Lash took a deep breath.
He was very nervous right now.
Shang had been training him for two weeks without stopping, and now, it was time to prove that he had grown more powerful.
After encouraging himself, Lash stepped forward…
Into the camp.
As soon as he stepped inside, several barbarians without collars noticed him, and they sneered.
They all stopped training and fighting and threateningly walked toward him.
This time, things were different from two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, boundaries had been established, but now, they were already in place.
Because of that, Lash was treated as an outsider invading their territory instead of someone from their Tribe.
Three barbarians quickly approached Lash, anger and disdain in their eyes.
Lash's nervousness rose, but he tried to keep calm.
BANG!
A quick jab was thrown at one of them, hitting their face.
The other two looked with shock as one of them was halted by a light punch.
BANG!
A straight hit another barbarian, throwing him into the distance and breaking his nose.
BANG!
The third one got an elbow to his temple, and he collapsed to the ground.
BANG!
The first one had only been stunned by the jab, and Lash finished it with a kick to the chest.
In just a single second, all three barbarians fell to the ground, unable to continue fighting.
Silence.
At that moment, Lash's nervousness vanished and was replaced by shock.
He had only been fighting Shang for two weeks, and he felt like he had made no progress. Whenever Shang actually tried fighting, Lash was helpless.
However, when Lash saw these three barbarians, it was like he was looking at inexperienced children.
They were essentially begging to be punched.
And they all went down without a problem.
The other barbarians grew enraged and charged at Lash. Now, they were not slowly and threateningly walking towards him but directly charging at him.
At that moment, Lash thought back to Shang's lessons.
'When you are fighting multiple people, the only way to win is to not get surrounded and force them into very short one-on-one fights.'
Lash took a quick step forward and kicked one of them in the abdomen. At the same time, he used his own kick to gain some distance.
The barbarian was thrown into the distance, and Lash retreated as the others approached.
Lash went to the outermost barbarian and kicked him too before retreating.
An experienced group of soldiers or warriors would not brainlessly charge at such a powerful enemy. Instead, they would encircle him from a great distance and slowly close in.
If the strong enemy went to attack one of them, the two to their side would strike from the side, and the others would quickly encircle the enemy.
However, these barbarians had never been in such a fight.
They had only fought other barbarians very directly via wrestling or fought solitary beasts in a very direct manner.
Because of that, Lash managed to take out every single one of them.
Eventually, the tall leader of the barbarians arrived, and he looked at Lash with narrowed eyes.
Lash was conducting himself shamefully!
He wasn't allowing any of the barbarians to show their strength!
However, he still charged at Lash.
In his mind, he was stronger than Lash. Therefore, Lash couldn't possibly win.
He was very confident.
Lash saw the barbarian that had defeated him previously approach, but he wasn't nervous.
The tall barbarian was only slightly more threatening than the others, which still counted as harmless to the current him.
Lash hadn't planned on it, but at this moment, he decided to show off a bit.
He had seen Shang perform this attack only once, but he hadn't used it himself.
Shang had shown this attack as an example of something that's extremely effective if the enemy doesn't know it or see it coming, but absolutely horrible if they knew what was coming.
Shang had called it a "fancy newbie killer".
This attack could be likened to a scholar's mate in chess, useless against anyone that knew the basics, but very effective against inexperienced people.
As the tall barbarian approached, Lash changed his stance to stand sideways to his opponent.
Then, he jumped and spun so that the leg showing away from the opponent spun around his back to hit them in the chest.
It was a jump spinning back kick.
Any experienced fighter could simply throw the leg to the side, which would result in the enemy having their back turned to him, which would be devastating to them.
But the tall barbarian wasn't experienced.
BANG!
The kick hit the tall barbarian's head, and he flew into the distance.
The barbarians lying on the ground watched with shock as their leader was thrown into the distance.
BANG!
The leader hit the ground hard, and he didn't move.
This kick completely knocked him out.
There were also a couple of other barbarians near the edge of the camp who were watching in shock.
Obviously, not every single barbarian had gotten involved.
However, Lash had still taken care of around ten barbarians on his own, which was quite impressive.
The barbarian that had lost against their leader had returned two weeks later, and he had been invincible amongst the entire Tribe.
Now, Lash stood alone in the middle of the camp.
"Strength is only a part of power," Lash said to the camp. "Your leader is strong, but he is not powerful."
"He might be stronger, but right now, he is unconsciously lying on the ground while I stand here."
"If I wanted to, I could kill him right now."
"If I wanted to, I could kill all of you."
"You might think my conduct is disrespectful…"
"But when you are dead and I stand above your corpse, will you be happy?"
"When I get to survive and you die, will you be happy?"
Silence.
"Shameful!"
"Shameful!"
"Shameful!"
Nearly all the barbarians began to shout in unison.
"Disrespect!"
"Coward!"
"Cheater!"
This went against all barbarian traditions!
Such a person was no barbarian!
Lash was not a barbarian!
BANG!
Lash went to one of them and kicked their head, knocking them out.
Several others gritted their teeth in anger and charged at Lash.
This time, everyone got involved.
The following fight was not easy for Lash, but thanks to Shang's training, he still managed to take care of every single one of them.
And eventually, silence returned.
No one was shouting anything anymore.
"Think what you want," Lash announced to the silent camp. "I might be shameful. I might be disrespectful."
"And yet, you are on the ground, helpless, and I am standing victorious."
"You are dead."
"I am alive."
This time, nobody answered.
"If anyone desires power, you can find me outside."
"I don't follow a strong leader."
"I follow a powerful leader."
And with that said, Lash left the camp.
For a while, none of the barbarians said anything.
But after a while, outrage and arguing erupted in the camp.
Most of the barbarians didn't believe in Lash's words and denounced him.
Others remained silent, not sure what they should think.
And a few of them argued for Lash.
The arguing continued for a long while.
