Outside Sunrise Town, in an unnamed mountain hollow.
"Boss, is that Daniel really as freaky as they say?" a thief with a scar on his left cheek asked.
The leader was a big bald man with two giant axes on his back, the well-known leader of the "Mad War" Mercenary Group in the Shadow City—Eric, Mad Iron Bull.
"Why do you care so much? The pay those noble family elders offered this time is enough for us to live easy for ten years!" Eric replied with contempt. "Those cowards keep whining and making plans. By the time they get here, we'll have finished the job!"
Eric was a fifth-level berserker. With his two axes, he once solo-killed the fifth-level beast "Mad Iron Bull." After he killed the fifth-level beast "Mad Iron Bull," he founded the mercenary group under the name "Mad War." Killing an eighteen-year-old punk would be a piece of cake, even if he could control fourth-level beasts.
"Heh, I heard the women here are pretty."
"When the time comes, I'm going to search the whole village. Maybe I'll find something good."
"Kill all the men, take the goods, and the women…"
The Mad War Mercenary Group was an interest group made of mercenaries, thieves, and bounty hunters. They had no bottom line and were vicious. They often fought each other over profit, but Eric mostly crushed it by force.
"Kill!" Eric took the giant axes off his back, eyes fierce, and ordered coldly, "Remember, leave no survivors!"
More than fifty desperados rushed toward Sunrise Town, afraid they'd miss out if they were late.
But when they charged into Sunrise Town with great force, the whole place was quiet and empty, with no one there, only scared poultry squawking.
"Where are the people? Where did they all go?"
"That makes no sense. Everything's still here. Did they run?"
"Whatever, I'm going to search first!"
Just as the Mad War Mercenary Group was about to start looting—
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
A sharp tearing sound cut the air, and then countless sharp wooden spikes started raining down fast from the sky!
"Ah!"
"Watch out!"
"Help me!"
A few unlucky ones got stabbed like porcupines, their guts spilling all over, some heads bursting on the spot, and one guy who wasn't dead yet cried for help, but the Mad War people just ignored him.
"It's a trap! Everyone be careful!" Eric swung his giant axes and chopped down the falling wooden spikes, roaring.
As soon as he finished, the ground not far away suddenly collapsed, and a dozen of his men fell into a pit in an instant, leaving only a cloud of dust and screams.
"Ah—"
"Damn it! It's an ambush!"
"Run! Don't stay in the village!"
"Get out of my way! Don't block me!"
…
Panic spread fast through the crowd. These bullies who feared the strong started fighting each other just to live. Facing unknown danger, and knowing how cruel their teammates were, they ran in all directions.
"howl——"
A wolf howl rang out, and Abraham jumped out of the dark and bit through a lone thief's throat in one bite.
"beasts! There are beasts!"
"Boom——"
Alexander dropped from the sky with griffin's help, and his huge bear paw smashed two bounty hunters into paste.
"Screech——" griffin circled in the air, picked the right moment, dived and tore a merc to pieces, and as it took off it grabbed another merc and smashed him to death.
In the chaos, the ground-dwelling scaled beast popped out of the ground now and then, ignored attacks thanks to its thick scales, and killed several enemies with one sweep of its tail.
[Ding——]
[System sleep ended, update complete.]
[New function, Phrase Bestowal. Effect: you can give extra Phrases to others.]
A familiar voice rang in Daniel's head and made him perk up. The system not only woke up, it also got a new feature!
[Detected host is in battle. Start today's Golden Phrase refresh?]
"Refresh!" Daniel answered without hesitation.
[Today's Golden Phrase refresh complete!]
[Phrase One: Eternal Youth. Effect: gives you an ageless face, ignores the passing of time, and keeps you eighteen forever.]
[Phrase Two: Time Pause. Effect: lets time stop for ten seconds within ten meters around one single target. The host is not affected. Note: the single target can be a living thing or an object. Cooldown is twelve hours.]
