Chapter 33: Near-Godly Warrior

After getting assurances from Kiro and the others, helpless Roger could only watch as Rod and his group slowly left the city lord’s mansion.
“You little brat, I told you I’d spank you!” After fleeing for a while, they reached the outskirts of the city. Only then, after looking around at the surrounding mountains and fields, did Rod finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Kambi, go back and take care of your family’s affairs. Jim and Sambik can stay here!”
Rod quickly spoke to Kambi. After all, he still had an elderly father at home. As for Jim and Sambik, it was convenient for them—without families, they didn’t need to prepare anything.
“Boss, look…” After retreating a further distance and entering their residential area, Sambik suddenly shouted at Rod.
“What’s going on?” Rod glanced in the direction Sambik pointed. He was stunned to see several figures fighting fiercely ahead—the battle was intense, and even from afar, he could sense the drama of the scene.
“Run!” It was the old man! Rod’s eyes widened. Yes, it was indeed his own father! Instantly, he realized his father was in danger!
He grabbed Alice and rushed over quickly. Soon, he heard the sharp sounds of weapons clashing. Several figures were fighting amidst the raging flames, creating a chaotic scene.
“Old man!” he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock. At that moment, his father was under attack by four or five men in black! He was clearly at a disadvantage, in extreme peril.
Without time to overthink or wonder why his father had suddenly become such a skilled fighter, Rod quickly set down the female mage Alice and charged over!
“Boss…” Seeing Rod’s action, Sambik and Jim didn’t hesitate. They shouted loudly and rushed after him.
“Naitrod, we’re not done with each other!” Free at last, the female mage roared angrily, quickly forming seals in her hands and firing them at Rod.
“Damn it, get lost! Or I’ll kill you! I’ve no time to waste on you!” After enduring an attack from intermediate-level magic, Rod wiped the blood from his mouth and shouted back at the female mage before turning and charging toward the sea of flames.
This sudden change left Alice frozen for a moment. Then she looked ahead, at the sea of flames, her expression gradually changing, as if she had understood something.

“Alice, are you okay? Thank goodness! Praise the great War God! Damn Rod, I’m going to kill him!”
After seeing Alice freed, Anderson and Kiro quickly rushed out and went to her side to check carefully. Once they confirmed she was fine, Anderson shouted loudly.
“Wait, it seems he’s in trouble. Look…”
Grabbing Anderson’s shoulder, Kiro narrowed his eyes and stared at the sea of fire in the distance, saying in a low voice, “A Golden Warrior! Good heavens, two Martial Emperors—no, there’s also a Martial Saint. Damn it, what’s going on? How did that old man offend these guys? Who is he? He’s still holding his ground against four of them!”
Following Kiro’s gaze, Anderson’s expression changed drastically as he exclaimed in shock. Indeed, wasn’t there a battle going on in that sea of fire? An old man was surrounded by four men in black. From their combat auras, Anderson could clearly tell it was one Golden Warrior, two Martial Emperors, and one Martial Saint. Such overwhelming strength left him stunned. He couldn’t imagine how powerful this combination was, especially since that old man was managing to stay undefeated against four such opponents. He really had no idea how strong he was.
Anderson’s scream also startled Alice, who looked over in surprise and said carefully, “That old man seems to be Knight Rod’s grandfather!”
Thinking of Knight Rod’s earlier shouts, she swallowed hard before speaking reluctantly. It was hard to believe that such a powerful old man was that scoundrel’s grandfather!
“Knight Rod’s grandfather?” Frowning deeply, Anderson murmured to himself, puzzled as he watched Knight Rod charging toward that direction. He couldn’t understand why someone like him would be living in such a miserable state in Fire City. Logically, with such a powerful backing, he should be living in glory.
“A quasi-War God! I never thought someone like him would be living in obscurity here!” Taking a deep breath, Kiro whispered to himself, his expression extremely complex.
“A quasi-War God!” Although Kiro’s voice was soft, it sounded like thunder to the two of them, causing Anderson and Alice to change their expressions dramatically and exclaim in shock.
Quasi-War God—those three words undoubtedly dropped a bomb in everyone’s hearts.

On the entire continent, those who have reached the divine level are as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns—there are barely a handful. Including magicians, there are only eight such divine masters in the whole continent! Yet these eight are undoubtedly god-like existences, each possessing terrifying strength; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they can destroy the world. Any empire that encounters them would have to treat them with utmost respect, for their influence and formidable power could bring about a catastrophic disaster. Just like the king of a small kingdom a thousand years ago, who offended a god of magic and brought about a terrible disaster for his empire—his hundred thousand troops were slaughtered overnight by that god, allowing neighboring kingdoms to take advantage and lead to the kingdom’s destruction. It was through that battle that everyone truly witnessed the power of divine masters, and it was also through that battle that magicians gained a terrifying status, becoming supreme beings. As for those at the quasi-divine level, they are those who have surpassed the sacred level but not yet reached the divine realm, existing somewhere in between. Although they don’t possess the world-destroying power of divine masters, their strength is still very close to that level. Naturally, there are hardly more than twenty such quasi-divine masters on the entire continent, and each of them is a renowned powerhouse. It was unexpected to see such a master in this unremarkable City of Flaming Fire; no wonder their expressions were somewhat exaggerated. “It seems those people hold grudges against that elder. This battle is going to be tough. The elder must have already been poisoned by them; otherwise, he wouldn’t be stuck in this stalemate!” Kiro said in a deep voice, frowning tightly as he watched the distant scene and taking a deep breath. “Let’s leave quickly. We shouldn’t get involved in such a fight. Even our family couldn’t withstand their anger! You should go now!” Anderson hurriedly said to Kiro and Alice after hesitating for a moment. “No, this is a rare opportunity. Let’s stay and watch. Besides, that bastard Knightrod—hmph, I haven’t even caused him any trouble yet. How can I just leave like this?” Alice said coldly, glaring at Knightrod as he ran toward the battlefield. The humiliation from earlier still weighed heavily on her.

