Chapter Eighty-Seven: Zhan En Is Cutting a Bloody Swath Through the Battlefield!

A blade of light flashed.

Jan did not so much as change expression. He merely stood there, his longsword flickering ceaselessly as it danced in all directions. Soldiers before him were cut down one after another, swallowed by the storm of steel. Had Coton been here, he would have found the scene deeply familiar, for when facing the salamanders' assault before, Jan had used the very same method. Only now his enemies were human instead of beasts, yet to Jan there seemed to be no difference at all.

By now the soldiers had been driven mad with bloodlust, surging forward in an endless flood as though a sluice gate had been thrown open, all of them hoping to carve their way to Jan and kill the man outright. Unfortunately, no matter how they moved, once they entered the sword light, the next instant was always the same: blood spraying, screams rising, bodies crumpling. Even the guards bearing heavy shields were no different. Though they tried to rely on the thick, hard shields to withstand Jan's assault, their fate was still to be cleaved in two, shield and body alike, with no room for luck or hope.

The Old Man Had a Little Field... la la la... He was killing little chickens by the field's edge... la la la...

While the elite soldiers of the personal guard had long since lost their minds, Jan remained unhurried, even in the mood to hum a tune. Though the scene before him was, by any measure, a living hell, Jan's feelings were utterly unlike those of anyone else.

Ding...

[An elite soldier has been eliminated. The Dungeon Lord gains 30 experience points.]

Ding...

[An elite guard has been eliminated. The Dungeon Lord gains 50 experience points.]

Listening to the occasional pleasant chime in his ear, Jan felt utterly refreshed. With so much experience coming to him on its own, how could he possibly feel tired? It was like a game bug that let him farm money and experience forever; such a blessing could not be begged for in ordinary times, so how could he let it slip by? If he finished this slaughter, advancing to the dungeon's fourth level would surely be within reach. He had held back all this time, fearing discovery, and had never found a chance to act. Now that the fool of a Baron Balfe had brought himself to his door, how could Jan fail to show him proper hospitality?

As for the cost, Jan did not worry in the slightest. This entire passage had already fallen within the dungeon's domain, and as its lord, he enjoyed complete bonuses here. The expenditure was essentially zero. Let alone one or two hundred enemies; even one or two thousand could be butchered to the last man without so much as a change in expression or the need to catch his breath. Of course, whether he would grow sick of killing them was another matter.

A pity. If not for the paladin guarding the outside, he would already have summoned all the xeno-sirens and the rest, and they could all have shared the experience together to level up. But for now...

"Iris, leave it to you! This is all experience!"

"Yes, Master!"

Though she did not understand what Jan meant by experience, Iris immediately reacted. Faced with such a brutally bloody scene, most people would already have gone green in the face. But Iris was no ordinary person. She had after all fought in the defense of Black Agate City, and had seen her share of corpses. This mere pile of human bodies was far from enough to unsettle her. Hearing Jan's command, she answered at once and raised her hand, beginning to cast again.

"Attack! Attack! Kill that mage!"

Though the soldiers had been driven to madness, there were still some among them who retained a clear head. Seeing Iris begin to cast once more, they were startled and hastily shouted orders, surging together toward her.

Yet with Jan in front of her, no one could reach Iris. Though the soldiers threw themselves forward desperately, trying to interrupt her spell, Jan's sword light became an impregnable embankment, holding them firmly at bay. No matter how hard they charged, they could not break through the obstruction of that icy sword edge. Men fell like wheat under the scythe, and the screams and howls rang together in a ceaseless din. But a space of nearly a yard before Jan remained empty, so clean that not even bloodstains could be found, as though an invisible wall stood there.

And then, under the soldiers' despairing gaze, Iris finally finished the incantation. Dark red runes twisted between her fingers like serpents, swelling and gathering into small spheres. The next instant, a deafening roar erupted. A streak of blinding lightning shot from between Iris's fingers, striking the nearest soldier with overwhelming force. Then, as though alive, it leapt outward and spread through the surrounding area, swiftly turning a large swath of ground into a field of thunder. The soldiers wrapped in furious lightning let out shrill screams, then collapsed to the ground, never to move again.

In an instant, the battlefield, which had been packed tight a moment before, was swept clear by Iris, opening up a considerable expanse. The might of magic was made plain.

"Die!"

At that very moment, with a furious roar, a blinding sword light burst forth from behind. Baron Balfe himself and his sword became a roaring torrent, rushing straight at Jan. Wherever he passed, air and force erupted wildly, and the soldiers in his path felt as though they had been caught in a tornado, swept sideways by a violent current and forced to make way.

