The sound of hoofbeats in the distance grew clearer and clearer. Morpheus frowned. This young man, who was as much at home in the jungle as a fish in water, had extremely keen judgment when it came to large livestock like horses. Just then, he was able to determine the approximate breed of the horse the rider was on and the rider's equestrian skills simply from the rhythm and frequency of the hoofbeats...
A master!
Morpheus didn't have an overabundance of curiosity to find out the true appearance of this knight. After calculating his position in his mind, Morpheus, who had only visited Hook Town once when he was twelve, turned and walked out along the shadows of the alley. As if he were a long-time resident here, he took four turns, passed through a bustling market, and then arrived at the edge of the town.
Phew...
He'd arrived just in time. The guards of Hook Town hadn't immediately started a thorough search and blockade. Morpheus let out a soft sigh of relief and looked around. Apart from two yellow cattle grazing intently, it was quiet nearby, and everything seemed to be the kind of scene one would expect in a forgotten corner.
Outside Hook Town was a forest that wasn't particularly lush. The forest paths were not very wide. These paths led in all directions of Hook County. The only seemingly wide dirt road heading southeast led to the center of the empire, and the hoofbeats that had just come seemed to be from there.
Stepping out of Hook Town, Morpheus carefully looked back and scanned around. After repeatedly confirming there were no pursuers, he started jogging towards the forest. But after just three or four steps, he gradually slowed to a stop. Just moments ago, there was no one behind him, but now a figure emerged. Morpheus confirmed that the other person's appearance had evaded his perception just now, appearing without a sound, which meant that the other person was far from being as simple as they seemed.
And as it turned out, the other person's purpose was very clear. When Morpheus suddenly turned his head, a long sword was already slashing towards him from afar!
His body suddenly tensed up, and Morpheus stood on his tiptoes, looking like a standing mantis. The long sword was about to slash down on his left shoulder from above, but it narrowly missed, passing by Morpheus's twisted chest!
In his line of sight, a guy wearing the Hooktown Guard uniform stared coldly at Morpheus. His body was not much stronger than an ordinary person's, but he wore an iron wrist guard with mottled marks on his wrist. This was a mark only a master swordsman would have. Swordsmen in the Empire were skilled in using light Griffin rapiers, and this distinctive wrist guard was the product.
This indicated that the other person was a guy who had received orthodox swordsmanship training in the Empire, far from being an ordinary town guard!
After dodging the attack, Morpheus unexpectedly charged straight at this dangerous swordsman in front of him without dodging or evading. Empty-handed, his hands were not even clenched into fists. In contrast, his unusually thin body erupted with a fierce and ruthless aura that was hard to imagine. This was the kind of ferocity only a wild beast would possess, not something a human living in a normal society could have!
Seven years of jungle life had kept Morpheus on the fringes of human society for far too long. It wasn't that he didn't want to fit in; it was the old guy who led him into the jungle that chose this path for him.
The fist strike was not extremely sharp, yet it hit the most fundamental weak point. The opponent's blocking speed showed no delay, and the long sword in his hand did not appear clumsy even in such close combat. However, he clearly did not anticipate what a dangerous being this guy, who looked no different from an ordinary teenager, was.
His pale skin was exposed due to the large movements, and his knuckles were prominent and his palm was calloused. Suddenly, he clenched his fist and punched straight at the middle of the horizontally held long sword!
The swordsman never expected that Morpheus would use his fist to strike the surface of the long sword. With a crisp "clang," the distorted long sword bounced to the side, and the opponent's arm holding the long sword moved aside, exposing the chest that had been blocked. Immediately afterwards, Morpheus's other fist slammed into his lower abdomen!
"Thud!"
However, the opponent was clearly no ordinary person. After quickly adapting to this life-and-death offensive rhythm, he risked taking a second punch and raised his elbow to strike Morpheus's unguarded right rib. After being hit under the armpit by the next punch, he suddenly exerted force and sent this teenager, who was like a wild wolf, flying out with a "bang"!
The strength of a mid-level swordsman meant that although he did not have the divine strength of the bandit leader Wade, he still had skills and strength that were hard for ordinary people to match. Morpheus, whose weight was less than half of his, was sent flying more than three meters by a full-force blow, which was enough to prove the gap in strength between the two.
Speaking of which, Morpheus's attacks are like those of a predator that is physically lean but full of explosive power. If a single strike misses, the only option is to flee a thousand miles away; direct confrontation is definitely not his forte. And in fact, that's exactly what he did. Taking advantage of the force of being knocked away, Morpheus rolled on the spot once, and before even getting up, he got on all fours and dashed headlong into the forest in the opposite direction!
The forest is his home ground, and playing to his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses has always been Morpheus's choice. Having already dashed four or five meters in an instant, he left the swordsman far behind. But just as he took a few steps forward, Morpheus suddenly raised his head and rolled to the right!
A dagger that had appeared silently plunged deeply into the ground beside Morpheus! The long robe he had just changed into was firmly pinned to the ground, and with a "tear" sound, it was ripped open as Morpheus rolled! Another one!
