Chapter 44: The Demon’s Throbbing (Part 1)

【XP+2】

【XP+2】

……

Five white balls of light floated out from the bodies of the five bandits and flew into Dean’s body—obviously, as Sibul’s confidants, they were not without Strength; they were much better than those bandits Dean had killed before who could only provide 【XP+1】, or even no experience at all.

And after harvesting the experience of these five confidants of Sibul, together with some bandits killed before, Dean’s remaining experience once again reached the level of 【XP: 20】.

Dean did not hesitate and directly opened the character panel—

【Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear) Lv2→Lv3】

【Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear) Lv3: In the Military Camp, every Warrior receives training in applicable weapons as much as possible; Effect: When using a sword/hammer/spear as a weapon in battle, Strength and Agility gain a +0.15 bonus to judgment.】

The increase in the level of the Skill 【Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear)】 increased Dean’s Strength and Agility attributes by another 0.05 at this moment; although it seemed very little, the change in attributes was the most direct, even if it was only 0.01—in fact, the reason Dean chose 【Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear)】 to upgrade instead of 【Basic Swordsmanship】 was precisely for this change in attribute points.

As for the applied Skill 【Military Swordsmanship (Emerald)】?

If he had enough skill points, Dean would certainly have chosen 【Military Swordsmanship】, but unfortunately, the experience required for an applied Skill was twice that of a basic Skill at the same level, which made the current Dean powerless.

However, it was an undeniable fact that the Longsword Dean wielded at this moment was swifter and more powerful.

And as Dean’s enemy, Sibul could feel this even more—the half-barbarian bandit leader, with another sword wound on his body, urged the ordinary bandits with an even angrier voice: “You bunch of scum, get up there and kill him for me!”

At the same time, Sibul himself stepped back a few paces, opening a relatively safe distance from Dean.

Obviously, as a half-barbarian, Sibul was not like true Barbarians who would fight to the death without retreating—of course, apart from the Bloodline reason, this was not the real reason why he was not accepted by the Barbarian tribe.

As for the real reason?

Squelch!

Sibul’s Longsword chopped off the head of one of his subordinates without any hindrance; he held the head and roared: “This is the fate of cowards!”

The bandits looked at the head in their leader’s hand, and then looked at Dean who was charging towards them.

Finally, they chose the unfamiliar Dean, who seemed easier to deal with, rather than their own notorious leader.

A full twenty bandits, wielding various weapons, gathered around Dean—although these bandits were much weaker than the previous ones, the advantage in numbers finally came into play at this moment.

In the not-so-large stronghold, after Dean killed four more bandits, he was completely trapped in the encirclement.

“Damn fellow, I will make you understand that provoking me, Sibul, was your biggest mistake!”

The half-barbarian bandit leader stood outside the encirclement of his subordinates and laughed loudly, then waved his hand forcefully: “Kill him for me!”

Obviously, the previous two clashes had made him realize that he had no way to deal with this fellow who was fast and agile in movement.

So, although he ordered his subordinates, Sibul himself did not move an inch.

He just watched his opponent being hacked into meat paste, and even when he saw Dean rushing madly towards him, he laughed even more loudly to mock Dean’s overestimation of his capabilities.

After all, there was an insurmountable encirclement between them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Just as the half-barbarian bandit leader was preparing to enjoy the death struggle of the fellow who had killed several of his good men, the sound of arrows breaking through the air shattered his fantasy.

The bandits who had just formed the encirclement were like archery targets, with arrows sticking out of them.

Almost instantly, the encirclement collapsed.

There was an open path in front of Dean, while Sibul had a look of surprise and disbelief on his face.

Dean certainly would not miss such an opportunity; with the combined boost of the soon-to-end 【Military Swordsmanship Lv2 (Emerald)】 and 【Cold Weapon (Sword/Hammer/Spear) Lv3】, his whole body brushed past the opponent, and the Longsword in his hand brought up a silver cold light in the night sky.

Squelch!

The head of the half-barbarian bandit leader shot up into the sky under the pressure of his chest.

Declaring the end of this brief battle.

Yes, very brief.

After all, the boost of 【Military Swordsmanship Lv2 (Emerald)】 had just ended.

