Category: A Man Like None Other

Chapter 962 Self Destruct

“Jared, we’re members of the Deragons. I’m sure that you’re aware if you kill us all, the Deragons will not let you off!”

Garadin was terrified by Jared’s menacing gaze.

“The Deragons? Hah!” Jared sneered, “I’m not just going to kill you. I will also wipe out the Deragons!”

With that, he brandished his sword and slashed at Garadin until he became a mess of gore, blood, and viscera.

Enoch witnessed the entire scene. Although he was anguished, his fear caused him to lose his courage. He desperately tried to flee with the help of Catur.

Suddenly, Jared’s body vanished in a flash and appeared in front of Enoch and Catur, blocking their escape route.

“Jared, we’re not here to kill you. Mr. Deragon asked us to take you to the Deragon residence alive. So please don’t misunderstand!”

Looking at Jared who was covered in Garadin’s blood, Enoch hurriedly explained.

“I know you didn’t come to kill me,” Jared said indifferently. “But I’m still going to kill you. See those corpses? They were all my men!”

“Jared, you—”

Enoch was about to say something when Jared beheaded Catur with his Dragonslayer Sword. The fourth guardian’s head flew into the air, spraying blood all over Enoch.

Everything happened in a flash.

Enoch couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t imagine the amount of strength Jared had achieved.

What he had achieved might not be the strength of a Martial Arts Grandmaster but a Martial Arts Marquis that could level mountains and split oceans. That being said, isn’t Jared still a bit too young to be that powerful?

“It’s your turn now!”

Jared pointed the tip of the Dragonslayer Sword at Enoch.

“Jared, you’ve gone too far!”

Enoch had lost both his arms. With no hope of survival in sight, he took a deep breath and began to expand his body like a ball.

His last ditch of retaliation was to self-destruct.

He would die soon anyway. Hence, he wanted to take Jared down with him.

Enoch’s body got bigger and bigger. His eyes popped out, and his face turned red.

“Jared, run!” Rayleigh shouted with a face full of panic.

The self-destruct of a Martial Arts Grandmaster would be as powerful as a bomb.

But Jared wasn’t worried at all. He dematerialized the Dragonslayer Sword in his hand and slowly lit a cigarette.

Jared, who never liked smoking, was hoping to calm himself down with a cigarette.

After all, the bodies that lay strewn across the ground were men who died for him. Those men would never return to life even if he killed the five guardians.

When he realized that Jared was calm and wasn’t running away, Enoch expanded his body even further.

With the cigarette hanging in his mouth, Jared began to emit golden light from his body. His scales quickly grew out of his body, covering him entirely.

“Go to hell, Jared!”

Enoch had reached his limit.

Boom!

The entire Dragon Bay and even the entire Horington felt the explosion.

A mushroom cloud rose into the sky and could be seen clearly from afar.

Many people looked up at the sky and were confused.

“Jared!” Rayleigh shouted and immediately rushed over.

“Mr. Chance!”

Tommy and Phoenix hurried over as well.

When the smoke dissipated, they found Jared standing still with not a scratch on his body. The cigarette in his mouth was still burning.

Then, the golden glow that enveloped Jared faded, and he let the cigarette drop from his lips. Slowly turning to Rayleigh, he said, “I’m fine, Mr. Deragon.”

Chapter 961 You Shall All Die Here

Jared slashed his sword down mercilessly, and the terrifying aura from the blade enveloped Enoch. At the moment, Enoch was so injured to the point where he could no longer endure Jared’s horrifying blow.

Swoosh!

A golden light flashed, and Enoch only felt his body becoming lighter. He turned his gaze toward his arms and realized that both of them had been cleanly cut off.

In the next second, blood began to spurt, followed by a wave of excruciating pain.

“Argh!”

Enoch shrieked, startling the other guardians.

When they saw Enoch was injured, the other guardians became furious and charged toward the clones of Jared that they were facing.

Although they were just shadow clones created by Jared, these clones weren’t used to confuse opponents as Ichiro’s did. Instead, Jared’s shadow clones had the power to fight. Although their strength was not comparable to the main body, they were still on par with Senior Grandmasters.

The guardians dodged the shadow clone’s slashes and delivered a ruthless punch to the clones.

The four shadow clones were smashed and disappeared into thin air. Still remaining unscathed, Jared stood in front of Enoch, coldly gazing upon the shrieking man.

“Enoch!”

The other four guardians rushed over to help stop the bleeding.

