A Glimpse of True Power

The young woman watched the approaching young man, her eyes narrowed, and a ripple of apprehension stirred within her.

Subsequently, she shifted her gaze back to Igor, who stood nearby.

“A fight? Heh, don’t blame us if a few of you don’t make it out alive.”

The young woman’s voice was light, yet laced with a mocking edge.

“Hahaha,” Igor boomed with laughter. “If they can’t make it, it merely proves their inadequacy. They have no one but themselves to blame.”

The young women standing beside her showed no surprise at these words, nor a hint of fear. Their expressions remained impassive.

The young woman glanced at the group before her, a subtle shift in her thoughts. Then, she tilted her head slightly, addressing the cold-eyed figures behind her in a low, grave tone.

“Be careful, all of you. These individuals seem different from the Dragon Race we’ve encountered before. Prioritize your own lives, but if you can take one down, do so.”

At her words, the figures behind her grew even colder, a faint, palpable killing intent seeping from them.

“In that case, let’s ensure *all* of you remain here!”

With a low growl, the leading young woman’s eyes blazed with killing intent. She pushed off the ground, vanishing in an instant.

When she reappeared, it was directly before one of the Dragon Race’s young women, a frigid blade glinting with piercing cold as it swept towards the slender neck. The thin edge of the blade was moments from touching skin.

The young woman gripped her blade’s hilt, her cold eyes utterly devoid of emotion. Even as her blade sliced across the Dragon Race young woman’s skin, and droplets of blood beaded and slid down the steel, no hint of triumph flickered in her gaze.

Just as her blade was about to sever the Dragon Race young woman’s neck, a chilling sensation, like hairs standing on end, engulfed her entire body.

Her pupils constricted violently. The young woman swiftly retracted her blade and darted aside. In the very instant she vacated that spot, a figure appeared there, its attack grazing dangerously close to her waist.

A fresh gash marred the deep purple soft armor she wore.

The young woman, having sidestepped, now looked at the young man who had appeared behind her previous position. A wave of lingering fear washed over her.

Had it not been for the astonishing intuition honed over years of battlefield experience, which had alerted her to the danger, she would have been bisected moments ago.

The young man had appeared behind her without a single sound!

Staring at the impassive young man, her expression grew intensely grave.

A single misstep could prove fatal.

The young man cast a glance at the Dragon Race young woman nearby, his cold gaze deepening further.

“Step aside, trash.”

His thin lips parted slightly, his voice utterly devoid of warmth.

The Dragon Race young woman touched the bloodstain on her neck, a flicker of terror in her eyes. She then looked at the young man, whose gaze was filled with icy contempt, and her body trembled slightly.

She quickly bowed. “Yes!”

With that, the Dragon Race young woman retreated swiftly, vanishing from the scene.

The young woman watched the approaching young man, her hands tightening around her blade’s hilt, her eyes filled with caution.

The young man held a shimmering silver longsword, its lengthy blade casually resting by his side. His cold eyes fixed upon the young woman before him.

“Not bad. To evade one of my strikes, you’ve piqued my interest.”

The young man spoke softly, his voice still frigid.

The young woman offered no reply, her gaze locked firmly on the young man.

The young man seemed unfazed by her silence. He continued, his voice calm, “Igor mentioned that the wound on his eye was inflicted by you.”

Upon hearing the young man’s words, the young woman recalled her previous battle against Igor.

It was the conflict where Igor led the Dragon Race in an assault on the border fortress—a battle fought with ferocious intensity.

The Dragon Race, with a mere one-fifth of the Human Race’s forces, shattered their border defenses and advanced deep into their territory.

In that single engagement, nearly half of the Human Race’s ten thousand troops stationed at the southern border were lost, while the Dragon Race, with two thousand soldiers, sacrificed a thousand.

During that same battle, more than a dozen of Lisa Kael’s elite, the young women clad in purple soft armor, also perished.

Yet, it was this very young woman, the leader of the armored unit, who single-handedly cut down dozens of Dragon Race warriors.

She had left a grotesque scar across the right eye of the Dragon Race’s commander, Igor himself.

“If you’re referring to the scar he acquired at the border, then yes, I was the one who inflicted it.”

The young woman replied calmly.

The young man’s gaze intensified, his eyes slowly burning with a fiery passion. A surge of battle intent erupted from him.

“Excellent! You possess the qualifications to be slain by me!!”

His eyes flashed with brilliant light as the young man’s form rapidly expanded in the young woman’s vision.

In the blink of an eye, he was before her. It was then that the young woman suddenly realized the tip of his longsword was less than an inch from her throat!

“How is this possible?!”

Her mind reeled. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she swiftly retreated, narrowly dodging the young man’s blade tip.

However, the instant the young woman halted her retreat, the young man moved. He reappeared before her, a blinding white flash engulfing her entire vision.

“Splat!!”

Blood splattered. The young woman stared at the young man’s impassive face, her eyes wide with shock.

“How is this possible?!”

He calmly flicked the blood from his blade. Observing the young woman, who now bore a bloody gash across her chest, a hint of disappointment crossed the young man’s eyes.

“You couldn’t evade it? With such strength, you managed to wound Igor’s right eye. It seems his power has waned considerably of late.”

Speaking nonchalantly, the young man turned and walked away into the distance.

The young woman clutched the wound on her chest, watching the young man depart with slow steps. A surge of fury ignited in her eyes.

She opened her mouth, intending to shout something, but ultimately bit down on her lip instead. The anger in her eyes transformed into humiliation as she finally spoke, “You will regret this.”

Hearing her words, the young man ahead paused for a moment. A clear, cold voice drifted back to the young woman’s ears.

“I rather look forward to you making me regret it.”

Concurrently, the other battles concluded. Nearly every Human Race combatant was wounded, and two had fallen.

On the Dragon Race’s side, apart from the young Dragon Race woman previously injured by the protagonist, the others were completely unscathed.

Igor looked at the young woman, who bore a deep gash across her chest, then glanced at the young man beside him. A knowing expression, as if confirming his expectations, appeared on his face.

“You didn’t kill her? No matter.”

Shaking his head, Igor looked at the young woman once more before speaking.

“Let’s go. In a couple of days, this place will be ours.”

With that, Igor turned and departed. The young man cast a final glance at the young woman before falling in step beside Igor, followed by the three Dragon Race young women.

The young woman watched the departing Dragon Race figures, her eyes filled with both gravity and simmering rage.