Chapter 106: A terrifying enemy
When they heard that this person was Trunks, the other five adventurers, who’d rushed over, didn’t dare act rashly or blindly. They only looked cautiously at Han Shuo. Who would’ve that what they feared would happen as Han Shuo had really made a move?
Trunks evaded the crossbolt and his face abruptly chilled. His sharp eyes gathered instantly on Han Shuo’s body as he nodded his head and said, “You’ve got guts!”
He didn’t make a move to take the other poisonous fang as Trunks grasped his broadsword in his right hand, walking towards Han Shuo with an even pace and looking at him with an obviously unfriendly expression.
“Misunderstanding, this must be a misunderstanding! My friend must’ve been too nervous and shot out that bolt!” Odysseus suddenly cried out loudly and explained to Trunks with a rueful smile.
At this moment, the crossbow that had paused was suddenly reloaded with another bolt, and as Odysseus was explaining frantically, Han Shuo took aim at the slowly approaching Trunks and shot another bolt out.
It was as if a slap had been flung directly at his face. Odysseus’ expression was gobsmacked as the explanation in his mouth withered to ashes, halting him in his tracks.
Trunks’ slowly approaching footsteps wavered as he once again wondrously avoided the crossbow ambush. He still walked slowly towards Han Shuo, his eyes staring firmly at him without a hint of relaxation.
Taking a deep breath in, Han Shuo put the crossbow away because it was useless at close range. He then took out the Demonslayer Edge and was ready to withstand Trunk’s attack at any time.
“All of you will pay for this!” Trunks’ approaching body suddenly stopped as he said coldly.
“Eh, all of us… us?!” Water adept mage Aphrodite’s face grew frosty as she murmured.
“It looks like we’ve run into trouble, then we don’t need to be polite then.” Odysseus had been avoiding a headlong conflict with Trunks during this time and sighed softly as he saw that they would be hard pressed to extract themselves from the situation.
When the captain, Odysseus, had spoken, the other five adventurers stopped hesitating and quickly took their positions, readying their weapons and prepared themselves to handle this th.o.r.n.y fellow, who had suddenly emerged from the Dark Forest.
Just when Trunks was about to reach Han Shuo, he suddenly unsheathed the broadsword in his hand and milky-white aura enclosed the broadsword. A beam of white light drilled through the air, making for Han Shuo.
The shrubs on the ground suddenly exploded and filled the air with powder wherever the white fighting aura pa.s.sed over. The ground cracked open as well. There was a heart stopping frightening power encompa.s.sed within the fighting aura. Having fought with Phoebe, another swordmaster, Han Shuo could clearly feel that the destructive power Trunks’ fighting aura was even more domineering.
He activated the “Glacial Mystical Spellfire” and the surge of magical yuan flowed entirely into the Demonslayer Edge. After taking in abundant magical yuan, the Demonslayer Edge glowed with a fiery red light. When the white fighting aura drilled fiercely onto it, Han Shuo tightly grasped the Demonslayer Edge and abruptly slashed it downwards.
An explosion rang out as the milky-white fighting aura and the emanation of red light from the Demonslayer Edge collided into each other. A round hole, about a meter deep, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and charred smoke rose from the shreds of shrubbery within it.
Trunks stood where he was without moving, his sharp eyes still looking forward. Han Shuo, wielding the Demonslayer Edge, abruptly backed up five or six steps and sat down with a thud. The right arm that was holding the Demonslayer Edge was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess and it looked quite frightening.
“You’re actually not dead. You do have some basis to be arrogant.” Trunks looked at Han Shuo and opened his mouth with some confusion
Han Shuo shook his right arm, shaking off the droplets of blood that had oozed out. He moved his body numbly, magical yuan circulating at a speed throughout his entire body that it never had before. He finally stood up again after pus.h.i.+ng off forcefully with both feet.
