Chapter 35: Who Is He?

The militiamen were all a bit dumbfounded. They had fought alongside these adventurers before and knew their strength. This man was considered the strongest among the adventurers, with his strength roughly at the upper low-rank level. But it had only been one night, how had he broken through that barrier and become an intermediate swordsman?!

“No! Big Brother Scar!” The militiamen were stunned, but the young swordsman wasn’t stupid. He was startled and quickly called out.

Only he knew that although his captain had luckily broken through the barrier and become an intermediate swordsman in yesterday’s battle with this monster, his power was not stable at all! From the flickering soul radiance on the sword blade, it could be seen that this middle-aged swordsman hadn’t even mastered the protective aura. In this situation, forcibly driving his power to fight could lead to unimaginable consequences. Moreover, their sword instructor had said that after breaking through the barrier, the first thing to do was to familiarize oneself with the new power. Otherwise, if there was a backlash, one might never be able to advance again.

Now the situation was very clear. Since that wild boar could use a protective aura, it must have long been familiar with its power. But the middle-aged swordsman had just experienced this power and wasn’t familiar with how to use soul power at all. In this situation, how could he fight against a variant?

At this time, the wild boar also noticed his presence and charged towards the middle-aged swordsman with a roar. Its speed was so fast it was almost impossible to see clearly, and the violent rumbling sound made by its thick hooves striking the ground was terrifying. Facing it head-on, the middle-aged swordsman gritted his teeth even harder. Although he had encountered this wild boar before, that was on a dark and windy night, using traps and ambushes, with only a brief moment of engagement. Now, facing this variant head-on, he truly felt its power. Although in terms of strength, both were now at the intermediate level and should be evenly matched, his intermediate level was too unstable to fully exert intermediate strength. In this situation, should he fight this variant? At this moment, the middle-aged swordsman felt as if he wasn’t facing a charging wild boar, but a huge boulder rolling down from a mountain, completely unstoppable.

Could he do it?!

He gritted his teeth, gripping the sword hilt tightly, asking himself inwardly.

“Big brother!!” His companion’s voice sounded in his ears, and at this moment, the middle-aged swordsman finally made his decision. Facing the rapidly charging wild boar, he suddenly dodged, rolling away from its charge in a very ungraceful posture. After all, breaking through this barrier wasn’t easy. If he lost the chance to advance in such a battle, it would be completely unacceptable to him.

“Boom!!” Just as the middle-aged swordsman dodged, the wild boar roared past him, the whirlwind it created causing the middle-aged swordsman to stumble and roll away. The wild boar, maintaining its momentum, charged into the forest. Accompanied by a series of crashing and breaking sounds, another small patch of the forest collapsed – those fragile trees simply couldn’t withstand the attack of a variant with a protective aura.

Everyone widened their eyes in surprise, staring blankly at this terrifying scene before them. Although they had seen the destruction caused by this variant’s rampage on their way here, only witnessing it personally did they realize that this destructive power had exceeded the limits of their imagination. Even in their worst nightmares, such a scene had never appeared.

Holy Grace above, if someone were hit like that, they would probably turn into fragments directly!

The adventurers drew in a cold breath, while the militiamen turned pale, trembling, almost unable to hold their weapons. They had actually fought with this monster last night? And no one died? Now thinking about it, it felt as unreal as a dream…

A low growl sounded again, restraining the footsteps of those who had originally planned to flee. They were after all just a group of militiamen. If they were facing bandits or robbers, perhaps they wouldn’t be so frightened. Those were at least human. But this thing before them, whether in appearance or power, far surpassed humans. Faced with such a terrifying thing, human instinct had completely overridden their reason, totally controlling their bodies.

No one could move at all. They could only stand in place, fearfully watching that huge figure walk out again. At this moment, the wild boar seemed to have calmed down. Its reddened eyes swept over the targets before it one by one, then fixed on Julian.

Although compared to others, Julian hadn’t made more movements, just standing there as if enjoying the battle before him like a spectator, the wild boar instinctively sensed that this human was the enemy it should eliminate most. So, it didn’t hesitate. With another low roar, the wild boar leaped forward forcefully, and its target was Julian!

