Chapter 670: The Darkest Moonless Night (Part 7)

Jier had just killed one person when even more arrows came flying over.

The bandit corpse he had previously used to block arrows had long since been tossed away during his leaping and fighting; he had no choice but to repeatedly swing his Long Sword at high speed with his right hand, barely managing to hack and deflect half of the incoming arrows.

But this was no solution; the Short Bows lacked power, but the arrows still brought a continuous impact force when they struck his Metal Armor.

Not to mention his body, even when his Helmet was struck, his head felt as if someone had been fiercely knocking on it with their hands, and the dizzy, heavy sensation made him very uncomfortable.

"This cannot go on."

As soon as this thought arose, Jier took quick, small steps, swaying his body left and right as he moved forward, causing most of the incoming arrows to miss. But the archery skills of these Bandits were no joke; those with even a little Hunting experience quickly judged Jier's dodging pattern, specifically calculating his movements to hit him in succession.

If not for the relatively thick and heavy armor on his body, Jier would have been shot dead on the spot long ago.

But the direction Jier moved this time was different from before; he tried his best to head toward the center of the Bandits' scattered front line.

This abnormal scene caught the attention of Nobi-Feisibilu. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Jier raise the Long Sword in his right hand, and then a patch of extremely blinding white Divine Power light expanded and bloomed.

With this white Divine Power light, Jier released all the remaining Divine Power in his Long Sword in one go; not only was the range wide, but the number of enemies blinded was greater, and the blinding duration was longer.

Starting from Jier, the white light radiated and spread outward in a fan shape, especially in the direction directly in front of him, covering a range of nearly one hundred and eighty degrees.

On the wasteland beside the small creek, the white light was like the first sun breaking through the earth, blooming brilliantly; even the battle on the other side of the clearing, where Bataer Jiaoshi was, temporarily ceased because of this turn of events.

The young Refugees huddled together in the clearing were also stunned by the bright white light shining from behind them.

As for Jier's side, the Bandits were of course all blinded. Not only did they not dodge, but when Jier released the white Divine Power light, they had all opened their eyes wide to manipulate their bows and aim at Jier. Thus, they were hit squarely by it.

Jier gave a ferocious grin, then ran and leaped, directly cleaving a Bandit's body in two with his right-hand Long Sword. Landing and pushing off, his body brushed past another Bandit, and the high-temperature flame released by the Heartfire Dagger in his left hand swept from bottom to top as he passed, causing the entire person to burst into raging flames.

The animal-hide clothing worn by the Bandits was sturdy and warm, but the only bad thing was that it could be ignited quickly. The animal-hide clothing was oily and shiny, soaked with the grease from the animal skins when they were peeled, as well as the grease naturally secreted by their bodies after wearing them for an entire winter.

At this moment, once flicked by the high-temperature flame, they immediately caught fire all over. Even if the Bandits immediately threw themselves on the ground to roll, the flames could not be extinguished in a short while.

If others nearby had come up to help pat them out, it would likely only have been burns and not fatal, but the others were all experiencing flashing white light in their eyes at this moment, panicked and unable to care for themselves, so no one came forward to help.

But before Jier could take the opportunity to kill a few more, the sound of hooves from a steppe horse rang out, followed by a rapid approach.

Jier looked up and saw that Bandit Leader, Nobi-Feisibilu, who called himself the King of the White Wall or some such self-styled title, charging toward him on horseback.

The other party stared at him with a ferocious look, and one could tell at a glance that he had not been blinded by the white Divine Power light.

"A pity."

Jier said subconsciously; he had originally intended to take advantage of the opportunity while the Bandits were blinded to make a final charge and kill the Bandit Leader as well. But then again, a Noble is a Noble; even a former Noble has protective defenses on them that ordinary people do not.

The steppe horse galloped at high speed, and the distance between them was not far to begin with, so after Nobi-Feisibilu approached on horseback, he directly raised his left hand and pointed a small metal staff in his hand straight at Jier.

The twisted human face on the head of the metal staff moved its mouth like a living thing, emitting wails and words that no living person could hear.

Jier felt a sudden sharp pain between his brows. Sensing something was very wrong, he didn't bother to step forward to engage and directly rolled to the side.

"Arcane Strike! Go to hell!"

The middle-aged man's cold, sinister voice came, and at the same time, the Moonlight Iron at the pommel of Jier's Hunting Sword flickered and glowed with a soft light.

