"What are you talking about?" someone from the group asked, as it seemed they hadn't caught up to what was happening.
"You know damn well who I am talking about," the man shouted. "Where is your boss?"
The leader of the bandit didn't hide behind a facade of looting anymore and started outright asking where the boss was.
Ning also realized that the leader was getting increasingly aggressive. If it went on like this, he was going to attack anytime now.
He frowned a bit. He looked at everyone in the area, all of whom were tense as well. 'Essence Manifestation realm,' he thought. Could he beat someone like that?
Maybe he had a chance in a one-on-one fight if he could catch the leader off guard, but with so many people at the mercy of the bandit, Ning didn't believe he could beat them.
'I need to protect those people first,' he thought. His hands gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he formulated a new plan.
The leader swung his sword, releasing a fiery slash that nearly hit one of the gang members. If the person hadn't dodged at the last moment, he would have been burned.
"Come out, you bastard or your men will get it," the leader shouted.
However, there was no response.
Ning looked around silently, wondering if the boss would continue hiding much longer. 'Is she really not planning to come out?' he thought.
As he wondered, another thought came to his mind. 'Or perhaps… she never came in the first place.'
Had she known that she was going to be attacked? Did she realize that someone in the gang had leaked their journey today and that was why she had skipped out on it?
Whatever the reason was, if the boss was not here to help them fight, Ning had to quickly do something.
The people cried in terror, so Ning took the opportunity to softly whisper to Sophie. "On the count of 3, attack."
The blue-haired girl's eyes went wide, but before she could say anything, Ning moved. Essence flowed through his body, moving into his sword as he willed what he wanted to do next.
At the same time, the leader turned his head towards Ning as he sensed the movement of Essence in the air.
"Shit!" Ning thought, but it was too late to stop. "Attack!"
The moment he dashed forward, countless rock spikes grew from all around the place, hitting many of the bandits, while entrapping the rest of the people and carriages in it.
The leader stumbled back as well and came face to face with Ning who had rushed for him. "You bastard!" he shouted as he swung his sword at Ning.
At the same time, Ning pulled out his sword from the sheath.
The sword came out in a single motion and hit the fire sword that was coming down. Ning expected the clash to push him back, but to his surprise, his sword easily cut through the fiery sword, turning the sword into a bunch of useless tongues of flames that disappeared.
The leader was surprised by the sudden turn of events, as was Ning. Neither of them had expected the result of their clash to be in the favor of the one that was clearly weaker.
"Kill!" Sophie shouted and a burst of water attacks landed on the various bandits that were surrounding them. At the same time, the others started their attacks as well.
These gang members were used to fighting, so the weaker bandits wouldn't stand much chance at all.
That was if their leader didn't return in time to help them.
Ning realized as well that he had to be the to keep the leader in check. He had to keep an Essence Manifestation realm fighter in check.
The leader clapped his palms together and slowly moved them apart. As he did, fire trailed in between his palms as it extended to the size of a large arrow.
The leader then grabbed the arrow and sent it flying in Ning's direction.
Ning didn't have the time to use his Essence to block the arrow, so he instead put his sword in front of him.
The fire arrow struck his sword and sent both of them flying backward. Ning hit the rock that protected the carriage and fell to the ground.
He sprawled on the ground with his sword a meter away from him.
However, before he could reach for his sword, he saw the leader arrive on top of him. He slammed his foot down on his face, intending to crack open his skull.
Ning put both his arms on top of him to block the attack. The leg struck his arm and the force shook the ground. However, to both of their surprise, Ning wasn't hurt at all.
"Haha!" Ning laughed out loud while the leader moved backward in confusion.
Ning quickly rolled to the side and grabbed his sword. He flipped back as soon as he grabbed the sword and dodged the incoming sword attack.
At the same time, he swung with his sword, killing the bandit that had come after him.
The leader didn't even show any emotion when he saw his man die. Instead, he only looked at Ning, trying to figure out if he was hiding something.
"You… how are you so strong?" the leader asked.
Ning gave a massive grin. "How about you die and I will tell the answer to your soul," he said.
The man clapped his palms again and created another fire arrow. "If you don't want to answer, then you can just die," he uttered and threw the arrow at Ning once again.
Ning dodged to the side, but the arrow struck the ground and created an explosion that sent rocks flying everywhere.
While he was fine, the others' fights seemed to have been affected by it.
Ning quickly turned around to continue the fight and saw that the leader had created another fire arrow and got ready to attack once again.
