“Exciting. This is too exciting!”
Scar gripped his longsword again, his fighting spirit reignited.
Before his eyes, Zhe Zilin charged forward alone on horseback and cut down four or five soldiers in a surprise attack.
With his current strength as a Magic Swordsman, he could easily kill five soldiers.
Taking advantage of the darkness, the Dragon Slayer followed through and knocked several more soldiers off their horses.
The formation that had originally surrounded the half-orcs was torn open by Zhe Zilin’s charge.
The soldiers’ horses panicked and scattered uncontrollably.
Zhe Zilin’s sudden appearance had caught them completely off guard.
“Do not panic! We have the numbers. Keep surrounding and killing them!”
One of the soldiers had barely finished shouting when Zhe Zilin cut down several more who had broken formation in front of him.
They now had only about ten men left and could barely organize any resistance.
Scar stood excitedly to the side. His eyes lit up as he looked at Zhe Zilin.
He turned his head and jumped while shouting at One-Eye, “We did not misjudge him this time!”
Zhe Zilin glanced at Scar, his expression serious. “There are eighteen left. I will take ten, you take eight!”
He lowered his body and charged forward on horseback.
With the passive skill [Draw Blade] active, his swordsmanship increased by fifty percent when facing danger.
During his earlier charge, he had already used the one-time skill [Burst], increasing all his strength by five times.
At this moment, he feared neither the iron cavalry in front of him nor felt that there were not enough enemies to kill.
The Dragon Slayer cut through everything. Every swing killed one soldier.
In an instant, blade light and blood shadows filled the air.
The battle erupted in a single moment and ended just as quickly.
Zhe Zilin was covered in blood. His eyes had already turned red from killing.
He sat on horseback, staring blankly at the corpses scattered across the ground.
“Leibang, we owe you our lives!”
Scar had been through countless battles. Killing two soldiers was nothing difficult for him.
Zhe Zilin’s timely rescue had excited him to no end.
Zhe Zilin came back to his senses and looked toward the direction where Osha and the fake Leon had been.
No sound of hooves could be heard.
He could not help but feel puzzled. What exactly was the fake Leon trying to do?
“Leibang, we have decided. From now on, we will follow you. You are our leader!”
Scar stepped closer and noticed that Zhe Zilin’s expression had become extremely grave.
“What is wrong?”
“Did you not leave with the Ice Demon? Why did you escape here?”
One-Eye stepped forward and explained, “Scar did not want to work for the Ice Demon anymore. He said you were different and told us to follow you.”
“Is that all?”
One-Eye nodded, not understanding what Zhe Zilin wanted to hear.
He continued, “Those people chased us from day until night. They kept their distance the whole time, as if they were herding us. But just now, they suddenly surrounded us and tried to capture us.”
Zhe Zilin lowered his head and thought quickly.
A sudden realization struck him.
While focused on rushing here and chasing the half-orcs, he had overlooked something extremely important.
The fake Leon also knew everything about him and Ailia.
By using Osha to stall him, the other party would definitely tell Osha that before coming to North City, he had been living with Ailia in the castle in the forest.
Osha was like a powder keg. One spark and she would explode.
She would definitely go find Ailia and fight her to the death.
The fake Leon was killing with a borrowed knife, and Zhe Zilin had completely overlooked it.
Zhe Zilin took a deep breath. His voice was low and heavy. “Mount up!”
Although the half-orcs did not understand what had happened, none of them hesitated.
They immediately got on their horses.
Zhe Zilin gripped the reins tightly and turned his horse around, leading the half-orcs back the way they had come.
On horseback, he realized that the fake Leon had been luring him into a trap ever since the kitchen.
By deliberately saying threatening words and revealing that he was capturing the half-orcs, the fake Leon had been testing whether Zhe Zilin would take action.
If he did nothing, then at dawn the fake Leon would capture the half-orcs and bring them back.
In front of Osha, he would make them reveal the relationship between Ailia and Zhe Zilin, using Osha to kill Ailia.
If Zhe Zilin acted, the fake Leon had already stationed a hundred men on the only path, waiting for him to walk straight into the trap.
Then he would personally kill Zhe Zilin, enrage Osha, and reveal his relationship with Ailia, shifting the blame onto her.
Zhe Zilin now fully understood Tana’s plan. Whether he came or not, the outcome would be the same.
But the fake Leon had never expected Osha to come along with him.
He had never expected Osha to actively speak with him.
Osha was the key to changing the situation. He had been careless.
Zhe Zilin’s expression was grim. Perhaps Osha already knew everything.
But he would not give up. As long as it was not the final moment, there was still a chance to turn things around.
When he finally arrived, the bloody scene deeply shocked him to his core.
Where a hundred cavalrymen had once gathered, blood now flowed like a river.
Countless severed limbs hung from the tree branches. Disfigured heads rolled across the ground.
The once mighty force of a hundred men had now turned into pitiful corpses.
Zhe Zilin walked among the broken limbs and arms, searching in every direction.
Finally, among a pile of flesh and blood, he found Leon.
She had lost both legs. Her chest had been pierced by something unknown. She still had one breath left.
The fake Leon tore off the human skin mask, revealing her original appearance.
“I won, Leibang. The Witch will die. The King of the North’s corpse will eventually fall into the Ice Demon’s hands. You will die in the end as well. She has completely fallen into madness. She will kill you.”
Blood overflowed from her mouth. Her white teeth were stained bright red. She tried her best to smile.
Zhe Zilin did not dismount. He looked down into Tana’s eyes. He saw no joy in them, only regret and sorrow.
He wanted to speak, but remained silent for a long time.
Pitiful people must have hateful sides. Hateful people must also have pitiful sides.
In the end, Zhe Zilin dismounted. He drew the Dragon Slayer from his waist and pointed it at Tana’s chest.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
Tana’s pupils gradually turned grayish-white.
The vulnerability hidden deep in her memories resurfaced.
As she recalled it, a line of bloody tears streamed down her face.
“There is nothing left to say. You will die too. You will just die a little later than me. It is only a pity… I will never see my child again…”
She spat out another mouthful of blood.
Her half-orc and human bloodline gave her incredibly tenacious vitality, yet it also made her suffer endless pain. She could neither live nor die.
Zhe Zilin closed his eyes.
The Dragon Slayer pierced into Tana’s chest, ending her life.
A spray of blood splashed across his face.
When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with indescribable complexity.
He raised his head and looked toward the direction of North City.
Suddenly, flames shot into the sky, making his heart sink.
He mounted his horse once more and galloped madly toward North City.
Scar shouted from behind, “Do not go! Let us escape quickly!”
Escape?
Yes, this was the best time to run. Osha was not here.
Ailia was not here. No one could restrain him.
He could escape this region together with the half-orcs.
But Zhe Zilin did not hesitate for even a moment. He resolutely charged toward North City.
Only the howling wind remained in his ears. Chaotic thoughts kept turning over in his mind.
Countless days and nights, he had thought about running away.
But now, all those thoughts of escape had completely disappeared.
Only one voice remained in his mind: Faster. Even faster!