"I'll let that sword strike go. Consider it my apology. We stay out of each other's way." The Chosen clamped down on the wound in his palm, his throat bobbing involuntarily.
The other man's silence only put him under unparalleled pressure.
Seemingly noticing his own cowardice, he flushed with shame and anger. "We fought too!"
Fringilla and Geralt stood to one side without taking a stance.
To them, these people were coming to blows over a few materials. They didn't understand it. Besides, drained as they were, they lacked the strength to intervene.
They only hoped someone would act quickly, before the surviving monsters recovered.
"Put the items down and leave. I won't hold those two monsters you killed against you." Chen Xu twirled his sword, concealing his killing intent, though his muscles were actually swelling, poised to strike.
"I'll only say this once."
Why did some people never understand the situation? Why were they always willing to throw their lives away for such petty gains?
They were all at the high stage of the mortal tier. Killing a mid-stage Giant Ghoul only gave ten experience points. Was it worth it?
He couldn't understand why some of these muggles were so brave. He really wanted to pry open their pig brains and see whether they were filled with shit.
Honestly, even he felt afraid when he saw that long list of feats and skills on his panel.
Tsk.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Could it be that they couldn't see it?
Unable to bear the humiliation and pressure, Randall completely lost his cool and attacked recklessly, his silver knuckle-dusters reaching Chen Xu's face in an instant!
[Fist of the Unreturned King: Meteor Killing Fist]!
It was an astonishing fist technique capable of throwing over a dozen punches in a single second.
Gripping Gram in both hands, Chen Xu met it head-on. The peerless edge easily cleaved through the silver knuckle-dusters.
Clang!
Yet after cutting a few millimeters deeper, the blade was stopped by the finger bones!
How was that possible?!
What the fuck, Wolverine?
It was that incomprehensible [Talent] again!
Seeing the astonishment on Chen Xu's face, Randall felt a surge of satisfaction.
No one in this world could look down on me!
Enduring the piercing pain, he grabbed the blade barehanded and pulled Chen Xu close. A storm of fists rained down on that detestable handsome face.
Yet dozens of punches later, not a single one had landed!
Chen Xu's head swayed from side to side, twisting in ways that left Randall drenched in sweat. That neck seemed to be made of noodles, without a single bone.
Gram was close to severing his fingers. Left with no other option, he finally chose to drive a full-force punch into his opponent's stomach.
The plate armor dispersed the punch's force across Chen Xu's body, leaving him unharmed. Still, the tremendous force drove him backward, his straw sandals gouging two tracks across the ground.
The Chosen behind him seized the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. An inch and a half of white radiance actually extended from the tip of his ordinary longsword, which bore no engraved runes, as he slashed at the unguarded back of Chen Xu's head.
The rush of wind felt like a stabbing prick. It was already too late to withdraw his sword and defend.
Using the force of Randall's punch, Chen Xu flipped backward into the air. His right foot lashed out like a whip, striking the sneak attacker's sword wrist with precision.
Not only did it deflect the angle of the attack, but the blow also propelled him even higher.
A dazzling capoeira war dance that pushed the lower body's capabilities beyond their limits!
The vicious sword strike brushed past Chen Xu. Before the sword radiance faded, the attacker turned his longsword and cut upward at Chen Xu, who had nothing to push off against in midair.
But Chen Xu had already drawn his steel sword back, ready to meet the attack with his full strength!
His body remained inverted in the war-dance stance. With the momentum of his spinning body and gravity behind it, the longsword in his hand swung out faster than ever before!
Geralt's eyes instantly lit up, and he couldn't help applauding that strike inwardly!
This was a sword strike beyond normal limits, possible only when every circumstance aligned. Without external pressure, the body's ultimate coordination, and the brain's perfect calculations, such a strike would have been impossible.
Even if Chen Xu himself tried again, he couldn't have done better. He would have struggled even to match this attempt.
Fortunately, however, he had his panel.
[You have comprehended the skill [Unnamed]: activated during an Air Stall, Guard Counter efficiency +25%]
This was a perfect fusion of his experience and theory in Unarmed Combat with his Saber Technique. He was gradually breaking free of the panel's framework and taking steps in his own direction.
Metal clashed, and Gram proved its worth once again.
The silver-plated longsword broke cleanly into three pieces. In an instant, the steel sword had swept through two full circles with his spinning body. The first strike shattered the sword radiance; the second went straight for a vital point!
A streak of blood slid down from the sneak attacker's brow bone. He had dodged with all his might, yet still nearly lost an eye.
Tiny fragments of sword radiance pierced the gaps in Chen Xu's arm armor, stabbing into his right arm like needles.
Fortunately, his right arm had already been too weak to move, and his will had also broken through Heaven's Punishment. A little pain wouldn't affect his combat strength much.
This exchange proved that Gram's power wasn't the problem. Randall's bones were!