“Retreat now! This kid’s strength is far more deadly than we imagined. We have to report this to Mr. Deragon!”

Enoch urged the others to retreat. He decided to stay to hold back Jared.

“We’re not leaving you behind, Enoch!”

The other guardians picked Enoch up and quickly rose to the sky. They no longer wanted to fight Jared.

“Didn’t I already say that all of you are going to die here today?”

Jared raised the Dragonslayer Sword. “Nine Shadows, River Cutter!”

The terrifying sword energy expanded past the guardians. After a flash of golden light, the sword sliced through the fifth guardian.

The sword energy cut Quito in half, raining his blood and organs down the sky.

“Quito!” the remaining guardians shouted in anguish.

“Take Enoch and leave! I’ll stop him!”

Altan quickly turned around and sent a punch at Jared.

Jared did not avoid Altan’s punch. Instead, the golden glow from his body began to form shimmering scales, similar to the ones that grew out of his skin when he started his solitary training.

Soon, Jared’s body was covered with scales, effectively giving him a layer of armor.

Boom!

Altan landed his punch on Jared’s body, but the overwhelming recoil sent him flying backward. On the other hand, Jared didn’t even move an inch from his position.

“Insolent fool!” Jared snorted coldly.

Then, he leaped high into the air and stomped on Altan’s chest, sending him back to the ground.

Altan crashed heavily to the ground, and the sounds of his bones cracking rang out. Blood and fragments of his organs spewed from his mouth.

He glared at Jared as if he had something to say. However, he couldn’t utter a single word no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he tilted his head and stopped breathing.

“Altan!” Garadin roared and turned around. While Jared was still stepping on Altan, he took the opportunity to smash his fist onto Jared’s back.

Boom!

Garadin’s fist made contact with Jared’s body, but Jared did not even budge. Instead, the recoil caused Garadin to stagger backward.

Jared slowly turned around and looked at Garadin. His frigid eyes scared Garadin witless, and he quickly retreated.

Now that Jared’s ascension to a higher stage had improved both his physical body’s endurance and his Golem Body, breaking his flesh was no longer a simple feat.

Chapter 960 I Will Take Your Life

Jared knew that the marble was the white wolf’s beast core. After spitting out its beast core, the white wolf slowly closed its eyes and stopped breathing.

Jared’s eyes reddened with tears. He picked up the still-warm beast core and looked at Enoch and the rest of the guardians menacingly.

“Mr. Chance, our men… They’re all…”

Tommy walked over to Jared and spoke to him while sobbing. Tears were constantly flowing down his cheeks.

The corpses were all over the ground. Many of them were Tommy’s best buddies for many years. He could not help but let his tears fall as he lamented his fallen brethren.

Jared patted Tommy on the shoulder and said, “I will use the blood of these five b*stards to pay homage to them!”

With that, he started toward the five guardians and rendered them motionless with his killing intent.

As they felt Jared’s terrifying killing intent, they all had solemn looks on their faces.

“Who sent you?” Jared stopped in front of the five and asked in a cold voice.

“Jared, they’re part of the Deragons!” Rayleigh shouted behind him.

Jared’s eyes twitched a few times upon the mention of the Deragons. He gritted his teeth and said, “I will wage a war against the Deragons soon enough. So why don’t I start it with the five of you today?

“Jared, we had no desire to kill anyone. All we wanted was to take you to the Deragons. If you follow us obediently, we promise not to lay a finger on you.”

Enoch stared at Jared as he spoke.

“Follow you?” The golden light from before suddenly enveloped Jared before an immense aura erupted from his body. “None of you are allowed to leave today. I’m going to take your lives!”

Noticing Jared’s determination to kill them, Enoch said with a solemn expression, “We’ll attack him together. If we can’t capture him alive, kill him. This man is too dangerous to be left alive.”

The other guardians nodded and released their aura.

They bellowed ragefully in unison, and five streams of martial energy shot out from their palms. The five streams weaved into each other and turned into a colorful dragon. After letting out a sky-shattering roar, the dragon began to attack Jared.

However, when the five guardians unleashed their attack, they suddenly realized that Jared was no longer in front of them and was stunned.

In the next second, Jared appeared in front of Enoch and aimed a punch at him.

“I will give you a fate worse than death today!”

When Enoch realized the destructive fist approaching him, he quickly responded with a punch.

Boom!

Both their fists collided, and Enoch’s arm became twisted, the bones of his arm shattering into pieces.

