Another Noxian officer overseeing the battle saw this and instinctively wanted to urge the soldiers to keep attacking.
But the instant he opened his mouth, he felt that terrifying gaze... He was absolutely certain that if he dared to speak, he would be the next to die.
He began trembling uncontrollably, and the order never came.
Hundreds of men were actually locked in a stalemate with one person.
And another piece of bad news had already arrived.
"Sir..." A scout hurried over to the Overseer and reported in a low voice, "The Resistance Army's reinforcements are almost here... They're about four or five hours away. If we don't leave before dawn, we could very well end up surrounded..."
The Overseer's expression darkened.
He looked again at the valiant Resistance Army warrior, still standing tall amid the countless troops.
"He actually feeds on blood..." The Overseer clenched his fists, two terrifying terms already coming to mind:
[Hemomancy]
[Vladimir]
He wasn't sure whether the man before him... had mastered that same terrifying secret. Otherwise, how could he take so many hits and still not go down? His wounds healed automatically as soon as they touched blood, as if he were turning it into nourishment to heal himself...
If they kept fighting him, and the Resistance Army reinforcements arrived and surrounded them, their entire force really would be wiped out...
The Noxian Overseer was still hesitating.
Meanwhile, Chen Ce had already killed several more enemies with his spear.
He was covered in blood, but his gaze remained fierce. No one could even tell whether the blood was his or someone else's.
This was truly...
"One man guarding the pass, and ten thousand cannot get through!"
Chapter 37: Irelia: Did You Do That on Purpose or by Accident?
It was midnight.
As soon as the clock struck twelve, the Corrupting Potions in Chen Ce's hand replenished once more.
Taking advantage of the darkness and the cover of the corpses, he gulped down all the potions again, replenishing his mana and vitality.
He stood even straighter, and his spear swept through the air with even greater speed.
As time passed, the unease and fear in the Noxian Overseer's heart grew stronger. He was gradually becoming convinced that the Resistance Army warrior before him wasn't human... He was... a monster...
He had definitely mastered something like hemomancy... He could absorb other people's flesh and blood and turn them into his own strength, then grow stronger the longer he fought, without ever stopping...
He couldn't be killed. He really couldn't be killed...
If this dragged on, the Resistance Army reinforcements would be here soon...
If the entire warband was wiped out here, they wouldn't be able to carry out the second mission Lady Emystan had assigned them...
No, they absolutely couldn't fall here...
Under the immense psychological pressure, the Noxian Overseer finally couldn't take it anymore and ordered a retreat:
"Everyone, listen to my command! We're pulling back for now! Retreat!"
At his command, drums thundered.
The Noxian soldiers, whose morale Chen Ce had already shattered, turned and ran without hesitation. Some of the shield-bearers even tossed away their gear so they could run faster.
Panicked footsteps rang through the sky. This skirmish, in which a hundred men had fought a thousand, finally ended with the Noxians sounding the retreat.
Chen Ce still stood ramrod straight in front of the village, his gaze sharp and savage as he watched the Noxian warband.
Friend or foe, everyone was awed by his ferocity that night.
But no one noticed that he was actually leaning ever so slightly against his spear.
"The boss is amazing!" After eating her fill and resting up, Ahri was the first to run over. She was even more certain now that he was a "ruthless, bloodthirsty demon."
But just as she was about to flatter him and act cute to wheedle some Corrupting Potion out of him, Chen Ce suddenly warned her in a hoarse voice, "Don't touch me... or I'll dock a week's pay..."
"What's the big deal?" Ahri puffed out her cheeks in a sulk.
"Just don't touch me for now... Give it a little longer..."
"Oh."
As the Noxians ran farther away, Riven, Yasuo, Yone, and the other swordsmen gradually gathered around.
Their eyes were full of awe and amazement. He had fought half a warband all by himself, and after fighting for so long, he could still stand ramrod straight and look so full of energy. It was simply unbelievable!
Yasuo, who had received Chen Ce's help many times, especially wanted to go up and hug him.
But before Yasuo could touch him, Chen Ce toppled backward as if he'd fainted.
Fortunately, Ahri's soft, fluffy tail caught him.
"I can't hold on... Get out of here..." After pretending not to be tired for so long, Chen Ce could finally relax his taut nerves.
By pretending he had mastered something like hemomancy, Chen Ce had frightened the Noxian warband into retreating and won the village its victory.
It wasn't a particularly clever trick, and it was even dangerous. If the Resistance Army reinforcements hadn't been close, the Noxians might have fought to the bitter end. At the time, he could have held out for ten more minutes at most.
Or if the Noxian Overseer had been a fanatical warmonger who refused to retreat, Chen Ce would have been done for.
All in all, this makeshift "Empty Fort Strategy" had been risky. The slightest thing going wrong would have spelled disaster.
But it really had been the only option at the time.
Fortunately, the Goddess of Luck had been on his side.
As for the price... It wasn't too bad. He was simply exhausted to the point of collapse, and his injuries weren't too serious.
