Chapter 882: Conflict and Radiance (Part II)

Facing the sharp spear thrusting directly at him, Jier was not afraid.

He hummed, and the blade of the long sword he had held close to his waist immediately burst forth with a short but intense flash of bright light.

The white light, imbued with the Sun God Divine Power, was controlled by Jier to radiate only toward the head and face of the Dwarf Soldier Captain in front of him; this was not only beyond everyone's expectations, but it also minimized the consumption of the Divine Power stored within the weapon.

In other words, the opportunities he had to use this move in a single battle increased. Since he first obtained the Hunting Sword last year, the blinding white light it released could only provide him with one or two decisive opportunities per battle; while that was already remarkable, it was still far inferior to what he could do now.

After all, through a period of practice and familiarization, Jier had been able to integrate the blinding white light into his combat martial arts, which could be considered an improvement in his tactical capabilities during battle, right?

The white light bloomed, yet it was projected from the tip of the sword like a flashlight, and under the adjustment of Jier's wrist, it accurately struck the head and face of the Dwarf Soldier Captain, arriving first despite being launched later.

In an instant, the Dwarf saw only a sheet of white light before his eyes; despite it being the pitch-black dead of night, he was so dazzled by the radiance that he could see nothing at all.

Perhaps, extreme brightness and extreme darkness are the same result when it comes to obscuring the vision of sentient beings?

The next moment, Jier's figure dodged forward, easily letting the spear that had missed him from his side pass by, and he took two quick steps along the shaft of the spear, closing in on the Dwarf Soldier Captain.

He swung his long sword, grazing the Dwarf's chest.

Sparks flew everywhere, briefly illuminating the surroundings like a torch.

Jier frowned as the Dwarf was knocked flying to the ground.

He frowned because the blade had only grazed the opponent's chest; not only did it fail to cut through the opponent's armor, but it didn't even leave a small nick on the surface of the armor, causing at most a slight scratch.

The Dwarf fell to the ground because, although he was not injured by the Human's weapon, the force of this Human Knight was astonishingly great, and he had been knocked down entirely by the impact of the blow.

"I'm fine! Watch out for his weapon, it's heavy! Very heavy!"

As soon as the Dwarf Soldier Captain hit the ground, he rolled to the side and immediately stood up to warn the other soldiers.

The Dwarf soldiers quickly surrounded Jier from behind, forming a crude encirclement of one in front and four behind, but Jier did not care; he simply held his sword in one hand while his other hand traced back and forth over the edge of his long sword, as if checking the wear on the blade.

Shaking his head, Jier cursed under his breath. Because even with his metal gauntlet on, when his fingers brushed against the blade, he could clearly feel that the edge of the long sword had suffered more wear from that single blow than it had in the previous months of fighting.

After a moment of thought, he looked at the cautious Dwarf Soldier Captain in front of him, his eyes sweeping over the Dwarf armor that covered most of the opponent's body.

It had to be said that the armor of these soldiers, both in terms of coverage and hardness, far exceeded that of the Dwarf warriors he had fought during the day. And since the armor of ordinary Dwarf warriors was already absurdly sturdy and thick, it seemed that these Dwarf soldiers in front of him could not be dealt with using ordinary methods.

It seemed the arrangements he had made earlier had not been in vain and should come in handy just right.

After making his decision, Jier actively broke the current stillness, looked left and right, judged their current fighting position, and took the initiative to swing his sword and attack the opponent.

The Dwarf Soldier Captain, not wanting to be knocked to the ground again, shouted loudly and swung his spear with all his might, forcing the pressing Human enemy back. Seeing the soldiers still gathered together to launch an attack, he commanded: "Spread out! This guy's weapon can't hurt us! Spread out and fight! Use your weapons to attack the opponent's weak points in defense!"

The soldiers immediately scattered, surrounding Jier in a wider, looser formation. At the same time, using the tacit understanding from their usual training, they attacked the Human Knight from the left, right, front, and back, one after another or simultaneously, just to make the opponent flustered and create gaps in his defense through his panic.

A spear thrust from the left; Jier parried with his sword while moving his feet to the right, widening the distance from the enemy on the left.

