As soon as those words fell, everyone around him took another synchronized step back, fear unconsciously appearing on their faces.
You had to be kidding. Even a Sword God Style intermediate had lost—were they supposed to go up there and throw their lives away?
Behind the crowd, a thief who was only at the lower level of the Sword God Style knew his strength was lacking. With a wall of people still in front of him, he turned and tried to flee.
But the moment he turned around, a sharp howl of wind suddenly swept up behind his ear, followed by a piercing blast that exploded at the back of his head!
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw something gleaming vanish into the distant woods.
He froze in bewilderment. His side suddenly felt cold, while a pattering sound like water splashing onto the ground came from beside his ear. He instinctively turned around, only to see the horrified looks everyone was giving him.
His mouth opened in confusion, as though he had realized something. He lowered his head.
A crimson fountain of blood was spraying from his chest. The pectorals he had once been so proud of were gone, replaced by a huge, bloody hole.
Chunks of blood mixed with organs came coughing out of his mouth. Struggling, he turned around and looked toward the people behind him.
The expressions of his surrounding "colleagues" had already blurred in his vision, but for some reason, the figure of that seemingly harmless god of slaughter in the distance remained incomparably clear—
The other man stood rooted in place with one palm spread open, still in the posture of having flung something. Seeing him look over, he even smiled at him from afar.
His vision went dark.
With a thud,