Jianyu of the Nightspines narrowed his eyes as he stared at Alex. Something about that final attack instilled fear in him; fear he hadn’t known he still had from such a long time ago.
‘That attack,’ he thought, remembering the day when he stood atop the sand cliff and stared at the pile of beast corpses with more coming out from all around the desert, with a single person standing in the middle. ‘Why does it look like Death?’
He had initially ignored Alex’s skin color as being something of mere coincidence. He had seen Death and knew what she looked like. He was clearly not her. And yet, here he was, using the same skill.
Jianyu failed to understand how there could be another person with the same skill as Death herself.
“You…” he spoke in a low voice. “Where did you learn that skill?”
Alex breathed in deeply, still glaring at Jianyu. But in his mind, he was trying to think if he could even beat them at all. The older man, who appeared to have been weaker, had been barely defeated with the use of Sword Domain, so he wondered if he would have to use his Qi to defeat this man.
Hearing Jianyu’s words, Alex couldn’t help but frown. ‘What skill?’ he thought. He hadn’t used any skill since he hadn’t used his Qi in the slightest. The only thing he had used was Sword Domain.
‘Could it be they don’t know what Sword Domain is?’ Alex thought, only now starting to realize that he hadn’t seen any form of Weapon Qi from these people in the slightest.
The old man he just fought may have had Spear Intent, but even that was at a basic level, not enough to show up around the spear.
Alex chose not to answer, simply holding his sword in a stance, readying to fight. His sword was close to its end too, having been overworked while being so much less durable than any sword Alex was used to.
There were dozens of nicks on the edges. If not for the fact that Alex needed a weapon to win the battle, he would have long since gotten rid of the sword.
“You do not wish to answer me?” the middle-aged man asked. “Fine, so be it.”
His eyes turned toward the young man to the side. “Longxu, come.”
The young man, who had been leaning against a pillar, suddenly pushed himself straight, walking toward the middle-aged man.
“Do you wish for me to fight him next, brother Jianyu?” the young man asked.
Alex stared at the young man, annoyed by the fact that they were going to make him fight one person after another.
“No,” the middle-aged man said. “He’s far too dangerous for either of us to go on our own. I would rather we overestimate him than end up dying because we underestimated him.”
The young man’s eyes flashed. “Is he stronger than Fuxian?” he asked.
“Physically, perhaps not,” the middle-aged man said. “But my instincts say he is dangerous. The same type of dangerous that Death is.”
Hearing the man speak about Death, the young man did not question any further. “Let us fight together then, brother Jianyu. This will also be a good time to test this incredible weapon I received from Fuxian.”
The young man pulled out a sword, simple in its aesthetics, but clearly made by someone talented.
Alex frowned the moment he saw the sword. ‘That’s my sword.’ He didn’t care how the sword reached the hands of this young Extolite, but he wanted to get it back.
“You lot!” the middle-aged man spoke in a serious tone. “Use your array. Empower me.”
As the group of people fell into ranks and began using their array, Alex knew this battle was going to be dangerous. Similar to the other two men, he too couldn’t afford to underestimate them.
Instantly, blood spilled out of the pores in his skin, flowing around his body until it formed certain shapes. Instantly, Alex activated the pattern of the blood, solidifying into armor.
A rounded helm appeared on his face with wings on either side. Around his body, the armor was a simple robe, crimson in color and extremely defensive. Gauntlets and greaves formed around his hands and legs as well.
At the same time, blood flowed around the sword he held, solidifying as an exterior to it. His sword wouldn’t be that much stronger doing this, but it would hopefully be more durable.
Seeing the change in Alex, the middle-aged Extolite felt that he had made the right decision in asking for aid from the young man. He needed it.
He started the battle, swinging his black whip. The tip snapped in front of Alex, going for his head.
Alex activated the Jade Skin technique and his entire body grew stronger at once. He took on the whip attack head-on, just to test its strength and found it damningly strong.
The helm around his head cracked a little as blood aura dissipated from it.
‘So strong,’ Alex thought, immediately charging for the young man on the side. He needed to get his hands on his sword as soon as he could.
The young man reacted at an impossible speed, swinging his sword at the incoming Alex. He went for Alex’s sword instead of any other part of his body, staying just outside the 3-meter range.
The whip cracked again, coming straight for Alex.
Alex took a step back, right beyond the range of the whip. Still, the shockwave shook him to the core. Even with this small exchange, Alex knew these men were far too strong for him to win together.
He needed to defeat at least one before he could take on the other. Instantly, he glowed yellow for a second before charging toward the man with the whip.
The middle-aged man prepared to attack, but just as he did, Alex suddenly vanished, his figure disappearing into motes of light.
“What?”
At the same time, Alex arrived next to the young man, having gone invisible, and went for his head.