9 Is This Enough?

Paul was currently accompanied by the local hunting team as they left the local smith. Over this past year, he managed to pick up just enough of the Human Tongue in order to piece together broken sentences, allowing him to barely communicate with the villagers.

Since he had to continually hunt, he naturally approached the hunting team for advice on the best hunting spots and tips to find the most animals. The villagers in the hunting team were naturally more than happy to share information with the Holy Messenger, and over time his relationship with the hunting team became rather friendly. This time too, they had gone to the smith together to get their chipped weapons repaired.

"I go home, you go," Paul barely managed with his limited Human Tongue as he gestured with his hands that he would be returning to his house.

"Yes, Holy Messenger. We shall take our leave then!" the villager had already gotten used to his crude way of speaking, and gave him a slight bow respectfully.

Just then, they spotted a large crowd walking over towards them from behind Paul.

He might not have been in the village for too long, but a year is plenty enough for him to recognise most of the villagers by face. However, not mentioning their faces, he could tell just from their getup that the group walking over were foreign to the village. After all, there's nobody in the village who possessed full body armour like that! To be sure though, Paul still turned to the hunting team beside him for answers.

"They who?" Paul inquired lightly as he glanced over.

Just as he expected, they too were without a clue and could only shrug in response. So they simply stood there and watched as the group walked over towards them. As they got closer, they could finally see that the group was accompanied by the village chief and other elders.

When the approaching elders caught sight of the Holy Messenger, they couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. They had originally wanted to resolve the issue with the outsiders without alerting the Holy Messenger; that was also why they did not alert him earlier when the elders were gathering at the village hall to receive the outsiders. However, now it seemed that there was no longer a choice but to let him know of the matter.

They initially intended to slowly explain the situation to the Holy Messenger as they passed by. What they did not expect was that the one leading the group would actually directly approach the Holy Messenger!

"Hi there," Hither abruptly stopped barely two metres away from Paul as he greeted with a smile. However, everyone could tell that the smile was malicious in nature with just one look.

With an Artifact of his own, Hither was able to sense the density of death energy within the village, and thus managed to find the spot with the highest density of death energy. He had thought that it would lead him straight to the Artifact that was left in the village, but who knew that it would actually lead him straight to this young villager instead?

"Who are you?" the leader of the hunting team stared at Hither aggressively as he stepped forward and squeezed between Paul and the outsider. He naturally did not feel good about some random person approaching the Holy Messenger in such an unfriendly manner.

Seeing this, the soldiers who were following behind Hither stepped forward, intending to get rid of the one who was disturbing Hither. But with a wave of Hather's hands, they stopped and continued to watch the situation.

Hither's eyebrows also creased a little at this sudden interruption, but he quickly regained his initial smile as he took a step to the side, looking past the leader of the hunting team as he looked straight at Paul.

"Need something?" Paul finally spoke. It wasn't like he could not sense the hostility in Hither's words, but he was not irrational enough to drop all pretence without getting a clear picture of what was happening exactly.

"I think you should know what I want if you are smart enough," Hither continued staring Paul down from up close.

"Are you deaf or something? He asked what you want! Do you think everybody understands what is in that pea brain of yours?" the leader of the hunting group was obviously offended that Hither ignored him earlier, and stepped in between them once again, this time with a lot more verbal support.

This time, Hither lost his patience. With a wave of his hands, the air in front of him seemed to warp as it formed into the shape of a fist the size of a human head. It only took a moment for the magic fist to form, and upon formation it suddenly erupted towards the leader of the hunting team!

Magic!

Paul's eyes lit up immediately upon seeing that. While he knew that this world was one that was closely linked to the supernatural, this was the first time that he's actually seeing magic being used for offense!

Despite being shocked by the sudden attack, the leader of the hunting team was no ordinary villager either. He immediately reacted, crossing his arms in front of his chest to block the incoming fist. However, the power behind the magic fist was far too strong for him to withstand!

Bang-!

He was sent flying backwards and fell flat on his back a good few metres away with that one attack!

"What's the meaning of this!" the village chief shouted in anger as all the village elders stepped out to join the side of the hunting team.

"You all heard how rude he was being with his words. How would I be able to lift my head in front of followers if I allowed him to just abuse me verbally like that?" Hither was not intimidated at all even as the hunting team drew their weapons, all fresh from repairs at the smith.

The soldiers with Magic Mirror similarly drew their swords, confidently taking a step forward to face the hunters.

"Now, now, just look at how each of us is geared, and I think we both know how this will turn out if we come to blows," Hather stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Hither in front of the soldiers. "Why don't you just hand over the Artifact and we will be out of the village before you know it."

"Artifact?" Paul turned to the village chief beside him.

Though he was slightly embarrassed to do so in this situation, the village chief still explained all that had happened to Paul, not leaving out a single detail.