“What are you doing! Run quickly!” Seeing this scene, not only did all the militiamen’s faces change drastically, even those adventurers were greatly shocked. They had thought the militiamen closer to the wild boar would be its attack target, but unexpectedly, this wild boar ignored the closer targets and charged towards Julian, who was still some distance away. Could wild boars understand class hatred too?

Although they didn’t understand the reason, the young swordsman still shouted out, gripping his longsword tightly and running desperately towards Julian. In their view, this uneducated noble must have been scared stiff. This wasn’t surprising. As adventurers, they had encountered many similar situations. Those nobles always appeared spirited in front of others, but once they really encountered danger, they immediately showed their true colors. Now this young noble was probably the same, probably scared stiff upon seeing that wild boar… It was already quite an achievement that he hadn’t fainted.

At the same time, the middle-aged swordsman also gritted his teeth and charged towards the wild boar again. Although they didn’t want to face danger directly, now this wild boar was charging towards the person they least could afford to touch in the scene. Holy Grace above, they could hardly imagine, if this noble died, what would happen to these people even if they escaped? They would definitely be put on the gallows!

Faster! Faster!

Unfortunately, although everyone was exerting their full strength, they were still too far from Julian, and that wild boar’s speed was really too fast. If the middle-aged swordsman had learned the charging skill, perhaps he could have given it a try, but now he had just crossed this barrier half a day ago, hadn’t even touched the edge of soul power, let alone learned any charging skill.

It’s over!

Seeing that wild boar had already charged to Julian’s front, almost everyone’s faces showed expressions of despair. They could already see those sharp tusks of the wild boar easily piercing through that young noble’s body, then tearing him into pieces like a rag. Perhaps they could take this opportunity to escape, but what was the point? If it really happened like this…

At this moment, a miracle occurred.

Just as the wild boar charged to Julian’s front, it suddenly tilted its body sharply, letting out a wail never heard before. Then, unable to control its momentum, the wild boar’s body was thrown into the air, leaping over Julian and crashing heavily to the ground.

“Boom!!” The huge sound made everyone stand dumbfounded in place. But unlike before, they weren’t unable to move due to fear, but simply because they couldn’t understand what had just happened before their eyes.

Until a slight “click” sound was heard.

The middle-aged swordsman widened his eyes, unable to believe what he saw of Julian standing not far before him. He saw clearly that the “click” sound just now was the sound of this young noble sheathing his sword. But he was certain that he hadn’t seen any sword-drawing action from this young noble. In his view, that wild boar had just suddenly stopped, then flew up, then fell to the ground. Then, he found that the sword in Julian’s hand had been half-drawn at some unknown time. Just as he thought the other had made this move because of a slow reaction, Julian suddenly leisurely put the sword back into its scabbard. Then, he reached into his bosom, took out a clean white handkerchief, and wiped away the specks of dust on his shoulder brought by the wild boar’s flight.

The middle-aged swordsman swallowed hard, forcing himself to move his gaze to that wild boar. This time he saw very clearly, right in the center of the wild boar’s head, there was a deep sword mark. Now, blood and brain matter were slowly flowing out from the wound, and that wild boar had also lost its previous imposing manner. That huge, sturdy body convulsed for a moment, then became still.

It was dead.

The rest of the people now walked up, looking at the wild boar that had become a motionless corpse, their mouths wide open, unable to say a word.

What a joke, a variant with intermediate-level strength and a protective aura, just died like this?

They looked at the wild boar, then at the young man who was wiping the mud spots on his shoulder, not knowing what to say.

Did he kill it? How did he kill it? Who exactly was this young noble?

In an instant, countless questions surged into everyone’s minds, but Julian seemed to completely ignore their questions. After wiping away the mud spots, he put the handkerchief back into the pocket on his chest, then turned to look at those militiamen and adventurers standing stupidly beside the wild boar.

“Just this one, right? Well then, job’s done,” Julian then said calmly.