In just a few moments that passed since their attacked out barrier, one of them is already turned into nourishment for the flora with his blood turning the ground around his horse damp. While the remaining duo is still alive, it's hard to tell that they are in a far better state!

"What happ…"

While the one I smashed into the ground is trying to get up on his wobbly legs, I can see that he is unable to understand how did their attack fail to do us any harm. I guess bullies are always like that. As long as they are the one in the seat of strength, everything is alright. But if someone dares to overthrow them and show them their place, their entire worldview and confidence crumble in an instant!

"State who you are and why did you attack us and I might consider sparing your life. Every moment of hesitation will cost you one limb though!"

While I don't really have an intention to bully them even more, I need to maintain my stern attitude. If they notice how much do I want to puke my guts out, they might consider this an opening! Not only would I put Eve's and mine safety in jeopardy in this way, even if they failed to do us any harm, but I would also be forced to take yet another one or two lives.

Closing on the unfortunate cultivator slowly unburying his head from the ground, I kick him in the ribs, kindly helping him to get out of the mud in this way. Looking at the look of pain and wrath on his face, he can't even appreciate my honest efforts!

"How dare you make a move against the mighty demonic sword se…."

Just as this random small fry was about to utter some costly nonsense, he finally noticed the corpse of his comadre lying headless on the ground. With his words instantly stuck to the back of his throat, he couldn't' help but swallow his saliva in a sudden bout of fright. While this is a world where strong prevails and strength remains supreme, killing and getting killed might not be as much of an event as it was back in the earth after both great wars ended, the sight of one's fellow cultivator getting insta-killed can't be easy to digest no-matter the circumstances!

Noticing a sudden fright in his eyes, I use all my speed to catch his hand, but I'm still a fraction of the second too late. Just before I manage to take control of his hands, he manages to pull some token out of his storage ring and crush it within his palm!

As I jumped at him, I'm instantly repelled by a strange barrier that appeared around his entire body! While it managed to throw me back at first, I would rather account it to the element of surprise instead of this token prowess. Unwilling to make any more blunders like that, I simply take a swing and smash my fist against this strange barrier!

While fighting without a weapon might not by my forte with all the focus that I directed at levelling the executioner path, I still have the warrior monk one, allowing me to at least pretend like I'm proficient in barehanded skirmishes!

But who could've known that while the shimmering light surrounding the aggressor flicker a bit under the pressure of my attack, it still manages to repeal my hand! I guess it's time to stop playing around and act my part properly!

Taking turning the windslord in my right-hand back o classic forward grip, I observe the barrier for a bit. I don't know what other little tricks does this guy have, so I need to make sure I can both eradicate his defences and kill him in one fluid move. Taking a look at the last of our enemies still holding his throat with evergrowing desperation and fear on his face, I take the swing.

Flush!

Before I even manage to strike, I change the direction of my slash to defend against a sudden presence that appeared on the border of my perception! If not for Eve constantly maintaining a big sphere of thin threads of our energy, I would be unable to react at all! Only by feeling the disturbance at the very end of our energy field did I manage to turn my position into one suitable for repealing the sudden attack from yet another enemy!

CLANG!

As our swords collide, I feel an insane power pushing me back in an instant! With my mind turning completly clear in this moment of danger, I execute my devious sidestep, giving up on trying to hold off this powerfull strength, allowing this sudden enemy sword to simply slide on the edge of my blade. With my weapon friend any my body already moving parallel to this foreign expert, I can only watch with content as my sword plunged into his body!

BREAK!

Just as I thought before, if the opponent is strong or experienced enough, this kind of ability won't let me win the entire fight, but from the new colour of the blood appearing on the tip of my sword, I can say for sure that I managed to land a hit!

"Blop!"

"Thanks to sufficient accumulation of experience, host reaches the fourth stage of executioner path!"

"Due to the urgent situation, the host is recognised to be in need of a boost. Do you want to temporarily unlock the next stage of the path?"

"Cost: 100 attribution points"

"Do you wish to proceed?"

Ugh. While I'm glad that I managed to reach another level, this greedy system is making things hard for me as always! My current opponent might be a bit weaker than Pengu when it comes to a raw strenght, but I can already see that he is far more dangerous than my old pal! With his decisive strikes and lack of hesitation in any of his moves, I can see that he is someone who went through a lot of real-life or death fights in his life already!

"Yes, I want to proceed!"

In times like that, there is no place for hesitation. Just like his moves managed to almost reach my vitals thanks to his decisiveness, if I don't take this matter seriously, I might be unable to shoulder the consequences! I prefer to curse my excessive carefulness later on that hate myself for not doing so while lying in a pool of my own blood!

"Blop!"

"The 'Predator's mindset' ability activated!"