Chapter 13: White Oak

Every region's night has a different background color.

In the Elven Royal City of Ivelius, the night is an elegant poem played by harps and leaf flutes; while changing to the "Iron Bastion" Ronggang City, the night there is mostly filled with iron and blood and beacon smoke.

The night in the Mist Forest is very quiet.

Insect chirps and beast cries certainly exist, but they are different from other uninhabited wildernesses.

The volume is very small, blurry, even if it is close to the ear, it seems to be separated by a layer of gauze, not hearing it truly.

As if even the sound has dissolved into the mist permeating the air.

Maji sat alone by the campfire.

Gently wiping the longbow.

That was the "old partner" who had accompanied him for nearly twenty years.

Even if countless memories of the past had become grey like his life, he still remembered that twenty years ago, on the morning of his eighteenth birthday.

His father, who had always been as silent as the mountains, cut down the white oak tree that had accompanied him growing up in the courtyard, and used the most essential part to build this longbow for him.

To be honest, it had nothing special.

The bow arms were flexible but the hardness was not enough, the grip felt rough, and the string groove was not polished carefully enough.

No matter from which angle, it couldn't compare to the "boutique" on the store shelf.

But just like the countless afternoons he took a nap under the white oak tree in his childhood.

Soft and refreshing breeze and the "rustling" sound of branches and leaves swaying.

The longbow seemed to have merged with his body, incomparably handy and intimate.

If it weren't for that luxurious carriage that drove slowly into the village, perhaps he could still wander in that piece of mountains that couldn't be seen to the edge with his "old partner" today...

The orange-red firelight shone on Maji's vicissitudes face, shadows shrouded, unable to see the specific expression.

The right leg tightly wrapped in bandages was still aching, and his arms were sore and numb after overloading the combat technique.

He raised his head and looked at the pitch-black night sky.

Deep breath.

His gaze swept across the pine tree standing beside the campsite—

The morning star hammer brought out from the Goblin cave lay quietly in the fallen leaves; and the two-handed axe from another teammate who had already died was also resting securely against the tree trunk.

Speaking of which, although the half-breed Orc named "Gagu" had a rough temper, he was actually quite...

"Forget it."

Maji shook his head.

The middle of the night is always easy to be sentimental.

Now, it's time to do business.

His gaze looked towards the other side of the campsite.

Across the burning campfire, a figure was lying motionless, and the sound of flat and long breathing faintly came from the air.

Maji had no hesitation in his eyes; he had already made a decision.

"Don't blame me, kid."

Without getting up, he still maintained the posture of sitting cross-legged on the ground.

The wooden longbow was quietly vertical, the bowstring pulled backward, and the arrow feathers vibrated slightly in the air.

At such a close distance, Maji naturally couldn't have the possibility of making a mistake.

As long as he released his fingers lightly, the sharp arrow could take away this young life in front of him.

"Adventurers are like this, you must know."

He muttered in his heart.

And just at this time, Maji suddenly saw Xia Nan's eyelids tremble slightly.

Open eyes.

Clear and bright eyes, definitely not the sleepy state when just waking up.

"Realized?"

He was surprised in his heart, but his fingertips had already released the arrow shaft.

Whoosh—

Time and space seemed to fall into a standstill at this moment.

The thin and sharp arrow stirred the mist, bringing up circles of weak airflow under the moonlight;

Crossing the campfire, the rising and lingering flames were drawn by the airflow, climbing upward like the tentacles of a demon in purgatory, and were firmly bound under the invisible traction of the flame heart.

Air, cotton blanket, fine grass, mud.

The arrow passed through the blanket and went straight into the ground, but there was no sound of piercing flesh and blood.

Did it miss?

No, that should have been the position of Xia Nan's head when he was sleeping.

It was just that the "newbie adventurer" who had been prepared, after confirming the other party's movements, made a dodge and counterattack.

The body that seemed to be sleeping on its side was actually the posture that was easiest to exert force.

The blanket covering his body was lifted fiercely, blocking the other party's vision, but when it fell, Xia Nan's figure was already gone.

The sound of objects moving came from the air.

"Boom!"

The campfire was kicked over suddenly, and in his sight were splashing sparks and heavy wooden blocks wrapped in flames.

Then, it was the two silver-white arcs that flashed past.

【Spinning Slash】

The firewood was slashed to pieces, and sparks splashed.

The blade entered the body, and then drew out from the other side.

The broken longbow fell to the ground.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Xia Nan stood on the meadow, in front of him was Maji who was covering his throat with both hands.

The trachea was severed, he couldn't speak, only the blood between his fingers kept flowing.

The night was deep, and Xia Nan couldn't capture Maji's expression at this time.

He only saw the eyes that kept widening and finally lost their spirit; and the body that twitched and finally fell backward.

Squatting down, confirming that the other party was completely dead.

Xia Nan breathed a sigh of relief and put away the two daggers from the Halfling "Erji" in his hand.

It was not good luck.

As early as the moment he noticed the change in Maji's expression in the cave the day before yesterday, he had secretly increased his vigilance.

Even if this was his first mission, the performance of the Scum squad members along the way, which was quite in line with the stereotype of "low-level adventurers," was deeply remembered by him.

Guarding against others is indispensable, even for this kind of teammate who had just experienced a life-and-death battle together.

But Xia Nan didn't take the initiative to attack; after all, the other party hadn't shown any hostility until just now, and even invited him into the team quite seriously.

It was fortunate that his timely cautious mentality helped him avoid this sudden crisis.

Compared to the mental effort consumed before, the battle process between the two was very simple.

Maji, who was seriously injured, only had one chance to shoot, and even had to wait until the two came to the edge of the Mist Forest, when he could successfully return to the town in his current physical state, before taking action;

And Xia Nan, who had maintained most of his combat power, only needed one slash to solve the other party.

The sky was slightly bright.

Without caring about the other party's corpse, Xia Nan referred to the techniques related to cleaning up the battlefield he had learned from several people along the way, and quickly packed the supplies and luggage in the campsite.

There was not much useful equipment on Maji, and the only weapon, the wooden bow, was also slashed by himself in the battle, which probably couldn't be sold for a price.

Therefore, Xia Nan just took the quiver, extinguished the fire, and left in a hurry.

The breeze blew, and the "rustling" sound of branches swaying sounded in the forest.

Maji closed his eyes, leaning against the tree, holding the broken wooden bow made of white oak in his arms.

At this moment, he seemed to have returned to many years ago, that sunny afternoon with mottled tree shadows.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 14 =====