Sorrow and Rage

Early morning.

Yi, Jia Ruo, and Neeko walked along a mountain path.

Jia Ruo happily swung You Meng, tracing one sword arc after another. The good deeds he had done over the past few days, along with Sword Saint's praise for his progress, had rekindled his childhood dream of righting wrongs.

Suddenly, Yi frowned. "Something's not right up ahead. Let's hurry."

Though he had said they should hurry, he had already turned into a streak of light and shot toward the distance.

"Neeko, be careful."

Jia Ruo called back to her, then hurried after Yi with all his might.

A faint sense of unease crept over him. It was the first time he had seen Yi so tense.

When Jia Ruo reached the village ahead, he saw a group of ferocious men dressed in Leather Armor and carrying sharp weapons and Round Shields. They were beginning to surround Yi.

Yi noticed Jia Ruo's arrival. Instead of reacting to the pirates closing in around him, he shut his eyes.

"Everyone in this village is dead."

"What?"

After hearing Yi's words, Jia Ruo looked at the men, whose weapons were still smeared with fresh blood, and at the supplies piled together nearby.

Not only was there not a sound from any of the houses, but the air was thick with the stench of blood.

He could guess what had happened.

"You beasts! Robbing them wasn't enough—you had to kill them too?"

Veins bulged on Jia Ruo's forehead, and his eyes burned with fury.

He had gradually grown fond of Ionia and the kindhearted, simple people it nurtured.

"Attack."

The Bald Leader didn't waste a single word.

Their whereabouts had already been discovered, so there was nothing more to say. Anyone who came at them would be killed; if two came, they would kill both.

Cold-blooded and ruthless, these pirates killed without batting an eye.

At their leader's command, the pirates readied themselves and charged viciously.

But Jia Ruo was faster.

With Purple Radiance trailing behind him, he rushed to Yi's side.

You Meng carved a purple line through the air as cherry blossoms drifted gently along its path.

The pirate at the very front was instantly separated from his head.

So fast!

They'd run into a tough one.

The Bald Leader frowned. "Everyone, attack together. This brat's dangerous."

The pirates had surrounded Jia Ruo and Yi. The Bald Leader squeezed his way in and licked his lips. "I'll trade a few blows with you."

They had encountered plenty of tough opponents in Freljord before.

But even a tiger couldn't withstand a pack of wolves, and two fists couldn't beat four hands.

Once they had an enemy surrounded, the Bald Leader would hold off the strongest one while the other pirates swarmed in. Sooner or later, they could wear down any foe.

Jia Ruo tightened his grip on You Meng, lowered his stance, and launched himself straight at the Bald Leader.

You Meng swept sideways.

The Bald Leader's pupils shrank. Years of fighting had taught him to be ready.

He lowered his left hand, which he had already raised in front of his chest, and blocked the blow with his Fine Steel Round Shield.

Clang!

The clash of metal rang out, leaving a deep gouge in the shield.

This brat was dangerous.

The Bald Leader made his assessment.

Though his opponent was a head shorter, he was not only astonishingly fast but also far stronger than the leader.

The blow had left his own left arm numb.

As he thought this, the Bald Leader swung the axe in his right hand, forcing Jia Ruo back, and signaled to the surrounding pirates.

Then he and four or five pirates closed in on Jia Ruo, forming a smaller ring inside the larger one. They kept circling him without stopping.

Realizing he couldn't win by force, the pirate leader made use of their numbers.

This tactic would leave Jia Ruo constrained whenever he attacked. The moment he went after one pirate, the others would swarm him.

That way, even if several of them died, they could slowly wear him down by trading their lives for injuries.

The pirates, who lived by the blade, didn't care whose lives were spent.

They knew that in a real fight, the more afraid of death you were, the sooner you died.

With a swish, Jia Ruo swept You Meng in a circle, temporarily driving the pirates back.

This couldn't go on.

The pirates weren't in a hurry, because they had the advantage in numbers.

But if this dragged on, they could rotate fighters between the outer ring and the attackers, while Jia Ruo would be worn down by wave after wave until he died.

After a few moments of stalemate, Jia Ruo suddenly attacked.

He ran his sword straight through the pirate who seemed the least agile, then quickly pulled back, dodging the attacks the others were about to unleash.

This time, Jia Ruo hadn't been injured.

But what about next time?

Rapid charges took a great deal of stamina and Mana.

Jia Ruo's Mana had yet to circulate through his body. Once his breathing grew ragged, he would be sure to lose.

The surrounding pirates weren't fazed by their companion's death.

Another one stepped out of the surrounding ring and silently joined the fight.

Meanwhile, the pirates on the outside made a disastrous decision.

They looked at Jia Ruo and Yi surrounded and assumed Jia Ruo would inevitably be worn down.

So they formed another ring and closed in on the middle-aged man carrying Green Sword.

The brat with the Purple Sword seemed to be protecting him. He was probably an old man who was all looks and no substance.

But they had no idea that this middle-aged man was the truly terrifying one.

If they had marveled at Jia Ruo's speed before, now they didn't even have a chance to be amazed.

Unlike Jia Ruo's swift charge, this was a Green Flowing Light too fast for the eye to follow. As it passed through, the five pirates who had closed in around Yi died instantly.

The once well-organized pirate band fell into disarray. Yi had shown that his terrifying strength couldn't be overcome with numbers.

"Damn it, weren't Ionians supposed to be weaklings? How'd we run into a monster like this as soon as we got here?"

"What the hell are we fighting for? Run!"

"We should've stayed in Freljord. Those Noxians are blind as bats."

The Viking Raiders had even dared to stand their ground against isolated trolls, but Yi's single strike had terrified them out of their wits.

Yi stood with his sword lowered and said lightly, "The first to run will be the first to die."

At once, the pirates who had fled the farthest collapsed dead.

The pirates fell into chaos.

Taking advantage of their confusion, Jia Ruo broke through the encirclement.

At last he had escaped their restraint. Now, no pirate could stand alone against his swift attacks.

Clang!

The Bald Leader's Round Shield blocked You Meng once more.

He was the only one who could put up even a little resistance.

"Heh heh, kid, someone important to you must've been in the village. They're all dead. We had our way with every girl there, too. You should've heard them scream."

Seeing that his death was inevitable, the Bald Leader tried to shake Jia Ruo's resolve.

All he wanted now was to make the person about to kill him pay as dearly as possible.

At the Bald Leader's words, the rage already blazing within Jia Ruo became impossible to control. It consumed his mind in an instant.

He planted a foot in the Bald Leader's stomach and kicked him away.

Then he leaped after him and slammed him hard into the ground.

"Killing me won't change a thing. They'll keep me company."

Blood spilled from the Bald Leader's mouth as he spoke his last words. He died with a vicious grin.

Thrust, thrust, thrust.

Jia Ruo drove You Meng into the Bald Leader's chest three more times, viciously and again and again.

The rage in Jia Ruo's heart didn't subside in the slightest.

He rushed at the remaining pirates.

He swung You Meng with all his strength. His breathing grew ragged, his chest heaved violently, and his reason began to fade.

He even forgot to use the Wuju sword techniques. He killed the last few pirates with brute force, hacking them down with You Meng's keen edge.

That left an opening for a pirate's desperate counterattack. A spiked club crashed hard into his left shoulder.

Every pirate had been killed.

But Jia Ruo kept hacking at their corpses.

Only when Yi appeared behind him, held down his uninjured right shoulder, and restrained the You Meng in his hand did he stop.

Neeko had only just arrived. She covered her mouth as she stared at the dismembered bodies, the thick pool of blood, and Jia Ruo, soaked in blood.

What had happened here?