None of the three were ready when Adam's hammer smashed against Vodmir's legs. The blow swiped at his legs with such force that he fell to the ground, and his legs were already bleeding. But he wasn't finished as he immediately followed by another smash on Vodmir's side, which propelled him backwards, rolling while shouting in pain.
Adam turned around to look at his two remaining subordinates, and threw his hammer toward Johan. There was so much power behind the hammer that Johan did not dare to block it and moved to the side. However, this forced him and Baugh apart from each other.
Using this opportunity, Adam made use of his strong close quarter combat skills. Adam first used a grappling technique to push the shield out of the way, and then with a couple of quick jabs to the chest Baugh felt like his lungs couldn't work anymore, stunning him.
Then, a chop to the back of the neck was all that needed to knock him out. Although it wouldn't last for long, he was no longer a threat. That only left Adam and Johan, the master and his apprentice.
Adam's first hammer had flown too great of a distance because of the strength he put behind it, Adam couldn't just go and take it. So he took out another hammer from his inventory, this one was even more low leveled, but it didn't matter to Adam.
He looked at Johan up and down, and said "I expected more from the ones behind the famous Aqua Sovereign. I didn't even have to use any skills to beat you all. If you really are this weak, then I guess he won't be that mad if I just kill you all."
Although he looked like he was speaking to Johan, he was actually speaking to Eddy, who was clenching his fists hard, and the one in the best condition. Johan roared though and a red light started appearing around his body. This was a sign of the activation of a Berserk Skill.
However, before it could even be fully unleashed, Adam appeared next to him and smashed his hammer against his head. Johan didn't even have the time to react as the hammer smashed onto his head. He fell to the ground, and the red light around him disappeared.
Now, only Adam was left standing, the bodies of eight SS Ranks were laying all around him. One might even think they died if it weren't for the pained grunts they were releasing.
Adam sent a look at Eddy, but then turned his head with a sneer, and started walking toward Louisa. Eddy had clearly seen his eyes, and had seen the disdain in them. Hadn't it been for his rage against his uselessness and his shock, he might have recognized the familiar blue eyes of Adam, but he didn't.
With each step Adam took toward Louisa, Eddy felt not only his fear, but also his rage grow. Adam reached Louisa, and put his hammer against the side of her head, and turned her head toward him. He muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear "She could make a good slave."
That was finally it. Eddy felt his last mental limits shatter as he roared in rage and unwillingness. He ignored his wounds and got up, his eyes turning red. Adam looked at Eddy, and was stupefied.
He could feel he had opened the Third Gate, which was a good news, but he also felt something else. His eyes had turned completely red, and his face had lost all it's sanity.
Adam couldn't help but think of berserk skills, but weren't those skills reserved for Berserkers? However, Adam had no time to think as Eddy was already rushing toward him.
He was moving at an incredible speed, and Adam could see that each of his steps produced massive footprints on the ground.
In a moment, he reached Adam, and swung his sword. The slash was so fast that even the fastest in the group, Judith, may not have been able to dodge it. But Adam was able to.
Not just because he was faster, but also because there was a big flaw in this strike. If he had dodged the strike with ease, then he was able to follow it with literally no problem, thanks to his enhanced reaction speed and dynamic vision coming from his strengthened soul.
And this allowed him to understand that while Eddy had gotten faster and stronger, he had totally lost his mind and wasn't able to use his sword techniques.
After dodging this first blow, Adam used a powered down [Ice Statue] by stomping lightly on the ground. This was just enough to freeze the area up to Eddy, and the ice crawled up his legs, freezing him up to his knees. The skill had lowered his Agility by 80%.
Eddy tried to break free from the ice, but Adam delivered a full powered hammer strike to the side of his head. It shook his brain so hard that he immediately fell unconscious.
Adam exhaled, and looked at the guild members watching from a distance. From what he could see, he had scared the shit out of them. However, much to their surprise, they weren't getting ready to flee, but instead looked like they wanted to fight.
This made him smile as he put his hammer back into his inventory, and circulated his Aura in his body to clean the effects of the potion earlier, turning his status back to it's normal state. The ones standing in front of the army were shocked when they saw the name, but their panic disappeared and got replaced by admiration.
Adam looked at the guild members and began talking with [Barbarous Roar] activated.
"Members of Divine Predator, let me present myself. I am Valiant Heart, the Aqua Sovereign. What you just saw was a test for my Division Leaders, your future generals. Don't panic, and stay in line. Although we just met, I have to say, I quite like you, you didn't flee. Now, wait for a moment, I need to wake up those lazy asses."
As he grew stronger, his voice was also getting louder with the use of this skill, and the deterrence effect was also getting stronger. There were actually many standing in the middle of the crowd who had wanted to flee, as they didn't really believe this was their guild leader, but the roar just now had scared them so much they didn't dare to now.
Adam equipped his usual equipment back as he woke up the ones who fell unconscious one by one… well, those he could. For the rest, Louisa took care of them. In the end, the only one still unconscious was Eddy.
Although they all had opened the 2nd Gate and could heal themselves, status debuff like broken bones and such things took much longer to heal than just damage, so having a Cleric healing them made this much better.
If the healing prowess of the 2nd Gate was really able to heal all injuries so fast then Clerics would have disappeared from Epoch altogether as they would be quite useless. But they hadn't, because the 2nd Gate had multiple limits.
Apart from not being able to reproduce blood instantly, the 2nd Gate was also unable to heal broken bones instantly either, and if the user wasn't conscious the effects would also be lessened. That's why, even in a party where all the members had opened the 2nd Gate, Clerics were still very much needed.
With Louisa's help, everyone was quickly healed back to 100% HP, and their injuries had all disappeared. However, they were looking down, feeling ashamed.
This made Adam laugh as he said "Don't pull such faces!" Johan sighed and said "We couldn't even do anything." From the looks on all the others' faces, they all thought the same.
Adam shook his head and said "There is no use being like this, you simply weren't experienced enough to fight against me. And I don't ask you to be able to match me. My advice for all of you is to spar against each other, this will allow you to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses to better your teamwork, and it will also help you become more experienced with fighting."
They sighed and said nothing. Inside, they were still dejected. Soon, Eddy awoke too, and although he looked confused at first, the others explained to him what happened. In the end, he too sighed, and although he was happy he opened the Third Gate, he was upset he wasn't able to do anything either.