The goblin village now stabilized after one week and the Orcs didn’t appear another time, well the Orc mines are far from this place so it was understandable.

Yefan after his breakthrough to middle ranked magician decided to not go directly to the mines and instead train the 2nd sword technique that Wilkins imparted to him, on the first day he wasn’t even able to execute the technique therefore he repeated again and again till exhaustion.

Yefan now was still beside the river, this was a peaceful environment that helped him concentrate and focus his mind on his training and nothing else.

“This damn technique it’s so fucking difficult “

Yefan was complaining incessantly but he didn’t stop and persisted, the second sword technique that he is trying to execute consisted of a combo of successive blows in one breath and used inner physical energy to extend the range and increase the sharpness, during several months in the village and the wilderness his body was trained to the extreme and even Wilkins said that it was abnormal the speed of his was like a natural phenomenon and not working hard for results.

Every breath the wielder of the sword would deliver five or more extremely rapid blows that will cut the body of the enemy from every angle, this technique was named …

“Second technique of the Ackerman sword style: Shadowless blade”  

 Shadowless blade a name fitting for this technique due to its speed of execution that makes the blade disappear from the field of vision of the enemy with not even a trace of shadow remaining a secret technique passed by the warrior ancestors of the Ackerman family, Wilkins always complained that his family met its downfall abandoned its honor as a family of warriors and instead treaded in the path of dirty politics.

Yefan relentlessly repeated the movements he was taught but he always failed to complete the ideal rhythm, the old man Wilkins told him many times that the key to master a technique is to find the corresponding rhythm and synchronize speed precision and power or the attack will be imperfect and incomplete.

“Shit I have the speed maintained but I can’t aim correctly due to the velocity and I can’t put the ideal amount of strength aghhh shit! Well let’s fucking repeat till I collapse motherfucker I can’t believe that I won’t be able to master it!”

And like that three more days passed, during those days Mia will always deliver food to Yefan who became so engrossed in his training that he forgot to eat.

“Amazing …”murmured Mia

Every time she would watch Yefan training and blurt admiring words unconsciously, Mia at first was afraid of Yefan because he was cold and unapproachable, even if she was a goblin she was an evolved goblin a hobgoblin with intelligence on par with humans and due to her tribe constantly being in contact with humans in the past they had the same behavior and performed like them.

Even the esthetic sense of humans was engraved in them, Mia seeing the bare upper body of Yefan and his long silky Black flowing hair behind him only recalled a word ‘Beautiful’.

Beautiful is word that can’t be only used for females it can also be used for males, beauty here is not expressed only physically.

Yefan with his perfect body and his sword executing the movements of the shadowless blade appeared to be in harmony with the surroundings and emitted an aura of a real master that Mia can’t help but admire and even feel love to her a goblin girl that was a strange feeling but she was happy every time she looked at him.

“Hmm just now I felt like I got a hold of something ….”

Yefan repeated the exact same movements again and again and the feeling intensified, little by little the speed wouldn’t get in the way of his aim and his strength began to adapt gradually, he knew instinctively when to exert force and when to use flexibility, this was the rhythm that Wilkins was talking about.

The blade began to blur, Yefan was excited but …

“haaaa!”

Exhaling he felt tremendous pressure on his joints and felt tired , this technique was impressive but also made the wielder consume a lot of stamina and for Yefan who trained all day long it was a miracle that he could make his sword blur.

“Shit …ha…ha…ha… but I succeeded well four blows in one breath I still have to train … “

Yefan cleaned the sweat of his body with a towel he made of some magical beast skin and began to eat the food that Mia gave him.

(That girl, she’s always watching me …did she think I can’t sense her hiding, what is she a stalker?)

Yefan wasn’t dense nor stupid he could feel the affection she had for him but he played the role of the ignorant, it wasn’t because she was a goblin he didn’t care but it was because he had his goals and he needed strength, revenge was the only thing in his mind any other feelings were distractions so he didn’t give her attention.

The next day Yefan as usual was training but this time he was going to try his technique on a solid object he chose a tree.

SFX: Inhale…

Breathing deeply he gripped his sword tightly and made a stance after that he with his greatest speed initiated the shadowless blade , this time the sword blurred instantly and whistling sounds could be heard , it was unknown how many blows he delivered but considering the sound it was clearly more than one.

Yet there was no trace of the blade, only the forearm of Yefan constantly twisted like a snake.

 SFX: exhale…

Yefan stopped and looked attentively at the tree in front of him, creaking sounds could be heard and the tree began to deviate till it collapsed.

“Hm? ”

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When the tree touched the ground clear thin lines appeared on the bark and five pieces collapsed like being unstuck from each other, the cuts were so clean that Yefan thought he was more experienced than a proper carpenter.

“Well… another card I have in a fight but I can’t use it more than two times “

Indeed the technique was lethal but it puts a lot of physical strain on the swordsman so unless he was in a very dangerous situation he didn’t want to use it.

(Okay I’ll rest another day before departing)

 The day of departure Yefan early in the morning walked toward Kroll house.

“Are you already going?”

Kroll looked at Yefan with perplexed eyes, Yefan didn’t feel any ulterior motive from him just a heartfelt and genuine feeling.

“Yes I need to go, this was my objective all along “

“But here is peaceful you can live with us if you want …”

Yefan made a sign and stopped his words.

“No, Old goblin thank you but I can’t stay here”

Kroll sensing the will of Yefan only regretfully nodded, Yefan smiled, this was the first time he smiled after the death of Wilkins, he stroked his storage ring and immediately after that a pill of weapons of every kind fell on the table.

Kroll was shocked and his eyes opened wide remaining unblinking.

