NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: (2)
The stab was successful. The sword pierced through the Gnoll’s head, and he died instantly, unable to scream. At the same time, the text changed from 0 to 1.
“Now the problem is the three remaining ones,” Kaiyan muttered.
“Crouch? Crouch!”
Boom!
The Gnolls, enraged by the death of their kin, swung their weapons in all directions.
They were too close to dodge the attacks. Kaiyan held his shield out in front of him, bracing himself for injury.
‘…This is going to hurt, I guess four Gnolls is too many.’
His arm tingled when he blocked the wooden club, but facing three maces meant he would have to pray he didn’t break his arm.
Quang!
Kaiyan heard the clash of shields and weapons but strangely felt no pain in his arm.
He looked up and saw Uncle Max standing in front of him with his shield raised.
“What are you doing? You won’t last long!” Uncle Max shouted with a grimace as he realized that three Gnolls were quite a challenge.
“Thank you! Ha!” Kaiyan replied.
He wasn’t about to waste the opportunity Uncle Max had created for him, so he kicked the ground toward them and pulled his sword arm back.
His target was a Gnoll slamming a mace down from his left.
Kaiyan ducked and slid under his upraised shield, causing him to look up in surprise.
“What are you doing!” Uncle Max exclaimed.
“Hold it!” Kaiyan shouted back.
“Kwaang?”
Max looked as Kaiyan leaped to his feet and thrust the sword he’d been holding down at him as he gasped at the sight of Kaiyan poking out from between his shields.
Slash-
His sword sliced through the Gnoll’s shoulder muscles. Apparently, his stance was unstable.
Kaiyan was a little disappointed that he couldn’t take him out in one hit, but there was no point in forcing it, so he quickly stood up and ducked behind Uncle Max.
“If he doesn’t die at once, I’ll stab him repeatedly,” Kaiyan said.
Boom!
He kept stabbing them while Uncle Max blocked their attacks and vision.
They’d lash out with their maces in anger at their wounds, and Kaiyan would stab them with his shield, then again with his sword.
“Krrr.”
“Kwaang!”
After a while, he could see their movements slowing down a bit as more and more wounds appeared on their bodies.
“Die, you bastard!”
“Krrrr!”
The Gnoll began to writhe in agony as Kaiyan and Max advanced toward it.
“There it is!” Kaiyan exclaimed.
Krrr!
“Take this!” Max shouted as he struck the Gnoll with his shield, causing it to shriek and back away in shock.
“Now’s your chance!” Kaiyan crouched low and popped out from behind his shield, thrusting his sword at the defenseless creature.
The exhausted Gnoll made a hasty attempt to dodge the blade.
“My sword is faster!” Kaiyan declared triumphantly as the blade connected with the Gnoll.
Poof!
[Deal with the Gnoll 2/4 0:43]
Now, there were only two Gnolls left, and both of them were pretty exhausted.
Kaiyan turned to Max, and he nodded in agreement.
“What are you doing? Beat them up!” Kaiyan yelled as they charged toward the Gnolls.
The exhausted Gnolls tried to fight back, but Max and Kaiyan beat their swords and shields like hammers.
“Two healthy Gnolls were no match for us, let alone two wounded ones!” Max exclaimed as he delivered a powerful blow with his shield.
Pow!
“The last one, your left knee!” Kaiyan instructed Max as he struck the last Gnoll’s left knee with his shield.
The Gnoll, already injured by Kaiyan’s sword, was unable to bear the pain and fell to one knee, its face twisted in despair.
[0:06]
“Die!” Kaiyan shouted as he thrust his sword one last time at the defenseless creature.
Poof!
[Deal with the Gnoll 4/4 0:03] [Done]
-The reward is sent to your Storage.
Ding! [You have leveled up]
A series of notifications rang out as the last remaining Gnoll died.
“Hah… We did it.” Kaiyan breathed a sigh of relief as he held his sword.
It felt different from the goblin quest. He didn’t realize it at the time, so he didn’t feel anything, but now he could feel the pride of completing the quest coursing through him.
“Phew… you really are….” Max began to say, but Kaiyan cut him off.
“Sorry, Uncle Max.”
“Heh, weren’t we supposed to call me Hyung?” Max chuckled.
