Chapter 46: Chapter 46
If the opponent’s intelligence were just a bit higher, and they understood even a little bit of coordination, without needing any weapons or equipment at all, they could utterly crush Ron and the other apprentices in an evenly matched brawl.
Even in their current mindless state, one on one, not a single apprentice present, Ron included, stood any chance of winning.
It would take at least three against one, or four against one, to have a possibility of victory, and five against one would be even safer.
“I think I can see its heart!”
Ron sent out a signal, urging his companions to keep pushing. The fundamental reason he chose to target the heart instead of the head was that the swords in their hands simply couldn’t destroy the enemy’s bones.
Coupled with the fact that the head was more agile and easier to dodge, destroying the heart had become virtually the only option for Ron and the others.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the opponent possessed a heart just like a human!
And now, after countless piercings and cuts, Ron finally laid eyes on the enemy’s heart. It was a bloody red mass, connected to membranes and blood vessels, similar to a human’s, only beating at a much faster rate.
Seeing the heart, Ron was quite pleased, because it was highly likely to be the enemy’s weak point. But upon seeing the layer of membrane wrapping around that heart, he felt an awful headache coming on.
It must be remembered that peeling away the skin and flesh from the opponent’s chest during the battle had already taken a great deal of his effort.
That layer of membrane beneath the skin, in particular, had toughness and strength far beyond Ron’s comprehension!
Normally, a single substance was unlikely to possess exceptionally high levels of both toughness and strength simultaneously. High toughness typically meant lower strength, and high strength meant lower toughness.
Yet the membranes on this enemy before them actually possessed the properties of both high toughness and high strength at the same time. Despite being internal tissue, it was actually even more formidable than the skin on its surface!
Of course, what was even more preposterous was the enemy’s skeletal structure. It wasn’t that Ron hadn’t tried, but no matter what method he devised, he couldn’t damage it. If even a sword couldn’t do it, bare hands went without saying.
From this, one could also appreciate just how incredibly powerful that instructor was, who had blown an enemy’s head apart with a single javelin throw!
But regardless, no matter how powerful the enemy’s body was, without intelligence, everything was in vain. And this experience repeatedly served as a stark reminder to Ron:
Never forget your brain at any time!
…
One thrust, then another!
Ron had lost count of how many times he had pierced the enemy’s heart. But under the protection of that layer of membrane, which was both extraordinarily tough and absurdly strong, that heart hadn’t sustained the slightest damage. It was still beating vigorously and powerfully.
“Laurie!” Ron shouted loudly.
But before he could even ask, Laurie’s voice, clearly laced with exhaustion, drifted over, “Stop yelling! I’ve been watching you guys the whole time, just waiting for you to come up with a good idea!”
Just then, a voice also came from another squad: “Ron, Laurie, at least you guys can still see the enemy’s heart. We haven’t even managed to expose any of the enemy’s flesh yet!”
Hearing this voice, Ron took advantage of a gap between retracting his sword to quickly glance at that squad’s situation. They didn’t look like they were fighting an enemy; it looked more like they were poking someone with sticks.
At this point, they hadn’t even managed to strip away the skin on the opponent’s chest, and could only see a few shallow wounds that were rapidly healing.
“How are we supposed to deal with this?!”
This battle had dragged on to the point where Ron was physically and mentally exhausted. What frustrated him even more was that, despite trying every method they could think of, it truly seemed like they couldn’t kill the enemy in front of them!
“Does this thing really not have any weak point?”
Ron was speculating wishfully. Actually, judging by the regenerative ability the opponent had displayed, it didn’t look like it had a weak point at all. This thing had even let its heart hang exposed for him to attack.
It was his own inability to break through its defenses; could he really blame the enemy for not obediently revealing a weak point and waiting to die?
But in this current situation, were they just supposed to keep dragging it out?
This was the last thing Ron wanted to see. Any rational apprentice, after experiencing this invulnerability firsthand, wouldn’t believe they could outlast these enemies.
After running through his options one more time and confirming there was no way forward, Ron knew he needed to shoulder the responsibility of a captain. He quickly relayed his plan to his team members:
“We’ll slowly retreat into the sentry post, and then find a chance to ask the instructor for help.”
“Alright, at worst we can ask the instructor to lend us a weapon.”
Having fought to this point, everyone had realized the limitations of their current equipment. Between sharpness and sturdy durability, the territory’s standard longsword had opted for sturdy durability.
Although it was sharpened and sufficient against ordinary creatures, against the monster before them, it was truly somewhat inadequate.
If they could borrow an instructor’s weapon, perhaps they could pierce through the enemy’s heart.
“Move, slowly and steadily! Watch out for the enemy’s attacks, and don’t make a fool of yourselves in these final few steps!”
Ron brought up the rear as the anchor. The five of them still maintained their previous offensive rhythm, but their overall position was continuously shifting toward the sentry post.
The other squads caught on to the Blood and Fire Squad’s intentions, but they didn’t immediately follow suit. Instead, they maintained the status quo, preparing to wait for the Blood and Fire Squad to get a result before following along.
…
Inside the sentry post.
Ron was the last to retreat through the main gate. The enemy hesitated for a moment at this juncture, but only for a moment. After all, from the start of its charge until now, it had never displayed particularly high intelligence.
It possessed a human’s exterior and internal structure, yet its behavioral patterns were more akin to a wild beast’s!
“Instructor, Instructor Morris! Can I borrow your sword?”
Ron asked with a tentative attitude. To his surprise, in the very next moment, a pitch-black longsword was driven into the ground right at his feet. When he picked it up, his arm sank heavily.
Having never held it before, he now realized upon getting his hands on it that the instructor’s sword was actually four to five times heavier than the territory’s standard longsword!
If it were a month ago, Ron might have been able to lift this sword, but using it in combat would have been pure fantasy. However, after a month of Sword Stance training, his body had already far surpassed the state of an ordinary person.
Exerting a bit of force to lift the sword, Ron charged back into the attack, his aim locked dead onto the enemy’s heart!
…
On the other side, Morris watched the battle inside the sentry post with complete composure. Beside him, a fellow apprentice instructor nudged him:
“Young Master Waynes is still outside! If he sees you tossing a Transcendent Weapon, which the territory spent a fortune to acquire, to an apprentice just like that, do you think he’d be very gratified?”
“It’s just a Transcendent Weapon, isn’t it? Has the territory destroyed few Transcendent Weapons over the years? It’s nothing more than a premature Wastelander brat. If he actually manages to break that sword, then I’ll be the one asking Young Master Waynes why he’s fobbing me off with fakes!”
“You! Always so unconventional!”
After sighing, that instructor couldn’t help but ask again, “Do you think highly of that apprentice? He asks for your weapon and you just give it. Normally, when I want to borrow it, you give me a whole load of nonsense.”
“It’s just a weapon. He wanted it, so I gave it to him. It was supposed to be a perfectly smooth mission, but he insisted on making things harder for himself. As his instructor, how could I not oblige him?”
Morris watched Ron on the field, attacking the Wastelander child with the unwieldy longsword, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl upward. “As for whether I think highly of him, I just think he’s quite talented and quite hardworking. Someone like that deserves special treatment from me.”
After their apprentice training concluded, they would retain their official positions to become garrison personnel for the Territory Guard. However, the moment someone achieved transcendence, unless the entire squad was promoted simultaneously, they would be recruited by a Formal Knight squad.
Morris had long viewed Ron as the fresh blood for his own squad. Even now, facing his old friend’s probing, he had no desire to reveal too many details about Ron.