Chapter 550: Section 337: Root Boots
The Dragon-man youth held two ancient bronze-colored short spears in his hands.
This was the weapon he had specifically requested, which the City Lord of Snowbird Port had gone to great lengths to acquire for him.
Over the past few days, the Dragon-man youth had learned combat skills with the short spear under Zong Ge’s mentorship.
Thanks to his warrior talent and the Big Arena Badge, he had made a breakthrough, mastering the short spear and making it his primary weapon.
The enemy had used their main weapon, and this time, the Dragon-man youth had his weapon too.
Teng Donglang couldn’t help but reveal a hint of caution.
It was the first time the Dragon-man youth was using a melee weapon, and just by his stance alone, one could tell his proficiency with the short spear far surpassed that of a crossbow.
The Dragon-man youth, holding a short spear in each hand, charged once again.
Ice vines burst from the ground, stabbing towards him.
The Dragon-man youth didn’t dodge the straight thrusts of the ice vines, instead barreling into them, using this to charge the energy for his Counter Dragon Scale strike.
For the entwining and whipping ice vines, his main strategy was to dodge.
If dodging proved too taxing, he would engage in combat with his short spears.
The short spears were of Golden Level, and by their quality alone, they surpassed most of the ice vines.
The quality of these ice vines was uneven; some were at the Golden Level of combat power, others at the Silver Level, and many more at Bronze and Black Iron Levels.
With the advantage of the short spears, the Dragon-man youth once again broke through the defensive line organized by the ice vines and rushed up to Teng Donglang.
Snap, snap, snap.
Teng Donglang lashed out with his long whip.
Both parties unleashed their combat skills at the same time.
The whips clashed with the short spears, nearly wrenching the weapons from the Dragon-man youth’s hands.
The Dragon-man youth’s offensive was halted, but Teng Donglang’s whip shadows continued without end.
The Dragon-man youth was once again forced back.
The battle reached a stalemate.
The Dragon-man youth kept initiating sprints, and no matter how many ice vines there were, they couldn’t withstand him using his primary weapon for the first time.
However, every time he faced Teng Donglang, his onslaught would be wiped out.
Teng Donglang’s long whip had both softness and strength, adept at neutralizing the Dragon-man youth’s aggressive charges.
“This can’t go on!” Bu Quan clenched his teeth, his face growing increasingly worried, “Long Fu squad leader is unable to break through after all this time, whereas Teng Donglang keeps accumulating advantages.”
Observers could clearly see that the range from which the ice vines appeared was growing wider.
After several failed charges by the Dragon-man youth, the coverage radius of the base’s combat skills had expanded to over 80 meters.
In the VIP Observation Room.
Xiong Ju remarked in admiration, “I didn’t expect Long Fu to be so skilled with short spears. But why didn’t he use them in our duel?”
Xiong Ju could never have imagined that the Dragon-man youth had his epiphany after their duel.
Moreover, he had achieved such fruitful results in the few days of intensive training that followed.
The Demon hybrid boss sneered, “He must have underestimated you, Xiong Ju, and nearly lost because of it.”
“Since he was the one to challenge the Gang Leader to a duel of honor, those short spears should have been reserved for the Gang Leader. That must have been his plan.”
The Spring Boxer expressed admiration, yet was puzzled, “It’s hard to imagine why Long Fu squad leader, being so young, excels so much in both martial arts and weaponry.”
The Human Race leader slightly shook his head, scoffing, “He’s taking shortcuts.”
“Notice how his fighting style with the short spears is consistent with how he throws punches. Even where differences exist, they are very slight.”
“Thus, when he usually trains in martial arts, he is also training in spear techniques. Conversely, training with short spears also aids his foundational combat skills. There’s a lot of overlap.”
The Spring Boxer then understood, “Ah, I see now.”
“Eh? That’s a good method. Does that mean I’m also suited for training with short spears?”
The scene was favorable for the Saber Gang, so the leaders felt relaxed and conversed comfortably.
“Even if he’s saved the short spears for this battle, they are useless,” analyzed the Ice Eagle calmly, “The gap between Silver Level and Golden Level is substantial.”
“If Long Fu were at the Golden Level, he wouldn’t have been driven back repeatedly.”
“In fact, a hard weapon like the short spear normally doesn’t get overwhelmed by a flexible weapon like a whip under equal circumstances.”
Meanwhile.
In the friends and family section, Sanda lamented, “If Long Fu squad leader had chosen swords, wouldn’t it be more advantageous?”
He knew about the Dragon-man youth’s crash training.
Zong Ge had coached the Dragon-man youth, and he had advised him not to publicize his warrior talent.
But for the survivors, such things weren’t worth keeping secret.
On the contrary, the Dragon-man youth and Zi Di preferred to announce it, to maintain the Dragon-man youth’s leadership influence.
In the midst of the intense battle, the Dragon-man youth had a similar realization to Sanda’s.
With swords, it would be more convenient to slash and hack through the ice vines and long whip.
The short spears felt somewhat ill-fitting.
Although the spear blade could still execute cutting and slashing movements, it was indeed hard to compare to swords.
“But there was no helping it!”
