Against The Heavens 22 First Battle.

Li Yang scratched the underside of Jinwu's beak as he spoke, pointing at the bandit leader and his beast companion. Jinwu let out a loud caw before flapping its wings and leaving Li Yang's shoulder, flying towards the five remaining bandits.

None of these people had managed to engrave even a single rune, most of them had not even managed to open their dantian yet. Jinwu was more than capable of dealing with such people. This was proven when Jinwu flew towards them like a black blur, his sharp claws tearing open their flesh.

Of course, since he was so small, he would need to wound them several times and wait for them to bleed out. Li Yang casually looked at what was happening to the remaining bandits, but the bandit leader did not have this luxury. His eyes were fully focused on Li Yang, afraid of missing even a single one of his actions.

"Alright. That is how we will do it."

When Li Yang suddenly nodded his head and his eyes turned towards him, the heart of the bandit leader nearly leaped out from his chest. The bandit leader immediately unsheathed his weapon, a saber whose blade was over one meter in length.

Li Yang also unsheathed his weapon, the sword he had chosen in the Liang clan. While looking at how Jinwu was dealing with the various bandits, he himself had been working on how to most efficiently deal with the bandit leader and his beast companion.

The simple fact was that Li Yang's sword would not be able to pierce through the armor of the Metal Eater. His sword was made from normal metal and did not have any arrays engraved into it, so even if it managed to withstand his Qi, it would simply shatter upon reaching the Metal Eater.

Having made up his mind, Li Yang was just about to spring into action when the bandit leader chose to make the first move. Waiting around would not let him gain any advantage, so he felt that it would be better to take the initiative and hope that he would succeed.

When the bandit leader charged at him, his saber raised high, the Metal Eater also charged at Li Yang, it's maw wide open. Even the inside of its maw was metallic in color, it's teeth thick and st.u.r.dy, easily capable of crushing all of Li Yang's bones.

The bandit leader put his everything into his attack, even activating all of the energy within his rune to aid him. With the power of his rune aiding him, the wind around him grew fierce as his speed was boosted. He struck down at Li Yang with all his might, his control over wind making his arms move faster than ever before.

The Metal Eater attacked from the side, the spikes on its back falling off and shooting towards Li Yang, trying to force him to take the attack of the bandit leader head-on. It was certain that Li Yang would turn to paste if he was forced to take on the attack of the bandit leader.

It was a good plan, and it might even have worked if it had been anyone else. But it was a shame that their opponent was Li Yang. The moment the bandit leader attacked, Li Yang narrowed his eyes, completely focusing on the bandit leader, not a shred of carefreeness left in him.

A single mistake could lead to death, that was the simple truth of battle. Li Yang refused to die because he made a mistake when he underestimated his enemy. When he fully focused on the enemy, he once more regained the tyrannical and elegant aura that belonged to the Thunder Monarch.

The bandit leader felt that this attack was the strongest attack he had ever delivered, but to Li Yang, it was clumsy and full of openings. It was clear that the bandit leader did not even have full control over his attack, as he would not be able to change the direction of his attack halfway through.

He also didn't properly work with the Metal Eater, as the spikes that were flying at Li Yang were only trying to force him to stand in the small area in front of the bandit leader, rather than actively trying to harm him and force him to face the attack.

With their attack being this sloppy, how could Li Yang not take advantage of it? A slight twist of his body, that was all it took. He took half a step backward and slightly twisted his body to the left side. With that single twist, the attack of the bandit leader swept down in front of his face, the spikes of the Metal Eater flying past his sides.

Since the bandit leader could not fully control his attack, he could not even change the direction of his swing, resulting in his saber hitting the ground with a loud sound, throwing up a cloud of dust.

With the bandit leader's saber hitting the ground, Li Yang got the single opening that he needed. With his sword in hand, Li Yang raised his right arm and sent out a single stab. Fire and lightning spun around the sword as Li Yang stabbed out, forcing away the wind that the bandit leader wanted to use to defend himself.

