The old man then grabbed the sword.
If he was going to die, he thought that he would try his best in dragging soone down with him.
His eyes darted across the crowd, searching for a weak target. Perhaps a 4th Rank, or soone important in the tribe, or even close to Ash.
He shifted his stance, but Old Ni did not rush as he simply looked at the old man calmly and began walking forward.
The old 5th Rank raised his sword, intending to strike first, but before he could even complete the motion, Old Ni instantly activated his (Sword Domain) skill.
The air in the surroundings seed to sink.
An invisible pressure rolled across the surroundings, but only the Old man felt it, as he felt that his movent was restricted by a whole 50%.
In that instant, Old Ni imdiately made his move as he vanished into thin air.
The old man’s pupil shrank.
Unfortunately for him, before he could even react, Old Ni had already appeared behind him.
A cold blade slid cleanly across his neck. Then, his head separated from his body.
It flew upward briefly, spinning once in the air before crashing onto the ground several ters away.
His body stood for half a second before collapsing with a thud.
"...."
Ash blinked a few tis, feeling speechless, as he had told him to torture that old bastard a little. Instead, it ended in a single strike.
"I told you to torture him for a little bit." Ash rolled his eyes and shook his head helplessly.
"Oh?" Old Ni paused mid-step and blinked as if just rembering sothing important.
He then scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I forgot."
The contrast between the terrifying execution and his absent-minded reaction made several warriors almost choke.
Ash stared at him for two seconds before waving his hand dismissively. "It’s fine."
He glanced at the stunned faces of the tribe mbers.
In truth, this outco might be better since they had just witnessed their War Chief eliminate a 5th Rank in one clean movent.
Well, it wasn’t like they knew about the fact that the old man was the weakest kind of 5th Rank. That was precisely why Old Ni could kill him so effortlessly.
"Soone clean these up." Ash said, then clapped to get everyone’s attention.
Clap!
"Let’s move to the next topic since I still have so things to say because a lot of things have happened today." Ash glanced at everyone with a faint smile as he continued. "First of all, we’ve managed to subjugate a dozen tribes, and most of them were strong ones that had multiple 4th Ranks."
The crowd turned into an uproar when they heard it, as they had never expected that in less than a day the subjugation team would manage to subjugate that many tribes.
"Silence!" Ash twitched his eyes a little bit and continued when the crowd imdiately beca silent at Ash’s word. "Second of all, as you already know, Kargan took control of the stronghold while we were away. That was because he saw the opportunity when we were trapped inside a Red Gate — 5th Rank Dungeon. And because of his actions, I paid an extrely high price that could’ve been avoided if he didn’t do so."
"Anyway, let’s not talk about it further." Ash waved his hand before continuing with a smile. "What matters the most is that we’ve cleared the Red Gate — 5th Rank Dungeon and received a huge reward. Unfortunately, it didn’t drop any card, scroll, or orb, but we still managed to mine a few thousand 5th-rank energy crystals."
The crowd gasped since they didn’t know the details, especially about the fact that Ash and the others were trapped inside a Red Gate — 5th Rank Dungeon.
"That’s why you guys need to work hard in building more houses for the newcor that will co sooner or later. As for the walls, just ignore it for the ti being." Ash’s eyes swept across the crowd, and he finally rembered sothing.
"One last thing... All of the 3rd Ranks are to rest and prepare themselves because in an hour, I will hold a competition, and the top five will be rewarded with helping you to upgrade their ranks tomorrow." He said with a smile.
The 3rd Ranks instantly beca excited, as this was going to be their life-changing opportunity because most of their missions were hard to complete, and it was going to take a while for them to complete. Let alone the chance of them being noticed by Ash, it was sothing worthwhile in itself.
Not only that, but the chance of them not being able to complete their own mission was quite high, and they would need to make contributions to the tribe if they wanted Ash to upgrade their ranks with his power.
"Alright, that’s all I want to say for now." Ash waved his hand and dismissed everyone except for the 5th Ranks.
