Phoenix Slash

"Damn it! They have completely surrounded me. But, at least, this will give others more time to run away."

Although Hina was in a hopeless situation, she wasn't afraid of death.

The moment she decided to leave the village, her fear of death completely disappeared.

Now, she was just worried that she won't be able to save anyone.

But after she gained the attention of every bandit, she finally let go of that worry and decided to fight with all her strength.

"Hehe! Boss said that we can't kill you but it won't be a problem if we make you bleed, right?"

One of the bandits snickered as he moved toward her with the sword in his hand.

Just like her, they also didn't fear her despite her having the ability to manipulate fire.

When she saw the bandit rushing toward her, she quickly channeled her Qi into her fingers and raised her hand.

The spark appeared on her fingertip and the Qi gushed out. When it came out, the spark hits the Qi and transformed into a massive flame.

But, this time, the Qi came out in a straight line which made the flames move just like a water stream.

It was only a few centimeters in diameter but extraordinarily fast.

[Crimson Bullets]

Bang! Bang! Splash! Splash! Splash!

Her fire bullets pierced that bandit's body and killed him on the spot.

"You bitch!"

Seeing this, the other bandits got furious as they rushed toward her. They tried to slice her into pieces out of anger.

But, Hina was still calm. Because her Qi reserve was quite massive. Even till now, she didn't understand why her Qi reserve was massive.

Of course, it wasn't bigger than Shin. It was just bigger than she originally assumed. Originally, she never thought she would be able to extract so much Qi without any physical training.

But, her training completely changed her perspective on her own talent.

[Magnus Shield]

Qi once again sparked into flames and a thin layer of fire covered her. It changed from fire to crystal when it surrounded her.

But, it was still fire, not crystal. It only looked like crystal from the outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Those bandits smashed their swords at her shield. It created red sparks and when those swords touched that barrier, they started turning red.

"Wh-what's going on?"

Seeing their sword slowly melting, they almost threw those swords on the ground.

Hina calmly stared at them and said.

"This fire isn't an ordinary fire. I can raise the temperature of this flame to a thousand degrees. Let me show you how!"

Saying so, she removed the barrier and raised her fingers. She only raised her index finger and middle finger.

Seeing this, those bandits took a step back in fear.

"Wait, she is going to kill us all."

"Run!"

Those bandits freaked out in panic as they started to run away.

At this moment, Hina bitterly smiled and thought.

'Although my Qi reserve is strong, raising the temperature to such a degree requires a strong body that can bear such temperature.'

'If I hadn't discovered that I could use Qi to shield my body, I wouldn't even have the guts to try it. But, this process consumes a lot of Qi.'

'If nothing else, this will be my last attack. But at least, I will be able to take out dozens of them at once.'

She gathered a massive amount of Qi at her fingertips. When the Qi gushed out, it didn't move forward but rather formed a small ball in front of her fingertips.

The Qi on her fingertip slowly turned crimson even without the influence of the spark. Among four battle moves that she created on her own, this was by far her strongest attack.

[Crimson Destruction]

The waves of Qi transformed into a small crimson ball and when she finally decided to throw it, the crimson ball turned into a crimson beam and moved toward the target at the speed of light.

Boom!

The crimson ball suddenly caught the spark the moment it collided with a group of bandits.

Then, an explosion occurred.

The explosion covered almost twenty meters wide area and reached heights of twenty or even thirty meters.

In an instant, almost eighty percent of the bandits were caught in the explosion.

Seeing this, she finally let out a satisfied smile. Now, even if she dies, at least, most of the people will be saved.

"You bitch, I shouldn't have gone easy on you."

A roar came from the side. Hina instantly turned around and saw the Boss running toward her at a fast speed.

He was charging toward her with killing intent. At this moment, he truly regrets not getting serious from the beginning.

He reached in front of her in an instant and slashed his sword.

Hina who had lost all of her Qi Reserve slowly closed her eyes waiting for death. After all, without Qi, she was nothing but a normal woman.

She didn't even have a slight fighting ability.

"Damn it! Don't give up so easily."

Suddenly, a sound woke her up.

Ding!

A figure stood in front of her as he blocked the sword. Hina saw one of the bandits standing in front of her and blocking his boss' attack.

"Barry, what the hell are you doing?"

The Boss's eyes turned as he stared at Barry and shouted.

"I am no longer going to regret my actions even if it means my death. I didn't leave my hometown to become a bandit like you."

"I seek adventure. My dream is to become the Greatest Swordsman in the world. I didn't join you for this, Teach."

Hearing his words, Teach clenched his teeth and suddenly retreated.

"Hahaha! You are kidding, right? You bastard, do you even know what bandits mean? They kill, loot, and burn. This is the life of a bandit. They are no different than pirates on the seas."

"There will be no bandit group who will accept you, Barry. You will be alone for the rest of your life."

As soon as he heard that, Barry flinched a little.

Even before he joined Teach, he knew that the life of a bandit would be different, completely different from what he had imagined.

But only after he joined, he learned just how bad it was. The dream that he went out for had shattered.

The life that he wanted was no longer there. Although he didn't mind killing, he would never raise his sword against an innocent person.

Even that was gone.

This was the life of a bandit.

Here, he shouldn't have any lower limits. He shouldn't have any disgust. He should burn, loot, and kill.

As he bandit who couldn't even do that, he will never be able to join any group. And, alone, he didn't have much confidence in himself.

That's why he joined Teach in the first place.

Thump!

Just when his hand turned weak, Hina placed her hand on his shoulder.

Barry turned and looked at her as she spoke.

"He is wrong. Although there might not be a lot of adventurers in this world, I believe there are many. At least, I have seen two different people."

"One of them had the power and reason to destroy us but he didn't. Another had the power and reason to become someone like like your boss, but he didn't."

"So, don't hesitate. Fight for your dream."

Hearing her words, Barry was stunned for a moment. Slowly, his grip on his sword became stronger.

He raised his sword and looked at Teach.

"It seems like my conviction wasn't strong enough that I was shaken by your words. Even if I have to go alone, I will no longer be a coward and hide my dreams."

"Teach, here I must defeat you to save this village."

His strong fighting intent flashed. He clenched his fist around his sword hilt and stared at Teach.

"Ha-haha-hahaha! Boy, do you think you can fight me just because you have a strong dream? Don't forget I am a Bandit and have gathered hundreds of people under my control."

Saying so, Teach dashed toward Barry and slashed his sword. Barry also held his sword tightly and swung it.

Ding!

Their swords collided and the sparks came out. It was strong momentum. Their hands were shaken for a moment but both didn't retreat.

Barry pulled his sword and struck once again. His swordsmanship was a novice. Although he had a powerful move in his hand, he wouldn't use it this easily.

Except that, he had no real training so his sword attacks were just swinging up and down or slashing left and right.

Teach was no different. But, Teach had one big advantage. That was his strong physical strength. His physical strength was quite stronger than Barry's.

"Boy, you can't win against me. I am strong."

Teach roared as he held his sword with both of his hands and slashed forward.

But, Barry suddenly didn't move. His eyes were semi-close. His breathing was stable. And, his mind was constantly flashing words.

[Wake up to reality, break it with your sword, everything is an illusion, only your swordsmanship is true]

[Five senses, billions of cells, one soul, gather this profound energy into your veins, channel the power into your hand, and....]

[Slash]

[One Sword Flow]

His eyes opened the next moment and his legs moved like spring. His body dashed forward in an instant while his sword twisted slightly and pushed Teach's sword away.

At the same time, his sword returned to its original position and continued to move forward, and slashed his chest.

[Pheonix Slash]