Enoch was shocked and he quickly retreated a few steps back. He realized that the power of Jared’s punch was enough to shatter every bone in his body, and it would have smashed him into bits if he were to react just a bit later.

“Get him!”

The rest of the guardians dashed forward and attacked Jared together.

Jared extended his right arm and manifested the Dragonslayer Sword in his hand. At the moment, there was golden liquid coursing through the blade of the Dragonslayer Sword.

As it turned out, the liquid was Jared’s blood. His blood had actually turned golden.

During the moment when the Dragonslayer Sword appeared, its dazzling shimmer filled the sky with golden light.

“Nine Shadows, Colossal Sword Energy!”

Jared readied his sword and performed the Nine Shadows technique he learned from Ichiro.

At the same time, his body was split into two, then four. Finally, four of Jared’s shadow clones and Jared himself faced the five guardians.

The four shadow clones and Jared raised their Dragonslayer Sword simultaneously, their swords exuding a terrifying aura.

Having no other choice, each of the four guardians charged toward a shadow clone while Jared himself was left to deal with Enoch.

Chapter 959 Are You Okay

Just when all hope seemed lost, a golden beam of light could be seen shooting up into the sky from the mansion suddenly, dispersing the flock of crows. Many crows fell to the ground after getting caught in the light beam.

Everyone stopped their attacks when they saw the blinding beam of light.

Boom!

Suddenly, the ground shook, followed by Jared blasting a hole in the mansion’s roof and levitating to the sky.

A bright shroud of golden light enveloped Jared’s body, making him look like an immortal descending from the heavens.

Everyone looked up at the man in the sky and was stunned by his appearance.

“Enoch, what…”

For a moment, Altan was flustered as he gazed at Jared dazedly.

“The brat actually did it.”

Enoch frowned and said, “My fellow guardians, we mustn’t let him complete his breakthrough.”

With that, he stomped the ground and rose into the air. Then, he released a visible wave of white martial energy with his fist.

The wave of martial energy was fast, hitting Jared like a cannonball.

Boom!

After a deafening sound, Jared, who was wrapped in golden light, remained unscathed in the air. Enoch’s punch didn’t cause the slightest damage to the former at all.

Enoch clenched his fist again. Then, he roared at Jared and condensed light particles on his fist, bringing forth a terrifying burst of martial energy.

When the aura on Enoch’s body reached its peak, he punched at Jared’s chest fiercely.

However, just when his punch was about to hit Jared, Jared suddenly opened his eyes and shoot out two golden rays of light. Then, he released the overwhelming spiritual energy from his body.

Boom!

Enoch felt a gust of wind sweeping over his face, followed by a dominating aura bulldozing over him.

The aura enveloping his body was crushed by Jared’s aura, sending him flying away before crashing to the ground, creating a crater nearly ten meters deep.

Enoch’s chest had caved in, his ribs obviously broken. His face was ashen as blood began to drip from the corner of his mouth continuously.

“Enoch!”

When the other guardians saw Enoch’s miserable condition, they hurried over and helped him up.

Jared slowly descended from the air. When he saw the scene of gore covering the land, his face became extremely cold, and his murderous aura shrouded the entire Dragon Bay.

“Jared!”

“Mr. Chance!”

Rayleigh, Tommy, and the others were excited to see Jared completing his solitary training.

As Jared glanced at Josephine, Lizbeth, Lyanna, and the other people on the ground, his murderous aura became even more intense.

Josephine and the others got up with the help of others. Although they were severely injured, their injuries were not fatal.

“Are you guys okay?”

Jared waved his hand, and three streams of spiritual energy penetrated Josephine and the others.

“Well, I’m not dead yet. It’s good to have you back.” Josephine smiled with a pale face.

“Jared, go check on Snowy. It’s dying!” Lizbeth urged him.

Although she was severely injured as well, she was still worried about the condition of the white wolf.

Jared glanced at the white wolf lying on the ground. Its body was covered in injuries, and it was on the brink of death. Crouching down, Jared gently stroked its head.

After infusing his spiritual energy into the white wolf’s body, he furrowed his brows.

He realized that the white wolf’s organs had been shattered to bits, and there was no way he could save it.

The white wolf looked at Jared and whimpered twice. It, too, seemed to know that its life was about to end. With its dying breath, the wolf opened its mouth and spat out a marble as clear as crystal.

