Sword Among Us
chapter-25

Chapter 25: Class A Battle Assessment

When it came to weapons, swords were the gods of weapons, blades were the ancestors of weapons, and axes were the tyrants who dominated over everything with brute force!

Axe techniques placed emphasis on achieving victory through force, an indomitable force! It overpowered everything through its momentum alone! Before a battle even started, they would intimidate the enemies!

While all martial arts of the same category, such as sword techniques and blade techniques, were nimble and showed ingenious skill, axes also had their unique tricks and advantages. They had an advantage in terms of power, lethality, and defense. In these areas, they were above the other martial arts.

Third Bandit Chief had already reached the peak of Gate Realm. Even if his Five Continuous Axe Strikes had yet to reach Grandmaster Realm, he was still extraordinary skilled. He had already reached the tenth realm’s threshold, and he could exchange blows tit-for-tat against a normal disciple of the Murong Clan. Even though he had an injury on his leg, he still had an overwhelming advantage.

Whoosh!

A powerful wind blew past Happy’s face!

With a momentum to tear through everything, the shining axe slashed at the air beside Happy and tore away a piece of his blue robe. Instead of attacking as he had prepared, Third Bandit Chief turned his vertical slash to a horizontal slash midway. His movements were free and bold, but also extraordinarily smooth.

Happy’s heart tensed. From this, he could tell that not only was Third Bandit Chief’s Arm Strength not weak, he also had a certain degree of skill with Five Continuous Axe Strikes. It was practically impossible for Happy to win using Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword.

In terms of weapons, since the Five Continuous Axe Strikes required an axe, its attack and defense were astonishing. While the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword was nimble, it was very difficult for it to hurt Third Bandit Chief. Besides, the man’s qi was great and profound. With the addition of the power from his qi realm, the disparity between them became even greater. If they fought for a long time, it would be disadvantageous for Happy.

‘No! I can’t drag this on. I must save Xiu Niang, Gan Daniu, Zhu Zi, and Tie Dan, so I have to finish this fight as quickly as possible!’

His gaze darkened!

When Happy had to exchange the second blow, he resolutely put away the Noble Sword.

He abandoned his sword and swiftly went into the shadow cast by Third Bandit Chief’s vicious axe. Then, with his palms, he fought against Third Bandit Chief, who had already reached the peak of Gate Realm.

At that instant, the women who watched the fight cried out in terror. All of them believed that the young swordsman who had appeared out of nowhere would undoubtedly be killed by the ruthless and brutal third bandit chief.

Yet while Happy’s actions seemed foolish and dangerous, he actually was full of confidence. It didn’t matter to him that he exposed himself to the danger of being cut in half by the continuous axe strikes if he was even the slightest bit careless.

The Five Continuous Axe Strikes came from Eighteen Forest Strongholds. The technique was pretty good, but it was much slower than Shaolin’s Long Fist.

Once he cast aside his weapon, Happy’s movements instantly became much faster. The blue figure turned and flipped, avoiding the fierce wind from the axe a few times. While he moved, he blocked Third Bandit Chief’s elbow and forearm, and he closed the distance between them with ease until he arrived at a spot very close to Third Bandit Chief. At that moment, Third Bandit Chief’s expression changed!

Everything had its own advantages and disadvantages.

Even though Third Bandit Chief held a greataxe, which was much more dangerous than Happy’s palms, when it came to extremely close-quarters combat, axe techniques which could move around freely and boldly felt as if they had run into an invisible wall. They could not effectively bring out the intimidating force they should!

“Ha!”

Once he moved in front of Third Bandit Chief, Happy instantly stopped holding back. He struck repeatedly while neutralizing Third Bandit Chief’s attacks. At the same time, he struck the man’s elbows, used Pierce-the-heart Consecutive Palm Strikes, Golden Dragon Stretches Claw, Lotus Palm, Eagle Claw Palm, and some of the other ruthless techniques of Shaolin’s Long Fist which he had never used before. He held nothing back and used all his fiercest attacks on Third Bandit Chief.

Before that, Happy had used wild wolves and local rascals as his sparring partners. While he practiced Shaolin’s Long Fist, he had deliberately showed mercy. He never struck their vital parts so that he could stretch out the time to use those creatures and people as his sparring partners.

