Chapter 58: Fangs
Andre sprinted through the night.
Blazing flames burned along his forearms, making him appear like a torch darting across the darkness.
At this moment, with the Chief Knight Commander of the Kasein Family, Dean Seath, making his move, the thunderous sonic boom had already awakened all the residents of Red Soil City.
Ordinary people, mistaking it for a natural disaster, plunged into panic; while the Bloodline Users, from that white gale that seemed to tear apart the starry night sky, felt a terrifying bloodline aura, causing them to fall into even greater panic than the commoners, precisely because the more they understood and perceived it, the more they realized the insurmountable, horrifying gap.
At this moment, all of Red Soil City was engulfed in an unspeakable terror.
As this fear spread, the city swiftly descended into complete chaos.
Now, nearly everyone was solely focused on survival, no one still thought of holding Red Soil City.
Before, they had dared to defend the city with their lives only because of the lord’s promises and because their lives were at stake, especially given how heinous the village massacre had been.
Moreover, they had personally seen that the enemy numbered less than a thousand; so long as they stood united, they believed the enemy would never break through the city.
But now, everything has changed.
The gate had fallen.
Thus, Andre dared to dash through the city without hiding his identity as a Bloodline User, because the entire Red Soil City had descended into such great disorder that their unity and resolve to resist the enemy had collapsed. No one would now risk their life to stop him.
Moreover, to prevent these lowborn scum from getting bold, Andre had held back nothing from the very beginning.
A single punch of his ignited a blaze that blasted apart more than a dozen Red Soil City residents who stood in his way, terrifying the others into fleeing like headless flies.
Andre’s task wasn’t complicated.
Dean had ordered him, once inside the city, to immediately secure one of the escape routes and issue a signal upon detecting the presence of Bloodline Users from the Antre Family, based on their numbers and strength, to prevent any of them from fleeing Red Soil City.
"Whoosh—"
A sharp tearing of air suddenly rang out.
Andre instantly swung his arm across.
Scorching flames unfurled before him like a painting scroll, engulfing the arrow launched at him from the shadows of the night.
"Clang—"
The arrow failed to strike Andre, its wooDean shaft entirely consumed in the sweeping flames. Only a small half-melted arrowhead clattered to the ground with a crisp sound.
Andre stomped it underfoot, and it dissolved entirely into molten iron.
He stared venomously toward the direction the arrow came from, eyes flashing with cruelty.
With a tap of his feet, he launched himself like a cannonball toward the corner from which the ambush had come.
His speed was incredible, faster even than during his duel with Yam.
Clearly, over the past year, he had not ceased training and strengthening himself.
Rather, his defeat in that duel had spurred him to work harder than ever, not sinking into despair but growing stronger.
Scorching flames surged and transformed into what seemed like an enormous flaming gauntlet wrapping around his right arm.
Before his body even arrived, the massive, fire-engulfed right fist had already smashed down.
"Boom—"
A tremendous explosion burst forth into a towering pillar of fire.
Within several hundred meters, the fire pillar was visible to all. Even from outside the city, one could faintly see the sprawling blaze.
From that one flaming pillar, everyone could tell that Andre was already nearing Third-Tier.
In no more than three to five years, Gem Territory would undoubtedly gain its second Third-Tier Bloodline User.
Standing atop the city wall, Dean narrowed his eyes as he gazed toward the fiery column that marked the first clash with the enemy, sighing inwardly.
Andre was only twenty-six or twenty-seven. His bloodline aptitude wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either, even if he had previously been considered slightly inferior, his loss to Yam months ago had clearly become a turning point.
That defeat had ignited a newfound drive in him, accelerating his growth. What had once seemed to limit him to Third-Tier now looked like it might allow him to challenge Fourth-Tier.
That, in truth, was the most precious trait.
Because the gap between Third-Tier and Fourth-Tier was even wider than that between Second-Tier and Third-Tier.
Third-Tier was merely an enhancement of existing bloodline abilities or the emergence of a new one.
While it gave a clear advantage over Second-Tier Bloodline Users, it did not guarantee dominance.
At the very least, with sufficient numbers and coordination, Second-Tier Bloodline Users could still kill a Third-Tier.
