The health bar completely disappeared; this guy had astonishing endurance.
Target terminated.
Duncan withdrew immediately, not even bothering to loot, retreating towards the caravan since already there were regrouping barbarian deserters running this way.
Glorious victory.
This ambush of his took out the leader of the barbarian deserters, shot dead five or six, and injured many. The enemy basically had little fighting capacity left.
With the leader dead, those barbarian deserters all scattered.
Duncan returned to the camp.
The mercenary guards of the caravan did not dare to act rashly. It was not until dawn that someone cautiously went out to clear the battlefield.
Upon returning, those mercenaries looked at Duncan as if they were gazing at a ’Divine’ figure.
The combat strength of the Empire’s barbarian mercenaries was well-known; a hundred-man squad alone could rout an imperial army of hundreds, yet Duncan alone defeated so many. Though they were dispirited deserters, it was still the regular army of the barbarian race, something they could hardly imagine under normal circumstances.
The barbarian warriors were indeed formidable, even regular soldiers had longer health bars than the Empire’s knights.
Duncan sat expressionless by the wagon, eating, feeling that the witch’s gaze would occasionally fall on him as if unintentionally.
— "Strength: Barbarian warriors living in the land of bitter cold possess physiques far superior to ordinary people due to nature’s trials."
— "Master of Archery: Your archery skills have become increasingly advanced, comparable to the barbarian forest hunters. Greatly increases accuracy, shooting speed, enhances mobility shooting, and further strengthens hunting traits."
— "Frenzy [Special Ability]: An advanced ability branching from Adrenaline Burst, greatly enhancing physical strength, and during its duration, you will not die from non-lethal injuries. Enter severe weakness and fatigue state after it ends. Additional negative status: Rage."
The gains from the battle were acceptable.
It seems that the abilities he could loot were all the ones that the barbarian warriors had; if the enemy didn’t have them, he couldn’t take them.
Frenzy and Adrenaline Burst can only be activated one at a time, and after the duration ends, it feels like he’s been utterly drained, fatigued, and quite weak.
This special ability cannot be activated lightly; once used, combat capability is at least halved.
When Duncan stood up, his arms were slightly trembling, no wonder barbarian berserkers in battles on the Empire’s side could only fight one wave; they would likely become weak as if on their last legs for the second wave.
Other basic combat skills improved slightly but were not very noticeable.
The barbarian warriors’ weapons were all of the knife and axe type, the basic forms were moves that could be used with corresponding weapons. The moves of knives mainly included chopping, hacking, slicing, stabbing, intercepting, blocking, snapping, cutting, and slashing. The barbarian warriors’ usual training surely consisted of wide-open and powerful chopping; overly technical basic forms were not their combat style.
"Basic forms can be generalized."
"The stabbing technique functions the same when using swords, spears, among other weapons."
"I somewhat understand how to use the Combat Bar forms now."
Stab.
You’ve been stabbing with a spear for many years, would you not be able to execute this move with a sword or knife?
Similarly.
You can chop with a knife, would you not be able to chop with a sword or axe?
As for that ’Combat Style - Beheading’, it counts as a combo, no matter what weapon you’re using—knife, sword, or axe, they all work for beheading. Its power actually depends on the most basic forms, its core essentially being the techniques of ’chop’ and ’hack’.
Duncan roughly understood what the basic forms of the Combat Bar were about, clearly, his current stabbing, chopping, hacking power was the greatest, equivalent to having repetitively practiced these simple moves for three to five years.
The caravan soon set off again.
However, this time, Duncan sat on a wagon, as his combat exertion had been quite significant.
There were no spies inside, how about some Empire jokes?
.........