Immediately, at the place where the middle-aged man's staff was pointing—the spot where Jier had just been standing—a huge, pale, transparent, and grotesque Skull suddenly emerged from the ground, opened its toothless bone mouth, and bit fiercely at the place where Jier had just been standing.

This huge Skull that suddenly appeared was abrupt and fast, but all its movements did not make a single extra sound, as if this thing were not a thing of this world.

However, although this thing was strange and terrifying, Jier had already rolled away and was no longer in his original spot, so this thing missed.

Nobi-Feisibilu's pupils contracted sharply; he himself had been startled by this suddenly appearing Skull, but he immediately realized that this huge, strange Skull that had suddenly appeared was the true reason why the arcane staff passed down by his ancestors could inflict damage.

He had used this thing before, either to punish traitorous subordinate Bandits, using the means of killing with nothingness to intimidate other subordinates, or relying on such a sudden killing move to ambush a triumphant young Knight.

This was also one of the sources of his confidence in daring to hunt passing Nobles and Knights.

But until today, right now, although he didn't know why, he finally understood what the reason for this arcane murder was.

The sudden invisible arcane ambush was of no use, but Nobi-Feisibilu did not panic. He pulled the horse to turn, then reached into his waist, grabbed something, and threw it down toward the direction where the young Knight was huddled.

That thing was a small lion doll that looked like a toy; after falling to the ground, it didn't move.

But Nobi-Feisibilu then took a small bell from the pouch at his waist, held it in his hand, and shook it rapidly, making a tinkling sound.

After the sound of the bell rang out, that lion doll continuously absorbed the surrounding air, just like blowing up a balloon; in one breath, amidst the flying air waves, it grew to the size of a real lion.

As soon as the transformation was complete, the Magic Creation, no longer in the shape of a doll, seemed to know who the enemy was; it ran directly and pounced toward Jier.

Jier was stunned; this was his first time witnessing this kind of thing used for fighting. He was slightly panicked, but quickly calmed down. Facing the pouncing Magic Lion, the Heartfire Dagger in his left hand swept across the surface of the Magic Lion while he retreated and dodged.

But the high-temperature Magic Fire, which was extremely effective against ordinary people, had little effect on this Magic Lion. There were injuries where the flames had burned, but Jier was not sure if the large areas that lit up on the surface of the Magic Lion after being scorched by the flames counted as effective attacks.

The Magic Lion moved nimbly and was a size larger than a Human; when it swung its paws to grab, it could even tear up a layer of grass from the wasteland.

Bang! Clang—

The sound of the Long Sword clashing with it was not the sound of biological flesh, which was within Jier's expectations. The Magic Lion's movements were similar to the Northland wolves he had fought countless times before, so Jier just relied on experience to retreat and dodge, letting the opponent's pounce and paw-swiping miss.

Jier's movements looked relaxed, and the Magic Lion's attacks missed every time, but several Bandits nearby who were slightly affected were knocked to the ground just by being bumped by the Magic Lion, clutching the places where they had been hit in pain.

And a Bandit whom Jier had used as a human shield while dodging was grabbed by the Magic Lion, and the huge, sharp claws on the lion's paws directly tore most of the Bandit's body apart. A huge gash was ripped open on his belly, and the Viscera, caught and torn, couldn't stop flowing out; his chest was even completely ripped open, and the Bandit died miserably on the spot.

Jier only had to look to understand that his armor's protection could probably only withstand one attack from the Magic Lion. Dragging it out like this wouldn't work at all, because he didn't know how long this Magic Creation would last. If it could maintain a combat state for an hour or two, he couldn't possibly stay entangled for an hour or two with a Bandit Leader who might release weird Magic at any time, while surrounded by Bandits who were all temporarily blinded, right?

So, after a brief judgment, Jier realized who the enemy he truly needed to deal with at this moment was.

That Bandit Leader.

The other party was controlling the Magic Lion in front of him, so the correct approach was not to fight the opponent's summoned creature, but to head straight for the back line and attack the "summoner."

Jier entangled with the Magic Lion for a while longer, and after using fast running and leaping to open up distance from the Magic Lion in a short time, Jier watched to see what the maximum speed was as the Magic Lion caught up again.

"No problem, it doesn't run fast."

Once Jier judged the combat movement speed of the Magic Lion, he immediately shouted toward the direction of the clearing: "Tianxuecao!"

