Adam Oldman has been doing very well since he left his hometown.

He was born in an ordinary family in a small town, his father was a skilled mason, and his mother was a weaver. If nothing else, Adam should have followed his father to learn the craft and become another excellent mason after the elder Oldman, with which he could live in peace in the town, and it would be no problem to get the right marriage, whether it was the daughter of a stonemason or the daughter of the Night's Watch, who knows.

However, in the summer when Adam was fifteen years old, divine grace descended upon him, and his gift of divine energy was awakened.

It was a feeling of being watched all the time, as if a pair of eyes were staring at him all the time. Adam felt strange, but not afraid, for the unknown gaze made him feel warm, like the sun shining on him.

He told his father about this, and the elder Oldman insisted that he was being targeted by demons, so he hurried to take him to the town's church to find a priest to exorcise evil spirits. However, the old priest did not perceive any dark aura in Adam, and he only saw a vague light and shadow, which was the light of the Supreme God Dinos, the presence he had worshiped all his life.

Yes, Adam was not demon-possessed, on the contrary, he was favored by God.

He was confirmed to be a Holy One.

The news left the Adam family in ecstasy, and the temple quickly sent someone to pick him up and send him to the seminary. There is no doubt that Adam will have a better future in the future than his father's planned career as a mason.

Adam was indeed very competitive, and in seminary, he loved to learn, unite with his classmates, and always came first. But Adam's diligence was not for himself, or even for his family, but to repay the supreme being, and in his view, since the Most High God had made a mason's son a Holy One, he had to do his best to prove himself worthy of the gift.

So, when the Demon Hunter Squad recruited the reserves, Adam signed up without the slightest hesitation, what could be more honorable than fighting for God?

The process from signing up to being selected has been smooth, and it wasn't until he entered this underground training camp that the real unhappiness stopped him. Here, no matter how hard he tries, he can always only be second, and that guy named Wren has been standing in front of him since the first day of morning training, and no matter how hard he tries after that, he can't catch up.

Perhaps second place is equally good in the eyes of others, and there is nothing unacceptable, but for Adam, who has fanatical beliefs, not being able to be first means that he has failed the grace of Dinos.

Could it be that he loves Wren more than himself, the Supreme God?

Such thoughts made Adam feel sad for a time, and he often sobbed because of it when he was alone. Perhaps the Most High God answered his prayers in the middle of the night, and not long ago, Wren was proven unable to use the Holy Power!

At that moment, all the gloom in Adam's heart was swept away, in this training camp for cultivating witchers, the guy who was the first everywhere didn't even have the most basic conditions to become a witcher, if this was not a supreme god apparition, then Adam really didn't know what it was, but he didn't know what Mr. Valolet would consider to allow a person who could not use the Holy Energy to continue to stay here, is it just to let everyone see the joke?

Adam was unhappy about this, but he understood that it was not something he could control, and now that he had the opportunity to drive Wren away, he would definitely not be relentless.

"No one could have imagined that we would have come to this point, Wren, and I really don't want to fight you in this situation if I can."

Adam said lamentedly, "But it seems that there is no way to do it, Mr. Vaolet has been so forgiving, even though he knows that you will not be able to use the Holy Energy, he did not ask you to leave before the final examination." And you don't appreciate the opportunity to embarrass yourself – to be honest, I don't understand what you're doing it for. ”

"I say, Adam, why do you have the tone of 'we were best friends'?"

Wren said inexplicably: "Does fighting me give you any psychological burden?" Please, the closest time we got along was when we shook hands in front of the chapel over there on the first day of reporting, right? If I'm not mistaken, you and I haven't spoken to each other since the first magic lesson. ”

This, this damn bastard, he's really good at making people unable to get off the stage!

Adam's face flushed, and he regretted what he had just said, so he said loudly: "Since you are so stubborn, then I have nothing more to say, come on, decide the winner first!" ”

"Just what I want!"

Wren smiled, and at this point, Valolet announced the start of the battle.

Without any hesitation, Wren rushed towards Adam like a cheetah, he had already conceived the angle of the knife, but saw that Adam did not first use the divine blessing technique to put a golden turtle shell on himself as he imagined, but directly drew his hunting crossbow and aimed at himself.

Clever enough to be willing to give up his beloved 'Victoria' and plan to surprise me remotely from the beginning?

