Tylen took a deep breath. The humility and fear vanished from his face in an instant.
In their place was a deathly stillness and chill, like the depths of a bottomless pool.
By now, Haige had run out of patience.
"Do it! Kill him!"
At his command, the four lackeys pulled sharp Bone-Cleaving Knives from their clothes. The blades glinted in the sunlight as they closed in, surrounding Tylen.
The crowd let out a chorus of gasps.
"Oh, God! They've got knives!"
"Have these apprentices gone mad? They're going to kill someone in the middle of the street?"
Facing the gleaming blades, Tylen didn't retreat a single step.
He straightened his back, his gaze burning bright, and shouted at Haige:
"Haige!"
His roar cracked like thunder, making everyone's ears ring.
"You don't care about the reputation of Cain Wizard Tower, but I do!"
"As long as I'm part of Cain Wizard Tower, I'm one of its members! I won't let a piece of trash like you sully the Wizard Tower's honor!"
Tylen stretched out his right hand and pointed at Haige's brow, his voice ringing with conviction.
"Haige, I, Magnus, challenge you to a sacred wizard's duel!"
The crowd erupted.
At the forceful shout, the onlookers burst into an uproar.
The crowd quickly swelled, packing the street so tightly that there wasn't room to move.
A thief wearing a hood and a dagger at his waist leaned against the wall, a stalk of grass between his lips. He snickered.
"Tsk, tsk. Has life gotten so competitive these days? Even Corpse Collector Apprentices are getting fancy and challenging people to duels?"
Beside him, a middle-aged seamstress holding a roll of cloth shook her head and sighed.
"What duel? It's just a one-sided slaughter."
"That tall one's a notorious bully around here. He's got blood on his hands. That skinny kid's in for a bad day."
"I'm not so sure."
A senior apprentice in an elegant mage robe stopped as he passed, watching the scene with interest. "There's something about that kid's eyes... He doesn't look like he's trying to get himself killed."
At the very front of the crowd, a voluptuous female mercenary stood with her arms crossed, enjoying the show.
Her fiery red hair shone like a flame. Her wheat-colored skin glowed healthily in the sun, and her tight leather armor traced a breathtaking figure.
"Now this is interesting."
The female mercenary licked her lips, her wild eyes fixed on Tylen. "To stay that calm in a desperate situation... This kid is either crazy or has a trump card."
"What trump card could a level-zero, malnourished Corpse Collector Apprentice possibly have?"
In the middle of the street,
Haige froze at the word "duel," then laughed so hard his eyes nearly watered.
"A duel? You think you're worthy?"
He looked down at Tylen's scrawny frame with contempt, idly twirling his heavy Bone-Cleaving Knife.
"You're not fit to duel me! But if you want to die a glorious death, I'll grant your wish!"
"Get him, boys!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Haige charged.
He was huge, but moved with surprising agility.
Like a rampaging wild boar, he rushed forward with a howl of wind, his Bone-Cleaving Knife aimed straight at Tylen's heart.
The blow was fast, precise, and vicious.
He was clearly out to kill.
Just as the tip of the blade was about to touch Tylen's chest,
Tylen moved.
His figure flickered left like a ghost, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike.
Then, instead of retreating, he advanced.
He stepped forward, closing the distance until he was right in Haige's arms.
"Looking to die!"
Haige was delighted rather than alarmed.
Close-quarters combat? That was his specialty!
He grinned savagely and raised his left hand to grab Tylen's shoulder. Then he would draw his knife back with his right hand and gut the kid.
He could already picture Tylen's entrails spilling across the ground.
But then,
Tylen raised his right hand.
He wasn't holding a knife or a sword.
It was just an ordinary, even slightly pale, hand.
His fingers pressed together like a blade, and he casually brought it down toward Haige's shoulder.
"Ha! Are you trying to tickle me?"
Haige laughed mockingly, not taking the feeble blow seriously.
He puffed out his chest and didn't even bother to dodge.
He'd trained his body since childhood, toughening his bones and muscles until even a wooden club would break against him. A bare hand was nothing.
But then,
the instant Tylen's palm touched Haige's shoulder,
a low, almost inaudible high-frequency vibration rang out, sending a chill through everyone who heard it.
It was the lament of Mana compressed to its absolute limit.
[Magic Thorn Art: Hand Blade Form]
Thwack!
There was no sound of impact.
Only the dull sound of a blade cutting into rotten leather.
The vicious grin on Haige's face froze.
The next moment, unimaginable pain surged through his whole body like an electric current, wiping out his reason.
It felt as if a huge, red-hot axe had split his body apart.
"Urgh...?"
Haige looked down in confusion.
What he saw froze his soul.
Tylen's hand had sliced through his linen robe as easily as tofu, then cut through his tough muscles without any resistance.
And then it kept going.
Crack!
His collarbone snapped.
Thump!
