Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

In the blink of an eye, Rein instantly deduced that this must be the opponent's ace in the hole!

Utilizing ultra-fast sword speed to pierce three vital points on his body, the sword moved so quickly that afterimages appeared on his retina, which is why he saw the illusion of three swords thrusting at the same time.

But in Rein's heart there was no fear, instead, he felt excitement!

This move was the enemy's trump card, his own crisis, but on the other hand, also his own opportunity.

Although the opponent was extremely fast, having fully committed to this killer move meant changing direction as before had become exceedingly difficult for him.

It was just like a sprinter at full speed trying to come to an immediate stop, which was nearly impossible to achieve.

In a split second, a fierce determination flashed in the corner of Rein's eye.

He didn't execute the 'defensive stance', the only defensive move in the Giant Bear Sword Technique!

Instead, he chose to counterattack!

"Strength Burst!"

Rein's entire body suddenly swelled, his height shooting from around 1.7 meters to approximately 1.9 meters, with muscles all over his body taut and bulging.

"Breaking limit! Are you a proper Knight?!" Rulse cried out in shock, unable to help but exclaim.

This caused Rulse's attacking momentum to falter, and the power of his killer move greatly diminished.

Of course, Rulse couldn't be blamed.

Rein's "Strength Burst" was too similar to that of an official Knight performing "Breaking limit".

Anyone watching would have thought Rein was a formal Knight in the act of "Breaking limit".

Seizing the opportunity while the opponent hesitated ever so slightly, Rein's chest puffed up, the veins in his neck protruding, with neck muscles twisting and expanding like those of a python.

This set off alarm bells in Rulse's mind, and he instinctively began to retreat at high speed!

The execution of his ace move, "Swift Sword Triple Strike", thus came to an abrupt end.

No wonder Rulse made such a decision.

Originally, his three strikes were aimed at Rein's vital areas, but with Rein's drastically changed physique, even if the stabs went through, they probably wouldn't be able to end Rein's life instantly, only leaving him injured but not dead.

Yet Rein's present physical form was too horrifying; Rulse immediately sensed that Rein's follow-up attack would definitely be thunderous!

Rulse didn't want to trade life for life.

So, the only option was to retreat!

But having just charged forward at high speed, retreating immediately was not so simple.

However, Rulse lived up to his level as a prospective Knight with powerful body control; the inertia of his body went from moving forward to retreating in barely half a second of stillness on the spot.

But in that brief less-than-half-second timeframe, the tables turned!

"Hah!!!!"

With a great roar,

Rein's mouth opened wide, and a raging torrent of breath blasted out like a cannonball!

A massive wave of sound, centered around Rein's gaping maw, swept out like a tsunami in all directions.

This kind of area-of-effect sound attack was clearly something Rulse couldn't avoid, and with the distance between him and Rein, the strength of the sound wave could be said to be at its peak.

Rulse only felt a strong gust of wind blow against his face, causing his skin to violently tremble.

At the same time, his eardrums felt a stabbing pain, his head instantly buzzing!

And after the sound wave swept past Rulse, it kept spreading out at high speed, causing nearby trees to rustle loudly and leaves to rain down.

Although Rulse was only affected by the sound attack for a very brief moment—merely a fraction of a second—by the time he could react once again,

he found himself seemingly unable to move!

Instantly, he felt an intense pain in his abdomen!

Turns out, as Rein let out that deafening roar, his bulging muscles propelled his hands to sweep the Fine Steel Greatsword at high speed across Rulse's waist and abdomen, leaving behind in mid-air a beautiful silver semi-circle.

Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds.

Rulse lowered his head.

'Whoosh!' A large amount of fresh blood flowed out, along with intestines and other organs.

"Ah!!"

Rulse couldn't help but let out a scream of agony.

"Thump!"

Rulse dropped the Knight's Longsword and knelt on the ground, desperately trying to cover the long wound with his hands and continuously trying to stuff the fallen intestines back inside.

Although he had been through many battles, he had always been the victor.

Of course, he had never experienced such pain... as well as the fear of impending death!

Such an injury, even if he were a Knight, would be too much to bear, let alone that he wasn't one.

Soon, as life drained away, Rulse's movements slowed down.

He lifted his head, staring intently at Rein, his mouth moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out, and he collapsed to the ground.

The look of unwillingness in his eyes also faded...

Rein was also suffering, supporting himself with the Fine Steel Greatsword in one hand and clutching his chest with the other, he began to cough violently.

"Cough... Cough..."

"The first time using the 'roaring strike' special move, I exerted too much force; it seems to have hurt my lungs a bit."

"But luckily, the results were significant!"

Rein, looking at Rulse's corpse, also felt somewhat sentimental.

"The opponent was completely superior to me, with both Strength and agility likely around thirteen or fourteen points. Even after I increased my agility by two points, I was still firmly suppressed by him!"

"Without the insight into the special move 'roaring strike,' this battle could have been very grim!"

This intensified the sense of urgency in Rein's heart once more.

Throughout the entire battle until its end, there were still many questions in Rein's mind.

"Where did this Norman Baron family come from?"

"Refuse to be recruited, then must die? It can't be that drastic, can it..."

"So, how exactly did I get involved with them?"

After thinking for a while, Rein decided he might take the time to carefully inquire with Hamilton later.

After all, he had been transferred from the County Town, and he should be quite familiar with the major noble families within the Meister County.

"If the territory of this so-called Norman Baron family is in Meister County, then Hamilton should probably be able to provide some useful information."

Without any hesitation, Rein stepped forward and cautiously delivered another stab to the body.

Once he confirmed that the other party was truly dead, Rein quickly bent down and started to search, soon finding a small black square bottle in the man's pouch.

"Eh! This design... could it be lethal poison?"

Then, Rein found a small bag of gold coins, about a dozen Gold Coins and over twenty Silver Coins, in the man's pouch.

The last item was an exceptionally neatly folded piece of parchment that, judging by its yellowed surface and slightly whitened edges from abrasion, seemed to have some age and had been frequently perused by its owner.

Rein didn't open it immediately.

Because the 'roaring strike' he had just used made a deafening sound, and even with the barrier of the dense woods, Rein believed it had already reached the nearby road.

Thus, as soon as Rein finished searching the body, he immediately dragged it deeper into the woods and slightly modified the battle marks on the scene with his greatsword to cover them up.

After giving it some thought, Rein decided not to pick up the opponent's weapon.

Because the pommel of the opponent's Knight's Longsword had a distinct pattern, Rein wouldn't be able to use it even if he took it back, and melting it down at the Blacksmith's place was equally risky. So, it was better to leave it.

Soon, the smell of blood would attract wild animals, and for them, this would be a feast.

Having done all this, Rein turned and walked towards home.