Wren sneered, and immediately lowered his body, using inertia to roll sideways forward to dodge a bolt of light, the second arrow of light grazed his boot and shot into the ground, and the third nailed in front of him.

"My shots can keep up with your movements, Wren, you can't win just by dodging."

Adam raised the hunting crossbow in his hand, "Admit defeat, we don't have to end the battle in a more ruthless way, there is nothing to be ashamed of, after all, you have no God's protection, and this duel is not fair to you." ”

"I'm fighting to prove myself, not to prove anything else!"

Wren raised his sword and hurried, shouting while dodging the oncoming light arrows: "Then again, how can it be effective for you to persuade me to surrender at the beginning of the battle, at least you have to beat me to the point where you have no power to fight back, and then say those high-sounding words, I may think about it at that time!" ”

"As you wish!"

Adam fired several arrows in quick succession, forcing Wren back enough distance once more, and that's when he used the gap to cast a divine blessing spell on himself.

Time was tight and the distance wasn't close enough, so Wren didn't try to get close again, and he took advantage of the short gap in battle to recite the incantation. So, when the Holy Light shone on Adam's body, countless earth elements also converged on the surface of Wren's body, forming a heavy armor.

Vaolet almost laughed, it turned out that Wren had said 'I'm not without other means of defense', referring to this earthen armor?

Admittedly, as a primary elemental magic, the armor is very good and does not require much mental power, and the armor solidified by the earth elemental after the magic is completed is even as hard as steel - unfortunately, it is also as heavy as steel, much heavier than the plate armor worn by most heavy cavalry.

Yes, this is the biggest flaw of the earth armor, unlike other high-level magic shields, the earth armor is simply a set of physical armor, even if it does have good defensive power, no one wants to be killed by the enemy and exhaust themselves to death first.

"I can't believe it, are you dazed, Wren, you look like a barbarian ready to crash your enemies!"

Adam was astonished and said, "You—aren't you too sinking?" Why not use stone skin? ”

"No way, it's the so-called 'heavy sense of security', although it will undoubtedly make it easier for me to change to stone skin, but it can't stop you from shooting arrows of light - so be tired and tired, it's better than being shot into a sieve."

Wren moved his armor-covered body, fortunately, if it were someone else, he might not be able to move freely at all, but for him, it was far from the point where he couldn't move.

"Come, shoot me an arrow, I won't hide."

He beckoned to Adam, who was provoked by this, and Adam didn't think about it, and raised his hand to be a glowing arrow, and such an attack only left a shallow pit of smoke in Wren's armor.

"You see, the defense is pretty good, and now I can fight as recklessly as you do, right?"

Wren said happily.

"Don't be too arrogant, Wren, do you not want to hide, or can't you hide?"

Adam smiled contemptuously, "Although we usually do weight training, but after all, it is just a 'burden' added to the body, and it is okay to run with those burdens, but can you carry them to fight?" No matter how strong the defense of the earth armor is, can you still move freely now? ”

"You'll know."

Wren smiled slightly, he held the knife in his hand, took a deep breath, and launched the charge again.

So fast!

Backed by great power, the defenses brought by the earth armor are no longer burdens, but have become a more terrifying deterrent than swords. Adam had no doubt that if he didn't have the Holy Light Shield, he would have been seriously injured just by being hit by such a high-speed dash.

Even if it's a holy light shield, how many times can it block such an impact?

So Adam leaped backwards and shot three arrows in a row, except for the oncoming one that needed to be sideways to dodge, and the other two Wren did not dodge, allowing them to hit him.

"Slash!"

As the two got closer and closer, Wren swung a slash from the bottom up, and the long knife slashed like a thrill, but Adam dodged it. He watched the tip of Wren's sword swing a few inches from his nose, and a large amount of cold sweat suddenly oozed from his forehead.

Really, the armor made of earth armor is still too heavy, and it will affect the action a little.

Wren thought regretfully, but that didn't affect his next moves.

As soon as the blow missed, Wren immediately fell down, and at the same time landed one knee on the ground, using this as a fulcrum to violently rotate his body like a spinning top, centrifugal force accelerated the speed of his swing, and the long knife drew an arc with cold light, and slashed at Adam's waist.

The Divine Blessing Technique worked faithfully, and Adam didn't feel much pain, but with just one blow, his Holy Light Shield had become unstable, and I am afraid that if he took two more blows, he would have to break it.

