chsdbacks 023: Attack
023: Attack
Gray fog jungle.
"Da da da!"
The hurried footsteps tore through the deathly silence of the jungle. Like an arrow shot from a taut bowstring, Lynch flew past the gnarled vines and jagged thorns, the wind he stirred up making the low bushes tremble.
His chest heaved violently, each breath carrying a rusty heat, but the tension between his brows was heavier than any weariness.
It's the second day. Less than a day remains before the all-consuming gray fog rises.
The countdown to death roared in his ears, louder than his heartbeat.
We need to be faster!
He forced his almost numb legs to move, and quickened his pace again.
Grey Tower has no horses, and the tangled jungle forbids any carriages or horses from passing through. Although there are more portable magical vehicles, they are beyond the reach of a novice apprentice like him.
So ever since he set off, he has been running all the way.
Fortunately, he had recently been promoted to knight, which greatly improved his physical abilities in all aspects. In addition, the stamina-restoring potions he had prepared for the journey were included, which enabled him to run for his life in this green maze.
Almost there...almost there!
Passing through the exceptionally dense, dimly lit thicket of shadowy bushes ahead, one can supposedly see the exit of the rift valley leading to safety.
"Whoosh!"
Gasping for breath, Lynch stopped beside a bare, moss-covered, grayish-white boulder.
He leaned against the boulder, hastily pulled out a leather map, and traced the trembling lines with his fingertips to confirm the direction. Once he was sure it was correct, he quickly reached into his robes, preparing to retrieve a potion to restore his strength and replenish his expended energy.
However, at that moment...
"rustle!"
The bushes on the left swayed without warning; it wasn't the sound of the wind.
"Whoosh whoosh!"
A piercing sound followed! Several arrows, carrying a chilling aura, shot straight toward Lin Qi's vital parts.
Fortunately, he reacted very quickly and dodged to the side.
The arrow grazed his body, embedding itself in the soil at his feet and the boulder behind him with a "thud." The arrow's fletching trembled, and the chill it brought instantly covered the surrounding grass with frost.
Lin Qi froze, his face pale as he looked up ahead.
The bushes were roughly parted, and three figures sprang out like jackals smelling blood, instantly forming a triangular formation that partially surrounded him and the boulder.
The one on the left is tall and thin, like a bamboo pole, wearing a tattered apprentice robe so dirty you can't tell its original color. He holds a longbow with another azure ice arrow nocked in his hand, and his eyes are sinister.
On the right was a short, stocky man with a face full of scars, a scar across his left eye, holding a chipped longsword, and his grin revealing yellow and black teeth.
Blocking their path was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in charge. He was bald, with cloudy but ruthless eyes, and held a staff inlaid with dull crystals in one hand.
The three men were dressed in rags and reeked of the musty and bloody smells of jungle life; they were clearly wandering apprentices and bandits who had been robbing and plundering to survive in the edge of the gray fog.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 20 ...
In this cruel thicket, it's either hunter or prey; such situations are commonplace.
Their greedy gazes were fixed on Lin Qi, especially on the bag in his arms and the potion in his hand. The oppressive feeling, a mixture of murderous intent and covetousness, was more suffocating than the nascent gray fog rising around them.
"Leave your things, kid," the bald man said in a hoarse voice, a faint but ominous dark light gathering at the tip of his staff. "Or, leave your life behind too."
Fuck!
The busier you are, the more likely things are to go wrong!
Lin Qi's eyes reddened!
The next second—
"Clang!" A loud sword sound rang out, and Lin Qi, without the slightest hesitation, drew his cross sword and charged forward.
Without further ado, the bald leader of the bandits immediately ordered, "Kill him!"
A fierce battle was about to begin.
Lin Qi's red eyes showed no fear, only the madness and ruthlessness of someone driven to desperation by time. As he charged forward with his sword, his left hand swiftly drew a talisman:
"In the name of nature, ice freezes!"
In an instant, the air above his shoulder rippled, and a palm-sized phantom of a forest fairy, outlined by pale blue light spots, appeared, pushing its tiny hand forward.
laugh!
A cluster of ice crystal arrows, even more refined and chilling than the bandit archer's arrow, appeared out of thin air and shot out at an even faster speed, heading straight for the bald man's face!
