Fierce Battle

A surge of vibrant energy spread outward. The Viking warriors lying on the ground immediately felt a suction force descend on them, sticking them firmly to the earth like tree resin. They could not even turn over.

At the same time, the vines binding them grew a shade greener. The green sap seeping from them left the warriors dizzy and disoriented; it was clearly poisonous.

"Hmph!" Idiveer grunted and stamped his foot, unleashing elemental energy. The ground shuddered several times, and then his men rose into the air.

No, to be precise, they were not floating. An exceedingly thin slab of dry earth held them aloft, carrying them toward the distant forest under his mental control until they vanished from Yetos's sight.

Yetos drew the heavy sword from his back and pointed it at him. "They won't last long."

"Once I finish you, the wood element will disappear on its own." With that, Idiveer stamped his foot and charged, axe in hand.

The vines binding the five Viking Leaders nearest him were forcibly shattered by elemental power. Freed from their restraints, they immediately recovered, fixed sharp gazes on their enemies, and charged with their great axes clenched tight.

"Kill!"

With several metallic swishes, the three Knight Commanders drew their weapons and rushed at the enemy with a shout, plunging into battle.

Green light wreathed Yetos's heavy sword, carrying terrifying elemental power. Every swing unleashed a sonic boom. Against an ordinary opponent, a single blow would likely have severed both weapon and body. Unfortunately, the broad axe in Idiveer's hands was no pushover either. Earth elemental energy was also somewhat harder than wood elemental energy, lending greater hardness and sharpness to a weapon. Apart from the Bronze Sword wielded by the Qi Kingdom general earlier, every other weapon had been shaved away as easily as dirt.

"Stop forcing yourself. You can't use your full strength right now, so you have no chance of beating me." Every stroke of Idiveer's broad axe targeted his opponent's left shoulder. The bloody hole there had shrunk a little, clearly patched up temporarily with elemental energy.

"You're hardly any better. Come on, then. Aren't you supposed to be strong? Why do your attacks feel so limp now, like a little girl's?" Yetos retorted with a sneer.

"Stubborn bastard!" Idiveer stopped holding back. All he wanted now was to end the battle as quickly as possible, before his men succumbed to the poisonous sap seeping from the vines.

Though severely wounded, Yetos held his ground through his outstanding swordsmanship and advantage in elemental energy. Idiveer, by contrast, exposed numerous openings through his dwindling elemental energy and excessive haste. Those openings prevented his attacks from truly landing, leaving him unable to break the stalemate.

Every clash of their weapons sent tremors through the ground and the branches of the forest, scattering birds from their perches and crawling creatures from their burrows.

Under the sweeping force of that energy, neither side's subordinates could approach. Their battlefields were separated, looking strangely disconnected, each keeping clear of the other.

There were five Viking Leaders, while the Knight Commanders numbered a mere three-two fewer.

That difference of two was not to be underestimated. In a fight to the death between two forces, every additional fighter meant another advantage. Their opponents had two more, and both were commanders who had fought their way up from the bottom.

Fighting an opponent demanded unity of mind and intent, the body following the will. It was a state of combat that allowed no distraction amid those lightning-fast exchanges.

Yet the enemy's numerical advantage easily disrupted that state. The strongest Silver-Pattern Knight Commander could clearly suppress two Silver-Pattern Leaders on his own, but a second before his sword reached an opponent's neck, one of the two White-Pattern Leaders would always break past the other Silver-Pattern Knight Commander, shift position, and swing a great axe at him from the side.

Those attacks were subtle and swift, but unfortunately, none had ever succeeded. He blocked each one just in time, narrowly averting danger. Though they inflicted no real injury, they rapidly drained his stamina and concentration.

The battle remained fierce and deadlocked. Neither the leaders nor their subordinates could secure a decisive advantage. Unless something unexpected happened, this would be a prolonged fight.

Whoosh! Suddenly, a rush of wind sounded. A streak of light shot like an arrow straight into the strongest Knight Commander's body.

Bolstered by that energy, the Knight Commander's eyes flashed, and his movements immediately grew much more agile. Seizing an opening in the exchange, he swept his blade across a Viking Leader's arm. Blood sprayed from a wound that nearly reached the bone, drawing a low howl of pain.

At the sight, Idiveer's beard quivered. "You bastard! Cut that out!" he roared.

Terrifying elemental power poured out. Fine cracks seemed to appear in his broad axe, as though the enormous amount of elemental energy flooding into it was pushing its material beyond what it could withstand.

Yetos dared not be careless. He likewise unleashed all the elemental power in his body without reservation, gathering strength before swinging his heavy sword with a low metallic hum.

A clang rang out. Branches snapped all around them, and loose stones rolled across the ground. Even the fighters on the other battlefield lost their footing and nearly fell.

"You outnumber us, and you still have the nerve to say that! You Vikings are as brainless as roe deer!" Yetos snapped.

"Don't even think about interfering again. I won't give you another chance!" A storm of elemental energy swept outward. Idiveer's deathly pale face took on a faint purple tinge; he was clearly staking his life on this fight now.

Under the influence of that elemental storm, Yetos could no longer send energy beyond his body. That meant he could no longer support the other battlefield. With their numerical advantage, the enemy would win there sooner or later. Just as Idiveer intended, once they came over to assist him, Yetos's own defeat would only be a matter of time.

