Monster Hunter: Wild Pointer

“I don’t have much time, so I may not be able to teach you much, but at least I can give you a better understanding of defense.

Come to the training ground behind the assembly hall after 7 o'clock tonight. Don't be late." After saying this, Fabius nodded to Amos and turned to leave the preparation room.

"Seize the opportunity and study hard." Amos smiled faintly.

"Fabius is the top defender. Among the existing hunters, including retired ones, the number of defenders who can be compared with him can be counted on one hand.

Your foundation in defense is too poor, so there is no need to ask someone of Fabius's level to guide you.

But, being familiar to him will also be beneficial to you."

In order to avoid being late, after dinner, Muti left home and came to the training ground behind the Volkswagen Bar.

At Amos's signal, Orlan followed.

He has good coordination and learns quickly. Even if he won't use defensive weapons frequently in the future, it never hurts to accumulate more knowledge.

What's more, Muti's memory is not very good. Amos is worried that when Fabius teaches her something, she will forget it before she has practiced it well. Maybe she will have to rely on Oran, a child with amazing muscle memory and love of taking notes, to help her make up for the lessons.

When they arrived at the training ground, it was just six o'clock, and there was still an hour before the agreed time. The two of them each took the training weapons from the weapon rack and practiced independently.

About a quarter of an hour before seven o'clock, Fabius also arrived near the training ground.

Noticing that Muti and the young swordsman who was brought by Amos and who he said was very talented were training, he did not go over immediately. Instead, he found a more secluded position and observed quietly.

Muti was practicing swinging his gun, occasionally interspersed with a few shield-bumping movements, which gave him a headache.

In this era, there are fewer and fewer young people who are willing to be honest defenders.

He turned his attention to Orlan again.

The training ground was a public place, so in order to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Orlan didn't practice those moves that normal hunters would consider to be very unreasonable.

Instead, he was seriously swinging the sledgehammer in practice.

Wait, why a sledgehammer?

Just practicing for fun? No, the swing was very standard, the center of gravity was stable, and the inertia was very smooth. This was obviously the result of systematic training and could be fully applied in actual combat.

As a katana user, it makes sense to practice using a sledgehammer as a secondary weapon to adapt to different hunting needs.

Fabius was thinking this when he saw him put down the sledgehammer and picked up the one-handed sword. After a while, he changed into the broadsword, katana, and double swords one after another.

He then picked up the chopping axe, the insect-controlling stick, and even the hunting horn and played with them a few times, looking pretty good, but his proficiency was obviously not as good as the previous ones.

"An all-rounder like Aiden?" the old man muttered to himself.

Fabius shook his head as if expressing some emotion and walked into the training ground.

Seeing the old man coming, Muti and Orlan quickly stopped what they were doing and put their training weapons back on the weapon rack.

Facing Fabius's gaze, Orlan's expression was somewhat stiff.

The other party had not invited him, nor had he promised to give him any guidance, but he still came here talking to himself. Although Mr. Amos said it was okay, it was still a bit awkward.

Fortunately, Fabius took the initiative to break the awkwardness. "Your name is Orlan, right? I heard the guild leader mention you. You're the same age as Muti, and also a three-star?"

"Yes." Orlan bowed his head in respect.

"It seems like you know a lot of weapons."

"Well, I learn things quickly, so I practice a variety of things, but the only five that I can really say I'm proficient in are the katana, broadsword, one-handed sword, double swords, and sledgehammer." Orlan answered honestly.

Fabius stared at him and asked in a gloomy tone, "I see you've practically practiced every melee weapon, even the hunting horn, but you've skipped all defensive weapons. Do you really hate defense?"

Orlan was embarrassed.

He understood the other party's implication - since you hate defense so much, why are you looking for me?

"No, I don't hate it. I'm just not good at it, so I shamelessly tried to make up for my shortcomings." Orlan replied with a dry laugh.

Fabius snorted, realizing that Orlan was insincere.

"You two, take up your shields and follow me."

Chapter 150 The Way of Defense

"Don't you need a weapon?" Orlan asked tentatively.

"No need." Fabius led the two men holding large shields to an empty corner.

"Defense, like offense, is a vast and profound subject, the details of which could not be fully taught in this class, even in days, nights, weeks, or even months.

So today, I won't teach you too many basic things, and there's no time to teach them. I can only give you a basic understanding of what defense is."

The Olangmuti all nodded.

The so-called "defense" is a much broader concept than the method of using a certain weapon, and it is difficult to express it in a few words.

It's like a hunter trainee comes to them and asks "How do you attack?" Even if both of them can be considered good at attacking, they don't know where to start.

You can't just say "Attack means killing monsters," right? Defense could be summarized as "Defense means blocking monsters' attacks," but what's the difference between that and not saying anything at all?

"You two, stand ten meters apart, then raise your large shields and collide with each other." Fabius pointed at the two of them and said.

"Is this okay?" Muti asked cautiously.

Hunter weapons used for training are also hunter weapons, and hunter weapons cannot be used against people. This is the guild's iron rule and must not be violated in the slightest.

Fabius glanced at her and said, "So I only let you take the shield, not the weapons."

"Ooh!"

Muti nodded in understanding, then stepped back a few steps with his large shield, indicating that he was ready.

Orlan came across to her.

Looking at Muti who was eager to try and kept rubbing his feet on the ground, Orlan felt a little numb on his scalp. If he had a head-on collision with him, he was afraid that he would fly out.

Without giving them time to think, Fabius announced the start.

"Hahah!" Muti exerted force on his feet and rushed forward like a mad wild boar king.