Chapter 958 Massacre

Rayleigh looked at Melanie and didn’t stop her. Instead, he frowned and closed his eyes helplessly. At that moment, he reckoned suicide might be Melanie’s best option.

However, just as Melanie was about to stab herself with the dagger, the thunderous boom of a thousand footsteps suddenly shook the ground.

“Kill!”

Countless battle cries reverberated in their ears as Tommy and Phoenix surrounded them with thousands of people.

They surrounded the mansion and formed a perimeter.

Few of the guardians looked at the people who suddenly appeared and chuckled, for the newcomers were insignificant to them.

“Protect Mr. Chance! Do not let anyone take a step into the mansion!” Tommy glared at the guardians and issued his command in a booming voice.

“Protect Mr. Chance! Protect Mr. Chance!”

The thousands of people armed with weapons chanted loudly.

“What a bunch of impudence fools!”

Enoch narrowed his eyes and thrust both his hands forward.

A massive shockwave of martial energy knocked a dozen people in front of him into the air. Their bodies couldn’t handle the immense amount of martial energy and exploded mid-air, resulting in a gory rain of blood, fragments of limbs, and viscera.

Everyone was horrified by the scene. Even Tommy and Phoenix trembled slightly. However, everyone stood their ground.

“Get out of the way! I don’t want to commit any more unnecessary killing!”

Enoch warned them with a cold expression when he noticed them holding their ground.

Although those people were all terrified, none of them flinched. They gritted their teeth and planted their feet firmly on the ground.

“Fine. Let’s find out which is stronger then. Your bones? Or my fists?”

Infuriated, Enoch suddenly sent a punch through the air.

Boom!

His punch produced a thundering noise. In an instant, a dozen people blocking the entrance to the mansion disintegrated into a pool of blood. However, more people took their position to replace their posts.

“F*ck it. Kill them all!”

Enoch cursed angrily at them and commanded the other guardians to attack.

As a Martial Arts Grandmaster, he couldn’t be stopped by a group of feeble martial artists.

Soon, the five guardians exuded a terrifying aura from their bodies simultaneously, spreading it out, spanning a radius of hundreds of meters.

Apart from spreading their aura, the five guardians didn’t do anything else. However, their immense aura was more than anyone could handle.

In the face of five Martial Arts Grandmasters, even ten thousand martial artists wouldn’t mean a thing, let alone a thousand. They were nothing but cannon fodders used to delay the guardians as long as they could.

“Charge!”

Tommy gritted his teeth. He was well aware of his opponent’s strength and was ready to die. Regardless, he didn’t show the slightest sign of fear or retreat.

If he could buy Jared an extra minute with his life, it would be worth it.

“Charge!”

Everyone shouted and charged toward the five guardians.

Alas, before they could even get near the five guardians or even touch them, the immense martial energy radiating from the guardians had already absorbed the life out of them.

Despite so, the people in the back were still holding on to their weapons unfazed. Even after knowing that it was suicide, they still advanced gallantly.

Within moments, blood flowed like a river in front of the mansion, and the corpses were piling into a hill.

The amount of slaughter made the five guardians shudder, but they didn’t stop. Their purpose there was to take Jared away. It was a mission from Ryker, and they had to finish it.

Looking at the ground that was littered with corpses, Rayleigh’s eyes reddened. He turned to look at the mansion and muttered, “Jared, to have so many people die for you, you have already lived your life’s worth!”

The number of corpses kept increasing, and the thick stench of blood caused countless crows to gather in the sky.

In no time, the crows covered the sky and blocked out the sun, resulting in an area of darkness. Even so, the killing continued.

Chapter 957 Fire Phoenix

At the moment, Josephine was squatting in front of the white wolf, constantly healing it.

The white wolf slowly stood back up, but the countless wounds on its body were still bleeding.

With Lyanna and Lizbeth down for the count, it was just her and the wolf against the five Martial Arts Grandmasters.

Josephine glanced at the two women who were severely injured with her eyes aflame with fury. Then, she engulfed herself in flames.

Soon, the raging flames left Josephine’s body and took the shape of a phoenix in the air, hovering above her head.

When the five guardian’s witnessed this scene, their faces were full of surprise.

“Snowy, it’s up to us now!”

Josephine gently stroked the white wolf’s head.

The white wolf nodded its head repeatedly. It seemed to have understood her words.

She pulled out a dagger and made a swift cut on her palm. Then, she brought her palm that was gushing with blood to the white wolf’s mouth.

The white wolf raised its head and glanced at Josephine before sticking out its tongue to lap at the blood.