“Old goblin this is my last gift before I go …oh and the Orc lord don’t worry about it I will take care of that “

Yefan eyes flashed coldness Kroll still surprised didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t say anything these weapons are useless to me so take them, old goblin I’m going now “

Yefan stood up.

“Oh I…i will accompany you “  

Till they arrived outside the village they were silent but suddenly Kroll said something.

“That girl …”

Yefan understood without even the old man explaining.

“Tell her that her food was good …good bye Old goblin “

Seeing Yefan disappearing inside the forest Kroll sighted, suddenly he saw Mia running toward him.

“Grandfather …where is he?”

“He is gone “

“What! But…but”

“Do you love him?”

Mia was taken aback by the sudden question but she nodded while lowering her head her face was red.

“Don’t worry my girl being with him now will only be a burden, if you are fated you will see him again , that young human is special …he is destined his name will be heard in every corner of this continent and maybe the world  “

Kroll looked at the now empty direction where Yefan went and he smiled warmly.

(Young man take care)

The iron mines, in fact it was a wide tunnel that passed through the chain of mountains that circled this huge area, also a shortcut toward the west and a base for the savage Orcs , inhibited by at least a thousand it was a huge force largely surpassing that of goblins  unlike them the Orcs didn’t take refuge in the wilderness they were here as far as humans had memories of the wilderness , this place was huge so there wasn’t only a tribe or two in fact there was many including goblins.

From the goblin village to the mines it took Yefan four and half a day, it was now the afternoon , in his path many magical beasts made their appearance but they were insta-killed by him , a magical beast of the third rank still didn’t appear but Yefan knew that the Orc lord was probably stronger.

After a few hours he finally arrived at the base of the mountain, climbing a tree he wanted to have a clear view of the scenery.

That was truly here, a wide tunnel with a cave like entrance, it had a diameter of approximately seven to nine meters and a height of five to seven meters it was huge.

Looking around Yefan noticed that there was fifty Orcs patrolling the area around the entrance and among them he spotted two Orc commanders similar to the one he killed previously.

“Fifty huh? Well it where my twin devils will be used for the first time”

Yefan jumped from the tree and walked slowly toward the mine, he didn’t have any fancy strategy just a direct approach and indiscriminate slaughter.

 Slowly he appeared in front of the patrolling Orcs who got instantly alarmed by the intruder, they all gripped their rusted swords and spears and stared at him, first they were bewildered then they became ferocious and licked their lips.

“Well pig heads, let the party begin!”

Yefan withdrew his two guns from their holster and aimed at the first row of Orcs, two blue flashes made a line in the air and bore two holes in two heads it was with a precision that even experienced gunmen would be jealous.

The Orcs seeing two of their kin instantly killed and smelling the charred flesh became enraged and rushed toward Yefan.

Yefan now was a middle ranked magician his quantity of Mana increased drastically and he can now use his twin devils to his heart content, he leaped inside the group of Orcs and like an acrobat dodged each blow aimed at him while not forgetting to shoot the head of an Orc.

His movements were coordinated and blue flashes were seen everywhere, each flash was a bullet and took down an Orc , little by little corpses covered the ground without a single one spurting blood due to the high temperature of his blue flames , the Orcs became scared and a few of them were thinking of escaping but it was too late.

Forty eight Orcs were killed in the span of twenty minutes a complete one sided massacre , yefan licked his lips with delight before his guns regained their holster inside his coat after that he pulled out his soul slayer from its sheath and pointed at the two remaining orc commanders.

“Hey now it’s your turns “

The two Orc commanders were trembling but they were after all not normal Orcs they gripped their halberds and slashed at Yefan at the same time, but his silhouette was not found, the Orcs became puzzled and electric sound buzzed in their ears but without even knowing what happened their heads were already flying, their expression still frozen with bewilderment.

“Too bad I don’t have time to play”

Yefan declared while holding his sword covered in blue lightning, he used shadow movement to escape their blows before severing their heads with his lightning blade, with his breakthrough and training of the shadowless blade his agility increased which didn’t let the two poor commander orcs react and meet their demise.

Yefan without waiting leaped inside the cave, outside pig screams were constantly heard, there maybe was one thousand orcs but not all of them were present so Yefan advanced without hindrance.

The interior of the tunnel was dark and gloomy, each five or six meters there was a group of Orcs but he disposed of them in the blink of an eye , advancing smoothly he noticed that there was some construction maybe houses but it was rough and different from those made by the goblins

“Hmm that place is slightly different “

Yefan spotted a room like place but it was larger and more gloomy, the air was cold and he sensed a powerful aura inside, walking steadily he crossed inside, there wasn’t light but the interior was clearly visible, there was thrown on which sat something.

At first Yefan thought it was a human, it was completely different from the morphology of an Orc, to begin with its height was maybe similar to Yefan and its build was human like the muscles were present but they were more compact, if the pair of bloody red eyes and pig head wasn’t attached to the body he would have sworn that it was a human and not an Orc.

The Orc was sitting on the throne leisurely he gazed at Yefan, his skin was red and darker than the other Orcs.

“Human what are you doing here?”

A hoarse and rough voice emitted from his mouth.

“Oh I want to maybe cross this tunnel?”

Yefan looked at the Orc without fear he even grinned.

“Human are you looking down on me?”

“So you aren’t going to let me pass I presume?”

“Killing my subjects a mere human dare to be arrogant?”

The Orc suddenly stood up and his aura flooded the surrounding large room, his pressure wasn’t anything like the Orc commanders, his eyes had a savage glint and hatred was emanating from them.

“Well then a pig head even if intelligent remains a pig head huh …”

Finally the Orc lord made his appearance…

End.