Volume 1: Re:Zero -Starting Life as a Samurai Chapter 3 Upgrade Points (Part 1)
After hearing what Makino said, Ogata realized belatedly that everyone in the sword hall, including his master Sakakibara Hanbei, was looking at him with puzzled eyes.
In the center of the sword hall stood a senior brother who was also looking at Ogata with a puzzled look.
Just now, Ogata was concentrating on studying the system, so when it was his turn to step forward for a sword fight, he didn't hear Master Sakakibara Hanbei calling him at all.
After a few awkward dry laughs, Ogata immediately stood up and walked quickly to the sword rack not far away, picked up a wooden sword at random, and then walked quickly to the front of his opponent this time.
His opponent this time is Ogata's senior.
Although he was not very familiar with this senior brother, but according to his memory - this senior brother of his was much better than Makino in martial arts.
Because he was not very familiar with Ogata, his senior brother did not exchange any greetings with Ogata. He simply put the wooden sword on his left waist and half-knelt down.
Ogata followed suit, put the wooden sword on his left waist and half-knelt down.
Seeing that both of them were ready for the sword fight, Sakakibara Hanbei simply shouted "Start".
Ogata and his senior brother both took a mid-range stance.
The so-called middle stance is a sword-holding posture in Japanese kendo.
There are three main knife-holding postures: upper, middle, and lower.
In addition to these three main knife-holding postures, there are other less popular knife-holding postures such as Baxiang and dragging the knife.
Different knife holding postures have different attack characteristics.
The middle stance, with the tip of the sword pointed at the enemy's face, is the most common sword-holding posture used by samurai.
The middle stance is a more versatile knife-holding posture that can be used for both attack and defense.
The upper stance is to hold the sword high above the head, and is primarily an attack-oriented stance. However, because the sword is held high above the head, the body is left wide open, making it a relatively weak defensive sword-holding posture.
The lower stance is to place the sword lower, with the tip of the sword pointing near the enemy's knees. It is a defensive stance that is good at defense but weak at attack.
Switching between different postures according to different combat needs is a basic skill for those great swordsmen.
It was obvious that Ogata couldn't do that yet.
Currently, he is only good at the upper and middle stances.
As for other postures except the upper and middle ones, Ogata can really be said to be a complete novice.
He and his senior brother each took a middle stance and confronted each other.
No one launched the attack first.
Whoever moves first often means who will show flaws first.
Therefore, no one would dare to act unless they are confident that they can kill the enemy with one strike, unless they are a fool.
After confronting his senior brother for a long time, the first person to lose his temper was his senior brother.
The senior brother took a step closer, rushing into Ogata's attack range - while also bringing Ogata into his own attack range.
After stepping into the range that was large enough to launch a thrust at Ogata, the senior brother directly used the thrusting technique from Sakakibara Ittoryu - Bird Stab, and stabbed towards Ogata's chest.
Although the senior brother's movements were fast, Ogata was still able to catch them with his eyes.
Snapped!
There was a loud crash of wood hitting each other.
Ogata blocked his senior brother and quickly took a few steps back to put some distance between himself and his senior brother.
The first round of attack and defense between the two ended in a draw.
——You are truly worthy of being my senior brother…
Ogata adjusted his breathing while thinking to himself.
——The speed just now was really extraordinary... In terms of strength, this senior brother should be on par with me...
Sakakibara Ittoryu is a sword technique that has only been around for a short time.
The founder of Sakakibara Ittoryu was Sakakibara Denichirō, the elder brother of Sakakibara Hanbei, the master of Ogata and others.
Denichirō is a great swordsman who knows a great many styles of swordsmanship.
When he was approaching middle age, Denichirō took the strengths of various schools and developed a new sword technique - Sakakibara Ittoryu.
Sakakibara Ittoryu is a very simple sword technique, as it only has four moves in total - Bird Stab, Water Fall, Tower Climbing , and Dragon Tail.
Bird thorn: a stabbing technique.
Water Fall: A downward chopping technique.
Climbing the stairs: an upward move.
Dragon Tail: A horizontal slashing technique.
There are no fancy secret techniques. From beginning to end, Sakakibara Ittoryu only has these four extremely practical sword techniques with different attack methods.
After Denichirō developed the Sakakibara Ittoryu, he passed it on to his younger brother, Hanbei.
Not long after passing on Sakakibara Ittoryu to Hanbei, Denichirō unfortunately died of illness.
In order to promote the sword technique that his brother spent almost his entire life inventing, Hanbei established the "Sakakibara Sword Hall".
Strive to promote the young swordsmanship of Sakakibara Ittoryu.
Afterwards, Oben was extremely fortunate to become one of the first disciples to become Hanbei's disciple.
——This senior brother is really strong...
——If I don’t come up with some strategies, it will be difficult to defeat this senior brother…
Ogata thought for a moment.
Then he adjusted his sword-holding stance.
He raised the sword in his hand high above his head and adjusted the middle stance to the upper stance.
After Ogata changed his sword-holding stance to an upper stance, there were bursts of exclamations in the sword hall.
Makino, who was kneeling on the sidelines watching the battle, whispered in a voice that only he could hear clearly:
"Is the senior going to use his best skill 'Water Fall'?"
The sword technique that Ogata is best at using is the downward slashing technique "Water Fall" - this is no secret in Sakakibara Sword Hall.
After all, we always practice with each other, and we all know who is good at which sword skills.
After Ogata changed his sword-holding stance to a upper stance, many people in the hall were like Makino - thinking that Ogata was going to use his best sword technique, "Water Fall", to defeat his opponent.
Ogata's opponent, his senior brother, also thought so.
Ogata's senior brother swallowed his saliva and silently prepared himself to defend against "Shui Luo".
Ogata moved his feet, slowly closing the distance between himself and his senior brother.
The senior brother did not avoid him deliberately, allowing Ogata to approach and allowing the distance between them to slowly narrow.
The next moment when the distance between the two of them was so close that their swords could touch each other -
Ogata leaped up slightly, as if he was about to launch a powerful downward strike.
The senior brother, who had already made defensive preparations, raised the sword in his hand at an extremely fast speed, ready to catch the sword that Ogata was chopping down.
Looking at his senior brother raising his sword, a faint smile appeared on Ogata's face.
--I won.
After saying this in his mind with a very confident tone, Ogata suddenly exerted force with his waist and abdomen, causing himself, who had originally jumped into the air, to quickly "sink" back to the ground.
The senior brother who was fooled by Ogata's fake move just now is still holding up his sword for defense.
Brother’s current appearance can be said to be one with his mind wide open.
The state of having your sword wide open is the easiest state to lead to "death" in a sword fight.
Aiming at his senior brother's chest, Ogata directly used the only stabbing technique in Sakakibara Ittoryu - "Bird Stab".
"Well!"
The senior brother who was stabbed in the chest by the tip of the wooden sword took several steps back and then fell to the ground.
[Ding! Use Sakakibara Ittoryu·Bird Thorn to defeat the enemy]
[Gain 30 points of personal experience and 40 points of swordsmanship "Sakakibara Ittoryu" experience]
[Ding! Experience value is full, personal level is upgraded by 1, and 1 skill point is obtained]
[Currently remaining skill points: 1 point]
[Current personal level: Lv8 (0/700)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 3rd Stage (460/500)]
