Instead of replying, Ace simply jumped up and then, uhe shocked eyes of the remaining cultists, he jumped off the air like it was solid ground.

  “Ooh no you don’t!” Garoa, The team leader, roared as he unched himself into the sky in pursuit of his attacker.

  As shocked as he was by Ace’s ability to move through the air like that, he refused to let an unknown teen escape so easily after killing one of his men right under his nose.

  He may not be able to fly or walk on air, but as a warrior of the ninth rank, the power he used when jumping wasn’t something Ace could pare to at his current level. He’d barely made it 50 meters when he was forced to turn to block a strike that would’ve otherwise cut him in two.

  ‘What was that?’ thought to himself as he stared down at the small crater created where Ace crashed into the ground. ‘Some sort of Battle Qi?’

  The moment befaroa’s sword made tact with the shaft of Ace’s give, both the polearm and his upper body turned pitch b colour.

  As a ninth-rank warrior who’d been alive well over 100 years, he’d seen all sorts of abilities and teiques, but everything Ace had shown so far was a first for him.

  Watg Ace roll to his feet, he could see from the fight in his eyes that the youth was far from done.

  “You three,” Garoa called, talking to the three seventh-rank warriors under his and. “Go and capture him.”

  “Yes, sir,” The three answered in unison before drawing their swords and charging at the boy.

  Though they too were shocked by the prowess of the youngster before them, they could now sense he was only at the fifth rank.

  An awe-inspiring achievement for a youth so young, but they didn’t believe he could jump two ranks to defeat any one of them, let alone all three of them. As far as they were ed, he was only able to kill their superior because he caught him off guard. In a direct frontation, he wouldn’t be able to close the gap in strength.

  Unfortunately, they were destio be disappointed. Despite being three against one and being two ranks higher, they were uo gain a single advantage. Ace showed an incredible level of skill that allowed him to pletely trol the flow of the battle, but there was something else that made Garoa and Roquen, the st remainih-rank warrior, stare in disbelief.

  “Is he…”

  “Mmh,” Garoa nodded, an imperceptible light fshing in his eyes. “He fused both states of wielding.”

  “I only just prehended wielding heavy as though it were light retly… Just who is this kid?!” Roquen asked, uo believe his eyes. “He ’t be older than 15, a he’s prehehe fused state of wielding and is able to hold his own against three fully grown warriors, each of whom is two ranks full ranks superior.”

  “I don’t know, but if I’m right, he’s still holding back,” Garoa answered as he watched the ongoing battle, the ied light in his eyes getting brighter with each passing sed. “Roquen, you go ahem.”

  “Me?” The halberd-wielding cultist asked back.

  Though Ace was undoubtedly the most talented youth he had ever seen, he didn’t believe he would be able to fight against him, a warrior of the eighth rank.

  It had to be remembered, the gap in strength between each rank only got bigger with every breakthrough. Ace may be able to hold his own against three warriors of the seventh rank, but he could sughter five of them with ease.

  But when he saw the impatient look in his superior’s eyes wheurned his attention towards him, Roquen knew better than to not obey.

  Seeing his subordinate obediently make his way to the battlefield, Garoa turned his attention back to Ace.

  He didn’t know how Ace was able to turn his body and on b colour, but since he wasn’t using it now, it was obvious Ace was holding back. He may not know how much the boy was holding back, but he was determio find out, one way or the other.

  He was right. Ace was holding back. He was trying to waste as much time as possible to give Leohe time to get here. Alone he was no match faroa, but with Leonel’s support, he might just stand a ce. Unfortunately, as strong as Ace was, he didn’t want to test his luck against ah-rank warrior and three seventh rank-warriors, especially wheill had to face the big bad boss.

  It was only then that Roquen uood, Garoa’s . His eyes bulged as he watched Ace, who, just moments ago, seemed to be evenly matched against his three subordinates, suddenly explode with power and speed catg them all by surprise.

  “STOP!” Roquen bellowed furiously as he furiously stomped on the ground, causing a web of cracks to appear beh his foot as he unched himself in the boy’s dire. But why would Ace listen to the and of an enemy?

