Andrew's face grew grave, and he became even calmer. "Baru, don't be afraid. It's already badly wounded. It's no match for us!"
"Andrew, are you sure?" Baru steadied himself. He knew the Iron-Armored Boar had already charged out of the cave. Even if they turned and fled now, it would still pursue them.
Magical beasts were different from humans. However powerful they were, unless they reached Saint-level, their intelligence would not be very high. They were also more brutal, possessed an innate ferocity, and would attack any enemy that provoked them without hesitation.
What Andrew had just done had clearly enraged the Iron-Armored Boar. Bearing a grudge, it would never spare the two insignificant figures before it.
Andrew moved his right foot slightly forward. "Look closely. Isn't there a wound beneath its neck? It deliberately covered it with earth armor, but the wound is still bleeding. That'll be our opening in a moment!"
Having come prepared, Andrew had spotted the Iron-Armored Boar's weakness immediately.
Baru focused his gaze. Sure enough, beneath the Iron-Armored Boar's enormous head, a wound about half a foot long was faintly visible. In fact, this was after it had been concealed. The experienced Baru immediately judged that the wound was at least a foot and a half long.
"I see it! Great! That wound is in a very particular spot. Even for an Iron-Armored Boar, which excels at defense, it's still a vital point."
Baru suppressed the excitement in his heart, narrowing his eyes as his confidence swelled! In all his life, he had never killed a sixth-level magical beast. He had never expected his first battle today to be against an Iron-Armored Boar! Moreover, this Iron-Armored Boar was powerful even among sixth-level magical beasts!
Come on! Baru fears no challenge! Baru roared inwardly.
The Iron-Armored Boar had powerful defenses, but it was not fast. By the time it reached them, both were ready.
"Flame Bind!"
Andrew first cast a fire element spell, then launched a fire arrow. He was a fourth-level mage, and because his spiritual power was exceptionally strong, he could instantly cast any spell below the fourth level. Casting two spells in such a short time was already his utmost effort!
Just as Baru was puzzling over this, two ropes of fire suddenly appeared beneath the Iron-Armored Boar's feet. They coiled up, trying to bind it. Unfortunately, the immensely strong Iron-Armored Boar broke free with ease. Immediately afterward, a red fire arrow three feet long shot toward its wound. Unable to dodge in time, the Iron-Armored Boar was struck by the arrow and let out an angry roar!
What's this? Isn't Andrew a warrior? How can he also use the magic of legends? Baru froze for a moment.
Seeing that the magic had worked, Andrew immediately rushed forward. Ducking beneath the Iron-Armored Boar's long tusks, he thrust his saber at its wound. Unfortunately, though the Iron-Armored Boar moved slowly, it was agile. It twisted its neck, dodging Andrew's strike, and kicked out hard with a muscular foreleg, frightening Andrew into hastily rolling aside.
He had no doubt that if the kick struck him, he would be severely injured, if not killed. This was an enraged sixth-level magical beast, an Iron-Armored Boar!
"Baru, what are you doing!"
Still shaken, Andrew saw Baru standing unresponsive and shouted at him. If Baru had drawn the Iron-Armored Boar's attention from the front just now, Andrew would certainly have struck its wound. Even if he had missed, he would not have ended up in such a sorry state.
Baru immediately snapped out of it. Seeing Andrew covered in dirt, he flushed. For a warrior, becoming distracted during battle was an absolutely unforgivable mistake.
To hide his embarrassment and make up for his mistake, Baru raised his iron staff and brought it down on the Iron-Armored Boar with a roar. In his haste, he struck before getting a clear look and missed his mark. The iron staff landed on the Iron-Armored Boar's head with a clang.
The Iron-Armored Boar had powerful defenses all over its body, but its strongest part was undoubtedly its head. Striking its head with an iron staff was no different from smashing an egg against a rock. The Iron-Armored Boar heaved upward, knocking Baru's iron staff flying.
Now Baru was directly facing the Iron-Armored Boar's charge!
"Baru, look out!"
Seeing his companion in danger, Andrew pushed off hard, his body speeding toward the Iron-Armored Boar like an arrow loosed from a bow. At that moment, his mind went blank, as though he had lost all feeling. It was very similar to what happened when he cultivated.
Swish!
With a soft sound, Andrew actually severed the Iron-Armored Boar's hind leg with the saber in his hand. Unable to react in time as it ran, the Iron-Armored Boar fell to the ground, squealing. Andrew's saber broke into several pieces, its fragments scattering across the ground.
