27 Start of the battle

Leon grabbed his staff, and walked out of the Lea residence. 30 minutes had already passed since Lufti left to alert all of the other family heads and 4 minutes had passed since he came back, reporting that all of them were on their way.

Being the first one to take his leave, he slowly walked away from the residence all the way towards the gate and exited the city, his shadow dissapearing into the forest. Lufti did the same 10 minutes after Leon, but jogging and with a big bag hanging from his broad shoulders, as if he was trying to catch up to Leon. The only ones right one in the house were Leroux and Lina. While Lina was really strong, it was just her innate strenght due to the food provided by their master, but any of these people could beat her with experience and technique.

So they were completely ignoring her, since as long as 2 or 3 people surrounded her, they could stall her and take her out of the combat without harming her. They continued to observe for a few more minutes, making sure that Leon or Lufti didn't come back. What they didn't expect was Leroux to come out fully geared. He was wearing shorts and a light shirt. It seemed like a rag, as it was patched all around but still retained it's white color. Something that surprised the ambusher was that he wasn't wearing only one glove with the black purplish scales. He was wearing 2 of them. His feet were protected by high boots. They covered all the way up to the bottom of his knee and they were of an ocre color, clearly made for battle. Around his waist was a belt with different pouches, it was made out of a green metallic color, and the pouches were simply made out of leather. This was his gear for battle.

Not only the ambusher and the family heads were surprised, Leon and Lufti that were looking from the shadows were also surprised. Just that, the reasons for those groups were completely different. In Leon and Lufti's eyes, Leroux was going overkill. He only had to show strenght and battle prowess, but his belt said otherwise. Instead, for the ambushers and family head, Leroux was insane. He was going to face them wearing rags without protecting his vitals nor anything? Usually, people would wear full armor in order to cushion any hit they could get. But here, Leroux was completely open. He could block 4 hits at most with each of his limbs, but he was facing around 400 soldiers. What would that do against a barrage of arrows or spears?

Leroux stood in the middle of the street, stretching his body as he waited to be attacked. He opened one of the leather pouches and popped a pill inside his mouth. His skin got blackish for a moment but it soon dissapeared, still, his veins were popping out of his skin and every breath he gave released a mouthful of steam.

It didn't take long for a barrage of arrows to arc on the sky as if it was the prelude to death. Landing all over his body, all of them were reflected, falling all around him with their tips bent.

"Come on, come at me with everything you've got. Arrow won't do the trick, why not use javalins, spears or trees to hit me with?!" taunted Leroux. His voice was calm, but a tinge of excitement could be felt on it.

Not long after, fully armored soldiers with lances came out in formation. All around Leroux, from the shadows, different squads came out. Some of them had lances, other swords, some daggers. There were all kinds of different combatants and some even had rare weapons in hand, some that Leroux had never seen. All of this made him happier, as he knew he could fight to his hearts content.

"I see, all kinds of people came for our heads this time. Hahaha, it would be unfair if I fight with the skin strenghtening pill right? Alright, we shall do things in a fair way..." Leroux took another pill, this one light blue in color and popped it inside his mouth. His veins slowly receded under his skin and after a few seconds he spat out a black muckus on the floor. "Now we're even. Arrows will penetrate my skin, swords grazing it will tear my skin open. But if you come at me with the intent to kill, remember, I will go with the intent to kill as well. So, why not probe my a bit before you decide if you want to die namelessly for arrogant bastards that only give orders from their comfortable chairs"

"Lance squad, kill him!" a roar could be heard followed by that command, as the people with lances charged at Leroux with all their might. They knew that their opponent was strong, stronger than any beast they had faced till know but still a human, so they had an opportunity. A simple scratch with their poisoned tips and that would be enough to stop him in his tracks and take his life.

Leroux couldn't wait anymore, he laughed and charged against the wielding lance soldiers, jumping high up in the air. It was a miracle for the enemy, the changed their formation really fast and made a piky trap with their lances, receiving Leroux with them. Sadly, they didn't count with Leroux's boots.

His ocre boots were made with the skin of a yellow Ox. They have the strongest skin despite it being leather. Blades bounce off their bodies as if someone was trying to kill a tank with a noodle. With his nimble feet, he kicked the tips of the lances, bending them outwards and creating a footing, prowess that was only possible due to the strenght with which the soldiers were holding them. Poison wouldn't work on leather boots, and metal was useless as well. If he could do that with his feet alone, what would he do once he landed in the middle of the squad?