Chapter 010: The Decisive Strike

The shaman priest hesitated for less than a second. Seeing that the warriors were about to come and behead him, he quickly formed a seal with one hand, but with the other, he suddenly pulled out a magic scroll from his bosom and smashed it on the ground.
Du Fan’s expression changed instantly!
A magic scroll! It was actually a magic scroll!
Seeing Du Fan’s reaction, the shaman priest seemed somewhat pleased. While struggling to resist the effects of the petrification spell, he sneered and said, “Kid, you don’t think only your Roland mages can create magic scrolls, do you? If you can do it, can’t we do it too?”
By then, the magic scroll on the ground had already taken effect. A small summoning magic circle activated, and several skeleton soldiers stepped out of it.
Although these skeleton soldiers seemed mindless and could be easily scattered with a slap, their appearance halted the warriors’ movements.
These warriors were already of average skill. Alone against these skeleton soldiers, they might have fared okay, but now, controlled by Du Fan’s psychic influence, it was already impressive if they could use even half of their abilities!
Moreover, though controlled, humans still instinctively tried to protect themselves, while those skeleton soldiers were fearless cannon fodder. The battle quickly became one-sided, and the controlled warriors were overwhelmed.
A few skeleton soldiers surrounded the warriors and slashed wildly. In less than a moment, two of the warriors were knocked down. However, it seemed the shaman priest still had some affection for his subordinates, so he showed some mercy when attacking. Otherwise, with such a large number of skeleton soldiers, it would have taken only a few minutes to kill all the soldiers.
Du Fan’s face turned extremely grim. He clearly understood that if those warriors were defeated, all the skeleton soldiers’ targets would turn to him.
He couldn’t help but glance in the direction of the shaman priest and found that he had already reversed half of the petrification effect. It would likely take only a dozen minutes for him to fully recover!
The rapid change in circumstances left Du Fan extremely frustrated. A path to survival had emerged from a seemingly hopeless situation, only for it to be blocked in an instant—a truly unbearable feeling.

But Du Fan wasn’t the kind to wait for death with closed eyes. He grunted a few times and tried to stand up, but he had no strength at all. He couldn’t even get halfway up before running out of energy. The shaman priest saw Du Fan’s movements and sneered again, “Useless. Speech magic drains mental energy. No matter how impressive your mental strength is, using it twice in such a situation has left you completely exhausted. It seems your Light God isn’t on your side after all. In the end, it’s still me who wins.” At that moment, another scream was heard. Among the warriors controlled by Du Fan, only one was left, struggling to hold on, on the verge of collapsing. Du Fan didn’t respond. His mind raced, and suddenly an idea struck him. He shouted, “Call for help! Quickly ask your companions nearby for aid!” The last warrior hesitated, seemingly trying to resist, but the effect of Du Fan’s speech magic was indeed powerful. The warrior stepped back a few paces, ignoring the approaching skeleton soldiers, and took out something resembling a bamboo flute from his belt, blowing softly into it. The shaman priest immediately understood Du Fan’s intention. He roared, “No… don’t…” But how big could this garden be? Before he could finish shouting, more than a dozen figures rushed in from all directions. Judging by their equipment, they were the same archers from earlier. Du Fan laughed heartily, “Well? How about that? In the end, it’s still me who wins! Archers, don’t hold back! Ignore those skeleton soldiers and shoot that shaman priest to death!” The archers, who had been running, froze. This time Du Fan had shouted extremely loudly, leaving them no time to hesitate. Instantly, they stopped, drew their bows, and aimed their arrows at the shaman priest in the middle of the field! The shaman priest was furious. Such a situation at this critical moment! That damned Rolandian! If he hadn’t intended to capture him alive… would he have ended up like this? Unlike Du Fan, it was already remarkable for this shaman priest to have a magic scroll with him. Moreover, even if he had one now, it would be too late. In a flurry, he shook his hand, and suddenly, something like a bamboo flute appeared in his hand. Ignoring the petrification magic, he simply blew into it, and an ear-piercing flute sound rang out… … On the other side.

