Wildness and Masks

"Anger can enhance your strength, but it will make you lose judgment in battle. If you were a knight, you could afford to stay angry, but as a martial artist, the most important thing is to maintain a calm mindset during combat, so as not to waste the martial skills you've painstakingly honed."

Yard's second lesson was to teach Ogre and Thrandic how to maintain peace of mind.

He said, "Once a person is ruled by emotions, their martial skills will abandon them."

How much Thrandic remembered of this, Ogre wasn't sure.

But Ogre himself always kept this in mind.

"Angry, huh? That might just give me a better chance..."

With the aid of his enhanced vision, Ogre could always dodge each thrust, and attacks he couldn't avoid were deflected.

At this moment, although Ogre seemed to be retreating step by step, he hadn't suffered any real losses.

Instead, the Goblin Professional in front of him was steadily losing energy.

"The core of martial arts is to exchange small for big, to use wisdom against the enemy. When fighting weaker opponents, we must strike quickly to exploit our strengths and minimize surprises. Against stronger foes, remember one thing—attack three, reserve seven, tire the enemy to benefit ourselves."

Ogre always remembered this advice.

So when fighting weaker opponents, Ogre never wasted words, striking decisively to maximize his intimidation.

When facing stronger opponents, Ogre would choose a defensive probing tactic, like water eroding the opponent continuously.

In summary, it was a simple phrase—

"Attack like a swift thunderstorm, defend like a muddy stream."

At this moment, Ogre was embodying this principle thoroughly.

Facing a thrust aimed at his heart, Ogre sidestepped.

When the enemy's attack suddenly changed to strike at Ogre's horizontally held spear, Ogre released one hand, allowing the force to tilt the spear.

As the spear turned from vertical to horizontal, the hand that had let go re-gripped the shaft.

The spear spun horizontally, counterattacking!

It charged straight at the opponent's face, aiming to blind.

The Goblin Professional, who had been relentlessly attacking, didn't expect this human, whom it had been pressing, to have room for a counterattack!

In a flash, its body instinctively reacted—dodging sideways.

Its rationality was in chaos, not considering whether Ogre's stabilizing attack could penetrate its Battle Qi defense.

Of course, in reality—Ogre's hasty strike couldn't harm it.

If it hadn't dodged.

But battles have no "ifs," and this instinctive dodge handed the battle rhythm to Ogre, falling into Ogre's strategy.

At this moment, the polished metal of the spearhead worked its magic.

Though the Goblin Professional dodged the sudden strike to its eyes, the glint of the spearhead in the sunlight forced it to close its eyes briefly.

Ogre seized the moment to stabilize his stance, his retreating steps instantly firming into a half-bow stance.

Both legs fully contacted the ground, presenting the best posture for exerting force.

Step, twist the waist! Forelimbs exert force.

Sweep across the battlefield!

When the Goblin Professional reopened its eyes, the spearhead had reached the critical point, the upward slash transforming into a powerful horizontal sweep aimed directly at its face.

The previous dodge had disrupted its balance, but fortunately, when its eyes were affected by the light, its hand instinctively raised to block Ogre's strike.

Spear, hand, face, all collided in that moment, the sudden impact causing it to lose balance, heavily falling and sliding a few steps away.

And its Battle Qi-covered hand was cut by the sharp spearhead.

Even the strongest Battle Qi has its limits.

Ogre's full-force strike could shatter granite, clearly reaching the threshold of breaking through defenses.

If Ogre's strength were greater, that strike might have severed its hand.

"I actually got knocked down!" The Goblin Professional was shocked.

Immediately following was an uncontrollable surge of instinctive rage. If it hadn't raised its hand quickly, its eyes might have been blinded.

Fortunately, its combat instincts allowed it to react swiftly, ignoring the pain in its left hand, using it to push off the ground, simultaneously reopening the eyes that had closed from the impact, regaining sight.

Taking a deep breath to calm its disturbed mood, it resolved—"This time, no matter what, I won't close my eyes easily!"

But, Ogre was waiting for this reaction!

"Eat my quicklime!"

Ogre didn't pursue a continuous attack; he knew that attacking now would provoke the greatest counterattack.

Forcing someone into a corner would only harm oneself.

So Ogre's approach was—to first step back, creating some distance.

Then, he reached for a seemingly ordinary small cloth pouch at his waist, ready to act.

When the opponent opened its eyes without time to think, Ogre threw it!

"What is this?" The Goblin Professional, still holding a short spear in its right hand, had just forced itself up with the left hand's push, barely opened its eyes when it saw a gray pouch thrown in front of it.

This time, it learned its lesson, not dodging or closing its eyes, but using the short spear in its right hand to slash at the pouch, trying to deflect it.

But it didn't know—this was exactly what Ogre was waiting for!

In an instant, stones followed, the pouch burst, dust spread, and the quicklime enveloped the Goblin Professional.

"Ugh! Ah!"

Whether human or goblin, the pitch of a scream is quite similar, this scream came from the contact between quicklime and eyes.

The tears from the Goblin Professional's large eyes reacted violently with the quicklime the moment they met!

Heat!

This was an instant high temperature that even the surrounding Battle Qi couldn't isolate!

Its eyes... were ruined!

Hearing the scream, Ogre knew his decisive opportunity had arrived.

If not now, when?

"Shattering Spear!"

Ogre's loud shout drowned out the sound of his spear cutting through the air.

With its hearing interfered, the Goblin Professional, now blind, was completely unable to judge how the direct attack would strike.

Seizing the brief gap, Ogre lunged forward, thrusting the spear with all his might, carrying the momentum of a charge.

The spear's wind blew away the quicklime dust in front of the goblin, aiming straight for its chest, targeting the vital point!

In that moment.

The spinning spear reached its heart! There was no escape!