Chapter 11 Chapter Eight

Zac advanced with a series of low thrusts.Drizzt wanted to retreat quickly and regain his balance; but the opponent's relentless offensive followed his every step, every move he made was suppressed, and he could only defend passively.Drizzt's hilt was often closer to Zak than the blade's because of this. With a quick bow, Zack slipped into Drizzt's defensive position. Drizzt quickly crossed the two scimitars back to the defense, but he had to straighten up suddenly to narrowly dodge the equally quick surprise attack of the martial arts master.Drizzt knew that he had been tricked, and Zac would probably shift all his body weight to his hind legs in the next step, and both swords would move towards Drizzt's lower body at the same time.

Drizzt cursed, turned the scimitar and pressed it down violently, trying to catch the teacher's attack with the crossed swords.But Drizzt hesitated subconsciously, not completely blocking the teacher's weapon, and was forced to jump back.This hesitation caused him to be slapped hard on the inner thigh, and the place where he was hit was very hot and uncomfortable.Angrily, he threw both machetes to the ground. Zach's first reaction was to jump back like him.He held his sword flat against his sides, with a very puzzled expression on his face. "You should be able to dodge that," he said flatly.

"This trick shouldn't be blocked like this," Drizzt replied. Zach leaned on the ground with the tip of his sword on the ground, waiting for further explanation from the other party.In the past, Zack had maimed and even killed his own protégés for similarly rude actions. "Cross-pressing can block this move, but what good is it?" Drizzt continued. "When my move is over, the tip of my knife is too low to make any effective offensive, but you can step back and open the distance between us. "But you did block my attack." "And must face the next attack," Drizzt argued. "The most opportunities that cross-pressing can win are a tie."

"Yes..." Zach replied, not quite understanding what was bothering the student in front of him. "You forgot you taught me!" Drizzt yelled. "You keep brainwashing me, telling me that every move must have an advantage, but I don't see any advantage that cross-pressing can gain." "For convenience, you only quote the first half of the sentence I taught you," Zach frowned, becoming equally angry. "Use the whole sentence if you want to use it, or don't use it! 'Every move should be an advantage, or can offset a disadvantage.' Cross-down pressure can block double-stage thrusts, and if your enemy dares to use With such a risky attack, he must have a great advantage! At this time, the chances of getting a tie are much better!"

"This defense is just wrong." Drizzt said stubbornly. "Take your weapon," Zak growled at him, taking a murderous step forward.Drizzt hesitated for a moment, and Zac rushed forward, pointing his sword at the opponent's heart. Bow down!Picking up the scimitar, he stood up and faced a series of attacks, not knowing whether this was another lesson or a real attack. The Martial Artist rushed forward angrily, blocking every counterattack of the opponent, forcing Drizzt to retreat in a circle.Drizzt defended impeccably, but gradually noticed a familiar pattern, the opponent's attacks kept dropping, forcing Drizzt to parry the same attack with the machete again.

Drizzt knew Zak wanted to prove his point with actions, not words.However, judging from the anger on the martial arts master's face, Drizzt was really not sure how serious he would be.If Zac proves his point is correct, will he attack Drizzt's crotch the same way this time?Or is it his heart?Zac rushed forward, bowing again, and Drizzt straightened up tensely. "Double-stage thrust!" the martial art master roared, and the two swords came in. Drizzt was ready for the move.He performed a cross press, and he couldn't help showing a sly smile when he heard the impact of his own weapon and the opponent's weapon.Drizzt only performed this move with a single sword, thinking that would be enough to overwhelm Zak's dual swords.With one hand free now, Drizzt exerted a light force on his wrist, turned the blade around, and counterattacked in a roundabout way.

As soon as Drizzt turned his wrist, Zak saw what he was about to do; he had suspected Drizzt would do so.Zak lowered the sword closest to Drizzt's depression hilt to the ground.Drizzt, who didn't know it, continued to exert force on the scimitar in the grid, thus losing his balance.Drizzt's quick reflexes kept him from staggering too far, but allowed his knuckles to thump the ground hard.He still believes that he has tricked Zac into a trap, and he can complete this perfect counterattack.He took another step forward and finally regained his balance. The martial artist fell to the ground, dodged the arc of Drizzt's scimitar, and hit the opponent's defenseless leg with a sweeping leg.Before Drizzt realized the attack, he was on his back and fell to the ground.