At the same time, Lin Qi whispered a syllable: "Lightness!"
His body suddenly felt lighter, his pace increased by nearly 30%, leaving a trail of afterimages. His cross-shaped sword drew a bright silver arc, following closely behind the ice arrow as it slashed at the enemy.
"What?!"
A torrential downpour of icy rain swept over them, and the three bandits' expressions changed drastically.
They were all just low-level wandering apprentices, without mentors or wizarding lineage. After so many years of wandering, they hadn't even mastered a complete model. They only knew some rudimentary spells and had never encountered such a scene before.
The ice crystals first struck the short, stocky longsword bandit and the archer beside him. The longsword man only had time to raise his arm to protect his head and face, but unfortunately, his ordinary protective gear was no match for the spell damage of up to 6 degrees.
Puff puff!
The sound of ice crystals piercing flesh was teeth-grinding. Several bursts of blood, mixed with ice shards, instantly erupted from his thick neck and chest. His massive body crashed to the side, and his longsword flew out of his hand.
Although the tall, thin archer avoided a fatal blow, he was still enveloped by the icy rain, pinning half of his body to the ground. Before he could retreat, Lin Qi rushed up from behind and chopped off half of his head with a sword, scattering red and white brain matter all over the ground.
"Damn it!"
The bald man was terrified by the sudden area attack and the instant death of his companion. The dim light that had just appeared at the tip of his staff flickered due to the shock in his mind, and he almost instinctively turned to run away.
Unfortunately, we were still a step too late.
In that split second, Lin Qi's sword arrived!
Knight's Swift Swordsmanship - Thrust!
The sword light was devoid of any frills; it was fast, accurate, and ruthless, like a bolt of lightning tearing through the dark clouds, piercing straight to the throat!
"Uh..." All the ruthlessness and greed in the bald man's face froze. He tried in vain to grab the blade that was piercing his neck, but only felt the cold metal and the gushing warmth.
The staff clattered to the ground, and his bulging eyes stared intently at Lin Qi, who was standing close by, filled with unbelievable terror before quickly turning gray.
Lin Qi twisted his wrist, decisively drawing his sword, and blood spurted out. The bald man swayed, then collapsed limply onto the moss-covered ground.
From the moment they drew their swords and charged to the moment the three men fell, the entire process took only three or four breaths.
The chill of the ice crystal rain had not completely dissipated, mixing with the sudden spread of the stench of blood in the air to create a nauseatingly cold atmosphere.
Lin Qi sheathed his sword swiftly and decisively. His gaze swept over the three rapidly dying corpses on the ground, devoid of any sense of victory, only a cold calculation of efficiency.
He acted quickly. First, he picked up the bald man's staff, which was inlaid with dull crystals. It was cold to the touch and he could feel a faint trace of magic, but its structure was rough and its value was limited.
He simply ignored the short, stocky bandit's chipped longsword; such a tattered weapon was merely a burden.
He picked up the tall, thin archer's longbow and quiver, tied them up simply, and hung them on the side of his backpack. The longbow had an elemental reaction on it, so it must be a magical weapon.
Finally, he pulled out several dirty little bags made of rough leather from each of the three men.
Lin Qi quickly weighed the three bags together. A faint clanging sound came from inside, indicating there were about thirty or forty magic stones.
In addition, they could touch several pieces of material with different textures, probably picked up in the jungle or taken from other unfortunate people.
There was no time to carefully count them. Lin Qi stuffed all the spoils into his bag.
After doing all this, he took out the pale green stamina recovery potion again, uncorked it, and drank it all in one gulp. A gentle warmth quickly spread, dispelling the muscle soreness and the mental tension from the fierce battle.
One last glance at the forest clearing that had briefly become a battlefield, three corpses lay contorted in frost and blood, their final, grotesque expressions proclaiming the laws of the jungle. Lynch's eyes remained impassive. He turned, and with a powerful push of his toes, he struck the ground.
His figure transformed into a gust of wind once more, rushing headlong into the dark thicket that led to hope, or perhaps to deeper despair, leaving death, bloodshed, and the brief pause behind him.
Only the ever-lowering, seemingly within-reach gray sky, and the fainter rustling sounds gathering again in the jungle, are writing a new chapter for this land.