What kind of attack is this?!

Horror shook Adam's mind, no power, no magic, no energy, just a slash!

No wonder this bastard can be so agile with heavy armor, his strength is too great! I'm afraid that, as Jack said, he never showed real strength in his previous training, right?

Adam was confident in his mastery of the Divine Blessing Technique, and he had calculated that depending on the strength of his opponent, his Holy Light Shield would probably be able to withstand four to six Holy Light Slashes and about twenty arrows of light, and if he wasn't too reckless, such a defense would be enough for him to win every confrontation drill.

In fact, Adam was already very careful, loyal to hand-to-hand combat, he chose to use ranged attacks to suppress Wren from the beginning, although this seemed a bit dishonorable to him, but the crossbow was the standard weapon of the witcher, and this was the way the witcher fought.

But no one would have thought that this guy Wren would have such brute strength!

Damn, does he have barbarian blood?

Regardless, Adam could no longer suppress Wren with long-range shots, and he was forced to draw his weapon from his waist and slash at Wren's long knife. Every time the two knives intersected, the huge force from the opponent's long knife would always shake Adam's arm, and the feeling of not being able to hold the knife became more and more obvious, as if Wren was not using a knife to attack, but a sledgehammer.

The situation seemed to be reversed, Adam didn't dare to rely on the Holy Light Shield for defense, he didn't know that it could withstand a few more Wren slashes, and in such a dense grappling, there was obviously no chance to cast another Divine Blessing Spell. While Adam began to focus more on dodging and parrying, Wren was the opposite, pleased with the heavy defensive effects of the earth armor, and began to devote himself to the fight. Even if he was slashed by Adam's holy light occasionally, it was only a small wound that cut through the flesh, the armor was too thick, and Adam's slash was not strong enough to completely cut it through.

Despite this, after many attacks, Wren's earth elemental armor began to disintegrate, and fragments continued to peel off his body. Just as his opponent didn't have a chance to recite the prayer, he didn't have time to chant the earthen charm again, and Adam had always had part of his mind on Wren's hand that didn't hold the weapon, so it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to hit the opponent with his silent cryotechnic again.

While!

The two knives collided again, and this time Adam tried to pull the weapon back, but unexpectedly failed.

It turned out that the two battles had caused a lot of damage to Wren's weapon, and at this time, Adam's long knife was embedded in one of the gaps.

He laughed out loud and cocked hard, and Wren's knife was only half cut off.

"Throw in the towel, Wren, you can't defeat the warriors of the gods by brute force alone!"

Adam slashed down with a slash of light, which was dodged by Wren.

"What if you are the first in all subjects!"

Another diagonal slash, which Wren blocked with a broken knife. He had enough strength to withstand such an attack, but his weapon was not, and cracks appeared in the blade again.

"You can't even protect your own weapons!"

With each shout, Adam slashed out, and when the words fell, Wren's weapon broke again, and it might be good to use it as a letter opener, but it would be too difficult to continue to fight.

Adam didn't give up such an opportunity, and he quickly swung a fourth sword, while Vaolet hesitated and didn't call a stop.

"The role of the weapon is to protect the owner, not the other way around!"

Wren dropped the broken blade, his palms snapped together, pinching the long knife in the middle—perhaps not so accurately, he could feel a piece of flesh being sliced off of his left palm, blood running down the gap between his palms and the blade, confirming his suspicions, and then he felt the pain in his heart.

But no matter what, Wren did control Adam's long knife, which already made him very proud, as for the injury, he didn't care at all, and he was not a martial arts master, how could it be so easy to do this thing with empty hands into the white blade?

"Let go, you guy, give me back the weapon!"

Adam pulled back desperately, but the long knife didn't move under Wren's hijacking, and he couldn't help but be anxious and angry, "Damn, you don't really have barbarian blood, do you, otherwise where would you have so much strength?" ”

"I'm a pure-blooded human like you, the only difference is that I'm not as blessed with God's favor as you are—frankly, my life has been a tragedy so far."

