With their help, Julius was a lot less worried about taking care of these rescued prisoners. They seemed to know what they were doing and were able to organize the villagers quickly once they found an appropriate place to sleep for the night. They were also glad to see that he had taken the rod with him, and when they set camp, Jakob had activated it to protect them from the cold and threats that might be roaming around at night.

Julius let them handle all of this and took a backseat. The only thing he did was heal the villager's injuries and keep an eye out for trouble. Luckily, they didn't run into many monsters on their way. The ones they did run across were easily taken care of by the scout, whose name, Julius learned, was Rasmus.

Julius kept watch for the entire night and patrolled the snowy woods. He didn't need sleep and thought that this was the perfect time to practice his new skill.

He made sure to exit the barrier that surrounded the camp and searched for some helpful assistants. He made sure he didn't go too far away, and eventually he sensed a monster approaching him from behind. It was already quite impressive that the monster was able to detect him from that far away, but Julius was glad for it. It saved him some time.

The monster was very stealthy considering its size. Julius would estimate it to be around twice the size of a human and looked more like a bulkier version of a cat, only with four sharp-looking horns on its head. It slunk close to the snow-covered ground, and its white coat let it blend into the background.

If not for his perception skill, he would have never detected it. Its aura and mana stealth were excellent.

Julius pretended that he didn't sense it and let it get closer. Once the monster got in range, it used a movement skill to close the distance. It was fast, and more than that, it almost disappeared in the snow.

Julius swiftly turned around and used [Void Strike] for the first time. His fist was covered with the same spatial distortions that made up his [Spatial Crack] skill. Only this time around, the distortions felt many times more stable. It didn't feel like the skill would collapse with the slightest loss of focus.

One issue he found immediately was that the skill didn't activate quite as quickly as he would have hoped, and by the time the monster was on top of him, the skill hadn't fully activated and lacked the power it should.

However, that didn't mean it was ineffective. The punch landed on the beast's snout, and Julius could feel the unfinished skill clash with the monster's defensive skills. Despite being incomplete, the skill still tore at the barrier covering the beast's skin. The spatial tears were very different from normal attacks, and the beast didn't have any skills to protect itself.

A piece of flesh was ripped away from the monster's snout, and it let out a loud yelp as it bled from its face. Julius stepped forward with a swift burst of kinetic energy, this time making sure that [Void Strike] was already active before his fist slammed into the body of the monster.

This time around, the strike was much more effective. It was almost like the spatial distortions that covered his hand penetrated deep into the body of the beast before ripping it apart from the inside.

Unlike a slash or a slice, the strike resembled a mini explosion compressed in a small area. However, the skill still utilized his Sharpness Concept well enough. The moment it detonated, the shards that blasted outward were shockingly sharp and gouged even more flesh from the monster.

The force from his attack contained multiple layers, and it was too much for the Tier 3 monster. The beast went flying through the air and kept on tumbling until it slammed into a tree with a loud boom.

It was still alive, but Julius could feel its life force ebbing away with every second. Not seeing a reason to let it suffer, he used [Void Step] to appear next to it and smashed a [Void Strike] with his palm into the skull of the beast.

The head exploded from the force of the attack, and Julius quickly created a small shield of mana to protect himself from being covered in guts. He nodded to himself with satisfaction. The skill was just as powerful as he hoped, and while he already sensed several downsides of the skill, he didn't mind.

Much like [Void Step], [Void Strike] used a lot of mana. However, he also recalled how much mana [Void Step] took when it was only level one. It was still only at level seven, but the amount he used back then compared to now was a vast difference.

He suspected that it would be the same with [Void Strike]. That was why he decided to dedicate the rest of the night to trying to understand the skill better. He had barely used any of his real strength, and the skill had torn apart a strong Tier 3 without issue. He was excited to see how it would deal with a stronger opponent.

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He made sure to grab the core of the monster before heading off to find another creature to test the skill on, with a brilliant smile on his face that glimmered in the dark, snowy forest.

***

He didn't find as many monsters as he would have hoped for, but he did gain two whole levels in the skill by the time the morning arrived.