Orlan also symbolically took a few steps forward, and then at the moment of the collision, he raised his large shield and leaned sideways, and the two crossed each other.

Muti rushed out for another five or six meters before he barely stopped.

Just as she was about to start the "human car" again, Fabius raised his hand.

"Okay, stop."

Muti puffed his lips and stood still, while Orlan secretly swallowed his saliva. He was very sure that Muti really wanted to knock him away with his shield.

What a great hatred.

"Do you realize the problem?" Fabius walked over and pointed his finger at Muti. "What you did just now is called an attack."

Then he nodded at Orlan, "And yours is called dodge."

Giving the two a few seconds to think, Fabius then took the shield from Orlan and said, "Mutti, come and hit me, just like you did just now."

Muti nodded vigorously, and the humanoid wild boar rushed out again.

Orlan was concentrating and carefully observing Fabius's movements. At first, Fabius's posture was more casual and his muscles and joints were more relaxed.

But at the moment of the collision, his body tensed instantly, and the large shield placed at his side was lifted in front of him.

With a loud "bang", the two large shields collided heavily.

Fabius did not retreat a single step, and his body did not even shake.

As the active attacker, Muti felt as if she had hit a city wall. The reaction force transmitted back to her arm through the shield pushed her to the ground.

"This is called defense." Fabius lifted his defensive stance and said in a deep voice, then said to Muti:

"continue."

Muti was very obedient. He got up from the ground, shook his arms which were numb from the shock, then raised his shield again and started charging.

Orlan keenly noticed that at the moment of this second collision, Fabius lowered his center of gravity a little and tilted his shield at a not-so-obvious angle.

He immediately realized that Fabius was planning to demonstrate his power this time.

However, what happened in the end was something he could not have expected. In this second collision, Muti completely lost his balance and flew to the side.

Muti rubbed his painful head and got up from the ground. Before he could catch his breath, he heard Fabius say:

"Come again."

"Woo——"

Muti had no choice but to return to Fabius again, took a deep breath, and started the third charge.

Because the first two falls were very painful, she subconsciously reduced the strength a little during the third collision.

Orlan noticed this, and of course Fabius noticed it too, and he pushed his shield forward imperceptibly.

After a muffled "bang", Muti did not fly out again, but stood firmly in place, with confusion written all over his face.

She felt that the force of her charge was completely offset. Although her arms were numb again, her body did not even shake and she stood completely still.

Fabius put down his shield and said, "Hold on, unload force, offset, these are all very common defensive techniques, and there are many similar techniques.

However, mastering any of them is not something that can be accomplished in a short period of time. It requires a lot of training and the accumulation of countless practical experiences.

In a sense, defense is more difficult than offense. How to maintain your position against monsters dozens or even hundreds of times your own size is a complex science."

Muti and Oran nodded rapidly.

What Fabius just demonstrated was far more shocking than splitting a wooden stake with a sword, and it completely shattered their understanding of the concept of "defense".

"Olang, it's okay that you don't like defensive weapons. Focusing on offense is the right path. Dodging or some counter-attack techniques may be more suitable for you than defense.

But you are different, Muti. The weapon you chose is a gunlance. There is a reason why the gunlance is used with a large shield. The core of a weapon like a gunlance is its ability to be both offensive and defensive.

Focusing on offense is a personal style and there is nothing wrong with it, but if you completely give up defense and only know how to attack, then you are destined to fail as a gunner.

Take the battle today as an example. If you are also good at defense, there are many opportunities to use less force to create bigger flaws, or even directly knock the big monster bird to the ground.

But because you don't know these things, you can only use the most brutal and brainless way to resist with your own strength.

This time, your opponent is a giant bird, so it's not too difficult. But what if your opponent is a horned dragon, or a tyrannosaurus? What if it's a more terrifying monster like the ones your parents have faced?

Can you withstand their attacks with just strength and no skills?"

Muti's face was filled with confusion and bewilderment. After a period of silence, she said uneasily, "Teacher Fabius, I understand what you mean. I will improve my defensive skills, but..."

"But what I said is somewhat different from what Amos said, right?" Fabius asked with a smile.

"Let me guess. Is he saying, even though you've chosen the gunlance, don't limit yourself to the defensive role. You can still focus on offense, and defense is just a means to make your offense smoother?"

"How do you know?!"

"Because he's a katana wielder."

"."

The other two "katana users" at the scene looked at each other in silence.

"The underlying logic of the katana is attack. Dodging is for attack, parrying is for attack, and blocking is also for attack. It seems that only things that exist for attack have meaning.

Some people even say that the best defense is offense, hehe."

Fabius leaned on his large shield and snorted coldly, "If what you hold in your hand is a katana, then I have nothing to say.

But now you have a gunpowder! A gunpowder that can be used for both offense and defense!

As a gun wielder, how can you attack if you don't know how to defend?!"

Chapter 151 Suitable Mentor

The class continued late into the night.

Apart from some small tricks that could be learned quickly, Fabius did not directly teach the two young men much technical knowledge.

The two of them have a very poor foundation in this area. They can't understand or learn the complex and difficult things when they are taught. There is not enough time to teach them the basics.

It is better to use it as a demonstration class to let them realize from the bottom of their hearts that defense is a delicate art, not just raising a shield.

Of course, this alone is not enough, and Fabius gave Muti some more specific advice.

"To be honest, I can't find enough time to teach you personally, but I can introduce you to a teacher who is truly suitable."

Muti nodded obediently. The other party was very busy with official duties, and it was quite difficult for him to spare an evening to accompany them.