Free Web NovelChapter 135: Opening Exchange!
Some of the survivors immediately changed their trajectory to approach him, but Uhtred didn’t cast a single glance in their direction. He simply kept his eyes fixed on the center of the camp and started moving forward.
He passed straight through the outer entryways of the camp, ignoring the screaming crowds rushing past him as he steered his path directly toward the central square where the loudest sounds of battle were echoing.
However, by the time Uhtred closed the distance enough to see the center of the camp himself, he realized that calling this a battle was a joke... This was nothing but a one-sided massacre.
The Homo erectus general wasn’t even using his abilities. He was simply tearing through the human ascenders with pure brute power alone.
He held a long, broad-bladed spear in his hand, casually waving the weapon in brutal arcs to mow down the human ascenders like wheat.
Every few seconds, he would casually hurl the spear with enough force to pierce straight through three or four humans at a time. Other times, he used it to deflect attacks from the more talented of them with a look of boredom in his eyes.
To give the human ascenders credit, several of them tried to coordinate their efforts, playing to their strengths to try and overwhelm the Homo erectus general. But their levels were simply far too low to bridge the gap.
If they were somewhere between Level 15 to Level 17, perhaps they would have been able to bridge that gap by combining their efforts to at least pose a fight.
But the main fighting force of the ascenders here were Level 10. There weren’t even any Level 11s present at all, with the bulk of the fighting force consisting of only Level 8s and 9s. They were entirely outmatched.
Uhtred had wanted to observe the fight to see what he could glean of the Homo erectus general’s fighting style and, in particular, the ancient general’s attunement and affinity, before he engaged.
But looking at the swift decimation before him, he realized there was absolutely nothing to analyze.
The Homo erectus general was putting less than ten percent of his effort into the slaughter, treating the entire camp like an afterthought.
But as Uhtred stepped into the center of the camp, the Homo Erectus general noticed him, and his lazy demeanor suddenly shifted.
The air about him changed, and in an instant, he violently swung his spear in a wide horizontal arc.
The edge of the blade tore through the air with a loud whistle, cleanly severing five human heads in that single sweep.
Before the severed heads could even hit the ground, the general thrust his hand forward, grabbing one of them by the face mid-air.
The victim was a human female, a vigorous young woman who might have had a bright future ahead of her in this new integration world.
Because the attack of the Homo erectus general had been so fast, her brain had not yet even registered that her head was no longer attached to her body.
It was only after another second that she realized what had happened to her, and a look of utter horror crossed her eyes as her consciousness slowly faded.
This was an absolute mercy, because in the very next second, the general tightened his grip.
He squeezed her head in his palm with enough force to make her eyeballs violently pop out of their sockets.
A thick, sludgy goo of blood and brain matter began to pour out of her facial orifices as her skull completely imploded under the pressure.
The general tilted his head back, opening his mouth to let the gooey substance drip directly into his throat, an incredibly grotesque, primitive smile spreading across his face.
Uhtred watched the entire horrific display with a dead coldness, his eyes betraying not a single flicker of change.
The Homo erectus general saw the blank expression from the corner of his eyes, and his grin deepened further before he tossed the ruined skull aside.
He adjusted his grip on his spear, speaking in his deeply ancient, heavy, guttural language:
"What? No reaction? And here I thought you humans had a sense of collective camaraderie," he guffawed.
As the general continued to laugh, completely reveling in his own dominance while attempting to bait Uhtred into an emotional mistake, a blood-soaked hand suddenly clamped onto his leg, grabbing him by the ankles.
The commander paused, his laughter cutting off as he slowly looked down at the ground in surprise.
It was a man. One of the people who he had just beheaded. Except this man was still somehow alive...
The slash had not severed his head entirely from his body, leaving it dangling by a few remaining jugular veins and muscle fibers that were still somehow transmitting electrical signals from his brain to his limbs.
Blood was pouring out of his neck like an open faucet, but the man’s eyes were wide open, burning with a terrifying rage.
Somehow, as if driven by a mad singular goal, he had moved with nothing but raw willpower to grab onto the ankle of the Homo erectus general, still trying to fight despite his current state.
Looking deeply into his eyes, one could see not just anger alone but also something like grief and vengeance.
The young woman whose head had just been pulverized by the general had clearly been someone dear to his heart.
The Homo erectus general looked down at the hand gripping his ankle, and his primitive features instantly twisted into an expression of profound, extreme repulsion.
He didn’t even bother to use his spear. He raised his foot and violently stamped down onto the man’s face, crushing it repeatedly into the hard sand until the head was reduced to nothing but a gory mess.
Even after the head had been pulverized, the Homo erectus general didn’t stop. He continued to stamp down with a furious look in his eyes.
Beneath that look, one could see something like confusion, as if he was trying to understand just why a person could care so deeply about someone else to the point where it gave them the strength to transcend limits.
Beneath him was a man whose head had literally dangled only by a few jugular veins, yet he had moved with nothing but raw willpower, trying to use the last bit of his life to exact vengeance for the one he cared about.
The look of confusion in his eyes only lasted for nothing more than a fraction of a second. But that short lull was more than enough...
By the time the Homo erectus general’s instincts snapped him back to reality, before he could even look up to check Uhtred’s position, a looming sense of danger descended on him terrifyingly!
Uhtred’s battle-axe whizzed straight for the Homo erectus general’s neck, bringing with it a certainty of death.
The Homo erectus general reacted immediately, moving his spear to intercept while leaping backward to dodge at the same time. But he had severely underestimated just how much force Uhtred packed within his strike.
Uhtred wasn’t holding anything back at all, not even bothering with the usual pleasantries of feeling out his opponent during an opening exchange. He was coming with his full force right from the onset!
