Cole moved quickly through the secret passage, following the figure that appeared and disappeared in front of him. He was like a leopard, tracking his prey in the woods, cautious, elegant, and ready to strike. He whispered a few spells and cast a sprint spell on himself, which greatly increased the strength of his legs and made his lungs breathe smoothly, so he didn't feel tired at all when running.
He did not run at full speed, because his prey, Orville, had been seriously injured by the swordsman before, and was hit by one of his poisoned arrows in the duel between archers. The poison of the dragon eye frog was strong but not fatal, which could completely make that guy lose his fighting ability. If Orville had not been supported by his fighting spirit, he would have collapsed to the ground long ago.
However, Cole still did not dare to be careless. The man in front of him who was dodging with difficulty, relying on a sneak attack, actually killed the skilled swordsman together with Awan. Such a person was enough to make him vigilant.
"You can't run away. Why don't you stop and I'll give you a quick end." Cole shouted ahead.
The man in front seemed to be breathing more heavily. Cole continued, "Don't you feel that your steps are getting heavier? Give up. Shouldn't you be calmer when you return to the embrace of the God of Nature?"
Orville answered him with an arrow, which hit Cole right in front of his eyes.
However, Cole was not moved. He continued to follow behind slowly. Who knew if this arrow was a trap to lure the enemy? Patience is the most important quality of a hunter.
In the following pursuit, Orville shot two more arrows and stumbled, and the distance between the two men was shortened. Cole's doubts gradually disappeared, and he knew that the horse thief was finished.
The prey was already extremely weak, and Cole felt that the time had come. He was worried that if he delayed any longer, some expert or monster would suddenly jump out of this complex underground palace, so he drew out a dagger, accelerated, and pounced forward.
Cole always enjoyed the moment of the final blow, the moment when dirty flesh and blood would turn into moving gold coins.
However, just when he was halfway to catching up, Orville suddenly stood still, turned around and drew his bow, his eyes glaring at Cole, without any sign of weakness.
Damn it! All the hairs on Cole's body stood up at this moment.
In a flash, a sharp arrow shot out from Orville's bow and hit him in the face!
Before the sharp arrow arrived, the sound of tearing the air was heard. Cole was very familiar with this sound. It was a phenomenon caused by the strong fighting spirit wrapped around the arrow. Being shot by such an arrow, a big hole in the body would be the least of the problems.
The arrow came too fast and too suddenly, and there was no way to avoid it.
At the critical moment, Cole slapped a ring on his hand, and a faint light flowed out of the ring, instantly enveloping his upper body. The fatal arrow touched the light as if it had pierced into a ball of jelly, not only slowing down its speed, but also deflecting its direction.
The arrow flew past Cole's long ear, taking away a piece of flesh on his ear with a whistling sound.
Orvel, who shot the arrow, had his eyes dimmed, and a trace of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Then the longbow in his hand fell to the ground, and he fell straight to the ground.
Cole didn't dare to be careless this time. He stared at the opponent's hands, walked over slowly, kicked the longbow away, then put the dagger against his neck and slowly turned his body over.
Orville looked miserable, with blood gushing out of his mouth and nose, his eyes half-open and half-closed, lifeless, and when he breathed, the sound in his lungs was like a broken bellows.
He slightly raised his eyelids, glanced at Cole, and then actually laughed. However, laughing was a bit of a luxury for him, and perhaps because he was choked by the blood, he started coughing violently after laughing a few times.
This laughter made Cole feel very uncomfortable, he felt that it was a mockery of his previous mistake. He turned his hand and stabbed the dagger into Orville's thigh.
"I'm a fair person. You wasted my protective ring, so naturally I have to charge you some interest." He said with a gloomy face.
Orville's face showed pain, and like a wounded beast, he opened his mouth and showed his tightly clenched teeth. But he did not make a sound.
"Are you still pretending to be a tough guy at this time? Don't you want to do what I want? Humph, the guy who can use his fighting spirit to break through the power of medicine is indeed not an ordinary person. I think all the blood vessels in your body are about to explode, right?" Cole said.
"Hehe, you're going to die, why bother about your body? Hehe, it's a pity that there is no magic-breaking arrow, otherwise you would be the one to die." Orville said in a low voice. He knew that many parts of his body had been shattered by the fighting spirit. Even if he survived, his strength would be greatly reduced.
"You know how precious this thing is! I wish I could stab you dozens of times now!" Cole pushed the dagger deeper, and Orville tilted his neck back, with the veins on it trembling violently. But the next second, Cole's hand just loosened a little, he coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, and continued to laugh intermittently.
Cole stood up and kicked him hard, causing Orville to hunch over. He then walked back and forth a few steps and said, "I can't let you get away with it like this, or I'll lose a lot this time!"
Orville ignored him and just lay on the ground panting.
Cole snorted coldly, "No matter how powerful you are, you are going to die. First you followed the wrong person, and then you went to the wrong place. The magicians paid for your head, so you must die today.
He danced the dagger in his hand and continued, "However, there are many ways to die. Although your life now is more painful than death, I think you always hope to die quickly. If you are willing to share some secrets with me, I promise to let you die quickly and easily."
Orville turned his head with difficulty and spat out a mouthful of blood: "Oh, secret... No matter what the secret is, why should I tell you? A man who wants to kill me, a shameless mercenary."
"Maybe because I can make you die miserably. Maybe because I can make your enemies suffer." He fiddled with the dagger and pointed at Orville's thigh from a distance.
"My enemy?"
"Those magicians, and the people who encouraged you to attack the magician's castle behind the scenes."
