Sparta: Many childrens, Many Blessings, Starting from the Gladiator Chapter 27 27

The instructor scanned the circle, his gaze lingering a few more seconds on Lynx and Octavius.

"Today we don't practice basics!"

The instructor spoke, his voice hoarse. "Today we practice real combat! One versus one, two versus two, simulate tomorrow's situation!"

He waved his hand. Several overseers brought over several wooden stakes and set them up around the sand pit.

"Nodis has four people. 'Anvil' and 'Hamr' are brothers and cooperate tacitly. 'Viper' is fast. 'Spider's' net is tricky."

The instructor walked to the wooden stakes, patted them. "Today you will practice how to deal with these!"

He pointed at Crixus: "You, deal with 'Anvil' and 'Hamr'! Gisco, Amir, you two simulate those brothers and fight Crixus!"

Gisco and Amir looked at each other, walked out with bitter faces, and picked up wooden swords and shields.

"Lynx!"

The instructor looked at Lynx again. "You deal with 'Spider'! Octavius, you simulate 'Spider', use this—"

An overseer threw over a net woven from hemp rope. It was crude, but the size and shape were similar to a real gladiator net.

Octavius caught the net, weighed it in his hand, and looked at Lynx.

"As for 'Viper'…"

The instructor looked around and finally his gaze landed on Marcus standing at the back — this kid actually ca out today. His face was still a bit pale, but he stood quite steadily.

"Marcus, you pretended to be sick for two days. It's ti to move. You simulate 'Viper', cooperate with Octavius, and deal with Lynx."

Marcus looked at the instructor's sharp eyes and could only nod. He picked up two training short wooden swords — 'Viper' used dual short swords.

"Begin!"

At the instructor's order, the sand pit instantly ca alive.

Crixus's side clashed first.

Gisco and Amir pounced from left and right. Their wooden swords smashed down toward his head.

Crixus roared, didn't dodge or block, and used his shield to take the hits head-on. Then he swung his sword back at Gisco!

"Bang!"

Gisco was shaken back two steps. His arm went numb.

Amir seized the chance and stabbed from the side. Crixus sidestepped, kicked him in the calf. Amir cried out in pain and knelt on the ground.

"Too slow!"

The instructor cursed from the side. "'Anvil' and 'Hamr' are much faster than this! And they won't separate so easily! Again!"

On the other side, Lynx also moved.

Octavius didn't rush to throw the net.

He stood in place, holding the net ropes with both hands, staring dead at Lynx, as if looking for the right mont.

Marcus circled around Lynx, occasionally making feint stabs with the two wooden swords in his hands, testing reactions.

Lynx didn't move.

He held the refined steel short sword — today he switched back to the training ground's ordinary short sword. That refined steel sword was hidden — his body slightly leaned forward, center of gravity lowered, his gaze moving back and forth between Octavius and Marcus.

Danger Perception was working.

He could "feel" Marcus's position, could "feel" the degree of Octavius's tensed muscles, and could even "feel" the slight swing of the net rope in the air.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Marcus couldn't hold back first.

He took a step forward, his left wooden sword feinting toward Lynx's face. His right wooden sword stabbed straight at his waist and ribs!

A very tricky angle.

But Lynx was faster than him.

At the mont the wooden sword stabbed over, Lynx spun his body, letting the blade pass. At the sa ti, his left hand flashed out and grabbed Marcus's right wrist, twisting it!

"Ah!"

Marcus cried out in pain. The wooden sword fell from his hand.

But almost at the sa ti, Octavius moved.

That net ca down from above, covering a huge area and sealing off all of Lynx's retreat paths!

Lynx didn't retreat.

Instead, he charged forward, not toward Octavius, but toward Marcus!

Before the net fell, he ramd his shoulder into Marcus's chest. The two of them tumbled forward together!

"Thud!"

The net covered nothing and landed on the sand.

Lynx and Marcus rolled together.

But Lynx quickly got up. His short sword was already pressed against Marcus's throat.

"You're dead."

Marcus panted and nodded.

Octavius put away the net and looked at Lynx. Sothing extra appeared in his eyes.

"Reaction is very fast."

He said in a deep voice.

"Your timing for throwing the net was also very good."

"If it was 0.1 seconds faster, I wouldn't have been able to dodge."

Octavius grinned.

"Again!"