Last time he’d faced Lawrence, Han Shuo had tested himself and found his strength to be higher than a journeyman swordsman. He’d brought his full force to bear when facing off against Trunks, who rumors had placed him at having already reached the realm of swordsmaster. He’d imbued ten percent of his magical yuan into the Demonslayer Edge and taken one of Trunks’ hits.
The truth had proven that the strength of a swordsmaster did indeed far exceed Han Shuo’s expectations. Perhaps Trunks hadn’t used his full force in that blow, but he’d already caused significant injury to Han Shuo. If it wasn’t for his wondrous magical yuan and durable body, an ordinary person’s right arm would’ve likely exploded from this blow and would’ve been unable to recover from it for the rest of his life.
“Protect our companion.” Odysseus called out calmly as the group of six adventurers immediately surrounded Han Shuo.
The archer Nia and two mages had already shot out their attacks before Trunks made another move, the latter still staring curiously at Han Shuo. The three warriors didn’t take a step away from Han Shuo as they surrounded him on three sides, protecting him solidly.
Trunks swiftly evaded the attacks from Nia and the two mages. He didn’t continue fighting as the manticore suddenly popped out for Trunks to mount.
“Friends, I’m going to get something to eat. You make your preparations, I’ll keep playing with you later.” Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Trunks didn’t continue attacking and rather spoke coldly from the back of the manticore. He then patted the manticore and it obediently brought him swiftly away.
One man and one beast crossed leisurely over the patch of luxuriant shrubs under the wary gaze of Odysseus and the others. Those a.s.sembled heaved a sigh of relief when they discovered that Trunks truly had vanished. They sat a bit wearily on the ground after having their nerves stretched taut for a while.
“What’s the matter, why were you so impulsive?” Odysseus finally looked oddly at Han Shuo as he inquired.
Laughing ruefully, Han Shuo shook his head and said, “I’m truly sorry, I’m a bit of an odd person. Sometimes even I can’t control the things that I do.”
According to Han Shuo’s previous personality, he absolutely wouldn’t have chosen to become enemies with such a strong character, but for some reason, Han Shuo could accept being threatened by others less and less now. Even if the threats were backed up with a strong destructive power, Han Shuo would still throw caution to the winds and defy them.
To be honest, when Odysseus had offered Trunks’ name, Han Shuo immediately hesitated internally when he understood the strength represented by this name. He’d even planned on putting down the crossbow in his hand and let him take the twin headed dragon away. He was unwilling to make such a strong enemy.
But he’d still made a move in the end, and he’d made a very resolute move. He hadn’t considered the consequences in the form of a devastating revenge at all. Even Han Shuo found his personality changes a bit baffling, and could only attribute it to the effects of the magical yuan.
“Perhaps we were too weak. To be honest your methods were quite admirable, but I think we’ll meet great trouble in the future.” Odysseus said as he nodded, looking at Han Shuo with a fervent light as sincere admiration surfaced in his eyes.
“The fact that you could exchange a blow with him and not die already explains that you’re quite powerful. Are your injuries any better?” The elven archer Nia walked to Han Shuo side and seemed to inquire after him with some semblance of concern.
Taking out gauze from his s.p.a.ce ring and dressing the wounds of his right arm simply, Han Shuo withdrew his weapon and finally spoke to the others, “I’m sorry for bringing so much trouble to everyone, and am very thankful for all your actions just now. Trunks won’t give up easily, I think we should discuss how to handle him after we remove the rest of the items from the twin headed dragon.”
Although the appearance of a new enemy made everyone a bit depressed, they’d still kept the twin headed dragon in the end. Now that Han Shuo mentioned the trophies from it, everyone’s morale lifted slightly and they happily took out daggers and walked towards the twin headed dragon, removing its remaining poisonous fangs and its magical core.
The poisonous fangs of the twin headed dragon were an important ingredient that could be used to refine some poison powders. If an alchemist trans.m.u.ted it, it could even be used in magical arrows and explode with poison halfway through flight, causing lethal injuries to enemies within a short range. As a level two magical creature, the core of the twin headed dragon was also very precious and could be sold for at least one thousand gold coins.
