Chapter 4000

A good chieftain killed all his enemies, within and without the tribe, the moment he identified them. Hassar had killed the previous chieftain and survived four coups since that day, and all thanks to his relentless practice of swordsmanship.

Powerful spells needed time to be cast and often caused collateral damage that weakened the tribe and created new enemies from the families of the dead. A blade, instead, was a surgical tool that needed only an opening to work its magic.

The khopesh rose towards the Agni’s head, slipping past the other bone spike with a well-practiced flick of the wrist. The Nalrond of a few months ago would have failed to react in time and had his skull split open by the Upyr’s overwhelming strength.

After fighting against Dawn over and over, however, after getting used to following the Horseman’s blade and suffering countless defeats by her hand, Hassar’s technique failed to impress the Agni.

He simply stepped in, coming too close for the khopesh to be effective, and delivered a powerful headbutt right on the Upyr’s nose. An Agni’s skull was thick and his scales hard, but the mass gap with the Upyr lessened the blow to a finger flick.

‘What the-‘ Hassar shrugged off the pain and opened his eyes just to see a second Agni ramming his head on the chieftain’s nose.

Then came a third, a fourth, and a fifth as the constructs Nalrond had conjured overlapped, forming a bright replica of their caster that followed his every movement with a split second of delay.