The five guardians were stunned. They hadn’t the slightest idea what Josephine was doing.

After licking Josephine’s blood, the white wolf’s eyes gradually turned red.

Awooo!

The white wolf raised its head and howled as its fur stood erect on its body.

“Be careful. Something’s off with that woman,” Enoch alerted the others.

The other guardians hurriedly nodded, and the five began their assault on Josephine and the white wolf in unison.

The fire phoenix above Josephine’s head crowed, flapped its wings, and flew straight toward the five guardians.

The white wolf bared its fangs and leaped forward at the same time.

“Altan, deal with the woman with the others. I will handle the beast!”

Enoch immediately delivered a palm strike onto the white wolf’s body as soon as he finished speaking.

Altan nodded and quickly led the others to attack Josephine.

The flames on the fire phoenix flickered and surrounded the four guardians with fireballs, stopping their advance.

In response, the four guardians quickly extended their palms outward and gathered a gust of wind to form a wind barrier to block the flames.

Immediately after that, all four of them jumped and shot blasts of air from their palms. The collision between the blasts formed several tornadoes that surrounded the fire phoenix.

The flames of the fire phoenix were sucked into the tornadoes, and the fire phoenix disappeared without a trace.

By then, Josephine’s face had turned as pale as paper. She gritted her teeth and emitted flames from her body again.

However, before her flames could take shape, the four guardians had already enveloped her and attacked her with their terrifying aura. As a result, they extinguished Josephine’s flames, and she fell heavily to the ground.

Even the fiery constituent of Josephine couldn’t stand a chance against four Martial Arts Grandmasters. Their difference in strength was too significant.

On the other side of the battle, the enraged white wolf attacked Enoch relentlessly. It stopped trying to dodge his palm strikes and swiped at his chest with its sharp claws.

The white wolf was planning to exchange its life for Enoch’s death. Just as the leader of the guardians struck the white wolf’s body away with his palm, the white wolf managed to land a deadly slash across his chest, causing him to bleed vigorously.

If it weren’t for Enoch’s tenacious body, the white wolf would have ripped his organs to shreds.

At the moment, Rayleigh and Melanie were still standing unscathed. However, after looking at his peers that were lying on the ground, Rayleigh began to tremble with anger.

With eyes filled with tears, Melanie pulled out her dagger. “Mr. Deragon, I’ll be going now. If there is an afterlife, I will definitely repay your kindness.”

Chapter 956 A Fate Worse Than Death

Confronted with Quito’s hollow eyes and incessant struggling, Enoch brought two fingers that were slightly aglow with a gilded light which he tapped swiftly against Quito’s temple.

The gilded light dissolved into Quito’s noggin, causing the fifth guardian’s body to desist from its state of agitation. The life had also returned to his previously unfocused eyes.

“Enoch… W-Why are you guys staring at me like that?” asked Quito, somewhat perturbed by the anxious looks on the faces of his peers.

“You had fallen for someone’s Seduction Technique and did not even realize it. G*ddammit! Haven’t I told both of you so many times before not to give in to the temptation of lust when we are out on missions?” Enoch hollered at Quito in severity.

His words caused Quito and Catur to bow their own heads in shame. Of the five, these were the two most lecherous ones, and it was for that very reason that Quito fell for Lyanna’s Seduction Technique.

“Curse that conniving woman! I’m going to kill her!”

Wrought by shame and rage, Quito did not expect himself to fall prey to Lyanna’s deviousness.

Enoch reached out and held Quito back before he turned his attention toward Rayleigh and his group.

As that was happening, Rayleigh was busy leading Josephine and the others in patching up the white wolf, whose constitution had since become tremendously frail.

“Hang in there, Snowy, stay with us…”

Josephine’s face was awash with tears. An ethereal ball of reddish light that formed on the inside of her palms began to encapsulate the white wolf tightly inside.

When they saw the white wolf in that state, neither Lizbeth, Melanie, nor Lyanna was able to contain their own distress either.

Even Rayleigh’s eyes reddened, for they had all come to develop a tremendous fondness for the white wolf over the period of time they spent together.

“Give us Jared now, Rayleigh, and I may offer the lot of you another chance to live yet,” said Enoch frostily as he looked toward Rayleigh.

With eyes puffy, Rayleigh seethed between gritted teeth, “You can banish the thought! The only way you’d ever be able to step inside this mansion is over our dead bodies!”