“What? Ah… yes, Hyung.” Kaiyan made an awkward face as he corrected himself.
“Tsk.” Max chuckled again. “I’m kidding. As long as you don’t call me Grandpa, feel free to call me anything else.”
“Yes, Uncle Max. Thanks again for coming along.” Kaiyan was grateful for Max’s help in the quest.
He had been blinded by the quest, but on second thought, it was really dangerous. If Uncle Max hadn’t followed him, he wouldn’t have been able to take on the four Gnolls by himself. Uncle Max was a huge help in getting the four Gnolls. Kaiyan still couldn’t handle two Gnolls at the same time, let alone four.
“But why aren’t you using a shield? Your stance was weird.” Uncle Max, who was sitting on the sidelines, looked at Kaiyan’s shield and tilted his head in confusion.
“Well… I tried using it to block a Gnoll’s attack once, but it hurt my arm so bad. Maybe I’m just not meant for shields. Or this shield is defective.” Kaiyan explained.
“Huh? Your arm hurts? Why don’t I take a look at your stance?” Uncle Max, a former shield soldier, offered to help Kaiyan with his stance, so he stood up and struck a pose.
Opportunities like this were rare for Kaiyan. A chance to learn a useful skill, like the swordsmanship Uncle Jeff had taught him.
Uncle Max frowned as he studied Kalyan’s posture.
“Hmph, I see you’ve never used your shield before. Your arm hurts from using it like that.”
“Yeah, that’s true… but isn’t that how you use it?”
“Hmm, let’s see. You’re blocking the way over here, let’s move a little further back. I think I can teach you safely from there.”
Suddenly, in the middle of the battlefield, Uncle Max’s shield training began. Free of charge, of course.
“With the round shield you’re using, you shouldn’t block an enemy’s attack head-on unless it’s really dangerous.”
“…So?”
If the shield doesn’t block attacks, how is Kaiyan supposed to use it?
As he asked, full of doubt, Uncle Max let out a sigh and raised his own shield.
“Ha… How do you think I withstood the attacks of those three Gnolls just now?”
“…Isn’t it because you’re so strong?”
“You’re crazy… I deflected their attacks. In other words, their attacks were deflected by my shield.”
“How do you do that?”
“It’s easier than you think. You just need to see the direction the attack is coming from and turn your shield at an angle.”
“Don’t block it head-on, turn your shield… Okay.
Uncle Max’s explanation was excellent, and Kaiyan was able to understand the principle of parrying.
“Uncle Max, let’s try an attack.”
Now it was time to get hands-on.
It’s a useless skill if you only have it in theory. You have to learn it by doing, so you can always use it.
“That’s it! I’ll take it easy on the old man, and you can practice on the goblins near the front line. We’ve had a good harvest today thanks to you, so I’ll spend the rest of the day teaching you how to use your shield.”
“Thank you!”
The swordsmanship Kaiyan learned from Uncle Jeff has been very useful. If he hadn’t learned swordsmanship, he wouldn’t have been able to fight the Gnolls.
But this time, a former shield master is going to teach him about shield techniques. And training.
This is an opportunity Kaiyan can’t pass up.
“If you twist your shield like that, you won’t be able to support it properly, and that’s just the right amount of wrong!”
Uncle Max would yell at him if he had the slightest misstep. Kaiyan was quickly learning the ins and outs of shielding.
“Eek!”
“Moderately… Huh!”
Pfft!
He twisted his shield to block the goblin’s attack just before it reached his shield.
It was possible because the creature’s attack speed was slow. Even if you’re just playing, it’s still impossible to get the timing right.
“Yes, yes, yes! That’s it! Then use the shield to push!”
“Yes! Got it!”
Kaiyan thought the shield was just for blocking attacks, but there were more techniques than he realized, including parrying, pushing, and swinging.
And he was learning them one by one with Uncle Max’s help and the goblins as foes.
“Ha!”
He stomped his foot and thrust his shield forward.
Pow!
“Crunch!”
The goblin was so shocked by the weighted shield attack that he fell to the ground in a daze, and at that moment, an unbelievable thing happened.
Bing! [A shield mastery skill has been created]
The shield skill that hadn’t been generated yesterday had suddenly been created.