A spear thrust from the right; Jier did not have time to swing his sword to parry the attack from the right, so he stepped back to the left, rotating his waist clockwise to reduce the distance and angle needed for his long sword to parry to the right.

The next moment, Dwarves attacked from both front and back simultaneously.

Jier gauged the direction and took the initiative to use an attack toward the south to open up the distance from the enemies; although the two Dwarves' spears had a long reach, their short legs were a weakness, meaning every strike fell short of a Human's reach, and they had to run with small, quick steps to keep up with Jier's movement.

But Jier's two steps, one with each foot, were worth four steps of a Dwarf scurrying back and forth to catch up.

"Ha, short-legged runts!" Jier mocked.

This remark infuriated all the Dwarves present, not because Jier's words were particularly nasty, but simply because the experience on the battlefield at that moment made all the Dwarves realize that the opponent was not wrong about anything.

This only made them even angrier.

Today, they had to use the weapons in their hands to poke this annoying Human Knight to death!

"Chase! Chase him!" Gritting his teeth, the Dwarf Soldier Captain issued the order, pointing at the Human who was already running with small steps ahead.

The soldiers responded in silence, following behind the Soldier Captain with their spears leveled in pursuit.

One fleeing and one chasing, the two groups quickly passed through the ruins of the Dwarf Residence and ran to the area behind where the buildings were still relatively intact.

In the ruins of the Dwarf Residence, three ordinary Dwarf warriors who had done nothing looked at each other, not knowing whether they should follow.

The Dwarf warrior carrying a hammer exhaled and spat: "Follow them! It looks like that Human Knight is no match for the soldiers, and I don't want to miss this battle that is bound to be sung about!"

"Right!" another Dwarf warrior added: "As expected, the soldiers are the ones worth relying on! All the various things organized by others usually turn into soft wood the moment they meet a tough opponent, and can be smashed with a single punch."

The last Dwarf warrior shook his head: "Soft wood looks like ordinary timber on the surface, but it cannot be used as support wood in a mine at all, precisely because it cannot support weight."

Carrying his hammer on his shoulder, the first Dwarf warrior to speak said finally: "Only when pressure comes can one distinguish who is hardwood and who is soft wood. Let's go, let's catch up quickly."

Subsequently, the three Dwarf warriors maintained their small combat formation, bypassed the collapsed Dwarf Residence, and followed the sounds of weapons clashing and impacts from behind the cover of the buildings ahead.

"Put your backs into it! Force him into the narrow path between the two buildings!"

The Dwarf Soldier Captain, while swinging his spear and smashing it forward from top to bottom, loudly commanded the soldiers in Dwarven Language.

Jier could not understand what the opponent was saying, but just from the way the soldiers were closing in from front and back, he could see their intentions.

Rolling his eyes, Jier truly felt that these Dwarves lacked creativity in battle and possessed no spirit in combat.

Too rigid.

To the left and right were a slightly damaged stone Dwarf Residence and a Human wooden house built of wood and mud; it looked like Jier was surrounded by Dwarf soldiers three in front and two behind, but in reality, this place could not trap him at all.

These Dwarf soldiers were still viewing the combat environment from the perspective of ordinary people; even though Dwarves were several times stronger than Humans, in common sense, they still could not break through the barriers and obstructions of buildings.

Dwarf Residences built with stone bricks were of course very sturdy, and unless one used a Heavy Weapon to smash down on the floorboards to destroy them, only the earth-shaking tremors from 'Shishou' that afternoon could destroy an ordinary Dwarf Residence.

But the problem was, the fact that Human wooden houses had better shock resistance did not mean they were sturdy or solid.

The two-finger-thick wooden planks and the dry, thick mud plastered on the outer wall of the first floor of the house could not stop any of Jier's impacts at all. Therefore, the Dwarf soldiers' front-and-back encirclement, which they believed left the Human Knight with nowhere to run, was actually full of flaws.

It was full of openings.

"Kill! All at once!"

The Dwarf Soldier Captain shouted excitedly, and then the five Dwarves launched an attack toward the center simultaneously; the long spear shafts sliced through the air, intending to follow the Human Knight's movements and pierce him through!

But Jier simply sprinted to the right, turned his body, and used the armor on his shoulder to ram into the first-floor wall of the Human house.

