Chapter 24: A Dying Struggle

Whoosh!

Snap!

The arrow shot out but did not hit the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander. At the moment the arrow was about to strike, Regiment Commander Potts did a roll and dodged it—before this, the abnormal reaction of the Snow Bear made him understand very clearly that this damned, insidious little Noble had applied poison to the arrows; otherwise, given the Snow Bear’s Stamina, it would have been impossible for it to be so useless; therefore, he would absolutely not let that poisoned arrow hit him.

That is right, he wanted to counterattack, but definitely not a dying counterattack; even if he was destined to be disabled now, he still wanted to spend the rest of his life.

However, before that—

Potts lifted his face, covered in blood, and looked viciously at Dean, who was bending his bow and setting an arrow in the tree again. The Curse in his heart gushed out like a spring.

“Dean, come down! Fight me like a man!”

Potts shouted loudly.

And Dean’s response was another arrow. Potts, who was already on guard, immediately pounced toward a big tree beside him; during this, Dean shot another arrow, but it grazed past Potts’s Armor and landed in the snow; this made Potts hide behind the big tree like a startled bird, refusing to show his head again.

“Aren’t you a man? You son of a bitch, your…”

Relying on the big tree as a shield, Potts blurted out a string of filthy words. Potts, who had been a Mercenary for a while, was clearly very good at this. For several minutes, he continuously cursed Dean’s paternal and maternal relatives; but Dean was not moved at all.

He knew very clearly that the other party just wanted to force him to go down.

What the enemy wants is what you need to stop!

The Grand Duchess, who had saved his life, had told Dean this more than once, and Dean undoubtedly kept it in his heart.

Dean, half-squatting on the tree trunk, swept his eyes over the big tree where Potts was hiding, and then glanced at the rope beside him, his eyes narrowing slightly.

And Potts, hiding behind the tree, held his Longsword with his uninjured left hand, leaning his back against the trunk, staring at the big tree in front of him that Dean had ‘dealt with’—with the trunk, which required two people to encircle, blocking the way, Potts did not need to worry about the other party’s arrows; similarly, if the other party wanted to attack him in a real sense, they would have to go around this big tree.

Those few trees with ropes obviously nailed to them were clearly the other party’s landing points!

And once the other party chose to rely on the rope to swing around, it would be the time for him to truly kill the other party—simply perceiving his body’s condition for a bit, and confirming that after catching his breath he could use Power Burst once more, Potts thought with great certainty.

Of course, to force this little Noble to come over instead of just dragging it out, Potts tried using filthy language to anger the other party; after all, his body had suffered quite serious injuries, and even though they had been treated, they still needed timely medical attention; otherwise, his life would still be in danger.

So, Potts racked his brains to say every insulting word he knew; however, Dean’s endurance exceeded his imagination.

And just when Potts thought Dean was determined to drag it out with him and he had to change his original plan, suddenly a sound of clothes tearing through the air appeared in his ears, and a Black Shadow leaped toward the tree he had observed before.

Immediately, Potts was overjoyed.

“Go to die!”

Potts, who shouted loudly, used Power Burst again without hesitation, leaped into the air, and raised the Longsword in his left hand to stab at the figure in front of him.

Stab!

The Longsword pierced through the figure in front of him without any hindrance; however, the feel of the blade made Potts turn pale with fright, and at the same time, he truly saw the figure in front of him clearly—where was this a person, it was clearly a coat tied to the rope.

Whoosh!

At the same time, the sound of the bowstring snapping and the arrow tearing through the air rang out.

Thud!

The arrow pierced through Potts’s calf, which had no Armor protection, without any hindrance. Immediately, that numb feeling rushed into Potts’s body.

“I will kill you!”

Looking at Dean, who had come under the tree to get a better shooting angle, Potts, who had been hit by a poisoned arrow, understood that his last shred of hope had gone down the drain.

However, now was not the time for it to truly end—even if he was going to die, he was going to take this damned little Noble down with him.

