Facing the Gale

Hogan's corpse collapsed. The hammer had smashed away most of his head, leaving only a small portion intact. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the room, making for a gruesome scene.

Rayne wiped away the few drops of blood that had splashed onto his face and slowly let out a breath.

He raised a hand to press against his ribs, feeling a faint ache. He had probably suffered a minor injury, but it was nothing serious.

A Rank 2 Fighter's full-powered strike, with his Inner Qi completely unleashed, wasn't something even his Body of Steel could withstand without a scratch.

A soul flew out of the corpse and was absorbed into him. His phone's battery immediately rose by three bars.

"Even a Rank 2 Transcendent can only provide me with 3% battery power." Rayne shook his head. The efficiency of directly absorbing souls was truly poor, far inferior to complete fusion. Still, he was quite satisfied.

If he had relied entirely on meditation to increase his Soul Power, those three bars of battery power might have taken him a very long time to obtain.

He looked at the woman on the floor. She was still unconscious. Judging by the alluring clothes hanging at the head of the bed, she was either a full-time prostitute or a high-class escort. She posed no threat to him, and in the darkness, she hadn't been able to see his appearance.

Rayne ignored her. He didn't want to stay there any longer, so he passed through the hole in the wall, returned to the balcony, and flipped over the railing.

The balcony wasn't high. Before Rayne had even reached the ground, a streak of azure light suddenly flashed before his eyes.

Whoosh!

In that instant, Rayne had no time to react. Fortunately, his Body of Steel activated automatically under impact, turning his entire body as hard as iron.

The narrow streak of azure light struck Rayne in the chest, as if it intended to cleave him in two.

A burst of pain shot into his mind. Rayne had no time to concern himself with his injuries. The moment he landed, he retreated and held his war hammer horizontally before him, assuming a defensive stance.

"Hm? You're still alive?" A deep male voice came from the shadows beneath the balcony.

Rayne had already activated his Soul Eye and clearly saw the other man's appearance.

He recognized him from his voice alone. This was Hogan's associate, the man who had spoken with him in the tavern. His name was Wilt.

At that moment, Wilt wore tight black clothes, his face covered with cloth and only his eyes exposed. His entire body blended into the shadows, flickering indistinctly. He held a curved longsword in his hand, azure light flowing along its blade. In Aerenus, there was no separate word for a saber; it was classified as a type of sword known as a single-edged sword.

This single-edged sword was clearly an Enchanted Weapon, with a shape similar to the katana from Rayne's previous life.

Rayne lowered his head and glanced at his chest. His clothes had been cut open, and a long wound stretched from left to right across his chest. Fortunately, it wasn't deep, probably only one or two centimeters. Blood flowed out, staining his clothes red.

The wound had already begun healing, stopping the bleeding.

A wave of lingering fear washed over him. If he hadn't possessed Body of Steel, he would be a corpse split in two by now.

"How could Wilt be here?"

Rayne continued retreating several steps, widening the distance between himself and Wilt while warily watching every movement the man made.

Through his Soul Eye, Wilt's soul was exposed. It had a total of four layers, and black-and-red Flame of Faith shrouded it. The aura looked familiar—it was clearly the presence of the evil god Loki.

Moreover, Wilt's soul contained as many as five elements!

Rayne had no time to carefully identify the information contained in those elements. With a single glance, he understood Wilt's Transcendent profession.

"A Sword Mage—a Rank 4 Gale Sword Mage!"

Sword Mage was an advanced profession of the Ranger. At Rank 4 or Rank 7, a Ranger could fuse with a Demon Soul containing an elemental affinity element, gaining an affinity for that element. This allowed them to combine spells with swordsmanship and increase the power of their sword techniques.

Sword Mages also had several branches, one of which was the Gale Sword Mage.

This rare Transcendent profession was renowned for its speed and could contend for the title of the fastest profession in the world.

Compared with basic physical attributes such as strength, defense, and spirit, speed was the most difficult to improve. The gap in speed between many high-level Transcendents and low-level ones wasn't particularly large. It wasn't like strength or spirit, which often formed an insurmountable gulf.

But once speed reached a certain level and created a gap between oneself and one's opponent, it became terrifying.

Just as the saying from his previous life went: In all the martial arts under heaven, speed alone remains undefeated!

Rayne's strength and defense were both formidable, far above those of Transcendents of the same rank. But he had no particular advantage in speed. Even after becoming a Transcendent, his speed had only improved slightly, making it his greatest weakness at present.

Unfortunately, Wilt was a Gale Sword Mage, giving him an advantage over Rayne in speed.

He hadn't been able to react to that sword strike at all.

Rayne immediately felt the pressure. Wilt's profession was three levels higher than his, and Wilt also had a powerful weapon in hand. Rayne might have difficulty resisting him.

What made him even more uneasy was the question of why Wilt had appeared there.

Rayne's thoughts raced, and he could think of only one possibility.

Wilt couldn't possibly have noticed Rayne eavesdropping outside the tavern yesterday. He must have guessed it from Hogan's words—that Rayne had realized he was being followed and then followed Hogan in turn. Wilt had concealed the truth from Hogan, using him as bait and lying in ambush there, waiting for Rayne to take the hook.

When Rayne had arrived, he had carefully waited for a while, but he hadn't detected Wilt's presence.

This made him even more vigilant. The Voice of All Things wasn't omnipotent. There were always unknown methods in the world capable of evading detection.

Next time I encounter such an experienced enemy, I must be much more careful.