The instructor shouted from the side. "Marcus, pay attention to cooperation this ti! Don't rush forward! Wait until the net is in position before moving!"

Training continued.

For the whole morning, dust flew in the sand pit. The sounds of wooden swords clashing, roars, and the instructor's curses mixed together.

On Crixus's side, Gisco and Amir gradually found the rhythm of cooperation, forcing Crixus to take it seriously.

But this guy really had great strength. Several tis he forcefully broke through the two's encirclent and knocked one of them to the ground.

On Lynx's side, the cooperation between Octavius and Marcus also beca more and more tacit.

The combination of net and dual swords was indeed troubleso. Lynx was almost covered several tis and only dodged by relying on Danger Perception and agile footwork.

But dodging was not the way.

In tomorrow's performance match, he must solve "Spider" in the shortest ti. Otherwise the net would always threaten him.

How to break it?

During the noon break, Lynx didn't go to the ss hall.

He took out the dry food hidden in his cell — a few hard pieces of bread and a bit of salted at — and shared it with Gisco, Amir, Marcus, and Octavius.

The few sat by the edge of the sand pit, gnawing on dry food with water.

"Tomorrow that net,"

Lynx looked at Octavius opposite him. "It has barbs. Once covered, trying to break free will tear off a layer of skin."

Octavius nodded: "I have seen that kind of net. Nodis training camp used it once last year. That gladiator was covered and tried to pull it hard. As a result, an entire piece of skin on his back was hooked off. He bled to death on the spot."

Amir listened with a pale face.

"Then what do we do?"

Gisco asked. "We can't keep dodging, right?"

"If we can't dodge, we have to break it."

"Although the barbed net is powerful, it also has weaknesses."

Lynx said.

"What weaknesses?"

"It's heavy."

"A barbed net is much heavier than an ordinary net. The speed when throwing it will be a bit slower, and when retracting the net, because the barbs get stuck on things, it will also be slower."

Octavius's eyes lit up: "You an, after he throws the net, there is a window of ti?"

"Yes."

Lynx nodded. "From the mont the net is thrown to the mont he starts retracting it, there is about half a second to one second where the net is in an uncontrolled state. If you rush in during that ti and get close to him before he retracts the net, the net is useless."

"Too risky."

Marcus shook his head. "If the timing is not calculated right, being covered is finished."

"So we need bait."

Lynx looked at Marcus. "In tomorrow's performance match, 'Viper' will definitely cooperate with 'Spider'. I need soone to pin down 'Viper', even if it's only for a few seconds, to create an opportunity for to charge."

Marcus was stunned: "… I go pin down 'Viper'?"

"You simulated him all morning. You are most familiar with his routines."

"And in Batiatus's eyes, your body… in tomorrow's performance match, Batiatus will definitely let you go on the field — he won't waste any 'usable' gladiator."

Marcus was silent.

He knew Lynx was right.

A person like Batiatus wouldn't let a "recovered" gladiator idle.

"Good."

He finally nodded. "I will pin down 'Viper'. But how long I can pin him, I can't guarantee."

"Five seconds."

Lynx held up five fingers. "Give five seconds and I can solve 'Spider'."

"Five seconds…"

Marcus gritted his teeth and agreed. "I will do my best."

Crixus was eating nearby but not with them.

He sat not far away, listening to the discussion on this side, and snorted coldly.

"Saying it lightly. Nodis's side is not stupid. They will watch you charge over?"

Lynx turned to look at him: "So we need your cooperation."

"What do you an?"

"Tomorrow at the start, you launch a strong attack on 'Anvil' according to the plan."

Lynx said. "But don't use full strength. Save three tenths. When 'Hamr' cos to support, you suddenly turn and attack 'Hamr'. Catch them off guard and force 'Viper' to be distracted to save them — this way Marcus's pressure will be much smaller."

Crixus narrowed his eyes: "Then what?"

"Then I will charge in the instant 'Spider' throws the net."

Lynx turned his head. "Octavius, you are responsible for covering . If anyone tries to intercept, you block them."

Octavius nodded: "Can do."

Crixus stared at Lynx for a few seconds and suddenly smiled: "You kid, you calculate quite finely."

"If I don't calculate finely, I'll die tomorrow."

"Fine."

Crixus stood up and patted the dust off his body. "Then we'll do as you said. But rember, if the situation is not right, I won't care about you guys."

"Sa to each other."

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