Under Han Shuo’s insistence, the magical core was given to Odysseus as a sort of compensation for the aid that Odysseus and the others had given just now. Han Shuo placed the poisonous fangs of the twin headed dragons in his storage ring, planning to use them amply in the future if there was the chance.
After finis.h.i.+ng these tasks, the sky was already beginning to brighten. The group packed their luggage and continued south, deeper into the Dark Forest.
The band discussed as they walked, attempting to find a way to fight against Trunks.
“Trunks has been viewed as a terrifying existence ever since he appeared in the Dark Forest. The beasts and people that appear within the deeper reaches of the Dark Forest are very strong. The adventurers that win a few battle trophies there would often sink into struggles of life and death. Even the companions that accompany you here are very likely to betray you at crucial moments. Chaotic slaughter exists there, and those who can grow accustomed to that environment need a cold heart apart from extraordinary strength.”
“Trunks is amongst the elite of these kinds of people. In addition he is very familiar with the environment inside and is quite adept at leveraging the environment within the Dark Forest to brutally attack his enemies. Since we’ve run afoul with him this time, I think we’ll be attacked for sure later on in the Dark Forest. Therefore, we need to be on our guard and prevent sudden ambushes from him.” Odysseus described the chaotic conditions of the deeper reaches of the Dark Forest and the frightening parts of Trunks to ensure that everyone would be cautious.
“Be at ease, he won’t have a chance to ambush us!” Han Shuo smiled confidently after Odysseus had finished.
Everyone’s expressions were quite flabbergasted with these words. However, they didn’t immediately suspect Han Shuo’s words as they’d seen his miraculousness before. Gordon looked at Han Shuo with great interest and asked, “Why?”
Smiling mysteriously and meaningfully, Han Shuo swept a gaze at those a.s.sembled, “The twin headed dragon was five hundred meters away from us, but I still discovered its movements. It’s impossible for Trunks to ambush us. Be at ease, there’s absolutely no chance that Trunks can ambush us based on his great familiarity with the Dark Forest.”
With the existence of the three original demons, Han Shuo would be able to clearly discover any man or beast that approached. As familiar as Trunks was with the environment, he’d be unable to successfully ambush them as long as the original demons were there. Han Shuo wasn’t boasting emptily when he spoke of this.
“I think he chose to leaver earlier because he didn’t have absolute certainty in capturing all of us, and decided to slowly handle us with the methods that he was most familiar with. If he’s unable to ambush us, then with the combined might of our seven people, Trunks may not have an upper hand, even with his manticore. We really don’t need to be afraid of them.” Odysseus spoke happily upon seeing Han Shuo speak so firmly.
“I promise!” Han Shuo spoke affirmatively.
The group continued further south into the Dark Forest over the next two days. Beneath the astonished gazes of Odysseus and the others, when Han Shuo took off the gauze, his open wound had already completely healed and bore no traces of having been injured.
“This is amazing, it’s already all healed!” Gordon’s mouth was open with shock as he stared dumbfoundedly at Han Shuo’s right arm, observing it for a while and attempting to discover the secret behind Han Shuo’s insanely fast recovery speed.
The other five adventurers also looked at Han Shuo with eyes as if gazing at a monster. They hadn’t seemed to think that Han Shuo would fully heal within two short days. They were incredibly astonished when such a baffling matter was laid out in front of them.
After repeated reforging from the magical yuan, the durability and miraculousness of his body was something that they couldn’t even begin to understand. Han Shuo didn’t open his mouth to explain this as he found an excuse of a medicinal powder to gloss things over.
When night fell and everyone headed back into their tents, Han Shuo suddenly said, “Trunks wants to make a move. I think he’ll attack us tonight. We need to make some simple preparations and then you should attack on my orders. I’ll let Trunks understand how laughable his ambush is this time!”