Chapter 33: Don’t Dance

At night, outside the gates of Stormwind.

Instead of the usual night with its occasional singing and laughter, or crying, the camp was silent in the rain.

A few hundred meters away in the woods, where the eerie bright light of the refugee camp could still be seen.

Holding a wooden stick that was barely flat and straight in his hand, Grid paced back and forth while saying, “Once upon a time, the dwarves’ methods of making swords were used against heavily armored foes. Because dwarves are good at building all sorts of armor no matter what, there was never a shortage of metal deposits in Kazmodan. Now the Copperbeard and Black Iron clans still hold on to the old traditions, for they have ancient enemies to guard against. But not so with the Brute Hammer Clan, we are now more inclined to deal with lighter foes as our main enemies are now trolls, and the forest trolls who preferred to fight in heavy armor have all been burned to death by the pointy ears with their magic over the millennia.”

“So which should I learn.” Jace wiped the droplets of water from his forehead and brow and asked, “Against unarmored enemies, or heavily armored ones?”

“The former, of course.” Grid said, “Can you imagine a jackalope tin can? Remember their leader, the one who yelled Hag, Hag, Hag, and all he had on his body was a piece of shoulder armor he’d snatched from the orcs.”

“Speaking of Blackrock Orcs.” He clutched his beard and said, “Don’t worry, there won’t be any proper armor left for them to wear when they’ve been fighting the black iron fools north of the Red Ridge Mountains for a few years. Come, attack me, with as much swordplay as you’ve ever seen.”

Jace looked at the dwarf in front of him, then at the long stick in his hand, weighed it, and his mind began to search for swordplay he had seen.

He hadn’t seen many real sword fights, and Grid’s duel with that elf on the slope had been the most intimidating duel he’d ever seen.

The rest of the so-called battle he has seen, most of them are a group of people jumped up to take a variety of various kinds of weapons flung, clanking each other cut half a day can not cut people, was rubbed in a howling back a few steps no longer dare to go forward in the chaos of the fight.

So, he started extracting memories from his last life, games, movies …… Ride and Slash, Star Wars, Sorcerer, Souls of Glory, Game of Thrones.

Gripping the stick in his hand, Jace wiped the rain from his eyes and said, “I’m ready.”

“Come on.” The dwarf beckoned, then pointed forward slightly with his stick in one hand, which Jace guessed was ready to pivot away from his attack.

Jace suddenly took a starting diagonal swing and was easily slashed away by the dwarf, then he thought about turning around to do a nice spinning slash like those powerful swordsmen in the movies, only to be knocked in the neck by Grider behind him just halfway through the turn.

“What are you doing, getting ready to turn around and run away?” Grid asked with a frown.

Jace awkwardly gestured to his original purpose and asked, “I’d like to turn around and swing over like this, isn’t that more powerful?”

“Maybe.” Grid flipped the braid of hair that was attached to his neck behind his back and said, “But be surprised …… Try this when you need to approach quickly by waiting to pull away, when you need to fight for space against multiple foes, when the opponent is off balance and can’t immediately attack you, etc., etc! Don’t be rigid and memorize sets!”

The dwarf was a bit anxious and kept gesticulating with his stick as he spoke.

“Above all, be quick, be quick! Don’t gently paddle around like a show-off minstrel, you’re trying to kill the enemy, not make them throw copper at you!”

The gesticulation ended abruptly as he pointed at Jace and said, “Anyway, now that you’re a novice, and you’re a human novice, try not to do any of those special maneuvers that are beyond the limits of your strength, and get the basics right first.”

“Keep control of your weapon, try not to let it get too far out of your control, like flinging it behind you …… Keep the tip of your sword pointed as far as possible towards your opponent, always keep it threatening.”

After saying that, the dwarf made a succession of rapid diagonal slashes, vertical chops, and thrusts at the front of him, without any potent slashes or horizontal swings.

“Like this, each strike is quick enough, sudden enough, to make the enemy unpredictable. Do not dance, I repeat, do not dance in battle like that elf.”

The Dwarf sighed “Let’s be honest, I’m not saying his fighting style is useless, in fact his sword dance is threatening, very threatening and disorienting. But only elves can do that, they are completely different creatures than you, forest trolls, elves of Quel’thalas can pull off some outlandish maneuvers, scurrying around the battlefield like a pack of six or seven foot tall meerkats. But as a human, you just have to figure out how to deal with it, not mimic it.”

He leaned against a small tree and said, “Let’s say for example, if an ogre is unarmed, he can just pull up this tree and keep fighting you, but you can’t. However, you must think of the possibility that he might do so, and use his slower movements after he pulls up the tree to expend faster stamina …… using that as your newly gained advantage, you know what I mean?”

“Got it.” Jace said.

“Try again.” Grid shook the water off his head and said, “I’ll try to correct your movements, help you practice, and go as far as I can to find what feels best for a human.”

Jace nodded, this time forgetting the fancy sword dances and thinking about the movements of an Olympic fencer.

After all, the athletes moved quickly enough, suddenly enough, and with their swords pointed forward at their opponents, the weapons would not be out of their grasp, perfectly fitting Grid’s requirements.

He sidestepped, holding his club in one hand, took a deep breath, then took a large step forward stepping away from a patch of rainwater while his right arm straightened and suddenly stabbed at Grid!

The dwarf’s eyes widened as he jerked back a step and pivoted away with a surprised look on his face, Jace didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity to follow up and took another step to try and jab forward, this time Grid took his jab and spun around, picking off Jace’s stick.

Grid picked the stick back up and handed it to Jace and asked, “Who’d you learn that from, huh?”

“Watching someone else play through it.” Jace said.

“A noble of Lordaeron?” Grid said, “Threatening, I’ll admit, but with great power comes great limitations.”

“You can tell by your movements, it’s the don’t-die style of surprise attack that nobles use when playing dueling games. It looks pretty, but the nobles themselves wouldn’t use it on a real enemy, and if you miss, the battlefield won’t be on point. I taught you the sword so you could live, not so you could go show yourself off in front of women. If you want to attract women you can use another sword entirely, it’s just as good for stabbing and works much better.”

Grid patted his crotch and continued, “Besides, this stick is still a bit light, if you get a heavier real sword that can’t do the same speed, I’ll have an easier time deflecting your attacks or disarming you, and then you’ll be at the mercy of the enemy, unless you’re a mage. Okay, watch my movements and then follow the exercises to build a good foundation first.”

Looking at the dwarf’s serious downward slashes and upward picks, Jace felt a little ashamed.

Swordsmanship, battle techniques, are all abilities that require years of practice and combat to hone, so how could one possibly defeat an experienced foe with just some gimmick that he didn’t know where it came from?

He had to progress patiently, one step at a time, and Grid was willing to teach himself that, all the more reason for him to be more conscientious and work harder in return, instead of thinking of shortcuts.

Because of the years of labor and work, Jace was in pretty good shape, so he mimicked Grid’s movements with style.

Looking at Jace seriously doing the moves, Grid couldn’t help but smile and say, “Right, right, like that, my little Jace. Once you’re proficient in this set of moves, I’ll teach you a few more, then you can practice on your own if you have nothing else to do, and I won’t have to keep an eye on you every night, so you have to stick with it for me!”