Jiayi had always been optimistic with Ragnar's potential, the first they met. But watching him now, facing this challenge with such grit and determination, she couldn't help but see him in a new light.
"Don't hold back," Jiayi instructed Ying Li, her voice a low, firm command. She stepped back, taking a position on the edge of the training ground, her gaze fixed on the two of them.
"I'm sorry," Ying Li whispered, bowing slightly to Ragnar before spinning her wooden spear.
"Don't be, I'm not that we–Oh, shit!" Ragnar thought he could rely on his enhanced senses to fight Ying Li, but she was too quick. Her spear thrust forward with lightning speed, catching him right in the stomach.
Then Ying Li raised her spear, its tip striking Ragnar's chin with precision, sending him tumbling to the ground, landing on his backside.
"You Master and Student are the same," Ragnar grumbled, rubbing his bruised chin as he pushed himself up using his spear as a crutch. His eyes narrowed with a newfound focus, and he lunged forward at Ying Li.
Ying Li ducked, dodging the spear, and stepped back. She held the end of her spear, striking Ragnar's chest.
Ragnar clutched his chest. His bones were still tender from Jiayi's earlier strike. He glared at Ying Li, reaching out to grab her spear before she could pull it back.
"Let go! This isn't the right way to fight!" Ying Li shouted, trying to pull back her spear, but Ragnar held on steadily.
Ragnar smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes, before yanking the spear with all his might.
Ying Li stumbled forward, surprised by his sudden move.
But before Ragnar could take advantage and fight back, a small rock struck his hand with pinpoint accuracy, a sharp sting shooting up his arm.
"Hiss! What the hell?" Ragnar took as sharp breath, waving his hand to brush off the sting.
"I told you to hold back! You can't use your real strength," Jiayi stated, circling them while holding pebbles in her hand. "You're also here to learn how to wield a weapon."
Ragnar sighed, holding the spear with both hands, focusing on Ying Li. He stabbed and twisted his spear. When she ducked, his eyes lit up. 'Now!' His left hand pushed the end of the spear up, while his right slammed it down.
Ying Li's eyes widened slightly. She spun, dodging, and watched as the wooden spear slammed into the ground. She put her foot on top of it, then lunged, stabbing her spear toward Ragnar's head.
Ragnar, with a cold sweat breaking out, pulled his head back, dodging the spear's tip by a hair's breadth. Then he gritted his teeth, forcefully raising his spear even though Ying Li was standing on it.
Ying Li, surprised for a moment, spun, leaping into the air, landing on the ground silently, her feet barely while perfectly balanced and ready to strike again.
"Damn... Super Hero Landing" Ragnar whispered, looking at Ying Li who landed like Black Widow in the movies. "People really do that thing?" He asked curiously, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be fighting.
Ying Li, her frown deepening, whispered, "You talk too much." She thought he wasn't taking her seriously, she stood tall, spinning her spear as she closed the distance between them, ready to make him pay attention.
Ragnar took a step back, feeling a wave of unease wash over him. His fighting style was basic, limited to simple stabs and slashes, up and down, left and right.
Facing Ying Li, who moved with such fluid grace and precision, honed in training since she was a child, he knew he couldn't win a head-on confrontation.
But before Ragnar could take another step back, a pebble hit him on the foot. He heard Jiayi's voice scolding him.
"You need to fight and stop running away! Win or lose, without doing anything, you'll never find out what the results will be." Jiayi advised softly from the side, holding another pebble between her fingers, ready to throw again if he didn't listen.
Ragnar pursed his lips, looking down. He noticed, for the first time, that he was already at the edge of the training ground. He looked up at Ying Li, who was getting closer with each step.
'Think! Think of a way!' Ragnar tried to focus and look around for anything that could help him win. Yet, the only thing he saw was dirt and grass on the ground. The helpful things, the tools that might help him, were on the table, too far away from his current position.
'That's it! Dirt!' Ragnar looked down at the ground, his eyes shining. He remembered the fighting techniques of villains and heroes in the movies, the ones they used when they were about to lose.
"Fighting Dirty?! It's called Resourcefulness!" Ragnar muttered to himself, comforting himself. He stabbed his spear into the soft earth, digging it in, then looked at Ying Li for a moment, He spun, launching a shower of dirt from his spear tip toward her face.
A gasp of surprise erupted from the side of the training ground as the dirt hits Ying Li in the face, obscuring her vision completely.
"Ahem," Elliot coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly. He glanced around, his eyes darting from Ying Li, who was now frantically wiping dirt from her face, to Ragnar, who was trying to hold back a grin.
"He's a bit... competitive," Elliot said finally, forcing out a weak laugh.
Sicilia, her eyes wide with a mixture of amusement and apprehension, stared at the scene unfolding before her.
Jiayi, on the other hand, remained silent, simply observing the fight's progress.
Ying Li stopped walking. She even stopped breathing, her frown deepening. She wiped the dirt off her face with her hand.
