Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 412 - Is This Your Limit?

With just one punch—only one punch!

As agreed before the fight began, Cassius had allowed Krog three full moves. At the instant those three moves ended, he unleashed a single counter punch.

Butcher Krog was defeated, overcome by a straightforward, unadorned power, fair and square. It was an undeniable, crushing force that displayed the enormous gap between the two of them.

At the edge of the martial hall, Krog pressed his right hand heavily against the handle of the pitch-black butcher's blade. He could not help a feeling of helpless resignation, for if he had still been in his prime, the outcome might have remained uncertain.

He paused slightly, suddenly realizing he had unconsciously begun comparing Cassius's strength to his own prime level. This was an unconscious acknowledgment of Cassius's prowess. Simply put, Butcher Krog had been subdued by that single punch.

Not far away, the tall figure on the platform stepped forward, one measured stride at a time. With his back to the sunlight, the dark silhouette around his neck and shoulders appeared even more rugged and powerful, emphasizing his strong, inverted-triangle physique. It was a nearly perfect body.

All five spectators, including Herb, regarded him with a trace of astonishment. Herb had always known that Cassius was no weakling and that he concealed a mysterious trump card. However, he had never expected to witness what unfolded today.

He had assumed that at most, Cassius would spar for a while against a holding-back Krog, showing just enough edge to earn the admiration of these veteran hunters.

Instead, to his amazement, Cassius had trounced Butcher Krog, the once number one Shadow Hunter, the very pillar of the veteran hunters' neutral faction, right before their eyes. This outcome far exceeded Herb's original expectations.

Beside him, Wind Whisperer Elaine still had not recovered from her shock. She silently cursed as she watched Cassius stride forward, as imposing as an iron tower. The rumors from the Dark Hunter Organization's headquarters truly was a pile of shit. With a master of Cassius's caliber, did he truly fear assassination by the royal family?

And that Black Copper Hunter identity was also absurd. To best Butcher Krog's blade in a one-on-one spar—if that was not Shadow Hunter-level strength, then what was? Black Copper Hunter, White Dazzling Hunter, Dark Gold Hunter, Shadow Hunter—He had practically jumped half the Hunters' Association's ranking system!

Hiding one's strength was one thing, but disguising a Shadow Hunter as a Black Copper Hunter was outright baiting people into a trap. Elaine felt somewhat annoyed, for she herself had nearly been that unsuspecting fish.

Her thoughts shifted as she recalled Herb's words on the stairway. What had seemed obscure before now became perfectly clear. Herb had said he could not possibly teach Cassius, and indeed that was true.

Even the once-mightiest Krog could not be Cassius's mentor.

In the entire Dark Hunter Organization, perhaps only the Radiant Hunter and the Chief Mechanist qualified to teach him. All other powerhouses could, at best, be considered his peers.

Nearby, beneath Iron Face Jem's mask, his expression froze. "To possess such strength already means the Shadow Hunter seat is certainly in the bag. In another five or ten years, he might hope to become a Radiant Hunter. Twenty years later, it would not be impossible for him to take the sole Chief Mechanist position, commanding the entire empire's Dark Hunter Organization."

Warblade Kames shared the same thought, narrowing his right eye slightly.

Tap.

Cassius halted in front of them. Butcher Krog stowed away his blade and, looking somewhat dispirited, stepped forward. "I truly cannot be your teacher. You are far stronger than I ever imagined. One month from now, the position of Shadow Hunter will undoubtedly be yours."

He spoke with certainty, his expression one of disappointed relief. Relief, because the veteran hunters' supported candidate, Cassius, would likely become a Shadow Hunter. Disappointment, because no one enjoyed being bested by a junior.

As Krog wrestled with his complex emotions, Cassius suddenly spoke. "Did you feel it?"

"What?" Krog paused, slightly puzzled. He glanced down at the bruise-like fist imprint on his chest, perplexed.

"You held back just now, didn't you? I know that, you...hmm?" Krog suddenly realized something and quickly lowered his gaze to his heart. The black fluid that had formed the butcher's blade now quietly clustered together again.

