Chapter 274: Warm-up Match (13)

“Still too inexperienced.”

Looking at Joey, who was beleaguered, Rhode shook his head. He was very clear that this time, it was Joey’s mistake. The reason was not because his skill was lacking, but because he lacked experience. Comparing their skills, his and Hubert’s were almost equal to each other, but as for experience, even ten Joeys couldn’t match Hubert. After all, Hubert was a mercenary group leader; certainly, he had experienced more things than Joey. The fact that their mercenary group had survived until now meant that Hubert was not someone to be trifled with. Did Joey really think that just because he had the upper hand he could have won?

However, Rhode wasn’t really disappointed in him. It was a warm-up match, after all. The main point wasn’t to showcase their strength to other mercenaries, but to analyze the problem that they encountered in this warm-up match. The reason that Marlene and Lize had performed perfectly was related to their psychological and adventurous experience. But now, it was time for Joey the rookie to come up to the stage, and it immediately exposed his problem in lack of experience.

However, for Rhode, this was something that he was happy to see. If he discovered this problem during the Midsummer Festival, it would really be a big problem.

Currently, Joey had fallen into the most troublesome situation for a Thief: being surrounded.

A Thief’s lurking skill was not invincible; he needed the space and time to do that. Although advanced level thieves could easily erase their own sense of existence, Joey had obviously not reached that level yet. That was why he needed to rely on equipment, time, and space to do so.

Unfortunately, because he was surrounded by four people, he had lost space and time.

What would Joey do?

That was what Rhode wanted to see.

In fact, when he realized that his attack was blocked, he was surprised. He wasn’t stupid and soon realized that he had made the wrong choice. More importantly, now, he had no way to make up for his mistake.

When he thought of this, Joey tried to find a way. He immediately waved the dagger in his hands and blocked Hubert’s longsword. He was trying to suppress Hubert to the side and dodge another attack by withdrawing.

But this time, Joey found out that he was too late.

Unlike the other two elite teams from before, this team was personally handpicked by Hubert. He had chosen some elites from mercenary groups that were in a good relationship with him, and the two others were his own subordinates. Moreover, he was the only leader of a mercenary group fighting; naturally, everyone obeyed his orders to attack. Joey’s petty trick might have able to fool ordinary mercenaries, but it wasn’t really a big threat for a veteran. From the beginning, Hubert’s attack wasn’t intended to harm Joey. Instead, he just wanted to catch him and ensure that his siege formation was completed. Now the task had been done, Hubert also withdrew.

When Joey noticed, he wanted to escape, but it was already too late. Unlike previous teams, this team consisted four swordsmen and a Thief.

One of the swordsmen had been attacked by him, so only three swordsmen and a Thief were left. But their numbers were just enough for them to form a perimeter to surround Joey. This time, he wouldn’t be able to get away.

Sure enough, as Joey dodged the second attack, he soon realized that there was a faint breeze blowing from behind. As a Thief, he was naturally aware of where it came from. He immediately ducked his head without hesitation. Behind him, a dagger flew over, grazing his head and cutting off a few hairs, but it didn’t cause any harm to him.

However, it was still nota good news for him because at this time, a mercenary suddenly kicked his calf to the side. Dodging three attacks continuously was a very difficult thing to do for Joey as a Thief. Not to mention that his opponents were experienced elites—their skill in seizing opportunities was, of course, better than his.

Joey’s body staggered and fell to the ground. At the same time, the other three immediately came forward and to finish him off. The four of them encircled Joey, making the audience unable to see what happened.

However, Joey was able to see everything clearly.

As he fell down, he saw a foot try to kick him, which made him feel frightened. He rolled to the side to avoid further attack. The four of them didn’t stop there; they began to launch a second and third attack. Besides dodging, there was nothing that Joey could do. He could only curl his body to block the enemy’s attack while waving around his dagger in order to increase his attack range and space.

Naturally, Hubert could see the little tricks that he was about to do. Even if four vs. one was not a heroic move, it was an indisputable fact that they had gotten the upper hand. Hawk wasn’t the only one who didn’t care about his pride; in fact, top mercenary group leaders usually had their pride ranked second as long as they gained the upper hand. Well, at least now, he was on the winning side, right?