"Surrender, knights! You're dead!" shouted the Viking Leader attacking most ferociously.

"Not necessarily!"

"There are still the two of us!" Two shouts came from the distance, momentarily startling both sides.

Two figures stood quietly on a distant slope, watching like spectators. No one could tell how long they had been there.

Idiveer narrowed his eyes at the sight, startled inwardly. Were those two hiding there and watching all along? Cunning bastards.

"Idiveer! How can you afford to get distracted at a critical moment in battle?" Yetos seized the opportunity and delivered a heavy slash. Briefly distracted, Idiveer nearly failed to block it. As their elemental power collided, he spat out a mouthful of blood and stumbled back dozens of steps before coming to a halt.

Having driven his opponent back with one strike, Yetos turned toward the two men, his voice unmistakably excited. "Knights, you arrived just in time!"

"But don't overreach! Just hold them off! Leave the rest to me!" Clearly, he had noticed that neither man held any particular rank; they were only ordinary knights. Their opponents, however, were all leaders. Perhaps they could not fight a hundred men apiece, but taking on ten was well within their reach. An ordinary knight would struggle to last ten exchanges against them. Even evading them to buy time was a life-or-death challenge.

But that would be enough. As Yetos strode forward into another charge, that was all he had in mind. As long as those two could delay the enemy leaders for a moment, he could maximize his chances of victory and firmly seize the initiative.

"You think you can beat me? Keep dreaming!" Idiveer naturally understood his intention. He also knew that if he truly fell to Yetos, not one of his men would survive. The guilt of such a defeat was too heavy for him to accept.

Boom! Boom! The ground split apart, and bottomless cracks spread toward Yetos's feet.

Swish! Yetos thrust his heavy sword diagonally into the ground before him and clasped his hands together. A mass of green light appeared on his forehead as invisible elemental power flowed swiftly with his intent.

The cracks reached his feet, opening into an abyss, but Yetos did not fall. Green branches emerged along both sides of the chasm, weaving into a web beneath him.

While the two fought fiercely, Kanni and Zeng Mu rushed over to the other battlefield, drawing their swords to join the life-or-death struggle.

"Ridiculous! Two nobodies dare show themselves! Die!" barked the Silver-Pattern Leader with the fiercest fighting style. Shifting his feet, he evaded his opponent's attack and swept his axe horizontally at Kanni.

Kanni adjusted his footing and whipped his arm out, bringing the silver sword in his hand slashing down.

A clang rang out, and the enemy's great axe was driven back first. Though the blow caused no injury, that single exchange made everyone else realize that this man was far from ordinary.

Having suffered a setback, the Silver-Pattern Leader's expression darkened. He wanted to attack again, but the formidable Silver-Pattern Knight Commander gave him no further chance.

"Your opponent is me!"

"Weiduolida, finish those two quickly!" he shouted after blocking the deadly sword strike.

Hearing this, the two White-Pattern Leaders abandoned their advantage in the ongoing melee. As the other Silver-Pattern Leader stepped in to take their place, they turned and charged at the two newcomers.

"Die!"

"You're not fit to stall us!"

Sensing the force behind their attacks, Kanni charged with his sword at the stronger of the two. Before stepping forward, he made sure to call out a warning. "Nameless one, be careful!"

Feeling the power contained in his opponent's great axe, Zeng Mu lowered his brows. His knuckles cracked as he tightened his grip on his iron sword.

Even before awakening his elemental mark and entering the Element Academy, he could not have been considered an ordinary person, because he had come from a family of martial artists...

From his earliest memories, his grandfather's aged face and his father's stern eyes had filled his childhood.

At two, he learned to walk. At three, to run. At four, to practice standing stances. At five, the horse stance...

By twelve, he had finished training in unarmed combat. With his foundation declared complete, he began studying weapon techniques.

Sabers, spears, swords, axes, halberds, lances, bows, crossbows, whips, blades, hammers, shields... He would not claim mastery of them all, but he could confidently say he knew a little of each.

However, bound by society's restrictions, he had never actually killed anyone as his ancestors had. Apart from straw dummies and wooden training posts, his only practice opponents had been his grandfather and father.

Naturally, the weapons used in those bouts were wooden substitutes. Both sides also wore simple armor, reducing what should have been dangerous combat to something comfortably safe. Thus, only years later did Zeng Mu finally realize that what he lacked most was genuine experience in mortal combat.

His earlier fight with those three from the Element Academy had made him understand the importance of that experience even more clearly. He was like a child holding a gun but not knowing how to pull the trigger and shoot an enemy.

But now, even as fate threw hardships at him, it had also given him an opportunity: this body and this world.

That nameless ordinary knight had long since died on the battlefield. Though Zeng Mu, who now controlled this flesh, had gained none of the knight's memories, he had inherited a body tempered by years of battle.

Years of fighting formed neural and muscle memory. Whenever danger approached, the body could react without even needing commands from the brain. This was instinctive resistance and counterattack, something the Water Demon Scorpion's earlier ambush had already proven.

As the great axe grew larger and larger before his eyes, a faint smile appeared on Zeng Mu's face-a smile whose meaning only he understood.

"I'm more than willing to embrace real combat!" His power rose from the ground, and his sword shot out with his hand, colliding with the great axe slashing diagonally toward him.