CHAPTER 82: CHAPTER 82: I KNOW I WAS WRONG

Even in danger, the members of Shane’s squad didn’t give up fighting alongside him.

Watching from the side, Ethan couldn’t help feeling a little moved, so he spoke up:

"How about this: if you still have any trump cards, use them now. Leave the thieves outside to me."

Shane seized a moment to look at Ethan and quickly asked, "Can you handle it?"

Ethan answered without hesitation, "Of course. Sinclair’s monster form shouldn’t last long. We just need to stall, and we’ll have a chance."

Shane took a deep breath. "I believe you. If we make it out alive, I owe you one, and you get first pick of the loot."

Ethan smiled and nodded. He appreciated Shane even more now.

Shane was smart. He knew what Ethan wanted.

Also, Ethan stayed because he felt Shane’s team really had a chance to beat Sinclair. Otherwise, he would’ve left already.

Ethan picked up the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife]. Seeing the dozen or so thieves enter his view, his eyes turned cold and focused.

In the [Berserk Blood Warrior] trial, he could kill ten monsters. Now his strength, speed, and defense were even higher.

And his gear had been upgraded too.

As he was now, dealing with some ordinary thieves was no problem.

Without hesitation, he activated the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife] effect: [Bloodthirst].

His HP dropped. [Strength] +3, [Speed] +3, [Defense] -3.

Feeling the stat changes, Ethan tightened his grip on the blade, then used the [Bloodstained Bracelet].

In an instant, a sharp wave of pain hit his body.

The [Pain Resistance] talent triggered.

+1 [Defense], +1 [Strength], +1 [Speed] for three minutes.

Class skill [Berserk Blood War God]: [Bloodthirst Rampage] activated.

Costs 3 [Energy]. +3 [Strength], +3 [Speed], +3 [Defense] for ten minutes.

In a blink, Ethan’s [Strength] went up by 7, [Speed] went up by 7, and [Defense] went up by 1.

After picking up the [Wolfskin Boots], he leveled up again and put the new stat points into Strength.

He glanced at the character stats on his wristwatch.

[Name]: Windchaser

[Talents]: Pain Resistance (Blue), Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward (Unknown)

[Level]: Lv14

[Class]: Berserk Blood War God

[Status]: Normal

[Gear]: Cotton Underwear (Gray-quality), Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife (Blue-quality), Stealth Cloak (Blue-quality)...

[HP]: 99%

[Strength]: 29

[Speed]: 25

[Defense]: 16

[Energy]: 9

[Charisma]: 10

[Luck]: 1

[Attribute Points]: 0

[Inventory]: Hellblade Class Intel (Orange-quality)...

It’s no exaggeration: some average players, even past level 20, still wouldn’t have stats this strong.

So when Ethan gripped his long blade and attacked the nearest thief, one clean slash took off the arm that held the weapon.

As the severed hand hit the ground and the pain hadn’t even made that thief scream yet, the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife] sliced through the air again and, in a flash, cut off a head with its mouth open, about to cry out.

Blood splashed onto the blade and was quickly absorbed by the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife].

Ethan’s face stayed calm, his eyes cold. He stepped forward, appeared in front of the other thieves, raised his blade, and cut them down without mercy.

On the other side, while fighting the monster-like Sinclair, Shane still worried whether Ethan could handle the thieves outside.

He took a chance when Sinclair attacked someone else, glanced back, and saw Ethan take a thief’s head off with one strike.

Only then did he fully believe Ethan could deal with the other enemies in this desperate moment so he could focus on Sinclair.

Shane stopped hesitating and changed his style. He started fighting like he didn’t care about his life, like a mad dog.

In the next exchanges, he gave up defense and dodging, and went all-in on offense.

His heavy hammer swung with overwhelming force, smashing at Sinclair’s head again and again.

Facing the crazed Shane, Sinclair kept cursing, "Damn it! Do you have a death wish? Keep this up, and even if you kill me, you’ll die too!"