"I hope there will be a next time..." Rayne calmed himself and tightened his grip on the war hammer.

At that moment, Wilt spoke. His face was covered, so his expression couldn't be seen, but his voice was filled with surprise. He stepped out from beneath the balcony and said, "An Iron Guard actually managed to take my 'Flash Sword Slash' without dying. No wonder you were able to kill those useless fools from Trifer."

Rayne snorted without replying.

Clearly, Wilt had mistaken him for an Iron Guard.

The Flash Sword Slash he mentioned was one of the elements in his soul. It condensed Wind Element Power onto the sword, releasing astonishing speed and power in an instant to strike the target.

Wilt stood there casually, as if he had already defeated Rayne. In his deep voice, he continued, "Your strength is impressive. You killed Hogan in such a short time that I didn't even have time to save him."

"If you hadn't blasphemed against the god, I would have gladly let you join Shadow Blade and take Hogan's place."

"Now, you can die!"

Before his voice had even faded, Wilt swung his sword forward. An azure crescent-shaped blade of energy burst from the sword, like sword aura. It carved a deep trench into the ground and instantly reached Rayne.

Rayne felt a sharp force approaching. He didn't dodge. Instead, he activated his Body of Steel with all his strength, deciding to endure the attack head-on.

The blade of energy struck his body with a metallic clang.

Rayne felt nothing. His eyes remained firmly locked on Wilt. After unleashing the blade of energy, Wilt's body blurred and vanished, moving at an extreme speed.

Rayne caught a figure from the corner of his eye. Moving with steps too fast for ordinary vision to follow, it had circled behind him.

"Gale Step!"

Rayne had already expected Wilt to have this technique. It was one of the elements in Wilt's soul and the signature ability of a Gale Sword Mage.

A streak of azure light attacked from behind and vanished in a flash.

Wilt had used Flash Sword Slash again.

Rayne swung his war hammer. The hard hammerhead struck the sword light with exquisite precision.

Clang!

The war hammer collided with the sword, sending a trail of sparks flying. Wilt's figure appeared, looking somewhat caught off guard. His Flash Sword Slash had actually been blocked.

Before Rayne could continue his attack, Wilt activated Gale Step and vanished with a swish.

Several steps away to Rayne's side, a sharp blade of sword energy came rushing toward him.

Rayne turned, but he saw only the blade of energy and couldn't find Wilt's figure. He ignored the attack, allowing it to strike him and cut his clothes into shreds, while he focused on searching for Wilt's whereabouts.

Several seconds later, a streak of azure light attacked from the left. Under the cover of night, it was almost impossible to detect.

Rayne tried to block it with his war hammer, but this time he was half a step too slow. The hammer struck empty air.

With a wet slicing sound, another sword wound appeared between his chest and abdomen.

This time, however, Rayne had been prepared. Before the sword struck him, he had pushed his Body of Steel to its limit. The wound was even shallower than the previous one, barely breaking the skin.

Wilt appeared on the balcony and looked down at Rayne from above, disbelief in his eyes.

"What kind of defensive element is that?"

His swordsmanship had always been unstoppable. With his sharp Enchanted Weapon and Flash Sword Slash, he could cut through steel bars as thick as a thumb.

If it were anyone else, even a Transcendent two or three levels higher than him would be severely wounded by a single sword strike, or even cleaved in two. Yet when the sword struck this man, it had merely scraped away a layer of skin.

At the instant he cut into his opponent, immense resistance had traveled up the sword, as though it had truly struck iron and could advance no further.

"Body of Steel!"

Wilt immediately guessed the truth, his eyes widening. Aside from this renowned Superb Element, he couldn't imagine any other element possessing such astonishing defensive power.

"You actually possess a Superb Element!"

Wilt's deep voice grew hoarse. Whether from jealousy or shock, he stared fixedly at Rayne, wanting to confirm it.

Rayne naturally didn't answer Wilt. He looked at the enemy on the balcony, feeling helpless as well.

His speed was too slow. He couldn't touch his opponent at all.

Without Body of Steel, even nine lives wouldn't have been enough to keep him alive.

I can't hit him, and I can't catch him. I can only retreat for now.

Rayne began to consider withdrawing. Fortunately, he had disguised himself before leaving and covered his face. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if Wilt saw his appearance.

Rayne knew Wilt, while Wilt didn't know who he was. There would always be opportunities to strike in the future.

Rayne turned and left without hesitation.

As long as he escaped the cover of the house and entered the field of vision of the Wizard Tower's Spirit Demon Eye, Wilt wouldn't dare attack.

"You want to run?"

Wilt's figure flickered, but he remained where he was.

The Body of Steel element seemed to have shaken him. He knew he couldn't break through Rayne's defenses and threaten him in a short time, so he merely stood on the balcony and allowed Rayne to retreat.

Rayne backed away step by step toward the wall. He was about to escape.

A petite figure emerged from the shadows at the corner of the wall, only one step away from Rayne. Moving as fast as lightning, it thrust a dagger toward his back.

At the critical moment, Rayne suddenly turned, allowing the attacker to throw herself into his arms.

As if he had anticipated it, he spread his arms and embraced the figure. He felt the curves of her slender body, tightly and forcefully holding her as though they were lovers deeply in love with each other.

Body of Steel activated with full force. His arms became unshakable iron rings, mercilessly tightening inward.

The petite figure in his arms didn't even have time to struggle. Several teeth-grating cracks of breaking bones sounded, and she immediately went limp.

Rayne released his arms. The person in his embrace collapsed limply, and a soul flew out from her head.