The death of the driver instantly alerted the Ascended guard.
He pointed his sword toward the darkness and shouted.
“Come out and fight, cowards.” Instantly, six figures walked out from the direction he was pointing.
Eric let out a sigh of relief.
The group consisted of three Awakened, one Ascended, and two mundane humans.
It seems the reason they came was important enough to bring an Ascended, but not important enough to bring five Awakened, Eric thought.
“Hand over the goods, and we will spare your lives,” the Ascended cultivator ordered.
Eric looked at the guard expectantly.
If the guard decided to leave, Eric had no choice but to follow suit.
But if he decided to fight, then Eric could use the battle to hone his skills with their blood.
Instead of backing down, the guard raised his sword and pointed it at the leader in a silent challenge.
“Very well.
You shall die a fool,” the leader said with a mocking grin.
He then gestured toward the tent, prompting the two mundane humans to move toward it.
But before they could reach it, green vines erupted from the ground and impaled the men, growing out through their noses and mouths.
At the same time, Daina leaped toward the ground and began to transform.
Instead of taking on the human form Eric had expected, her body began growing larger.
Her single tail split into two, then three.
The nails on her legs grew longer as her body continued to expand until she reached Eric’s height.
She then growled toward the Awakened cultivators, issuing her own challenge.
Eric grinned as sparks erupted from his hands, gathering together and forming a sword.
Both parties were surprised by the sudden transformation.
The Ascended guard smiled, happy to have another fighter on their side and hopeful that their chances of winning had increased.
The bandits, however, cast wary glances at one another.
Despite the unexpected development, they still remained confident in their numbers.
However, before they could celebrate their assured victory, the man before them disintegrated into sparks.
In an instant, he reappeared behind one of the bandits and removed his head before returning to his previous position, successfully leveling the playing field.
You can’t counter what you didn’t expect.
Eric’s eyes narrowed.
The battlefield fell silent for a second.
Then— Chaos erupted.
Black, corrosive smoke seeped from the awakened standing in front of Eric before he suddenly bolted toward him, two daggers gripped tightly in his hands.
One dagger slashed toward Eric’s throat.
Eric raised his sword and blocked it.
The second dagger immediately came toward his stomach.
But Eric had already disintegrated into sparks.
He reappeared behind the awakened, only for his opponent to react almost instantly.
The awakened spun around and delivered a powerful sideways kick to Eric’s hip.
The moment the kick connected, Eric’s skin was scorched.
“Well, that was the try at least,” Eric thought.
The burned flesh on his hip began regenerating almost immediately, much to the annoyance of his opponent.
Elsewhere, Daina’s opponent was faring worse.
The woman seemed to possess the ability to become incorporeal for a brief moment, allowing her to avoid the vines emerging from beneath her.
However, whenever she attempted to attack, a strange repulsive feeling arose within her.
It was as though the fox was manipulating her mind, making her feel that what she was doing was wrong.
That hesitation proved costly.
Each time she faltered, Daina’s fox took advantage of the opening, scratching or biting her.
Back with Eric, his opponent attacked again.
Eric slashed toward the man’s neck, forcing him to block with one of his daggers.
At the same time, the second dagger stabbed toward Eric’s stomach.
Eric’s grin widened.
His sword suddenly disintegrated and reshaped itself into a short axe.
The axe tore into the man’s chest, striking his heart and causing him to stagger backward with a scream of agony.
Eric didn’t waste a second.
The axe reverted into a longsword.
With a swift motion, Eric swung the blade and sliced off the man’s head.
The man’s body collapsed.
A strange force surged through Eric as his body absorbed the man’s soul, sending it toward his core and increasing its size.
Eric immediately looked toward Daina.
He saw the fox standing before her, its mouth stained with blood, while her opponent lay motionless nearby.
Eric then looked toward their leader.
The bandit was impaled on a massive spike of rock that had risen from the ground, his body hanging helplessly in the air.
The Ascended guard was beaten and covered in blood.
Joseph looked toward his fellow escort and his pet, only to realize that they were both looking at him.
Before he could succumb to his injuries, the mana around him suddenly changed.
It transformed into a green gas that seeped into his skin, slowly mending his wounds.
Joseph looked up in confusion.
The source was his awakened colleague, who stood with one hand outstretched and a completely focused expression.After he was sufficiently healed, Joseph stood up and nodded to the healer, prompting him to break his concentration and stop the healing.
Joseph glanced at the fox, who seemed to have reverted to his normal form.
How can he name such a demon Fluffy?
There is nothing fluffy about that creature.
Joseph muttered to himself, earning a sharp glance from the fox demon.
He quickly looked away and proceeded to gather the bodies, burying them properly.
Once everything had gone quiet, the wealthy merchant finally stepped out to survey the aftermath.
He inspected the area for a while but found nothing out of the ordinary—except for his missing driver.
Still, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
There was no way a mundane human could have survived a clash between cultivators.Then he looked toward his escorts.
His Ascended guard was wounded and weak, but he was going to be fine.
Then he looked at his other escort.
His black garment was torn in several places, but he was perfectly fine.
Not even a bruise marred his skin.
The merchant shivered.
What kind of monster is he?
Eric could sense the merchant’s gaze, as well as the emotions flowing through his mundane soul.
To Eric, the merchant’s feelings were as clear as an open book.
Eric looked at him and grinned.