Chapter Thirty-Two: Fierce Battle

  He stood at the back of the team, already pale with fear, his legs trembling. Even so, he still stammered out in a shaking voice: "The die has been cast, you are now a wanted criminal on the mainland, can't even protect yourself, what's the point of talking about revenge? I advise you to escape as soon as possible!"

  The robbers on the mountain slope did not listen to his shouts, and galloped up the mountain slope. The slope was not steep, and the horse's speed was still quite fast, and the knight on the horse quickly closed the distance with us. Trick shouted: "Alick!" My bowstring had already loosened, and the arrow shot through the first rider. I aimed at the horse, not the person. The running horse was in pain, let out a long whinny, raised its hooves, stood up, and threw the knight on it to the ground. The horse that I shot was seriously injured and could not hold on for a few more steps, rushed forward a few steps, and fell to the ground with a thud. The knights behind did not have time to stop, and the horses were blocked by the people and horses that had fallen in front, and also fell to the ground with a crash. The knights who fell to the ground did not have time to get up, and were trampled into mud by their companions behind, and the cavalry was instantly thrown into chaos.

  "Good archery!" Trick shouted, drawing the twin swords from behind his back and charging forward. As he approached a knight, he spun the swords in a circle in mid-air before striking down, the blades emitting a shrill whistling sound as they sliced towards the knight. The knight was cut in two, horse and all, with blood spraying into the air before falling to the ground like rain. Fanny followed close behind, wielding her longsword and round shield as she charged forward. She struck the head of another knight's warhorse with her left hand, using her shield to knock it to the ground, pinning the knight beneath its body. Fanny approached the fallen knight, turned her sword upside down, and thrust it downwards with a vicious stab, the blade piercing the knight's throat and nailing him to the earth.

  I drew my bow and ran a few steps back, grabbed a handful of arrows from the quiver and stuck them in the ground, then pulled out one arrow, nocked it on the string, aimed at a target, released my hand, and the arrow flew out, killing a knight who was about to attack Fanny on horseback. I shot three more arrows in quick succession because the distance was already very close, accurately shooting down three knights from their horses. Now there were no other thoughts in my mind except drawing, aiming, and shooting.

  Ben's servants also shouted and swung their weapons, following the chaotic charge. These people saw an opportunity to gain something for free and rushed forward. The knights who seemed disorganized at first were actually skilled in killing and easily took down Ben's servants, who fell like straw. For a time, blood filled the air, and the remaining servants retreated and hid with Ben.

  The scene suddenly became empty, and I was still shooting arrows in a daze. One by one, the knights fell to the ground. Finally, one of the knights discovered me shooting arrows from afar and charged towards me on horseback. By the time I came to my senses, the warhorse had already arrived at my side. The cold light of the long sword was raised above my head. I looked up and saw the knight's long sword shining brightly in the sunlight. Death was so close to me that I could almost hear its sinister laughter as it harvested lives.

  It's all over! I couldn't help but close my eyes, waiting for the long sword to split me in two. The feeling of the blade entering my flesh would surely be too fast to feel any pain. My only thought now is: Is this really how I'm going to die? I haven't even had a proper romance yet... what does love even taste like?

  "With a 'pfft' sound, I heard the long sword entering flesh. My body instinctively retreated one step back. Indeed, it didn't hurt at all. A splatter of hot blood landed on my face, and the warm sensation made me involuntarily shudder. Is this my blood?"

  "Alright, open your eyes now, the battle still needs you!" A cold, emotionless voice sounded beside me.

  I opened my eyes to find the knight who had attacked me lying face down on the ground, already dead. Evan was calmly wiping the blood off his short sword by rubbing it against the knight's clothes.

  I took a glance at myself, fortunately unscathed. I found Evan staring at me and couldn't help but blush, hastily using the bow and arrow on the ground to cover up my embarrassment. Evan saw that I had recovered and turned back to join the battlefield.

  I gathered my spirits, grasped the arrow that had been fitted to the string, and saw the leader who had vowed vengeance riding his warhorse in circles at the center of the arena. He had just exchanged a blow with Tric, and was somewhat pale from the force of it, struggling to steady his horse beneath him.

  I raised my bow and took aim at him, this distance would make it easy to hit his neck, but I hesitated for a moment and lowered the bow. I released the string, and the arrow lodged in the horse's neck, the warhorse didn't even whinny as it fell to the ground with a thud. What surprised me was that he reacted extremely quickly, at the moment the warhorse fell, he had already leapt away from it. After landing, he immediately mounted another riderless warhorse, let out a whistle and called on his companions to retreat, he had already seen that today he would not be able to gain an advantage.

  His companions, upon hearing the whistle, as if receiving an order, quickly broke away from their opponents and retreated into the distance. "Ben, you wait for me, one of these days I'll be back to take your dog life!" After throwing down this sentence, he led the remaining knights in a swift retreat, leaving us staring blankly at their backs.

  "Is that all?" Fanny thought it was a bit unbelievable.

  "Well, let's just forget it and let them go. Our goal has been achieved, so what's the point of pursuing them to the end?" Tricky whispered to comfort Fanny.

  Trick carefully wiped his twin swords clean, then casually slung them over his back. He glanced around at the crowd and said, "Gather up the spoils of war, sweep the battlefield, and bury all the dead. No one will have any objections, whether they're thieves or nobles. The dead are just corpses, there's no difference. All the dead people, their lives have come to an end, each person is the same."

  After finishing, Trick personally picked up a shovel and started digging the soil. The scene became lively again, and soon the battlefield was swept clean. Except for that row of graves, no one could feel that a battle had just taken place here.

  Trick stood quietly in front of the tomb, took out a harmonica and blew an ancient sorrowful tune. The melody lingered softly under the sunset like blood, everyone sat silently on the ground to rest. Night fell just like that, I don't know who lit the bonfire, the firelight illuminated each person's face, boundless darkness shrouded the wilderness, my heart suddenly felt empty and a little uneasy, as if I had forgotten something.

  "By the way, where did that undead mage Kura go?" I suddenly came to my senses and asked the people around me.

  A chill ran down my spine once again, and I felt as if a pair of eyes were staring at me in the darkness...