With Ahri fussing over him, he woke safe and sound at dawn the next morning.
He hadn't woken naturally, though. A strange tickling sensation had roused him.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a certain little fox sprawled over him, wriggling around and muttering to herself.
"Where's the potion, where's the potion... Where did this guy hide it..."
"Doesn't he usually keep it here..."
"Oh! Found it!"
"Huh? Why's it empty?"
"This guy stole my snacks! The nerve!"
Listening to her "scolding," which was nothing like her usual coy, charming manner, Chen Ce wore a complicated expression.
"Miss Ahri, is it possible... that I'm already awake?"
"Absolutely not!" Ahri answered without hesitation. "You were completely exhausted last night. There's no way you could wake up this soon—Huh?"
"..."
"..."
Their eyes met, and the air grew awkward.
"I... I was..." Ahri started to make excuses, but she sounded far from confident. "I was giving you a massage... G-good morning, Boss... Haha..."
"..." Chen Ce's eye twitched. "Leaving aside whether it's morning or not, I want to know what's going on."
"What's going on... The swordsmen are holding a meeting... I think they're deciding the silver-haired woman's punishment... They told me to take good care of you, Boss..."
"Did the Resistance Army arrive?"
"I think so... They just got here..."
"Did Yasuo and the others tell you anything else?"
"Tell me... I think... Oh, right, they did..." The fox girl curled a little bottle up from beside the bed with her fluffy white tail. It held some kind of strange pills.
"They said you're still very weak, and if you want to play with me, you should take this medicine first... Um... I don't really understand what they meant..."
"..." Chen Ce looked at the strange little pills. He could guess what they were.
But just as he was about to tell her to climb off him, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.
The steps were hurried but light, and Chen Ce suddenly found them familiar.
A moment later, the door was flung open—not because the visitor was rude, but because she was in too much of a hurry.
Bang! A graceful figure appeared in the doorway.
Silver light armor, long black hair, a red fitted outfit, and countless sharp blade fragments circling her slender waist. Her bright, sapphire-like eyes were filled with deep concern.
The visitor was none other than the Resistance Army's leader, Blade Dancer Irelia.
Her full, sensual lips parted slightly, but the words of concern caught in her throat.
At the "scandalous" sight before her, her fair cheeks began to turn red.
But it wasn't from embarrassment.
It was because...
Her blood pressure was skyrocketing.
She saw the man she'd been worrying about lying in bed with another woman—a beautiful Vastaya woman with an excellent figure. The woman was even straddling him in a highly provocative pose.
"Chen Ce, wh-what are you doing?!"
Chapter 38: My Boy Ce Loves Watching Women Fight the Most
Irelia had traveled all the way from the Placidium because she'd heard that Chen Ce might have been attacked by a Noxian warband.
On her way there, she confirmed it from a scout. She heard that a warband of more than a thousand soldiers had surrounded the village, with Chen Ce standing at the front to protect the villagers.
She was frantic. She remembered everything that had happened earlier in Dragonspine Canyon.
She was terrified that history would repeat itself.
But after going through countless hardships to reach the village...
She found Chen Ce lying in bed, laughing and chatting intimately with a strange woman.
A Vastaya woman with fox ears and nine tails.
She was beautiful—no less so than Irelia.
In fact, when it came to "physical charm," she was even more attractive.
She was the sort of woman who could make even other women sincerely praise her beauty.
But... Irelia wasn't in the mood to admire her. Her blood pressure had already risen to the point where she felt she needed medication.
"Chen Ce... Chen Ce!!"
Irelia's voice echoed through the cramped room, half heartbroken and half furious. She hurried to the bed and pinched Chen Ce's cheek.
"You... you...! What did you promise me before you left...?!"
"This is a misunderstanding... A misunderstanding..." Chen Ce's words came out garbled as she squeezed his face.
Seeing this, Ahri, who was still straddling him, hesitated for a moment before springing into action. First, she forcibly pried Irelia's hand away. Then she wrapped Chen Ce in all nine of her fluffy tails, shielding him.
"You're not allowed to bully my boss!"
"Your...?" Irelia's eyes widened in shock at the word.
She turned to look at Chen Ce again. The heartbreak and anger in her eyes gradually gave way to hurt and accusation.
"Have you already... married her...? I was here first..."
"..." Chen Ce struggled to wriggle free, finally escaping the restraints of those nine tails. "No... That's not what's going on! Ahri didn't mean it like that!"
"What do you mean, didn't mean it? That's exactly what I meant!" Ahri said indignantly, wrapping Chen Ce up again. She was going to protect her boss today. Not even the Spirit of Ionia could stop her!
Seeing how brazen Ahri was, Irelia turned her anger on her. She'd stolen her man and still dared to act so smug—did she really think Irelia didn't matter?
"You're Vastaya... You have fox ears. Are you some kind of vixen?"
Irelia's black hair rose as if in a wind. Countless blade fragments floated behind her, weaving in and out of her hair.
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