The arrow tore through the air, shooting toward Nathan.
Nathan was about to finish off the severely injured Porter on the ground when the sound of rushing air reached the back of his head.
A warning alarm blared in his mind. He violently jerked his body aside. The arrow grazed his arm guards, letting out a harsh, metallic screech. The force behind this shot was heavier and faster than the previous probing arrow!
“That kid again!” Nathan's heart violently shuddered.
When he blocked Matthew's previous arrow, he already felt the other party's archery was extraordinary. However, this arrow shot to save Porter was clearly superior in both speed and penetration, revealing the true strength the youth unleashed in a moment of crisis.
His footsteps faltered. He immediately abandoned his plan to finish Porter off, forcing his body to spin around. Holding his scimitar horizontally in front of him, he stared toward the source of the arrow with absolute vigilance and caution.
This brief pause happened to grant Porter a sliver of hope. Although Porter was severely injured, his rich combat instincts remained.
Seizing the moment when Nathan was forced back by the arrow and his attention was diverted, Porter summoned his last breath. Using both hands and feet, he did everything he could to crawl and roll back toward the caravan's defensive line.
Nathan caught a glimpse of Porter's pathetic escape from the corner of his eye and quickly made a judgment.
“This guy's internal organs are damaged, and his life energy has collapsed. He has no strength left to fight in the short term. He's no longer a threat.”
He stopped looking at Porter, turning his full attention instead to the true threat... Matthew.
Immediately after, a wave of intense, searing pain surged from his limbs and bones.
He secretly calculated:
“Although the secret technique of burning blood and qi forcibly raised my strength, the side effects have already begun to manifest. The energy in my body is chaotic; this state won't last much longer...”
Time was of the essence!
He had to end this quickly!
He snapped his head up, his gaze like a beast looking to devour its prey, locking onto Matthew in the distance.
His eyes swirled with extremely complex emotions: fury at his plans being disrupted, hatred for Valentine's death, and even more, a sense of humiliation and madness at being repeatedly pressured and even vaguely threatened by a young junior.
All of these negative emotions ultimately condensed into a singular, murderous intent directed solely at Matthew.
“I must eliminate this variable first!”
Nathan's mind raced, and he hesitated no longer.
Letting out a low roar, he ignored the fleeing Porter and channeled all his remaining physical strength into his legs. His body transformed into a bloody afterimage, charging toward Matthew's position at an astonishing speed!
Matthew had already anticipated this.
Seeing Nathan turn his spearhead to charge straight at him, his expression remained unchanged. He immediately leaped onto a horse that had been prepared nearby. Shaking the reins, he galloped toward the open grasslands behind the caravan.
Seeing Matthew attempting to flee on horseback, a fierce light flashed in Nathan's eyes.
He knew his blood-burning state could not last. He absolutely could not allow his greatest threat to widen the distance.
In a flash, his figure darted. Instead of chasing Matthew directly, he swept like a ghost toward a young adventurer who was retreating in panic.
It was Paxson, who had fallen behind because he couldn't dodge in time when the defensive line was breached earlier. Nathan's iron-like hand clamped around Paxson's throat, lifting him up like a chicken to shield himself.
“Kid!” Nathan roared. “Stop! Or I'll snap his neck!”
Choked, Paxson's face instantly turned a deep, purplish red. His eyes filled with despair as he struggled in vain, unable to make any coherent sound.
Matthew pulled the reins and turned back to look.
His gaze swept over Paxson's suffocated, contorted face. His eyes were calm and placid, without a single ripple of emotion.
He had no relationship with this temporarily recruited adventurer; they hadn't even spoken more than a few words to each other.
On this battlefield where life and death hung by a thread, the other man's survival had absolutely nothing to do with his core interests.
Moreover, if he showed even a shred of hesitation or mercy right now, not only would he fail to save Paxson, but he would also play right into Nathan's hands, dragging the entire caravan into an even more perilous situation.
What was more, his trump cards, such as the 【Oath Ring】 and 【Energy Missile】, could only be safely used when he was away from the crowd.
“Nathan,”
Matthew's voice was so calm it bordered on cold.
“If you think using the life of an unrelated person will force my hand, you are far too naive. This will only waste what little time you have left.”
“You forcibly activated a secret technique. Though your aura seems to have surged, it is actually chaotic and unstable, making it impossible to sustain.
Even if you slaughter everyone in the caravan, once this burst of energy passes and the backlash of your power leaves you weakened...”
Matthew lightly rotated his wrist, the edge of Dawn reflecting a sliver of cold light under the sun.
“Slaying you will be as easy as reaching into my pocket.”
At these words, Nathan's pupils shrank violently.
“Damn it! This brat... his heart is actually so cold and unyielding!”
He also knew in his heart that the youth was right. Entangling himself with an insignificant adventurer here and wasting his precious peak state was no different from digging his own grave.
The price he paid to activate this state was immense. If he could not quickly slay Matthew, once he ran out of strength on this open grassland, even if he wanted to turn around and flee on horseback, he would likely be hunted down and killed.
Having realized this, he hesitated no longer.
“Hmph!”
Snorting coldly, he tossed the nearly unconscious Paxson aside like a piece of useless garbage, crashing him into the corner of a carriage.
Paxson let out a muffled groan and slumped to the ground, his life or death unknown. But Nathan did not spare him another glance.
“Then let's see... who dies first!”
He growled low. The ground beneath his feet cracked as his entire body turned into a bloody afterimage once more, lunging toward Matthew at an even greater speed than before!
He poured all his remaining strength into his legs, and his speed actually surpassed a horse's initial acceleration in that short burst!
Seeing this, a flash of joy flickered in the depths of Matthew's eyes. He shook the reins, urging his mount toward the deeper, more open parts of the grasslands.
The wind howled in his ears, but the chilling murderous intent behind him followed like a shadow, closing in at a terrifying speed!
Dozens of seconds later, the two had already distanced themselves from the caravan's defensive line.
The figures of Matthew and Nathan, one chasing and the other fleeing, quickly vanished into the depths of the vast grasslands, leaving behind only a messy defensive line of carriages and countless anxious, watching eyes.
...
...
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