Return of the Female Knight

The man next to Derek spoke.

“I wonder which group is going up against ours? I hope the teams will be as similar as possible.”

Derek inwardly agreed that it would be easier if they went up against a team of defensive knights as well. They had to avoid an aggressive one as much as possible, as a frontal assault would be difficult for them to cope with.

The host spoke with a booming voice again.

“All the knights have been drawn. Now we will choose which groups will face each other.”

The drawings started, and a thrill of anticipation shivered through all the knights. Group three’s match up quickly came.

“Group three will face…oh, group six!”

At the host’s words, Derek’s eyes turned towards group six. Then suddenly, his face darkened.

‘…No luck.’

Group six was a powerful team full of muscular knights. This was the last thing Derek wanted. He gave an involuntary sigh, then looked back at his team members with calculating eyes.

‘Including me, we only have four offensive knights.’

Group six, on the contrary, group six had at least ten of them.

“It’ll be hard with group six as our opponents.”

Indeed, it was the worst match up anyone could think of, as if lady luck had completely turned its back on them. This was the last game right before the one-on-one battles, and one could not afford to be injured here.

Derek remained quiet as he assessed the situation. There were only four offensive knights on Derek’s side that had to deal with other group’s ten. Group three was mostly made up of long distance support archers, so they could only hold an advantage of group six was as far away as possible. Derek’s team would crumble if group six managed to close the distance. Therefor, the key was to keep group six as far away as possible.

Derek addressed his team members.

“We haven’t fought yet, so let’s not lose our morale yet.”

One of the knights answered with a slightly hopeful look.

“So you’re saying there’s a chance?”

“I have a plan, but I’m not sure how effective it would be. But now that we’re here, shouldn’t we do our best?”

Everyone nodded at his words. While the combination of knights in group three wasn’t favorable, none of them took a negative attitude about their situation.

Derek looked on at the group in satisfaction. No matter how skilled a team’s members were, it would collapse quickly if they all didn’t work together. He continued to speak carefully to his group.

“If anyone else doesn’t have another opinion, then I’ll tell you my plan.”

The men gathered around him, and Derek used a branch to draw their movements and explain his strategy with as much detail as possible. As he and his members huddled in concentration, the matches between groups one and four, and two and eight were held.

Group eight had Lord Joel from Lunen, and they won an overwhelming victory for their team. At the moment, that made Joel the only knight to have a perfect score in all the categories, and was the only one guaranteed to move on to the final rounds.

“Now come forwards, groups three and six!”

At the call, all the knights of the respective groups came forward. For the tactical game, simple camps were established on each group’s side, and the goal was to capture the flag of the opposing team. Derek’s team was given a red flag, and the opposing team was given a blue flag.

Group three exchanged glances with each other. Laid out before them were fifteen swords and fifteen bows for the knights to select. Almost all of them chose bows, except for the four that used swords as their primary weapons. They had decided that it would be expedient to choose the weapons they were most skilled at.

The spectators couldn’t help but look on in wonder. Although group three had the advantage of long-range weapons, some thought there should be more sword-wielding knights, otherwise, there was no way to stop the opposing team from barreling through them. Some of the crowd whispered among themselves, “Group three seems to have given up already.” Then the host spoke once more.

“The match between groups three and six will now begin! Everyone ready!”

The tension between the two groups mounted as they waited for the signal. The host waved the flag in his hand and shouted out,

“Start!”

Kungkungkungkungkung!

It was as if the sound of drums rang out in the arena. Derek and a small number of knights rushed towards the enemy camp.

“Ahhhh!”

Group three gave a loud battle cry as they immediately leapt into assault. Group six was taken by surprise, as they expected to take the initial strike while group three went on the defensive. A knight from group six shouted loudly.

“Don’t let them enter the camp!”

At that moment, group six blocked their opponent’s advance, and the two groups collided into each other’s. There were shouts as swords clashed and clanged against each other. Group six was unprepared for the strike, but they had the advantage in numbers. It was then—

Hwiiiiig.

A streak of arrows flew in the air from group three, and the knights from group six scattered in confusion.

“Arrows! Get away!”

The knights either hid themselves behind pillars or knocked away the arrows with their swords. However, that was only the beginning, and more volleys began to rain down on them. Group six had a relatively small number of arrows in comparison, and were weaker in fighting long distances. One of the knights of group six yelled to the other men.

“We have to deal with the archers from group three.”

“But…”

Derek’s team now seemed to have an opening. The volley of arrows from his group caused group six to fall into confusion, and several knights had already been incapacitated. The group six knight who had been giving orders to his team turned ashen.

“…Damn it.”

Group three was by far the weaker of the two, but a swift, preemptive attack had given them an early lead. They had made the team’s defense into a more favorable offense. Now, the group six knights were caught in the fire, and several had already been injured.

In the midst of the chaos, Derek bolted into through the line of the enemy camp. The game was won by the team that captured the opponents’ flag first. From the start, group three had aimed for a swift victory with a surprise attack.

Group three cheered loudly for their leader.

“Lord Derek, run!”