"The side effects of going all-out are gone!?" Krog, once a Shadow Hunter of considerable strength, had long accumulated significant essence of calamity within his body. In his prime, it posed no problem, but as age wore him down, his ability to suppress it waned.

Especially when fighting at full strength, the calamity-induced beast transformation nearly always rebounded violently. Just now, not only had he poured a hundred percent of his strength into the Iron Meteor Fist, but he had also employed his finishing move at his prime, the butcher's blade. After such a fight, he should have found his ability to suppress the calamity at its lowest, risking a brief loss of sanity and uncontrollable rage. Yet now, he felt nothing at all.

Inside, he felt calm, even tinged with the mild bitterness of defeat. The black fluid that once should have coated his entire body to create a metal berserker form did not manifest. Hastily, he sensed his body. "The calamity accumulated within my body—has it lessened?!"

This was an astonishing discovery! The Dark Hunter Organization had researched hunters' beastification and berserk states, but had never found a fundamental cure. At best, they only managed superficial suppression. A reduction in calamity was undeniably a fundamental curtailment of the beast transformation.

"You..." Krog stared ahead, stunned.

"I wonder...have you ever heard of Covert Martial Arts?"

***

Half an hour later, both Krog and Cassius had changed into fresh attire.

They discussed many matters, such as the empire's Covert Martial Arts community, dark creatures, the Dark Hunter Organization, and the sacred spring water.

It was necessary for Cassius to demonstrate his ability to eliminate the accumulated calamity within these veteran hunters' bodies. However, he never mentioned the Rune of Wisdom. Instead, he attributed it to a miraculous Covert Martial Arts technique.

After all, the effects of Covert Martial Arts techniques were infinitely varied. Some ancient legacies were extremely strange, like the Black Demon's Hand that could drain vitality.

It was not implausible that a technique capable of expelling calamity existed. After all, not even the people of the Hongli Federation's Covert Martial Arts community fully knew how many techniques existed and what they could do. The Dark Hunter Organization knew even less.

Additionally, Cassius made the conditions for his technique's efficacy more reasonable. He claimed it required sparring with the veteran hunters so that the calamity, freed from its usual suppression, would spontaneously surface. Only then could he strike it out with each blow.

In truth, while the underlying requirement was correct, the process he described was off. The veteran hunters did not need to spar with Cassius to provoke calamity's surfacing; they merely had to expend enough energy that they could no longer suppress it. And Cassius's intervention did not expel the calamity with by force but by absorbing the calamity seeping from their skin.

In any case, Cassius had gained the veteran hunters' trust.

Throughout the afternoon, silhouettes continuously sparred in the arena at the martial hall. Iron Face Jem, Warblade Kames, Wind Whisperer Elaine, and even Blood Axe Herb engaged in friendly sparring with Cassius, pitting senior against junior.

At first, they came at him one by one, taking turns to recover their strength. Later, they attacked him as a group, which was more efficient.

Unsurprisingly, whether one at a time or all five at once, the result never changed. After each bout ended, the sole figure standing on the platform was always Cassius, like an unshakable mountain peak.

Being besieged by four Dark Gold Hunters provided a decent exercise for his surging physical strength. To be clear, this did not mean that the five veteran hunters working together could challenge him equally. Rather, it meant that throughout the afternoon, as he vanquished these veteran hunters hundreds of times, Cassius managed to maintain precise control of his power—never overexerting to the point of snapping their old bones and causing accidents.

Within the martial hall, five figures lay collapsed around the arena. Only Cassius's tall form still stood firmly at the center.

"So this is your limit? That's a bit disappointing..." With a calm gaze sweeping over the figures on the floor and a tone as stern as an instructor's, Cassius did not spare them his criticism, even though they were all past seventy and had once enjoyed glorious accomplishments.

They stood at the threshold of expelling their calamity-induced madness, yet they could not rise again. He reminded them that focused will could smash through granite. Was their stamina already depleted after just an afternoon of sparring?

Cassius was merely fulfilling what these veteran hunters had requested that afternoon. Krog and the others had proposed continuous sparring until Cassius ran out of strength, even resorting to rotation battles and group attacks.

