The Martial Unity

Leonel awoke with his body on fire, the slight whiff of something catching his attention. The smell made his stomach growl furiously, his mouth almost dripping with water despite how dry it felt.

Leonel didn't know how his friends were being sustained, but he did know that he hadn't felt the need for water until he woke up. And, now that it had been over four days since the last time he ate, he finally couldn't suppress his hunger anymore.

It was only then that Leonel realized that the Spaniards had been roasting a full pig when he initially entered. He must have not smelt anything before because it had just started to cook.

Leonel struggled to pull himself up, peeling all the heavy armor he wore from his body. He hadn't felt this light in a very long time.

Luckily, since there was no one to tend to the fire, the embers had died off while Leonel slept, sparing the pig from being overcooked.

It was inevitable that it was still burnt in some places, especially since no one had been there to turn it, but Leonel could hardly bother to care. He ripped off a leg, devouring the meat madly.

Initially, he had believed that a leg or two would be enough. But before he realized what was happening, he had already cleaned away half of the pig. Leonel had always been a big eater, but it was always within reason. Something like eating half of a 20 kilogram pig was far beyond his means.

"I want you to find that damned entrance! There's no way that barbarian entered from the front, there must be a hidden entrance! Look at how many of our people those savages have killed!"

Words Leonel couldn't understand drifted from the hidden entrance. It became obvious quickly that he didn't have much time. All those who saw him come out of the hidden staircase were already dead. But, it was only a matter of time before they started looking for false walls.

Because Leonel had knocked down the false wall on this side without replacing it, it was much easier to hear things than it had been in the past.

Moving quickly, Leonel replaced his armor with that of the dead leader's. He was going to pour some more alcohol on his wounds first, but he was shocked to find that many of them had faded. In fact, the aches in his body from his torn muscles had become quite dull as well.

'… Food. It must be food.'

Leonel bit his lip. Where else would he get food so easily? There was no point in carrying this pig with him because it would go bad in at most a few more days. Plus, considering the pace at which he ate it, it wouldn't last that long either.

'The only option is to continue to steal food or to leave this temple…'

Leonel couldn't come up with the perfect choice now. He had to hurry.

'I came here for… there it is, the atlatl.'

Atlatl's were essentially sling shots for throwing spears. They were a wooden attachment one could slot a spear or 'long dart' into to gain more leverage. Then, using the same throwing motion one was used to, it was possible to throw more than double the distance and with much more speed and force.

To think such a thing was invented over 20 000 years ago, even before the era of the Mayans.

Leonel abandoned his hand axes, using the belt he had stolen from a Spaniard to slip in a few atlatl's. Considering they were reusable, it was unnecessary to have more than one. However, Leonel had learned to plan for the unexpected.

He kept four atlatls with him on one hip and strapped a short sword on the other. He would have taken the leader's long sword, but he had his reasons for not.

Along the walls, countless barrels of throwing spears fitted for the atlatls. Well, to call them spears was a bit inappropriate. They looked like sturdy arrows one might fire from an large-scaled crossbow.

for so long that his body's limits were far higher than they

backpack shaped of wood. It was about a meter and a half in length and

this would be foolish. If he failed to pull

'Let's test it.'

extra spear to it, he held its

allowing it to sit upon it. The body of the atlatls, which Leonel held, curved back around like an 'S'

and launched the spear. But the results left him

tip of the spear stuck into the stone

seconds. That's an average velocity of 50 meters per second or 180 kilometers an hour. It was even still accelerating when it hit the wall, so it still had more left. The

sharp calculations, but he was even more surprised at just how much the atlatls improved his throwing ability. Such a simple technology, yet

and a half long dart from the wall and hid it within the barrels of spears. In case the

deep and lifted the stone that covered the hidden entrance back up and into its place. This way they wouldn't be able to tell which path he came from. Of course, he only did this after

was right, Leonel had already found another hidden entrance in this very room. In fact, he counted a total of five. It could

hidden pathway with the least activity on the other side, slipping away to

mapped every floor of the temple with the exception of the lowest which he

height of the soldier in question to their weight. At the same time, his control over his

the weaponry, he did manage to find a path outside. Once he had mapped out the hidden pathways he could

had no chance fighting the Spaniards from the outside. Without the ability to take advantage of

to find small groups to attack. As a result, he had no choice but to begin assaults

unconscious level, but it

had never been formally taught in any martial arts, but as his mind spun and his deductive abilities deepened

memory. With this additional data point, he would adjust his fighting style ever so slightly to account for it. Months later, Leonel no longer had to rely on his throwing prowess to gain

grading system worked, but if others had higher grade abilities than what he was already able to accomplish, it would

by giving them an athleticism score. He broke down his categories into Strength, Speed, Agility, Coordination

chose to weigh this category by how much power a person could generate by swinging, throwing or using their best attack. In this

categorized as straight line running

encompassed both acceleration, speed in changing direction, and how quickly a person could use their weapon —

was in using their strength, speed and agility. How accurate were the swings of their weapons.

forward. How long

1, where 0 was having this ability completely crippled and 1 represented the pinnacle of the human race. This pinnacle was something Leonel used the limits of his

a 0.5 in the category they needed

Spaniards, they averaged about 0.4 in every category. And

0.67; Speed: 0.51; Agility: 0.55; Coordination: 0.82; Stamina:

it was necessary to add a sixth category: Reactions. Unexpectedly, it ended up being his highest 'stat', sitting at 0.91. This category not only encompassed reaction speed, but also factored in the instinctual movements battle experience

his self-created method, taking them down became even

strength, he overwhelmed them with speed and agility. For

the slaughter. After breaking down their lives to mere numbers floating in his mind, it suddenly became easier to do what needed to be done. At the very least, it became easier

assault the Spanish from within the temple and in

numbers continued to fall quickly. Leonel had no idea how much time he had spent in this Sub-Dimensional Zone, but it was enough for