Zac abruptly stopped his approach, turned over and stood up.Before Drizzt could figure out the lightning-quick counterattack, Zak was looking down at him, the point of the sword drawing a painful bloody line on his throat. "What else do you have to say?" Zach growled. "Such a defense is wrong," Drizzt replied. Zack laughed heartily.He dropped the weapon and stretched out his hand to pull the stubborn student up.He calmed down quickly, looking at Drizzt's lavender eyes in front of him.Zack was amazed at Drizzt's ease of movement, wielding the dual knives as if they were extensions of his arms.Drizzt had only been trained for a few months, but already he could wield every weapon in House Do'Urden's arsenal with masterful ease.

Especially this pair of scimitars!These were Drizzt's favorite weapons, their curved blades making his lightning strikes as fluid as clouds dazzled.With these scimitars in hand, the dark elf, who was only a child, could defeat half the warriors in the Academy.Just thinking about how powerful Drizzt could be after a full training session sent shivers down Zack's spine. It wasn't just Drizzt's size and potential that got Zaknafein to ponder.What really surprised Zack was that Drizzt's personality was indeed different from the average dark elf.Drizzt's personality is very innocent, and he is not as cunning as ordinary people.Zack couldn't help but feel genuine pride just looking at Drizzt.In all respects, the young dark elf had exactly the same beliefs as Zak, and such a sense of morality was rare in Menzoberranzan.

Drizzt also noticed the connection, though he didn't realize how unique his and Zac's eccentricities were in the world of the evil dark elves.He realizes that "Uncle Zack" is different from everyone else he's ever known, even though the so-called others are just his family and a few family soldiers.Zack was, of course, very different from Drizzt's older sister, Briza; the latter had an almost insane, blind ambition for the religion of the goddess Lolth.Zak was of course also different from Drizzt's mother, Matron Maris; for almost everything she said to him was an order.