Phew!

Carrying the Power Burst that had not yet ended, feeling the Strength wriggling in his muscles, Potts brought up a gust of wind and suddenly pounced toward Dean.

Facing Potts, who had activated Power Burst and was charging toward him, Dean didn’t think twice. He threw himself to the side, dodging the opponent’s sure-kill attack with a bit of awkwardness—the surging, cold killing intent made Dean very certain that this Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander had given up on the idea of saving both sides and was prepared to trade one life for another.

And Dean certainly would not do as the other party wished—Dean was not afraid of death; the reason he got a chance to live again was precisely because he had died together with his enemy.

However, even if he were to trade lives, Dean would not choose Potts!

Feeling the force of the wind sweeping behind him, Dean, whose body had just thrown itself to the ground, rolled with the momentum. And just as Dean started rolling, a violent loud noise appeared there—

Boom!

Snow and dirt splashed. A pit, deep enough to reach an adult’s ankle and with a diameter of four feet, appeared right where Dean had originally been standing.

And Potts, who had caused this result, raised his Longsword again and charged toward Dean once more.

Boom!

Another similar pit appeared behind Dean. Dean narrowly avoided the opponent’s attack again; at the same time, his right hand reached into his bosom—here was his other trump card: the Repeating Hand Crossbow!

This self-defense Hand Crossbow from that Goth Spy not only possessed the ability to shoot repeatedly, but the arrows were also short and small, with great power. Even Dean had to praise it as a fine product; if used well, even an ordinary person taking down a Knight was not impossible.

However, very clearly, facing Potts who had activated Power Burst and was carrying a will to die, although this Repeating Hand Crossbow was still deadly enough, its power was greatly reduced in such a situation; so, in order to make the Hand Crossbow more unexpected, the next moment, Dean’s hand reached past the crossbow and touched a throwing knife beside it.

Whoosh!

The throwing knife he took out was thrown toward Potts’ eyes the moment Dean rolled.

Clang!

Potts swung his Longsword and knocked the incoming throwing knife away. He looked at the clumsy appearance of that hateful little Noble with a sneer, and wanted to make the other party look even more clumsy before death; if he didn’t do this, he simply couldn’t vent the anger in his heart.

So, Potts deliberately slowed down his pace, giving Dean the chance to throw one throwing knife after another.

After a full six knives, Dean dodged again, but no throwing knives were shot out. The panic revealed on his face finally made Potts laugh ferociously: “Come on, you son of a bitch, you piece of trash!”

But Dean did not reply; he just scrambled and crawled to the side, looking like he was trying to put distance between himself and Potts.

“Don’t bother, my Power Burst lasts much longer than you imagined… You are dead! If you had stayed in the tree before, perhaps you would have had a chance to live, but now you are undoubtedly going to die! Do you regret it?” The opponent’s struggle made Potts very much enjoy this feeling of a cat catching a mouse. Before completely finishing off the other party, Potts absolutely didn’t mind playing for a while longer!

As for Dean’s resistance?

In Potts’ view, the other party was just an insidious little Noble who played tricks; in a head-on confrontation, the other party was no match for him at all; he wouldn’t even need to take action himself, his subordinates could take the other party down; but…

Suddenly, thinking of the reality at this moment, the annoyed Potts gave up continuing to play. He couldn’t wait to taste the other party’s Blood.

Therefore, Potts let out a roar and suddenly charged toward Dean, and then—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Three consecutive sounds of crossbow bolts shooting out were very clear amidst Potts’ roar. Potts, who viewed Dean as meat on the chopping block, clearly did not expect that Dean still had a Repeating Hand Crossbow as a trump card.

Therefore, of the three crossbow bolts, except for the first one, which Potts swept away with his Longsword relying on the muscle Strength brought by Power Burst, the remaining two all stuck into his body. Even though there was Armor as a block, these two short but powerful arrows still pierced in about a third of the way.

More importantly, the poison on them was instantly stimulated after touching the Blood closer to the heart.