Boom!

The thick mud outer wall, used for insulation and pest control, was directly shattered, and the wooden planks behind it did not hold out for even a moment longer; they immediately followed the fate of the mud wall, being smashed into a large hole half a person's height, allowing Jier to crash inside.

"Huh?" Watching their successful encirclement being broken just like that, the Dwarf Soldier Captain stomped his feet in anger, tucked away his spear that had missed, and stared blankly at the other soldiers.

"Really... really useless! How can a Human house be so flimsy?"

Muttering a complaint, the Captain of the Soldiers steadied the Spear in his hand and thrust it through the wall of the Human house, which had already been smashed open with a large hole.

It was pitch black inside the hole, even deeper and darker than the night outside, so he certainly wouldn't risk going in to fight; besides, they all used long weapons and should only fight in open environments—who would be stupid enough to fight a Human Knight in a cramped space?

"Ha!" With a thrust of the Spear, the tip poked more than a meter into the large hole, but it hit nothing at all.

Retracting the Spear and stepping back, the Captain of the Soldiers jerked his head at his companions, and so, with two men standing guard, two other Soldiers also leveled their Spears, and the next moment, they followed the Captain of the Soldiers and thrust them toward the wall of the Human house.

That's right, this time none of the three attempted to attack through the hole that had already been smashed open; instead, after judging the thickness of the Human house, they thrust directly at the wall next to the large hole.

They suspected that the Human Knight was hiding behind the wall to the side, waiting to ambush them.

Pfft, pfft, pfft—the sharp and heavy Spears instantly pierced the rather thin wall of the house, leaving three fist-sized holes in the already crumbling mud exterior wall.

But there was still no movement.

That shouldn't be; the Dwarf Soldiers guarding the sides hadn't seen anyone come out or escape from either side of the Human house—how could such a tall, large Human Knight crash into the house and then just fall silent?

Doubt began to creep into their hearts.

But then, as he retracted his Spear, the Soldier who had thrust at the right side of the wall keenly noticed that the Dwarf Rune on the tip of his Spear was gradually glowing; the Dwarf Rune with the Sharp effect had been activated after coming into contact with blood!

"He's over here! My Spear's rune has been activated! He's wounded!"

The Soldier was a middle-aged Dwarf, and even this usually steady fellow began to shout excitedly because of this discovery.

The Captain of the Dwarf Soldiers made a prompt decision and immediately commanded in the Dwarven Language: "Everyone! Attack this spot!"

The five Dwarves immediately leveled their Spears and thrust them fiercely into the wall in that direction.

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft—the five did not all aim at the same spot, but instead separated by a small distance, leaving space in advance just in case the wounded Human Knight had moved.

This time, not only did they attack together, but after the Spears penetrated the wall, they thrust even deeper, also to prevent the Human Knight from dodging backward to avoid the attack range.

"Die!" the Captain of the Soldiers shouted.

Silence enveloped the street and also enveloped the few Dwarf Soldiers; they looked at each other, not knowing whether they had actually finished off the enemy or not.

"Did we get him?" someone couldn't help but ask.

"We must have, right? How could that armor withstand the thrusting of our weapons?" someone replied.

"But why were there no cries of pain or wailing?" someone raised a doubt.

Someone immediately provided an 'answer': "He must have had his head smashed to pieces and died instantly! It must be that!"

The Captain of the Dwarf Soldiers looked left and right and said disdainfully: "Why guess? He's just a Human Knight; what kind of Monster haven't we fought? What could be different about this enemy? If he gets stabbed in the body, he'll bleed; if he gets stabbed in a vital spot, he'll die! Remember who you are! You are the guard Soldiers of the Treasure Mine! You are the regular armed forces of the Kingdom! Not some strange civilian organization."

"All of you, be more confident! Listen to me, pull the Spears back. If he's dead, the spearheads will be bloody, and the runes on the weapons will activate on their own. If he isn't dead, where could he possibly escape to? We'll just do it again."

He finished speaking in one breath without ceremony, and as he finished, he prepared to pull out his Spear.

But he tried, and it wouldn't budge.

Seeming a bit embarrassed, he defended himself by saying: "I must have killed him; it must be stuck."

