Han Shuo understood that Erick must have increased his speed and was rushing towards him to kill him, just like Erick had killed Dylan, because he could feel the killing intent gradually approaching from behind.
At that moment, Han Shuo concentrated for the first time in his life. Perhaps it was because of his training, but Han Shuo now not only had an extremely agile body, but was also much more bold than before. Had he been his old self, there would have been nothing but fear left in his heart.
The magic yuan in Han Shuo's body was swirling much faster than normal at this moment. As he ran, he felt as if his body had inexhaustible energy. Coupled with the fact that he was extremely familiar with the terrain, he was actually widening the gap between himself and Erick as he darted left and right while running.
"Eh!" Erick was surprised as he hadn't expected Han Shuo to be able to run so fast. Not only was he a fast runner, but his direction kept changing without warning. Erick's face grew hard as Han Shuo was about to disappear from sight, and the longsword in his hand began to glow with a dark green sheen. He forcefully picked up some large rocks that were nearby.
As Han Shuo ran further away, he felt that he was sprinting smoothly and in good shape. As he realised that he was leaving Erick's aura behind, the joy of surviving a cataclysm rose in his heart.
At that moment, two sound waves boomed in the air. All Han Shuo knew was that both of his legs had been hit several times. He immediately dropped to his knees and fell flat on his face as he ran away. His face stuck to the dirt and his entire body fell to the ground.
"Little guy, sorry about that!"
Erick shouted apologetically as he flicked the long sword in his hand. A ball of dark green light materialised and quickly flew towards Han Shuo.
His mind clearer than ever, Han Shuo felt the magic yuan in his body churning madly. His legs, which had been incredibly sore moments before, were no longer as painful. Facing the deadly blow, Han Shuo pushed himself off the ground with both hands and feet and rolled to the left.
Clang!
The ball of dark green light from Erick's longsword landed where Han Shuo had been lying. Several cracks crisscrossed the hard ground like a chessboard. Each crack was several metres deep. If Han Shuo had still been there, he would probably have been torn to pieces.
"I really didn't see anything, don't kill me!" Han Shuo was terrified after dodging the blow and taking in the state of the ground. He spoke with a twisted expression as he hurriedly scrambled up, preparing to run for his life once more.
Little fella, you're pretty quick for someone so skinny, but today you saw something you shouldn't have. Sorry, I have to kill you!" Erick shrugged and smiled resignedly.
A few stones the size of a person's head flew up as he flicked his sword and came hurtling towards Han Shuo. Han Shuo got a bit scared and dodged anxiously from side to side. As he was dodging, Erick silently appeared behind Han Shuo, and a ball of dark green light sank into his body with a flick of Erick's long sword.
Suddenly, Han Shuo flew out and once again kissed the ground with all his limbs thrown out. The pain from his spine was intense and bone deep, and the magical yuan within his body gathered furiously in his back, tightly encircling the dark green aura that had landed in Han Shuo's body.
"Huh... why do I feel like I've lost a bit of combat aura? This is a bit strange. Did I overexert myself? Hmm. Yes, that must be it. That kid runs fast, good thing he's finally taken care of!"
Han Shuo was ready to run again when he heard Erick muttering to himself. Han Shuo's current body condition was the same as when Claude's combat aura had attacked his body, but the only difference was that Erick's dark green aura was even stronger. The magic yuan couldn't completely enclose it, so Han Shuo's back was a mess of blood and flesh, looking quite terrifying.
Han Shuo held his breath as a thought struck him and lay there, afraid to move a single muscle. But at that moment, the little skeleton seemed to sense Han Shuo's danger and seemed to be on its way to defend its master. Perhaps due to the extraordinary amount of pain he was in, Han Shuo's mental strength seemed to be more focused than ever, and so he gave an order at the last minute for the little skeleton to stay where it was.
The tomb the little skeleton was in was a bit far away from Duke. But if it crawled out of the tomb to hurry here, Duke would definitely discover it. Although he didn't know Duke's rank, Han Shuo could tell from previous events that he was extremely powerful, and he didn't want the little skeleton to rush to its death.