But the Fourth-Tier was a different matter.
A Fourth-Tier Bloodline User had already undergone a transformation of life.
Not only would their bloodline abilities receive a substantial enhancement, but all physical capabilities would also be elevated to a terrifying level.
Especially their lifespan.
Or more precisely, vitality and blood energy.
Every injury a Bloodline User suffered was essentially a depletion of their life force.
Excessive depletion meant not only giving up hope of advancing to higher tiers but even risking the loss of basic consciousness and human form, thus the stories of some turning into monsters.
While using specialized instruments was one way to assess a Bloodline User’s potential, other indicators included the number of potions they consumed and the number of times they attempted awakening.
However, beyond all that, there existed one extremely straightforward and nearly axiomatic measure.
Age.
Andre was currently only twenty-seven, with a chance of advancing to Third-Tier before thirty, and at the latest, no later than thirty-two.
No matter how he managed it, this meant he had hope of reaching Fourth-Tier before sixty.
Non-Fourth-Tier Bloodline Users suffered a dramatic decline in vitality after fifty.
After that, it became extremely difficult to break through. That was why Dean considered Andre to have the potential to reach Fourth-Tier, but not the certainty.
However—
Dean could not change the mind of Marquis Visen.
And so, he could only sigh with regret.
...
Andre stepped forth from the fire.
The towering flame pillar, losing its fuel source with his departure, began to wither and gradually died down.
It had all happened in but a moment.
Yet Andre’s aura grew even more intense and fierce, and his spirit became something entirely different.
His face brimmed with incredulous joy, which soon morphed into unrestrained arrogance.
"Ha!" He clenched both fists, and flames once more erupted from his arms.
At a glance, they looked no different than before, but a careful observer could see that the manifested flames were more concentrated and solid than previously.
"Who’s there!" Immersed in his joy, Andre suddenly turned toward the side of the street.
Seeing the figure walking toward him at an unhurried pace, Andre smirked with ridicule. "So it’s you. Skipping your mission to come to me? Aren’t you afraid of letting someone from the Antre Family escape and being punished by Dean?"
"You’re right," Akar nodded in response. "I’m indeed afraid of Lord Dean’s punishment. So..."
"I’m here to carry out my mission right away."
Andre was stunned for a second. As realization hit, a soft twang from a bowstring reached his ears.
"Buzz—"
A flaming arrow pierced through the air.
Andre didn’t roar in anger. The moment he heard the bowstring, he reflexively raised his hand to shield himself.
The next instant, a sharp sting ran along his forearm.
That’s when he realized, Akar’s first arrow had struck his forearm.
And that forearm...
Had just been shielding his throat.
The man really was trying to kill him!
And he was doing so on Lord Dean’s orders!
Andre couldn’t comprehend why.
But now, with his life on the line, he quickly suppressed his panic and started to move. He didn’t flee, instead, he charged toward Akar, knowing well that the Blazing Bow was most dangerous at range. If he dared try to widen the distance now, he’d be the one to die.
Only by closing the distance did he have a sliver of survival!
That sliver lay in killing Akar Soderbell!
"Buzz—buzz—"
Two more twangs rang out.
Andre saw the two flaming arrows streak toward him in succession. Inside, he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared, he immediately saw that the arrows had sealed off his charging angles, clearly meant to force him to halt his advance.
But Andre also knew that if he dared to stop, Akar would rain arrow after arrow upon him without pause.
If he faltered under that pressure or failed to block one of them, and Akar broke his defense, the result would be devastating. Andre didn’t believe he could perfectly block every arrow, after all, he had just fought a Bloodline User and had expended much of his energy in that display of power.
In a prolonged battle of stamina, Andre knew he’d be the first to fall.
Countless thoughts raced through his mind even as he kept up his charge, and in that brief instant, everything became clear.
So Andre didn’t stop.
Instead, the flames on his arms blazed even more fiercely, forming an even hotter inferno.
His arms crossed in front of him, and the raging flames took the shape of a massive flaming shield that easily blocked Akar’s successive fire arrows.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters.
Ten meters.
Only five meters remained between them!