Chapter 58 - 56: Chasing the Killer at Night

Harrison Mustafa, the Grand Commander of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps, was beyond furious! In his life filled with blood, slaughter, and conquest, he was always the one taking other people’s treasures, wives, and lives. No one had ever managed to gain even the slightest advantage from him!

The moment the alarm sounded in the Monastery, he knew exactly what was happening! Someone was trying to steal the Elf Plant he was responsible for transporting—the Flower of Abundance! This was the very Flower of Abundance that Houston Duke had purchased at a hefty price, the one he had repeatedly and earnestly entrusted to Grand Commander Mustafa to escort all the way from the Eastern Territory back to Yanxi City. Originally, he was supposed to deliver this priceless Elf Plant to the Duke tomorrow. He never expected that on this final night before the delivery, his own logistics warehouse would be targeted by reckless thieves!

Having developed psychological paranoia from a lifetime of relentless battles, Mustafa—who wore half-body armor even while enjoying himself with women at night—kicked away the nun beneath him upon hearing the Magic alarm. He pulled up his pants, grabbed his War Axe, the Blood Dragon, and rushed downstairs. However, he unexpectedly found his path blocked by giant Magic thorns sprawled across the staircase. While his Mercenaries stubbornly tried to chop through the thorns with their blades, Grand Commander Mustafa chose a more direct path! Using his massive hand equipped with Fist Armor, he smashed the nearby stained-glass window with a single blow and leaped straight down from the second floor of the Monastery, which was seven or eight meters high!

Born with Divine Power, Mustafa could wrestle bulls by the time he was eight or nine years old. He had even been taught by Lester Frost Hammer, the Dwarf Berserker Master of the Cold Bone Mountain Range, learning a full set of Berserker Combat Skills. During his graduation duel, Mustafa cleft his own master, Lester Frost Hammer, in two with a single strike of his axe. He then carved a bloody path through a dense crowd of Dwarf guards and escaped back to the Empire’s Land of Brocade and Silk! From then on, he led roaring bands of rugged outlaws, galloping across the southern Wilderness under the terrifying banner of the Desolate Wind!

In the endless strife of the Southern Empire, Mercenary Corps of all sizes were as common as the sand on a beach. Among the leaders of these Mercenary Corps, Harrison Mustafa might not have been the smartest or the strongest, but he was absolutely the most bloodthirsty, brutal, and terrifying!

For a fierce warrior like him, leaping from a mere second floor would cause no harm whatsoever—it wasn’t as if he were a Demon Hunter! And although the Mercenaries under his command couldn’t replicate such a feat and had to obediently continue hacking at the thorns, Mercenary Corps Leader Mustafa didn’t care. He believed that he alone was more than capable of retrieving the safe containing the Flower of Abundance and bringing the terrifying flames of vengeance down upon the heads of those foolish thieves.

Standing on the streets of Yanxi City, Mustafa looked up and immediately spotted the empty hitching posts. He knew the thieves had already ridden off on his horses. However, for Mercenary Corps Leader Mustafa, this problem was easily solved—because as long as he wished it, every horse on the street could become his horse! He immediately spotted a rather shabby-looking traveling merchant riding past him on the street. Mustafa took a large stride forward, drew his War Axe from his back, and hacked the bewildered merchant off the horse with a single swing. Then, amidst a chorus of shocked screams, he vaulted onto the mount and chased after the direction the thieves had fled!

The Grand Commander of the Desolate Wind, who fought day and night on the bloody battlefields of the southern Wilderness and kept a retinue of elite Mercenary Knights, had horseback riding skills that were definitely no joke! Compared to Xiahou Yan and Master Laurie, who lacked horseback riding experience, as well as the Igor Family Guards who were more accustomed to fighting on foot, Mercenary Corps Leader Mustafa—gripping the reins tightly with his left hand and holding his War Axe horizontally in his right—rode at an Imperial Horse galloping speed that was much faster! This was not only because of the difference in horsemanship. More importantly, as the Igor Family group spurred their horses to escape, they subconsciously and carefully avoided the pedestrians on the street. In contrast, the enraged Harrison Mustafa showed no such restraint. Whenever he encountered pedestrians blocking his way, the lucky ones were trampled over by his horse, while the unlucky ones were struck down directly with a chop to the head from Mustafa’s axe!