But this time, he did not hold back. He used every skill at his disposal.

Every single one of his strikes aimed at Third Bandit Chief’s seven orifices, heart, and all the other important pressure points on his body. The lethality of a tenth realm Shaolin’s Long Fist was very astonishing.

Happy delivered half of the moves of Shaolin’s Long Fist, and Third Bandit Chief had to receive all the blows because he could not withstand Happy’s attacks due to the weight of the axe holding him down. Finally, Happy kicked him, and he was sent backwards. Even when he lost his balance, Happy did not let him go. He pulled his hands back to his waist before he flung them out viciously.

Thud! Thud!

Third Bandit Chief grunted in pain, and a lancet knife was buried deep in his right elbow and another in his lower abdomen. He then fell on the ground powerlessly. The throwing knives had sank deep into his body. His foot twitched, and he breathed his last!

“Third-third Bandit Chief!”

The mountain bandit who was in charge of guarding the carriage finally realized that he was in danger.

He absolutely did not expect that the wise and powerful third bandit chief would be so easily killed by a teenager still wet behind the ears. But once it happened, it was too late to do anything.

The bandits was scared out of his wits, but just when he wanted to run, a throwing knife came after him as if it had eyes.

“Urk!”

The moment his consciousness disappeared, the mountain bandit was filled with indignation. He had clearly heard a soft, barely noticeable sound of air being sliced apart which had accompanied the knife. It had become even harder to notice, and it was also faster!

Thud!

The mountain bandit’s corpse fell to the side of the road in dejectedness.

Happy lowered his head in astonishment and looked at his hands. He then looked at Third Bandit Chief’s corpse not too far in the distance. Disbelief and excitement appeared on his face.

The realm of his skills had increased!

The system determined that he had fought in a Class A fight again.

His fight against Third Bandit Chief had not only slightly improved Happy’s Long Fist, but Third Bandit Chief’s death also made the eight realm Lancet Knife Throwing Technique rise to the ninth realm.

Hence, it was no wonder then why he had sensed that his throw had become smoother, faster, and the sound the knife made had become barely audible.

“Who is it?!”

At that moment, many footsteps and loud shouts suddenly rang from the distance.

Happy turned his head around and saw the seven mountain bandits who had been lured away by Gan Daniu. Seven pairs of eyes simultaneously landed on the very eye-catching corpse of the man in the brocade robes.

“Ah! It’s the third bandit chief!”

“This boy did this?!”

“Men, let’s attack together! We have to take revenge for the third bandit chief!”

“Kill him!”

“Young swordsman, be careful!”

“Young swordsman, run!”

Third Bandit Chief’s death caused the women on the carriage to see the light and hope of survival. They finally reacted to the situation and cried out words of warning repeatedly.

Happy swept his gaze past the seven black-robed mountain bandits. For some reason, he was… abnormally calm.

It was very strange.

If the seven mountain bandits had attacked him when he fought against Third Bandit Chief, he would have definitely been slightly alarmed and nervous, but now, for some unknown reason, when he faced those seven mountain bandits whose strength was comparable to that of Gate Realm, his heart was as calm as the surface of a lake. Even when a breeze blew past, it would be very difficult for ripples to form.

Happy’s heart might have been calm, but it did not mean that his moves were calm too.

He practically did not think. Two lancet knives shot out as quick as lightning and sank into the forehead and chest of the two mountain bandits who were at the forefront of the group.

The two men shuddered and slumped down on the ground in disbelief!

Seven became five.

Happy seized the chance and threw out two more knives.

The ninth realm Lancet Knife Throwing Technique created a miracle again. Two more mountain bandits turned because of the momentum of the knives that sunk into their bodies and fell while in the middle of their charge.

The mountain bandits were quite pitiful. Before they could even get close, their numbers had already dwindled to half of what they had at the start.

When they realized that the situation was not right and were so alarmed that they could not move forward, Happy threw a few more knives calmly, and all of the men fell to the ground.

When Happy saw all of the mountain bandits fall dead without being able to resist, he stopped attacking. He could not help but remember the night he spent in the Murong Clan’s sword tomb.

His Lancet Knife Throwing Technique’s realm might have already surpassed that of the Third Tomb Robber…