Chapter 166: Tournament (Part 3)
After Ian returned to Prince's Square, the third battle was still ongoing.
To be precise, Ian had just witnessed Ander Poole piercing Barry's breastplate with his bastard sword, the tip of the blade sinking into his chest.
This scene greatly shocked Ian. His first reaction was, Is this bastard really that strong?
But the next moment, he realized that it was probably due to the poor quality of the armor.
Even the most ordinary medium-carbon steel plate armor couldn't be pierced directly by a bastard sword, so the sellsword's breastplate was most likely made of wrought iron, at most low-carbon steel, and probably hadn't undergone surface hardening treatment.
Then, Ian recalled the scenes in the books where armor was pierced by swords and spears, and the words of Rol when he taught him swordplay: mastering the 'thrust' was enough to deal with most enemies.
These details made Ian begin to doubt whether he had overestimated the metalworking of this world. Was the quality of armor in this world generally poor? Or at least extremely inconsistent? Good armor could be of excellent quality, but most of it was substandard.
While Barry was just a sellsword, his poor equipment didn't necessarily lead to this conclusion. But what about the Mountain? As Tywin Lannister's top enforcer, his breastplate was still pierced by Oberyn Martell's spear.
Oberyn's spear was poisoned, not enchanted! The fact that it pierced through indicated that the Mountain's plate armor was also of mediocre quality.
If we continue to look for evidence along these lines, the fact that the main weapons of the Westerosi knights are swords, not the maces and warhammers used for breaking armor, further confirms this.
This also explains why so many of the champions on Hazan and Suda's sides wore light to medium armor. The champions were short on coin, but Hazan and Suda were not—they could have easily provided them with better armor, but they didn't see the need.
Thinking about this, Ian chuckled. He realized that he had probably mistakenly aligned the technology here with late medieval Earth because the source material heavily referenced the Wars of the Roses.
He had overlooked the fact that plate armor was constantly improved in competition with firearms on Earth. In the world of Ice and Fire, there were no firearms, so the people here naturally wouldn't excessively pursue improvements in armor performance.
Furthermore, in the bizarre climate of Westeros and Essos, where summers and winters could last for years, the advancement of various basic industries, including ironworking, would also be stunted.
The quality of armor in the world of Ice and Fire (without enchantments) might be more reasonably compared to the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century.
As Ander Poole limped off the fighting platform, the tournament entered the preparation time for the fourth match.
"Ander Poole is injured?" Ian asked Yada, who had returned to the stands beside him, upon seeing this.
"At first, Ander Poole clearly had the upper hand, even landing three blows on Barry without sustaining any damage. But for some reason, Ander suddenly froze at one point during the fight, and was then struck in the right knee joint by Barry's hand axe." Yada clicked his tongue. "Although Ander Poole quickly recovered and used Barry's proximity to turn the tables, his subsequent combat ability will definitely be affected."
Hearing this, Ian smiled.
He deliberately chose to kill Ander's ally Belz when Ander entered the arena, aiming to disrupt Ander's performance on the platform by having the system message about Belz's death interfere with the outcome.
Although this didn't cause Ander to lose to Barry, injuring his leg was still a decent gain.
The contestants for the fourth match were quickly selected by both sides. This time, Hazan sent his Red Priest, Shay, who had served as the Hand of the Holy Flame at the Great Red Temple on the mountaintop.
This man wore chainmail, no helm, and wielded a three-and-a-half-meter-long fighting spear with flames burning at its tip.
Meanwhile, Suda sent out yet another pit fighter.
Ian didn't rush to watch the match. Instead, he accessed the system from the stands and checked his recent gains.
[Successfully killed one player, gained 4 points, seized 6 points, and gained an additional 1 point of mental energy.]
Damned poor bastard! Seeing this loot and extra reward, Ian couldn't help but curse under his breath.
It was clear that Belz had given almost all his resources to Ander, leaving himself only a single point to ensure he wouldn't fall into the bottom three, and he had barely added any attributes to himself.
This intensified Ian's desire for his men to kill Ander Poole, as only in this way could he obtain the corresponding kill rewards.
Ian then checked his updated profile:
[Ian: Strength 32, Agility 27, Spirit 22
Skills: Basic Etiquette, Basic Common Tongue Literacy, Sword Mastery, Advanced Horsemanship, Intermediate Lance, Intermediate Skinchanger, Greenseer Foundation
Attribute Points: 0
Skill Points: 2
Points: 62
Items: Basic Skill Selection Scroll, Skill Upgrade Scroll]
After confirming there were no other issues, he exited the system and resumed watching the match.
The battle lasted for nearly twenty minutes. Although Suda's slave warrior nearly killed the priest Shay several times, he was eventually exhausted by Shay's attacks and finally died from a spear thrust through the chest.
The battle reached its fifth match. Suda sent out a Dothraki slave warrior. Ian, eager to end the fight and not give Ander Poole more time to recover, suggested Hazan send out Bronn.
Bronn lived up to expectations, killing the Dothraki warrior in the fourth minute of the battle.
This brought the tournament to a sixth match, and it was Hazan's turn to send out his champion first.
At this point, Suda's side had two spots remaining. One could only go to himself, and the other would definitely go to the Ibbenese known as the 'Elephant Hunter.'
Theoretically, Suda and Hazan wouldn't be able to fight each other until the very end, so the opponent would most likely send out the Elephant Hunter in the next match.
The Elephant Hunter had never fought in the White Sand Arena, yet his reputation was widespread. Ian didn't know his exact strength, so he planned to let Hazan's man test the waters first. After all, Hazan's side still had two spots available besides Hazan himself, and they had won more matches than they lost in the previous ones, so the margin for error was high.
But Hazan seemed unwilling to suffer such a loss, so the two of them simultaneously thought of one name—Jorah Mormont.
That man was Varys's creature, and Ian certainly wouldn't take him along later, so Ian didn't care much about his life or death. As for Hazan, Jorah was just a sellsword paid for a job.
So, Hazan sent Jorah out in the sixth match.
And unsurprisingly, the opposing side sent out the Elephant Hunter as a counter.
He was a hairy fellow with an unusually broad chest and shoulders, slightly shorter legs and slightly longer arms, covered in muscle, carrying three javelins on his back, a short-hafted iron axe in his right hand, and a shaggy brown shield in his left.
Ib was an island nation located on the Shivering Sea north of the continent of Essos. Its inhabitants mainly made their living by whaling, but their strongest warriors would hunt mammoths on the frozen plains, earning the title of Elephant Hunter. This race was short and powerful, but generally not very bright.
The Ibbenese didn't speak either the Common Tongue or High Valyrian, so the introductions and courtesies were skipped, and the referee immediately announced the start of the match.
The Elephant Hunter moved at the sound, taking two running strides before hurling his javelin at Jorah.
The arena wasn't very large, and the javelin arrived almost instantly before Jorah. Jorah dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the javelin, but the Elephant Hunter's next javelin followed, piercing his abdomen and sending him flying, pinning him to the platform.
"This monster." Ian and Hazan exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
Was this the biggest reason Ander Poole dared to participate in such a life-or-death duel?
(End of Chapter)
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