Chapter 20 Birds of a Feather
Ethan looked at the excited Rodney and the burly man with shining eyes, completely able to predict what they were about to say.
"Kid! Hand over the magic stone!"
Ethan nodded inwardly. It was exactly as he had thought, not even a punctuation mark was different.
"You've been watching me for a long time, haven't you?"
He didn't bother with the burly man whose eyes were gleaming and who was secretly signaling his subordinates. He didn't even bother with the two guys who were secretly surrounding him, blocking his retreat. Instead, he turned to Rodney.
"You should know that I switched to a different boat and loaded it full of supplies before coming out, right?" Ethan spread his hands. "You arrived at Stat Island with me, so you should know I didn't have any resources to exchange for these things."
His meaning was clear: the magic stone you've been coveting is no longer in my possession. What are you going to do now?
Still, it didn't exceed Ethan's expectations. The few people in front of him completely ignored his words, surrounding him on their own and then taking out various weapons.
Long swords, sabers, and daggers. Even Rodney drew a curved saber. "Kid, don't say I don't believe you. Even if you really exchanged the magic stone for things, you won't get out of here alive today."
The meaning was obvious. Whether Ethan had the magic stone or not, the other party intended to kill him and steal everything he had. At this point, he suddenly realized that he had quite a bit of equipment on him. The reason the other party's eyes were shining wasn't just because of the magic stone.
The exquisite light armor, the brand new long sword, and the equally exquisite iron rod tucked into his lower back – all of these became reasons for the other party to attack him.
"Birds of a feather flock together, indeed."
Rodney, instead of thanking him for saving his life, was plotting to harm him just because of a magic stone. And the group this kind of person joined were all similar bandits. Seeing good things, they didn't care about anything else, they just attacked and robbed first.
"Although I knew this long ago, confirming it strengthens my conviction."
Ethan didn't look down on these scumbags. Saying they were worse than zombies might be an insult to zombies, but compared to Fallen Ones, they really had no advantage.
After countless battles in the Diablo world, Ethan was no longer a helpless ordinary teenager. It was precisely because of this that he had the confidence to stand here and quietly watch them perform.
At the same time, he didn't want to be someone who casually decided others' lives based solely on speculation. However, once he confirmed that the other party was indeed scum, he wouldn't have the slightest hesitation or mercy.
With a decision made in his heart, Ethan didn't even bother with unnecessary words. He always believed that in this situation, if you could use force, don't waste words. Killing or half-killing the opponent directly was much more effective than lecturing.
He suddenly turned half his body and quickly raised his right hand, shooting a short arrow at the guy behind him.
The short arrows on Ethan's wristguard were triggered purely by mental power, making them very convenient to use. The advantage of this was that the opponent had no time to react. Before they even understood what was happening, they were hit by the short arrow.
Because the short arrows from the wristguard didn't have much power, they only guaranteed a certain killing power within ten meters. Coupled with the small size of the short arrows themselves, similar weapons were generally difficult to cause significant damage unless they directly hit vital points like the throat. They could only serve as a distraction.
Therefore, most people who used this type of weapon would coat the short arrows with poison to compensate for the lack of damage.
Ethan didn't do that, because his short arrows were even more brutal!
Boom!
The explosion made everyone flinch, and the bursting flames startled a few people, leaving them unsure what to do.
These people did not include Ethan. After firing an arrow, he immediately drew the long sword from his waist and, without half a second of hesitation, directly slashed at another enemy trying to block his path.
Puff~
The sound was almost inaudible. Ethan's sword strike was particularly accurate, slicing directly across the person's throat. The sharp sword tip met no resistance, opening a thin, elongated cut on the enemy's throat.
This sword strike was almost the most perfect one he had ever swung since learning swordsmanship. Whether it was power, speed, or angle, everything was just right, so perfect that by the time everyone realized what had happened, the person was already lying on the ground twitching—being slashed in the throat doesn't kill you instantly.
Ethan wasn't someone who liked to torture enemies, so he didn't let this person suffer, directly finishing him off with another sword strike.
It wasn't until this moment, when the situation had completely reversed, that the burly man opposite realized what had happened.
"Bastard!"
First, he stomped his foot in anger, then turned around and slapped Rodney, making his eyes see stars.
"Didn't you say this was a rookie who just came out from a small island in the countryside?"
After all, he had been at sea for several years and done many 'businesses' while still being alive and kicking. This was thanks to his cautiousness, never provoking people he shouldn't provoke.
If Rodney hadn't told him earlier that the person who got the magic stone was a rookie who had just gone to sea, and a weak, thin young man at that, he wouldn't have even thought about robbing the other party.