So, the Captain of the Dwarf Soldiers tried even harder, but still couldn't pull the Spear out even a fraction.

This was somewhat strange.

He looked left and right; without needing to be told, the four Dwarf Soldiers immediately tried to pull back the Spears they had thrust into the wall of the Human house.

"Heh-er—"

"Ha—chuh—"

"Heh—ha, strange."

"Hng—"

The few Dwarf Soldiers all used their full strength, but the weapons they usually wielded as easily as their own arms now felt as if they were embedded in the wall made of fragile mud and wood on the other side.

Extremely strange.

Cold sweat slid down the side of the Captain of the Soldiers' nose and finally landed on his beard, but he had no energy to wipe it away; he used all his strength, and his feet were almost slipping on the dry ground, but the weapon still wouldn't move, unable to be retracted.

"￥%￥, it's a ghost!"

A Dwarf shouted, but was immediately kicked by the Captain of the Soldiers.

Then the Captain of the Dwarf Soldiers pointed at this loose-lipped Dwarf Soldier: "You, go inside and show everyone what exactly is going on!"

Upon hearing this, the Dwarf Soldier was immediately covered in cold sweat, not knowing whether to go or stay.

Fortunately, the subsequent change saved him.

Inside the first floor of the house, which had been smashed with a hole half a person's height and poked with many holes by the Dwarf Spears, many pieces of livestock were lying on the floor of the foul-smelling house. A mottled Plowing Ox lay by the wall at the deepest part of the room, its large bovine eyes rolling back in the pitch-black environment, and drool was flowing from the mouth of the unconscious Plowing Ox onto the ground.

Besides this, several Farm Pigs of various sizes were also lying on their backs on the dirty, smelly floor of the house.

The poor animals were not dead; it was neither Jier who killed them, nor the Dwarves who stabbed them to death. It was simply that after Jier crashed into the first floor of the house, which the Farmer used as a livestock pen, he had casually punched them unconscious as soon as he stood up.

At this moment, in a corner of the dim, lightless room, Jier was using his arms to clamp onto the five Dwarf Spears, three on the left and two on the right.

He didn't foolishly grab the sharp spearheads, but instead chose the connection point behind the sharp spearheads. Not only were there no sharp edges here, but the spear shafts were also exceptionally rough, giving him enough friction to hold onto them.

In fact, from just now until this moment, the situation that had the Dwarves suspicious was simply him holding onto the Spears behind the wall and refusing to let go. He held the Spears firmly and engaged in a tug-of-war with the Dwarves who were trying to take them back.

Fighting five with one, he did not fall behind in the slightest.

One must know that a Dwarf's strength is three times that of an average Human; with five Dwarves exerting force at the same time, it was equivalent to Jier currently playing tug-of-war with at least fifteen Humans.

This was almost impossible!

One must know that in a tug-of-war, what matters is not just strength, but also the weight of both parties and the friction with the ground.

It was almost impossible for Jier to play tug-of-war against five armored, sturdy Dwarves based on his current body weight; no matter how strong he was, the moment both sides exerted force, he would be pulled over by the other side.

However, when he grabbed the Spears the Dwarves had thrust in and wanted to seize them, Jier's clever brain thought of this point. Of course, this was thanks to the experience he had gained from sparring empty-handed with the Militia every day in the army during the southern campaign in Kendall.

Therefore, in order to stand firm and successfully grab the Dwarves' Spears, Jier had thrust the tip of his Hunting Sword into the ground, and then he braced his feet horizontally against the sturdy sword body, which was emitting a faint white light, to fix his position.

Ever since the Hunting Sword was remelted and forged, Jier had discovered that his Long Sword had not only become a Spirit weapon that killed enemies in battle, possessing the special ability to be summoned at will and dismissed at a wave, but beyond that, it also possessed a skill he couldn't understand at all.

Once the Hunting Sword was thrust into the ground, unless Jier actively summoned it back, this Long Sword could hardly be moved even a little bit from the ground.

Before today, Jier had never known how much power his weapon had in this regard. This time, Jier understood: at the very least, the strength of five Dwarves, or at least fifteen Humans, was unable to shake it.

It was nailed to the ground, and the others couldn't move it even a fraction.