For a time, the situation had gotten even more chaotic. Joey was rolling around like a loach in order to dodge the opponent’s attack. He wanted to get up, but he couldn’t find enough space to do so. He wanted to jump and stretch his body; by doing so, he would be able to slow down their movement. However, it was already difficult enough to dodge their attacks. If he tried to slow down their movements, he was 100% sure that he would lose.

“Leader, Joey seems to have encountered a problem.”

Randolf asked with a worried expression. Sitting beside him, Lapis also had forgotten to be nervous around the crowd. She tightly pulled Randolf’s cloak and uneasily gazed towards the ring.

Even Anne, Lize, and Marlene also seemed anxious. After all, in the first and second battle, they had won too easily. It gave everyone the illusion that defeating these elites with their current strength wasn’t a really difficult thing to do…

Of course, strength and experience were two different things.

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“We’ll see.”

Hearing Randolf’s inquiry, Rhode didn’t even turn his head and only replied with one sentence. Rhode actually noticed that although Hubert’s encirclement seemed very tight, it was not without weaknesses. The question was, could Joey catch that weakness? If he could, it meant that Joey really understood the true meaning of being a Thief.

But on the other hand, if he couldn’t find the weakness and took the chance…

At any rate, Rhode couldn’t do anything besides remaining silent.

It was not his battle, after all.

“Haa!!”

Dodging the attack one more time, Joey had begun to feel tired. At first, he was hoping to escape from the gap between the four of them. If he succeeded, he would be able to once again lurk in the terrain and make up for his mistakes.

However, Hubert obviously did not intend to give Joey such a chance. Joey attempted it several times, finally realizing that if he forced his way out, he would eventually be stopped by them and lose his speed. After that, the outcome could be expected.

Then, what should I do?

There was no point regretting the choice he had made. Now, the only thing he could do was look for opportunities… look for opportunities…

Thinking until here, Joey was suddenly surprised.

Did opportunity have to be something he had to find?

Wrong! Opportunity was something he should create by himself! It was impossible to have any results by just blindly waiting!

Thinking until here, Joey’s eyes shone. He was no longer as unprepared as before, when facing those attacks. To the contrary, he seemed to have found something. He stretched out his hand and swung his dagger to block Hubert’s sword.

“Clang!!”

Their weapons collided with each other and a crisp sound echoed. Although Hubert’s attack had been stopped, Joey’s body also staggered. Naturally, the other three didn’t plan to let go of this opportunity and attacked Joey once again. At this moment, Joey finally made his move.

He lowered his arm and abruptly deflected Hubert’s sword. This made Hubert lose his balance for a moment. At the same, Joey stood up and escaped the Thief who was going to launch a sneak attack on him. Unfortunately, the remaining two mercenaries seized this opportunity and attacked Joey. Although he tried his best to dodge, he still became heavily wounded.

Got him!!

Feeling their swords come in contact with something, the two mercenaries felt joy, but soon, they fell into panic because they found out that Hubert, who had lost his balance, and the Thief who had failed his attack were falling towards them!!

For a while, the two men immediately rushed back, trying to distance themselves from them. Hubert also didn’t expect that after his sword was deflected, a long sword was pointing towards him. He couldn’t help but retreat to dodge it. The group turned into chaos, and Joey’s eyes shone.

Now!!

His body shook, and he jumped out of their encirclement like a ghost. At the same time, Joey once again waved his dagger.

Thump!!

The Thief who passed by him lost his consciousness, unable to see the threat before him, and fell towards the other two mercenaries. Seeing this scene, the other two retreated in order to avoid the tragedy of killing one of their own. In this chaotic situation, they lost their focus and consciousness all of sudden, falling to the ground.

“Calm down!! Everyone, calm down!!”

Even though Hubert finally noticed Joey’s intention, before he managed to finish his words, Joey had already passed by him and once again disappeared.

To Hubert, this was the worst possible outcome.