Chapter 1493: Is That You, Xinran

So far, the storylines in the Banished Lands were pretty surprising. I would never have imagined that the tribal wars existed in this place, much less me joining the ogre’s tribe and becoming their princess’s escort.

It was necessary though. Night Fury was too powerful, and I was no match for him alone. With the help of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss like Canarina though, my chance of success was much higher than before. Even without her aid, I must go nonetheless because the human girl he captured was most likely Xinran!

……

At night, about a thousand ogre warriors raised their torches and lit up the valley so bright it almost felt like daytime. Canarina had put on a red linen cloth around herself to act as her wedding dress. Originally, the plan was to have 16 ogres carry a marriage sedan with their princess in it, but none of the wooden poles survived her crushing weight, so she had no choice but to walk there on foot.

Still carrying Uldan behind my back, I held the Xuanyuan Sword in a loose grip and walked silently beside Canarina.

Suddenly, the princess shot me a glance and produced a light purple dagger. She looked at me and said, "Brave warrior, Night Fury is so strong that not even I am a match for him. Therefore, we must attack his greatest weakness to have a chance at defeating him. This is the Godslayer Dagger, and it was forged using a dark metal that lay beneath the Blood Sea for 10,000 years. It contains the power of the Blood Sea, and it is capable of suppressing his power. When the fighting begins, be sure to stab him with this dagger when the opportunity presents itself, or we are sure to join the dry bones of Red Dragon Lair."

I nodded and asked while accepting the dagger, "Night Fury lives in Red Dragon Lair?"

"Yes."

That was the end of our conversation.

……

About half an hour later, we entered another map. At the same time, the words "Red Dragon Lair" appeared on the map screen. This was where Night Fury resided, and there was a very high chance that Xinran was trapped inside as well!

Before we even got close to Red Dragon Lair though, a group of Hunters riding Ghost Wolves suddenly showed up. Officially, their name was "Red Dragon Guard”. They were clearly Night Fury’s subordinates. I didn’t expect that devil to have an army in the Banished Lands.

"Halt!"

A Red Dragon Guard raised his sword and declared loudly, "Lord Night Fury has decreed that only the princess and the 10 escorts to be her dowry may enter his residence! Everyone else will stay outside or face the punishment of death!"

A dozen or so ogre warriors immediately roared angrily, "Bullshit! We are all the princess’s bodyguards, and you wouldn’t let us follow her? We will flatten this Red Dragon Lair if you try to separate us!"

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you!"

The Hunter smiled maliciously and rushed toward the dissenting ogres on his Ghost Wolf. It took him only a moment to behead all of the ogres and drop them to the ground.

I was stunned, to be honest. Battles of NPCs were always like this, but I still didn’t expect the Hunter to one-shot all the ogres like it was nothing. The gap between minibosses and deity-rank mobs was so huge…

"Stop!" Canarina growled before continuing, "I’ll bring 10 guards only as he demands. Everyone, stay outside and don’t act recklessly, understand!?"

"Hehe, now we’re talking!"

The Hunter chuckled. "Now, please come with me, princess. My lord has been waiting for you…"

……

I kept a low profile and even sheathed my sword so as not to attract any attention whatsoever. I quietly followed the ogre princess into the unnaturally hot and dry Red Dragon Lair. It was only after I got in did I realize just how tight the security of this place was. There were high-level Hunters practically everywhere we went. Night Fury really had turned this place into his private territory. Also, I now understood why Night Fury would demand the ogres to submit to him. Their territory was right next to his, and he wasn’t so ignorant about the ways of ruling that he would leave a powerful race living right next to his turf to grow unsupervised.

Steps had been added to the long corridor we were walking on, and at the end of the steps was Night Fury himself sitting on an eerie-looking throne emanating murderous aura. A black sword in hand and a disdainful sneer on his lips, he said, "Oh, Canarina, the princess of the ogre race. You’ve kept me waiting for too long. Have you finally decided to lay down your pride and submit to me?"

The princess slowly stepped forward and bowed her head, saying, "I’m willing to marry you, Lord Night Fury. I also promise that the ogres will never attack the Red Dragon Lair. With this, I hope that the relationship between our two tribes will become as amiable as before."

"Oh really?"

Night Fury walked up to her and grabbed her fingers. He then let out an evil chuckle and said, "Very well. You are my wife from now on. I may not be able to sleep with you, but I promise that my Red Dragon Legion will never enter into another conflict with your tribe. Why? That is because my 30,000-strong Hunter Legion has moved to surround your valley while you were coming over. After today, your tribe will not exist on the Banished Lands, so of course there won’t be another conflict between our tribes. Don’t you agree?"

"You!!"

Canarina trembled with fury. "Night Fury, you broke your word! You are an animal!"

Night Fury simply said, "I am a devil. Why would a devil keep his word? You are too naive, ugly sow…"

……

Swhoosh!

Canarina conjured a huge fiery axe out of nowhere and swung it at Night Fury. Behind her, her 9 bodyguards also rushed forward to attack him with their maces. Night Fury was alone right now, so this might actually be a good chance to defeat him!

Night Fury swung his black blade and easily parried Canarina’s axe swing. Then, he kicked her in her stomach so hard that even with her weight, she was sent flying across the air a dozen of meters before slamming into a wall. After that, he swung his sword a couple more times and beheaded all 9 of her bodyguards.

