Although Zaos had planned to end that as fast as possible, it seemed that he made a mistake. When it comes to that poison, the more energy you spend, the more you lose. So, after enhancing his body just two times, he was already out of mana. To make matters worse, he still had to deal with three hundred more soldiers all the way to the other side of the formation. However, despite that, he could see two men watching everything in the distance. There was no telling. They were the commanders. One was young and seemed pretty confident, and the other was past his prime, but it seemed like he was also a troublesome mercenary.

"Bastards…" Zaos said and then bit his lips.

  Zaos couldn't complain since he fell for their trap. They had planned everything in order to take Zaos and his unit out of the picture since they were the unknown factor that could determine the end of the battle. That was why they strengthened their right-wing and used their siege weapons on his men. It was also why they created that special heavy armored battalion with poisoned weapons. The poison would make their vital energy being drained, and the heavy cavalry would help with that. Although they were slow, they would last longer, and their spears could surpass most defenses.

  Without his magic, Zaos still was a troublesome warrior, but he wasn't a monster. So, the mercenaries felt pretty eager to attack him. Their fame would skyrocket by slaying a young hero, after all.

  His hot head put him in a bad spot, so Zaos decided that it was time to put that kind of attitude aside, even though the enemies were concentrating all his resources in crushing him. Instead of running toward the enemy like a mad dog, Zaos assumed his tail guard and waited for them. That was probably a way to counter the poison: focus on counter-attacking.

  As if they had been ordered to do that all the time, three horsemen moved to attack him at the same time. Zaos waited until the last moment, but when he swung his sword, even without magic, no one saw his blade. When they saw what happened, Zaos's sword was already in a resting position on his left side, and the enemies had been split in half.

Your Counterattack Technique has reached level 01

Your Counterattack Technique has reached level 02

  It was no wonder Zaos never learned. It wasn't his style to focus on counterattacking, after all. However, he could tell that such skill didn't only increase his stamina. Just like the others, it increased the effectiveness of his technique. Even though he cut down three men and their horses while they were wearing heavy armor, he didn't expend as much strength as he would have without mana. In fact, he never did something like that without mana before.

  Regardless, it wasn't time to worry about that. The next enemies were approaching Zaos, and he did the exact same thing as before. He waited until the very last moment and let his strength explode when the enemy's spears were about to hit him. After deflecting the weapons, Zaos killed the riders.

  Since that happened two times, the enemies knew that it wasn't a fluke. Zaos wasn't moving as fast, and as wildly as before, so they could tell that he wasn't using magic… so, they couldn't understand how he could be that fearsome without magic.

  The heavy cavalry hesitated, and that gave room for the mages and archers to attack them. However, they still had their armor and big shields to protect themselves, so that attack only disrupted their formation slightly.

"If you aren't going to attack, then I am going after you," Zaos said.

Zaos took some slow steps forward. While it didn't seem much, anyone could tell that even while he was moving, Zaos was ready to attack. Some people only realized that when three riders tried to attack him from his left side. Zaos put all his strength on his left foot after turning around and then counterattacked. This time, he didn't only split the enemies and the horses in half. He also made their bodies fly for several meters.

Your Counterattack Technique has reached level 03

Your Counterattack Technique has reached level 04

"What is wrong with that kind?"

"The commander said that all his strength comes from magic, but he is without magic right now…"

"Could he be truly a monster?"

  The mercenaries began to think that their commanders sent them to the place where they were going to lose their lives instead of taking the head of a single young captain. 

"Charge! Let's give them hell!" Cohnal shouted.

  Usually, Zaos was supposed to be the one to give that kind of order, but he was too busy keeping himself focused. Regardless, while the mercenaries were hesitating, the soldiers attacked them. Although it was weird, Zaos led them on foot since he wasn't confident in counter attacking while he rode Moody.

---- ----

"What the hell is wrong with that kid?" Luvon asked. "Even though he has been poisoned by the Ethereal Tears, he still can fight like that?"

  Ethereal Tears was the name of the poison they cultivated secretly. That was why those two decided to work together, and that was why he already was commander of ten thousand men despite his young age. He discovered the effects of a certain plant a few years ago and then immediately put them to good use in the battlefields. In any case, they could see that the poison was working on some soldiers since they fell down on the ground without being attacked because of exhaustion. However, even without his horse, Zaos was still moving forward.

"Interesting, that kid is really something else… he figured out a way to deal with a very nasty poison," Camus smiled despite the fact that their elite mercenaries were being defeated. "We need to capture him alive and then use him in our army."

"I find it hard to believe that he will join us that easily," Luvon said. "Not to mention, he killed so many of our men and is making his mission harder by the minute."

"This is just a small step, Luvon," Camus said. "Besides, we can always use the followers of the demon god to brainwash him."