Back then, the five veteran hunters were excited. After all, they had finally seen a glimmer of hope for driving out the calamity within their bodies. Their eyes had shone with enthusiasm but now, they lay like fish washed up on the beach, their earlier brilliance gone.

"Cough, cough..." On the ground, Krog twitched and took a deep breath. "Give us five more minutes..."

Nearby, Kames gritted his teeth, trying to recover his strength quickly. Being scolded by a junior was truly humiliating, but who told them to brag hours ago and even stoop to shameless group tactics afterward? They had already lost all face, yet still could not end this with dignity.

Beside them, Elaine silently complained in her heart. Who would have thought Cassius would have monster-like, inexhaustible stamina? After intense fighting for four or five hours without rest, he showed no sign of fatigue. One could only say Cassius was full of too many "surprises."

The next day, the sunlight was bright and the air carried a faint scent of fresh grass. In the southeastern area of the Hunters' Association stood the veteran hunter Herb's house.

A bald old man with a cane appeared at the doorstep and knocked lightly.

Creak. The door opened.

An old face peered out, with bruises around his eye sockets. It was Butcher Krog.

"Well, well, what happened? Got yourself beaten up?" The old man with the cane remarked curiously, wearing a surprised grin.

"Hais, Rudy, just come in first..." Krog shook his head and turned to lead him inside.

They went up to the second floor, where Rudy saw the remaining veteran hunters. They all looked half-dead, lying unmoving on the sofas. Some wanted to lift a hand for a sip of tea, only to lower it again.

"What's wrong, everyone? It's been years, and you look like you're about to keel over?" Rudy was also a veteran hunter. In fact, he was the oldest among them, nearly eighty. Yet upon meeting today, everyone looked even more exhausted and worn than he did.

He knew everyone well, so he did not mind joking. "Hahaha, Elaine, your face is swollen too? Who dared disrespect their elders?"

Elaine's eyelids twitched as she turned away at this remark.

"Hey, Kames, why are you limping? Don't tell me your leg's broken? You're too old for such roughhousing." Kames remained silent at that.

"And Jem, you're not even fifty yet. Last time I saw you, you were spry, but now you can hardly pour yourself a cup of tea?"

Jem glanced at Rudy, his expression hidden beneath the mask.

In a short time, Rudy had teased everyone present. Except for Herb. Not because they were strangers, but because they were too familiar. Just last month, the two old fellows had shared a drink at a tavern in Florence.

Rudy hobbled to the center of the living room, leaning on his cane, casting a gleefully mocking gaze over everyone. "Heh heh, the old, weak, and crippled are all here..."

At midday on the second floor...

An elderly figure sprawled across the entire sofa, sighing and groaning. "Aiyo, aiyo... my hands, my old back, my feet. These old bones are about to fall apart, that brat..."

"He said he'd fight for four hours straight, and he really kept me at it for four hours without letting me go! I'm eighty years old! How can I compete with someone built like an ox? Good heavens, it's even more thrilling and exhausting than betting my life in my youth..."

The other two sofas were filled with similarly worn-out old hunters. Though they, too, were aching and exhausted, seeing Rudy in such a pitiful state and listening to his constant moaning strangely lifted their spirits a bit, as if renewed energy seeped into their bodies.

After resting a while, the veteran hunters finally recovered most of their strength. Some ate, some slept, some bathed.

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door downstairs. Elaine, having just finished eating on the first floor, had a free moment and went to answer. As the door opened, she saw a refined, somewhat alluring face.

"Claire? What brings you here?" Elaine was a bit surprised. She knew Claire—or rather, Claire's grandmother. In terms of seniority, Claire should call her "great aunt."

"Great Aunt? Why are you here too?" Claire looked surprised. She had seen Elaine many times in her childhood and still remembered how to address her. "I came to find White Aster. Why did he leave the sanatorium? I heard that White Aster came to see Grandpa Herb, so I came to find him today. My uncle ordered me to protect White Aster and prevent any second incident..."

Upon hearing this, Elaine opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Protect White Aster? Did that boy really need protection? More like he'll protect you, silly girl!