His chest split open, and his lungs were cleanly severed.
Finally, that deathly hand precisely severed the aorta above his heart.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
With an explosive burst, Haige's chest seemed to detonate like a blood-red bomb.
A torrent of blood mixed with air from his lungs erupted from the horrific wound, forming a fountain that sprayed all over Tylen.
Tylen stood in the rain of blood without even blinking.
Without a change in expression, he calmly withdrew his hand. Blood dripped from his fingertips onto the ground, pooling into a horrifying puddle.
Haige's mouth hung open as a strange gurgling sound came from his throat.
He tried to raise his hand, tried to speak, but a terrifying sensation of suffocation instantly engulfed his mind.
His life drained away with the gush of blood.
Crash!
His massive frame, solid as an iron tower, toppled backward and slammed into the stone street, kicking up a cloud of dust.
He twitched twice, then lay still.
His eyes stared blankly into the void.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
The once-bustling street was now so quiet that the drop of a pin would have been audible.
The four lackeys who had been so aggressive moments ago had gone pale. Their Bone-Cleaving Knives clattered to the ground.
Staring at their boss in the pool of blood, his chest nearly split in two, they trembled uncontrollably. Dark wet patches even spread across their trousers.
The onlookers were just as stunned, their mouths hanging open as if they'd witnessed an impossible miracle.
"W-what was that?"
The hooded thief was so shocked that his cigarette fell from his mouth. He muttered, "A hand blade? Was that magic? That's nasty... But it seems pretty useful for me!"
The seamstress was so frightened that she covered her eyes, unable to look at the bloody scene.
"Impressive Magic Control."
The senior apprentice's expression was grave, his eyes full of wariness. "He solidified the level-one spell Magic Thorn Art on his palm? And it can cut like that? Is this kid really a Corpse Collector Apprentice?"
The red-haired female mercenary's eyes gleamed even brighter.
She watched Tylen, soaked in blood but still expressionless, and ran the tip of her tongue over her red lips before chuckling softly.
"Ruthless. I like that. This little guy... I like him."
Just as the crowd buzzed with shock and excitement,
an urgent whistle sounded.
"Make way! Move aside!"
Two fully armed city guards shoved through the crowd and strode in.
Seeing the corpse and the blood all over the street, one of the guards frowned, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
"What happened? Who's causing trouble?"
One guard glanced at Haige on the ground and recognized his apprentice's robe. His interest immediately faded, and he curled his lip.
Those Wizard Tower apprentices again.
They were always muttering about strange things. A death or two was nothing unusual, and as long as no civilians got hurt, the guards couldn't be bothered to intervene.
Tylen had already lowered his hand.
He casually wiped the blood from his hand on Haige's corpse, then turned and greeted the guards with impeccable courtesy.
"Good day, officers."
Though his face was covered in blood, his calm composure only made him seem more unsettling and dangerous.
"I'm Magnus, an apprentice of Cain Wizard Tower. Those men tried to rob my goods and attack me."
"To protect the Wizard Tower's honor and my own safety, I had no choice but to challenge him to a duel."
"This is an internal matter for Cain Wizard Tower. Unfortunately, he lost the duel."
As he spoke, Tylen walked forward with complete ease and slipped two banknotes into the guards' hands under cover of his body.
"This is two hundred Purple Gold Coins."
Tylen smiled.
"Sorry for making a mess of the street and causing you trouble."
"Take this as my fine and a little something for your efforts."
The guard weighed the money in his hand, and the stern look on his face melted away at once.
Two hundred Purple Gold Coins! That was enough to have a great time on Spring Flower Street that night.
The onlookers also chimed in to back him up.
"That's right, officer. The big guy attacked first!"
"That kid called for a duel. It was self-defense!"
"That big guy was a bully around here. He got what he deserved!"
The crowd was firmly on Tylen's side.
The two guards exchanged a glance and nodded knowingly.
There was money to be had, it was an internal dispute at a Wizard Tower, and the dead man was a notorious thug. What was there to investigate?
"Ahem."
The lead guard cleared his throat, pocketed the money, and waved his hand.
"If it was a wizard's duel, then it's nothing to do with us."
"Be more careful next time. Don't make such a bloody mess in the street. Get rid of the body!"
With that, the two guards turned and left without a second thought.
Tylen watched them go, then turned and looked coldly at the four lackeys, who were still frozen in terror.
"What are you standing around for?"
Tylen pointed at Haige's corpse on the ground, then at the empty space on his carriage.
"Get him up there."
"Since he came to steal the corpse, let's make him a corpse too. Take him with me."
The four underlings looked as though they'd been granted a pardon. They scrambled over and, in a flurry of hands, stuffed their former boss into the Corpse Bag.
Tylen stood in the sunlight, listening to the notification in his mind that the mission was complete. The corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile.
"Do you even understand the value of Don't Bully the Young and Poor?!"
Before you continue