Having already accumulated countless blood debts and sitting high at the top of the bounty boards in the southern Wilderness, Grand Commander Mustafa didn’t care about committing a few more murders. After all, Houston Duke, for whom he had done countless dirty deeds, could provide him with all the protection he needed. However, if he failed to retrieve the Elf Plant that the Duke had bought at such a high price, then Mercenary Corps Leader Mustafa would truly be in deep trouble!

Still, the Igor Family had gotten a head start on him. By the time the Mercenary Corps Leader spurred his horse to finally catch up to the five Flower-Picking Thieves—intending to put a bloody end to this street chase—the five fleeing individuals and their lone pursuer had long since left Yanxi City far behind and reached the open fields outside the city walls.

"Die!" Mustafa roared. Dodging a Fireball hastily shot by Master Laurie, he leaned forward on his horse and swept his axe toward the rearmost guard, Guard Tom Lawrence!

CLANG! A loud crash echoed as Alice hurriedly thrust her Longsword from the side, blocking Mustafa’s chopping strike just in time. The Treasure Sword, Light of the Firmament, and the Dwarven War Axe, Blood Dragon—two Legendary Weapons—collided in midair above the galloping horses. Surprisingly, they were evenly matched, bouncing off each other amid a shower of flying sparks!

Before Mustafa could continue his attack, the archer, Chris, who was positioned slightly further ahead, turned around on his sprinting horse, drew his bowstring, and mercilessly shot an arrow right at Mustafa! He didn’t know who this Mercenary was—chasing them like a madman, wearing armor on top and just shorts on the bottom—but he still chose the most tactically sound target. Rather than aiming for the enemy’s visor-covered head, he targeted Mustafa’s lower body. If the one pursuing the Igor Family was an ordinary Mercenary, this arrow—whether it hit the horse or the rider’s leg—would have been enough to stop this insane chase! But the man currently on horseback was the legendary Mercenary Corps Leader, Harrison Mustafa!

Back when he was undergoing Berserker training in the Cold Bone Mountain Range, the first lesson Master Frost Hammer taught him was not how to swing a War Axe, nor the signature Frenzy Skill of a Dwarf Berserker. Instead, he made Mustafa stare intensely at the eagles soaring amidst the mountain peaks for an entire day, until he could perfectly trace the flight path of every single bird. The highly experienced Master Frost Hammer knew very well that for a Berserker who already possessed more than enough physical strength, eyesight and reaction speed were the fundamental skills of a Martial Artist that could determine life and death in combat. Therefore, the furiously fired arrow that looked lightning-fast to a normal person seemed as sluggish as slow motion to Mercenary Corps Leader Mustafa!

Without hesitation, he swung his War Axe, Blood Dragon, and easily knocked Chris’s arrow to the ground! Chris shot another arrow, but Mustafa knocked it away with another swing of his axe! Another shot! Another block!

Chris had only drawn three arrows from his quiver in total! Now that all three were spent, he had no choice but to reach back into his quiver to reload. And that split-second pause was exactly what Mustafa needed to turn the tide of life and death!

The very moment Chris’s offensive paused, Mustafa swung his War Axe, sweeping it from left to right toward the slender waist of Alice Comstock, who was on the horse to his front-left. This move was incredibly vicious, showcasing Mustafa’s thoroughly ruthless and seasoned combat experience. Like the vast majority of Martial Artists, the female Swordsman on horseback also held her sword in her right hand. This meant that, since Mustafa was riding right behind her, her rear-left waist was a complete defensive blind spot she simply couldn’t protect!

Master Frost Hammer’s famous saying was, "What determines victory or defeat is not strength or weakness, but positioning!" During that graduation duel years ago, it was exactly because of a single misstep and a positioning error that the Dwarf Berserker Master, Lester Frost Hammer, handed his very life and lifelong reputation on a silver platter to the prized pupil he had trained with his own hands!

But before a savage grin could even surface on Mustafa’s scar-covered face, the black-haired boy riding at the very front suddenly shouted something aloud. The Grand Commander of the Desolate Wind only caught a sudden flash of red light before his eyes. Then, a pitch-black shadow abruptly darted out from the nearby bushes, pouncing straight toward Grand Commander Harrison Mustafa on his horse!

The tables had turned!