whonovel Chapter 1197 - 12: Holy Warrior
Chapter 1197 - 12: Holy Warrior
The bald burly man steps down from the stairs, his whole body brimming with muscles. Judging by his appearance, his close combat ability doesn’t seem weak, yet he is not wearing armor but a light brown leather armor, very nimble.
The burly man tightens his fists, making a cracking sound. He wears a pair of black gloves, with metal plates embedded on the fists, wrapping them like a layer of metallic scale armor.
"I am Joseph Cole. In the words of you nobles, I’m now just a mud-legged hyena mercenary willing to do anything for money."
Joseph Cole’s face shows a smile, which combined with the lizard tattoo on his bald head, gives a fierce, brutal impression. However, deep in his pupils, there is a trace of loneliness, intentionally hidden by him.
"I heard Iron Hand is good with sword technique. I don’t know if my fists are harder or if your sword is sharper. Let’s have a fair duel using that unique noble ritual of yours."
Joseph’s green eyes narrow, and a green light begins to emit from them.
At this moment, Su Xiao suddenly sidesteps.
A slight breaking void sound flies past his face. Just 0.2 seconds before, something shot directly at Su Xiao’s head, an invisible weapon, very fast, and very small.
Joseph talked about a duel, but in fact, he had already prepared for a sneak attack.
"Oh? You dodged it?"
Joseph is somewhat surprised. His whole body muscles and the special gloves on his hands are all used to confuse enemies. In reality, his close combat ability is not strong.
Just as Joseph started to speak, Su Xiao suddenly sprung back, placing his left arm in front of him while in mid-air.
With a bang, debris splatters from where Su Xiao originally stood, and the ground indents without warning, showing a huge fist imprint.
Su Xiao looks upward, where a mass of invisible energy is forming a fist shape.
"You can... see it?"
Joseph looks Su Xiao up and down, his gaze somewhat incredulous.
"You don’t have the aura of a holy warrior, nor are you from the undead clan, and yet a ’mortal’ without talent can see the power of the saint..."
The green light in Joseph’s eyes becomes more pronounced, his pupils look like two green gems.
"Talent? Is it that mass of stuff you’re controlling?"
Su Xiao doesn’t make a move immediately. He’s somewhat curious about the kind of power system the holy warriors in this world possess.
"This mass... stuff? You actually dare to refer to the power of the saint this way. If that old lion hears it, your position as Iron Hand won’t be secure, just like how I was in the past..."
Joseph’s expression gradually turns serious. He initially wasn’t too concerned about Su Xiao, as he didn’t feel the unique aura of a holy warrior on him.
In the kingdom, there is a saying that only a holy warrior can confront a holy warrior. Of course, this includes a few from the undead clan. Humans without ’the power of the saint’ are seen as talentless mortals in the eyes of holy warriors; they can’t even perceive the existence of ’the power of the saint’.
Joseph also thought this way until he met a down-and-out knight. The knight told him with his longsword that even without the power of the saint, he could still be strong.
Su Xiao is certainly not that so-called holy warrior because he doesn’t have the power of the saint within him, hence he cannot see its existence.
The reason he can dodge the baldy’s attack is entirely due to his intuition ability’s warning.
His intuition ability detects within a range of about seven meters. Although Su Xiao cannot see the mass of energy, when it attacks him, the intuition instantly signals a warning, prompting his body to dodge instinctively.
After dodging two attacks, Su Xiao roughly understands what the so-called power of the saint is according to the baldy.
The mass of invisible energy in mid-air is somewhat similar in nature to spiritual power, just that this spiritual power has left the baldy’s body. Judging from the previous two attacks, Joseph can manipulate the shape and attack angle of this power of the saint at will.
Su Xiao positions his long knife horizontally in front, his gaze fixed on the baldy, a faint red aura radiating out.
"Is this... really an aura that humans can possess?"
Joseph, being stared at by Su Xiao, feels his hair stand on end. He subconsciously steps back. At this moment, it feels as if Su Xiao’s long knife at any time might sever his neck.
