Chapter 123: The Bandit Leader
Vlad saw multiple projections of the weapons, each one revealing the direction from which his opponents were about to strike.
He moved accordingly, dodging with flawless precision while slicing off their wrists and arms in one fluid motion as he passed through them.
As he reached the other side of his opponents, their severed limbs fell to the ground with a wet thud. They cried out in pain and horror at what had just occurred.
Even Noah was left momentarily stunned as he witnessed the flawless movements with which Vlad fought.
"He has grown astonishingly since he fought Victor," Noah murmured, the corner of his lips rising in both exasperation and excitement. "What an unprecedented growth."
He swung his snow blade through the opponents. Each strike froze their weapons, rendering them blunt and useless, while the next slash landed on their bodies, subduing them.
The duo had only subdued fifteen bandits when they sensed a heavy pressure radiating from the large central camp of the settlement.
"So, we caused enough trouble to force the most prestigious academy to make a move," a male voice came from the camp as a tall, muscular man emerged from the entrance.
He had a neck-length black beard, long ruffled hair, and brown eyes that scanned the two teenagers with intrigue. Judging from his features, he appeared to be a man in his early forties, yet his muscular physique suggested otherwise, one he did not even bother to conceal beneath a shirt. Resting on his shoulder was a massive greatsword that he wielded effortlessly with one hand.
"How much will the name of the Hungry Hounds rise once I hang your heads along the forest path?" The thought alone widened the smirk on his face, sending jolts of excitement throughout his body.
"B-boss is here..."
"Th-these brats are done for!"
"B-boss, please avenge us!"
The defeated bandits cried out while clutching their severed limbs on the ground.
"Are you the leader of these dogs?" Noah asked as he pierced the shoulder of the last standing bandit, his screams echoing through the forest.
"Indeed I am. My name is Tobias, the Hungry Blood Hound of the Hungry Hounds," he introduced himself as he continued walking toward them, each of his steps increasing the pressure on the duo.
Vlad’s grip around his sword instinctively tightened, his eyes never leaving Tobias. He could tell that this man was dangerous.
Meanwhile, Noah remained relatively calm, albeit annoyed. His brows furrowed as he said in a mocking tone, "I cannot make sense of it. What is worse, your revolting mouth or your naming sense?"
The smirk vanished from Tobias’s face, his eyes narrowing at Noah.
"Ughh, I guess it’s the face," Noah shook his head as though he felt violated by Tobias’s gaze.
"Does the academy these days not teach manners to its students?" Tobias asked as he lowered the blade from his shoulder.
"They still do, but they did not say that we should show manners to shit and piss as well," Noah shrugged casually before spitting on the bandit lying on the ground beside him.
Tang!
In the blink of an eye, Tobias had covered the distance between himself and Noah, his heavy sword crashing down upon him.
Noah barely held his ground. His knees bent, and the earth beneath him cracked from the overwhelming pressure as he blocked the strike with both the hilt and edge of his sword.
"You were being cocky with this pathetic strength?" Tobias demanded as he hurled his free fist forward.
Tang!
The fist struck Vlad’s blade as he arrived between Tobias and Noah.
"Oh, a young brat like you actually managed to block my attack?" Tobias asked, clearly intrigued.
Vlad’s expression remained neutral, though slightly annoyed. He had attacked with the intention of slicing through Tobias’s fist between the middle and ring fingers, but at the last moment, Tobias coated his arm in mana, wearing it like armor that prevented Vlad’s Mana Blade from cutting through.
Noah did not waste the opening Vlad had created. He lifted his sword upward from the hilt side, guiding Tobias’s blade toward the ground. The moment Noah’s sword was freed, he thrust it directly toward Tobias’s throat, the blade whistling through the air.
Tang!
The sword struck the armor of countless interconnected rocks that Tobias had materialized around his neck at the last moment.
"Let me show you how terrifying the world really is," Tobias declared as he grabbed Vlad’s sword with one hand and Noah by the throat with the other.
With a violent swing of his arms, he sent the two flying in opposite directions, both crashing into the wooden fences.
From Tobias’s head-on punch and the force with which he had thrown him, Vlad understood one thing.
