novelraw Chapter 60: Failed
Chapter 60: Failed
Roden was back on his feet in seconds, ready to charge at the aggressor when his body suddenly froze.
Jensen’s eyes glowed red as he focused his gaze on Roden. He wanted to test another perk of being a Royal Vampyre.
’Cancel,’ Jensen thought as he pushed his bloodline suppression directly onto Roden.
Roden’s berserk skill was cancelled instantly causing the red vapour vanished and the glow in his eyes died.
He fell to his knees, unable to handle the effect of losing all that power at once as his body trembled.
He had to press his hands against the ground just to keep himself upright.
Heinz’s eyes widened in horror... someone who had just defeated him was now being suppressed like a child by the newcomer.
His mind was racing and he immediately tried to cast another spell but before he could, Jensen’s fist slammed into his neck.
The impact discombobulated him. His vision blurred, his ears rang and he almost lost consciousness.
Jensen almost crushed his throat, but Heinz survived but his windpipe barely remained intact.
Heinz coughed erratically, his hands flew to his neck as he tried to stabilize his breathing, but he could not.
Jensen flipped him onto the ground and yanked the staff from Heinz’s hands before tossing it aside.
Then he produced several swords from his spatial ring and stabbed them one by one through Heinz’s joints. From his shoulder to his elbows to wrists, hips, knees and ankles.
Heinz screamed as the blades pinned him to the dirt ensuring he could not move or fight.
Jensen pulled off Heinz’s spatial ring and simply held on to it to prevent Heinz from using anything inside it now.
Jensen glanced at Jim and saw that most of the men surrounding him were dead while those ones who were still alive were seriously injured.
Unlike Heinz, they had not been able to nullify the effects of the pills and had only seemed to get weaker over time.
They stumbled around, missed their shots and some even attacked each other, confused by the excessive drowsiness.
All of these factors, combined with the fact that the difference between their levels was not as high as the difference between Roden and Heinz, allowed Jim to take care of them easily.
Jensen turned his attention to Talia next; she was making her way over to them. Her eyes were sunken by depression and Jensen could easily tell what caused it.
Killing the children had thoroughly taken it toll on her... he began to consider whether to interfere or let her figure it out herself.
He beckoned for all three of them to gather around him.
Roden struggled to his feet, the repercussions of using Blood Berserk were hitting him hard which was made worse by using unrefined blood energy.
Jim walked around first and made sure all the men near him were still unconscious then he deprived the ones with spatial rings of their rings.
Once all three of them stood before him at attention, Jensen began to speak.
"You have failed." He said it casually like he was not speaking about their failure.
Jensen glanced at Roden.
"One of the criteria for succeeding in your mission was to capture him alive." He pointed down at Heinz, who lay beneath his feet. Heinz was still awake and listening trying to find a way out of his situation. "But if I was not here, you would have killed him."
He turned back to Roden.
"And stop limiting yourself... It is quite obvious that you have far more balance and dexterity that would allow you to use two swords."
"If you were using two swords, you would have been able to hit him with your rapid attacks using both blades, instead of just a sword and the limited range of your claws."
The faces of Jim, Roden, and Talia changed immediately. Jensen saw it and he immediately understood the core of the issue.
Roden was too attached to his mother... he was trying to follow her path even though he was not suited for it.
While he did have a very high talent with the sword and trained with it for a very long time, he should have switched focus the moment he awakened the Mind Path instead of the Body Path.
He did not in fact he doubled down after his mother’s death and now he was trying to copy her fighting style... a fighting style that did not fit him.
"I will not stop you from following the path of the sword," Jensen said. "But ask yourself this... Would your mother want you to reach the absolute peak? And would she want herself to be what stops you from doing so?"
Roden closed his eyes and tears welled up behind his lids, but they did not fall as his hands curled into fists.
Jensen turned to Jim deciding to let Roden think about what he had just said.
"And you, Jim... While I know you are not a fighter, you were struggling against half-dead men who were not even stronger than you by much. There were so many unnecessary movements not to mention that you paused during battle to use your Blood Regeneration ability... I do not even know what to say about that."
He paused.
"Once you get back to base, begin taking training lessons from your son on basic combat training. I do not need you to be very skilled, but you should be able to hold your own and defend yourself."
Jim bowed. "Yes, my lord."
Jensen turned to Talia... although he considered not interfering with her development, he soon made up his mind that it would be far better if he helped her.
"As for you, Talia... you did not act much during combat so I cannot accurately gauge your fighting skill, but I think you have a similar combat level to your father, so the same order stands for you."
Talia bowed. "Yes, my lord."
"That being said, you should take some time to reflect on what happened here today... understand the decisions you made and why you made them and only then can you be free." He looked at her.
"You will have to make more tough decisions in the future as the grand strategist of the Morvath family."
"Yes, my lord."
Jensen stared at her for a few seconds then he surveyed the camp for a few seconds.
"Although you failed your mission today, I am still quite impressed. After all, you managed to conquer a bandit camp with a Rank 3 in less than two days." He paused. "Or is it even a day?"