Bar-nu can't believe it. The young man did actually fall for his taunts. He gripped his fist tightly.
He did not expect that the man will actually jump down and face him directly.
He knows that the man was strong. It did not even launch a single attack on him, but here he was, catching his breath already. The young man might be blind but maybe his magic vein can sense his entire surrounding, acting like a magic eye. The young man may even have the ability to predict all magical attack before it was even cast allowing him to dodge everything.
'My brother Rankala is not here right now. Maybe he's already been killed by this person.' Bar-nu thought grimly.
Bar-nu scanned his vicinity. A part of his big tent has already collapsed. His axe was still inside. The next tent was totally destroyed where some of their magical weapons are stored. He really did made a big mess.
The young man was now standing about 20 meters from him, practically surrounded by his men. His men only stood there, not daring to attack. Some even appeared to look scared before the young man.
The young man in front of him might be able to predict magical offence. How about in physical combat?
'I will soon find out.' Bar-nu thought.
He reached his hand out to his back, on the direction of his partly collapsed tent and activated a command ring on his finger.
A second later, A large battle axe flew from the tent straight to his reached out hands.
"Do you dare fight me in close quarter combat?" Bar-nu shouted to the young man before him.
"Can i talk you out of it?" the man replied in a light voice.
Bar-nu's face darkened. 'This fellow is really mocking me!' He did not bother to answer. He charged forward.
The blind man before him was unarmed but Bar-nu doesn't care. All he knows that the man before him is a threat and he must be eliminated.
He swung his axe forcefully downwards when he reached a couple of meters before the man. The man attempted to shift his body slightly to dodge but it was a big mistake.
Bar-nu's swing wasn't just all about that one single strike. His battle axe is a magical weapon with wind attribute. By infusing his magic vein to the axe, He can activate the core inside the axe, producing a burst of violent gust of wind.
The man tried to dodge by just shifting his body, but his strike produced a gust of wind that even chopped some of the wooden spikes nearby. The man was blown a few meters back, crashing loudly to the base of the tree.
'You just mocked me earlier repeatedly. You will die tonight painfully.' Bar-nu's face was so dark, his eyes were small slits. He walked forward, dragging his axe.
The man slowly got to his feet. He tried to rearrange his already torn clothes and fixed the bandana covering his eyes.
"Aw, That was really painful. I thought I died there for a second." The man said.
Bar-nu did not bother to say anything, he charged again forward and swung his axe again. The man quickly jumped back avoiding the axe's blade but got caught again by the burst of wind. The man was blown further now into the woods.
"You're dreaming if you think that can run from me!" Bar-nu said and charged forward. He just made the step when he saw one broken wooden spike flying toward him.
Bar-nu raised his axe and chopped down. The wodden spike was destroyed into splinters mid air. Another wooden spike flew to his direction and he chopped it down again. Before he could recover his stance, another wooden spike was heading towards him once more.
Bar-nu rolled to the side to dodge the spike then he reached to his necklace and crushed a small crystal hanging in it. A clear bubble appeared from the crystal and quickly form a sphere-like shield with him inside. The next 2 flying spikes crashed in the surface of his magic shield, the wooden spike broke apart in many pieces.
Bar-nu was breathing heavily now. He never expected things to turn out like this. His old wound was bleeding again from overexertion. His whole body is starting to feel numb. This is the first sign someone would feel when his magic vein is being overused.
A human body can activate his magic vein for a long time as long as his body can keep up with it. Being injured while casting offensive magic nonstop is a different story. If Bar-nu continued on like this, his magic vein might be overwhelmed and it will cause the blood vessels in his body to explode. It would cause him severe injuries or it might even kill him.
"I need time to recover." Bar-nu muttered to himself.
His crystsl shield would last about 15 minutes if the young man only attack with wooden spikes.
Bar-nu stood up. He looked to the direction where the flying wooden spikes came from earlier. He can't see the man but he did not continue his attack.
He pulled a small bottle hanging in his waist and drank it. It was a magical solution that will replenish his magic vein and remove his fatigue. Bar-nu did not move from his position while the potion was taking effect.
"Can we talk now?" The young man stepped again into his view.
The young really was arrogant. He will kill him or he will die trying. Bar-nu sneered.
He was about to answer the man when he heard a loud crack behind him. It sounded like a sharp boom of thunder.
Bar-nu quickly turned around and saw a middle aged man standing by the side of the still standing tents. He was their escaped captive.
A few steps in front of the captive was one of his men lying in the ground dead.
Around ten of his men has already died tonight. Most of them killed by his own magic attacks when they were caught in the midst of his battle with the young man.