"You're trying to attract your employer's attention, damn it. Cough cough." Orville coughed again, blood soaking half of his clothes. He managed to support himself and stared at Cole and asked, "It seems that I'm really lucky that they hired a conscienceless bastard like you."
"Conscience? When you become a mercenary, you don't have much conscience left. Those who do all kinds of dirty work and still hide their conscience probably won't live for more than a month." Perhaps he thought of Kalanda at this time, and added: "At least ninety-nine out of a hundred are like this, and the other one is something you won't meet."
"Ahem, let me hear it, what secret do you want to know?"
"It's very simple. Two questions. First, who ordered you to attack the castle? I know that Kadiz is a very cautious person. His team has always been solitary. Blindly gathering horse thieves to do a big job is not his style."
Orville looked at him, as if trying to understand his thoughts.
"If you tell me who is behind this, I can sell the magicians a favor and let him bear the magicians' revenge. Then you can also get your revenge, right?"
"I don't know. This is Cadiz's decision." Orville was silent for a moment. "However, he was not interested in the magician's castle at first, but after he went to Suero once, his opinion changed. There is a businessman in Suero named Rajel who has been selling stolen goods to us. Ahem, I think he should know something."
"Very good, it seems we have reached some consensus." Cole nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Then, the second question, Zhang Hong, is the magic apprentice you arrested. Why must you be killed?"
"Zhang Hong?" Orvel was stunned for a moment before he remembered such a person. "He is a loser and a coward. Ahem."
"But this coward tried every possible way to kill you, and even chased you into the forest and into the ruins. Don't you think it's strange?"
Orville was stunned, "Didn't I kill their people?"
"That can't be the reason." Cole shook his head. "I've been following Zhang Hong for several days. He doesn't look like the kind of person who would go deep into a dangerous place just to avenge his companions. He's a selfish guy who only cares about himself."
"Selfish? I get it. Ahem. He has a companion's life in his hands!"
———————————
Zhang Hong's face was grim at this time, but his eyes were unfocused, as if he was thinking about some unbearable memory that made him hate and suffer. After a while, he came to his senses, and his eyes full of anger fell on Awan who was leaning against the wall.
Awan and a tall man were hugging each other, their blood flowing all over the ground, turning into a smelly red puddle. The man's sword pierced Awan's chest, nailing him to the ground, and Awan's arms tightly clamped the swordsman, making him unable to move, but the swordsman's fatal wound was a sharp arrow behind his head, which went straight out of his mouth. The bodies of the two people were like exaggerated ancient Greek sculptures, frozen at the moment they fought for their lives.
Zhang Hong hated the smell here, but he was willing to endure it and slowly enjoy watching Awan die. Although he didn't die by his hands, he still felt the pleasure of revenge.
Especially like this - he pulled out a dagger, stabbed Awan in the thigh, and then pulled it out. There was little blood flowing out, it seemed that the previous battle had exhausted the man.
"You have come to this day! Bastard! Son of a bitch! Bastardo! Arschloch!..." Zhang Hong stabbed Awan with the dagger while cursing him in different ways, and soon he used three or four languages.
After stabbing for a while, he felt his arm sore, so he threw the dagger at Awan's head and slapped him in the face.
It was not known whether it was a coincidence or something else, but after the slap, Awan's head tilted and bounced back, but his eyes suddenly opened. The eyes were half open, facing Zhang Hong. The emerald green eyes stared at him, as if he had just woken up.
"Ah~~" Zhang Hong screamed sharply and retreated in fear. In his panic, he slipped on the blood and fell to the ground. But even though he fell to the ground, he did not dare to stop for a moment, and he rolled and crawled to the corner of the wall. He faced the wall, trembling all over, and did not even have the courage to look back. He just kept shouting: "I didn't kill you, I didn't kill you. This has nothing to do with me! Forgive me, forgive me!"
He repeated it many times in one breath, and then he realized that there was no movement behind him. He turned his head carefully and saw that Awan was still in the same posture as before, without any change, and then he slowly calmed down.
Even so, he no longer dared to go up and humiliate Awan's body. He slowly retreated behind a pillar, using it to cover the face with open eyes. He curled up on the ground, gasping for breath.
"What's going on?" After an unknown amount of time, Cole's voice came from not far away. He quickly found Zhang Hong, who was huddled in a ball, and asked in confusion, "Are there any enemies here?"
"No!" Zhang Hong said unhappily.
Cole's eyes rolled and he asked again, "That big guy has a lot of wounds on his body. Did you do that?"
“Mind your own business!”
"Haha, it seems like he did something outrageous to you. But, it's up to you. A dead person is just a pile of rotten meat." Cole spread his hands and said, "I have good news for you. I killed Orville. This is his ear."
Cole took out a leather bag from his waist. As soon as he untied the drawstring, a terrible stench emerged from inside. As soon as the bag came in front of Zhang Hong, he felt like vomiting. He took a quick look and saw a human ear mixed among many goblin ears.
"Is it really solved?" Li Jia couldn't help but confirm.
"That's right, but the price was also very high. In order to kill him, I used up a protective ring, which I spent five years to save up for."
"It's better if he's dead. It's better if he's dead. Well, we can also avenge Ji Yijun. When the time comes, you can ask him for a favor."
Cole smiled and said, "That's right. This trip was worth it."
As they were talking, the underground palace suddenly began to shake. Zhang Hong was shocked and asked, "What's going on? Is it an earthquake? Let's go!"
"Where are Ji Yijun and the others?" Cole asked.
"Speed, grant me the speed. The rest of us can only leave it to fate." At this time, Zhang Hong had completely lost his previous decadence and started running wildly.