Pick Me Up!

Chapter 72: Tryout (3) (2)

As I shouted, Aaron thrust his spear.

It was a move he had practiced tens of thousands of times. The thrust was smooth as flowing water, rapid and precise. In an instant, the tip of the spear advanced and grazed Velkist’s shoulder before he could even react.

Blood spurted, staining the iron bars.

“Fast.”

Velkist chuckled.

Without responding, Aaron held his spear horizontally.

Velkist evaded the thrust.

Thunk!

In an instant, the spearhead bent and struck Velkist’s side. His expression contorted.

It was the second pattern of the spear technique, a swing.

“You look good, Hyung! You’ve got all the forms. Hey Velkist, when you join our party, you’ll start with dishwashing!”

Asher mocked.

Caught off guard by Aaron’s fierce attack, Velkist desperately tried to block his vulnerable points.

“The difference in reach.”

The difference in reach between a spear and a sword was less than a meter.

Every time Velkist attempted an attack, Aaron subtly retreated, preventing Velkist from closing in. Then he advanced again, launching his attacks.

It seemed one-sided.

“It’s not like you, Oppa.”

Jenna bit her thumb.

“What are you talking about? He keeps pushing him. At this rate, he’ll win easily.”

“No, sister. Look closely. The number of times he’s landing hits has decreased since the beginning.”

“Come to think of it…”

Aaron’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

He continued to thrust and retract his spear, adding speed to his movements. However, at some point, the number of times Velkist’s body was hit by Aaron’s thrusts noticeably decreased. Edis remarked in surprise.

“Did he already figure him out?”

Aaron’s technique was precise but straightforward.

Once it was understood, it was easy to counter.

Moreover, Velkist’s keen eye was exceptional. Judging from his quick grasp of Neryssa’s high and low attacks in just a few minutes, he clearly possessed keen observational abilities. He will soon master perceptual skills like mine.

But there was a more significant issue.

While Aaron’s spear technique might be straightforward, Velkist’s adaptation speed was too fast. No matter how keen his eyes were, it was something that shouldn’t happen.

“This is boring.”

Velkist spoke with a sinking voice.

Amidst Aaron’s relentless spear attacks, Velkist managed to evade or parry them. From a certain point, none of Aaron’s attacks landed.

“Are you toying with me?”

Anger flickered in Velkist’s eyes.

He swung his blade, and the spearhead was forcefully deflected. Aaron, recovering his spear, and said,

“I’m not here to play.”

“Then why are you looking down on me? Do you think I’m easy to deal with? I know that the first party fights with the intent to kill in training. But this is different.”

Velkist pointed the tip of his sword at Aaron.

“Why aren’t you attacking the weak points?”

Aaron remained silent, gripping his spear tightly.

“You’ve become weak.”

I sighed quietly.josei

The reason behind Aaron’s rapid decline in offense was simple. Aaron refrained from targeting his opponent’s head, neck, and heart.

Head, neck, and heart.

When these three areas were combined, they created a large safe zone covering the upper left part of the body. No matter how skilled Aaron is or how bad is Velkist, once he figures out this, he can easily defend against it.

“Aaron.”

“Yes.”

“Since when have you started caring about your opponent’s life? Are you strong enough to go easy on him?”

Aaron didn’t use such tactics against me and Jenna.

Instead, he fervently swung and thrust his spear to target the weak points. I had even encouraged it. Prohibiting attacks on the weak points while pursuing realistic training was ridiculous.

However, the situation was clearly different now.

Velkist didn’t miss the unnaturalness.

“But…”

“Show me your true skills. Don’t disappoint me.”

“I understand.”

Aaron’s gaze sharpened as if he had made up his mind.

His grip on the spear tightened.

“Don’t resent me if you die.”

“Of course not.”

A swift and powerful thrust shot out.

This time, the target was the heart, the most critical weak point.

Velkist smirked and adjusted his sword.

And ten minutes later,

“Seems like I’ve spilled some blood. I’m a little dizzy.”

Velkist mumbled.

His entire body was covered in puncture and slashing wounds. A streak of blood ran down Velkist’s cheek.

“Anyway, I won.”

Velkist pointed his sword at Aaron’s throat.

Aaron stood in a corner of the training ground.

While Aaron had fewer wounds compared to Velkist, his spear lay far away.

‘Aaron lost.’

The audience was quiet.

Asher and Jenna, who had been cheering for Aaron, were now silent, unable to say a word.

Until the latter part of the fight, Aaron had seemed to have the upper hand. His spear technique, relentlessly targeting the weak points, had been much sharper than before. Velkist had to lower his stance and remain in place. The injuries had been accumulating, and it seemed like he would collapse at any moment.

However, just as Aaron was about to finish it, Velkist suddenly rushed in.

As if he had already seen through him, Velkist dodged three thrusts and two swings and plunged into Aaron’s embrace, knocking the spear from his hand. And that was the end.

“This doesn’t make sense. Aaron was clearly winning!”

Asher, who had regained his senses, glared at Velkist.

“What kind of trick did you use? I know you used some dirty trick, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s something we can’t know…”

“But that doesn’t look right.”

Roderick shook his head.

Asher clenched his teeth without a response.

At the same time, a message appeared, announcing the end of the duel.

[“Velkist (★★)” has won the duel!]

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!