Erick panted a few times, mumbled a bit more, then picked Han Shuo up by the collar and led him to a crumbling tomb nearby. He didn't bother to check Han Shuo's condition as he confidently threw Han Shuo's body into the tomb, acting as if Han Shuo had already died naturally.
This was understandable, as Han Shuo was just an ordinary messenger boy. He would naturally die after being struck by a senior knight, how could there be any exceptions?
Erick did not linger after throwing Han Shuo into the tomb and immediately followed his original route back. After a while, there was no more movement in this area.
Han Shuo's back hurt like hell and he was busy mentally cursing all of Erick's and Duke's families. It wasn't until an hour later that he dared to climb out of the tomb.
He made some effort to touch his back and found it a little sticky. When he saw the blood on his hand, he made a mental note of the incident. If there was a chance in the future, he would pay it back with interest. Grimacing at the pain, he cautiously made his way to the previous clearing. He crept stealthily the whole way, deeply afraid that they might still be there.
Han Shuo discovered that even Dylan's body had disappeared when he finally made it back. Looks like they've thrown it into one of the nearby graves by accident. He summoned the little skeleton from its hiding place and left, cursing loudly as he went. He kept thinking, "Damn, I'm out of luck. Looks like I should avoid training here for the next few days.
He suddenly stopped at a certain spot and looked down at the dirt beneath his feet. Han Shuo remembered that Dylan had fallen here while running for his life and buried a grey bag under his feet. Duke and Erick seemed to have discussed searching Dylan for something, could it be the bag Dylan had just buried?
Gritting his teeth in pain, he bent down and carefully pawed at the soft dirt on the ground, picking up the grey bag. It weighed heavily in his hand and clanked when he shook it. The material and style of this bag was so much better than the one he was using. He tugged at the drawstring, shoved his hand inside and pulled out a few silver coins.
"I'm rich, I'm rich!" Han Shuo knew that silver coins were the currency of this world. Bryan had never held a single silver coin in his years as an errand slave. Now, looking at the coins in his hand, Han Shuo couldn't help but laugh. Even the pain in his back wasn't as bad as before.
Swoosh!
He dumped the contents of the bag onto the ground, revealing a dark green jade box the size of a palm. It was quite heavy and cool to the touch. There was a depression that appeared to be a keyhole, and indeed a green key beside the box.
However, this was not the centre of Han Shuo's attention. His eyes were glued to the coins in front of him and he smiled stupidly and repeated, "I'm rich, rich!"
Three gold coins, 12 silver coins, and 56 bronze coins. That was the money in the bag. One gold coin could be exchanged for 100 silver coins and one silver coin could be exchanged for 100 bronze coins. Even with Han Shuo's improved rations, a day's worth of bread, milk and fried eggs was less than ten silvers. If that money were exchanged for food, it would be enough for two years of his rations.
Bryan had originally been sold to the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Strength for five gold pieces. The money here would have lasted half his life.
After a bout of extreme joy, Han Shuo smiled broadly as he put the money back into the bag. His eyes then landed on the dark green jade box and the green key. He frowned as he remembered Duke and Erick's clothes. It was obvious that the two were persons of some stature,Duke's robes and staff were particularly priceless.
Although these coins were a great fortune to him, they would be nothing to Duke. They wouldn't have hunted Dylan for this money and even killed Han Shuo for it.
Were they after the contents of this jade box?
Han Shuo's gaze focused on the dark green jade box sitting still on the ground as his thoughts travelled down this path. Under the moonlight, the jade box glowed with a faint green glow that was invisible to the untrained eye. The hazy green glow was extremely faint and had an unearthly beauty to it.
As Han Shuo silently gazed at the jade box, concentrating his mental power with unusual clarity, he suddenly felt an eerie cold presence emanating from the box. The box flowed up Han Shuo's mental energy and travelled almost to his bones. Han Shuo shuddered uncontrollably and closed his eyes tightly.
This box was a bit strange!
He took a deep breath, calmed down, and looked around paranoidly. He quickly put the jade box and the key back into the grey bag and staggered back to the warehouse.
Back in the warehouse, Han Shuo did not study the jade box any further, and even temporarily left the money alone. He hid the handbag under the bed with some trepidation, ordered the little skeleton to wash and dress his back, and then fell into a deep sleep.