Death Aura formed from death energy? An Artifact that could emit death energy?

Hearing the full account from the village chief got Paul thinking. He had a good idea that this death energy was likely to be the death energy that he absorbed with every kill over the past year, but if the other party was right and that tens of thousands of kills was needed to form any semblance of a Death Aura, then that was out of the question indeed.

If he really had to count, then he did kill slightly more than a couple thousand in his hunts over the year, but that was still no way near tens of thousands! However, he did not have any Artifacts whatsoever on him either! This only proved one thing, that these jokers in front of him were incapable and made a wrong assumption!

"Are you done explaining the situation to this young man? Now then, is it about time we get on with business?" Hither's voice broke Paul's train of thoughts.

"No Artifact," Paul tried to be honest first to see how the other party would respond.

There was silence for a moment as Hither turned to look at Hather in surprise. Then they both burst out in laughter as if they had heard the most hilarious joke ever.

"Look, I don't think you understand the severity of the situation here. The strong death energy that is being emitted by the Artifact is actually causing your own life energy to wither away. Even if we do let you continue holding on to it, this will only shorten your lifespan. You look to be in your twenties now. But at this rate, you probably won't be able to live to see your fortieth birthday!" Hather still had not given up on convincing him even after the good laugh.

"No Artifact," Paul simply repeated.

Actually he would have liked to ask them some questions regarding death energy, but in this situation he would rather not do so in case it caused the villagers to suspect him in any way. He still wasn't too clear about this whole Holy Messenger bullshit after all.

"If you continue insisting, we would just have to forcibly search for it ourselves then!" Hither finally lost his smile as he sneered maliciously.

Not just Paul, but all the villagers present tensed up upon hearing that. After all, the other party had already put on display what he could do with magic a few moments ago. Even now, the leader of the hunting team had only just barely managed to sit by the side after receiving help from another villager. In addition, there were the twenty or so fully equipped soldiers standing behind them, as well as the other man named Hather!

By now, the villagers in the area had all came over to check out what was going on. Most of them stood a good distance away though, carefully watching from the side as the situation unfolded.

Paul's thoughts scrambled for a lifeline as he desperately tried to think of a solution to this problem. He needed to think of a way out of this situation! …or did he?

As if struck by an epiphany, Paul suddenly looked down at his own hands; then he looked up again at the group he was standing against. He had become a lot stronger over the past year and was no longer that skinny engineer who was only good with his brain! Could it be possible for him to stand up against this group? It should be possible, shouldn't it? Especially if he had the help of the villagers!"

"What a waste of time," Hither lost his patience once again as he waved his hand, and a fist formed in front of him.

"Look out!" the previous victim of the same skill immediately shouted out from the side upon seeing this.

Paul's eyes focused as he crossed his arms in front of his chest to block the attack, just like the leader of the hunting team did before.

"You ignorant villagers! Even if we were generous enough to show you exactly what we were capable of, you still don't learn despite seeing it! What can we do to make you learn?" Hather finally lost his patience as well, now directly insulting the villagers.

The magic fist erupted forward once again, striking Paul on his arms with a loud bang!

Some of the villagers closed their eyes subconsciously, unwilling to see their Holy Messenger suffer from the attack.

It's not as heavy as I imagined!

That was the thought in Paul's mind as the magic fist connected with his guard. He then tyrannically opened up his arms, completely dissipating the magic fist!

"Impossible!" Hither's eyes opened up wide in shock.

"He did that with his bare body?" Hather was similarly not expecting that to happen at all.

The villagers were stumped for a moment as well. That same attack had sent one of them flying backwards a few metres, completely helpless against it. But now it was made to seem like a mere party trick! Such a big difference was not something that was explainable by normal means!

"Holy Messenger!"

No one knew who the first person to shout that out was, but that sent the blood pumping within all the villagers present. The one before them was their Holy Messenger! The one in the prophecy! The one who was said to have the strength of a hundred, and would aid them with all their needs!

Why were they even worried?

But despite shocking everyone with his one move, Paul did not stop with just that!

After blocking the magic fist, he immediately sprung forward towards Hither! With how close they were, it would have taken a normal person only around one second to reach him, not to mention Paul who had been crazily strengthened over a whole year!

His punch reached Hither's face almost instantly, connecting with a loud bang!

Everyone could only watch in shock as Hither flew backwards from the impact, spinning in the air before landing face first as he was sent more than ten metres away.

Paul's punch was fast and furious, but its power was still slightly dampened by a layer of mana that enveloped Hither's body. This was the only thing that prevented Paul from instantly reaping Hither's life like that of an animal!

"You said that we don't learn even after being shown what you were capable of, and asked what you can do to make us learn?" Paul calmly stood up straight as he faced Hather directly. "Now that I'm showing you what we are capable of, is this enough to make you learn then?"