"I will kill you!" Bar-nu lifted his axe again and faced the captive. He lifted crystal shield and rushed to the captive.
Another loud crack echoed. One of his men fall dead to the ground again.
The captive was shouting something when Bar-nu reached him. He quickly raised his axe and chopped down.
The captive tried to block his attack by raising his own weapon but it was useless. The captive was pushed back a few steps and his weapon broke under the powerful chop.
He did not stop. After breaking the captive's weapon, Bar-nu rotated his body and swung his axe in a wide circle.
The captive activated some kind of defensive magic but it was instantly crushed by his attack. The captive was thrown to the side and slammed to a cart nearby. Blood started to flow from a big wound in his chest and he stopped moving.
Bar-nu sneered.
"What happened here?" It was the voice that Bar-nu was waiting to hear all night.
His brother Rankala is finally back.
"Brother, We are being attacked by a powerful man. I think that he's a master Pintado sent by the Royal City to hunt us." Bar-nu replied, nodding to his brother.
"Is that the man right there? The one with the blindfold?" Rankala said, eyeing the young man cautiously.
Bar-nu grunted in agreement. He walked towards his brother.
"Be careful. That young man may not look like it, but he is really strong. I have been fighting him for a while now and i was just barely able to hit him once." Bar-nu said in a low voice.
"Let's kill him together then." Rankala said.
The young man was not paying attention to them. He just walked straight to the dead captive lying by the cart.
Bar-nu has been thinking about it. There is no way a mere thief could be as crazy strong as this man. He must be a master Pintado or even a grand master.
As the governing power of the domain, the Royal City decided that a group of bandits like their own was a threat to security and trade of their people. From time to time, The Royal city would send an expeditionary force after them. Some bandit groups will be captured and wiped out on the spot while their leaders will be tortured and hanged publicly.
They have their fair share of close encounters but they have always managed to escape. Who would have thought that their time will be up right now. To think that the Royal City only sent 1 man, He must be really strong.
"Let's use our strongest move right away." Rankala said, pulling a fist sized cube and tapping it a few times. It was a Cage type Containment prism.
It was a type of defensive prism that can imprison a group of people temporarily. People trapped inside will find it hard to break out. But people outside can easily come in. It is commonly used for capturing and detaining enemies. The people inside will only see a dense smoke if they try to look outside. But from the outside, it is clear like water and they can see everything happening in.
Rankala always used this trick when they are facing a troublesome opponent and they have to fight it together as a team. The Containment prism they are using is a cube type , 50-meters in all sides.
The young man was clearly surprised to be trapped. there were three of them inside.
"What's this?" The young man backed away. He punched and kicked at the wall, only to see small ripples. No damage was done at all.
"This is the place where you die!" Bar-nu said in a low voice.
Rankala stood at the center of the cage an placed both of his hands to the ground. The ground vibrated slightly then a large tree sprung out at the center.
"Let's do this." Rankala muttered.
Bar-nu nodded and let go of his axe.
He faced the young man and gestured both his hands towards him.
Wooden spikes rushed again from the ground where the young man was standing. As expected, the young man easily leaped away from it.
But this time is different. As the man leaped away, The tree in the center swayed violently and some of its branches extended outwards. The young man was caught off guard.
The young man was able to dodge the stabbing spikes from the ground but he did not see the swinging branch coming.
Bar-nu can't help but smile when he saw the man being slammed to the wall of the containment prism.
'We can kill him.' he thought.
Bar-nu gestured his hands again but somehow the young man was able to dodge his wooden spikes again.
He saw the young man flipped to the side. He pulled a wooden spike from the ground and hurled it towards them. The flying spike was deflected by the tree branch being controlled by Rankala. Another spike flew towards them again.
Bar-nu quickly raised a line of wodden spikes to serve as shield for him and his brother. The man was now relentlessly throwing wooden spikes at them.
"You seemed to be enjoying sending wooden spikes to me earlier, let me give it all back to you now." They heard he young man's voice in the midst of the crashing sound of broken spikes.
Rankala was trying to deflect it and do a counterattack at the young man, but everytime he tried to raise his head to look at the man's position, a flying spike would come at them.
'How did it all come to this?' Bar-nu was frustrated.
The Cage containment prism was their ace card. They have used it for many times and they always win. How come they are on the defensive now?
Suddenly, the young man's assault stopped.
Bar-nu raised his head slowly from his wooden shield and saw the man at the side, looking at them silently.
"I don't have wooden spears with me anymore. Can you give me some more?" The man asked, scratching his head.