Shane answered firmly: "That ending wouldn’t be a tragedy for me. As long as I can kill you, I’ll pay any price."

Sinclair glanced at Ethan, who was cutting down the regular thieves, and realized that if this continued, Shane might really kill him.

That bastard who pulled out the map—damn him. He made Sinclair kill his own men by mistake in front of everyone, and now he was flipping the situation.

If this kept going and the rest of the normal thieves died, it would be too late.

Gritting his teeth, Sinclair found an opening and took one of Shane’s hammer blows head-on. Using the huge knockback, he spat blood in midair and hurled himself toward Ethan.

Shane and the others never expected Sinclair to make a move like that. They hurried to shout a warning to Ethan, who had his back to Sinclair while fighting the regular thieves.

But Sinclair, in his monster form, was fast. By the time Shane’s voice rang out, he was already less than ten meters from Ethan.

A smug, twisted grin spread over Sinclair’s face. He snarled, "Die!"

At that critical moment, a pale blue light flared on Ethan, and a fierce-looking wolf appeared, roaring as it bit into Sinclair.

Sinclair was shocked. He thought it was some special attack and slowed down to feel what was happening to his body.

To his surprise, he only felt a bit weaker. Nothing else seemed wrong.

That brief slowdown gave Shane and the others the chance to catch up.

And Ethan had already vanished from where he was.

Surrounded again by Shane, Ryan, and the others, Sinclair roared in anger, "Shameless bastard! You tricked me!"

From a safe spot, Ethan chuckled and said, "No, I’m not shameless. You’re just too stupid."

Unwilling to accept it, Sinclair still tried to push toward Ethan. But the now-alert Shane gave him no chance, hammering him with fierce attacks.

After Ethan finished off the remaining regular thieves, he felt a warm rush from his wristwatch again.

He knew he’d reached level 15.

If people heard about leveling this fast, other players would be crazy jealous.

But right now, Ethan didn’t care about his level. He kept his eyes on Sinclair, whose body was getting covered in wounds.

The two extra arms growing from Sinclair’s abdomen were no longer as thick as before. His monster form was probably about to end.

Sure enough, as Sinclair fought Shane and the others, he grew anxious and kept trying to break out of their encirclement.

But Shane was set on revenge. There was no way he’d let his enemy go that easily.

He threw caution aside and smashed Sinclair’s right leg with his heavy hammer. At the same time, Sinclair stabbed him in the belly.

Both of them were in bad shape, already seriously wounded.

Ryan and the others weren’t much better—hurt so badly they could barely keep fighting.

At that moment, Sinclair’s face changed. In pain, he said to Shane:

"Actually, I always knew I was wrong. I shouldn’t have treated your mother like that."

"When I wanted to repent and make it up to you, you had already run away."

"All these years, I’ve missed you."

"Shane, my son, we’re father and son—blood is thicker than water. Let’s stop killing each other, okay?"

As he spoke, a tear suddenly fell from the corner of Sinclair’s eye.

Shane froze. His expression was complicated, his eyes growing red. He opened his mouth and asked:

"You... you really know you were wrong?"

Sinclair nodded hard. His four arms moved as he dropped his knife, and he said, "Give me a chance. Let me redeem myself."

Shane’s hands trembled as he slowly walked toward Sinclair. He put his left hand behind his back and opened his right hand. The heavy hammer fell to the ground with a thud.

Seeing this, Ryan, Niu Er, and the others shouted, "Captain! He’s tricking you!"

"Captain, don’t believe him!"

"Captain!"

Shane seemed not to hear them. He spoke slowly to Sinclair: "Do you know how much I hate you? I want to skin you and break your bones!"

"But... but you’re still my..."

Before he could finish, Sinclair watched Shane draw closer. A tiny smile tugged at his lips as he started to pick his weapon up from the ground again.

But Shane had closed in too. He lunged and wrapped Sinclair in a tight hold, pinning him so he couldn’t move, and shouted:

"You’re my enemy, after all—the one I’ve dreamed of killing!"