Chapter 15: Dinner Time

Julian stopped and raised his right hand.

With this motion, one of the Wraith Warriors beside him suddenly stepped forward, drew the greatsword from its back, and threw it forcefully.

“Thud!”

Before Ophariel could react to what had happened, a black shadow suddenly fell from a large tree not far in front of them. It was a bandit wearing leather armor and holding a bow and arrow. Now his eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the sky. The greatsword had completely pierced through this man’s chest, taking his life.
Who on earth are these guys?!

Seeing this scene, Kyle felt his scalp tingle. He certainly knew who this person was. This bandit was one of the most valued members under their boss. It was said that he was originally a ranger, but was later expelled for breaking a taboo, and then came to Twilight Forest to become a bandit. Although this ranger’s level wasn’t particularly high, his skill in concealment and movement was unmatched by others. Because of this, their boss regarded this man as his right-hand man, specifically assigning him to be responsible for perimeter reconnaissance. If there was any movement, he would immediately report back, and it was because of this person’s existence that they had avoided many dangers. But now, this guy was so easily discovered and killed?

Kyle knew he definitely didn’t have such ability, and he even doubted if his boss had such ability. Of course, with the boss’s strength as an intermediate swordsman, if it was a one-on-one duel with this guy, it certainly wouldn’t be a problem. But in the jungle, it’s hard to say how much of an advantage he would have. After all, disguise and concealment were the skills rangers excelled at, even for a ranger who had broken taboos.

But look at what these people did? That guy’s proud concealment skills were completely useless, and in fact, from Julian stopping and raising his hand to that black-armored warrior throwing his sword, it might not even have been five seconds. It was as if for them, this guy wasn’t hiding anywhere at all, but was standing blatantly right under their noses waiting to be killed.

“How much further?” Julian asked without turning his head, and Kyle swallowed before tremblingly answering.

“We’re, we’re almost there, my lord.”

A Wraith Warrior strode to the corpse, pulled out the greatsword and casually swung it. Ophariel watched the corpse with a complex expression, took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and followed behind Julian again. Although she had a strong will, facing dead people was still not something Ophariel could easily get used to.
The operation was even easier than everyone had imagined.

When Julian and his group sneaked to the entrance of the bandit lair, most of the bandits were still resting. Due to their “profession”, these bandits were mostly night owls. They rested during the day, then went out at night to cause trouble for merchants traveling on the Golden Trade Route. Those bandit groups with vast power who could collude with guards would choose to go out during the day and confront their targets head-on. But those bandits with smaller forces could only lurk in Twilight Forest, waiting until the dead of night to launch attacks.

Because of this, when Julian and his group entered the lair, many bandits didn’t even react for a moment. They opened their sleepy eyes, thinking it was some patrol team returning – then, cold flashes and screams successfully dispelled their sleepiness.

“Enemy attack!”

Years of living on the edge made these bandits react quickly and nimbly. They jumped up swiftly, grabbed their weapons and gathered together. While rushing towards the enemy before them, they didn’t forget to curse those stupid and idiotic guards who encountered an enemy attack without making a sound, where on earth had they died!
Although the bandits’ movements could be said to be swift, they were barely better than nothing in front of the Wraith Warriors. After all, these Wraith Warriors were undead beings, and the armor on their bodies was merely an item used to fix their form. Even if their limbs were cut off by the opponent, they wouldn’t feel pain, let alone lose their combat ability. Moreover, with the strength of these bandits, trying to cut off the limbs of the Wraith Warriors was actually an impossible task.

As soon as Julian gave the order, the ten Wraith Warriors had completely spread out in a fan shape. They swung their greatswords, striding forward, unstoppable like steel meat grinders. Most bandits had their weapons cut in half by these Wraith Warriors’ greatswords the moment their blades clashed, then were easily cut into their bodies. These Wraith Warriors didn’t even need to pull their swords out of the corpses, they just swung them again, rushing towards the next target with both person and sword – the manifestation of spirit power is in the amount of magic power, not in physical strength.

Of course, there was also a special case here with an exaggeratedly large amount of magic power but terrifyingly weak physical strength.

Julian didn’t make a move. He just stood there quietly, watching the Wraith Warriors fight. Under the attack of these Wraith Warriors, those bandits didn’t even have time to notice this young man. Ophariel stood beside him, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. Her face was pale, and more than once she wanted to turn her head away, to shut out the cruel scene before her and those miserable cries from her consciousness. Although she also knew that these bandits were desperate criminals with blood on their hands, and many people had died at their hands, so there was nothing to sympathize with now that they were being killed. But the scene before her and those dying cries mixed with despair and sorrow still made the girl instinctively feel reluctant.

