Chapter 24: I’ll Take It on

“Boss, no—get out of the way!” This scene left the people behind Rod wide-eyed. A Saint-level warrior was unleashing his full power with the simplest method to maximize its impact; the energy involved was unimaginable. In their eyes, Rod was merely a beginner at the Imperial level—a strong fighter, but far from capable of withstanding such force.

To them, the wisest choice was to dodge rather than resist, so upon seeing this, they couldn’t help but shout.
“Boss…” Another heart-wrenching scream came through—Jem’s. Seeing that familiar figure, he seemed to recall his past life.

The onlookers around them were also stunned, mouths agape in disbelief. From the earlier fight, it was clear who was stronger—the gap between the two was enormous. Everyone knew Rod wasn’t Carter’s match, and no one expected such a scenario. Thus, everyone was filled with shock and astonishment.

Of course, the only ones excited were Carter and his accomplices. Seeing Rod’s actions, their faces twisted into sinister smiles, as if they could already see Rod lying on the ground in moments—as if they could already hear his groans, almost feeling the sight of his blood spilling.

With the fierce wind howling, both fighters unleashed their strongest moves. The immense power generated violent gusts, and their unrestrained combat auras spread outward, causing great pain to the onlookers. They could clearly feel the stinging pain from the blades and swords cutting across their faces.

A black trail and a pure white trail stood out sharply in this environment, moving at speeds beyond human sight. A series of afterimages appeared and collided in an instant.

Boom…

A deafening explosion rang out like a thunderclap, hurting people’s ears.

A tremendous force radiated outward from the point where their weapons met, with gusts of wind and swirling dust everywhere. The intense energy was so strong that the onlookers couldn’t even keep their eyes open to see what was happening. Even those with strong abilities could barely see clearly.

Boom… Another dull explosion was heard. After the collision of the Mars weapons came their dazzling light, followed by a situation where they separated instantly.
Pfft… His chest felt constricted, as if all his internal organs had shifted due to the intense shock—a never-before-seen level of discomfort. A sweet taste filled his throat, and he finally couldn’t hold back; Rod spat out a mouthful of blood before being thrown flying.
Pain—only pain, nothing else. It felt like his entire skeleton was about to fall apart, with waves of numb pain spreading through his body. His blood boiled inside, and blood kept flowing down from the corners of his mouth! It felt as though he might vomit out all his internal organs.
He felt dizzy, and he couldn’t sense what his hands were doing, as if they were no longer under his control. He instinctively clung tightly to the Dark Dragon in his hands, yet he couldn’t even feel its presence!
A trickle of blood seeped from his knuckles, flowing down the sword hilt toward the blade.
He knew he could no longer move. That brief clash earlier had dealt him a severe blow and caused tremendous shock.
Cough, cough, cough… In mid-air, he coughed again, blood continuing to flow as his consciousness gradually faded. He flew backward in a parabolic trajectory, feeling light, as if time had stopped at that moment.
Instinctively, he glanced at Carter across from him. Carter seemed to be in much better condition than him. The fierce clash hadn’t given him complete control, but he hadn’t suffered much damage either. After retreating six or seven steps, he stabilized himself. After coughing a few times, a trickle of blood appeared at the corners of his mouth, but he quickly wiped it away. It seemed he wasn’t seriously hurt. Seeing this, Rod’s heart sank even further. Even if Carter wasn’t in as bad shape as him, the few people on his side had little chance of survival today—let alone now that Carter was in much better condition. With this thought, a pitiful bitter smile appeared on his lips, along with a sense of despair and helplessness.
In fact, Rod had no idea that Carter’s situation wasn’t much better than his own—indeed, it was just as bad.
With a bitter smile, Carter took several deep breaths to calm the turmoil in his body. He swallowed another mouthful of blood, took a deep breath, and watched Rod being thrown backward across from him, feeling deeply moved.

He never could have imagined that this guy, who was merely at the initial stage of the Imperial rank, would possess such formidable strength—his power was terrifyingly beyond his expectations. The brutality of his moves was self-evident, and he almost suffered a great loss. That wasn’t the kind of ability one should have as an initial-stage Imperial rank fighter—terrifying strength, terrifying explosive power, and pure combat energy! If it weren’t for his own strength at the mid-stage Saint rank, he might really have suffered a heavy loss in this confrontation. Even though he was clearly stronger, he didn’t gain much advantage.

