Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rhodes hid behind a tree, secretly observing who was coming on the road. This wasn't the first time he had encountered something like this. A few times he had run into passing knights, and once he had encountered a group of bandits on horseback.

The sound of hooves grew closer and closer. Rhodes recognized the people running on the road; they were the Radiant Knights.

Now they were down to five: three women dressed as priestesses and two wounded knights, who looked travel-worn and somewhat disheveled.

It seems they failed to catch the Blackheart Knight and even lost several people in the process. It's unclear whether they are still pursuing him or on the run.

Rhodes was still considering whether to leave the woods when a priestess suddenly looked in his direction. The others who were with her noticed her gaze and spotted Rhodes.

I must learn how to sneak from Weber sometime in the future.

Rhodes thought they would ask him for help, but the group only glanced at him a few times without stopping, leaving him with their backs. However, one of the priestesses did turn around and look at him, and he remembered the most beautiful one among them.

They were heading in the same direction that Rhodes and his group were going next, and they might run into each other again in a few days.

After resting for a while, Rhodes started practicing his One-Finger Divine Skill in the air again.

After having dinner in the evening, they continued their journey.

"Will there be even more bandits at night?" Rhodes asked.

"I don't know, it's different in every place and at every time. It would definitely be rare in the winter in the north," Baron replied, rubbing his eyes. They had slept all afternoon.

"It would be even better if there were bandits. I feel like I could take on a hundred of them by myself now." Hammer stretched his shoulders.

"I saw the group of Radiant Knights we encountered earlier heading in the direction we were going this afternoon," Rhodes said.

"Are they still hunting that 'Blackheart Knight' thing?" Baron asked.

"Probably. Although they looked a bit disheveled, they didn't seem to be in a hurry to escape," Rhodes said after thinking for a moment.

"If we run into that bastard, we'll hand him over to Hammer, who can take on a hundred bandits by himself," Webber said with a laugh.

"I think we should deal with him together," Hammer said somewhat awkwardly.

Clearly, the Black Knight incident left some lingering trauma on Hammer.

In the last battle, Rhodes didn't really get involved; he just stayed behind and controlled the situation with magic because he didn't know if his combat abilities were enough to help.

He now felt that even if he faced the Black Knight alone, he could last at least five minutes, and if he got injured, he might even have a chance to defeat him.

Killing him is still unlikely. He still remembers the last time the Blackheart Knight summoned a strange warhorse surrounded by black energy. That warhorse even emerged from the air behind him. It would be easy to escape on such a magical creature.

Rhodes wanted to see if he could sleep on horseback like the warriors of the nomadic tribes, and he had been trying to do so for some time.

He sat on horseback, preparing to embrace the essence of the universe, but as before, he couldn't enter the state of embracing the essence of the universe. In the end, he decided to sit on horseback and practice the One-Finger Divine Skill in front of the air.

Practicing One-Finger Divine Skill during this period of time has also increased his internal energy, and it feels like it has become more refined. Each time he uses One-Finger Divine Skill, the internal energy consumed is slightly reduced.

Rhodes's mission is to punish eight people he considers bad, but he has encountered far fewer bandits recently.

Perhaps war is about to break out again, so the lords are sweeping away bandits everywhere and using them as whetstones to train new soldiers, which is a win-win situation.

Rhodes and his companions nearly clashed with the lord who mistook them for bandits, because Baron looked like a fierce bandit.

The night passed quickly, and it was the darkest time of day, with the moon set and the sun yet to rise. Rhodes yawned as he took out a large flatbread and put it in his mouth to eat. He decided that when he rested later, he would sleep well—no, he would use the "Embrace the Primordial Unity" technique instead of sleeping.

Looking at the flashing lights in the distance, Rod, who was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open, asked, "Is it getting light?"

"No, there was a battle ahead," Webber said, his senses highly acute as a stealth user.

"Let's go take a look and see what's going on," Baron suggested, completely unafraid of getting into trouble.

Hammer and Weber nodded, and the three of them rode off in that direction. Rhodes had no desire to mediate or fight; he just wanted to sleep. Dissatisfied, he followed on horseback.

Riding his horse across the fields, he came across a group of people fighting in a desolate wilderness. It was very dark. As Rhode approached, he discovered that it was the Radiant Knights he had met the previous afternoon battling the Blackheart Knight.

Another knight of the Radiant Knights has fallen, leaving only the leader. He stands on the ground, his body shimmering with golden light, fighting the Blackheart Knight. Behind him are two priestesses, and one of the three priestesses is seriously wounded, sitting at the back healing herself.

The Blackheart Knight's eerie black warhorse was also dead, pinned to the ground by a lance.

The Blackheart Knight was also badly wounded, and his strength and speed were far inferior to when they had met before. The light that used to be darker than the night on the surface of his armor was now completely obscured by the darkness.

Upon seeing that it was the Blackheart Knight, Baron clenched his legs around the horse's flanks, causing it to charge. Before it even got close enough to him, red flames erupted from its body, and it shot towards the Blackheart Knight like a bright fireball.

Meanwhile, Rhodes was quickly donning the dragon scale armor hanging on his horse, preparing to go forward and help him.

Soon the warhorse charged in front of him. Baron roared and swung his broadsword at the Blackheart Knight. The Blackheart Knight raised his greatsword to block, but was knocked more than ten meters away by the force of the greatsword.

Baron jumped off his horse, did a backflip, raised his broadsword above his head, and brought it down on the Blackheart Knight's head. The Blackheart Knight tried to raise his greatsword to block, but it was too late; his right hand was severed at the elbow.

The Mo Dao continued its momentum, striking the Blackheart Knight's breastplate with a deafening sound. Countless cracks appeared in the hard breastplate, and the Blackheart Knight coughed up blood after being hit by the immense force.

Despite the immense force, the Blackheart Knight didn't even stagger back a step. This reminded Rhodes of the punch Baron had delivered to him using that special technique.

Baron pressed his advantage, thrusting his longsword into the Blackheart Knight's chest. "No!" came the knight's cry of alarm from nearby, but it was too late.

The longsword pierced the Blackheart Knight's chest, and blood gushed from the wound. The Blackheart Knight coughed up red blood foam from his mouth, and his body began to convulse.

Baron drew his longsword and cleanly severed the Blackheart Knight's head, his body ceasing its convulsions.

Rhodes and the rest of the Radiant Knights did not expect that Baron could kill the Blackheart Knight so quickly and spectacularly.

Baron turned to look at the knight who had just been about to stop him. "Why not?" he asked, puzzled.

"Never mind, it's alright." The knight waved his hand.

"What exactly happened?" Baron asked again, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. It seemed that the attack had caused him internal injuries.

"He committed many evils. We originally planned to take him back to his original territory after you severely injured him, and put him on trial in front of the people. Now that he's dead, we might as well take his head back. However, we'd better leave here quickly. He was a chosen one of an evil god, and his death might bring that evil god's revenge."

Baron kicked the Blackheart Knight's head to the knight, saying, "Here's your head, the rest of the spoils are ours."

He set his sights on the Blackheart Knight's greatsword, which was engraved with strange runes.

Just as he bent down to pick it up, a huge cloud of black mist appeared out of thin air in front of them...