Slaughter

Grabbing the sheep thrown over by the captain, the adjutant wore a savage grin.

How did they do it back in Shurima?

Shurima lacked water, and it lacked food.

But, within the human body, these things existed.

He hoisted the trembling lamb, and amidst the desperate cries of the mother sheep, he brought it to the center of the village. He prepared to let the other sheep witness the fate of this livestock.

They still had to rest for a while, so they couldn't kill them all; to keep the sheep obedient, they had to use intimidation and a little bit of deception.

He couldn't help but think about how adorable their terror and wailing would be when these lambs saw the miserable deaths of countless kin, only to realize that their own apathy had led them to the same end.

Thus, he raised his blade toward the lamb, wanting to hear the mother sheep's wails and see her weep.

So, he swung his blade down.

However, it was not the lamb's head that fell, but his own.

"For a man to seek death, it is as easy as turning over one's hand."

Li Ke, gripping the long blade, shook the blood from Yone's sword. Without a moment's hesitation, he charged into the Noxus soldiers who had taken up their weapons.

"But you lot need a little bit of help!"

The long blade danced like the wind, and Li Ke's figure was as swift as a ghost.

Amidst the crowd, Li Ke quickly identified the footwork of these Noxus soldiers, moving his unarmored body rapidly based on their positioning.

Sweeping Blade!

Li Ke's body slammed violently into the chest of a Noxus soldier. Though he was relatively lean and failed to knock the man over, it prevented the other Noxus soldiers' weapons from landing a direct hit.

With a casual sliding slash, he opened the soldier's throat. The searing pain left the man's limbs limp, and Li Ke snatched the spear from his hand, thrusting it directly into the throat of another soldier.

Instantly piercing the throat of the soldier who had tried to grab him, Li Ke quickly moved away from the dying man, using his chest as a springboard to leap into mid-air.

Of course, jumping in combat was a foolish act, as one could not change direction or gain leverage in the air; for most, jumping was a path to death!

But, those with extraordinary abilities were the exception!

Qi was channeled into the blade. The moment those Noxus soldiers tried to pierce Li Ke's body with their swords or spears, Li Ke's blade flashed past their weapons.

Swords and spears snapped upon contact, and Li Ke landed instantly, spinning to deliver two slashes into the backs of the Noxus soldiers' necks.

The thick iron helmets were no match for Li Ke's blade, enhanced by Overdrive, which easily cleaved the necks of the two Noxus soldiers in half.

But the next moment, the sound of wind came from behind him. Li Ke dodged quickly, yet still received a shallow wound on his back.

Crouch, roll, upward slash!

Li Ke endured the sharp pain and executed these movements in one fluid motion. Sure enough, a moment later, an axe swept past where his head had been, and he successfully sidestepped, slicing the opponent open from the crotch in one go, exposing the man's entrails to the air.

"Kill!"

With a roar, Li Ke charged again, but the Noxus soldiers had already prepared a spear formation to wait for him. At this point, even Li Ke couldn't achieve an instant kill as he had before.

If he could charge inside, the spear formation would be nothing but a prop, but if the enemy held their shields and braced their spears, the blade in his hand would be of little use.

No wonder I ended up in a bitter struggle during the simulation...

Li Ke panted heavily and swallowed a pill. The bitter taste made it difficult to gulp down, but there was no choice; the consumption of spirit and stamina in battle was not so simple.

The movements he had just performed had actually consumed nearly half of his stamina. To maintain that peak speed, he couldn't do it without chugging a bottle of health and mana potions.

The battles in movies and TV shows where they fight for dozens of rounds were purely for show.

He had only exploded at full speed for a dozen seconds before his condition began to decline. Just like an athlete, a hundred-meter dash might look like a warm-up, but if they went all out, even that short distance would leave their bodies exhausted.

Li Ke gripped his blade, quietly waiting for the pill to take effect.

The time it took for this Kinkou Secret Medicine to work could already be considered mystical, but it still required a moment. So, Li Ke held his scabbard, ready to run at any time.

But just then, the officer who had been drinking meat broth stepped out. Looking at the spear formation confronting Li Ke and his subordinates lying on the ground, his expression turned quite grim.

He looked at his subordinates and barked an order.

"Are you idiots? Have you forgotten how we dealt with the monks in that temple?"

Their previous target had been a temple, and the martial monks inside possessed superb strength, capable of taking down a dozen of their fully armed warriors with their bare hands.

They were much like the slightly panting warrior before them—someone they couldn't easily handle with conventional means.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the opponent was wary of their spear formation now; the moment he found a flaw, it would be their death.

Therefore, they had other methods.

The soldiers looked at each other, and the spearmen in the back ranks retreated in an orderly fashion, heading toward the villagers' rooms. A grave expression appeared on Li Ke's face as he stared in shock at the commander before him.

"Ionian! You are very strong, but I wonder, in the face of your own kin! Can you still strike with such swiftness?"

A savage grin appeared on the officer's face. He was the one who had made those villagers kill the monks, using the villagers' children and wives to threaten them, forcing them to stand in front of his soldiers and use daggers to kill the monks who were unwilling to harm the villagers.

In this way, an operation that would have otherwise resulted in heavy losses became quite easy.

The man's Ionian was quite broken, but Li Ke felt helpless after hearing it, even appearing quite furious.

He struggled to squeeze out a few words in Noxian, cursing at the officer before him.

"You despicable cur!"

"Hahahahaha!!"

The commander burst into laughter; an enemy's curses were the finest reward. To a man of Noxus, being called despicable was the highest form of praise.

"My thanks for the compliment!"

His proud demeanor drew chuckles from his subordinates, yet suddenly, he felt something was amiss.

It was too quiet.

Realizing this, he instinctively tried to look around to see what was happening, but at that very moment, Li Ke charged forward with a face full of grief and indignation, leaving him no time to think.