Half a meter in front of the Iron-Armored Boar, Baru collapsed weakly. He panted, fear still lingering in his eyes. Just a little closer, and the Iron-Armored Boar's tusks would have pierced his body!
Thud!
A figure jumped down from a tree. It was the First Elder. Without a word, the First Elder punched the Iron-Armored Boar in the head. It struggled twice on the ground, then slowly fell silent.
What a powerful punch!
Andrew had seen it clearly. The First Elder's punch had seemed weak and powerless, and it had made only a soft sound when it landed on the Iron-Armored Boar's head. Yet that very punch had killed it. The force contained within it was absolutely beyond imagination!
This was the barbarians' innate gift for strength!
Is the First Elder really a warrior of the seventh rank? Are all barbarians who have comprehended strength this formidable? For a moment, Andrew was filled with envy for the barbarians' strength. This pure, invincible strength was precisely what all warriors pursued!
The First Elder glanced at Baru without saying anything, his expression unchanged. Seeing this, Andrew could not help feeling a little guilty. Just now, Baru had nearly lost his life. If the Keli Tribe's successor had died because of him, Andrew's wrongdoing would have been grave indeed.
"First Elder, what happened just now..." Andrew instinctively tried to explain.
"I saw everything just now," the First Elder said. "You did very well."
Andrew looked at him in bewilderment, wondering whether he meant it.
The First Elder turned to Baru. "Baru, do you know what you just did?"
Baru lowered his head, unable to say a word for a long time.
Seeing this, the First Elder sighed. "You don't need to be disheartened. These things aren't your fault. In fact, you already did very well today. Faced with the Iron-Armored Boar, you didn't avoid battle, but took up your weapon. In that respect, you're better than many adults."
"But Baru, you are the Keli Tribe's successor, and I hold you to a higher standard. You could have done better today. You made a fatal mistake in battle. I hope you'll learn from this lesson and never repeat it."
Without a word, Baru picked up his iron staff, walked aside, and silently crouched down. There was no telling what he was thinking.
"That saber strike of yours just now was truly powerful!"
Saying nothing more to Baru, the First Elder walked behind the Iron-Armored Boar and picked up the broken blade fragments from the ground.
Thinking back to that strike, Andrew also looked bewildered. At that moment, no matter how hard he tried, he could not recall how he had delivered such a powerful blow.
The First Elder was also deeply puzzled. He knew Andrew's strength very well: a fifth-level warrior and a fourth-level mage. In principle, unless he wielded a divine weapon, he should have been completely incapable of hurting the Iron-Armored Boar. Yet he had severed its hind leg, and his weapon had only been an ordinary saber. In the end, that saber had also shattered for some unknown reason.
"Did I really cut off this leg?" Andrew murmured to himself, hefting the enormous boar leg and looking at the charred wound on it. After thinking for a while, he put the leg down and picked up a blade fragment. It was hot, with traces of lightning-attribute battle-qi still lingering on it.
"No, I've only cultivated lightning-attribute battle-qi. Why is there an aura of fire essence in the blade too?"
Andrew was suddenly startled. He seemed to have found the answer in the blade fragment.
"That strike, that strike? My battle-qi hasn't broken through. It's still at the fifth level. How could fifth-level battle-qi hurt the Iron-Armored Boar? Unless that strike contained two attributes. Fusing the elements of two attributes can unleash ten times the power!" Andrew's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Elemental fusion? The fusion of lightning and fire! Yes, that must be it!" At this thought, Andrew burst into laughter. "Only one kind of person in this world can accomplish that-a soul mutant! In the original novel, people with soul mutations had exceptionally powerful spiritual power. That would explain why my spiritual power is so strong!"
Drawing on his memories, Andrew repeatedly tested this idea. In the end, he became increasingly certain that he very likely had a soul mutation! As for why it had mutated, that was probably related to his transmigration.
"Is this my transmigration cheat? Or could I say that soul mutation is my innate divine ability?" Andrew raised his head to look at the sky, tears unknowingly streaming down his face. At that moment, the memories buried deepest in his heart surged to the surface.
Standing nearby, the First Elder watched Andrew swing between joy and sorrow without understanding why. He did not ask any further questions. Wise as he was, he had long since noticed that Andrew harbored many secrets. At the same time, he did not regard Andrew as a child. In his eyes, this mature youth possessed wisdom far beyond that of ordinary people. Instead, it was Baru, who was much older than Andrew, who worried him more. He did not know whether Baru could recover from this setback.
For a time, the three were each absorbed in their own thoughts as a fine drizzle drifted down from the sky.