"What?" Jier's shout left Nobi-Feisibilu, who was riding the horse to control the Magic Lion and waiting for the arcane power on the metal staff to recover, very confused. He didn't know what Tianxuecao was, and why this young Knight would shout it out.

Could it be some kind of voice-controlled Magic Tool?

Just like the Magic Dagger in the opponent's hand.

But immediately, the sound of horse neighing and running came from the clearing where the Refugees were gathered, which made him understand that the opponent was summoning his own horse.

That's right, a Knight; fighting on horseback is when combat power is at its highest.

"Want to ride a horse? Impossible!"

He directly controlled the Magic Lion to charge in the direction the horse was running, but having been summoned by its master, the rapidly approaching Tianxuecao was not at all afraid of the Magic Lion it had never seen before; relying on its tall stature, it simply leaped boldly over the opponent's head as the Magic Lion lunged.

"Useless thing!"

The Bandit Leader was furious; he had been played by a horse.

As for Jier, he used a verbal command to extinguish the Heartfire Dagger, even returned the Hunting Sword to its Sword Sheath, and began to run quickly, closing the distance with Tianxuecao while running, then grabbed the Muan, vaulted up, and sat down on it.

With his boots in the Stirrup, Jier kicked the horse's belly hard, making Tianxuecao gallop rapidly across the wasteland south of the creek. With the Magic Lion chasing behind, Jier spat, then drew the Hunting Bow gifted to him by his Kendall Hunter companions from the weapon rack on his back, grabbed four or five arrows, and drew the bow and released the arrows in one fluid motion.

Whoosh—

The Arrow flew past, missing the Bandit Leader by a short distance; Jier's archery was average, and since he was shooting at another person on horseback while riding a horse himself, it went without saying that the accuracy was quite pathetic.

But the Bandit Leader Nobi-Feisibilu did not dare to gamble his life on the enemy's accuracy. He returned the metal cane to the leather loop on his belt, then whipped his prairie horse hard, accelerating into a gallop.

Because he could not spare the attention to control the Magic Lion, the powerful and sturdy Magic Lion stood frozen in place, its four paws on the ground, its massive head swaying slightly, its pair of beastly pupils glowing with Magic Power, staring at the Bandit Leader riding on the horse's back.

No, if someone looked closely, they would discover that the Magic Lion was staring at the bell tightly gripped in Nobi-Feisibilu's hand.

Wherever the person and horse ran, the Magic Lion's gaze followed the bell.

Jier drew his bow and shot at the Bandit Leader repeatedly; the roles of attacker and defender had reversed, and now it was he who was chasing the other person.

Tianxuecao ran at a high speed, much faster than the prairie horse the other was riding, and the two were getting closer and closer.

Nobi-Feisibilu turned his head and saw the young Knight behind him put away his bow and arrow, switching to a Metal Double-Edged Long Spear, and realized that this would not do.

He could stall for a little more time, let the secret art on his family heirloom metal cane recover, and then find an opportunity to turn around and aim it at the opponent's horse to release it, crippling the opponent's mobility and completely seizing the initiative in the battle.

But this was too risky; he should have been silently calculating the recovery time of the secret art on the cane during the gaps in the battle, but after being shot at by the opponent's bow and arrow and the two of them chasing each other, he had long since forgotten about it.

After thinking about it, he did have another way; the opponent's horse was tall and he was using a long weapon, so if he deliberately lured the opponent into the Shulin he had come from, relying on the slight advantage of the prairie horse he was riding and his familiarity with the Shulin, he could shake off the opponent's pursuit in the Shulin, then use the secret art on the cane to launch a surprise attack, killing either the Knight or the horse, and he would be able to win or gain the upper hand.

The risk of this was much smaller, and he was extremely familiar with the ground and the Shulin under his feet; even if he could not defeat the opponent, retreating temporarily to wait for the secret art to recover was also possible.

After deciding this was better, he immediately turned his horse around, no longer circling the wasteland, but running straight toward the Shulin he had come from.

Jier hesitated for a moment, but still gave chase.

As soon as Jier entered the Shulin, he regretted it; the tall Tianxuecao caused Jier to be constantly snagged by tree branches, and while the horse itself chose a pursuit path of suitable height for it while running at a reduced speed, the 'smart' horse had not calculated its master into that height.

Jier had to lie flat on the horse's back to lower his height.