But Ragnar saw this as a perfect opportunity to attack. 'Chance!' he thought, stabbing his spear toward Ying Li, twisting it to apply more force.
Ying Li didn't even open her eyes. She spun her spear, hitting the side of Ragnar's spear, making him miss his target. Then she spun again, using the butt of her spear to strike Ragnar's jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.
Ying Li was about to deliver a final, more forceful blow when Jiayi suddenly appeared behind her, grabbing the spear and stopping it from reaching Ragnar's face.
"Enough," Jiayi said, looking at Ying Li's dirty face with a frown, pulling the spear from her hand. "Go clean yourself up."
Ying Li pouted, wiping the dirt from her eyes. When she opened them, the first thing she did was glare at Ragnar before bowing to Jiayi and walking to her sister's side.
"This was the result you were talking about, right? Me losing," Ragnar said in frustration, sighing as he lay on the ground, staring at the sky. To begin with he never stood a chance against Ying Li in a fight.
Jiayi stayed silent for a moment before raising her hand and lifting Ragnar's wooden spear from the ground. "Yes," she said, walking toward the table to put the spears back in their place. "Because you're not here to win in the first place."
"A defeat can help you grow and give you a chance to be better," Jiayi said softly, walking to his side and looking down at him. "I don't blame you for your way of fighting. Because in a real fight, nothing else is more important than your life."
"But remember, you're not here to fight for your life," Jiayi continued. "You're here to learn. Rest, and we shall continue." She advised before leaving him on the ground.
Jiayi didn't walk far. She stopped for a moment, giving Ragnar one last piece of advice before walking away. "And remember to say sorry. Otherwise, your training will become much harder than it already is. That girl can hold a grudge for a long time."
Ragnar stared blankly at the sky. He knew Jiayi was right. He was here to learn, and cheating wouldn't do him any good, but he couldn't help but be competitive, wanting to win.
'If only I got that violent girl's Weapon Proficiency,' Ragnar thought enviously, focusing at Astrid while checking out the Chat Group.
[Beast Tamer]: Are you going to kill the dragons?
[Viking Champion]: I'm not going to kill the dragons, okay!
[Viking Champion]: We're going to kill a very bad dragon that eatspeople and other dragons as well.
Astrid explained patiently, knowing Luna just had a good heart. She was sitting on Skadi's head, leading the Vikings towards the fog. They were so close to Dragon Island, where the final battle would begin.
[Beast Tamer]: Oh.... Okay. Be careful.
Luna nodded in understanding. Her grandmother had taught her that there were bad guys all over the world, people who would take everything you loved, from your loved ones and friends to your favorite cake.
"That Dragon should be a bad guy like what Grandma said!" Luna clapped her hand as if making a huge discovery before tilting her head in confusion, trying to remember the spell her Grandma taught her to deal with bad guys. She waved her wand in the air. "Crucio?" she whispered.
A red spark appeared on her wand, shooting towards the ceiling for a moment. Luna didn't notice it, tapping her chin.
"That's not it," Luna whispered, confused. She remembered that Crucio was the spell her Grandma taught her to use on a bad person who didn't listen. She felt that Dragon wouldn't listen no matter what happened. There was a specific spell to deal with that, a special spell her Grandma taught her.
"Avada ka–Oh! I remember something!" Luna, who had been whispering slowly, suddenly lit up, clapping her hands excitedly. Remembering her friends, mostly Emerald, were asking for something delicious to eat.
[Beast Tamer]: After you kill the dragon, can you give me a bit of its meat?
[Beast Tamer]: Emerald wants something delicious. I think she had a stomach ache from eating spiders.
[Beast Tamer]: Maybe she would like a dragon from a different world.
[Viking Champion]: ....
[Viking Champion]: Okay.
Astrid was slightly speechless, knowing Emerald was a basilisk, or rather, a giant snake, which was no different from a dragon.
"She has a soft heart, but her friend's appetite doesn't," Astrid whispered softly, rubbing Skadi's scales. It wasn't a problem for her to give Luna a piece of the dragon since they wouldn't do anything with the corpse anyway. 'Maybe an armor or shield,' she thought, but the meat would likely be tough and hard to chew.
'Basilisk,' Astrid thought, comparing it to dragons. She didn't know if dragons would also turn to stone after looking into its eyes. She looked down at Skadi, confident that Skadi could handle it. A proud smile appeared on her lips.
'And this girl doesn't eat dragons!' Astrid thought, her smile widening as she patted Skadi's scales lovingly. She knew there were carnivorous dragons like the one they were hunting, but it was rare. Dragons generally preferred fish and sheep.
Skadi breathed out a puff of snow, feeling Astrid's emotions as she passed through the fog with cold eyes. Right behind her were the dragons and Vikings, ready to fight for the next chapter of their lives.
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A/N
Ragnar: I want weapon proficiency too!
Luna: Black Magic? What's that?
Astrid: My dragon is the best!
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