The long-term depression mixed with the blood pain at this time constantly stimulated Wren's nerves, his face gradually turned hideous, and some very bad memories suddenly appeared in his heart, "Yes, how can you get his grace, but a pious mother in the green shade city can't?" God, hehe, the mighty God, the mighty God, the eccentric God, if he is really powerful, why is there still tragedy in the world? If he was truly merciful, why not save my mother? If he really exists, why is my heart like an abyss at this moment! ”

"Y-What do you say? Are you questioning the Most High God? ”

Adam was stunned, he almost forgot that his weapon was still being held hostage by Wren.

"Ha, I forgot, of course he exists, isn't this the best proof that these lucky ones he has chosen?"

Wren whispered in a terrible tone, "Adam, do you want to see him?" ”

He flipped his palms over and twisted them so hard that Adam could no longer hold the hilt of the sword, and the weapon was taken away, but the other party obviously had no intention of using it, and threw it on the ground.

Just when Adam was in a daze, Wren grabbed his neck with his injured bloody hand, and then dragged him down, Adam couldn't break free from this huge force, so he could only be involuntarily choked by his neck and pressed to the ground, watching him raise another fist, and then smash a punch on his forehead.

Bang!

With Adam's skull at its center, dust spreads, and the shield of light flickers one last time before dissipating into nothingness.

Wren raised his fist again.

"God, God said, All who are righteous ......"

Adam knew how terrible Wren's fist was to him after losing his defenses, and he wanted to reuse his divine blessings, but the horror in his heart prevented him from praying smoothly.

"God said, God said—oh, spare me, I've heard enough."

Wren said with a twisted smile, and then the second punch landed without hesitation.

Bang!

Adam's forehead then sunken, and the person also fainted, if it weren't for the energy of the Holy Energy itself, which has the effect of strengthening the physique, he would be dead by now. It was also because of this that at that time, Rhodes was able to survive the attack of the flesh giant after losing the protection of the Holy Light Shield, and it was impossible for ordinary warriors to reach his physical strength no matter how they exercised.

And at this moment, although Wren's attack was far less ferocious than that of the flesh giant, Adam was clearly not as powerful as Rhodes.

"What if you don't have arrows? What if the weapon is broken? You'll find – or you've found out – that I don't need them. ”

Wren raised his fist for the third time, and the next moment he was kicked out by Vaolet.

"See?! Ha, I've seen it all! ”

Protected by the Earth Armor Technique, Wren stood up after just rolling on the ground, and he smiled nervously, "He lost!" Adam lost, and what about the other person? What about that guy named Claudie? ”

Crazy, this guy is crazy!

Claudy, who was named, quietly stood behind Valolet, and at this time he was unwilling to fight Wren even if he was killed.

"You send Adam to Ms. Helen's office at once, she will help Adam with his treatment, yes, Adam is not dead, don't worry."

After examining Adam's injuries, Valolet said this to Claudie and the other reservist. Without any hesitation, the two immediately picked up Adam and left the place.

"Why, are you going to break your word, Mr. Vaolet? Why did you take my last opponent away? ”

Wren looked at him with an extremely dissatisfied look, "What kind of bullshit ending is this, well, it's the same if he's gone, running away is still a loss, am I right?" ”

Vaolet didn't speak, just opened his palm with a blushing face, and then cast a buff dispel spell on Wren, and soon, the remaining armor on his body peeled off to the ground piece by piece.

"Oh, thank you, kind mentor, for saving me from dismantling the magic myself."

Wren smiled happily, "What's next?" Training? Yes, I've been delayed for too long, so let's get started! ”

There was no need for a diagnosis, and everyone present could feel that Rennes was in a very wrong state at this time.

But in Valolet's opinion, his problems may be more than that.

"Who's next? Is that you? Or are you? ”

Wren smiled and pointed to the other reservists present, the palm of the hand that was cut off by Adam was still dripping with blood, "Come on, actual combat training is very important, practice with me, this will help you make rapid progress!" ”

"Monster, he's a monster! Mr. Wollette, please do something! ”

Jack shouted in horror.

"Divine Word: Shock!"

A menacing rebuke came from Valolet's mouth, and Wren immediately froze like a plank.

This is one of the 'deterrences' of the Divine Word, a higher sacred art capable of attaching the majesty of the Supreme God to the voice of mortals, and working on most intelligent beings except the deaf.

"You won, Wren. Congratulations, you've really proven what you're capable of. ”

Valolet walked up to him, his eyes and voice as cold, "And I want to find out where your strength comes from and what you really are." ”