Fight Back

"Kill him!"

The leader of the Iron Howl shouted loudly, and then there were several whooshing sounds. It was the other bandits surrounding Riven who all began to take action at the same time. They each wielded a long iron rope that whipped toward Riven's limbs. 

Riven was about to resist, but he suddenly looked up and saw that the leader was holding an axe in his hand, and an invisible aura had enveloped his body.

A bloody energy seemed to emerge from the blade of the iron axe, it danced ferociously in the air and then headed toward Riven.

Watching this situation, Kieran's eyes were surprised.

He didn't expect a random bandit leader to be able to achieve external manifestation. This was part of the first step in transforming from an ordinary person to a true warrior in the eyes of the martial academies. Usually only when one achieved external manifestation would those schools like the Stellar Academy allow students to venture out into the world. 

His skill, the Hidden Sword, could also be called an example of external manifestation. 

But right now Ashgrave wasn't achieving true external manifestation, otherwise he wouldn't just be a bandit leader who had to survive by attacking caravans. Even though the bloodied aura looked ferocious, it actually had no real ability. 

Its only use was to intimidate the enemy but clearly Riven would not fall for it. 

Just as he was about to watch how Riven would respond, he felt a pair of eyes staring at him. Without thinking any further he retreated back into the foliage and his breathing stopped and he activated his family's special ability. 

Even if you were only a few metres in front of him Riven was sure that any passerby would not even look at his direction with a second glance, only thinking it was just foliage. 

After a few seconds, his eyes slowly turned back in the direction of the gaze. 

It was the tall woman who was accompanying his brother. She must be an elder at the Stellar Academy. 

She was standing a distance from the action with two reins in one hand and a wine gourd in the other, staring towards the dark woods where he had hidden himself. 

Her expression was not sharp and even a bit dazed, and her face was flushed as if very drunk. She didn't seem to be looking in his exact direction but rather somewhere else.

Kieran didn't sigh in relief seeing this. He didn't feel right. He had clearly felt a gaze watching him and he trusted his instincts after all it was what allowed him to survive all these years alone. 

Suddenly there was a loud bang.

Both Kieran and the woman turned their attention back to the battlefield. 

Riven was now somehow standing on one of the horses, whose original owner was now lying on the ground not far from him. There were large bloodied indents on the corpse's body which looked as if someone had hammered into a piece of soft metal. 

"Let me show you a real warrior!" 

At this moment Riven jumped up and rushed toward the other horses. There was a starry light emanating from his limbs, particularly his arms, which was the brightest point of his entire body. 

Kieran didn't know the nature of the secret arts of the Stellar Academy but he could feel from the pressure that was evident even from the distance that this was a form of external manifestation. 

But something's not quite right…

Kieran noticed that the light around his elder brother's limbs were much lighter, while other parts of body would flicker on and off or not at all. 

Could it be that he hasn't mastered it?

The mounts of the Iron Howl suddenly neighed towards the sky, as if they were quite frightened.

The two bandits who had tried to restrict Riven's movement with their whips were instantly thrown off their horses and crashed heavily onto the ground. 

Riven grabbed the whips and smashed it toward the two injured figures ruthlessly. They only saw a black blur when their hearts shattered one after another. 

"You?!!"

The leader was furious. He had brought his main forces for this mission today, these were the men he had trained for so many years with meticulous care and now three of them were dead. At this point with only four people left, the original encirclement felt quite sparse.

The leader abandoned his horse temporarily and faced Riven on the ground. 

Riven threw down the whip and rushed toward the bandit leader. Facing the giant axe his shining palms blocked the hacking blade. The two fell into a brief stalemate at this moment. 

Ashgrave's forehead was throbbing with veins bulging, and all the strength in his body was concentrated on his axe. The bloody aura raged on ferociously, trying to battle against the calm starlight emanating from Riven's body.

He pressed down on his axe with all his might causing Riven's body to sink slightly. 

But the axe just couldn't chop down.

The leader took a deep breath and shouted to his subordinates. 

"He's in a stalemate with me, attack him right now!!"

The three remaining bandits looked at each other on their horses. They were a little scared after seeing the bloodied bodies of their comrades strewn around them but they steeled their hearts and rushed forward. 

Ashgrave had a triumphant look in his eyes. He even had time to worry about the woman watching them from a distance who had done nothing but drink from beginning to end. He was worried about her strange behaviour.

Suddenly when he was distracted he heard a cracking sound. Ashgrave's face changed when he realised what was happening.

The blade of his axe had cracks all along it, and the ferocious red aura was now slowly fading.

He's trying to destroy my weapon!

How is this possible? 

Ashgrave felt that even the oldest son of the Vale family could not destroy his weapon with his bare hands. How could this barely grown brat do it?