Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rhodes was covered in blood; they were fighting a band of robbers, having already wiped out two bandit groups during their journey over the past two weeks.

These bandits were defeated soldiers of the Roman Empire. The two previous groups of bandits had not committed any major crimes; they only robbed money and food without harming or killing anyone or abducting women.

After being physically reprimanded and educated by Rhodes and his men, they all wept and promised to behave themselves. In the end, they were all handed over to a nobleman who was leading an army to clear out bandits and train his troops.

The bandits they were now encountering were extremely brutal, and their actions were even more heinous than those of the bandits they had hanged. Baron pretended to be outmatched and was taken back to a cabin by them. Webber, along with Rod and Hammer, followed them all the way to the cabin and discovered that they were cannibals.

The enraged crowd engaged them in battle, four against twenty strong and burly bandits. The bandits knew that surrender meant death, so they fought to the bitter end.

After a battle, the situation has now become four against ten, and the ten survivors on the other side were all skilled soldiers in the army.

Rod and Baron stood side by side, facing six bandits who carried skeletal shields and wielded one-handed swords in perfect unison.

The remaining four of the ten were holding back Webber and Hammer, as Webber was not strong in direct combat. These shield-wielding warriors were even more effective against him, easily parrying each of his attacks.

When faced with Hammer wielding a warhammer, the four bandits would either dodge or use techniques to deflect the force before blocking.

The two-handed sword that the female knight gave to Rhodes is in Baron's hands. Although this two-handed sword is made of better materials than his previous axe, Baron's strength was still somewhat affected when he suddenly used a two-handed sword, as he had always used a giant axe.

It wasn't so noticeable in one-on-one combat, but it became apparent in prolonged melees. The weight and attack range of the two-handed sword were different from the previous giant axe, and Baron often thought he was still holding a giant axe. Because the attack range of the two-handed sword was smaller than that of the giant axe, and the bandits were all very agile, Baron often missed his targets.

Most importantly, the two-handed sword doesn't have the weight of a great axe. Although each of Baron's hits could make the opposing bandit lose his balance or fall to the ground, he couldn't directly destroy the opponent's shield with a single blow, which made this fight very unpleasant for him.

The six bandits worked together seamlessly; whenever someone was knocked to the ground or lost their balance by Baron, others would come up to protect them with their shields.

Rhodes was holding a Roman Empire standard one-handed sword that he had captured in the previous battle, with his other hand free. His weapon had a great influence on him; even a full-force sword strike couldn't penetrate the bandit's iron armor.

Those who survived were all wearing iron armor; those wearing leather armor were all dead.

He missed Shengxie very much. Although it had a negative impact, Shengxie was so sharp that it was as easy for him to pierce the scales of the dragon people as it was to pierce a piece of tofu.

Baron swung his two-handed sword, which was burning with golden flames, at a bandit. The bandit raised his shield to block, but the flames couldn't burn him through the shield. The surrounding bandits cooperated by thrusting their swords at Baron.

Baron used his sword to deflect the attacks, but facing a barrage of six swords at the same time, he had no choice but to temporarily evade their attacks as he had no armor to protect him.

Rhodes rushed forward and used his sword to force back one of the bandits. He then grabbed a sword with his right hand, which was covered by a dragon scale glove, and pulled it forcefully in front of him. However, another bandit on the other side was about to attack Rhodes's feet and head, which were not protected by scales.

Rod and Baron could only retreat and look for another opportunity.

The blacksmith didn't forge a pair of dragon scale boots for Rhodes; he was only wearing a pair of ordinary leather boots.

Rhodes thought of the Wizard Ball, which he had easily dealt with in the last two battles, so much so that he had forgotten about it.

"Baron, hurry up!" Rod shouted, and Baron rushed forward upon hearing this.

Rhodes dropped his one-handed sword and used both of his Wizard Balls to suppress the left hands of the six bandits in front of him, preventing them from raising their shields. Baron swung his two-handed sword at the neck of one of the bandits, who tried to raise his sword to parry, but Rhodes used Wizard Balls to press his hand down as hard as possible.

A golden sword flashed, and the bandit's head fell. The flames on the blade stopped the bleeding from the wound on his neck, and not a single drop of blood gushed out.

Several bandits rushed towards Rhodes, and Rhodes could only slow them down with all his might. The bandits' fierce attack forced him to disband the Mageball.

Three bandits, wielding swords, attacked Rhodes' unprotected head from three different directions. Rhodes ducked to dodge one attack, then raised his hands to grab the other two swords.

The bandit who missed with his first sword thrust again, while the other two bandits, whose swords had been caught, swung their shields at Rhodes. Rhodes was hit by the shields, and the force of the blows sent him crashing to the ground, rolling several times and putting distance between himself and the three bandits.

On the other side, Baron, after taking down one of the two bandits working together, quickly dealt with the remaining one.

He picked up a shield and threw it toward Rhodes. Rhodes caught the shield and blocked several fierce attacks in succession. The shield trembled and vibrated continuously from the violent blows.

The bandits' attacks were incredibly swift, like a tidal wave crashing down on Rhodes.

Rhodes could only use his shield to block attacks aimed at his head; he could only withstand attacks aimed at his body with his hard dragon scale armor.

Baron quickly arrived at Rhodes' side, and Rhodes began to fight back. Faced with the combined attack of Rhodes and Baron, the three bandits were quickly defeated and their heads were cut off by Baron's sword.

The two then went to help Hammer and Webber, making it four against four. Rhodes quickly took care of all four. Exhausted after the battle, the group sat down to rest.

"I think you need to get a good weapon," Rod said to Baron. He remembered how Baron used to wield a giant axe and deal with bandits like he was invincible, easily taking down a whole group of bandits with just a few blows of the axe blade.

"I think so too. This sword only left a mark on their iron shields. My axe could have cleaved them in two, shield and all," Baron said. "The main problem is that I overexerted myself when I severely injured the dragonmen at Ebony City, and then I fought that Blackheart Knight before my injuries had healed, which aggravated them. That's why dealing with these veterans wasn't so easy. If I hadn't been injured, I could have taken them all down in just a few minutes, even if I was alone."

"But to be honest, the bandits we encountered this time were much more formidable than those we've faced before," Hammer said, wiping his brow.

"Indeed, like the bandits we encountered in the High Mountain Province before, they couldn't even see my sword before I struck them. Today we've met some veterans, and as soon as I made my move, they held their shields horizontally where I was going to attack," Weber said, panting heavily.

"Thankfully, no one was seriously injured," Rod said thankfully. "Let's find a place to rest and continue tomorrow."

"Let's bury them first, even though they committed many evils while they were alive," Weber said.

Baron nodded in agreement. Rod could only sigh and pick up his tools to start digging a hole. He was covered in blood and wanted to find a river to clean off all the sticky blood.

They found it difficult to deal with these fleeing veterans today. Rhodes had previously thought he could roam freely on the battlefield, and that Baron could take the head of a general amidst a vast army. But after encountering the Blackheart Knight and fighting the veterans who had become bandits, Rhodes felt that he still had a long way to go.

According to Hammer, these Roman Empire veterans were at most Roman Empire heavy infantry, not even Roman Empire sergeants. The most formidable regular infantry in the Roman Empire were the Roman Empire heavy sergeants, a group of iron cans wearing armor weighing over 100 pounds. However, the entire Roman Empire did not have more than a thousand heavy sergeants.

After digging for a while, Hammer angrily said, "Just bury those poor souls, and burn the bodies of these bandits..."