Chapter 23: Wrong Target |
“Xia Ding, how can his strength be this strong?”
Though Shi Qing was greatly shocked inside, his reaction was not slow at all. Seeing Xia Ding and his thirteen men already spread out and chasing them, he immediately ordered a counterattack.
“Shi Dong, find cover on the left side. Wang Ming, lead the team to block them, quickly!”
Xia Ding’s group was chasing at a fast pace.
Moreover, three of their side had just died, leaving only ten men.
Purely running away would only give the enemy chances to pick them off one by one.
The camp members cooperated seamlessly and stopped retreating as soon as they received the order. Wang Ming gripped his large knife and turned around with seven men behind him; Shi Qing and Shi Dong climbed a large tree quickly, one on the left and one on the right.
The knife-wielding team feigned an attack, while Shi Qing and Shi Dong hid in the shadows to shoot arrows as the main offense.
This was the usual battle formation used by Boulder Camp against enemies.
Until now, they still didn’t understand how those three people on the ground had died. Xia Ding hadn’t moved, and neither had his twelve men behind him.
Where did that sound, like silver needles cutting through the air, come from?
Once that sound appeared, it was as if the three had been cursed; suddenly, they died.
And when did Xia Ding become so powerful?
The unknown bred a deep fear in their hearts.
“Charge!”
Of course, it also ignited a fierce will to survive.
As if realizing their dire situation, Wang Ming roared angrily. His fear transformed into rage and madness as he raised his knife and charged at Xia Ding first.
As one of the strongest fighters in the camp after Shi Qing and Shi Dong, Wang Ming’s momentum when fighting desperately was formidable.
Slash...
The blade cut through the night sky, emitting a sharp slicing sound. The fierce force stirred up the snow on the ground, tossing it several meters high, and almost instantly, Wang Ming reached Xia Ding’s side.
His eyes blazed with fury as he used almost all his strength to bring down this strike.
“If this strike doesn’t kill you, it will at least skin you alive!”
This was Wang Ming’s first thought the moment his blade touched something.
Unfortunately, the outcome was completely opposite to what he expected.
Xia Ding just sidestepped, dodging the blade.
Not only did he dodge, but he also moved around Wang Ming and pressed his hand on the blade, pushing the knife directly into the snow, even sinking several inches into the earth.
“How can he be this fast? Xia Ding, could he have broken through to the Excavation Realm?”
A fierce fist wind brushed past Wang Ming’s ear, breaking through his doubts.
He knew Xia Ding had struck.
He had used so much force earlier, with such potential energy that even if he withdrew now, he couldn’t dodge Xia Ding’s punch, so he didn’t let go.
This was a deadly situation; Wang Ming should have been fearful.
Yet, instead of fear, a triumphant smile appeared on his face.
Whoosh...
The sound of arrows slicing through the air rang out. On the tree where Shi Qing and Shi Dong had just taken cover, two volleys of arrows, four in total, shot rapidly toward them.
Their target was unmistakably Xia Ding.
The angles of the arrows were extremely tricky. The first two aimed at Xia Ding’s left hand pressing on the blade and his right fist striking at Wang Ming; the latter two flew straight toward his face.
Having partnered with Shi Qing and his brother for years, their tacit understanding had reached the point where even eye contact was unnecessary. Wang Ming charged forward with his knife, not intending to harm Xia Ding but to create an opportunity for Shi Qing and Shi Dong.
No one expected Xia Ding’s speed to be so fast. Not only did he easily dodge that strike, but he also countered Wang Ming’s blade.
Although the counterattack succeeded, it also limited Xia Ding’s own movements.
The four arrows nearly sealed Xia Ding off. Even if he retreated now, he could only dodge the two arrows aimed at his hands; the two arrows aimed at his face were unavoidable.
However, what happened next shocked everyone completely.
Xia Ding did not dodge. His fist wind became even fiercer.
Clang clang clang clang...
All four iron-headed sharp arrows struck their target. Among the second volley, one even pierced Xia Ding’s right eye, going in at least ten centimeters.
Bang...