Not only was the flow of energy in his body disrupted and unable to recover quickly, but his arms also felt numb repeatedly, making it impossible for him to continue controlling them. He could clearly feel a crack forming at his wrist—without any sensation, his hand began to tremble slightly. If he hadn’t clenched tightly, he might not have even been able to hold his weapon and it would have fallen to the ground.

Swallowing the blood he had spat out again, his face turned pale. He couldn’t let others see his current state, otherwise it would be a huge embarrassment. For a mid-stage Saint rank fighter to be the first to attack, only to be forced to defend against an initial-stage Imperial rank fighter, resulting in both sides suffering heavy losses—such a situation would make it impossible for him to continue living in this world.

Fortunately, it seemed the other guy was in an even worse condition than him. With that move, he was likely dead anyway! That could be considered his only gain.

“Boss…”

“Boss, are you okay?”

“Damn it! I’ll fight you all! You bunch of bastards—if you’ve got the guts, come at me!” Rod faintly heard several people shouting. But instead of the expected pain from impact, at the moment he was about to land, he felt as if someone had embraced him, landing him in a warm embrace! Strong arms held him up.

“Stop, Sambik! Come back! Listen to me—stand still!” Taking a deep breath and swallowing the blood in his mouth, Rod called out in a weak voice.

The figure that had run out stopped in its tracks, not moving forward. Turning back to look at the weak Rod, Sambik was stunned. Those words were so familiar—exactly the same as what his former boss used to say. He hadn’t heard them before; every time he acted impulsively, it was him who warned him like this! With red eyes, looking at Rod before him, his body trembled slightly, as if sensing something.

“Boss… you…” Approaching Rod and looking at him concerningly, Sambik asked in a low voice. His eyes had turned red at some point, filled with tears.

A man should not shed tears easily; it means he hasn’t reached a heart-wrenching moment. Yet, Sambik had already reached that point, and Rod’s actions were enough to move him. Rod’s decision was unexpected and hard to imagine, but they all understood—no fool would miss why Rod didn’t dodge, why he did what he did. With them right behind, it wouldn’t have been hard for Rod to avoid them, but if he had, they would be doomed. They lacked the ability or space to dodge. Someone had to take the blame; someone would die or get hurt. He chose to bear it all himself!

“Boss, are you okay? Hold on, you must hold on!” They frantically wiped the blood streaming from the corners of his mouth as Jim and Kambi spoke anxiously. The vivid red of the blood was terrifying to behold! A sense of foreboding spread among them all!

At this moment, Rod’s weak appearance and the blood flowing from him filled them with fear. They didn’t want to see or face the inevitable outcome—they didn’t want Rod to get hurt.

“Hmph, attack! Kill them all! Not a single one left!” In the distance, Vent and the others watched the situation for a moment before cheering. Then, Vent and Karl shouted loudly at the same time, ready to charge over. Both of them held deep grudges against Rod, to the point of wanting mutual destruction. This was exactly the outcome they wanted to see—the one they were happiest about.

Led by those two, the henchmen also charged forward with cheers!

“Damn it, bastards! I’ll fight to the end today!” Wiping away the tears from his eyes, he grabbed a weapon from the ground and prepared to charge forward!

Suddenly, Sambik felt a hand pull at his shoulder. Then he heard a weak voice: “No, you’re no match for them! Let me handle this!”

“Boss…” Then came Kambi’s cry. Rod was lying in his arms! Now, seeing him struggle to get up, Kambi couldn’t help but shout. It was already a miracle he was conscious—how could he possibly stand?

“Boss…” Turning back to see what was happening behind, Sambik and the others who were about to charge rushed back and shouted loudly.

“Let go! What’s the big deal? He won’t die! Heh… I’ll do it!” Pushing away the hands trying to help him, Rod used the Dark Dragon to support himself on the ground, with his other hand holding onto Kambi, as he struggled to stand up!

Taking a deep breath, he struggled to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth: “If you all come at me, I’ll bear it! Hehe… I’m not dead yet; I can handle anything. As long as I’m alive, no one can bully my brothers!” Spitting out some blood, he slowly stood up, trembling as he raised the Dark Dragon to point at the few people who had approached him. Rod laughed bitterly—his smile was eerily charming yet pitifully fierce. At that moment, the entire place fell silent.