In spite of having lost his powers, the murderous aura that radiated off Rayleigh remained nonetheless intimidating.

“Since you will not see reason, then you have only yourself to blame.” Enoch’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze turning cold.

When his voice trailed off, Quito promptly leaped into the air, aiming straight for Lyanna, for her trickery from before had left him deeply humiliated.

Altan, Garadin, and Catur, too, followed suit. The terrifying martial energy of the quartet had Rayleigh’s group completely cut off from all sides, leaving them no route for retreat.

“If I should die, Melanie, do not allow yourself to become their captive. Otherwise, you’d only face a fate worse than death.”

Lyanna then thrusted a dagger into Melanie’s hands.

Clutching the blade close, Melanie nodded furiously. Her eyes brimmed with a resolve that she would not let herself be taken alive.

Casting another glance in Melanie’s way, Lyanna then unsheathed her own sword and about-faced to confront the five guardians.

At that very moment, Lyanna no longer feared death and was driven only by the desire to use her own life to buy Jared extra time.

Before Lyanna was able to get anywhere near the guardians, however, she found herself sent flying backward. Struck by a devastating blast of martial energy delivered through the blow of a palm, she crumbled right in front of Melanie.

“Lyanna!”

Melanie got onto her knees and wiped at the streaks of blood hanging on the corner of Lyanna’s lips.

The sight of Lyanna coughing up blood set Lizbeth’s eyes afire. With a resounding roar, she charged headlong in the guardians’ direction.

Bang!

Lizbeth was to meet the same outcome, being sent hurtling back before she could get within range of her enemies.

With a fresh spurt of blood, Lizbeth bombed heavily onto the ground, creating a cavernous crater directly underneath her own body upon impact.

“Lizbeth!”

Rayleigh ran up to examine Lizbeth’s injuries.

Chapter 955 Gone Mad

Quito pliantly relinquished his grip on Lyanna while his eyes remained transfixed upon her.

“Do you fancy me?” Lyanna asked as she cast a furtive look in Quito’s way.

“Yes…” The mesmerized Quito nodded his head dully.

“If you do, then listen up. Go and kill the one who had captured my friend,” said Lyanna as she pointed at Catur.

“Of course!” With that goofy expression seemingly melded onto his face, Quito turned and made his way toward Catur.

“Quito? Hey, Quito.” Sensing something amiss, Catur called out twice at Quito when the latter came toward him, but the fifth guardian continued to advance as though oblivious to it.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Quito threw a punch at Catur. The immensity of the power he put behind it raised a billowing squall that exploded through the air.

Still clutching onto Lizbeth, Catur dodged out of the way of Quito’s attack.

“Have you lost your freaking mind, Quito?” Catur cussed aloud.

Quito, however, did not stay his hand and continued to slug away without letup.

Left without a choice, Catur could only cast Lizbeth aside in order to guard himself against Quito’s relentless assault.

“Are you all right, Lizbeth?”

Lyanna went up quickly to help Lizbeth to her feet.

“I’m okay,” replied Lizbeth as she shook her head.

Altan, who was engaged in battle with Josephine, roared in fury in reaction to Catur and Quito getting into it with each other. “Fighting over women? Have you two bloody lost your minds?”

He was under the impression that the pair had come to blows over a dispute over their spoils.

“I have no idea what’s gotten into him, Altan. I don’t understand why he’s attacking me either!” yelled Catur as he desperately sought to fend off Quito.

Altan’s expression turned grim. With his palm suddenly extended, he sent a torrential wave of martial energy surging toward Josephine.

Josephine’s eyes widened. Although she quickly jumped back, the second guardian did not capitalize on the opening created. Instead, he flashed out toward Quito and twisted the latter’s wrist behind his back to restrain him.

Quito’s eyes were glazed over. Although held in check, he continued to struggle like a man possessed, seemingly unable to recognize anyone.

“Do you think Quito has lost his marbles, Altan?” the visibly ticked-off Catur fumed.

After all, there was no way he wouldn’t be pissed off after being attacked by one of his own for no apparent reason at all.

Altan’s brows, too, knotted up in bafflement as he could not quite figure out what was wrong with Quito either.

“Enoch, would you come over here and have a look at him?” said Altan to their leader.

At the moment, Enoch and Garadin were jousting with the white wolf. With the aid of its dexterity, the beast weaved in and out, attacking without pause. It was, however, clearly no match for the might of the two Martial Arts Grandmaster, as the countless wounds that it borne upon its body would attest.