However, although brief, it was enough to make one’s heart surge and even tremble all over—such a state was the proper posture of a victor after a battle; however, Dean obviously needed to make these young people remember this victory even more clearly.

So, looking at those young subordinates walking out from behind the fence, Dean waved his hand in a comforting tone: “Clean up the Battlefield, everyone did a great job! Check the number of arrow hits; whoever hit the most will receive my reward!”

As he spoke, Dean took out the money bag from the bosom of the dead half-barbarian bandit leader, checked the pitifully small number of Gold Pultons inside, took out one of them, and held it between his fingers as a signal—undoubtedly, Dean did very well, and the young people instantly became even more eager.

They began to rush towards the corpses of the bandits.

Even their disgust and fear of corpses were swept away, and this was exactly Dean’s other intention.

After all, that was a Gold Pulton, enough to provide a decent guarantee for their families’ lives.

As for the remaining Gold Pultons in the money bag?

The young people did not dare to hope for them, because, as the Regiment Commander of the Knight Order and the one who killed the opponent’s leader, Dean deserved everything.

To be able to take out some and share it with them was already a rare generosity.

Even if only one person could get it, it was the same.

After all, everyone was convinced by the excellent ones.

However, the final result was a bit unexpected for Dean; the one who received the Gold Pulton reward was not Theron whom he expected, nor Ike who performed well, but Chad who had gone back to report the news.

Obviously, apart from running fast and having good stamina, this young man had quite good archery skills.

“Well done, Chad!”

Dean did not break his promise and was not stingy with his praise; with a slight flick of his thumb, amidst a crisp sound, the Gold Pulton traced a beautiful arc and landed in Chad’s hand.

“Y-yes, th-thank you, Regiment Commander!”

Undoubtedly, the young man who had obtained the greatest wealth in his life appeared somewhat incoherent.

The surrounding young people immediately burst into kind laughter.

“Ike, you take your men and start cleaning up the Battlefield, chop off the heads of these guys, and bury the corpses—those are your merits, and you can claim rewards from Lord Baron, so don’t waste them!” Seeing the troubled grins on the faces of the young men, Dean reminded them, and such a reminder was naturally immediate; the young men immediately started rubbing their fists and palms—for the eldest sons of hunters, seeing blood was not a rare thing; in fact, when they were eight or nine years old, they were already helping their Father and uncles process the prey brought back from the hunt.

The reason they could not bring themselves to strike at people was simply that their kind nature made it hard for them to accept killing their own kind.

However, with Dean’s kind reminder, they obviously remembered that their families needed money even more, and such money could lighten the burden on their parents—children of poor families mature early, and hunters living in the Tier Territory obviously had a hard life.

“Theron, you take your men to stand guard; I don’t want any unfriendly fellows appearing;”

Sweeping his eyes over the eager young men, Dean instructed again, and when he saw the reluctant look on the young men acting as sentries, he had to add: “Don’t worry, your battle merits won’t be claimed by anyone else; after all, don’t you recognize the arrows on them?”

To avoid disputes during hunting, marking arrows had long been a habit of hunters, and the arrows bought from these hunters naturally had similar marks.

After hearing Dean’s words, the young men acting as sentries then left with peace of mind—just as Dean said, these childhood friends and companions who grew up together would not claim other people’s credits.

“Ike, help me carry Sibul’s corpse inside; I need to deal with the Armor on him!”

Dean stood there and pointed to the corpse of the half-barbarian bandit leader not far away.

“Okay, Regiment Commander!”

The skinny Militia Captain immediately walked over with two Militia members and carried the corpse of the half-barbarian bandit leader into the cave nearby.

During this process, no one had any questions.

After all, everyone knew the value of Armor, and this was Dean’s trophy; since he had already taken out a Gold Pulton, they were already extremely grateful.

“These supplies also need to be counted and dealt with—we aren’t generous enough to leave them here to mold!”

Dean pointed to the supplies such as food scattered on the ground, and then the skinny Militia Captain immediately called over two more people and began to inventory the supplies.

Dean, on the other hand, squatted in front of Sibul’s corpse, looking left and right, appearing to be studying it carefully—any Militia member thought their Regiment Commander was considering how to take off that deformed Armor.

However, only Dean knew why he was checking.

Because the 【Demon Blood Dagger】 hidden in his bosom had started to throb.