Swords, magic, and martial arts

Chapter 123 Combat Techniques

Before the match officially started, Rod observed the surrounding opponents, intending to choose a weaker team to face. However, he found that the surrounding teams all looked very strong, and their momentum alone was much stronger than the opponents he had faced in the previous match.

"Don't rush out like you did in the last game. Stay close together today," Rod instructed Baron.

Baron nodded, tried out his two-handed sword, and said, "In the last match, I saw that Hammer had been sullen lately, so I went with him to vent. I'll take this match more seriously."

"Are you alright?" Rod asked, noticing that Miles beside him was pale and trembling.

"No, it's nothing," Miles replied, holding a sword in one hand, but he didn't look like he was alright.

"Relax, we didn't expect you to do anything." Baron patted Miles on the shoulder.

Although he was telling the truth, it sounded so hurtful.

With a resounding bugle call, the final of the team competition of the athletic tournament officially began.

Each team acted cautiously, taking their time to conserve energy as they slowly approached their chosen opponents.

Two teams chose Rhodes and his team as their opponents, but when the three teams clash, it will definitely be a free-for-all among the three teams, and they will not join forces to deal with one of the teams.

Soon, a group of people arrived in front of Rhodes and his companions. The people in this group were dressed in very clean and neat clothes, and the materials used seemed to be expensive; they were clearly not a group of mercenaries or adventurers; they should be a group of nobles.

Just as Rhodes was thinking about these things, one of the young men with blond hair tied in a ponytail suddenly charged at them.

He was incredibly fast, as if he had springs in his feet. With a single leap, he instantly reached Rhodes, who was standing closest to the team.

Rhodes had just raised his hand and hadn't even had a chance to raise his sword when he was struck in the chest by the one-handed sword in the man's hand. Rhodes was knocked back several steps by the force of the sword.

He braced himself with his legs to steady himself, and the man pressed his advantage, continuously wielding his one-handed longsword to attack Rhodes.

This person's first attack was incredibly fast and powerful. The current speed and power are much weaker than his first strike; he must have used some kind of combat technique. Rhodes, wielding his sword, fought the golden-haired youth to a standstill, even gaining a slight advantage.

Seeing that he couldn't defeat Rhodes in a short time, the blond man with a ponytail suddenly stopped his attack and rushed towards a bald, muscular man who was fighting his teammate on the other side.

Rhodes saw his movements clearly this time. The blond man with a ponytail leaped forward, his legs pushing off the ground with force, and in the next instant, he arrived next to the bald, muscular man. Using the momentum from his speed, he slashed the bald, muscular man to the ground with a single sword strike.

His teammates were no less formidable. One of them, a young man with a bowl cut, wielded a two-handed greatsword and attacked others in a spinning motion. Wind blades seemed to form around him, tearing many small rips in the clothes of the people around him.

Instead of continuing to observe his opponent, Rhodes approached a red-haired noble youth who was simultaneously dealing with Miles and Messiah.

The red-haired noble youth, wielding a one-handed longsword, steadily suppressed Miles and his companion. Rhodes felt that the situation might have been better without Miles; with him present, Messiah had to protect him with her shield from time to time. Even so, Miles was beaten black and blue.

Rhodes rushed forward and grabbed the red-haired youth's longsword, intending to pull him in front of him and deliver a powerful kick. However, a burst of flame erupted from the red-haired youth's longsword, and Rhodes felt as if he had touched hot water, so he withdrew his hand.

"Didn't you say we can't use magic? Don't you have any sense of noble honor?" Rhodes shouted.

"The arena has a magic-banning circle, so neither magic nor divine arts can be used. Only combat techniques that guide magic power in a special way can be used. Even if I tell you all this, it's useless. Anyway, a lowly commoner like you from the slums doesn't know combat techniques, and you don't understand our nobles' sense of honor!" The red-haired youth was angered by Rhodes's accusation and mocked Rhodes, seemingly showing off his noble status.

If Rhodes were a commoner who cared a lot about his identity, he would probably have been hurt by his words. However, Rhodes is a time traveler. "Are kings and nobles born with special privileges?"

Upon hearing his words, Rod used his inner force to activate the Flame Palm, and red flames ignited on his hands.

"You, how come you can do that too?" the red-haired nobleman said in great surprise, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

Rhodes clenched his fist and found that as long as his internal energy followed the path of the Flame Palm, his hand would still be burning with flames.

He ignored the red-haired noble youth and swung a fiery version of the Taizu Long Fist at him.

Seeing Rhodes's burning fist, the red-haired noble youth quickly raised his sword to block, also coating the sword with a layer of flame.

Rhodes punched the blade of the red-haired youth's longsword hard, bending it.

When the red-haired youth saw his sword damaged like this, he was immediately frightened. Even a sword made of steel had been bent. If it had hit him, it could have crippled or killed him with a single punch. He still had a long life ahead of him to enjoy. How could he cripple himself over a trivial match?

"I surrender." The red-haired noble youth threw the curved longsword in his hand to the ground, and then lay down on the ground without moving.

Rod was both amused and exasperated. If he had known all this during the previous match, he wouldn't have had to struggle so much. He was also grateful to this person.

He was able to bend the longsword with a single punch not because his strength had increased to that level, but because the longsword was bent by the red-haired youth.

The flames softened the sword, and since the temperature of his own Taizu Long Fist was even higher, he was able to bend the sword.

He remembered that the melting point of steel in his previous world was over 1,500 degrees Celsius; if it were higher, the steel would melt directly into molten iron. Rhodes now thought about it and realized that his ability to withstand such high temperatures without injury was completely contrary to his understanding.

Molten iron at over 1,000 degrees Celsius can destroy even a Terminator, and a person who falls in will be instantly killed. Yet he can attach flames of over 1,000 degrees Celsius to his hands without getting hurt. This can only be explained by magic.

It's possible that magic has greatly enhanced the resistance of creatures in this world to dry fire and cold, after all, there are quite a few dragon-slaying heroes who can withstand the even hotter dragon breath.

A bold idea came to Rhodes' mind. He mixed his inner strength and magic power and used it to unleash his Flame Palm attack on several teams that were fighting not far away.

Amidst gasps from the audience, a hand formed from flames the size of a one-story house flew towards the group of contestants—

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