Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 231 - 29 Practice Routines

Chapter 231: Chapter 29 Practice Routines

As the group pressed on, they soon encountered five or six mercenaries.

These mercenaries, all controlled by Heart Stealers and wearing octopus insignias, charged at them fearlessly.

Following Aske’s arrangement, the teams of swordsmen immediately met them, with each mercenary being attended to by five swordsmen.

Then began the brutal "swordsmanship practice."

"Throat Slash is too slow! Seize the opportunity!"

"Watch the Stepping Rush carefully, you missed two chances just now!"

"Follow up with the Mountain Crashing Strike! Follow up! 0.13 seconds... Oh, it’s too fast again, wait for them to jump before striking!"

The swordsmen surrounded their foes, all the while furiously criticizing each other, and soon the scene turned chaotic.

Everyone felt that their own performance was flawless; it was always because their teammates were too fast or too slow that they failed to execute combos, hence everyone’s patience quickly wore thin after repeated failures.

"Chief, this seems a bit difficult?" Hans cautiously said.

"It’s not difficult," Aske shook his head and replied, "It mainly starts from the enemy’s back jump, with Stepping Rush and Mountain Crashing Strike executed one after the other, hitting the opponent before they land, but most swordsmen haven’t kept up with the timing yet."

"Just practice more."

Hans, speechless, had to admit that this was currently the best method. After all, these enemies, parasitized by Heart Stealers with Mind Reading Abilities, had shown from the outset of the battle that aimless, chaotic attacks couldn’t breach their defenses.

They could only hope that everyone in the group would pull together.

"We did it!" Suddenly, a squad on the other side shouted, accompanied by the octopus-headed mercenary being toppled by a Mountain Crashing Strike. The five swordsmen cheered and rushed in, chopping and hacking furiously, smashing the fleeing Heart Stealer and the mercenary’s head to pieces.

"See, your men are capable after all," Aske said to Hans with a smile.

Hans couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. Although he knew Aske was praising them, for some reason, he just couldn’t feel happy.

After all, they were the Richartnal Knights led by a demigod. How could they take pride in needing so long just to master a simple combined attack technique?

"Chief, can the mercenaries in your group easily execute similar combined attacks?" Hans suddenly asked, curious about Aske’s Mercenary Group, The Azure Longsword.

"Of course, it’s not difficult at all," Aske replied without a second thought.

Hans: ......

He looked at Medea and Nora in shock. So, your team is that strong?

Medea and Nora exchanged glances, both sporting incredulous expressions.

Although that statement sounded arrogant, it was true that—whether it was Eleanor, Sigrdrifa, Mia, or Peggy—each could easily perform the so-called combined attack technique that the swordsmen were struggling to master.

That’s because Aske had trained them that way from the start.

For instance, Sigrdrifa would open up the way through a Tornado Slash, forcing the enemy to move and dodge. Then, Eleanor, armed with her shield and gun, would advance while Mia or Peggy quickly flanked them, instantly forming a pincer maneuver.

If the enemy faced Eleanor, they would be greeted by Backstabbing from behind. If they turned their backs on Eleanor, she would step forward with a Shield Strike, making them stagger, before the Dragon Spear thrust, lifted, and smashed them to the ground—and the moment they landed, everyone would focus their attacks.

Of course, such tactics weren’t without flaws, for instance, if the previous move was too early or the next move too late, it would leave a gap for the enemy to react.

At that moment, Miel’s sniper shooting, Medea’s mind control, or Thira’s gravity manipulation and air pressure bomb would strike at the critical moment, plunging the enemy back into a state of rigidity.

They had practiced these combined tactics so often that they didn’t even need Aske to vocally command them when facing a single enemy; they could quickly execute a complete set of tactics.

Even when dealing with a large number of enemies or high-level extraordinary creatures, Aske only needed to say a few words, such as "Right three Dragon Spear" or "Left one Air Pressure Bomb," and the girls would quickly understand his intent and swiftly execute the corresponding moves on the designated targets.

Instead of being like these foolish swordsmen who had to be repeatedly shown by Aske before they could learn and still required frequent practice themselves.

"I suddenly feel like we are so strong," Nora exclaimed.

"Hehe," Medea expressed deep agreement.

As the practice sessions increased, the swordsmen’s proficiency in combined attacks also rapidly improved—after all, they were swordsmen favored by the Physical Demigod, so their swordsmanship talent couldn’t be too low.

Although they were still a notch below the girls of The Azure Longsword.

This wasn’t because Aske was intentionally keeping secrets, but rather because the starting points of the two groups were different.

In training his own girls, Aske took the approach of a team captain mentoring newcomers, teaching them not only how to combine attacks but also the movement, rhythm, technique details, and offensive and defensive anticipation, as well as the reason behind each attack.

These professional knowledges, if elaborated in detail, were extensive, and couldn’t be fully explained in less than a thousand battles. While the girls were serious learners, the swordsmen present might not necessarily believe in these concepts—naturally, they would trust their demigod teacher more in matters of instruction.

So, for the swordsmen, Aske simply designed a set of strategized playbooks, breaking them down into steps for the swordsmen to follow as directed.

As for why to execute moves in such a manner, for example, why use Stepping Rush followed by Mountain Crashing Strike when the enemy tries to avoid a Throat Slash by leaping backward? Couldn’t he just use Mountain Crashing Strike directly to knock down the enemy?

Not understanding or caring about these details, Aske naturally did not elaborate further.

Pushing forward about fifty meters, they eliminated a few parasitically controlled octopus-headed mercenaries along the way and advanced into the second research hall.

This hall was still filled with upright cultivation tanks, but unlike the first hall, most of these tanks were already damaged, and both the fluids and Heart Stealers had vanished without a trace.

On the wall hung a message board, written haphazardly with various notes:

"The Heart Stealer is a mind-based extraordinary creature; please don’t roast it on a charcoal grill using bamboo sticks just because it looks like an octopus. Next time the security personnel catch a staff member roasting a Heart Stealer, they will be reprimanded and suspended for review."

"Although Heart Stealers do not consume food but draw nutrients from their hosts, I’ve noticed they seem to have an unusual fondness for Wizard Stones, which could be requested for scientific research."

"The cost of Wizard Stones is too high, your request has been denied. Why not try Secret Silver Powder?"

Beside was the sound of hurried scribbling, clearly Nora had begun taking notes again.

"Do Heart Stealers actually eat Wizard Stones?" she asked curiously.

"Krypton Stone... Most extraordinary creatures would nibble on it," Aske said, "Do you remember Thira’s grandfather?"

"Oh," Nora recalled the scene at the top of the Olympia tree, speaking uncertainly, "So, they aren’t actually eating the Wizard Stones but extracting the spirituality and energy contained within?"

"Considering that the creatures and replicates we’ve killed outside all had fragments of Wizard Stones inside them," she mused, twirling her pen, "is it possible that these Heart Stealers, by absorbing Wizard Stones and leveraging their spirituality, amplify their own mental strength and solidify their minds into tangible replicates?"

"Are they the primary culprits behind this mass mutation?"

"Perhaps," Aske replied, "We’ll know more as we continue to explore."