastplate.

There were no explosive sounds, just a short thud. The two guys holding the breastplate had to take several steps back, but everyone already knew what the cyclops meant.

There was a neat hole in the middle of the armor and if the fight was between actual warriors, Lee would've been dead dozens of times over. He took the advantage of his opponents not being capable of piercing the armor, but that won't be the case in the future.

"That is why you have your squads to keep you safe! And that is why your lives depend on your ability to maintain the formation!" Cyclops said. Then he looked at the kids in front of them, and added, "The lesson is over! Back to your duties! Raixoo!"