油炸小青龙

Chapter 34: Blood for Blood

Bai Shi gasped for breath. His helmet was shattered, and blood glued one of his eyes shut.

His armor was covered in scars, and the parts not protected by metal were a mangled mess of torn and clawed flesh.

Several arrows he hadn't had time to pull out were sticking from his back and shoulder. A Misbegotten's head was still clamped onto his leg, its jaws locked even in death.

In the battle just now, he had already consumed all two of his Flasks of Cerulean Tears and his single Flask of Crimson Tears.

Besieged by the winged Misbegotten, Deenh had taken down almost all of them on its own.

Unfortunately, since its spirit hadn't been tuned by a Spirit-Tuner, it couldn't unleash its full, living power and had tragically fallen to the winged creatures' bites.

The Fire-Crested Wooden Shield, unable to bear any more abuse, had splintered to pieces under the relentless blows.

Storm Stomp had been immensely useful in the fight. If he hadn't unleashed it several times to clear out waves of enemies, he would have long since been dragged to the ground and hacked to a pulp.

Unfortunately, the halberd's shaft had been severed by a scaly Misbegotten's long-handled hatchet, but the broken-off half had been rammed through its head in return.

His Royal Greatsword was embedded in the skull of another scaly Misbegotten. Due to the onslaught from the other creatures, he hadn't had a chance to pull it free, and it had rolled away with the corpse.

With his weapons gone, he twisted the Misbegotten's necks and used their own iron hatchets.

Though they were tools for chopping wood, they proved surprisingly effective at chopping Misbegotten.

As the ceaseless slaughter continued, Bai Shi's wounds grew more severe, but the number of Misbegotten steadily dwindled.

After lopping off the head of the last scaly Misbegotten before him, Bai Shi raised the hatchet and walked toward the others, who now cowered in the distance.

The remaining dozen or so Misbegotten broke. They couldn't understand how any creature could sustain such injuries and still be alive.

This thing before them was not human.

Humans were fragile creatures. All they had to do was swarm them, and the humans would cry out in pain and die under their hatchets.

But this one... nearly all their brethren in the castle had swarmed him, yet he had not fallen. Instead, it was their kin who had been slaughtered one by one.

Cut in half, impaled, decapitated, executed...

Blood and limbs were everywhere. The mounting pile of corpses terrified them. They had never imagined a pile of their own kind would look like this.

This creature merely looked human. It was a monster in human skin, more terrifying than any of them!

Their legs trembled uncontrollably, and a foul-smelling liquid trickled from between their legs.

It was unclear who started it, but one threw down its weapon, clasped its hands over its head, and knelt down to beg for mercy.

It was a posture they had learned from humans over the past two days. If their opponent was truly human, surely it would work.

Bai Shi walked up to the Misbegotten at the front and looked down at it with indifference.

In his past life, he'd never suffered an injury that even required surgery. Now, with wounds this severe, it felt as though all the blood had drained from his body, yet he could still move. It was just as some master once said: the human body truly is a marvelous thing.

Pain. His whole body was in agony.

At first, he could distinguish the pain of a bite on his calf from the pain of a slash to his shoulder.

Later, he could barely tell which part of his body was hurting. Now, it had all gone numb.

He no longer needed to care where he was bleeding from or where it hurt. All that mattered was killing the enemy before him.

Bai Shi didn't know what was keeping him going, but the logic was simple and clear: kill the enemy, and he would survive.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Now, it's your turn to pay with blood for blood."

Bai Shi brought the hatchet down on the Misbegotten's wide mouth. The upper jaw and brain went flying, while the lower jaw and body remained to suffer.

Seeing that this monster would not spare them, the other Misbegotten scrambled to their feet.

Not to fight to the death, but to turn and flee, desperate not to share their compatriot's fate.

Bai Shi no longer had the strength to give chase. He didn't sit, but simply stood quietly atop the pile of Misbegotten corpses.

His mind was hazy. He was utterly exhausted, every last ounce of strength squeezed from his body. He needed to treat his wounds, or at least find a Site of Grace to rest at. He raised a hand to wipe away the blood blinding him, but it did no good. He looked down and saw his hand was just as covered in blood.

Fighting those of the Frenzied Flame was perilous; a single hit could be fatal.

But this battle had been brutal. Bai Shi had no idea how many wounds he'd suffered, nor could he recall how many Misbegotten he had slain.

But Bai Shi was thrilled. After fending off the first wave of Misbegotten, he'd realized their numbers were staggering.

So, he had activated Fengling Yueying's function to increase rune acquisition.

The multiplier was a fixed five times for one hour, and there were still about ten minutes left on the timer.

He didn't know exactly how many runes he had obtained, but it was undoubtedly a massive fortune.

Bai Shi now had only one use of Fengling Yueying left. He could have activated infinite FP and easily wiped out the Misbegotten.

But he couldn't afford to. That last charge was his lifeline, something he would never use unless it was a matter of life and death.

Thankfully, it seemed he wouldn't need to use it today.

Bai Shi wanted to set off to find Irena's father, but the moment he lifted his foot, he lost his balance and collapsed onto the pile of corpses.

"It seems my current strength is barely enough to handle this many enemies," Bai Shi muttered, though it was as if he were speaking to someone else.

A black crossbow bolt shot out from Bai Shi's blind spot. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fiɾe·net

The storm stirred again. The Ancient King used the wind to deflect the bolt's trajectory, causing it to graze Bai Shi's ear before sinking into the corpse pile.

Bai Shi twisted around sharply and threw the hatchet in his hand, showing no sign of his earlier exhaustion.

His opponent was no amateur. A hatchet was not a proper throwing weapon, and he dodged it with a simple sidestep.

But in doing so, the attacker's figure was completely revealed to Bai Shi.

He was clad in black armor, holding a black light crossbow, with an iron twinblade slung across his back.

It was an emissary from the Roundtable Hold.

Next to the lift were two three-to-four-meter-high walls, structures that served as watchposts. The emissary had been hiding there earlier.

The emissary closed in on Bai Shi step by step. He put away his crossbow and drew the twinblade from his back.

"You truly are a remarkable warrior, deflecting two of my surprise attacks. As a fellow Tarnished, I had no wish to make an enemy of you."

"Unfortunately, if I don't kill you, I won't be able to kill that blind girl, and my mission will be incomplete."

"Since sneak attacks don't work, I'll just have to take your head myself. Don't blame me for taking advantage of your weakness. The Lands Between are a cruel place."

Bai Shi wasn't so weak he couldn't stand; collapsing just now had been a deliberate act.

He had entrusted his last bit of FP to the Ancient King to defend against the crossbow bolt, all to force this person out into the open.

But it was also true that Bai Shi had no strength left for another fight, and he was without a proper weapon.

Yet Bai Shi was not afraid, because the Ancient King had told him that another storm from within Castle Morne had arrived.

The emissary leaped into the air, whirling his twinblade as he aimed for Bai Shi's head.

But mid-air, he was struck down by a long halberd wreathed in a storm.