40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 131 34. Training Day

Richtner gripped his sword tightly, then fell to the ground.

There was an extremely strong stabbing pain in his left neck, and the pain spread and invaded his entire brain, making him unable to stand up and dizzy.He tried to keep his balance, but it was impossible.

His opponent caught a gap in his swordplay, and then revealed it to him with lightning speed.What it brings is excruciating pain.After struggling for a few seconds, Richter of the Eighth Company fell to the floor of the dueling cage.

The composite floor supports his weight well.His brothers stared silently in the darkness below the stage, while he looked up at the light source on the ceiling in silence.

It spilled, cut into irregular pieces by the hideous shape of the cage itself, among other things, like broken gems.It took Richter more than ten seconds to get up, still feeling dizzy.

"How?" The instructor of the Eighth Army asked in his characteristic soft tone.

Richter knew what he was asking.

"I have a clue." He rubbed his neck and replied like this. "But I still don't understand why you can catch the only flaw in my thirty false moves."

"Because you have made so many attempts to confuse me, so many that I can completely ignore them all."

Khalil said while shaking his head.

"You always like to move your wrist before you make a real attack. I have remembered this habit, so I don't need to watch the direction of your blade, or the movement of your shoulder. I only need to watch your wrist."

Richter suddenly realized: "So it is."

"But, like I said, Richter, I'm not very proficient in swordsmanship itself. I didn't win against you in swordsmanship."

He heard his instructor speak softly. "So, do you want to try to find someone else? I think Tarraf of the fourth company should be able to draw with you in swordsmanship."

"He can't," Richter replied mercilessly. "He is really good at swordsmanship, but he always thinks too much. I take a step, he will try to analyze what is hidden behind my step, and then I can take a second step and use my sword hard hit him on the head."

From the darkness below the dueling cage came laughter, and a hoarse cry: "You bastard!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were down here." Richter said without looking back.

"You bastard, you came with me!" shouted Tarraf of the [-]th Company. "You are deliberately mocking me in front of the instructor!"

"I can satirize you anytime, why do I have to do it in front of the instructor?" Richter replied, then he clenched his sword again and rushed towards their instructor.

Khalil stood there quietly, with a helpless expression on his face.Richter is a persistent and serious person, which is why his swordsmanship can improve so fast - but, Khalil really doesn't know much about swordsmanship.

As he said, he did not surpass Richter in swordsmanship, he surpassed him in pure observation and keenness in combat.

"What do you want to learn from me, Richter?" Khalil asked as he blocked the fierce attack. "I can't teach you anything, at least not in swordsmanship."

"You just have to stand there and be attacked by me," Richter said, and then he heard someone from the audience whispering curses at him for his lack of manners.

You can scold me whatever you want, but the instructor doesn't care anyway.thought Richter.

He is right.Their instructors really don't care about such things.

Khalil smiled: "Do you want me to be a stake?"

"My goal today is to bump into you at least once—or maybe twice."

"You see this as the goal of victory?"

"That's certainly not the end goal."

Richter took a step back, took a deep breath of cold air, and then raised the blade sharply, paving the way for his next thrust with a diagonal cut.

After the slash was parried away, he immediately rotated his wrist, exerted strength from his waist, and used the most focused attention to stab a terrifying stab.

This time, it was not blocked.

Khalil lowered his head and looked at his chest.A training sword was pressed there heavily, its own weight and Richter's strength had already pierced that piece of skin, and blood was dripping down the blade.

"Instructor—"

"- Well done." Khalil smiled slightly. "Cyani will be very jealous of your progress."

Richter quietly breathed a sigh of relief, he quickly retracted his sword, turned around, took out a clean white sterilized towel from his own corner, and handed it to his instructor: "Then he has to rush come back to do it.”

Khalil chuckled and began to wipe the blood: "Their return journey is almost over, Richter, and in a few days you will see Siani shouting his name in the corner of the audience."

"."

