Max was looking at the upcoming fight with some excitement. He knew that the level of the fighters taking action was low but it was still something fun. It was better than fighting a level 6 bot that will kick your ass most of the time. He felt like he transported to ancient Greek with all the gladiator fights taking place. It was not on the same level, but it is better than nothing.
Max then shouted with excitement: " Begin the fight!"
All the people looked at Max with conflicted expressions. They were all dissatisfied with what he said but it was better to keep their mouth shut. Max could go from happy mode to savage mode and blow someone up. They understood that there was no turning back and started to size each other up. The fact that Derek was fighting 9 people with one of them on the level of apprentice knight meant that he was not weak at all. It meant that this fight could go either way. When Max saw both sides hesitate, his brows furrowed. He waited for a few more seconds and then yelled from above: "What the hell are you doing Derek? You don't use your advantage that you have right now. And you bandits, are you going to use your brain or something? You have an advantage too. Just use it and you could survive."
Both sides looked at him puzzled. Max facepalmed himself. 'Holy shit. What a bunch of donkeys. I swear to God. They just want to make it up to luck, I guess. Derek don't try to kill those guys one by one when they are standing scattered, not in some kind of formation to surround and kill him. I guess I'm asking for too much from those guys. Whatever. I feel like I need to give them motivation for action.' Max thought and then said: "Ok I see you don't want to move so we add another rule. If you don't start moving your asses in half a minute, I will help Derek personally to kill you all. It will be quick, and you won't feel any pain. Don't worry. As for you Derek. You won't get any archery skills if you continue that way. You can't get any reward if you operate like a monkey. Monkeys can't learn archery from me."
Both sides were not happy with what they heard. The difference was the fact that the bandits ignored Max's words, but Derek took it to heart. He charged at the closest bandits and killed them swiftly in a one-on-one battle. After fighting the bot for months and dying over and over battling the bandits felt like fighting strong disabled children. They had the strength and the ability in theory but could not perform. Derek arrived near another bandit and killed him in one strike. It was 3 against one left. The bandit tried to strike Derek from the side, but it was too telegraphed, and Derek just evaded the hit moving to the side the bandit was hitting with a block ready to use with his sword. The hit was limited for the distance it was dangerous for when you strike from one side to another. If you hit someone while he is moving in the same direction your weapon is moving to, there is a limited distance you can really hit the enemy. The bandit lost his balance after the hit because he tried to follow Derek's movement and hit Derek's sword that blocked the strike. After that Derek made a textbook follow movement and cut the bandits head off. It was not fancy, but Derek understood the basics of fighting one on one, Max could give him that at least.
The leader of the bandits was frightened. He saw that this man in front of him was able to potentially kill him without even getting to a level of an apprentice knight. It was very unusual case for this leader. He had never heard something like that happening.
He yelled at his subordinates: "Attack!"
Both subordinates look at each other and saw the fear in the comrade's eyes. Still, they could not defy their leader's orders, so they attacked.
Derek lined them up by moving in a way that he will not be attacked by both bandits at once. The duo was too frightened to even try and build some kind of strategy. Because of that they charged at Derek and got killed after one hit. On tried to hit from above and Derek just ran forward and sliced him in half from the side while running. The other bandit died in a similar way.
Max facepalmed and said: "Holy shit you guys. Are you serious? You should've just ordered those guys to surround Derek and attack him yourself and he was done for. How much brain cells have you got? I see now why Derek could live to this day and why he is struggling in the simulations. If he fights people like that daily of course he would devolve to such pathetic state. Now I get it. And for you Derek. Until now your performance was horrible. Do you have your own brain, or you are only good at listening to me and not thinking yourself?"
The leader of the bandits was mad and charged towards Derek. After killing 8 of the 9 bandits Derek was overconfident and went meeting the attack of the bandit leader head on with his sword. When both swords collided, Derek felt that he made a huge mistake and then he bolted back really hard. If not for his training, he would be getting hurt quite a bit. Now he was just bruised all over because of the impact with the ground. All his arrogance went away in the same speed it got to him.
"What a fucking donkey! I see that your IQ level keeps plummeting further. Oh my god!" Max yelled, flabbergasted. He did not expect normal human to meet an apprentice knight's attack head on. How stupid could you be to do it? Only Derek knew that.
'What is an IQ? I guess he is insulting me in some way. Whatever.' Derek didn't really take the insults to heart. Other than donkey he did not understand much anyway.
Now Derek tried to make the same trick that he did with the other bandits to the warrior apprentice, and it went surprisingly well. The bandit was not really skilled and because of that he could not dominate Derek even with his superior power level. Both men struggled and came to a standstill.
Max continued to yell things at Derek: "Why you try to kill him in one hit?! He is stronger and faster than you. Use your brain and technique. It's like a game of chess. Oh my god! you don't even know what chess means!"
Derek did not understand any of those advices most of the time. It was sad when some crazy dude was yelling at you with words that you did not understand and then criticized you for not understanding them. Derek understood only the fact that he needed to take things slow and get the guy to make mistakes. He was not used to it. He always went all out and hope for the best. He was a simple guy. Now it was playing against him. When the bandit went for a strike from above with his sword Derek did a sidestep and landed a hit on the hand of the bandit leader with the sword he had. In the simulation he was using a sword and a shield, but he did not have a shield in real life because he could not afford it. He needed to get used fighting with no shield, and it hindered his technique. When the sword hit the bandit, the latter yelled in pain. The conclusion of the fight was sealed. After that Derek ended the fight pretty quickly. After the bandit was injured, he could not fight Derek in equal terms anymore and soon died. Derek was elated. He let out some kind of battle cry! He defeated an apprentice knight. It was unheard of. He waited for some kind of praise, and he got it.
"Are you a donkey or a monkey? Or maybe something with less brain cells? I won't mind. Generally, I'm in shock that the fight was so close with your level of technique. It means that you turn your brain off while you fight. Maybe fighting is not for you. Leave it to your wife or something. I really don't know what to say here. You are a better guide then a fighter for sure. I'll give you that one." Max said.