"Dammit!"

The princess roared in fury and charged forward once more. This time, light burst out of her axe, and she swung the weapon three times in a row. Not even Night Fury could afford to treat the attack like it was nothing, so he summoned a black shield and said with a malicious grin, "Let’s see if you can break through my Dark Shield!"

Bang bang bang…

Flames erupted across the Dark Shield, but her skill was completely blocked just as Night Fury knew it would.

Suddenly, his smile froze on his face. It was because I had stabbed him in the back with the Godslayer Dagger. However, only half the blade went through his armor and into his body, so I activated Heavenly River Transformation and kicked the hilt of the dagger with everything I got, shouting, "Get in!"

BANG~!

Blood spilled everywhere, and the entire dagger including the hilt sank into Night Fury’s body. It was impossible to pull it out now.

Beep!

Combat Log: The Godslayer Dagger has weakened Night Fury’s Attack by 50%, Defense by 40%, movement speed by 65%, and Magic Resist by 70% for an indefinite amount of time!

……

"Well done!" Uldan let out a cheer behind me.

Night Fury roared out in pain and swung his sword at me. Fearless, I clashed swords with him before unleashing Burning Blade Slash + Purple Frost Concentration combo to further lower his Defense. With this, the Ancient Divine Rank boss's Defense was lowered to the point where even I could deal massive damage to him.

Furious at being pushed back repeatedly, Night Fury roared and executed a triple-hit slash!

The attack was so great that I skidded a dozen or so steps backward while feeling like my body was about to crumble on the spot. Not only that, I had also lost over 4 million HP. If the Godslayer Dagger hadn’t reduced his Attack, he absolutely had the chance to instakill me with consecutive attacks!

"Night Fury, you shameless devil! Die!"

A murderous Princess Canarina shattered Night Fury’s energy shield with a mighty axe swing before leaving a massive boot print on the bastard’s head. I had to say that it was an impressive attack. Unfortunately, Night Fury’s counterattack was still greater even though he was weakened. It only took him two or three strikes to damage Princess Canarina worse than the two of us had damaged him.

……

"Red Dragon Guards!"

Night Fury roared in anger, "Kill the ogre escorts and aid me in killing this bitch and her helper now! You damned brat, I should’ve killed you back then!"

I smirked. "It’s too late for regrets now, you bastard!"

Currently, I was doing over 900k damage to the boss per hit. It was because Night Fury’s Defense was greatly diminished by both the Godslayer Dagger and Purple Frost Concentration. Before the Hunters killed all the ogres outside and came in to aid their master, I needed to deal as much damage to Night Fury as possible, if not kill him outright. Otherwise, the tables would be turned against us all too quickly.

……

Nearly 40 minutes later, the Hunters’ battle cries started moving toward the throne. It was because they had killed all the ogres outside the lair and were coming to their master’s aid.

Chiang!

After knocking back the below-quarter-HP Night Fury, Canarina said to me, "Young warrior, I will keep the guards from entering the room. I trust you to end his life!"

I nodded. "Be careful!"

Before I could finish my sentence, lightning suddenly surrounded Night Fury’s body. At the same time, he grew nearly twice as big as before—

Beep!

Combat Log: Night Fury has undergone a transformation. Their Attack is increased by 10%, knockback power by 90%, and Defense by 20%!

……

Bang!

He struck me as he did before, but I suddenly found myself sailing through the air like a cannonball!

BOOM!

I crashed through countless rocks before becoming embedded inside a wall. The attack had also decreased much of my HP. I had just healed myself with the Xuanyuan Art when Night Fury appeared in front of me again and used his triple-hit skill. I hurriedly activated Profound Armor to protect myself!

Bang bang bang…

I was knocked through the wall once more. In fact, I had appeared on the other side of the wall and into a whole new area. Before I could react, Night Fury flew up to me and kicked me in the chest!

Again, I was sent flying a hundred meters across the air. Night Fury said with a snarl, "You didn’t expect this, did you boy? This is my territory, and no one can stop me from killing you! Since you’re here, I may as well kill you in front of her and make her submit to me completely!"

I looked around in confusion, but didn’t find this "her" he was talking about. Shrugging, I activated Heavenly River Transformation once more and dropped an Ancient Seal right on top of his head, "Dream on, dog!"

……

My retaliation looked cool, but Night Fury swung his sword and sent me crashing through a wall like a cannonball once more!

Bang!

At this point, I had lost count as to how many times I had crashed through a wall. I spat out a mouthful of blood when my momentum finally came to an end. The boss's knockback power was insane, and I could barely get close to him at all. Worse, there was no way I could lifesteal enough HP to keep myself alive if he kept knocking me around like this…

"Die!"

Night Fury cackled and stabbed me through the chest. I hurriedly turned to one side and stopped it from going through my back. Thankfully, the maneuver worked, and the stab didn’t hurt Uldan [1].

In retaliation, I thrust my own sword forward and stabbed Night Fury through the chest.

……

Suddenly, a spear blade cut through the rock behind me—it was just inches away from my neck—and sank into Night Fury’s head.

The moment I saw it, I shuddered violently and nearly broke into tears. I said in a trembling voice, "Xin… Xinran…"

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

A weak cry appeared from behind me—

"Big brother…"

1. T/N: I’m sure she’s plenty hurt from you crashing through the wall and using her as your cushion already ☜