Morpheus, who had just gotten back up, didn't continue to run. He knew that he had now missed the best opportunity to leave this clearing. Morpheus wouldn't bother to study how that guy who had been hiding in the shadows managed to conceal his presence. He had once faced alone the silver-bellied wild wolf in the forest, known as the "shadowless killer," a being that wouldn't let anyone detect its breath even a second before attacking, and it had left three terrifying wounds on Morpheus's thigh.
Countless near-death experiences had made him instinctively dodge the opponent's attack, but that didn't mean he could dodge a second time. Even a horse can stumble, let alone Morpheus, whose strength is not outstanding. The cheap clothes in the tailor shop were torn open. Without hesitation, Morpheus reached out and ripped off the remaining cloth strips, exposing his well-built muscles to the air. His steady breathing and cold gaze accompanied the silence as he calmly sized up the situation before him.
Lowering his body's center of gravity, the intricate black patterns on Morpheus's back and arms were revealed before two seemingly unremarkable guys, causing their pupils to contract simultaneously.
The pitch-black patterns seemed like a forbidden existence. Countless thin magic lines converged on Morpheus's body, forming a strange and complex pattern at the center of his back... like a black scepter. It seemed that the skin on Morpheus, which was different from ordinary people, made them confirm something. The two exchanged a tacit look, then simultaneously rushed towards Morpheus, who was still unarmed! At this moment, the pitch-black patterns seemed to suddenly flicker.
For a moment, Morpheus's eyes wandered. He hesitated for a moment due to the sudden sharp pain in his body, and almost failed to dodge the opponent's long sword and dagger. Dodging both the long dagger and the sword tip in an incredibly twisted posture, Morpheus kicked the swordsman in the waist. His backhand punch was dodged by the assassin, and then he was hit in the chest by the opponent's elbow. The violent impact suddenly halted Morpheus's movement, and his dodging action slowed down a bit. The following long sword slashed hard across Morpheus's back!
"Ouch!"
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. This guy, who never flinched in the face of a powerful enemy, used inertia to land a punch on the swordsman's wrist. However, due to insufficient strength, he failed to disarm the long sword in the swordsman's hand, only deflecting it by two inches.
Blood instantly covered Murphy's back along the gaping wound, but it almost instantly brought about a strange change!
The black patterns covering Murphy's back were more obscure than the magic circles used by those element-controlling mages in the rumors. When the originally dark stripes came into contact with the large amount of blood gushing out from Murphy, they instantly turned bright red, just like a heated iron block on an anvil!
The pouring of blood never simply brings power. Just like the chess game in front of those old guys lurking in the shadows on the continent, a shocking conspiracy often starts with a seemingly subtle and insignificant small step.
It seemed like a long time had passed, yet it also seemed like only an instant. Murphy's unprecedentedly painful howl instantly spread throughout Hook Town, and then suddenly stopped.
A gust of wind blew by, pausing slightly beside Murphy for an instant.
When Murphy opened his eyes again and looked at the enemy charging towards him, he was no longer a prey ready to die with the hunter.
Twelve black patterns coiling around his body emitted a blood-red glow, and the outermost and thinnest one was gradually disappearing. It was like a gate that imprisoned a wild beast gradually collapsing, rusting, and finally turning into nothingness...
"Clang!"
Murphy quickly grabbed the hand holding the long dagger, and the slashing long sword was immediately firmly blocked by him! The swordsman who attacked him only felt a huge force hit his wrist, almost causing him to drop his sword!
The numbness in his tiger's mouth didn't give his body time to feel the pain, as Morpheus's powerful kick had already sent him flying backward into the air!
"Crunch!"
Terrible power! The sudden change in strength made the swordsman in the guard's uniform widen his eyes. He couldn't even begin to imagine how a guy who was at an absolute disadvantage just a second ago could become someone he had to look up to in the blink of an eye?
A true expert reveals their skills with a single move. With just one kick, the massive damage of a broken sternum and displaced internal organs was already enough to be considered a fatal blow!
Another short dagger stabbed at Morpheus's throat like lightning, but the young man blocked the attacker's wrist with even greater speed, and with a quick twist, "cracked" the opponent's wrist bone!
Morpheus had a desire for strength that was hard for ordinary people to imagine. It wasn't to experience the thrill of controlling life and death; his only goal was to survive in a dangerous environment.
Survive, a seemingly simple goal, but for some, it was so difficult.
"Thud!"
The swordsman fell to the ground, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. He tightly grasped his long sword, but could no longer wield it as freely as before. Facing the young man in the distance who had quickly snapped his comrade's neck, a chill unconsciously seeped into his body.
The person before him... perhaps one day he would transcend the category of "human". On the continent, there are countless prodigies. Some can become sword masters before the age of twenty, while others can wear the Bauhinia Medal symbolizing high-ranking mages before the age of thirty. The young man in front of him didn't show anything that would make people gasp in astonishment, but his unhesitating cold-bloodedness and silence set him apart from ordinary people.
The beating of his heart gradually came to a halt. Before the nameless swordsman's pupils dilated, what echoed in his ears was the words his Mentor had once taught him:
"Only by constantly approaching death can you comprehend the truths that ordinary people will never experience."
Perhaps he was the one closest to death?