At this moment, the ground was already full of pits and holes. The ivy that Baron Gabriel cherished so much had been almost completely destroyed—these were the traces left after a battle between two powerful foes.

Oscar’s expression was dark, and his blue combat energy had weakened somewhat. It was clear that fighting against that barbarian warrior hadn’t been easy either.

As for that barbarian warrior, his situation was even worse. Though he was surrounded by black combat energy for protection, ice shards covered the area around him. Oscar’s water-based combat energy could directly freeze air into ice blocks—something the barbarian warrior had never expected.

The barbarian warrior appeared calm on the surface, but inside, his mind was in turmoil. Since he could wield the legendary barbarian sword, Flower Heaven Mad Bone, his strength was undoubtedly among the best in his people. Yet he never imagined that on his very first visit to the Gavin Empire, he would encounter such an enemy.

Had he truly underestimated the Rolandians?

Without time to think further, Oscar seemed to sneer as he rushed forward, raising his sword to strike. With his swing, several ice shards appeared.

Having suffered from this tactic before, the barbarian warrior swept his hand horizontally to shatter the ice shards in midair, then raised his sword to strike in return.

With a thunderous roar, two bursts of combat energy collided again, stirring up strong winds that uprooted almost all the surviving ivy in the area. A deep pit was created in the once-neatly trimmed grass!

Although this bard, Oscar, was known as a bard, his martial skills were extremely refined. The barbarian warrior had been full of confidence, believing he could slice this ignorant fool into pieces in less than ten moves. But in reality, no matter what ultimate moves he used, the opponent could counter each one with a single strike. Even when he used self-destructive tactics, the opponent could somehow avoid those fatal blows. Yet instead of fighting back, the opponent seemed content to just keep dragging things out.

In this situation, both sides were evenly matched, but one kept attacking while the other just tried to muddle through. Frustrated, the barbarian warrior thought, “If you really have strength, just kill me already! But by dragging me into this fight like this, do you really think it’s fun?”

This fighting style enraged the powerful warriors who had always looked down on the Rolandians. In the eyes of those barbarians, the so-called Rolandians were nothing but sheep with two legs. Now, they were being insulted by these “sheep” – what was the big deal?

Although the Nether Fire attached to Huatian Kuanggu was powerful, its effect was limited against that guy’s water-based combat energy. Though this barbarian warrior could infuse Nether Fire with each strike, it had no effect against Oscar’s vast and dense combat energy. Those fierce flames were extinguished almost instantly.

The more angry the barbarian warrior became, the more furious he grew. Finally, he made up his mind, suddenly retreating instead of advancing. In an instant, he moved back dozens of meters. Then, he twisted the twin swords in his hands, creating a small vortex. As the vortex formed, the Nether Fire burned fiercely within it, and soon a flame tornado rushed toward Oscar.

Faced with this attack, Oscar showed a serious expression. He gripped his sword and swung it at the fire dragon. With his sword strike, the air around him seemed to tear apart, and all the moisture in the air condensed due to his strike.

Suddenly, everything around became icy cold. Just before the flame tornado arrived, an ice wall rose from the ground, blocking its path. The fierce tornado was stopped, and the Nether Fire gradually disappeared as the ice wall melted away. By the time the tornado vanished completely, only a thin layer of ice remained.

The barbarian warrior seemed to realize that this move would likely have no effect on the Rolandian. He used it merely to distract Oscar. There were countless other moves he could employ. Although barbarian secret techniques were not well-known on the Rolandian continent, their population posed a constant threat to the Gavin Empire. This showed that their secret techniques were by no means ordinary.

Taking advantage of this gap, the barbarian warrior slowly unfolded Huatian Kuanggu, and a flame ignited on his body. The eerie Huatian Kuanggu seemed to come to life. But then the barbarian warrior suddenly opened his mouth and spat blood onto the flame, intensifying the Nether Fire on Huatian Kuanggu even further.

Oscar felt a chill in his heart. This move seemed to be a blood sacrifice from the barbarian secret techniques. It was said that in previous wars, countless Rolandian warriors had died at the hands of this barbarian tactic…