Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Ethan looked at the excited Rodney and the big man whose eyes were practically glowing, and he could completely predict what they were going to say next.

"Kid! Hand over the Magic Stone!"

Ethan nodded inwardly. Sure enough, it's exactly what I thought, not even a punctuation mark is different.

"You've been watching me in secret for a long time, haven't you?"

He didn't bother with the big man whose eyes were shining and who was secretly signaling his subordinates. He didn't even bother with the two guys who were stealthily surrounding him, blocking his escape route. Instead, he turned to Rodney.

"You should know that I switched to another boat and filled it with supplies before coming out, right?" Ethan spread his hands. "You arrived on Stat Island with me, so you should know I didn't have any resources to trade for these things."

His meaning was clear: That Magic Stone you've been thinking about is no longer in my hands. What are you going to do next?

Still, it didn't exceed Ethan's expectations. The people in front of him completely ignored his words and surrounded him on their own, then pulled out various weapons.

Long Swords, Long Sabers, and Daggers. Even Rodney drew a Curved Saber. "Kid, don't say I don't believe you. Even if you really traded the Magic Stone for something, you won't get out of here alive today."

The meaning was obvious. Whether Ethan had the Magic Stone or not, the other party intended to kill him and take everything he had. At this moment, he suddenly realized that he had quite a bit of equipment on him. The reason the other party's eyes were glowing wasn't just because of the Magic Stone.

The exquisite Light Armor, the brand new Long Sword, and the equally exquisite Iron Rod tucked into his back waist—these all became reasons for the other party to attack him.

"Birds of a feather flock together, indeed."

Rodney, not only didn't thank him for saving him, but because of a Magic Stone, he had the intention to harm him. And the group such a person joined was full of similar bandits. When they saw something good, they didn't care about anything else; they just went straight for the grab.

"Although I've known this for a long time, confirming it strengthens my conviction even more."

Ethan didn't look down on these scumbags. Saying they were worse than Zombies might be an insult to them, but compared to the Fallen, they really had no advantage.

After countless battles in the Diablo World, Ethan was no longer a weak, ordinary teenager. It was precisely because of this that he had the confidence to stand here and quietly watch them perform.

At the same time, he didn't want to be someone who casually decided the life and death of others based solely on conjecture. However, once he confirmed that the other party was indeed scum, he wouldn't hesitate or show any mercy.

With a decision made in his heart, Ethan didn't even bother with unnecessary talk. He had always believed that in this kind of situation, if you can act, don't waste your breath. Just killing the other party or beating them half to death was much more useful than talking sense.

He suddenly half-turned, quickly raised his right hand, and shot a Short Arrow at the guy behind him.

The Short Arrows on Ethan's Bracers were triggered entirely by Mental Power, making them very convenient to use. The advantage of this was that the other party had no time to react. Before they even understood what was happening, they were hit by the Short Arrow.

Because the Short Arrows from the Bracers didn't have much force, they could only guarantee a certain amount of damage within ten meters. Coupled with the small size of the Short Arrows themselves, similar weapons were generally difficult to cause significant damage unless they directly hit vital points like the throat. They could only serve as a distraction.

Therefore, most people who used this type of weapon would apply poison to the Short Arrows to compensate for the lack of damage.

Ethan didn't do that, because his Short Arrows were more brutal!

Boom!

The explosion made everyone flinch, and the bursting flames startled several people into not knowing what to do.

These people did not include Ethan. After shooting an arrow, he immediately drew the Long Sword from his waist and, without a moment's hesitation, slashed at another enemy who was trying to block his path.

Pfft~

The sound was almost inaudible. Ethan's sword strike was incredibly accurate, slicing directly across the person's throat. The sharp tip of the sword met no resistance, opening a slender cut on the enemy's throat.

This sword strike was almost the most perfect one he had ever made since learning swordsmanship. Whether it was power, speed, or angle, everything was just right, so perfect that by the time everyone reacted to what had happened, that person was already lying on the ground twitching—a severed throat doesn't cause immediate death.

Ethan wasn't someone who enjoyed torturing enemies, so he didn't let this person suffer. He finished him off with another sword strike.

It wasn't until this moment, when the situation had completely reversed, that the big man opposite realized what had happened.

"Bastard!"

First, he stomped his foot in anger, then turned around and slapped Rodney, making his eyes see stars.

"Didn't you say this was a rookie who just came from a small island in the countryside?"

After all, he had been at sea for several years and done a lot of 'business' while still being alive and well. This was due to his carefulness in never provoking people he couldn't afford to provoke.

If Rodney hadn't told him before that the person who got the Magic Stone was a rookie who had just started sailing, and a thin young man with not much strength, he would never have had the idea of robbing the other party.