[Void Strike lvl 1 -> lvl 3]

His previous experience with [Void Step] greatly aided the situation. The same techniques he used to lower the cost of the skill and hasten the activation speed worked similarly for both skills. This wasn't too unexpected since the names of the skills were so alike, but it was still nice to confirm.

When the sun rose over the mountains, they all got up, had some food, packed up, and quickly made their way back to Kastila. The others had decided that it would be safer for these villagers to stay in Kastila for the time being, since their village was a mess after the attack.

Despite taking all of the warm coats and heating items from the bandits, the villagers still had a tough time making the trek to Kastila. The children in particular were exhausted, and the stronger adults were forced to carry them on their backs for the latter half of the trip.

Julius and the others would have done it, but they encountered several monsters on their way. He didn't say it out loud, but he was somewhat jealous of just how many monsters they came across. The previous night, it was challenging to find a single Tier 3 roaming around.

However, now they couldn't make a mile without encountering a monster. They were even besieged by a large group of wolves and several Tier 4s on their way. Julius managed to test his skill on a couple of them, but the team of adventurers had taken point, and to their credit, did a fantastic job.

They handled all of the monsters with practiced ease. Not a single person was injured, and at no moment were the villagers at any risk. Each member of the team had a job that specialized in, and they worked efficiently.

Julius even believed they would be able to give him a pretty good fight if they worked together properly. He buried his curiosity, though; he didn't believe it would be a good idea to propose such a thing in their current circumstances.

Instead, he followed along and ensured that the villagers were safe. That was his top priority for the time being.

He let out a tired sigh as the sight of Kastila appeared ahead of them. It took them much longer than he would have liked, but by late afternoon, they had arrived back at Kastila, where Gavin and Eda greeted them.

Julius ignored the pointed looks he got from both of them, but they also noticed the couple of dozen villagers and saved their questions for later, understanding they had some more important tasks. They yelled out directions to other workers nearby and quickly organized a temporary accommodation for the villagers.

However, once they had situated all of the villagers, he sensed Eda walking up to him.

"Where have you been?" Eda immediately questioned him with an anxious scrunch of her sharp brows.

"I got a little restless, so I took a trip around the area," he said casually, munching away on some food he found from a local food stand.

"That was stupidly dangerous. You should let us know next time. We thought something had happened to you," she rebuked him gently.

He nodded at her and continued to snack away.

It seemed as though she wanted to say something to him, but ultimately decided not to. Instead, she sat down next to him and let out a tired sigh of her own. The stern features of her face relaxed, and Julius only now noticed how exhausted the woman looked. From what he had seen of her so far, she had been running around, busy trying to save her village.

Julius suddenly felt a little bad about treating this whole situation with such indifference. Here these people were, fighting for their lives, and he was there pretending like it was just a nice opportunity to level up his skills.

He scoffed inwardly, berating himself for being so callous. He needed to be better about that.

"Do you know them?" He asked Eda, giving a glance toward the villagers who were in the middle of receiving food and other supplies.

She frowned grimly. "Yeah, we have dealt with their village from time to time. They are an isolated sort, but we often traded with them. They have a knack for finding valuable herbs in the middle of the mountains. It is a tragedy what happened to them."

He nodded solemnly and couldn't help but feel his heart ache when he spotted a young boy off in the corner with a blank face but tears running down his cheeks.

"Jakob told me that you placed some sort of tracking skill on one of the bandits. Is that true?" Eda asked him.

"Yeah, I did."

"Is it still active?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know where he went off to," Julius told her. He had been keeping track of the mark he placed on that Tier 4. It was hard to pinpoint exactly where the man had hidden, but Julius would easily be able to trace it if needed.

He also hadn't felt the man or anyone else mess with it as of yet.

She looked like she had been injected with a day's worth of sleep and smiled at him. "We should tell the chief. We have not been able to find their base for months. Each time they attack, they disappear into the mountains."

She stood up, beckoning him to do the same. "Come on, let's hurry. With some luck, we might finally find these bastards and take them down," she said excitedly, already quickly making her way toward the chief's home.

Julius didn't get a chance to respond and had no other choice but to follow behind her. However, he was also curious what the chief would have to say.

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