Julius saw Leon discarding his bow and smiled. Amongst the duo, Leon is more troublesome with his bow, but once he drops it, he is not as dangerous as Dean, who is more experienced with the sword.
He felt it was also appropriate for Leon to be skilled with the blade. It was only sometimes his opponent would give him such a distance. There would be people who would use the same tactics as he just did, neutralizing Leon in the process.
Leon brought out his sword and attacked from behind Dean.
Dean, as if knowing what Leon wanted to do, stabbed his sword forward when Leon slashed at Julius.
Julius nodded when he sensed the duo's combined attack, they seemed to be in sync. Initially felt they cooperated better when Leon was using the bow, but that was not the case.
He spun his spear, blocking their attacks. After stopping their attacks, he thrust his spear.
In a second, Julius stabbed with the spear over fifty times. The spears covered the vision of Dean and Leon.
This was the first time they were faced with such a technique, unsure how to block it, Dean retreated, dragging Leon with him. While fleeing, he swung his sword quickly, trying to stop all the spear shadows he could see.
"It's an illusion. Not all of them are real." Julius' voice sounded in their heads as they retreated from the spear range.
As they fled, the spear attack didn't stop; instead, it chased after them.
Leon and Dean could sense the danger from the attack, but they didn't know which of the spears was real.
Clank! Clank!
Dean and Leon repeatedly swung their swords at the spears, causing a clinking sound to resonate. They were not as strong as Julius was, physically. Even though Julius was retraining his strength, he was still stronger than them due to having cultivated to a higher level.
The duo was continuously forced back by the attack, they were just too weak.
On seeing their present predicament, Leon made a decision. It was more like taking a gamble.
Bringing out his bow, he hurriedly sent an arrow at Julius. Just as he expected, the spear struck the arrow down before it even left the bow.
"There!" He exclaimed.
Dean's blade trailed in the same path as Leon's arrow. He guessed what Leon wanted to do and attacked a millisecond slower.
Clang!
Dean's sword blocked the spear, but he was at a disadvantage and had to take some steps back to balance himself.
Julius' expression changed slightly, and he stared at the duo in a daze. He didn't attack again since there was no need to.
"Impressive!" Julius praised from the depth of his heart.
The duo, indeed, was impressive. From the start, after using that technique, he didn't think they would be able to see through it. He was already thinking of halting his attack when Leon suddenly brought out his arrow.
Leon might've been the one who came up with it, but the fact that Dean was able to react with such speed was shocking. Even before Leon's word left his mouth, Dean's blade had already landed.
Seeing the somewhat shocked expression on Leon's face, it was clear that he didn't expect Dean to act that quickly.
"Thank you for your compliment." Dean smiled, heaving a sigh of relief.
He had been under immense pressure when blocking the spear technique some time ago. There was no chance to be careless, if not, he and Leon would've been injured. Despite Julius holding back, they would still be hurt by that attack.
Leon also bowed to thank Julius for taking his time to spar with them. One has to know that a seasoned warrior is better than ordinary people. If compared to the weaker Body Tempering Warriors, Julius, who was already a Blood Tempering Warrior, had fought more battles and should have better combat knowledge.
"If you were serious, do you think we can take that attack?" Leon suddenly asked just as Julius was about to walk away.
Julius turned to give him a deep glance, he smiled and replied, "You wouldn't have lasted that long."
Julius didn't want the duo to be discouraged, but he would not foolishly encourage them. It was pretty amazing that they blocked the attack after a few seconds. With the time he had when attacking, he would've been able to take them out before they could even do anything.
Leon nodded, the same can be said for Dean. Like Leon, he knew not to overestimate himself. From the books he had read, battles between experts end very quickly. There are even rare occasions when a single attack would determine the victor.
Julius left after this, leaving the duo to reflect on the battle with him. There was a significant difference when battling beasts and humans. Unlike humans, beasts would not plot against a person when they fight as they would choose the most straightforward way, overpowering the opponent. Humans, however, were cunning and challenging to deal with.
Take the spar with Julius, for example, he used Dean as a shield to block Leon's view, making it almost impossible for Leon to attack him. If Leon were more confident with his bow and felt he had perfect control, then the probability of Dean being used as a shield would be low. Yet, in that scenario, he opted to discard his bow.
Leon and Dean also left the place as well, they still had other things to do.
The people from the Gnurx tribe were already working in the mines, they needed to mine as fast as they possibly could. More beasts would attack the longer they stayed here, and the beasts will only get stronger.
They were in a hurry to excavate the mine.
Leon and Dean took this exploration as an opportunity to hone their skills. After the spar with Julius, they knew they were still behind. The next time the beasts attacked, they wanted to ensure they were ready.