BXBX NOVEL Chapter 48 - 48: The Only One in a Thousand Years 1
The sword aura strikes, scattering the formation of the Holy Knights, and a thin figure propels forward with the sword aura, rushing to Mad’s side and slashing horizontally with his sword.
Mad raises his sword to defend, but it’s as if he’s struck by lightning. The longsword is flung away by the immense force contained in the opponent’s horizontal slash, leaving him open.
Mad’s face is ashen, but his eyes are firm. He knows his chances of survival are slim. From the sword aura unleashed by his opponent, he is facing a formidable foe at Sword Saint Level, likely an Early Stage Swordsaint, which is beyond his ability to withstand.
From low to high, wizards are categorized as apprentices, initial (1 to 3), middle (4 to 6), high (7 to 9) level, Great Magician, Arcane Magician (Magic Tutor), and Truth Mage (Archmage).
Swordsmen also have apprentices, initial (1 to 3), middle (4 to 6), high (7 to 9) levels, as well as Early Stage and High-level Swordsaints.
For example, a Great Magician could toy with a Sword Saint in a face-to-face battle on the battlefield, bombarding relentlessly, leaving the Swordsaint powerless.
However, in restricted terrains and close combat situations, a Great Magician is just a vulnerable chick in the hands of a Swordsaint, easily defeated.
Therefore, it is crucial for a magician to have followers to prevent close combat roles from approaching, to block and distract enemy attacks during combat, allowing the magician to comfortably caste spells and bombard the enemy.
As magicians are capable of recruiting followers, can swordsmen recruit mages to provide support and allow them to focus on hacking away at enemies?
Theoretically, it’s possible, but swordsmen are generally poor. Magicians have the wealth to afford followers but what can swordsmen provide to sustain mages? So, you would typically see magicians surrounded by followers, while swordsmen stand alone.
The combat style of a Holy Knight is close to that of a swordsman’s, but they have many auxiliary abilities, making them good at team battles, yet not adept at solo combat.
Mad is a Level 7 Holy Knight, equivalent to a Level 7 Swordsman in terms of strength. However, the enemy is an Early Stage Swordsaint, resulting in a three-level disparity in strength which is impossible to bridge.
If his team had their horses and proper formation, perhaps there would have been a chance at combat. But right now, with nothing at hand, even the weapon has been flung away. What can he use to defend himself?
His unwavering belief!
“Break through with all your might; I’ll hold him off! Sacrifice!” Mad’s body explodes with dazzling Holy Light, bursting flames of Sacred Flame enveloping him like a glowing fireman. He punches towards the enemy.
The remaining Knights look on with bulging eyes, eager to turn back and fight, but they are stopped by a handsome Holy Knight: “Go! The captain is burning his life; do not let him sacrifice in vain!”
Under the pressure from the handsome Holy Knight, the rest of the knights sprint ahead, but the route in front of them has been blocked by the undead. The encirclement closes in.
The handsome knight accelerates to the forefront, jumps towards the encirclement, and smashes his fists into the ground – Holy Shock.
The ground shakes, and a circle of skeleton zombies begins to wobble, unable to stand steadily. The handsome knight takes the chance to raise the Holy Shield in front of him and forcefully charges through – Holy Charge.
With the use of two consecutive skills, the companions realize his intentions, and tears welled up in their eyes. Such intensity would leave the handsome knight with no strength to escape even if he breaks through the encircle. He is sacrificing himself to open a path for the team.
Any further words or hesitation would only waste the sacrifices made by Mad and the handsome Holy Knight. Everyone grits their teeth, swing their swords in silence, and follow the handsome Holy Knight to break through the encirclement.
After breaking through the encirclement, as expected, the handsome knight is exhausted and slows down. His companions, with heartache, surpass his position and run towards the distance.
The handsome Paladin abruptly halted, loudly advising, “Watch out for Leonardo. He withheld information and clearly wants us to march towards our own demise.”
“Aaaah!!!” Wails of suppressed grief from the departing comrades echoed in the distance.
The handsome Paladin then turned to face the oncoming undead. He flashed a bold smile, revealing his white teeth, fearlessly brandishing his longsword, up until he was swallowed by the skeletons.
The lean Sword Saint deftly dodged Made’s attacks. He had read about Paladins in books. These Paladins burned their lives away, persisting in their attack after initiating ‘sacrifice’, tanking serious damage and unrelenting until their life force had completely burnt out.
Rather than risking a head-on confrontation, it was better to let him burn out. It was a pity, however, that the rest of the Paladins had escaped.
Two minutes later, the sacred flame around Made had weakened and gradually, it completely flickered out. He remained in the pose of his final punch, the brilliance in his eyes completely faded away.
The Sword Saint sighed, stepping forward to close Made’s eyes, laying him gently on the ground.
Feilin, Lisa and the others came forward, greeting him, “City Lord of Lofen.” The Sword Saint returned their greetings.
“Brother!” Anna’s suppressed screams finally exploded. When she saw the
Sword Saint’s figure appear, she recognized him as her brother, Luther Lofen. Fearful of disturbing her brother during the battle, she suppressed her excitement until this moment before sprinting towards her brother.
Luther, who was still gloomy just a moment ago, appeared annoyed. He held her by the head, preventing her from pouncing on him, “What on earth are you doing? We are being watched by so many people. Can’t you see it’s inappropriate to hug and be clingy, you’ve ruined my image. Bring me some food, I’m starving.”
Only then did everyone realize that Luther was emanating heat. Steam could be seen rising from his head, indicating that he had expended a lot of energy.
“Looks like this Paladin was quite strong since even you struggled to defeat him,” Feilin remarked.
Luther was universally recognized in Ice City as a talent. He broke through the
Junior Swordsman level at just eight years old. He reached the Early Stage Swordsaint level at twenty. He was the only strong individual in a millennium to break through to the level of Sword Saint. Such a powerful individual had struggled, showing that the Paladin had not been weak.
“No, I’ve simply run over twenty kilometers to get here, I’m just exhausted,” Luther explained. “I saw a flash of white light over here, so I knew these fellas would be here.”
White light? Everyone looked at the Angel Skeleton.
Luther was somewhat baffled as to why mentioning ‘white light’ made everyone look at a single skeleton that had two oddly-shaped bones sticking out from behind it.
“Speaking of which, does anyone have food? I’m starving, I always get so hungry after a fight. Get me something to eat,” Luther asked.
Swordsmanship is a profession with high physical wear and tear, even more so at the Sword Saint level. A single sword strike might be the equivalent of several bowls of rice in energy spent, so higher-level Swordsmen consumed more food.
Who would bring food while setting an ambush or besieging an enemy? Moreover, Anna was the only living person there. In the end, everyone turned their gaze to Ange.
Food? Ange tilted her head. You can’t eat grain unless it’s hulled. The Little Zombie’s previous self had starved to death because of this. Apart from grain, the only thing Ange had left to eat was this.
When Luther and Anna saw what Ange brought out, their eyes lit up.. Luther’s eyes were sparkling as he excitedly yelled, “Are those beets? Are they beets?”