“My lady, now is not the time for you to seek revenge. Do you realize that any one of those men could kill you with just a slight movement of their fingers? You still want to take revenge? Besides, even if the battle ends, what then? If those men hold a grudge against that elder, do you think they’ll let Knightrod go? He’ll die anyway. If the elder wins, there’s no need to say more—he’ll surely not watch his grandson get bullied by you! That’s just wishful thinking! Let’s avoid trouble and leave quickly!” Anderson said helplessly, looking at Alice with a bitter smile and seeing her hateful gaze at that moment.

“What… what should we do then? Just let him bully her like this?” Alice became anxious, speaking with a hint of crying in her voice. Having never suffered such bullying before, she hated Rod deeply at this moment.

“What can we do? Even if your grandfather comes, as long as that elder is still alive, Knightrod will be safe. Even yourPorter family wouldn’t want to offend someone like that!”

“Enough, stop talking. Let’s watch from here!” Kiro interrupted their conversation, speaking calmly as he narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly deep in thought.

“Idiot, Kiro! Are you crazy? What are you talking about at a time like this?”

Hearing Kiro’s words, Anderson also grew anxious and asked urgently.

“Quiet! Look, it seems that golden warrior can’t escape his fate!” Ignoring Anderson’s expression, Kiro focused on the battle and said in a deep voice.

They quickly turned to look. Sure enough, the elder suddenly exerted force and launched a fierce counterattack, pushing the four of them back repeatedly. His target was clear—he started with the weakest, with the golden warrior as his first target.

Under the elder’s fierce assault, the golden warrior was no longer able to resist! As for the others, they were helpless and couldn’t offer any help.

Suddenly, a purpleish-silver glow enveloped the elder’s body. The combat energy of a near-divine-level powerhouse surged forth. At the same time, the injured long sword began to swing wildly, creating countless sword shadows that descended like snow, covering the golden warrior.

“Ah…” As Kiro had predicted, the golden warrior let out a scream before being mercilessly split in two and losing his life.

“Very strong! It’s almost like Rod’s move!” This scene was clearly etched in the eyes of several people. After watching it, Kiro sighed in admiration. Yet he failed to realize that although the old veteran’s move resembled Rod’s, there was actually a huge difference in essence—the most obvious difference being the trajectory of the sword. Of course, as a Silver Warrior, how could he possibly see through that?
“Fortunately, Knight Rod isn’t very strong. Otherwise…” Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and looking at Alice beside him, Anderson said with a bitter smile.
As for Alice, her expression was strange; perhaps she was secretly relieved. Otherwise, she might have seen her beloved Flame Leopard torn apart by that damned Rod.
The battle continued, and as time passed, this life-and-death struggle became increasingly intense! The old veteran seemed to have recovered his strength, his attacks growing sharper and more fierce. Under his relentless assaults, the remaining three people suffered greatly.
One of the imperial-level warriors had already sustained fatal injuries and was now barely alive, retreating to the side, breathing heavily and clearly on the verge of leaving this world.
Similarly, the old man who had achieved these feats also paid a heavy price—his body was covered in countless wounds. If not for his superior strength allowing him to avoid critical hits, he might already be dead.
“Old man, I’m here! Damn you guys, whoever bullies the old man, I’ll destroy them!” At that moment, Rod also arrived, panting, along with Jim and the others, into the battlefield. Seeing the wounded old man, Rod even forgot his own strength. Standing in front of the old man, he shouted loudly at the people across from them.
“Knight Rod? Hehe… After searching everywhere in vain, you show up effortlessly. It’s good you came on your own, so we don’t have to look for you! Hand over this kid and we’ll let it go. Hmph, or else! You know exactly how bad your situation is now, right? Hmph, don’t force us to take action!” With a cold smirk on his lips, the leader in black sneered at the old man.
“Go quickly! I’ll hold them off here. Go as far as you can—never come back!”
Taking a step forward to shield Rod, the old man shouted loudly, his tone more serious than ever.

At this moment, Rod gradually calmed down as well. Looking at those people and then at the old man’s condition, his mind was filled with confusion. Why had these people appeared? Why was the old man so strong? And it seemed their target was him—had he offended someone? One thing was certain: these guys definitely weren’t from the city lord’s mansion, nor from the Porter family. If the city lord’s mansion had such skilled fighters, would they have let him escape? As for the Porter family, even if they had extraordinary abilities, they couldn’t react that quickly.

“Go!” The old man grabbed Rod roughly and threw him out. After catching his breath, he picked up the dimly lit long sword in his hand and charged forward again.

A chaotic battle scene unfolded once more. Terrifying moves were unleashed without hesitation, making the situation extremely intense. The sharp sounds of weapons clashing and the old man’s loud shouts kept coming, while Rod stood frozen in place, not knowing what to do!

Pfft… Another wound appeared on the old man’s body, with blood splashing everywhere! Forced to retreat step by step, the enemy seemed to have seized Rod as an opportunity and launched a fierce attack in his direction!

Under such circumstances, the old man fought hard to hold back, giving up any chance to dodge or counterattack, constantly covering for Rod in hopes of buying time for him to escape from that place.