Chapter 401: Brute Force

Julius finally got a look at the rest of the people who were a part of the mage’s team. One was a man in a thick suit of full-body armor. Julius wasn’t able to tell what he looked liked, the big ass helmet obscured his features.

The other member of their small team was a woman covered in robes, bearing a long staff with both hands. He was already quite confident that this was the woman who had saved the swordsman from before and was also a healer on top of it. He was able to sense powerful waves of life mana coming from her aura.

They didn’t allow him to examine them any further, and without speaking a word to each other, they attacked him.

The man in the armor created another spear out of stone. It was much like the one he had thrown at Julius moments earlier. Julius watched as the man cocked his arm back and threw the spear at him.

Julius easily avoided the spear with a step to the side, but was suddenly attacked by the swordsman he had almost killed. The injuries the man had before were gone, likely healed by that annoying healer.

This time, the man didn’t make the mistake of underestimating Julius. Powerful surges of mana pulsed throughout the attacker’s body. He was faster than he was before and was much more careful about leaving openings. The man never overcommitted and prodded Julius’s defenses.

He was wasting time and allowing the man in armor to help him. Julius used the blade of mana to parry the swordsman’s strikes. It was clear from the get-go that his opponent was more skilled with a blade. His technique was more refined, but it wasn’t like Julius didn’t know what he was doing either.

He could handle himself with a blade well enough, and the combination of his skills allowed him to keep up with the swordsman well enough. He even managed to trick him and score a slash across the man’s shoulder.

Unfortunately, he could already tell that the man had adapted to Julius’s own Sharpness Concept. It would appear that he had a Sharpness Concept of his own and used it to rebuff Julius’s. Unlike the mage, whose barrier wasn’t about to protect them from Julius, this man found a way.

The barrier covering the swordsman’s skin was suddenly much harder to pierce. It was very annoying, to say the least.

The swordsman did his job, though, and allowed his teammate enough time to come over to help. The armored warrior was already there and thrusting his spear at Julius’s face.

Julius was forced to back away from the swordsman and smack aside the thrust with his forearm. The armored man was surprisingly nimble for someone that large and wearing armor that heavy. The weight of his blow was heavy as well.

It forced Julius to back off and gave the swordsman a chance to slice at his face with a blade covered in death-aspected mana. Julius blasted himself backward and took a moment to think about how he wanted to handle this.

They already seemed aware of his strength and were handling him with extreme care. It almost felt like they were treating him like a fellow Tier 4. Which made him feel better than the situation probably allowed for.

He thought about the biggest threat at the moment, and immediately his perception landed on the healer. It was hard to detect, but now that he had some time to look closer, the healer was using some kind of aura skill to passively enhance her team’s physical abilities.

It was why the man in armor was able to move as fast as he could and why the swordsman suddenly felt like a different person. The best way to end this early would be to take out the healer.

With a plan in mind, he nodded to himself and blasted himself directly toward the armored warrior. He already had a vague idea what the man’s skillset revolved around and had sensed a taunting skill being prepared.

He didn’t care, though, if he could pressure the armored warrior, that would force the other enemies to aid their teammate. The spear-wielding warrior seemed surprised that Julius was coming at him on his own accord.

He still activated the taunting skill, though. Julius felt a wave of aggressive emotions wash over him. However, he used [Sage of Savagery] to block it out. The taunt had basically no effect on him.

Still, there appeared to be some kind of secondary effect that attempted to disrupt his own skills. It wasn’t powerful, but it was definitely something that he had to place his focus on, which he suspected was part of the plan.

Julius brushed it aside and slid underneath the spear of the warrior, and slammed his blade into the warrior’s knee joint. Unfortunately, like he had expected, the blade wasn’t that effective. It managed to gouge the armor, but was unable to penetrate all the way.

He parried aside the swordsman who took this chance to attack him and dodged the bolts of mana from the healer. He then grabbed hold of the spear the man was holding and attempted to rip it out of his hands. However, he found that his strength was severely lacking and had to let go before the warrior slung him to the side of a tree.

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Julius didn’t mind this. He had already achieved a part of his plan and had gotten close to the warrior. He molded the aura-woven mana into gauntlets and started to slam his fists into the plates of the thick armor.

If sharp attacks didn’t work, he would simply use brute force to break his way through. He powered his strikes with his Force Concept and used his aura to aid in deteriorating the defensive aura he felt coming from the warrior.

He could tell right away that his strikes were doing more damage than his blade had done. The resonating nature of his Concept ensured that the power of his strikes reverberated through the surface of the armor and into the body of the opponent.

He could hear the groans as his fists slammed into the armored warrior’s gut. He didn’t even look behind him as he ducked under a sword swing and kicked the swordsman away from him.