Swords, magic, and martial arts

Pilt Kaman was another leader of the Daniel caravan. He was once a nobleman, but he was stripped of his noble status for doing some dishonorable things and fled to the Kingdom of Nord to avoid further punishment.

Looking back now, the dishonorable things he did were probably the same as Daniel's, both related to the slave trade.

"Hey kid, what are you doing knocking on the door?" the familiar-looking mercenary asked, clearly not recognizing Rhodes.

"I'd like to ask, which direction should we go to leave this forest?" Rhodes asked, pretending not to know anyone.

The mercenary looked at Rhodes, who was dressed in tattered clothes, with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot, and casually pointed him in a direction, "Go that way." Then he closed the door.

Rhodes was somewhat skeptical of the directions the mercenary had given him, feeling as if he were being lied to. He hesitated at the door of the cabin, wondering whether he should knock again and ask.

"Should we also capture that idiot and sell him as a slave?" a voice came from inside.

"Sure, but not necessary. How much can someone like him, who's neither strong nor handsome and has some mental issues, fetch? We'd be better off keeping an eye on the one in front of us so he doesn't run away again. We'll hit the road after we finish eating."

The cabin wasn't well soundproofed, and Rhodes could hear everything clearly from outside. He never expected that Pilt would start selling slaves again after escaping the Dragon Cult.

Rhodes hesitated for a moment, put on his brass knuckles, and kicked open the wooden door. Pilt and the three mercenaries inside, who were eating bread and drinking meat soup, were startled.

"What are you doing back here, kid?" the mercenary who had opened the door earlier asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rod spotted Aya in the corner of the wall, her mouth bound with rope and her body covered.

When Aya saw him, she opened her eyes wide and made a "woo-woo" sound to try to get his attention.

Rod pretended not to notice him and replied, "I smelled the aroma of broth and wanted to come in for a few sips before leaving. I haven't eaten for days."

"There's no soup for you, but you can taste what your own blood tastes like." Another mercenary drew his sword and stood up.

"Let's talk this out, don't use weapons." Rhodes pretended to be scared and took a few steps back.

He straightened his back and walked forward, saying timidly, "I advise you not to mess with me. I'm the toughest fighter in our village. The village chief says I'm the hope of the whole village."

The mercenary laughed and said, "You? If I were you, I would have been begging for mercy on my knees by now."

"Yes, you should have knelt down and begged for mercy long ago." Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rhodes rushed forward and used the Taizu Long Fist on him.

The mercenary raised his sword to block, but it was too late. Rhodes' fist struck him hard in the chest, denting it, and he fell to the ground with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The rest of the men drew their weapons and stood up. After taking down one mercenary, Rhodes was now in a one-against-three situation.

The mercenary who had opened the door for him swung an axe at Rhodes, but Rhodes dodged it by sidestepping. Another mercenary seized the opportunity to slash at Rhodes from the side with his sword.

To avoid the mercenary's axe blow, Rhode ran into the sword of the sword-wielding mercenary. The sword, blocked by his thick fur coat, couldn't harm Rhode, who possessed the Iron Shirt and Golden Bell Shield.

With his left hand, he grabbed the mercenary's sword and pulled it toward himself. Holding the mercenary's longsword, Rhode only suffered a superficial cut, unlike when he grabbed the Death God Cult priest's dagger, which cut through his flesh.

The mercenary never expected Rhodes to grab his sword like that. He was pulled back by Rhodes and stumbled. Rhodes then delivered an uppercut to his chin, producing a horrifying cracking sound. The mercenary collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his chin.

After delivering that punch, Rhodes was stabbed in the back by Piltover with a short sword. The sword could barely pierce Rhodes' skin. Rhodes turned around and punched Piltover in the face, knocking his jaw crooked, and he fell to the ground.

The mercenary who had opened the door for Rhodes earlier was terrified when he saw that Rhodes was invulnerable to swords and spears and could knock down a person with every punch. He dropped his axe, knelt on the ground with his head pressed to the ground, and begged, "Please, don't kill me. I'm just doing this for money."

The mercenary was filled with regret. He shouldn't have accepted Pilt's job and come all the way from the Roman Empire to the Kingdom of Nord. Last time he encountered a monster with an axe, and this time he encountered a fool who only used his fists.

"Then you have to answer whatever I ask you truthfully, or else..." Rod chuckled.

"I'll definitely tell the truth, I'll definitely tell the truth," the mercenary quickly replied.

"Is this all there are of you?" Rod asked.

"Yes, sir. We were attacked by the Dragon Worship Cult last time. Everyone who resisted died, only a few of us escaped," the mercenary said without hesitation.

"So how did you catch this child?" Rod asked, pointing to Aya, who was still tied up in the corner.

"We found it inside this cabin," the mercenary replied, climbing over and kissing Rhodes' feet.

Rhodes felt nauseous and took a few steps back.

"You just stay here and squat on the ground," Rod said loudly.

Rod thought that Aya must have stolen his dagger while he was asleep and then ran into the cabin.

Let's just keep him tied up for a bit longer to teach him a lesson.

I risked my life to protect him, but I still couldn't gain his trust. Rhodes felt somewhat disappointed after easily winning the battle.

He turned around and finally decided to untie the ropes binding Aya. Aya, whose mouth was stuffed with a rag, suddenly opened her eyes wide and made a loud noise.

Rhodes immediately turned around and saw the mercenary who had been kneeling on the ground pick up an axe and chop it down on his head. Rhodes instinctively raised his hand to try to block the mercenary's axe, but it was too late.

A searing pain shot through his forehead, he felt a violent dizziness, a large clump of hair fell from the air, and blood flowed into his eyes.

The mercenary sneered and raised his axe again, preparing to chop down Rhodes' neck and behead him. He felt that he had just missed; his hand had slipped when he was about to strike the monster's forehead. But it didn't matter; the next attack would definitely kill him.

Rhodes bit his tongue hard in an attempt to recover from the dizziness, but by the time he came to his senses, the axe was already swinging down.

Previously, his forehead was targeted by the axe, and it was only the force-dissipating effect of the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt that saved his life. If the axe had cut off his neck, nothing could have saved him.

He could only raise his shoulder to take the blow; the axe got stuck in his upper arm, and the intense pain made his mouth twist.

The mercenary dropped the axe, grabbed Rhodes by the neck with one hand and slammed him against the wall, while punching Rhodes hard in the face with his other fist. The mercenary said with a ferocious expression, "You're such an idiot. I only told you not to kill me, not that I wouldn't kill you."

Rhodes realized he had been too careless. His crushing victory over these enemies had given him a sense of invincibility, and he had completely disregarded them.

The mercenary had just kissed his feet, deceiving him into thinking that he had truly surrendered.

The next moment, the mercenary felt something pierce his body. His breathing became difficult and rapid. He released his grip on Rhodes, clutched his neck, and opened his mouth wide to try to breathe, but only managed to hiss.

He pointed at Rod with a flushed face, then collapsed to the ground, black blood flowing from his nose and ears.

Rhodes sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, panting heavily. Pilt, who had been lying on the ground, got up again, grabbed his sword, and charged at Rhodes with a crazed expression...