Chapter 16: The Art of Hammer Striking

Satuler's formerly respectful expression suddenly relaxed, and he curled his lips slightly. “Master Linwei, I don't know what you're talking about.”

Linwei simply stared at him, saying nothing.

An uncanny silence instantly settled over the room.

“Fine then, Mr. Linwei, when did you discover my true identity?” Satuler suddenly shrugged, his once slightly hunched posture straightening, the honest and broad aura he’d projected now replaced with a sharp, dangerous edge.

Linwei grinned. “It was when you let me dismount by stepping on your back, like a dog!”

From the very first moment Linwei met Satuler, he’d noticed that Satuler's physical attributes were all above six—knight-level data. If he had only harbored suspicions then, meeting Elina had confirmed them.

When Linwei first saw Elina, he was momentarily stunned, realizing that although she stood right before him, the sphere's detection range registered nothing. His thoughts leapt to wizardry, then to Wesker’s mysterious disappearance, and in that instant, he had his answer.

Strange wizard powers, a town mayor with knightly strength, a vanished deputy—there was only one explanation: remnants of the Sword and Flower.

Satuler’s face turned cold, his voice full of provocation. “Now that it’s come to this, Master Linwei, are you prepared to die?”

Linwei shook his head, gripping the cross sword tightly. He laughed, his body trembling slightly. “Naive Satuler, so arrogant even in your dying moments. How amusing. I’ve always loved dealing with madmen!”

With those words, Linwei shot forward like an arrow, suddenly appearing right before Satuler.

His cross sword was raised high; he looked down with scornful laughter. A swing of his arm would split Satuler’s head in two.

Satuler was clearly startled. “A knight’s squire can move so quickly?!”

Yet he hesitated not at all. With a roar, his normal body swelled, thick muscles bursting through his sleeves like balloons, his frame suddenly towering at two meters.

“You’re mistaken! I’m no squire! I am a true knight!”

[Linwei Nolan Mountain; Strength: 8.9; Agility: 8.9; Constitution: 8.9; Skills: Fencing; Hammer Technique]

[Advanced Knight Training Method (Great Knight Stage) in progress… Estimated completion: 231 days, 17 hours, 27 minutes.]

The day before Linwei arrived at Ketu Town, the knight training method had already been transmitted! And during these twenty-some days, Linwei had learned another skill from Nacken: the Hammer Technique, based on explosive strength! Without this, Linwei would never have ventured into such an unfamiliar environment; even the greatest predators of the wild abide by this law.

Whoosh!

On Satuler’s forearm, the tattered sleeve revealed a series of iron-hard plates, each studded with five-centimeter spikes.

Satuler crossed his forearms, swiftly raising them above his head to block Linwei’s deadly strike!

“Naive!” Linwei laughed recklessly.

The cross sword whistled with sonic booms as it crashed down onto Satuler’s forearms!

Bang!

A burst of fiery sparks exploded the instant they met!

Satuler let out a deep growl, his face flushed; his two-meter frame was crushed down to just over one seventy, the floor beneath his feet shattering, his feet buried in the boards.

Crack!

The sharp sound of bones breaking echoed.

Satuler’s knees had shattered! In the moment of Linwei’s explosive strike, the immense pressure crushed the most stressed part of Satuler’s body—his knees! The gaps between joints were forcibly compressed, bones collided, and both leg bones fused together.

Scarlet blood seeped from Satuler’s knees, instantly soaking his trousers.

“Uncle Satuler!”

Elina froze, a piercing shriek escaping her throat.

Her soft golden hair darkened to black, slender fingers grew sharp nails, and a faint purple shimmer appeared in her crystalline eyes.

“It’s you!”

A look of delighted surprise appeared on Linwei’s excited face. “I’ve found you! That face at the stair’s corner! What is this mysterious power?!”

“Elina, run! We’re no match for him!” Satuler bellowed, straining to push aside the cross sword pinning his arms.

“Elina! What is this power you possess? Is it a wizard’s secret? Once I kill him, I’ll have plenty of time to study you!”

Previously, Linwei had felt some apprehension toward Elina, but after Satuler urged her to flee, he understood fully: Elina wasn’t a wizard apprentice, just a mortal who’d somehow gained wizard powers. Otherwise, that night, Wesker wouldn’t have died; Linwei, the stronger one, would have.

Satuler continued to roar like a wounded beast. “Dog of the Tulip family, come then!”

Using the force of the recoil, Linwei instantly leaped two meters away, stabbing the cross sword deep into the floor. “A month ago, someone spoke to me like that… and then he died!”

Linwei smashed his fists together, eyes burning with irrepressible heat. “You seem to prefer your fists—so do I!”

Without retrieving the sword, Linwei’s figure shot forward again!

His speed was so great that Satuler couldn’t even see him clearly!

“Run, Elina! You are the last hope of Sword and Flower!” Satuler screamed hysterically, but Elina’s face was torn by indecision.

Boom!

Satuler tried to meet Linwei’s fists, but he was far too slow. Linwei’s fist struck his chest before he could react.

Satuler crashed against the wall like a cannonball, the entire surface collapsing and burying him beneath the rubble.

Linwei wasted no time, following instantly, seizing Satuler by the throat and lifting him from the broken bricks.

Blood drained from Satuler, his face turning purple from suffocation as Linwei choked him.

Linwei stared, still smiling. “You deserve to die, Satuler.”

Just then, Linwei sensed an imminent threat behind him.

He turned slightly.

Elina had refused to abandon Satuler and flee. She raised her hand, a swirling stream of gray energy coiling and boiling in her palm.