Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jack was throwing punch after punch with his rocky hands on the vine shield Belen had conjured in front of her as he laughed,
"Beauty, you're quite strong. Why don't you join me and become my servant? It'll save you from the gruesome fate about to befall you when those two old codgers return after killing that bastard."
Belen's face become colder when she heard this.
Boom!
Mana burst out of her unceasingly and a moment later, several dozen vines suddenly sprouted out of the earth before shooting out toward Jack like poisonous snakes.
Bang! Bang!
Jack was frightened by her sudden outburst. He punched a few vines away before retreating a few tens of meters back.
"You stupid woman! I'll make you regret this after I catch-"
Shuu!
Before he could complete his threatening words, a pointed vine shot out from under his feet, heading toward his head at breakneck speed.
Bang! Crack!
Jack's face went pale seeing the vine coming up toward his face. Frightened, he tried to smack the pointy vine away but as soon as the vine touched his palm, it easily pierced it, cracking the rocky layers.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
He hurriedly retreated further, his feet heavily hitting the ground. Blood was unceasingly pouring out from the centre of his palm, dying his whole palm red.
Holding his injured hand with another, he shrieked, "Ahhh! You stupid bitch. You dare injure-"
Whoosh!
Just like before, he couldn't complete his sentence before more pointy and thorny vines shot out from the ground and grazed past his feet leaving many bloody wounds and causing him to shriek in pain.
His eyes become bloodshot. He never felt so humiliated and angry. However, after his experience earlier, he wasn't going to talk nonsense.
Immediately, he took out a talisman and crushed it without wasting any time.
Weng!
The talisman's energy turned into metal elemental Mana and shrouded his entire being.
Clank! Clank!
Just then, more vines sprouted out of the ground and tried to pierce him, but this time, apart from ripping his clothes and making a clanking sound, they couldn't harm him at all.
…
Meanwhile, as Max left the battle site, a hooded figure hiding a few hundred meters away gulped in terror and murmured, "Fortunately, I didn't attack him or I might've died with them too."
He was the three-star mage that Dalton sent to kill Max. After finding out that he had gone to the Ninam city, he had been waiting there for a few days outside the city since he wasn't allowed to enter.
When Max and others left the city, he was finally relieved. Seeing that the Elvin guard captain was escorting them, he didn't dare attack and waited for him to return.
However, after the guard captain left and just as he was about to strike, he noticed Jack and the other two elders chasing after Max's group, which stopped him in his tracks.
Although they had disguised themselves, he easily identified them from their body language. Seeing them chasing after the same people with obvious murderous intensions, he was pleasantly surprised and quietly chased them.
He planned to report to young master Dalton about the success of the mission after they killed Max. So, he could enjoy the benefits without doing any actual work.
However, he didn't expect that he would witness his fellow elders' death instead. This shook him to his core, and he thanked his lucky stars that he didn't try to kill him himself.
After calming down his nerves, he took out his communication crystal, injected his Mana and spoke, "Young master, this kid has many peak tier grade three offensive and defensive talismans. Young master Jack's two protectors tried to kill me, only to be killed by him instead. I don't think I can kill him."
After a while, Dalton's surprised response came, [What? Why would they try to kill him?]
"I don't know the reason, but something must have happened between those two when they were in the Ninam city?..." The man quickly narrated everything he saw.
A moment later, Dalton's reply came, [See if you can save Jack. He is my cousin after all.]
"I-I'll try, but I'm not sure if I can do that." The man hesitantly answered. He didn't have any confidence to face Max, since he was even weaker than the two old men Max felled just now. However, he couldn't directly say no to his superior.
…
While the man was communicating with Dalton, there were another two figures standing on a tree in some distance. They also watched Max's fight against the old men from start to finish. These two were Janice and the old woman.
Janice's eyes were shining as she murmured, "This man is perfect for me."
Hearing her, the old lady smiled wryly. She wanted to say that he wasn't anything special and could kill them only because he used many grade-three talismans.
However, she didn't because without skills, killing two mid-star three-star mages would've been almost impossible for him.
Looking in the direction Max had gone, she asked, "Young miss, what about your plan?"
Janice was offended by Leticia's comments when she met them in front of the pill shop and, just like Jack, she was also a very vengeful person and had planned to kill her.
However, after seeing that Max was fighting against two three-star mages, she didn't go after Leticia since he was more important to her. She wanted to save him when he was about to die and win his heart.
However, she hadn't expected Max to possess so many grade-three talismans and use them to kill the three-star duo, giving her no opportunity to execute her plan.
Hearing the old woman's words, Janice shook her head and sighed, "Let's forget about it."
"Mm." The old woman nodded before she asked, "Young miss, do you think he will also kill young master Jack?"
Janice's eyes shone, and a smile appeared on her face as she said, "It'll be best if he kills him."
She then took off in the direction Max had gone with the old woman.
…
With his speed, it didn't take long for Max to arrive where Belen and Leticia were fighting.
Seeing that both girls were safe and sound, he heaved a sigh of relief.
After watching their fight and noticing that neither of the girls were in too much of a disadvantageous position, he decided to wait for a while and give them some more time to increase their real battle experience.
Meanwhile, he started casting [Calidus Brachium] using 2000 units of three-star Mana.
He could see Jack had used a lasting defensive talisman that increased his defense by many folds. Now only his [Calidus Brachium] charged with 2000 units of three-star Mana or a peak grade three offensive could take him out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The fight continued. Attacks kept flying around.
Although Leticia and Belen weren't taking any injuries thanks to their agility and defense respectively, they also weren't able to deal any damage to their opponents.
"Surrender while I'm asking you politely. If you keep being stupid, I'll forced to use force and I don't really want to harm a beauty like you." Jack said in an annoyed tone as he kept dodging her vine that were trying to tie him to one place.
Belen scoffed, completely ignoring his words. She continued trying to restrict his movements so she could easily kill him after the defensive talisman's effects subsided.
"You don't believe my words? So be it." Seeing that she wasn't stopping, Jack took out an offensive talisman from his spatial ring and coldly said, "This is a fire elemental mid-tier grade three talisman. If you still don't surrender within three breaths, ready to die."
"Hm?" Belen narrowed her eyes at the talisman in his hand and after taking a good look at it, her heartbeat quickened and she immediately started to form multiple vine shield around her.
"Hahaha...! Do you really think your shields can block the attack from this talisman? You're too naive." Jack laughed.
Belen's heart lurched at his words. She knew her shields could do nothing against the full-fledged attack of a mid-stage three-star mage.
She took a deep breath and coldly laughed, "Do you think only you have a grade three talisman?" Saying this, she took out a high tier grade three defensive talisman and gripped it in her hand.
