Chapter 6: Resolute Advance

The whistling of the crossbow bolt evoked a sense of primal fear and deep, abiding frustration in Beran.

From the very beginning, he had had a decisive advantage in technique, strength, and speed.

Even so, Wang Yu had managed to hold him back time and time again, just as Beran was about to succeed in killing him.

This time was no exception. He had just been about to kill this damn squire, only to have someone else jump in.

He had expected an honorable duel from Wang Yu, but Wang Yu had tricked him once again.

If Wang Yu were to perform an after-battle critique of Beran's thoughts, he would first state that any methods are acceptable against an enemy, and second that this was the power of proper planning and anticipation.

He and Avia had plotted out the fight against Beran carefully, and this advantage had neutralized the disparity between his and Beran's physiques.

Perhaps Wang Yu's fearsome willpower played an important role, but it wasn't the crux of the entire affair. Beran lost because of the circumstances that proper planning had engendered.

Despite the pervasive sense of helplessness he felt, Beran's remnant rage and overwhelming desire to live on caused him to tilt his body as much as he could.

Even so, the enchanted crossbow and stealthy attack gave Beran no room to maneuver.

The bolt pierced straight through his flesh.

Out of luck or perhaps even a sixth sense, despite the fact that Beran failed to dodge the bolt, it had failed to injure him critically. Beran could still fight.

He rolled across the ground and turned, then used his free hand to pull off the bolt that had gone through his left rib cage.

The intense pain made him shudder as blood gushed out, but he had no choice. The bolt being lodged in his body would severely inhibit his range of motion.

Beran turned to see the identity of the figure standing by the door, a crossbow in hand: Avia.

Avia's face was stark white. He trembled all over, and fear stained his features.

His golden-blond hair was plastered to his face, which dripped with sweat.

Avia had been a sheltered youth who had never been in a life-and-death situation like this one. The extreme danger left him in a state of fear and panic from which he couldn't seem to recover.

Even so, Avia's aim was true and his hands steady as he aimed for his next attack. Wang Yu particularly admired Avia's ability to act even under such circumstances.

He quickly nocked another crossbow bolt and fired it at Beran at incredible speed.

Beran was just too slow to avoid another hit.

The bolt struck Beran's right shoulder. He staggered back, his sword suddenly feeling far heavier in his arm.

The intense spar between him and Wang Yu had drained all of Wang Yu's stamina, but Beran wasn't faring much better himself.

All that exhaustion suddenly seemed to intensify in Beran's mind.

He yanked the crossbow bolt out of his body once more as more blood spurted out. Beran took stock of his circumstances.

He hadn't given up yet. The crossbow bolts had done limited damage to him, and they hadn't struck his vitals.

If he could kill the crossbowman, he would win. He simply had to dodge Avia's attacks as he charged toward him.

A knight-in-training's physique defied common sense. Despite being struck by two crossbow bolts, Beran's astounding physique allowed him to remain mobile.

He dashed forward, eyeing Avia's hands and the direction in which the crossbow was pointing.

Before Avia could shoot, he dodged and rolled. The crossbow bolt whizzed by Beran's ear in a spray of blood and icy pain. This time, however, Beran smiled. His careful observation and keen senses had allowed him to predict and dodge Avia's attack almost entirely.

He rolled behind the table that had been overturned because of Wang Yu's sneak attack.

"My opponent's not a skilled marksman, after all. Isn't he that noble brat that old magician wanted? What's he doing here? Damn it, that squire must have freed him!"

Beran, hiding behind the overturned table, cursed Wang Yu furiously.

At the very least, Avia didn't pose as much of a threat as he had anticipated. He exhaled in relief. It was feasible for Beran to kill him.

Beran tore off his bloodstained vest, then counted down from three. He tossed his vest into the air.

The next moment, a bolt pierced through his vest and nailed it to the wall.

The simple but effective trick had just earned him moments of reprieve from Avia.

Beran kicked the table aside with a foot and charged toward Avia with what remained of his strength.

Avia, having noticed Beran's trick, began to panic. He tried to prepare the next bolt faster, but to little avail.

Beran's high-speed dash swiftly brought him close to Avia. Just as Avia was about to land in Beran's range, Avia pointed and shot his crossbow.

By then, Beran was in a fit of rage-induced madness. He dodged and rolled, ignoring the pain the abortive action caused his body.

The bolt was more potent and all the harder to dodge at such close range. Beran barely protected his vitals as the bolt struck his chest in a burst of intense pain and weakness.

At that point, Beran had given up on rational thought. The only notion that filled his mind was to kill the enemy before him. Once he took down Avia, everything would be over.

His eyes bulged as he roared and shot toward Avia, whose eyes were filled with fear.

He had planned to take down Beran together with Wang Yu, but Beran's overwhelming physique and luck meant that he had survived far longer than anticipated.

Avia's hand trembled as he threw out a satchel of stone dust that Wang Yu had given him beforehand.

The stone dust landed in Beran's bulging eyes and immediately caused him to bellow in pain and rage.

Beran stopped short instinctively before continuing to charge toward Avia the very next moment. He had to kill him. He had to!

Even the stone dust couldn't prevent Beran from charging toward Avia, though he had to squeeze his eyes shut in pain.

He raised his longsword high overhead. The sharp blade, bolstered by the incredible strength of a knight-in-training, would easily split Avia apart.

Avia closed his eyes. Despair warred with relief in his mind.

Better that someone like him die. No one cared for him, and he had even been betrayed by someone he trusted dearly. Death might well be a blessing.

Did he regret anything? No, hardly. At the very least, if Wang Yu hadn't rescued him, he would have died in prison rather than the open air.