Richter fell silent, a voice began to loop in his head - 'I, Siani of Terra, will be the next challenger! '

He couldn't help sighing: "I didn't expect that I would miss him a little bit."

Khalil let out a muffled laugh in reply.He returned to the edge of the dueling cage and reached out to open the cage.Richter nodded to him, and then jumped off the ring with his training sword.

His training for today is over. If there is still time, Richter would be willing to play a few more games with his instructors, but now he can't, he needs to rush back to his company commander and go to the ground to perform duties together.

Khalil memorized each of them by name, each face, and each person's duty time.That's why he opened the cage and let Richter go.

Only a few people can practice against the instructor every day, and these opportunities are extremely precious. Therefore, their instructors spent a little time and energy to ensure that everyone's training time will not be reduced.

On the way out, his brothers applauded him in sombre, Eighth Corps-only fashion.Unlike the other legions, there were no compliments, no loud compliments, just calm glances, slight nods, and a few pats on the shoulders and back.

However, there were also many people who challenged him - such as Tarrafer of the [-]th Company, who pointed at Richter in the corner angrily, without saying a word, but gestured a very serious throat cutting salute .

Richter didn't know how to respond, so he simply decided to pretend he didn't see it.

He walked up to the door on the second floor, rushed all the way back to the [-]th company's quarters, and changed into his power armor after a simple cleaning, and went to the hangar fully armed.

His company commander and eight other 190 brothers have been waiting here for a long time.Ground duty tasks are relatively simpler than other tasks, but there is a limit on the number of people in each company, and the maximum number cannot exceed 200.

This restriction was added by Konrad Koz. As for the reason, believe me, you don't want to know what happened to the big melee involving three companies in half a month.

"It's 10 minutes before you're late." Enrique Barbatos said seriously.

"but I do not have."

"Leave this one alone—I heard you made the instructor bleed in the cage today?"

Richter looked at his company commander in surprise: "How do you know?"

Enrique raised his hand and tapped the side of the helmet: "You know, Richter, we are always well-informed—I even know that Tarraf of the [-]th Company is going to duel with you."

"He can't beat me."

"It can't be said for sure. The result of the two of you has always been a tie."

"Not after today."

Enrique smiled lowly: "You'd better beat him dozens of times, so that I can make that bastard from Silian feel better."

Richter didn't answer this question. The "fourth company bastard" in Enrique Barbatos's mouth usually only refers to one person, that is, the commander of the fourth company-he doesn't want to get involved in this things to go.

"So, when shall we start, Captain?"

"Where are you going?"

"On duty?" Richter asked hesitantly.

Enrique Barbatos shook his head, his face was covered by the helmet, so Richter couldn't see his expression clearly, but he could hear the smile in his voice that hadn't been changed by the breathing grill for the time being .

"Today's duty was canceled five minutes before your arrival, by order of the Primarch himself. The 5st Company will fill our vacancy, and we will move with four discrete squads to the Jumping Gang."

"Jump?"

"Yeah, jump gang," Enrique Barbatos let out a dangerous snort. "A few more people have approached Nostramo with their shabby transport ships. I believe the Nightfall will not mind a few more prisoners."

Richter frowned: "So fast? Those prisoners said it took them four months to arrive in Nostramo, but they have only been imprisoned for two weeks now. Why did the world behind them send another one so soon?" Is there a group of people coming?"

"I believe they don't really know what happened to their people on Nostramo." Enrique Barbatos said. "But this is the frontier of the empire, Richter. In other words, there may be everything here, including another world that wants to trade with Nostramo."

"It's better that there are no aliens." A person from the Eighth Company said quietly in the communication channel.Even Richter smiled at his bad joke, put on his helmet, and joined his brothers in getting ready to dance.

And now, he doesn't know one thing.

Sometimes, pre-war jokes and gossip tend to turn out to be true.This is not superstition, but some terrible probability science.

　Also, come back after a meal and continue coding.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)