“If I used swords, there would be a difference from my fighting style.”
“Even with the Big Arena Badge and Zong Ge’s coaching, I wouldn’t have reached this level of proficiency.”
“The learning cost is at least twice as much as the Short Spear, yet my time is far from sufficient.”
Training in swords and other weapons would have to wait until later.
With the Big Arena Badge and his innate warrior talent, it wasn’t difficult for the Dragon-man youth to master other weapons.
After successive failed charges, the Dragon-man youth deeply felt the gap between himself and his opponent.
There was a qualitative difference in their Fighting Energy.
The Dragon-man youth’s weapons and armor were not bad, but the Silver Fighting Energy struggled to bring out their full effectiveness.
The battle had been going on for nearly ten minutes, and the Dragon-man youth had been unable to shake Teng Donglang, not even able to force him to leave his spot.
Teng Donglang didn’t forget to use his words to pressure the Dragon-man youth.
“It’s obvious, Long Fu squad leader, that you’ve worked hard on your Short Spear.”
“It’s a pity.”
“If this is all you’ve got, you are bound to lose today!”
Just then, a shout from Lan Zao came from the friends and family seats.
All he heard was, “Squad leader, it’s the boots!”
“The Gold Level deer leather boots on Teng Donglang’s feet are called Root Boots.”
“They can work with almost all wood element bloodline abilities, greatly enhancing the relevant Combat Skills. Especially for Combat Skills that rely on a base, they offer an 80% amplification!”
The Dragon-man youth heard new intelligence.
While he was fighting, the other members of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps were not idle.
Of course, the Dragon-man youth also knew that the source of the information should be from the Snowbird Port City Lord.
The latter had agreed before this battle to use the Mage Tower to remotely inspect Teng Donglang’s equipment and, through alchemy techniques and breath calculation, to thoroughly investigate the details of the opponent’s gear.
Now, nearly ten minutes had passed since the start of the battle.
The results of the Mage Tower’s investigation were finally delivered to the Dragon-man youth’s ears.
“Root Boots, huh…” the Dragon-man youth sighed in his heart.
An 80% boost was incredibly strong.
It was almost like two Teng Donglangs working together to power up the Combat Skill base.
No wonder his base Combat Skill range spread so quickly.
The Dragon-man youth was outfitted luxuriously, but as the Gang Leader of the Saber Gang, Teng Donglang naturally wasn’t lacking either.
The Root Boots on his feet suited him very well!
The battle continued.
With every charge of the Dragon-man youth, a breeze of hope and anticipation arose.
Then, as he was repelled by Teng Donglang, the hope and anticipation in the audience’s hearts also vanished.
“Teng Donglang’s base Combat Skill is covering almost 100 meters now.”
“The Long Fu squad leader has no hope!”
“It’s not his fault; a Silver Level actively challenging a Gold Level is already a sign of bravery. Unfortunately, courage alone cannot make up for the gap in strength.”
“If Teng Donglang were a brute like Xiong Ju, maybe the Long Fu squad leader would have a chance.”
“No, he still has a chance,” Bu Quan clenched her teeth, stubbornly clinging to hope. She very much wanted to see the Dragon-man youth win.
In the VIP Observation Room.
Ban Langen laughed heartily: “We’ve got this in the bag!”
“No, there are still some uncertainties,” Ice Eagle wasn’t blindly optimistic, “There are still unknown Gold Level items on Long Fu. Why haven’t our Alchemists calculated the exact results yet?”
The Human Race leader chimed in: “Even excluding unknown items, the Long Fu squad leader has the sword-returning Dragon Scale on him. I’ve counted carefully; many times, Long Fu deliberately took hits to charge straight into the Ice Vine; he’s storing energy in the Dragon Scale.”
“Once it accumulates to a sufficient level, he will certainly make an explosive charge.”
“This must be his greatest reliance!”
Many spectators recognized this point.
In fact, this was the Dragon-man youth’s tactic.
Even when attacking with full force, he couldn’t get the better of Teng Donglang wielding the long whip.
So he had to rely on an even stronger offensive method to break the deadlock.
After his battle with Xiong Ju, he realized he lacked a powerful attack method, and now this feeling was even stronger.
The Dragon-man youth had indeed considered addressing this weakness.
But like any Combat Skill, mastery required time.
He had already been racing against time, using it as efficiently as possible. He simply didn’t have the time and effort to start from scratch to practice a mighty Combat Skill.
Fortunately, the Snowbird Port City Lord had proactively lent him the sword-returning Dragon Scale before this battle.
That equipment gave the Dragon-man youth the greatest hope.
Of course, the Dragon-man youth had also thought about using his Bloodline Magic—Dragon Breath.
It was a talent ability from the Legendary Bloodline of the King of Flame Dragon.
But using this kind of Magic-like ability required chanting, which left a big opening.
Even if Teng Donglang stood still, the Dragon-man youth had no chance to do so.
Don’t forget, Teng Donglang hadn’t yet used the Little Thunder God Flying Hammer hanging at his waist since the fight began.
Clearly, Teng Donglang still had a considerable reserve of strength!
He had only used two pieces of Gold Level equipment so far, the long whip and the Root Boots.