Alexander knew what he had to do. As he rolled back, he didn’t hesitate—springing to his feet, he broke into a desperate run, with the two crazed bastards hot on his heels.

His thoughts were muddled, clouded by the crushing pain and the overwhelming stress of the situation, but one thing was crystal clear—they were here to kill him. Every strike, every vicious blow they had landed wiped away any lingering doubt. There was no room for second-guessing; this was a fight for survival.

Escaping from two high-level Xeo cultivators might have been possible—just barely—but not with an E-grade present. That level of power was beyond him, a wall he couldn’t hope to scale.

So there was only one option left: he had to take out the other two before dealing with the E-grade. Only then might he have a slim chance of escape. But even as the thought crossed his mind, doubt gnawed at him. Was it even possible? Could he really do it with the E-grade breathing down his neck? And if he somehow managed to incapacitate them, how long before the E-grade handed him over to the authorities?

The rod swung again, slicing through the air with deadly precision. Alexander twisted his body sideways and backward, narrowly avoiding the blow. The rod grazed his earlobe, the high-speed friction turning it an angry red in an instant, sending a searing pain through his skull.

He tried hitting back a few times, and though it was easy for him to tackle Roy, he was not yet there when it came to Dane, an E-grade.

In his current condition, there was only one option for him: he needed at least a level up. Just one, to put up a fight against Dane. But the question was how he could get one.

As mentioned before, he had no way to run away.

But he did not get to think much as another swing came at him, and in his thoughts, he was just a bit distracted. For which the price he had to pay was a steep one. Though he avoided most of the swing, it still grazed his left biceps.

The pain was instantaneous and overwhelming as his biceps muscle just burst out right, like a mine explosion as he was sent flying. But just as he flew two feet in the air, a foot slammed on the side of his head, derailing him from the trajectory mid-flight, sending him crashing into a pillar and then bouncing off it to a pile of rubble.

The pain just did not nod but screamed at him as he felt muddled. But he did not have time as he shifted his upper body to avoid another kick from the crazed Roy.

Rolling off again as he stomped, all while Dane made his way slowly. He was literally getting slaughtered. He needed to do something, and quick. If he wanted to live, he needed to do it.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he did not wait a moment, executing it. As the next leg of Roy came for him, Alexander did not avoid it; he stopped it with his hand.

Without thinking anything, Alexander spread his hand, in turn spreading Roy's leg, and with all the force he could muster, kicked Roy in the groin, sending him flying.

Alexander did not need to hear the gut-wrenching scream, nor did he need to see the pool of blood forming under Roy to know he was no longer a man. But Alexander did not let up; he needed to finish him if he wanted the exp and to get a level, which, if he managed to do properly, might give him a chance of putting up a fight against Dane.

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But just before he could reach his exp bag, Dane bolted in front of him, yelling about Dillen to help Roy or something, his face and eyes even redder, as he swung his rod with much more force as Alexander could hear the hissing sound from afar. Undoubtedly a massive blow.

But what Alexander did next completely threw off Dane from his plan. Instead of dodging or stopping, Alexander bolted, bolted right at him. Fury, no, crazed, burning in his eyes.

Bam

With a bam, his full-power swing was intercepted midway. The knockback force of the clash reeled his swing backward as the recoil force ravaged his hands. But the price Alexander paid was much more extreme as he saw Alexander’s left hand reel back, now mangled and bloodied.

He did not quite get the reason for Alexander’s engagement like this until he did. But by that time, it was too late, as in the literal next moment, Alexander’s right leg slammed into his unbalanced form, sending him stumbling to the side.

And to his horror, opening a path directly to Roy. By the time Dane understood what happened, it was too late, as he screamed out Roy's name.

The scream cut through the soul-wrenching pain Roy was feeling, looking up to meet a rapidly enlarging fist, just moments before it struck him. Time slowed down as he felt every inch of the fist or the fury and desperation in it digging into his flesh.

And the next thing he felt was the overwhelming force as his back hit something. But before he could completely bounce back, another punch hit him squarely in the chest, throwing him back onto the pillar.

The punch felt like a blow of a hammer as it knocked all the air out of him instantly. He gasped for air, which was cut off short as another one slammed into his left side, pinning him farther into the pillar.

Again, before he could take a breath, another one smashed into him, then another, then another, then another. He felt blow after blow crushing into his ribs as he slowly lost his voice. He felt his rib cage cave in; he felt iron in his mouth as his screams died out.

And then, suddenly, the blows shifted as his head became dizzy, and a tsunami of pain assaulted his head as his vision shifted from side to side, becoming increasingly dizzy until everything went dark.

[You have killed human, Xeo 5, 877 exp]

[You have leveled up]

The notification brought Alexander out of the reverie, but the feeling of leveling up or the weight of what he just did not get a hold on his mind as a huge amount of pain assailed him all at once. It felt like someone just outright crushed both of his arms.

But that pain and concern, too, were flung out the window as suddenly he heard a yell behind him. But it was too late as the metal rod connected with him, sending him flying once more.

This time, at his right side. His left rib area simply busted open from the sheer force, behind the strike. Landing far away, he tumbled for some time until he was almost at the edge of the floor, just one foot from falling to his death.

Alexander was kind of afraid of heights, but honestly, the amount of pain coursing through his body nulled every other thought completely.

In his dizzy and red vision, Alexander saw two people approaching—most likely Dillen. It seemed he couldn’t stay still after his friend went down. But that did not matter; Alexander was furiously trying to move one of the lumps to his strength core.

Most likely due to his banged-up condition, it felt more difficult to do than normal. But he pushed through with all his remaining strength, which bore fruit as he put the first one on the strength meridian.

Dillen was yelling something about what Alexander had done or not, but Alexander didn’t care as he started with the second one immediately. But unfortunately, the fucker, Dane upped his pace as he came up to Alexander, poised to kick him down.

Alexander abandoned the second one halfway as he moved out of the way, but did not get the chance as the rod slammed into him, sending him flying once fucking more.

But fortunately, this time, Dane forgot to infuse it with qi, or he was just running out, which let Alexander get off easy. Not that it mattered as he charged at him with crazed fervor once again.

And even though in his crazed state the swing was not actually accurate, Alexander dodged by a hair’s breadth as he, too, was not fully present. He tried to do something that he considered impossible just a moment ago. He tried to move the second lump toward the meridian as he dodged Dane's crazed rampage. In this condition, it did not matter if he could or not; he had to.

And yes, at this point, Dane was just rampaging. His strikes had far less accuracy but far more raw power. The old Alexander would have been just terrified to stillness, but though he wasn’t still, he had to admit he was a little terrified.

Alexander found out why it was not recommended—to balance the outside, holding his wits against a crazy E-grade and also internally guiding the energy was impossible.

Many times he almost got hit, and a few times he even did. And the number of times he misplaced the energy in the wrong path was beyond his count. At least Dillen did not get involved; he just watched with a conflicted look, but this time, there was a tinge of hatred when he looked at Alexander. But who cares? He was almost there, and after taking a full-on blow on his shoulder, he managed to put another lump of energy in his strength meridian.