Just now, while observing the battle, William Carter had already confirmed that although the enemy had many people, there were no spirit cultivators among them—only ordinary soldiers. For someone like him, even if a hundred of such people attacked at once, he wouldn’t take them seriously, let alone just a dozen or so.

“Hmph!” The corner of William Carter’s mouth lifted in a cold sneer. He gripped his spear with one hand and swung it with all his might.

Swish—The nearly three-meter-long spear was wielded like a blade, its sharp tip tracing a crescent-shaped flash of cold light through the air. The silver armor on the chests of several soldiers at the front split open, blood spurted from their chests, and they fell backward, dead before they hit the ground.

The soldiers behind hadn’t expected William Carter to be so formidable. Judging by his attire, he was just an ordinary soldier of the Wind Nation, but his skills were almost on par with a spirit warrior.

In the instant they hesitated, William Carter’s spear shot out again like a spirit snake, stabbing forward in quick succession.

Puff, puff, puff! Three consecutive thrusts pierced the throats of three soldiers with deadly precision. The three didn’t even have time to cry out before collapsing lifelessly on the spot.

Though it sounds slow, it all happened in a flash. William Carter moved swiftly, his attacks even faster, and every strike was lethal. Taking out more than ten soldiers took only an instant.

At this, the silver-armored soldiers began to panic. Those at the front, having seen everything clearly, were intimidated by William Carter and retreated in fear, while those at the back, unaware of what had happened ahead, continued to charge forward. The retreating and advancing soldiers collided, throwing their formation into chaos.

William Carter seized the opportunity to carve a bloody path and charged into the center of the battlefield.

Inside, Wind Nation soldiers were indeed trapped. More than twenty corpses, both enemy and Wind Nation, lay scattered across the ground. Fewer than ten Wind Nation soldiers remained alive.

William Carter glanced around without wasting a moment. He swung his spear and shouted, “Run with me!” With that, he fought his way back along the same route.

The Wind Nation soldiers, surrounded by enemies, had thought themselves doomed and were fighting desperately. Never did they expect that, at the critical moment, reinforcements would arrive—even if it was just one person, and dressed in a soldier’s armor at that. But his skills were extraordinary; in the enemy ranks, he moved as if unopposed, felling enemy soldiers before they could even get within three steps of him.

“Kill!” The Wind Nation soldiers’ morale soared. Driven by the will to survive, they followed William Carter and broke out of the encirclement.

William Carter deliberately slowed down, falling to the rear, then pointed to the thicket where he had just been hiding and shouted, “Run that way! I’ll cover the rear!”

With him staying behind alone, the soldiers were naturally worried, but in such an emergency, they had no time to argue. They responded in unison and dove into the roadside bushes.

The reason William Carter directed them that way was, first, because he had just come from there and knew there were no enemies lurking nearby; second, the young man was also in the thicket. If the soldiers ran that way, he would surely follow, and William Carter didn’t want anyone left behind at this point.

Seeing their prey about to escape right under their noses, the silver-armored soldiers were unwilling to let them go and gave chase together.

William Carter stood his ground, gripping his spear with one hand and holding it horizontally at his side. He swept his gaze over the many enemies before him and said coldly, “No need to chase any further. Your opponent is right here.”

“Kill him first!”

“Yeah! Take this guy out first!”

The silver-armored soldiers could tell William Carter was no ordinary foe, but emboldened by their numbers, they weren’t afraid. Dozens of them closed in, surrounding William Carter in the center.

Chapter 0009: Inner Sect of the Dark Element

Heh! William Carter sneered inwardly—this was exactly the effect he wanted. He slowly withdrew his spear and then tossed it to the ground.

“Huh?” The silver-armored soldiers were all startled, wondering if he’d lost his mind. With so many of them, he actually threw away his weapon—wasn’t that just waiting to die?!

With the spear in his hand, they’d been wary of William Carter; now that he’d discarded it, the soldiers all thought their chance had come. A burly silver-armored soldier roared and attacked first, gripping his blade with both hands, raising it high above his head, and bringing it down viciously toward William Carter’s skull.

William Carter remained calm, not even bothering to dodge at first, watching as the steel blade, whistling with force, came down at him. He shifted his body slightly, and the fist hanging at his side suddenly opened, a ball of black flame blooming in his palm. At first, it was only the size of a marble, but in the blink of an eye, it spread to cover his entire hand. The black flame was so strange that, at a glance, it looked as if his palm was shrouded in black mist.

The attacking soldier didn’t notice any of this; his attention was fixed on William Carter’s head, intent on cleaving him in two with a single blow.

When the blade was less than three inches from William Carter’s forehead, he finally moved. Like an eel, he slid half a foot to the side—no more, no less—just enough to avoid the blade. Before his opponent could recover and strike again, William Carter thrust his palm forward, grabbing the man’s face. The flame in his palm seemed to meet fuel, instantly spreading over the man’s entire body.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the black fire incinerated the soldier completely. With a crisp clatter, his armor and weapon fell to the ground, while the man himself vanished without a trace—not even a hair left behind. The burned flesh turned into a faint black mist, which, as if alive, split into countless wisps and flowed into William Carter’s body through his pores.