Zak can laugh about situations that don't make anyone miserable.He was the first dark elf Drizzt had ever met who was satisfied with his current power and status.Zak was the first laughing dark elf Drizzt heard. "It's a good attempt," the martial arts chief concluded of Drizzt's failed counterattack. "In a real fight, I'd be dead already," Drizzt replied. "Of course," Zack said, "but that's why we're training. Your strategy is brilliant and your timing is unbelievable. It just went wrong. I still think it's a good try." "You It was expected," Drizzt said. Zack nodded with a smile. "Maybe it's because I've seen other students use the same trick." "Against you?" Drizzt asked, a little ashamed that his idea wasn't original. "Not really," Zach blinked narrowly. "I witnessed this move from the same angle as you, and got the same result." Drizzt's face lit up again. "We think the same way," he commented. "Indeed," Zack said, "but my strength contains the knowledge accumulated over the centuries, and you may only have one-tenth of mine in this life. Trust me, young student. Cross-pressing is the right thing to do." defensive moves." "Perhaps," Drizzt replied. Zack suppressed a laugh and said, "We can try again when you figure out a better move. Until then, just trust me. I've trained more fighters than I can remember; this includes All the soldiers of the Do'Urden family, as well as the students I taught when I was the instructor at the Fighting Wuta. I taught Ruisen, all your older sisters, and your two older brothers." "Two?" "I..." Zac glanced at Drizzt curiously. "I see," he said after a moment. "They don't even bother to tell you." Zack wondered if this was a good place to tell Drizzt the truth.He wondered if Matron Malice cared at all; she hadn't told Drizzt because she didn't think Novan's story was worth mentioning. "Yes, both." Zach decided to explain to him. "When you were born, you had two older brothers: the one you knew was Dinin; the older one was Nuo Fan, a mage with powerful magic power. Zhu Fan was killed the night you were born." "Is it because of fighting dwarves and brutal gnomes?" Drizzt's eyes widened, as if a child begged its parents for more scary bedtime stories. "Was he defending the city from evil conquerors or monsters?" Zack was unwilling to destroy Drizzt's innocent nature. "Bury young men under lies," he murmured, but all he gave Drizzt was, "No." "A more evil foe, then?" Drizzt pursued. "A brutal elf from the ground?" "He died at the hands of the dark elves!" Zac said angrily, instantly stealing the curious light from Drizzt's innocent eyes. Drizzt staggered back, considering the possibility, and Zak couldn't bear to watch the bewildered and questioning look on his young face. "A war with another city?" Drizzt asked darkly. "I haven't heard..." Zack thinks that's all there is to it.He turned around and walked quietly to his room.Let Malice or her minions destroy Drizzt's innocence.Behind him, Drizzt swallowed back the second half of the question, realizing that today's lesson and conversation were over.At the same time, he also understood that something important in the future had just happened. The Martial Arts Chief and Drizzt practiced day and night, week after week, month after month.Time became irrelevant, and both sides fought to the point of exhaustion.As soon as they regained their strength, they returned to the training ground without stopping. In the third year, when Drizzt was nineteen years old, he could already fight against a martial arts master for hours without losing, and he could even take the initiative to attack in many times of practice. These days are rare treats for Zak.He didn't know how many years it had been since he had encountered an opponent who had the potential to equal him.For the first time in Zack's life, he heard the sound of gold and iron in the training ground followed by the sound of relaxed laughter. He watched Drizzt grow taller and stronger, wiser and more focused.Even at the end of his first year of training, the academy's instructors would have a hard time matching him. As soon as he thought about the ways of the house, the moral code of the dark elves, and how it would affect his favorite students; his pride in it would evaporate in an instant.They would try to steal the smile from Drizzt's lavender eyes. One day, the sinister dark elves visited them in the guise of Matron Malice. "Address her with respect," Zak warned Drizzt when Maya announced the Matron's arrival.The Martial Artist quickly took a few steps forward, and greeted the head of the Do'Urden family first in private. "Hello, mistress," he bowed. "I don't know why I am honored to have you here?" Matron Malice smiled at her, seeing through his politeness. "You and my son have spent a lot of time here," she said. "I'll see how he's progressing." "He's a good fighter," Zak assured her. "He's gotta be," Maris murmured. "Within a year he'll be at the academy." Zach narrowed his eyes because of this passage, and frowned. "The academy has never accepted such a strong swordsman." Matron walked past him and came to Drizzt. "I don't doubt your prowess with the sword," she said to Drizzt!At the same time, though, she glanced at Zack. "Your body is born with the blood of a swordsman. However, a dark elf warrior needs other qualities. The key lies in the warrior's heart. That is, the warrior's behavior!" Drizzt didn't know how to respond.In the past three years, he has only seen the mistress a few times, and never talked to her. Zack saw the bewildered look on Drizzt's face, and feared that the boy would slip his tongue as Matron Malice had predicted.Then Malice has a reason not to let Zack continue to teach Drizzt, while humiliating him severely, and finally hand Drizzt over to Dinin or other cold-blooded killers.Zack might be the best teacher at swordsmanship, but now that Drizzt has learned how to use a weapon; Malice wants to reform his mind. Zack didn't dare take the risk, he cherished the time between himself and Drizzt too much.He drew his sword from its jewel-encrusted scabbard and rushed past Matron Malice, shouting, "Young warrior, show her!" Drizzt's eyes caught fire as soon as he saw the teacher rushing towards him.His scimitar appeared in his hand in an instant. Fortunately, he moved fast enough!The murderous look on Zac was unprecedented, even when he was taught to cross down defense that time, he was not so angry.When the two swords collided with the two knives, bluish-white sparks sprayed everywhere, and Drizzt backed away involuntarily, his arms aching from the violent impact. "What are you doing..." Drizzt tried to ask. "Let her see," Zac growled, swinging his sword again and again. Drizzt narrowly avoided the blow that would have cut him in half.However, shock and bewilderment still kept him on the defensive. Zac swung Drizzt's two scimitars away, and when his defense was wide open, a kick flew out unexpectedly, hitting Drizzt's nose bridge. Drizzt heard the snap of a broken nose and felt warm blood trickle down, even into his throat.He bent over and immediately rolled away, trying to keep a distance