100

"What an amusing display of bravado." Cheng Yang smirked. "If you're in a hurry to die, save me the trouble of killing you, and just commit suicide. It's not urgent though, wait until I've finished my conversation."

Cheng Yang then ignored the scarred man's retort and turned back to the older woman. "Elder sister, you don't have to worry. I may be a single person, but I'm more than enough to exterminate these bugs. Tell me more about the situation. Where are the people they captured? How many are there?"

"Not too far from here. There's an underground car park that was preserved even though the building on top of it collapsed. Those bastards are using it as their base. Earlier today, we met a woman that escaped. If not for her, we wouldn't have ever known." The woman replied.

Seeing that Cheng Yang was indifferent to his crimes, the scarred man tried to backpedal. "What nonsense! We felt sorry for them, so we rescued them from the ruins and gave them food. If they were feeling grateful and wanted to repay us, why are we criminals?"

"Fuck you!" The woman shouted, "If it was voluntary, why was Xiao Ling covered in bruises? Don't think you're getting out of this! I'm ending this today, I'll kill you with my own hands!"

"Kill me? Let's see if you fucking can!" The scarred man roared. Without warning, he raised his bow and shot the woman in the chest.

The speed of the arrow was simply too fast to dodge. Luckily, the woman's Health was still high enough that she wasn't killed in a single hit.

A wave of anger washed over Cheng Yang's heart. He was in the middle of a conversation, and someone decided to make a sudden attack?

"I see you're really fed up with life!" Cheng Yang raised his stave and started to cast Icicle Blast.

Magic was a slow process. It needed to be cast, and aside from increasing your Attack Speed attribute, there wasn't a way to make it complete faster.

Watching the air chill and frost collect at the end of Cheng Yang's stave gave the people present a shock. They'd seen Mages attack before but they'd never seen anything like that.

"You… What skill is that?" The scarred man started to panic. It was the fear of the unknown. He didn't think it could kill him in one hit, but he could feel the situation spiral out of his control.

"Never see a skill like this before?" Cheng Yang mocked. "Let me tell you, even though its beautiful, you're going to die."

With that, the spell was cast. With a flick of his wrist, the icicle flew forwards and pierced the man's forehead.

The scarred man died with a look of terror on his face. As soon as he saw the attack fly towards him, he realized he was going to die. People like him that murdered others like it was nothing, were more scared of death than anyone else. There was no way he could accept his face.

The force of the attack sent the man flying. His body struck the ground a few meters away like a rag doll. He didn't even get the chance to make a final struggle.

Everyone was stunned. Seeing a man suddenly die like that frightened them.

The scarred man had taken the opportunity to drink a Health Recovery Potion when the fighting stopped, so his Health was probably full. As such, killing him in one hit was incredible.

People started to speculate on the damage Cheng Yang's attack dealt. Since Rangers had twenty-five Health, the spell must have dealt at least that.

Once they realized this, everyone panicked. Especially those that had the same or lower Health as the scarred man.

If Cheng Yang wanted to kill someone, all it would take was a few seconds and a single attack. They wouldn't even have a chance to escape.

"You… You…" The people on the woman's side recovered first. Since Cheng Yang was on friendly terms, they weren't as afraid that he would suddenly kill them. Still, the shock was too strong for them to find a way to talk to Cheng Yang.

"Don't be afraid." Cheng Yang smiled. "Someday, you too will have strength like me."

Cheng Yang hadn't lied. In his past life, some people reached his level after six months. Of course, that was only the very best humans in the world. It was hard to say if any of the people present would even survive to that point, much less reach the Pinnacle-Grade.

With that, Cheng Yang turned towards the scarred man's subordinates. Although he hadn't confirmed that the scarred man was abusing women, the moment he attacked, his decision was made.

"Now that you've lost your humanity don't expect me to treat you like humans!" Cheng Yang raised his left hand, and a flurry of razor-sharp ice shards spun appeared. No matter what class a person had, once that flurry enveloped them, they were killed in seconds.

The scarred man's subordinates were terrified. Cheng Yang had killed ten people with a single attack!

"He's trying to kill us all! Get him!" Every one of the scarred man's subordinates lifted up their weapons and attacked Cheng Yang.

They knew it was their only chance to survive. If they let Cheng Yang live now, who knew how powerful he'd be later?

There was no regard for formations. The Warriors held up their shield and charged while everyone else attacked Cheng Yang from a distance.

No matter what kind of attack hit him, Cheng Yang stood there: unmoving and unscathed.

Then, he retaliated.

The Warriors quickly realized that their shields were useless. Even if they were able to block an Icicle Blast, Cheng Yang didn't waste any attacks trying to hit them with it. Instead, he used Petal Blizzard, which was impossible to block.

Everyone else got the same treatment their leader did. A single icicle through their forehead. Instant death.

Watching their companions die one by one broke their spirit. Watching their attacks harmlessly bounce off Cheng Yang broke their minds. This was the despair of death. The despair of meeting a reaper.

Everyone that was left lost their will to fight. Without a synchronized movement, they fled into the darkness.

At this point, the woman's group decided to take advantage of Cheng Yang's fierce offensive. They drew their weapons and routed the enemy.

When they did, Cheng Yang stopped attacking. It wasn't because he suddenly decided to show mercy to the bandits, but rather that he couldn't tell the two groups apart.

Even without Cheng Yang, there was no way the bandits would win. Their only thoughts were about escaping this hopeless battlefield.

A few minutes later, every bandit either escaped or was dead. All that was left was to clean up the battlefield.

"Sir, this is the equipment those men died with." The middle-aged man from earlier nervously offered all of the loot to Cheng Yang. "Its all quality equipment with good bonuses."

Cheng Yang didn't even glance at the equipment. He knew that any equipment they had was subpar mass-produced goods from the stores. Even if he sold it, he wouldn't get five hundred Experience Fragments.

"Keep it. Things like that are useless to me." Cheng Yang said quietly. "Also, my work here is done. You can save the trapped women on your own. I won't go."

Cheng Yang turned around, intending to return to Liu Wei, but after only two steps, the woman from before called out to him. "Sir, please help us one more time. There are lots of women trapped and if those men who escaped decide to take out their anger on them… We aren't fast enough to save them, so please help us."

Cheng Yang paused. As someone who had already experience every hell the apocalypse had to offer, he didn't value life very highly. The only reason he helped out this time was to nip a growing threat in the bud. He had suffered greatly at the hands of people like the scarred man.

Besides, he didn't want to associate himself with people from Cloud City. The refugees were fine since they were easy to control and could bolster Phoenix Village's forces in the future, but what did foreign soldiers have to offer?

His best and the safest choice was to kill the threat and then disappear. Only then could he ensure Phoenix Village would stay hidden.

"My Lord?" A quiet and cute voice tickled Cheng Yang's ears as Liu Wei stepped out from behind the rubble. "I want to help them."