But now it seemed, where was this guy a kid from the countryside?

A rookie who just started sailing?

He wasn't blind. The smooth movements the kid used when he attacked clearly indicated a ruthless character who had killed who knows how many people. And judging by the first move, the other party even possessed Magic Equipment. He was simply not someone he could provoke.

If Ethan knew what the other party was thinking, he would definitely shout that he was being wronged. Although he had been diligently cultivating and killed many monsters with Isendra and Zul, killing people was something he was doing for the first time today. What did they mean by a ruthless character?

As for Magic Equipment? His previous pair of Bracers could barely be considered Magic Equipment, but the pair he had on now was genuine Magic Equipment, produced in the Diablo World, meticulously crafted by Isendra, and guaranteed quality!

"Buddy, this is actually a misunderstanding. I'm willing to offer half of all the supplies on my ship, as long as you let me leave."

When Ethan heard this, he almost laughed like a pig.

"If I had offered to give you the supplies before, would you have let me leave safely?"

The big man fell silent. Of course, he could have casually lied and said yes, but there was no point. From Ethan's reply, he already understood the meaning of the young man opposite him.

"Then there's nothing more to talk about."

"There was nothing to talk about in the first place."

Ethan had no intention of letting them go from the start. Someone like Rodney, whom you save, but who is full of thoughts of killing you instead, needs to be beaten to death with one blow and be done with it. Let them go? Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

The other people were the same. Now that they had shown their true colors, and he had already killed two people, wouldn't they hate him?

Cut the weeds and pull up the roots! Eliminate evil completely!

Raising his hand while the others hadn't spread out yet, Ethan seemed about to fire another Short Arrow.

They had already been wary of this move from him. As soon as he raised his hand, several of them hastily dodged. But what they didn't expect was that this time Ethan was just feinting. Instead, he fired an Ice Arrow with his left hand.

Ice Arrows weren't as lethal as Flame Arrows, but they had more uses for support. Ethan aimed at the feet of two people who were relatively close together. The Freezing Aura that suddenly erupted spread a layer of solid ice on the ground. This area was particularly flat, without even a single weed.

What happened next was completely within Ethan's expectations. The two people who lost their balance after stepping on the ice fell directly in front of Ethan, who was waiting for them there.

Stabbing down from behind their hearts, one sword thrust for each.

Although one of them reacted and tried to roll away to dodge, he was blocked by his companion's corpse and could only be killed by Ethan's sword thrust, frustrated.

Of the people they brought, only he and Rodney were left in the blink of an eye. The burly man also started thinking about running away at this point. And not only did he want to run, he also put it into action.

To ensure his escape, he even pushed Rodney out as a shield, hoping to use him to obstruct Ethan and buy time for himself to escape.

"As long as I can get to the boat, I'll be fine."

The place where they landed was in a different direction from Ethan. They had even deliberately cleared a path on their way there. So, as long as he ran, and with Rodney holding him up for a bit, he believed Ethan wouldn't be able to catch him. If Rodney could stall for a little longer, he would be safe.

He was too naive. The moment Ethan saw Rodney charging forward, he drew the Iron Rod from his lower back with his left hand. Dazzling electric arcs happily danced on Rodney's body, making Rodney jump and perform an unknown dance with them. Forget about holding up Ethan, he couldn't even stall for a moment. He was directly electrocuted and fell to the ground, unable to move.

He glanced at the burly man's position, then turned back and stuck the Long Sword into the ground. Raising his empty right hand, he used the Fireball skill inscribed on Isendra's Ruthlessness. A watermelon-sized Fireball instantly formed in Ethan's hand, then whistled as it chased after the burly man.

The burly man hadn't heard any sounds of pursuit behind him and was secretly pleased, but suddenly felt a wave of heat from behind. Realizing something was wrong, he didn't even dare to look back and prepared to leap towards a large tree nearby.

Wanting to hide behind the large tree to avoid the attack and also escape Ethan's line of sight, the burly man's judgment fully demonstrated his rich combat experience.

Unfortunately, his past experience couldn't help him this time.

The Fireball didn't need to hit him completely. The moment he paused, the Fireball closed in to a sufficiently close distance, followed by a thunderous explosion.

The suddenly erupting powerful impact sent the burly man flying and slammed him hard into the thick tree trunk he had intended to use as cover. The immense force even broke the large tree in half.

Looking at the burly man who was blown away, hit the tree, and finally fell to the ground like a broken rag, Ethan confirmed his death. His first battle on the Sea of Tranquility was declared over.

The enemy had six dead with no injuries, while he... only lost two Short Arrows.

"I guess it was a perfect battle."