[Phrase Three: Berserk Bloodline. Effect: gives beasts within five kilometers a temporary bloodline power. Beasts' attack, speed, and self-heal go up by 300% for ten minutes. Note: can be used once per day.]
"I pick Three, Berserk Bloodline!" After seeing the three Phrase effects, Daniel chose the third one right away.
[Golden Phrase 'Berserk Bloodline' loaded!]
In an instant, all the beasts led by Abraham, Alexander, griffin, and Max let out earth-shaking roars, their eyes turned blood-red, and the power around them got a lot stronger!
Then all the beasts doubled in size, panted hard, and gave off a terrifying killing vibe!
"We're done, these beasts went berserk!"
"I don't want to die, someone help me!"
"Run!"
...
The Mad War Mercenary Group was scared out of their minds and made fools of themselves trying to live, but it was too late. Beasts in berserk mode were ruthless killing machines.
Abraham turned into black lightning, coming and going in the dark, and every time he showed up he took a life.
Alexander was like he had iron skin and steel bones, and he rushed into the crowd to kill.
Griffin in the sky was like the reaper's scythe, keeping on cutting down the ones who slipped out.
Max kept shaking the ground and making ground spikes, cutting off the enemies' way out.
In just five minutes, of the more than fifty Mad War Mercenary Group members, only about a dozen core guys were left.
"Damn it! Didn't they say he can control beasts? Why are so many beasts listening to him!" Eric kept swinging his giant axes to block griffin's attacks and cursed.
He had thought Daniel could only control one or two beasts, but he didn't expect he could command a whole group.
"Whoosh——"
Right then, a sharp arrow cut through the night and flew straight at Daniel's heart!
"Roar——" Alexander sensed the arrow, leaped at Daniel, covered him under his body, and used himself to block the deadly shot!
"Puff!"
"Gurgle!"
The arrow sank deep into Alexander's back, and blood kept pouring from the wound, turning the silver crescent mark on his back red.
"Alexander!" Daniel looked at Alexander on all fours, shaking and about to fall but still shielding him, and his heart ached.
"Hahaha! I waited so long for this chance. Daniel will die for sure!" A tall middle-aged man in dark green leather armor walked out of the far woods, holding a silver longbow with fancy patterns, his face full of a proud smile.
"Sixth-level ranger archer—Hawkeye Chris!" Eric split griffin's attack, looked at the man walking out of the trees, and shouted in joy, "Lord Chris! You finally made a move!"
Chris turned on Hawkeye and saw Daniel was still alive, and his face went ugly. He said angrily, "Damn beasts! Daring to act wild in front of me! This time I want to see who can save you. Kid, you're dead!"
He pulled the silver longbow again. This time, the silver arrow flickered with magic energy.
"Sixth-level magic arrow—Soul Chaser!"
The silver arrow flew through the night like a shooting star, heading straight for Daniel's head!
This shot was strong enough to pierce a fifth-rank mountain giant known for defense. Even if the ground-dwelling scaled beast came to save him, it would be two lives with one arrow. With his power now, it looked like he could only wait to die.
[Ding——]
[Detected the host is under a deadly hit. System entering emergency mode!]
[Special gift: one extra Golden Phrase!]
[Emergency Golden Phrase: Perfect Rebound. Effect: all physical or magic damage you take is rebounded at 250% back to the attacker, ignoring distance.
Note: this Phrase cannot be made permanent.]
The silver arrow hit Daniel's head, a blinding light flashed, and in a split second an even brighter light burst from Daniel and showed up right in front of Chris!
"What?!" Chris's eyes went wide. He stared in fear at the silver magic arrow that suddenly showed up in front of him with its power boosted by 250%.
"Boom——"
The bright silver light went through Chris's head, and then came a huge blast. This sixth-level ranger archer died without ever knowing why the magic arrow hit himself.
The battlefield went silent at once, and everyone was stunned by this weird scene.
Daniel wiped the blood off his face, settled the still-conscious Alexander, looked coldly at the enemies left, and smiled as he said, "Now, it's my turn to send you on your way!"