Deep in the forest, the battle had already reached a fever pitch.
Boom!
A crimson energy blast grazed past the old man's shoulder.
The giant tree behind him, more than ten meters thick, exploded in an instant, splinters spraying everywhere like a torrential rain.
Yet the old man acted as though he had not seen it at all.
He stomped his foot, blasting apart the earth beneath him.
Using the recoil, he charged forward and drove a savage punch at the black-clad man before him.
Bang!
His fist came down.
The black-clad man's shield lasted only an instant before shattering with a boom. He was sent flying, crashing through several giant trees before slamming heavily into the mud.
The old man shook the blood from his fist and sneered at the black-clad leader in the distance.
"You old bastard—" The black-clad leader's face darkened. "You actually found this place so quickly."
"Of course." The old man grinned.
"No matter how well you hide, there will always be a time when you show your tail."
As the words fell, he suddenly twisted aside. A pitch-black war blade sliced past his ear.
The old man grabbed the blade with his backhand.
Crack!
He crushed the blade to pieces with his bare hand.
The black-clad man who had attacked from behind changed expression drastically.
The old man raised his knee.
Boom!
The man's chest caved in under the blow, and he flew away.
Amid the fighting, the old man said coldly, "Besides—someone risked his life to send out this intelligence. How could I let his efforts go to waste?!"
The black-clad leader's expression turned even uglier at that.
He immediately realized that the student who had escaped had indeed provided the information.
To ensure nothing could go wrong with this operation and to