Only a moment ago, he had been looking down on these people. He hadn't expected reality to slap him in the face so quickly.
Chosen! Chosen!
How could they all be pushovers? Who knew where a surprise might pop up!
The three Chosen seemed to have regained a little confidence. Killing intent permeated the battlefield.
Randall's gaze was feverish and greedy. He even set his sights on the exhausted sorceress and witcher.
What rewards would he get for killing powerful characters like these above his tier?
"What are you looking at?"
Like a demand from the King of Hell, the words rang out as Chen Xu lunged bodily into Randall.
The blade traced a tricky arc, avoiding Randall's field of vision, and drove straight through his throat cartilage toward the crown of his skull!
Tough bones, huh?!
A gangster, huh?!
As long as you could still speak, this spot couldn't be hardened. And from here to the vital area at the back of the head, the path was clear!
The sound of the edge piercing flesh had barely begun when the sword tip suddenly met no resistance. There was nothing left before him.
Only the blood spattered across the blade and his left hand remained.
An entire living person had vanished into thin air. Geralt and Fringilla's eyes nearly popped out.
This was why Chen Xu preferred poisoning them. In a head-on confrontation, these people could flee, and there was no stopping them!
[[Baron's Guard] Chosen Randall has exited early... killed by a Chosen who wishes to remain anonymous!] [Points +200!]
Oh, an unexpected gain?
Chen Xu clutched his crotch. He had strained his balls a little while using that damn war dance.
Although he had extensive experience in Unarmed Combat, his body had yet to undergo systematic training and be conditioned to accommodate these techniques.
For instance, he could clearly feel torn ligaments around his groin right now. Fortunately, with a foundation of 11 constitution, it wasn't serious.
Beyond the battlefield, above the myriad worlds.
Where laws were chaotic and no rules took shape.
"Are you sure you won't save him?" the cool, clear panel notification voice asked.
"What would I save trash like that for? Isn't there insurance? Just pay out." An utterly shameless voice answered with a question, then actually began wheedling in its rough tones.
"Be a good big sister and find me a Homo sapiens genius to play with."
An uproar had already erupted on the battlefield.
First, the two [Soldier] Chosen who heard the notification turned and fled toward the baron's personal guards, seeking shelter.
Then unknown Chosen began posting in the panel's public channel.
[Which fellow Daoist committed such slaughter that even the battlefield couldn't stop it?] [Shut up. You killed one of your own kind as soon as you arrived, and you still have the nerve to talk.] [Utterly mistaken! Brother Yuanzhu willingly helped me establish my hegemony. Such gracious generosity could hardly be refused. That was all.] [Pah!!]
That "Pah" nearly drove Chen Xu mad with envy.
A battlefield announcement cost 50 points, and someone had spent it on a single word.
Seething with resentment, he finished off the remaining monsters one by one and gathered up the piles of emerald dust.
"Dig through those monster corpses. There might be mutagens," Geralt suddenly reminded him.
"In Ghouls, they're in the abdomen. In Alghouls, they're usually near the heart."
This wasn't Chen Xu's first time dissecting monsters. He had previously used Drowner brains to quench Gram, and had even comprehended a [Loot Corpse] skill.
The spines on the Giant Ghoul corpses had already gone limp. Chen Xu opened their abdominal cavities one by one to search.
The battle had left seven Wraiths, three Ghouls (mortal tier lower stage), and six Giant Ghouls dead, yielding a total of 252 experience points.
Fringilla had directly killed even more monsters. By the time he finished searching, even [Loot Corpse] had risen by one level.
[Red Mutagen] ×3 -------- Usable by mortal tier mutants, strength +1 (cap: 1) Synthesizable material: [Greater Red Mutagen], usable by Qi Sense mutants, strength +2 (cap: 1) Brewable mortal tier potion: [Skeletal Muscle Nucleosteroid], strength +1 Sale price: 50 points -------- [Wraith Mutagen] ×2 -------- Usable by mortal tier mutants, will +1 (cap: 1) Synthesizable material: [Blue Mutagen], usable by mortal tier mutants, will +1 (cap: 1) Brewable mortal tier potion: [Wraith Essence], will +1 Sale price: 50 points --------
The haul was substantial, easing his resentment toward Fringilla somewhat.
Still, this woman had now completely lost his trust. Misfortunes never came singly; a reckless fool wouldn't stop after doing just one stupid thing.
"Guards! Come clean up!" Chen Xu cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.
Some Nilfgaard soldiers timidly poked their heads out of the civilians' houses. Seeing that the disturbance had subsided, they were finally willing to come out and deal with the aftermath.
"We need rest." Geralt and Fringilla supported each other as they stood.
The sorceress had already lost that utterly unrestrained air.
If a single little botchling had caused so much trouble, just how difficult would those three Ladies of the Wood, said to have existed since time immemorial, be to deal with?