And, truthfully, how could a noble like him, who had lost his servants and guards, hope to survive in the vast wilderness? Even if he managed to live on, where would he go? What would he do?

Making a last stand here and dying to Beran didn't seem like it would be so bad.

At the very least, he would be able to help out this loyal and righteous squire whom he admired despite only having known him for but a few hours. Regardless of the outcome, he had given it his all.

Avia closed his eyes and awaited the final flash of pain before his death.

Beran closed his eyes and anticipated the shrill scream of pain he would hear when his sword cleaved Avia.

As expected, metal bit into flesh—but Avia didn't feel any pain whatsoever.

He opened his eyes and found, to his surprise, the squire standing before him. No more blood could leak out of the stump of his left arm.

Beran's sword had thrust deeply into Wang Yu's arm, but he was too exhausted to sever it completely.

Wang Yu, who should have bled to death long ago, was somehow standing upright on the basis of willpower alone. He had forcibly rushed over to block Beran's blow.

Beran, meanwhile, hadn't noticed anything amiss. He was laughing in relish. The fight was finally over, and he had won!

His eyes still blinded with stone dust, Beran persisted in the belief that he had cut down the crossbowman.

Wang Yu laughed. Even his voice was weak, but his tone was mirthful.

He seemed to be perfectly at ease with the looming possibility of death.

"I'm the tank, after all, and you're the carry. I'll never let you get injured before I die, Avia. Now, whistle, please..."

After saying his piece, Wang Yu fell forward and collapsed. Avia watched on in shock.

Beran gaped, his features distorting in dismay. Why was it always that damn squire?!

Beran attempted to pull out his sword from Wang Yu's arm, but it had cut into Wang Yu's bone with such force that it might as well have been stuck in place. With Wang Yu having collapsed, Beran was having a hard time merely maintaining his footing.

Gritting his teeth, Beran used Wang Yu's body as a shield against any further crossbow bolts.

As Wang Yu's body fell, Beran found himself sliding backward by a meter or so. He found himself leaning against the wooden wall of the cottage, Wang Yu's body blocking him from the front.

He exhaled in relief. As long as he could avoid being struck by the next round of bolts, victory would still be his.

However, what awaited him weren't more potentially deadly bolts, but rather a shrill whistle.

The sound could be heard even from afar. Avia's unusual action surprised Beran and gave him a strange sense of danger and panic that he couldn't voice.

He used what remained of his strength to push aside Wang Yu's body, hoping to finish off the unpredictable Avia before anything could go wrong—only to hear hooves coming from behind.

Before Beran could figure out what was going on, the wooden wall of the cottage burst apart as a huge, powerful beast barreled through it.

With a chestnut coat and a mane dancing in the wind, a gallant steed with a pair of unusual horns on its head charged into Beran through the wall.

Brick and mortar struck Beran's back like raindrops in a storm, causing him to stagger.

Not only that, the horned steed's eyes swept across the scene. It saw the fallen Wang Yu and Beran's body lying beside him.

In rage, the horse reared up and stamped its hooves down on Beran's exposed chest.

The tremendous force behind the attack dealt Beran a grievous blow despite his physique. He vomited out a mouthful of blood as he continued to struggle with all his strength. His longsword danced erratically in the air, slicing at the horse's legs. He shouted madly in fear and rage.

"Damn it, I don't want to die! I'll kill all of you, you despicable bastards! How could I have lost to the likes of you? You're the ones who should be dead! Go to hell!"

Beran's last reserves of energy exploded from him as he fought with his life on the line. He managed to unleash the strength of an advanced knight-in-training, with a physique 1.8x that of the human maximum. Somehow, he managed to stumble up from underneath the horse's hooves and bellowed, "I'm not done yet. I'm going to live. I'm going to live!"

"No, it's over," said a calm, slightly sorrowful voice by his side.

Avia's crossbow pierced through the head of the man who had lost all sense of rationality and had become little more than a beast. His shouts abruptly stopped.

Beran fell to the ground as fresh blood trailed down his head, along with gruesome brain matter.

The head of the bandits who had committed all sorts of crimes and evil deeds had finally been punished. Death and despair came for Beran as he breathed his last.

The steed ignored Beran's prone body and the wounds all over its legs as it trotted to Wang Yu's side.

It lowered its head, its eyes large and glimmering, as it licked Wang Yu's pale cheek with its tongue.

Avia walked over to Wang Yu. The horse glanced at him warily, but returned to its ministrations.

Wang Yu's stump of an arm and other miscellaneous wounds had stopped leaking blood—not because of his regenerative ability, but because he had lost so much blood that there was no more that could flow out.

Despite his incredible constitution brought about by his "growth spurt," there were injuries beyond the ability of his battered body to heal.

The successive blows that Wang Yu had taken had drained him of almost all his vitality. Even his overwhelming willpower couldn't power the husk of his body that remained.

His blood loss caused his skin to take on a deathly pallor—but even so, perhaps because of his surprising ambivalence to death, his expression seemed calm, almost serene.

Avia glanced at the dying man before him whose stubborn heart was on the verge of giving out. He was still shaken by the events that had transpired.

He couldn't believe how resilient Wang Yu was, and he had been touched by Wang Yu's attempt to defend him despite his own life-threatening injuries.

As he sensed Wang Yu's heartbeat falter, Avia made up his mind. He couldn't let this stubborn fellow die just like this, even if he had to use the cursed power he had sworn never to use again.

His gaze resolute, the youth found his earlier fear and panic fading away.

A faint violet sheen appeared over his forehead, then moved down to his palms. Part of his palms shimmered, attuning to the void and seemingly divorcing themselves from reality...

Avia placed his palms over Wang Yu's chest as the whole cottage was suddenly illuminated in violet light.