from the crazy opponent in front of him as much as possible before regaining consciousness. He saw Zach approaching not far away. "Let her see!" Zac's anger grew with every step he took. Drizzt's skin was tinged with a faerie blue glow, making him an obvious target.He did the only possible response: he threw the Dark Ward at himself and Zack.Drizzt vaguely sensed the martial arts master's next move, and immediately lay down on the ground, rolled out of the opponent's attack range again, and at the same time pressed his head to the ground.This is a smart choice. As soon as he found this dark enchantment, Zach immediately floated into the air, turned over, and slashed the two swords at the height of Drizzt's head. When Drizzt finally left the dark barrier, he looked back and saw Zack's calf exposed out of the black mist.He didn't need to see another sign to understand the deadly attack from the teacher's blindness.If Drizzt hadn't got down immediately, he might be decapitated by now. Anger replaced confusion.When Zak fell from the sky and rushed out of the dark barrier, Drizzt's anger led him to confront his teacher again.Before he hit Zack, he turned around suddenly, the scimitar in his hand drew a graceful arc straight to the throat, and the other scimitar stabbed out like lightning. Zak dodged the machete that was stabbing at him, and blocked the other knife that was coming at him with a backhand sword. Drizzt's moves were not over yet.He immediately unleashed a continuous rainstorm of thrusts one after another, forcing Zac to back away, straight into the dark radius of the magic.Now they can only rely on their extremely sensitive hearing and instinct to fight.Zak finally stopped his retreat.But Drizzt's legs began to strike at once; his feet kicked with a gust of wind wherever he could hold the blade.There was even a kick that directly broke through Zack's defense, and the kick was so overwhelming that the martial artist couldn't catch his breath. The two sides broke away from the radius of darkness again, and Zac is now also the target marked by the monster.The chief martial artist felt extremely sick to his stomach at the hatred shown on the face of his favorite student; however, this time he realized that neither side had any other choice.The fight had to be real, it had to be ugly.Gradually, Zach slowed down his pace, slowly consuming Drizzt's precious physical strength, which was blinded by anger. Fearless and untiring, Drizzt continued his attack.Zack deliberately let him see the opening that didn't exist, and Drizzt always stabbed and kicked the opening without even thinking about it. Mistress Malice watched the spectacle in front of her in silence.She couldn't ignore the training Zak had given his son; Drizzt's physical strength was that of a complete fighter. Zack knew that knowledge of the use of weapons was not enough for Matron Malice.Zack had to do everything possible to keep Maris from talking to her son.She doesn't appreciate her son's mentality. Zack could tell that Drizzt was tired.However, upon further observation, he also found that some of them were faked. "Come on," he murmured, and suddenly his ankle "twisted", and while struggling to keep his balance, his right hand swung outward, revealing a gap in the impenetrable defense that Drizzt couldn't resist . The expected attack pierced through the opening with thunderous force, and Zack's left hand returned to the defense, knocking Drizzt's scimitar out of his hand with a clang. "Ha!" Drizzt had anticipated this move, and immediately started his second move.The remaining scimitar cut to Zac's left shoulder, piercing the gap left by the opponent's previous defense. But as soon as Drizzt sent out the hand, Zach squatted down.Drizzt followed Drizzt's slash into the air, and Zack immediately jumped up, swiping the hilt of the sword to the right, hitting Drizzt's face right in time.The stunned Drizzt stood there for a long time.The remaining scimitar fell to the ground, and his eyes stared straight ahead without blinking. "A trap within a trap plus a trap!" Zak explained calmly. Drizzt fell to the ground, unconscious. When Zack came to him, Mistress Malice nodded approvingly. "He's ready for the academy," she judged. Zach's face changed and he didn't answer. "Verna has entered the academy first," Malice continued. "She serves as a teacher at Spider Academy, the missionary of Goddess Rose. It's a great honor." Zack understood that it was also the glory of the Do'Urden family, but he cleverly kept this idea in his heart. "Dinin will be gone soon too," said the matron. Zack was quite surprised.With two of his children also teaching at the academy, "you have to work really hard to get that kind of respect," he ventured. Mistress Maris said with a smile. "I owe some favors to others, and I also make people repay some favors." "For what?" Zack asked. "Do you want to protect Drizzt?" Maris laughed. "From what I've seen, Drizzt can still protect these two!" Zack bit his lower lip.Dinin was still twice as skilled as Drizzt, and ten times more ferocious.Zach knew Maris must have other motives. "In the next twenty years, three of the eight major families will have more than four children in the academy," Malice Malice admitted. "Matron Baenre's own son will be in the same class as Drizzt." "So you're more ambitious than that," Zack said. "Then under the leadership of Matron Malice, how high will the Do'Urden family rise to!" "The bad habit of being sarcastic will kill your tongue," warns Matron. "If we pass up this opportunity to know our opponent better, then we are really stupid!" "Eight families," Zak said with interest. "Be careful, Matron Malice. Don't forget the families that came after us. There was a family named Defoe who made this mistake once." "There will be no attack from below," Malice said contemptuously. "We are the ninth family, but the strength we have shown is only lost to a few families. No one will attack us from behind, and there are easier targets to destroy before us." "And we're all going to profit," Zack interjected. "That's the point, isn't it?" Malice asked, a wicked grin on her face. Zack didn't need to answer at all; Mistress knew how he felt.What he thinks doesn't matter at all. "Talk less, and your jaw will heal faster," Zak said to Drizzt later, when he was alone. Drizzt glared at him. The martial artist shook his head. "We're good friends," he said. "I thought so too," Drizzt said vaguely. "Then think about it carefully," Zach frowned. "Do you really think Matron Malyss would allow such a relationship between her master of martial arts and her gifted son? You are a dark elf, Drizzt Do'Urden, and of noble blood .You wouldn't have any friends at all!" Drizzt trembled all over, as if he had been slapped in the face. "At least not publicly," Zac said, patting the young man on the shoulder. "A friend is a weakness, a weakness that no one accepts. Matron Malice will never accept..." He paused, realizing that he was scaring his protégé. "Well," he said quietly, "at least the two of us know what our relationship is." Somehow, this wasn't enough for Drizzt.