But looking at it now, where was this person a kid from the countryside?
A rookie just starting out at sea?
He wasn't blind. The skilled movements the kid displayed when he attacked clearly showed he was a ruthless character who had killed who knows how many people. And looking at that first move, the other party even possessed magic stone equipment, someone he absolutely couldn't afford to provoke.
If Ethan knew what the other party was thinking, he would surely shout that he was wronged. Although he had been diligently cultivating and had killed many monsters with Iphigena and Zuhl, this was his first time killing a person. What did he mean by a ruthless character?
As for magic stone equipment? His previous wristguards could barely be considered magic stone equipment, but the pair on his hands now were genuine magic equipment, produced in the Diablo world, meticulously crafted by Iphigena, quality guaranteed!
"Buddy, this is actually a misunderstanding. I'm willing to offer half of all the supplies on my ship, as long as you let me leave."
Ethan almost laughed like a pig when he heard this.
"If I had offered to give you supplies earlier, would you have let me leave safely?"
The burly man fell silent. He could have casually made up a lie and said of course, but it would have been meaningless. From Ethan's answer, he already understood the young man's meaning.
"Then there's nothing more to talk about."
"There was nothing to talk about in the first place."
Ethan had no intention of letting them go from the start. For someone like Rodney, whom you saved, but who is full of thoughts of killing you, you just have to beat them to death with one blow and be done with it. Let them go? Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?
The other few people were the same. Now that the sides had fallen out, and he had already killed two people, wouldn't they hate him?
Cut the weeds and eliminate the roots! Get rid of evil completely!
He raised his hand. While the other party hadn't scattered yet, Ethan seemed about to fire another short arrow.
The other party had been guarding against this move all along. As soon as he raised his hand, the few people scrambled to dodge. But what they didn't expect was that Ethan was just feinting this time. Instead, he fired an ice arrow with his left hand.
The ice arrow's killing power wasn't as strong as the fire arrow, but the ice arrow had more uses for support. Ethan aimed at the feet of two people who were relatively close to each other. The sudden burst of freezing air laid a layer of solid ice on the ground, and this area was particularly flat, without even a single weed.
What happened next was also completely within Ethan's expectations. The two people who lost their balance by stepping on the ice surface fell directly in front of Ethan, who was already waiting there.
Stabbing from behind the heart, one sword for each.
Although one of them reacted and tried to roll to the side to dodge, he was blocked by his companion's corpse and could only be killed by Ethan's sword in frustration.
With only himself and Rodney left from the group they brought, the burly man now started thinking about running away. And not only did he want to run, he put it into action.
To ensure his successful escape, he even pushed Rodney out as a human shield, hoping to use him to hinder Ethan and buy time for himself to escape.
"As long as I can get to the boat."
The place they landed was not in the same direction as Ethan, and they had deliberately cleared a path along the way. So, as long as he ran, and with Rodney blocking for a while, he believed Ethan wouldn't be able to catch up. If Rodney could hold him up a little longer, he would be safe.
He was still too naive. The moment Ethan saw Rodney charging forward, he drew the iron rod from his lower back with his left hand. Dazzling electric arcs danced happily on Rodney's body, making Rodney dance an unknown dance with them. Forget about holding Ethan up, he couldn't even block for a moment. He was directly electrocuted and fell to the ground, unable to move.
Looking at the burly man's position, he plunged his long sword back into the ground, raised his empty right hand, and used the Fireball spell inscribed on Iphigena's Cruelty. A watermelon-sized fireball instantly formed in Ethan's hand, then whistled as it chased after the burly man.
The burly man was secretly rejoicing that he didn't hear any pursuit behind him, but then suddenly felt a wave of heat from behind. Realizing something was wrong, he didn't even dare to look back and immediately prepared to leap towards a large tree nearby.
He wanted to hide behind the large tree to avoid the attack and also get out of Ethan's line of sight. The burly man's judgment fully displayed his rich combat experience.
Unfortunately, his past experience couldn't help him this time.
The fireball didn't need to hit him completely. The moment he paused, the fireball closed in to a close enough distance, followed by a thunderous roar.
The sudden powerful impact sent the burly man flying, and he crashed heavily into the thick tree trunk he had intended to use as cover. The immense force even broke the large tree in half.
Watching the burly man who was blown away, hit the tree, and finally fell to the ground like a broken rag, Ethan confirmed he was dead. His first battle in the Calm Sea was over.
Six enemy dead, zero injured on his side, and he... only lost two short arrows.
"It was a perfect battle, I guess."