Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 270 - 68 First Battle

Chapter 270: Chapter 68 First Battle

Outside Mingxing City, at the horse-racing arena.

Although the Weisbach family did not widely promote the event, a large number of knights, nobles, and citizens were drawn by the news and came to watch spontaneously.

In this era, most people would not leave their duchy for their entire lives, thus everyone was quite curious about the emissaries from the Wolf Family of Burgundy.

The knights cautiously observed the opponents’ physique and weapons in order to assess their probable strengths and combat styles; the nobles critiqued the emissary team’s attire, speculating about their lineage and bloodline.

Many common folk whispered among themselves, their discussions abuzz:

"Hey, is that the emissary of the Wolf Family? They don’t look much different from us, do they?"

"What did you expect?

"I thought they’d all be hairy like werewolves or something, why else would they be called the Wolf Family?"

In the top tier of the spectator seats, the Duke of Bavaria sat in the central seat of honor, with Heinrich’s seat beside him—since he represented the Wolf Family, he could indeed sit in that position.

The rest were seated on the either side of the stands; Eleanor looked down below and then towards her father’s expressionless face, feeling a bit uneasy inside.

Last night, she had laid out all of Thira and Medea’s analyses and plans. Her father had listened but did not respond, only sinking into deep thought.

"After the battle tomorrow, I would like to meet your companions," the Duke finally said.

This statement immediately caused Eleanor a faint sense of panic; she did not know whether her father had developed some suspicion or misunderstanding, thus harboring a negative view of her companions, leaving her restless and sleep-deprived all night.

On the competition field below, Sigrdrifa, already wielding dual axes, came forth and immediately won cheers from all the spectators.

It wasn’t because the audience recognized her, but because she was representing the Weisbach family.

Opposite was another swordsman entering the field, but not the same man she had encountered before; this time, it was a sword and shield warrior with a huge iron shield large enough to cover two-thirds of his body.

Clearly, after the previous skirmish, the emissary team from the Wolf Family had switched to a professional type more targeted towards her. However, the equipment seemed average, not carrying any anti-human, high-tech weaponry characteristic of the Church Court.

With no announcer and no referee, the two combatants charged at each other as soon as they entered the arena. The opposite warrior lifted his shield in the charge—a rhino charge!

Sigrdrifa halted abruptly in her charge, throwing her North Wind Axe, which struck the opponent’s shield and quickly frosted the iron surface with a layer of frost.

The warrior felt an intense cold at his grip, his heart filled with alarm—this opponent was an Extraordinary Ability User with the Frost Sequence, highly effective against melee warriors!

As the North Wind Axe was deflected from the shield, flying off at an odd angle, it swiftly returned to Sigrdrifa’s hand. She skillfully caught the battle axe, suddenly feeling an almost numbing cold in her palm.

"Eh? Aren’t I a ’Frost’ Sequence Ability User? Why would the North Wind Axe chill me?" Sigrdrifa pondered internally, only to hear Medea’s voice resounding in her mind:

"Be careful, Sigrdrifa! The enemy facing you is a special ’Revenge’ Sequence Ability User, at least ’Revenge II’ level or above!"

The Revenge Sequence, a special Extraordinary Sequence, operates by reflecting damage directly inflicted by an enemy back onto them through a cause-and-effect principle. And with Revenge II, approximately 90% of the damage could be reflected.

Due to the rebound being the damage itself rather than the attack, even though Sigrdrifa was an Extraordinary Ability User of the Frost Sequence, she also suffered frost damage.

Sigrdrifa was momentarily stunned when her opponent’s shield struck her; she staggered back several meters before finally stabilizing her form and stared at her opponent with considerable frustration.

How could she attack if she would receive similar damage no matter what?

"Should we try seizing the weapon with bare hands?" Nora suggested over the channel. "No need to inflict damage, just subdue the opponent and win the match, right?"

"That won’t work," Medea said. "The opponent is fully armed! Dropping weapons to combat barehanded is like a tiger tearing out its fangs. Try focusing on defense, don’t retaliate, and exhaust the opponent’s stamina!"

"Alright!" Sigrdrifa answered decisively. As if seeing through her hesitation, the opponent intensified his attacks with the sword and shield. Sigrdrifa, holding her battle axe, only blocked and parried without any counters, quickly accruing mistakes and several superficial wounds on her body.

"This can’t go on," Eleanor suddenly spoke up from the spectators’ stand. "Sigrdrifa excels at offensive suppression; making her defend passively is like tying her own hands, which doesn’t allow her to use her full strength."

As Sigrdrifa’s long-term sparring partner, she undoubtedly was qualified to make this statement, leaving everyone to start anxiously brainstorming, deeply concerned for Sigrdrifa who was at a disadvantage on the field.

"There’s no other way," Medea frowned. "The opponent has the ’Revenge’ Sequence ability to rebound direct damage, and Sigrdrifa lacks the ability to indirectly cause harm."

The so-called indirect damage, for example, Peggy’s Illusion Sword creating illusions, or Thira using gravity to lift the opponent and make him fall, or Medea manipulating the opponent to injure himself, could bypass the scope of the opponent’s Revenge ability.

However, Sigrdrifa didn’t possess such peculiar abilities, how should she fight?

"Why are you all looking at me?" Aske suddenly said as the girls collectively turned to stare at him.

"Squad Leader must have a way," Peggy said.

"You’ve already thought of a plan, haven’t you?" Medea smirked.

"Aske!" Nora urged. "Quickly, use your wits!"

Aske was speechless for a moment before saying, "Haven’t you already discussed the correct answer?"

A correct answer already? The girls looked at each other, perplexed.

"You mean focusing on defense to avoid the reflected damage?" Eleanor doubted, "But she’s not good at defending..."

"Then attack," Aske said. "Change it from a contest of stamina to a contest of blood, wouldn’t that solve it?"

Silence ensued.

"Right, contest of blood!" Medea slapped her forehead annoyed. "Why didn’t I think of that?"

"That would be very risky, wouldn’t it?" Nora worried. "Any damage she inflicts will also affect her; meanwhile, the opponent can attack full force without holding back..."

"So, we pose a do-or-die stance," Aske said. "You also analyzed that Sigrdrifa’s combat style is best suited for attack suppression."

"Attack Block, then counter, using her high burst attacks to overwhelm the opponent and spread the inflicted damage evenly between them."

"Once both sides are critically injured, whether their physical condition can support the subsequent fight becomes the key factor deciding the victory. At that point, the effectiveness of the equipment is minimal, allowing her to drop her weapons and finish the fight barehanded."