Yet even so, Xia Ding’s powerful right fist landed.
Wang Ming didn’t even have time to turn his head before his body was blasted into the snow behind him like a cannonball, creating a loud crash.
He also had the strength of the Lumberjack Realm, and his body was not weak. Though his skull wasn’t crushed by the punch, it caved in almost halfway.
One strike, instant death.
Wang Ming died just like that.
And Xia Ding, with four arrows stuck in him, acted as if nothing had happened. He stood up first, then turned his head, his left eye without an arrow pierced, staring through the night at two large trees behind him. The eerie smile on his face never faded.
Whether it was the seven who were tangled with the enemy group or Shi Qing and Shi Dong hiding behind the large trees, at this moment, all of them were filled with terror and horror.
“Run! He’s not Old Ding; he’s that Abomination from Redwood Ridge!”
At this point, if Shi Qing still couldn’t see it, he would be unworthy of being the leader.
He shouted loudly, bent his bow, nocked arrows, and fired all eight arrows from the quiver on his back in one breath. The target was not Xia Ding but the seven lumberjack members who were tangled up.
Shi Dong did the same on the other side.
The seven lumberjacks were already in chaos due to the word “Abomination,” but with enemies blocking them, they couldn’t retreat for the moment.
Now, with more than ten sharp arrows aiding, the seven thought they could retreat smoothly. Taking advantage of the arrows flying toward the enemy, they turned and ran.
However, just like Wang Ming’s fate earlier, not a single one of those Great Xia lumberjack members dodged the arrows.
They let the arrows hit their bodies and recklessly continued the chase.
Several hit in the chest were knocked down by the arrows’ huge impact, while the others, hit only in limbs, were just slowed down a bit.
The two slowest among the seven were caught immediately.
They didn’t even turn to resist; before they could, several behind them hacked them into minced meat with hand axes.
The five who had already escaped looked back at the scene, afraid to slow down even a bit, and quickly rushed to the rear, following behind Shi Qing and Shi Dong, desperately fleeing for their lives.
However, the “Xia Ding” clearly had no intention of letting them go.
The thirteen men, each pierced by arrows in various places, chased rapidly from behind. The arrow stuck in Xia Ding’s right eye bounced up and down as he ran. The scene was downright creepy no matter how you looked at it.
“We can’t run toward the camp. Bring them over here. We’re all going to die.”
Although in a desperate retreat, Shi Qing was not completely confused. Leading Shi Dong and five others, he deliberately ran in the opposite direction of their own camp.
Whoosh...
A sharp sound reached their ears, and Shi Qing’s face tightened.
This was the second time. How could he not tell that it was the same sound that caused those three men to mysteriously die just now?
What exactly was that thing?
Shi Qing was burning with anxiety. Hastily, he turned his head to look around, forcing himself to calm down and find the source of the sound.
Suddenly, a fine, long, and continuous faint light entered his pupils from the front. Shi Qing, who was running wildly, suddenly lowered his head but did not forget to shout a warning behind him:
“Lower your heads! There’s something ahead!”
Shi Dong, who was closest to him, lowered his head first.
Among the five behind them, three also lowered their heads.
Only the last two, either because they didn’t hear clearly or reacted too slowly, still did not lower their heads and ran straight ahead.
Even though nothing visible was blocking their way, those last two suddenly froze like the three men before, and strange red dots appeared on their foreheads.
Blood flowed from the red dots, and both fell to the ground.
Shi Qing, running madly, felt as if his heart was dripping blood.
A few days ago, during a hunt of that Snow Mane, three had died, including his own younger brother. Now another eight had died.
Of the sixteen members of the Boulder lumberjack team, only five remained.
The key was, those five might not even be able to keep their lives.
Because that Abomination was still relentlessly chasing them.
Their stamina was dropping, and their speed was slowing, but the monsters behind them did not slow down at all.
Boulder Camp was probably doomed.
Just as the thought of utter despair grew in Shi Qing’s heart,
A sharp, fierce young voice suddenly came from the right.
“Finally found you! Now, let’s see where you can run!”
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