The Vanguard Attacks 2

"Kill!"

Viper roared as his men released intense blood-lust in their charge towards Aaron's unit.

"Have no mercy." Aaron coldly said.

Suddenly, the auras of the men around him burst out with extreme vigour. Although their mana was still at the level of a mid-rank first-stage Guardian mage, the deadly sensation they passively radiated felt like it had increased by a level. Their stares felt more deadly and their bodies moved than before; nothing like the speed of what a typical first-stage Guardian mage's would be like.

'What's going on?' Viper thought, but it was already too late to halt, much less retreat.

One of the mages on Aaron's side suddenly appeared in front of a bandit and rammed into his horse with his body. The bandit was shocked as even for a first-stage Guardian mage at the mid rank, running into a horse that has been moving at high speed for a while, with nothing more than their flesh, was suicidal. But the mage didn't seem to realize that.

Bam.

The mage crashed into the horse with a shoulder barge and surprisingly, the event that the bandit was expecting didn't play out. The mage was thrown off course or sent crashing backwards, instead, it was the horse that had experienced this; it was sent backwards as if it were tossed away.

With the horse sent flying back, the momentum from having moved forward at such high speed flung the bandit forward. However, before he could even go far, the mage caught him by his heel and drew him back, slamming him into the floor.

Thud.

Crack.

The first sound, a heavy thud, was that of the bandit's body crashing into the ground with a force of great magnitude. The second sound was produced by his spinal cord and skull being smashed apart by the impact.

In just two combination moves, one of the mages had taken down a bandit without a sweat.

"!!" Viper was shocked but more than him were the other bandits as well as Kieran who was behind.

Unlike Viper, who had his attention on the clash between the mage and the bandit, Kieran was still further behind and was able to see what had taken place in the entire area. It wasn't just that bandit who had easily been overpowered but the other bandits that had been targeted first by the mages. In one case, a mage had even killed two bandits with one attack at the level of a first-stage Guardian mage, but strangely enough, the force behind the spell seemed to be more powerful than what it should have been.

"What is going on?" Kieran was stunned.

Aaron ignored the bandits who were charging at him and instead went for Viper. Just as Viper had intended to eliminate him and deal a blow on their morale and elite force numbers, Aaron had also planned for the same. However, unlike Viper, Aaron had been certain from the start that he could achieve it.

Viper saw as Aaron was charging at him and fearing that he would utilize a similar tactic as the mage from before, he jumped off his horse and lunged at Aaron. By combining his jumping speed as well as the forward momentum from riding on horseback, Viper was able to perform an attack much more powerful than his usual capabilities with less energy usage.

Aaron smirked at this and clenched his fist once again, punching at Viper.

A yellow glow covered his fist and as he punched forward, a few projectiles shot toward Viper.

Yellow Shower.

Viper instinctively perceived a deadly sensation from Aaron's move and although his experience and knowledge told him that the move was on par with a mid rank third-stage Guardian's, his senses warned him that he could die if he faced it head-on. Nonetheless, there was nothing Viper could do at the moment. Ever since he jumped from the horse, he had crossed the rubicon[1] and could do nothing more than go forward.

"Haa!" Viper roared as he brandished his sword at the incoming attacks.

Boom.

The projectiles exploded upon collision, sending Viper backwards with a trail of smoke. Even so, he had managed to survive with only light injuries, however, it wasn't over yet.

Aaron stomped his right foot heavily to the ground and propelled himself towards Viper just before he could get his composure back. A yellow glow appeared on Aaron's palm and turned into a yellow magic circle just an inch below his palm which was gathering mana at a quick speed.

"Long!" Kieran shouted as he realized that Viper was in trouble.

A figure suddenly appeared by the side of Aaron like a thief in the night, and brandished a short sword towards him. Aaron was then forced to stop his advancement and face the attack coming at him.

Boom.

Aaron redirected the spell he had been preparing at the short sword and caused it to explode with a boom. The force of the explosion shoved the attacker away a bit, but it had zero effect on Aaron. Instead, he used the opportunity to close the gap and appear before the mysterious attacker.

"You must be the rumoured hidden piece." Aaron said as he lifted his hand up to form a hand knife and swung it down at the man.

The mysterious attacker, who had been identified as a man by Aaron, widened his eyes in shock and immediately moved his sword to block the attack; rather, to attack Aaron's hand with the plan of separating it from his body. Attack is the best defense and that was what the attacker was implementing with this move, and with Aaron's hand totally defenseless, it looked to be a smart move.

Aaron grinned as he saw this but he didn't slow down with his attack despite there being a blade in his path.

'Mass Overload.'

Aaron's hand glistened with a yellow light which faded in and out.

Clang.

The attacker heard a strange sound once Aaron's hand clashed with his sword. The sight of Aaron's hand being cut apart didn't take place but instead, the hand had stopped the sword from moving any more. In fact, the man experienced a small backlash from the clash.

This reaction only took place within a second and in the next, a sight that the mysterious attacker would remember forever, if he survives this battle, occurred.

The attacker's short sword broke under the weight of Aaron's hand and the hand chop went through the sword and struck the man on his shoulder. Intense pain flooded into his senses as the mysterious attacker felt sensation similar to being hit by a truck, or a charging beast. The man could feel that his arm had not dislocated, but broken. His collar bone and even the joint where his humerus (upper-arm bone) connected to his scapula was affected. In summary, three bones were devastatedly damaged by that attack, effectively making the man one-handed.

The attacker wanted to scream, but the sight of Aaron's other hand moving towards him forced the man to clench his teeth and jump to the side without care or concern regarding his landing.

"Aiya. I missed." Aaron playfully said as he dodged towards the side.

Boom.

A magic spell fired by Viper had landed at his original spot.

"Damn it." Viper cursed, but was somewhat relieved that his attack had forced Aaron to slow down and give Long enough time to retreat.

"Shit. Shit. What is going on?!" Kieran, who was in the midst of the approaching bandits, gritted his teeth in confusion and cursed.