Blood had already dyed its snow-white coat a deep shade of claret, but the white wolf continued to persist, regardless; for it knew that should it falter, Rayleigh and the others would surely become outmatched.

Heeding Altan’s beckoning, Enoch drove a palm down toward the wolf’s head. After ducking beneath it, the white wolf went on to swipe at Enoch’s calves with its razor-sharp claws.

That sent it stumbling right into Enoch’s trap, for the guardian’s palm was merely a feint. Right afterward, the wolf was sent hurtling away by a blistering boot.

The kick slammed unerringly into the white wolf’s massive torso, sending it high into the air before it crashed heavily back down upon the ground.

“Snowy!”

Josephine and the others all raced over to check on the animal, only to find the white wolf riddled with a multitude of injuries all over. Their eyes began to well up at the sight.

Paying no further heed to his fallen opponent, Enoch made his way straight to Quito’s side.

Chapter 954 Impudence

“Give up Jared now, Rayleigh, and for old times’ sake, I’d see to it that none of you would come to harm. Should you refuse, then don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Enoch issued his threat with steely eyes upon Rayleigh.

“Save your breath. There’s no way I’d hand Jared over to you,” replied an adamant Rayleigh.

“You’re literally courting death…”

Deeply incensed as well, the leader of the guardians stormed toward Rayleigh.

Awooo!

The blanched fur on its body erect, the white wolf lunged itself toward the guardian with its long fangs baring.

“Hmph! Stupid beast…” snorted Enoch before he swiped at the wolf with his open palm.

Dodging out of the way with its nimble body, the white wolf then went on to tear into Enoch’s shoulder with its keen claws.

Streaks of blood appeared, instantly setting the guardian’s eyes aflame.

“D*mned beast! I’m going to have you killed and your beast core extracted today!”

Tightening his fingers into a pair of fists, Enoch coalesced a blinding light around his knuckles. He then struck out at the white wolf in tandem with a ravaging hurricane stirring in his wake.

“Allow me to assist you, Enoch.”

Garadin, who was bitten by the wolf himself, went on to throw himself into the fray.

“Come on. Let’s get him together.”

Gesturing with a wave of his hand, Altan led the remaining two straight at Rayleigh.

Observing how the situation was unfolding, Josephine and Lizbeth acted in unison to step themselves in front of Rayleigh.

“Those two brats. Didn’t think they had it in them…”

When he saw Josephine and Lizbeth, Altan’s lips lifted into a smirk, and his face evoked a look of disdain.

With grim looks on their faces, the two women held their silence only to direct their own attacks at Altan.

“Such impudence.”

Raising his hand, Altan thrust out a palm that swatted Lizbeth away.

While Lizbeth’s body was still soaring in midair, she was caught firmly inside the fourth guardian, Catur’s, grasp.

Although Lizbeth and Josephine had received Rayleigh’s power, their lack of actual combat experience and capability did place them at a disadvantage, especially against these veteran Martial Arts Grandmasters.

Taking a deep breath while he held Lizbeth, a delicate whiff of fragrance slipped inside Catur’s nostrils.

“Mmm, that smells wonderful!” The fourth guardian’s eyes were aglow before he regarded Altan. “Such a brute you are, Altan. Where might you expect to find another pretty thing like this if you were to mess her up?”

Catur stroked Lizbeth’s chin with his fingers and evoked a licentious smirk on his face as he spoke, while the immobilized Lizbeth could only glare indignantly at Catur, subject to his mercy.

“Lizbeth!”

That scene had Rayleigh gnashing his teeth. “Get your hands off of Lizbeth! Let go of her!”

“Too late for that, Rayleigh. You had your chance just now, but the ship had sailed,” said Catur smugly.

“Lizbeth!” With sword in hand, Lyanna lunged at Catur in an attempt to free her own companion.

Little did she know that the slightest of movements from her would prompt a reaction from the fifth guardian, Quito, who slapped the weapon out of her hand with his palm before he reached out to drag her into his arms.

The gulf between her ability and theirs meant that Lyanna was utterly hapless to resist.

“Hahaha. One for you, and one for me, Quito. Let Altan and the others decide how they want to split the other two.”

Catur promptly broke into a boisterous guffaw when he saw Quito accolling Lyanna.

“In that case, don’t mind if I do!” sniggered Quito lasciviously as he ogled leerily at Lyanna inside of his grasp.