"He is physically weaker than me," Vlad murmured as he rose to his feet completely unscathed. "The problem is his mana level. His mana utilization is troublesome, but not something I cannot handle."
Now that he had a rough understanding of his opponent’s strength, Vlad rushed at him, his eyes never leaving Tobias.
Just as Vlad swung his sword from behind, Noah appeared from the opposite side, his blade sweeping horizontally toward Tobias’s torso.
It was then that Vlad saw something bizarre through his future vision, his eyes widening in shock.
"Back down, Noa—" Vlad shouted, his muscles bulging as he tried to retreat.
It was already too late.
A brilliant auburn aura suddenly exploded from Tobias’s body, hurling Vlad backward. He struck the ground once before regaining his balance.
As he rose to his feet, the sight before him forced a quiet gasp from his lips.
Tobias’s body was mostly covered in brown rock armor that extended across his cheeks. However, the true reason for Vlad’s shock was the greatsword in Tobias’s hand. It was shrouded in a sharp auburn aura, extending to twice the size of the blade itself. It was different from Mana Blade. Its size, sharpness, and the pressure it exuded were on an entirely different level.
Although Noah managed to retreat dozens of feet at the last moment thanks to Vlad’s warning, Tobias’s blade still reached him. More accurately, the extended aura covering the sword struck Noah’s shoulder from above. A few more inches, and his arm would have been completely severed. Noah was barely keeping the energy blade at bay, holding it back with his sword.
"S-sword Aura?" Vlad murmured, recognizing the technique Tobias had unleashed. "He is at the level of a Sentinel Knight."
"Vlad, I will hold him back here!" Noah shouted, his hands trembling slightly from the aura blade embedded in his shoulder. "Leave and inform someone at the academy."
"What camaraderie," Tobias laughed mockingly. "Yeah, run like the little rat you are. By the time you return, I will already be done with your precious friend."
He did not even look back at Vlad, completely dismissing the weakling who had no chance of inflicting a fatal injury on him.
’Run away? Again?’ Vlad muttered, his grip tightening around the hilt, veins bulging beneath his skin.
He had only learned Mana Blade, the most basic weapon technique. Meanwhile, the opponent before him was strong enough to be a knight. On top of that, he had already burned through more than half of his mana by using Mana Blade and Foresight Eye simultaneously. Logically, running away was his only chance of survival.
However, at this point, none of that mattered to Vlad. Before him stood an enemy he had to defeat. It was as simple as that.
Without the slightest hesitation, he charged at an opponent several times stronger than himself with a single goal in mind.
To bring him down.
"What is that idiot thinking, charging at someone at the level of a One-Star Knight?" Noah muttered as his blue eyes narrowed at Vlad, who was rushing toward Tobias from behind.
"Ahhhhh!!!" Vlad roared as he swung his sword with both hands, striking Tobias across the side.
"Haha, you can never pierce through my ar—"
His words stopped mid-sentence as Vlad’s Mana Blade halted for only a brief moment before piercing into the stone armor. It was not that the armor was being shattered. The rocks themselves were being reduced to nothingness by the dark mana coating Vlad’s sword.
Tobias’s eyes widened, his instincts screaming in alarm as he felt something warm and wet trickling across the skin beneath the rock armor.
He instantly withdrew his sword from Noah’s shoulder and swung it at Vlad in a horizontal circular arc.
The heavy blade whistled through the air. At that speed, it should have cleanly beheaded Vlad.
However, Vlad ducked at the very last moment, having foreseen the attack with his Foresight Eye.
He continued driving his sword deeper into Tobias’s side, pouring every last drop of mana from his core into the blade.
The sword had completely sunk into Tobias’s flesh when he roared,
"Die, you bastard!"
Tobias hurled one hand forward, and a pillar of rock erupted from the thrust of his palm, slamming directly into Vlad’s chest and sending him flying backward. The sword was forcefully ripped from Tobias’s side.
’Darn it. If I had been a moment later, he would have sliced me in half,’ Tobias muttered inwardly as he pressed a hand against his side, his palm turning crimson from the blood seeping through. ’Such monstrous physical strength on top of a cursed Umbra element. I must deal with this one first.’
Having made up his mind, he brought his Aura Blade down upon Vlad, who had yet to regain his balance, the move that could only be blocked by another Aura Blade.