The Shulin became rapidly dense, and the horse changed from a slow trot to moving in small steps; at this point, Jier simply jumped off, holding the Hunting Bow in his left hand and the Double-edged Metal Long Spear in his right, with a quiver of arrows slung at his waist.

He let Tianxuecao stay where it was, while he himself ran and jumped forward in pursuit.

The surroundings grew increasingly dark; if it weren't for the fact that the Bandit Leader ahead also needed illumination to identify the direction, Jier really wouldn't have known where the other was hiding.

"You can't escape! Just surrender! I'll let you go back!"

Jier shouted toward the place with light not far ahead.

The Bandit Leader quickly replied: "Is that possible? Heh, I never go soft on enemies who surrender; judging by your reckless slaughter during the battle, you and I must be the same kind of person, right?"

Jier spat: "How is that possible?"

He stabbed the Metal Spear in his right hand into the ground, then drew an arrow and drew his bow.

Whoosh—

This arrow grazed Nobi-Feisibilu's body, instantly breaking him out in a cold sweat.

The Bandit Leader realized this would not do; the horse could not run in the Shulin, and the opponent was shooting more accurately instead.

He looked left and right, his eyes rolled, and then he made the horse stop and jumped off.

Jier carried the Double-edged Metal Long Spear and chased toward the light; ahead was a small clearing, and a prairie horse stood panting in the middle of the clearing. And the glowing object on the other person was just behind a tree trunk on the opposite side of the clearing.

Jier was about to step across this clearing, but his various combat experiences made him slow his pace.

He hesitated for a moment, then spoke: "If I'm not mistaken, you are not at the tree trunk on the other side of the clearing."

The Shulin was silent, even the chirping of insects in spring had ceased.

There was the sound of birds flapping their wings at the top of the Shulin.

The corners of Jier's mouth under the Faceplate curled up: "Most people would think that where the glowing object is, is where you are hiding. But thinking in reverse, that is also very likely a trap. Utilizing people's common habits; after all, since you entered the woods, wherever you were, the glowing object was there."

Jier planted the Long Spear on the ground, drew his bow, and shot an arrow toward the place with light behind him. Thump, hummm~

The Arrow stuck deep into the tree trunk, the fletching swaying back and forth, emitting a humming sound.

The next moment, Jier turned the bow and arrow in his hand toward the opponent's horse.

"If I'm not mistaken, you, should be, here!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jier released the arrow, hitting the prairie horse directly in the rump.

"Neigh—" The horse was startled by the arrow and charged toward Jier with all four hooves flying, but as Jier expected, while the horse was startled by the arrow, the Bandit Leader Nobi-Feisibilu fell from the side of the horse, from the side obscured by the horse from Jier.

But before Jier could dodge the startled prairie horse charging at him, put aside the bow and arrow, and draw his Long Spear to fight, Nobi-Feisibilu rolled after landing, then turned and half-crouched, the secret art metal cane tightly gripped in his hand pointing straight at Jier.

"Die!"

His face was ferocious, his wide-open eyes filled with hateful rage.

Before today, no one had ever made him this disheveled. But fortunately, this person would be dead soon, and he would not lower himself to the level of a dead man.

The secret art on the cane did not require any Magic incantation or gesture to activate. And when this deadly secret art was activated, there was no particularly conspicuous Magic scene or obvious radiance.

The twisted human face made of metal on the head of the cane opened its mouth again, singing or saying something unknown, and then, the secret art was activated.

At this moment, Jier was standing in place holding the Metal Spear, his steps not yet taken, when the counterweight ball made of the Magic Material Moonlight Iron at the end of the hilt of the Long Sword at his waist emitted a fluorescence identical to moonlight, tearing through the scene of the evil secret art—which would not normally be visible to the naked eye—like tearing through a piece of paper covering the eyes, directly revealing it before everyone.

An evil, huge, and grotesque Skull crawled out from the ground, opening its massive mouth to bite down fiercely at Jier.

The giant mouth closed without making a single sound of force, as if the two were still not in the same world.

Nobi-Feisibilu grinned excitedly, about to burst into loud laughter, but the scene that followed caused his laughter to stall before it could even ring out.

After the illusory giant Skull's mouth closed, it vanished, but along with it, so did the young Knight who should have been bitten into upper and lower halves?

Where is the person?

Where did the person go?

Where did the corpse go?