Clash

Weapons clashed, emitting a fierce ringing sound. As both exerted their strength in haste, they were evenly matched for the moment.

Rhode didn't swing his weapon again. Instead, using the impact from the weapon collision, he flickered backward, arriving at the edge of the lookout tower platform.

He didn't try to outmatch Yusuf, a veteran Warrior, in Strength. Even though Rhode had used the Heavy Slash skill, he still couldn't achieve success in the surprise attack.

Yusuf also understood his own advantage. After their weapons met, he counterattacked with a horizontal slash, intending to suppress Rhode with a series of blows. However, he only struck the afterimage Rhode left behind as he retreated.

Missing his strike, Yusuf produced a round shield in his other hand and assumed an offensive stance, preparing to kill Rhode using his equipment and the terrain to his advantage.

Meanwhile, Rhode stood at the edge of the lookout tower, holding his weapon towards Yusuf ahead. Although his Space Ring also contained a shield, Rhode didn't take it out.

At this moment, the railing of the lookout tower was at Rhode's feet, only reaching his waist. Due to years of disrepair, many parts of the railing at the edge had collapsed, and the remaining sections were not very sturdy, as if they would break with a strong push.

With his extensive combat experience, Yusuf understood that he didn't even need to kill the Necromancer before him with his weapon. Through sheer pressure, the Necromancer, with no retreat, would inevitably fall from the lookout tower.

At the same time, Yusuf knew that in this situation, although it seemed like a single charge could kill the enemy, one mistake could send himself falling instead.

Yusuf didn't charge forward immediately. He simply held his weapon. Yusuf knew clearly that the enemy, positioned at the edge, was under far greater pressure than he was. He just needed to wait for the enemy to expose an opening to find the best moment to strike.

However, Yusuf could only be disappointed to find that even with a drop of several dozen meters behind him, the enemy still held his weapon steadily, without the slightest tremor. Only in the gaze directed at him did something seem to have changed.

Yusuf couldn't help but curse inwardly. Originally, he hadn't intended to kill the enemy, only to inquire about some information, so he hadn't brought anyone else up and had entered the lookout tower alone. If he had a helper by his side, dealing with the enemy before him would be much simpler.

Ultimately, Yusuf had to change his tactic. Instead of spending more time searching for an opportunity, he began to advance slowly, preparing to create pressure for the enemy while adjusting the direction of his attack, just waiting for the enemy to reveal an opening.

If the environment at the top of the tower provided Yusuf with an opportunity to eliminate a threat to the merchant group, it also provided Rhode with an opportunity to take down the merchant group.

Previously, Rhode had obtained information about the merchant group from a maid. He knew that besides the leader, there were several other veteran Practitioners and a Mage. With their clear division of labor and mutual cooperation, the merchant group's strength clearly surpassed his own.

Therefore, even though he coveted the Soul Crystals within the merchant group and wanted to act against them, Rhode found it difficult to find an opportunity. Unless chaos erupted within the merchant group, or he exposed a weakness.

Thus, along the way, Rhode hadn't thought about how to deal with this merchant group. Instead, he chose to improve his own strength through deep Meditation, while also showing weakness to the merchant group, only wanting to reach Dya safely.

It was just unfortunate that the merchant group's intentions were clearly different from Rhode's. Even though Rhode didn't intend to deal with the merchant group, they still didn't intend to let Rhode go.

The merchant group leader chose to strike the moment they found a highly probable opportunity to kill Rhode, intending to eliminate him here.

A sense of anger arose within Rhode, an emotion he hadn't experienced since entering the game.

Through a Mental Mark, Rhode sent a message to the Vampire below.

Looking at the enemy before him, Rhode also understood that if the merchant group lost this veteran Warrior, their strength would be greatly diminished. Both from a command perspective and from a personal strength perspective, the Warrior before him was clearly a crucial link in the merchant group.

Standing at the edge of the tower's summit, Rhode stared intently at Yusuf's movements.

At this moment, under Rhode's gaze, Yusuf moved. It wasn't a significant action, just a gradual advance of his steps, simultaneously blocking the path between himself and the entrance to the tower's summit, intending to safely force him off the lookout tower.

If they were to fight head-on on the ground, without the Vampire's assistance, Rhode might not be able to defeat the fully armed Yusuf with his own strength. However, at this moment, by utilizing the special environment here, Rhode could find an opportunity.

He confirmed once more within his Space Ring. Rhode knew he only had one chance to try. The transition between offense and defense would happen in an instant.

Heavy pressure washed over him. Both the fully armed Warrior before him and the precarious railing behind him seemed to remind Rhode that failure meant death.

Following the signal from the Mental Mark, the Vampire opened his eyes, a flash of crimson light flickering within his pupils.

Upon receiving Rhode's command, the Vampire put the Soul Crystal he was holding into his pocket, simultaneously pulling down the cloth covering his face, revealing his protruding fangs.

The Vampire pushed open the carriage door and peered outside. Seeing the Scout sitting at the front of the carriage eating food, the Vampire instantly lunged.

The Scout naturally looked up to observe the situation when he saw the carriage door open. At this moment, years of combat instinct made him sense something. The Scout was just about to get up from the carriage when the Vampire had already reached his side and swung a claw.

The Scout only had time to raise one hand to block, but that raised hand was tightly grasped by the Vampire, who then yanked it to the side. Taking advantage of the opening, the Vampire's other hand shot out and grabbed the Scout's throat.

Flesh and blood were pulled out along with the Vampire's hand. As if driven by an instinct for blood, the Vampire brought the fresh flesh to his mouth and began to devour it rapidly.

The Scout's corpse fell to the ground with a dull thud. At this moment, those gathered around the campfire also noticed something was wrong. They quickly grabbed their weapons and charged towards the Vampire.

The Vampire also sensed the killing intent from the merchant group members. He casually threw the half-eaten flesh onto the ground and charged towards the surrounding merchant group members.

Just as the Vampire was fighting the merchant group members, a quick-reacting Scout approached one of the merchant group's carriages and knocked twice on the door.

The carriage door opened, and the blue-robed Mage stepped out. He immediately saw the Vampire in the middle of the battlefield.