  The first of the three cultists in front of Ace could only wat horror as the boy’s now jet-bck give sliced straight through the battle-qi proteg his neck like a hot khrough butter.

  Garoa watched with a hint of appreciation as Ace elegantly flowed from a perfect [Ssh] into a thrust, the bde of the youth’s polearm pierg straight through another of his subordinates.

  Most would expect the leader of a team who watched his men being massacred to make an attempt to intervene or at least show some sort of frustration, but Garoa only smiled.

  It was slightly uling for Ace, who always kept an eye on the fearful warrior, but he didn’t have time to think about the meaning behind it.

  As he pulled his give out of the sed cultist’s head and moved to chop the final of the three in two, the eighth-rank warrior appeared just in time to block the desding polearm.

  “Didn’t you hear me tell you to stop?” Roquen asked coldly, suppressing the shock he was currently experieng.

  Seeing Ace’s strength was ohing, but feeling the power behind his st attack was pletely different. He no longer looked at Ace as though he was just a young genius whom he could kill when he wanted but as an oppo no weaker than himself.

  “Why would I listen to someorying to kill me?” Aeered before suddenly disappearing out of sight.

  The st rank seven cultist breathed a sigh of relief when his superior appeared just in time to save his life, but that relief seemed to be short-lived as Ace suddenly appeared beside him.

  “Do you really think I’d let you kill any more of my men?” Roquen asked, his halberd moving to intercept the give of his brazen young oppo.

  “Then you die first instead.” Aorted coldly upon realising he wouldn’t be able to kill his target with the appearance of his new oppo.

  As a warrior of the eighth rank empowered by battle-qi and able to wield heavy as though it were light, Roquen had a distinct advantage in terms of speed and power, a, he held no advantage in their battle.

  Ace was by far the most skilful warrior he had ever seen – at least out of all the mortals he had ever seen. Not even Garoa could pare in a battle of pure skill.

  Even as Magrun, the subordinate he just saved, joihe battle, Ace was able to hold his own without suffering a single injury. With both of them joining hands to fight him, Ace was able to use oo hihe other, keeping them from gaining the upper hand.

  ‘Almost there, not much longer!” Ace thought to himself as he felt Leonel’s preseting closer and closer by the sed. ‘As soon as Leonel arrives, I’ll kill these two, and we face their leader together.’

  ‘I se.’ Garoa mused as he ily studied Ace. ‘You’re still holding back. Let’s see if you still hold back if I…’

  Ace’s calm and posed expression ged when he saw Garoa take a step in his dire. There was no way he could fight that man on his ow aloh the support of two powerful subordinates.

  ‘Fuck it!’ Ace shouted in his mind.

  If he was going to be forced to fight Garoa on his own, he couldn’t allow anyone else to support him.

  Roquen stared wide-eyed at Ace as the space around him suddenly became pressed. “Im…

  Impose?!”

  As higher-ranking members of one of the most powerful forces on the ti, every single perso uood what those words represented.

  Even Garoa halted in shoot even he, a rank-nine warrior who had once been hailed as a genius, had prehended impose yet. For a boy who wasn’t even a tenth of his age to have prehended not something that had eluded him for several decades… How could he not be shocked?

  Ace didn’t care how shocked they all were; the only thought on his mind was killing his targets as quickly as possible.

  The closer his give got to falling on Roquen’s head, the strohe stri became.

  Unfortunately, although he was shocked by Ace’s sudden burst of power, Roquen’s fight-or-flight response kicked in. With his fire-elemental battle-qi already coating his body, he was able to barely jump back just in time to avoid being bisected.

  “Tch!” Ace kissed his teeth regrettably when he saw his primary target escape with just a long gash running down his chest. Still, he didn’t allow his regret to get the best of him. Even if he couldn’t kill Roquen, he would definitely kill his subordinate.

  “NOOOOO!” Magrun roared unwillingly as he felt the stri of spavelop him and the demonic youth’s give pierce through his head.

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  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 4 - Chapter 30