But even so, she still stood there firmly, forcing herself to watch the battlefield before her. Ophariel certainly understood why Julian had brought her out. She wasn’t simply bait for Julian’s trap. Julian was using his actual actions to tell Ophariel that if she wanted to stay by his side, she would have to get used to such scenes. And the girl also understood very well that she was really lacking in this aspect. If she wanted to help this young man who had revived her and given her a body, then she must make up for her shortcomings and do her best to assist the lord before her. Born as a princess, Ophariel understood very well that many things couldn’t be determined by her own preferences.
She had no choice.

The number of bandits wasn’t large to begin with. As a small bandit group, they only had about thirty people. In the encounter with the Wraith Warriors, they had already lost fifteen or sixteen men, and the other bandits had now completely lost their will to fight – when you see a fully armored warrior swinging a huge sword with your comrade’s limbs still on it charging towards you, how many people would choose to charge forward rather than run away?
At this moment, a roar arose.

A sturdy middle-aged man suddenly rushed out from the crowd. He held a knife in one hand and a shield in the other, charging towards the Wraith Warriors like a raging whirlwind. Faced with the raised greatsword, this man didn’t show the fear and unease like the other bandits. Instead, he raised his shield, blocking what should have been a strike capable of cutting through gold and stone.

“Boom!”

As shield and sword clashed, both sides swayed.

Intermediate swordsman.

Observing this scene, Julian’s eyes narrowed slightly. After becoming an intermediate swordsman, one would possess a protective aura, which was the light produced by drawing soul energy. The Wraith Warriors, being spirits originally, naturally possessed protective auras after attaching to the armor. But for humans, it could only be obtained through training. Now this middle-aged man could actually block a strike from a Wraith Warrior, clearly, he should have the strength of an intermediate warrior.

“Who are you people, daring to come to my place and cause trouble!” The middle-aged man gritted his teeth, forcefully blocking the Wraith Warrior’s attack while shouting loudly. He was the leader of this bandit group and the strongest among them. With his angry shout, the middle-aged man pushed hard, and the Wraith Warrior actually couldn’t withstand his brute force for a moment, retreating two steps before stabilizing its stance. Seeing their boss appear, the bandits suddenly cheered. They quickly changed direction, no longer trying to block these terrifying Wraith Warriors, but gathering towards the bandit leader.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Thinking of this, Julian didn’t hesitate any longer. He put his fingers in his mouth, and a melodious whistle sounded. Then Julian raised his right index finger, pointing at that middle-aged man.

As this whistle sounded, all the Wraith Warriors stopped their actions. They quickly turned towards the direction Julian was pointing, then raised their swords high.

Then, a series of figures transformed into dazzling black lights, rushing towards that middle-aged man.
This was the most commonly used skill of the Wraith Warriors – Charge.

The man couldn’t hold on for long.

When blocking the opponent’s attack, he had originally planned to use his shield to deflect the opponent’s attack, then swing his knife forward to gain the initiative in the battle. But in the next instant, he felt a blur before his eyes, followed by an incredibly powerful impact force hitting him head-on, colliding with his body. Even though the man had already prepared for defense, this powerful collision still made him involuntarily step back. But at the same time, another impact force struck. This time the man couldn’t hold on any longer, his body flew up under the huge impact force, soaring into the sky.

Then a third black light flashed by.

“Boom!”

After all, the human body has its limits of resistance. Even the strongest physique, after receiving repeated impacts three or five times, certainly has no possibility of remaining intact. The low, deep sound made those bandits who had originally planned to escape stop in their tracks. They instinctively looked up, only to see their bandit leader, who had been invincible in their hearts, now bursting and shattering in the sky like a piece of tattered cloth, turning into a rain of flesh and blood, falling to the ground.

Is it over just like that?

Almost all the bandits couldn’t believe their eyes. They stared blankly at the tattered body falling from the sky, completely at a loss for words. After their leader had blocked the opponent’s attack, these bandits had even regained confidence for a moment – unfortunately, Julian immediately extinguished it completely.

At the same time, Kyle’s almost wailing cry arose.

“Drop your weapons, surrender immediately!!!”

The bandits had no choice.

In front of these powerful Wraith Warriors, they no longer had the strength to resist. Even their leader had been shattered under the opponent’s attack. So after hearing Kyle’s shout, these bandits immediately dropped their weapons and surrendered.

“What do you plan to do, my lord?” Watching the Wraith Warriors gather the remaining bandits, Ophariel frowned and asked with some confusion.

“Are you going to incorporate these bandits?”

“Of course not,” Julian shook his head, denying Ophariel’s guess.

“These people are too useless, there’s no point in taking them back. And they all have bandit backgrounds… I don’t want to cause any trouble for myself.”

“Then you are…”
Ophariel blinked, lookin

g towards Kyle beside her. Earlier when Julian gave orders to Kyle, Ophariel had thought he was planning to incorporate these guys, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“It’s just for convenience,” Julian said, clapping his hands. Then he looked towards the Wraith Warriors, revealing an elegant smile – as if a host was entertaining his guests.

“Everyone, dinner is served.”