Chapter 184 – Bataru
Chapter 184 – Bataru
This was trust! Senior Wang Zhong thought of him as someone to be relied on, trusted!
He would never become a burden or outlier of the squadron. He would never become just their mascot!
Barran nodded earnestly and took a deep breath before walking silently toward the waiting area. Accompanying him was a clamor of noise.
“Who the fuck gave him the idea to send a freshman newbie as a representative of our academy!?”
“Such a critical fourth match and he didn’t send Grai!”
“Wang Zhong, why don’t you go and die!”
“Wang Zhong, you pig! Scum! Traitor!”
The instant Barran’s feet stepped onto the arena, ear-splitting roars of fury covered the skies and flooded the earth. Quite a number of mineral water bottles were tossed over.
Peng, peng, peng, peng.
A half-filled mineral water bottle smacked against Barran’s body, but he didn’t care to evade or dodge. It was as though he hadn’t felt it. He just stood there peacefully, not moving an inch.
Against such an honest person, the bottle throwers became somewhat embarrassing and the shouts around them grew a bit softer.
Such a pitiful child was actually tossed out like a shield by that traitor, Wang Zhong. Look at him. The child was so frightened and nervous that he doesn’t even dare to move.
“Are you alright, Barran?” Emily called out with wide eyes. When those bottles were thrown she’d grown very unhappy. “If I were little Barran, I’d have picked them all up and tossed them back to where they came from!”
Rather than pay attention to that, Scarlet blinked her large eyes didn’t seem at all concerned about her earlier loss. She was rather worry-free. “Wang Zhong, you already guessed who they’ll send up, right?”
Wang Zhong gave a gentle chuckle. “Rosenberg.”
“Fuck! It’s Rosenberg! Adolf’s main heavy soldier!”
“Heavy soldier against heavy soldier! Before it was assassin against assassin. This is the second match between the same occupations. What can be more tragic than this?”
“Whatever, let’s go. Is there anything worth watching? No point bullying an honest person like Barran. If you’re angry, follow me out the arena doors and stop that Surnamed Wang from coming out!”
“Go! Kill that asshole!”
Quite a few had already started to leave the arena, but the ones outside also rushed in and took up those now-available spots. This meant the arena could maintain a good 70% population in the stands. The only problem was that the atmosphere lacked the previous fire and excitement as it became less crowded.
Those remaining could be called the ones with reasoning still intact. They all still had that final bit of arrogance in them as Tianjing Academy students.
Rosenberg walked over and stood before Barran. He’d been chosen by his captain to deal with this little fellow and felt he had lost some face doing so.
Yesterday, their captain had gathered everyone over to analyze Tianjing Academy’s lineup. The information provided by Headmaster Bradley was very extensive. It even included information from the various internal departments of Tianjing as well as videos of the fights between the Prodigy Society and Saint Judgement.
Many individuals on the opposing side obtained very high evaluations from Captain Cecil. The only one who didn’t get such a thing was Barran, noted as the weakest member. He was an outlier and it was even reported that he’d suffered an injury a few months ago that led to his soul sea collapsing. He was just some random nobody trash that managed to get drafted for the sake of numbers.
Scarlet, Wang Zhong, and freshmen like Grai and Emily all had specially arranged counters set up for them. His own duty was to deal with Grai as heavy soldiers possessed some level of restraint over the nimble and agile single-handed sword wielder. When Grai wasn’t sent up, his own opportunity had been wasted so he was sent to finish off the fourth match.
Had they given up already? This was indeed very straightforward!
Sending out any substitute member from their own squadron, regardless of occupation, would’ve been enough to deal with this waste. Their captain had insisted that he, the main heavy soldier, go up. Winning the fourth match would mean there wouldn’t be a fifth match; their captain wanted to show some level of respect for Tianjing.
That was fine. The person he respected the most was Cecil, so if Cecil wanted to show respect then Rosenberg would be just a bit more serious. After all, if his performance was too casual, his captain wouldn’t be happy— wha?
Rosenberg suddenly felt a chill come over him, as though he were about to experience some hidden danger. It instantly wiped out those crazy ideas in his head.
As the main heavy soldier of Adolf Academy, he possessed the necessary ability to sense danger and keep the squadron from being wiped out.
Currently, he felt slightly astonished. He sensed that the hidden danger was actually being emitted from the little fellow before him, Barran. A pair of eyes stared tightly at him. They were so intent on their target that they didn’t even take in the world around them. This wasn’t a gaze possessed by a person who’d given up. On the contrary, there was a feeling of barbarism and ferocity within them.
Interesting…
Rosenberg lowered his body slightly and leveled his center of gravity.
When dealing with heavy soldier, the best thing to do was send out their occupational nemesis, a cannoneer. Other occupations were unable to gain much of an advantage in a fight against a heavy soldier. Heavy soldier against heavy soldier was even more straightforward. There was no need to be like an assassin and walk the edge of a blade, nor was there a need for a ranged soldier’s calculations when shooting or predicting an opponent’s next step. The elegant and graceful sword techniques of those all-rounded swordsmen was also needlessly flashy.
What a heavy soldier required was very simple—Strength!
It was a head-on collision between two forces, a clash of hot-bloodedness and emotions! The strongest were to be respected!
Peng!
Rosenberg’s muscles swelled and tightened. Regardless of whether it was his captain’s request or the gazes sent toward him by his opponent, he decided to fight with his full strength!
Swelled muscles completely filled out the slight gaps within his armor, causing a ‘peng, peng, peng’ sound to ring out.
On the contrary, Barran didn’t seem to have anything ready. Other than his grave expression, his body actually seemed to grow somewhat more relaxed.
The image of himself bursting out and killing that mutated red spider in the small forest played out in his mind. It had been replayed in his thoughts numerous times during the last two months. Every scene flowed through his mind as he recollected himself. He didn’t need to think too much about what he was about to do. All he needed was one move!
‘During that instant when the second force overlays the first, your body and soul sea will have to take on an immense load. That night in the forest, you managed to master the essence of this technique. The reason why your soul sea collapsed was because you were too tense!’
‘Persevere! Concentrate! Rely on your instincts!’
‘Barran, you’ll just become more stupid if you continue to bash around like that.’
‘Haa… This fellow had been completely duped by Senior Wang Zhong. He’s very naive. I’ve never heard of someone being able to create an ultimate move by just banging against walls.’
Those comments warranted just one response… Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…
Relax, be more relaxed. Adjust my breathing. Calm my mind…
Ding!
The bell rang and Rosenberg rushed forward like an armoured train. His heavy steps made the entire arena tremble faintly. He wanted to send this fellow flying straight out of here!
Barran’s eyes lit up furiously in an instant.
He leaned back slightly and drew in a mouthful of air. It was like he wanted to suck in all of the oxygen from the competition grounds!
Then, like a coiled spring being released, he shot straight toward Rosenberg with a frightening speed!
“BATARU!”1
Barran’s eyes turned scarlet-red as his voice rang out like palace grand bells. His roar seemed capable of apathetically destroying the current atmosphere of the competition grounds!
Bang!
There was no gaudiness between a showdown of brave warriors!
The terrifyign might of these two extraordinary people violently slammed against one another. It was akin to a comet smashing into the Earth, generating a huge shockwave that radiated out in ripples from the two men as the center.
Barran and Rosenberg released their full strength, to the point where their eyes turned red. Within this arena, the two main characters entered an instant stalemate!
1. The nickname of a hero or brave soldier in ancient Chinese.