Lyanna, however, neither panicked nor offered up any measure of resistance. Instead, she regarded Quito with tender eyes and a coy expression. “You’re such a meanie, hurting me like this…”

Quito’s eyes glazed over when he saw Lyanna behaving that way. He started to grin foolishly to the point that he almost drooled.

“Aren’t you going to let go of me?” said Lyanna to Quito.

Chapter 953 Abetting Evil

The five guardians were collectively stunned by the sight of the white wolf bursting out into the open, as they had not expected to encounter such a formidable and ferocious beast there.

“Who are you people?” demanded Rayleigh with a questioning frown.

He could sense a certain familiarity about those five individuals’ auras, but he was unable to figure out exactly who they might be there and then. With his powers now utterly depleted after transferring them onto Josephine and Lizbeth in their entirety, he was not able to activate his spiritual sense to process a probe either.

“Rayleigh Deragon?” one of the five suddenly blurted, and after he did, he reflexively put a hand to his mouth as though he had misspoken.

Rayleigh’s eyes lit up as that clued him in straightaway. Hence, he said, “So, the guardians from the Deragons have arrived. No wonder your auras seemed so familiar.”

Seeing that their cover had been blown, the five guardians thus made no further attempt to withhold their identities and proceeded to unmask themselves.

Enoch, the leader of the group, met Rayleigh’s gaze. “Your aura has vanished, Rayleigh. What happened to your powers?”

“Gone. As of now, I am just an ordinary man,” replied Rayleigh with a faint smile.

Rayleigh’s casual demeanor astonished the guardians, for the ease with which he approached the loss of those skills that he had so painstakingly cultivated was not something that most would be able to muster.

“Tell us, Rayleigh. Why did you choose to betray Mr. Deragon back then? Just look at what you’ve brought upon yourself.” Enoch regarded Rayleigh with a look of disappointment before he continued, “Where is Mr. Draco?”

The mention of Draco brought a glint of wistfulness across Rayleigh’s eyes. “Mr. Draco has passed on…” he said with some sorrow.

“Considering that we’ve come to this, Rayleigh, it’s about time you repented. Surrender Jared Chance over to us, and we shall beseech Mr. Deragon to spare you upon our return. Having been reduced to a petty mortal, you might be better off finding yourself a place where you could retire to and live out the rest of your days in peace!” said Enoch as he sought to persuade Rayleigh.

“Coming all the way out here, you must surely have realized that Jared is Ms. Beatrice’s son. How could I possibly hand Jared over to you after how Mr. Draco has given his life for him? Don’t you know that Ryker had poisoned his own father and usurped his position? By siding with him now, all of you are in fact, abetting evil,” said Rayleigh in unbridled umbrage.

“Your words are wasted on him, Enoch. Let’s just get in there, grab Jared, and be done with it.”

With a resounding roar, the third guardian, Garadin, sent his own massive fist thundering toward Rayleigh.

Although there may not be too much martial energy put behind it, that punch still packed the potency to pummel Rayleigh to a pulp should it connect, for there was no way the latter’s mortal body would be able to withstand an impact like that.

That attack delivered was definitely a killing blow from Garadin, who came across as a callous character by showing scant regard for the many years of service Rayleigh had contributed toward the Deragons.

Awooo!

At that crucial moment, the white wolf let out a howl and sank its fangs into the guardian’s shoulder.

“Aaaahh!”

Brought down by the pouncing white wolf, Garadin cried out in anguish. The other guardians moved swiftly in response to intervene with a forceful retaliation.

Loosening its jaws and exerting its hind legs, the white wolf launched itself into the air in a single bound, dodging all of the guardians’ flurry of attacks.

“Garadin, are you all right?”

Enoch promptly pulled his companion back onto his feet.

An inspection of his own mangled shoulder ignited the third guardian’s fury. His savage aura that came to an abrupt boil promptly engulfed Rayleigh and the others within.

Josephine and Lizbeth both rushed forward to shield Rayleigh behind them, while Lyanna stayed close for Melanie’s protection.

That would have been a sound move if not for the fact that amongst them, only Josephine and Lizbeth were capable of handling themselves. With Lyanna’s limited abilities, she would probably be quite useless in a fight.

Up against the five Martial Arts Grandmasters, the white wolf, too, stood absolutely no chance whatsoever.

Be it so, none of them shied away, for Jared was verging on a breakthrough at that most critical juncture. Were he to be disrupted in his endeavor, it could wreck the fruits of his cultivation to date, and his life might even be forfeited.