Baron Balfe was inwardly alarmed. If Coton had spoken true, then with Jan's strength it would not be difficult for him to defeat the personal guard. Yet he had not expected the other to be so formidable. Balfe had originally assumed that, however useless his guards might be, they could at least wear Jan down a little. But now, more than half of his men had already fallen, and the other still looked calm and composed. When Iris began her spell, Baron Balfe could no longer endure it and chose to strike personally. If this went on, his own men would be slaughtered to the last by Jan!

"So the coward finally dares show his face?"

Facing Baron Balfe's all-out strike, Jan showed no intention of dodging. Instead, his longsword tightened and then lashed out, meeting the baron's blade light head-on. Even then, he did not forget to mock and ridicule his opponent.

Had this been earlier, Baron Balfe might have answered back. But he had no leisure for that now. The instant the two swords met, he felt an unimaginably powerful force pressing down upon him like a landslide bursting from a mountain pass. In his eyes, the other's plain-looking longsword split into two, then four, then eight, trapping him in its encirclement in the blink of an eye. Balfe could no longer continue his offensive; he could only twist backward, barely evading Jan's sword light.

And at that moment, a system prompt suddenly appeared before Jan.

[You can feel the blazing rage and hatred burning deep within the other man's heart. To him, you are an enemy who must die. That searing flame of the soul and that dark evil have fused into the most exquisite ingredients, waiting only to be cooked and seasoned with blood and death. Once the fire is mastered, a delicious dish lies just ahead—Kill Baron Balfe Lester Dericks. Reward: Fusion item, Legendary Star.]

This quest is accepted!

Jan's speed was no slower. Having forced Balfe back with a single strike, he had already swept his eyes over the quest prompt and immediately accepted it. Then his longsword erupted once more, bearing a series of afterimages as it hurtled toward Baron Balfe.

"You damned bastard!!"

Seeing Jan press forward relentlessly, Baron Balfe flew into a rage. Being driven back by a single sword had already been a tremendous humiliation, and he had been wondering how to reclaim his dignity. He had not expected that bastard to push even further and launch an attack of his own. Did he intend to kill him after all?

At this thought, Baron Balfe's face darkened. Slowly lifting the longsword in his hand, he fixed his gaze on Jan. Then he let out a soft breath. In that instant, the ferocious killing intent on his face vanished, replaced by an unprecedented gravity and seriousness. The longsword in his hand trembled faintly, and the air around him seemed to become tangible, like flowing water, curling and spiraling around the blade. Very soon, a burst of gale-force wind rose from the ground and swept outward.

Then Balfe thrust his sword forward.

In the previous instant, he had been himself, and the sword merely a sword. In the next, he and the blade had merged into one. Wild currents condensed at that moment into an unstoppable tide of death, roaring forward. The howling sword qi surged from below to above, like a dragon rising from the earth, crashing toward the front.

Wherever it passed, the air thundered, and even the tunnel itself trembled ceaselessly beneath the force of the impact, as though an earthquake had struck. The soldiers standing before the sword qi were blown straight away, vanishing with their screams into the tunnel's dark shadows, never to be seen again.

Only then did Balfe truly reveal the strength of a legendary swordsman.

"Trifling trick!"

Watching the sword storm baring its fangs like a giant dragon and lunging at him, Jan sneered. He raised his left hand, and soon crackling lightning gathered between his fingers. Then he flicked his fingers forward lightly.

In the next instant, a spear of overwhelming thunder mercilessly pierced Baron Balfe's sword-dragon. The thick, violent currents from before were instantly scattered by the strike of lightning, vanishing in the blink of an eye into total collapse. Countless bolts of electricity spread like the legs of a spider, blanketing the entire tunnel. Very soon, a dark figure burst from the grip of the lightning and staggered backward.

"This is impossible!!"

By now Baron Balfe was a wreck. His clothes had been blasted apart by thunder, his face smeared black and white, and both ears were bleeding. Yet he had no time to care about his wounds. Instead, he stared wide-eyed in utter disbelief.

No wonder Balfe was so shocked. That sword had been his full-force strike, one that even a swordsman of the same rank would never dare meet head-on. But to his astonishment, Jan had answered him with magic, and what made Balfe want to spit blood most was that his full-power attack had been reduced to the level of brittle clay before that magic—completely without the power to resist.

What kind of joke was this? Was this fellow actually a mage? And not just any mage, but a legendary one? What in the world was going on?!

But Balfe had no time to think further, because Jan had already appeared before him, sword and all. The sharp blade gleamed with a cold light, ready to pierce straight through Baron Balfe's chest.

And then, suddenly, a silver-white radiance came whistling in from the far end of the tunnel, shooting straight toward Jan.

"Stop right there!"