The sword pierced cleanly through the throat of the bandit leader, it's tip piercing out through the other side. The bandit leader looked at Li Yang's emotionless eyes like he was looking at a monster. He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, but only a gurgling sound came out.

Li Yang put some force into his right arm and moved the sword, cleanly beheading the bandit leader and robbing his life. Li Yang did not look at the falling head, nor did he look at the collapsing body of the bandit leader, his eyes landing on the Metal Eater.

The mission required him to deliver both of their heads, so he would of course not forget about this Metal Eater. Seeing the body of the bandit leader collapse to the ground, the Metal Eater was already filled with fear, thoughts of escaping appearing in its mind.

It had only accepted following the bandit leader after the bandit leader beat it into submission. But now that very same person had been killed by this child in front of it, unable to withstand even a single blow, how could it not feel fear. It immediately chose to act on its instinct, turning around to flee.

But how could Li Yang possibly let it flee? Even if he were to let it run, it would not manage to get very far before he managed to catch up. Metal Eaters were known for being st.u.r.dy and tough, not for their speed.

The moment the Metal Eater turned around, Li Yang waved his hand. With a wave of his hand, the ground beneath the Metal Eater became coated with a layer of clear ice, causing the Metal Eater to completely lose its footing and slip. That was the moment Li Yang sprung into action.

"Sorry, but this might hurt."

He dashed forward the moment it lost footing, placing both his hands on the back of the Metal Eater. His hands landed on the back of the Metal Eater and he activated all the energy his fire rune allowed him to. Intense heat quickly hit the Metal Eater, scorching it's metallic scales and causing it to let out loud screeches.

Li Yang did not give it a second to rest and recuperate, continuing to channel as much fire into its scales as he could. It's scales quickly turned a glowing red in color, showing just how hot they had gotten after being exposed to such intense heat.

With its scales becoming glowing hot, the Metal Eater was in unbearable pain. But its vitality was truly powerful, as it had yet to die. When the scales turned glowing hot, Li Yang stopped drawing upon the power of his fire rune.

Just when the Metal Eater thought that Li Yang would stop, intense cold washed over its body. Li Yang had stopped drawing upon the power from his fire rune, instead drawing on the power of his ice rune.

Li Yang had originally hoped that he would be able to rely on his fire rune to melt the metallic scales of the Metal Eater, but it quickly became apparent that he was not capable of creating high enough heat to melt its scales.

Since it was like that, he could only change his approach. The power of his ice rune washed over the body of the Metal Eater, rapidly cooling its heated body. Under the rapid cooling, it's red-hot scales quickly dimmed down and hardened, becoming even tougher than before.

But the Metal Eater could not rejoice because of this, as the cold was only getting worse and worse as time pa.s.sed. This continued until the Metal Eater suddenly heard a loud cracking sound coming from its back.

Its metallic scales had turned extremely brittle under the extreme cold, brittle enough to let Li Yang shatter them with his fist. He punched a hole in the scales of the Metal Eater and raised his right arm, stabbing into the body of the Metal Eater with his sword.

With his sword entering into its body, fire and lightning were let loose directly into its flesh, rampaging through its body. The Metal Eater could not even scream out as it died, the fire and lightning shredding and cooking its organs until all life vanished from its body.

After the Metal Eater was dead, Li Yang took out a piece of cloth and cleaned his sword, before sheathing it once more. After he cleaned his sword, Jinwu landed on his shoulder, letting out a few self-satisfied caws.

"Yes, yes. You did very well. Once we get back to the city, I will get some good meat for you."

He had managed to kill all hiss enemies before Li Yang managed to kill his, so he was feeling very smug at the moment. It's self satisfied caws only stopped when Li Yang scratched it beneath its beak and promised it some good food.

He also could not help but look at the bodies of the bandits. The two kills he had performed could be considered clean, but Jinwu's kills were much messier. The bandits had their eyes and throats torn open, their bodies caked in their own blood.

Li Yang did not immediately remove the head of the Metal Eater. He first wanted to take a look and see if there was anything else in this bandit camp that might catch his attention.