Joseph begins to retreat slowly; he doesn’t care if he appears cowardly. To him, as long as he can defeat the enemy, any means is justified. Honor is merely a tool for those in high positions to control the strong.
A blue crystal slips from Joseph’s sleeve, not yet falling into his hand when a loud bang is already heard from more than ten meters away.
The stone slab on the ground shatters, Su Xiao vanishing from Joseph’s line of sight.
Joseph’s green eyes widen, the mass of power of the saint above him quickly morphs into needle-like thin spikes, as fine as cow hair, numbering at least in the hundreds of thousands, scattered within a dozen meters around Joseph.
Having just charged a few steps, Su Xiao abruptly halts, sensing an intense crisis in front of him, as there are numerous invisible spikes.
Su Xiao waves the long knife in his hand, with blue steel shadow energy surging.
With a sizzle, blinding white light erupts, and the long knife in Su Xiao’s hand shatters at least a thousand fine needles. These needles are extremely sharp and invisible.
A small mass of power of the saint is devoured by blue steel shadow energy. Joseph halts as he retreats, veins popping on his forehead.
After Su Xiao shatters the large swath of needles, a strange smell permeates the air.
Is Joseph merely an ordinary holy warrior? Of course not. He holds the kingdom’s title of a holy warrior, having established great merits in battle but later betrayed the Holy Sodding Kingdom for unknown reasons.
After smelling the strange odor, Su Xiao swiftly leaps back, during which he unleashes a blade aura.
The blade aura slices into the dense needles, producing a series of crisp sounds. Many needles are shattered, yet the power of the saint forming them is not devoured; instead, it reconvenes into a mass.
After about five meters, the blade aura disintegrates; the needles shattered into the power of the saint quickly revert, forming thin needles as fine as cow hair, encasing Joseph within.
A counter shield appears around Su Xiao, his gut telling him that he must not be injured by those needles, otherwise the consequences would be severe.
The Eye of the Apostle hovers above Su Xiao, starting to detect information about the bald muscular man.
[Comparing intelligence attributes of both parties... Comparison complete. Our intelligence attribute is 0.92 times that of the enemy, acquiring 80% of the enemy’s information.]
Information is as follows:
Name: Joseph Cole
Category: Human (Holy Warrior)
Life Value: 99.8%
Mana Value: 120 points
Strength: 53
Agility: 75
Stamina: 88
Intelligence: 90
Charm: 65
Skill 1, Holy Warrior (Passive LV.47): Humans are specially modified to become holy warriors. This modification significantly enhances stamina and intelligence attributes, converting the mana value derived from intelligence attributes into life value.
Skill 2, Power of the Saint·Poison (Passive Lv.45): Joseph Cole’s power of the saint carries toxic and paralysis traits.
Skill 3, Undead Lord (Special Skill·Not Fully Activated): A holy warrior gradually gets eroded when fighting with the power of the saint. Joseph Cole has been eroded by 63%.
Skill 4, Aura of Faith (Passive Lv.51), Joseph Cole once was a trusted holy warrior among the kingdom’s soldiers. Friend units within 50 meters of Joseph Cole receive a 10-point increase in willpower,
Note: This skill has become ineffective due to shaken faith.
Skill 5: Courage (Active Lv.55), Joseph Cole lets out a roar, dispelling fear from friendly units within 400 meters, granting them the courage to keep fighting.
Skill 6: Battle Charge (Active Lv.50), Joseph Cole charges forward at full speed, increasing the moving speed of all friend units within 200 meters behind him by 60%, and granting +5 to strength, +5 to stamina, and +20 to willpower, temporarily ignoring pain.
Skill 7: ???
Skill 8, Victory and Venom (Ultimate Skill): ???
...
After seeing Joseph Cole’s information, Su Xiao can ascertain one thing: if this guy were on a battlefield and surrounded by numerous soldiers, his combat strength would increase several fold.
Would someone like him merely be protecting Chief Justice Elvi for a commission? It seems unlikely.
There must be some hidden truth involved, but Su Xiao is not particularly curious about it. What he needs to do now is simple: kill this guy, then drag Chief Justice Elvi out and also kill him.