Chapter 690 Challenging Her Once Again
Three days passed since Arad stayed in the capital, watching over the remaining survivors of the capital until the healers could get them to a point where they could endure a trip. He sat beside the man church on a stone bench, looking at the snow-filled street, and yawned. "Too much for trying to have fun and relax, I hate staying still, it's too boring," He gently tapped the back of his head on the church's wall, passing time.
Crunch.
Arad blinked, a smile crossing his face. "Finally some movements," He stood, cracking his neck and looking into the distance, at the city's destroyed wall.
He lifted his foot, about to take a step. ZON! As his sole was about to touch the ground, he teleported forward with [Void Step] Taking a five-hundred-meter step.
Right outside the wall, a band of bandits approached the ruined capital, looking for anything valuable to take. It was almost a natural thing to do, expected whenever a city fell to a monster attack.
"Jackal," A bandit pointed at the broken wall, "We can slip inside through there,"
Jackal, the bandit's captain, walked forward. "Seems decent enough, get the horses ready. Look for jewelry, pottery, or anything you think is of value. Small and light is preferred, we can't haul a lot,"
The bandits following him, almost fifty men strong approached the wall, getting ready to salvage the city.
Tap! As they approached the crack in the wall, Arad appeared in front of them, staring with a smile and his hands tucked in his pocket. He smiled, vapor gushing out of his mouth as he looked at them, "Welcome, I've been waiting,"
The bandits froze in place, "Where did you come from?" One cried.
"A wizard? Did he teleport here?" A short scrawny man wearing a robe pulled an old, twisted oak wand and pointed it at Arad, chanting beneath his breath as he kept his eyes peeled open.
"No with that body, he's a fighter," One man pointed at Arad with a bow. "One move and I'll pierce your eyes!"
"Fuck! He's huge!" A woman of them cried, pulling her sword. She pointed it at him, her hands shaking.
"Woman, are you afraid?" Arad stared at her with a grin, "Don't worry, I'm only here to have fun. You won't be dying today,"
The moment Arad's eyes landed on her, she could feel the blood draining from her head and arms, her knees started shaking as her vision slowly blurred from the tears rushing out of her eyes.
A dragon-like Arad directly addressing her had made her bones quiver.
Merlin floated above them in the sky, looking down with an amused smile. ^Dragons have two presences. The frightful presence and awe presence. The mana released by the dragon, the deep frequency of their voice, the hormones, and the scent released into the air. For thousands of years, scholars thought that it must've been a necessary adaptation by living beings. Every living creature could innately detect a dragon's presence, albeit intelligent ones fail to recognize the feeling.^
She floated down and jumped off her staff, sitting on the capital's wall.
^It's a phobia born from the terrors' dragons brought. The brain detects the little hints of a dragon and starts freaking out, leading to what she is experiencing.^ Merlin smiled, ^But, dragons being the crazed monsters they are, they have learned to take advantage of that, shifting their mana, voice, and scent to trick the mind into feeling comfortable, to love the dragon, worship it, and heed its words like a close friend. That's where the awe presence came from,^
Thud! The woman fell to her knees, and she suddenly felt better. Arad stopped his presence.
^Of course he can turn them off at will,^ Merlin looked back, seeing Alcott standing behind her with ginger, "You two are late,"
"Had something to do," Alcott replied, "Looks like bandits," He looked forward with a passive face.
"Arad is playing, let's watch," Merlin replied with a smile and the two sat beside her.
Arad walked toward the bandit's captain and stood in front of him, "We're about to travel a long distance to Alina and we need some capable men to help us move. You'll be helping the injured, carrying luggage, and slaying small monsters. You might even end up cooking or skinning hunts,"
"What are you talking about?" The bandit's leader glared at Arad's smiling face, "Who do you think you are to order us around?"
"I'm not ordering you around, I'm hiring you as a mercenary. Better than killing you all here, is it not?" Arad replied, keeping his smile.
CLANG! The bandit's capital suddenly pulled his sword, swinging at Arad's neck.
The sword stopped at Arad's neck, cracking as if it hit a stone. The bandit leader gasped, sweat dripping across his face, "How in the hell?"
"Come on," Arad kept his smile, "Don't tell me she's the best out of everyone here?" He pointed at the woman from earlier.
"Do as he says!" The woman screamed her lungs out, "That isn't a human, he's something else that we can't hope to beat!"
The bandits stared at her and most of them started sweating even though it was freezing cold. The woman was a level 13 fighter while the rest of them were only around level 5 and their captain was level 9. Up until now, the captain kept his position as he's the one who led them to wealth, but in terms of strength, she's the best they have.
Arad lifted his hand, swinging it down toward the forest.
CRACK! From the motion of Arad's palm, a massive slash of compressed wind cut a crack in the ground all the way to the forest's start.
"I need humans to help, would care to be hired?" He glared at the bandit's captain with a terrifying smile.
"Yeah, it'll be our pleasure," The captain gave up, seeing such an attack being thrown without effort made it clear, that Arad wasn't giving them a choice.
CRACK! Nina fell from the sky, cracking the ground. She glared at the bandits, ready to lung at them.
"Calm down," Arad waved his hand at her, "I already dealt with them,"
Nina blinked, "You did? They are still here, or do you intend to arrest them? You know you aren't a guard, and that we can't take them to any city capable of jailing or judging them,"
"You memorized that?" Arad looked at Nina, "That was a lot of details for you,"
Nina's face turned red, "What if I memorized them? All that matters is that I know what to do,"
Arad waved his hand to the bandits to head into the city and they started to move. Alcott jumped from the wall to watch them as Arad stood in front of Nina.
"Say," Arad looked at her with a smile, "I've spent the past few days thinking of what I like to do. What do you think it is?"
"Fighting, what else could it be?" Nina bent down and took her shoes off, throwing them back. "It's clear you're looking for a fight, don't blame me if you ended up sleeping on the snow for a while," She took her large coat off and threw it away, remaining only in her barbarian hide armor, "What do you say?"
Arad smiled, his eyes glowing purple, "You're right. Last time I lost before I could even fight back."
Thud! In the blink of an eye, Nina lunged forward, swinging a kick toward Arad's head.
Arad's eyes turned to the left in a split second, locking on Nina's foot. ^It's coming! I can see it this time,^ He remembered the last time in the barbarian village when she knocked him out with one kick.
Arad bent forward, dodging Nina's kick by a hair strand, her explosive speed and powers were something to behold. Thud! Arad took a step forward as Nina put her foot back on the ground, ending up standing an inch away from her back.
Ginger blinked as she sat on the wall, "He dodged it?!"
"His quick growth is terrifying," Merlin looked at them with an exhausted face, "But, he'll tick Nina off,"
Arad stood still, glaring at the back of Nina's head with burning purple eyes, menacingly towering over her back. All the while she stared forward with a passive face, her eyes glowing golden as veins slowly bulged on her arms and thighs.
The animals in the forest woke from their hibernation, running away as fast as they could. To those who can see, it was two humanoids standing next to each other. But to animals and monsters, it was an arrogant dragon and a tarrasque squaring up.
"The girls won't mind if I drag you home," Arad said, staring at her.
"Come and try," Nina replied with a smile, "It's been a while since someone got this far,"
Merlin couldn't help but smile, "Those two are monsters."
"Dodging the kick that once knocked him gave him back his confidence, and Nina is getting turned on by the thought that she might finally find someone who could marry her," Ginger smiled, "She's been looking for a man strong enough to marry her for years and was starting to give up. He's reigniting that flame,"
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