After the crowd dispersed, Ash looked at Old Ni and said. "Please handle the competition and tell if there’s anything wrong because I want to take a rest now."
He just wanted to rest now that everything was over, since he also needed to wait for the system to be upgraded and fresh his mind.
At the rate he calculated, it would take until around midnight for the system to finish the upgrade.
"Always stay alert since we don’t know what will happen now that we killed the old man. Report to imdiately if sothing happened." Ash looked at the 5th Ranks.
Even though the old man’s background was not worth ntioning since he was from the strongest tribe in this region, which only has two 5th Ranks, the ghost knew what would happen since he now had the thought of thinking about the worst-case scenario after the dungeon accidents.
Subsequently, Ash ca back to his house and slept, as he was exhausted ntally.
The sun had already dipped lower when Old Ni led the 3rd Ranks out of the stronghold.
They did not hold the competition inside the walls. Instead, they moved toward the wide adow a few hundred ters away.
The adow was vast and slightly uneven, with patches of tall grass swaying under the evening breeze. The scent of earth lingered faintly in the air.
The 3rd Ranks stood in a loose formation. So were from the original Ragh’Tal Tribe. So were from the newly subjugated tribes.
Tension lingered between them, as this competition was more than a simple ranking.
Old Ni stood at the center with his sword resting against his shoulder.
His sharp eyes swept across them.
"The rules are simple..." He said calmly. "No killing. Yield if you cannot continue. If you ignore that and die, that is your own stupidity."
"You are competing for five spots." He pointed at them one by one. "Show your worth."
The first match began imdiately.
Two burly n clashed head-on—one wielding a heavy axe, the other a spear. The axe user relied on brute force, swinging in wide arcs that cut through grass and dirt alike. The spear user moved more cautiously, thrusting and retreating, using footwork to maintain distance.
After several exchanges, the spear pierced the axe wielder’s thigh, forcing him to drop to one knee.
"Yield," Old Ni said flatly.
The axe user gritted his teeth before finally nodding.
The next match featured a lean archer against a dagger wielder.
The archer attempted to maintain distance, releasing arrows rapidly, but the dagger user zigzagged across the field unpredictably. An arrow grazed his shoulder, yet he continued forward. Once he closed the gap, the archer was forced to surrender after a blade pressed against his throat.
Match after match unfolded.
So ended swiftly with overwhelming dominance. Others dragged on with careful maneuvering and tactical exchanges.
A staff user demonstrated remarkable control, sweeping an opponent’s legs and disarming him without inflicting serious injury.
A shield and short sword combination, outlasting his opponent through superior endurance.
Gradually, the number of competitors lessened.
After a series of eliminations, the final match for the last qualifying spot drew everyone’s attention.
Two n stepped forward.
One was from the original Ragh’Tal Tribe, a sword user. The other was from the forr Mirefang Tribe, a saber wielder with sharp eyes.
Old Ni stepped back and made a wave gesture as he moved his hand down. "Begin."
The clash was imdiate as steel t steel with a sharp ringing sound.
The Ragh’Tal swordsman adopted a balanced stance, his blade straight and precise. His movents were controlled, each strike calculated rather than rushed.
The Mirefang saber user fought differently. His saber curved like a fang, and his movents were aggressive and relentless. He pressed forward with rapid slashes, testing defenses from multiple angles.
The Ragh’Tal warrior parried the first few strikes cleanly, stepping back only when necessary.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Their weapons sparked under the fading sunlight.
The saber user suddenly feinted left before pivoting sharply to the right, aiming for the ribs. The sword user reacted quickly, blocking and countering with a thrust aid at the throat.
The Mirefang warrior twisted his body sideways, the blade barely grazing his cheek.
He smiled, and instead of retreating, he charged forward.
Their blades locked briefly, and they were close enough to see each other’s breathing.
"You’re a steady one." The saber user said softly.
The sword user replied calmly. "You’re quite aggressive."
They broke apart as they stepped back at a distance. This ti, the Ragh’Tal swordsman took the initiative.
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