Three skeletons instantly entered battle mode.
Director Sa and Teacher Xia, both agile, jumped out of the windows to the left and right to escape.
Brother Yang grabbed Heine and leapt down from the carriage.
The horse, pierced through the neck, staggered drunkenly and slammed into the bushes, instantly reducing the carriage and horse to ruins.
A pang of loss stabbed at Heine's heart.
That horse and carriage had cost him 3 Gold Coins, how many buns would he have had to sell back then...
Director Sa anxiously said, "Didn't you guys say this guy is perceptive? Why hasn't he directed me to climb the tree and scout the situation? It's clear that the arrows came from high up!"
Heine immediately raised a hand to point:
"You, go up high and search for traces of the enemy, mark the path with your arrows!"
Director Sa was taken aback, then quickly scrambled up the tree.
"What the heck, for real? He can't actually hear us talking, can he?"
Teacher Xia replied, "Rest assured, how many times did you say 'why don't we just kill him and divide the luggage' yesterday? If he could really hear us, you'd be reduced to dust by now."
"Besides, you're the only one with a ranged weapon; what are we supposed to do, stare down the enemy from up there?"
"That makes sense..."
Amidst their conversation, none of them were idle.
Zhuo Yang was covering Heine, guarding against sneaky arrows, while Teacher Xia silently disappeared into the forest, waiting for Director Sa's signals.
Director Sa appeared to be quite the chatterbox, constantly analyzing and talking while he observed. His mouth never seemed to stop.
"This is definitely an elven handiwork; normal folks don't enjoy shooting arrows from trees, they become easy targets once discovered.
"Elves are different, they come with natural forest camouflage. When they take their stand, it's just like being in stealth.
"And those arrows, the standard-issue arrows from Cui Yeting. Before the battle of Mourningwood Valley, they were all wooden-tipped, cost-effective, but prone to splitting.
"I see them now, this direction!"
With an arrow shot, the three below immediately took action.
"Don't worry about me, go up and provide support," Heine instructed.
Zhuo Yang obeyed and moved forward.
Director Sa anxiously asked, "Aren't you afraid he'll turn on us?"
"I believe Heine has his reasons for doing this."
Director Sa exclaimed in surprise, "Damn, Brother Yang has lost it. Teacher Xia, you better talk some sense into him!"
"Actually, I feel the same way."
"...Is he possibly an Undead Succubus? What's gotten into both of you?"
Heine was at a loss for words.
He did indeed have his reasons for acting this way.
He guessed that this group must have been stirred up by Jianglu. That arrow wasn't aimed at a person; it was either to lure the enemy in deeper or to give him a break.
Obviously, Teacher Xia's inadvertent act was taken as a gesture of goodwill by him, hence this situation.
Regardless of her actual motive, part of it was about hindering him from assisting Arthur to investigate the Haunted Farm.
How could this be acceptable!
Just the other night, Xiya La had asked him the same question again, which he had gently rejected.
He claimed that he wanted to share a common fate with this land, even if it meant turning into scorched earth together.
The facade was set; he had to save the Makala mountain region no matter what!
At this moment, Heine was filled with motivation!
...
Daken was filled with regret.
Tremendous regret.
He should never have accepted what seemed like an easy task, nor should he have volunteered to lure the enemy deeper into the trap.
He had initially planned to deliberately slow down to allow his pursuers to keep up with him, but to his astonishment, the skeletons doggedly chased him even as he tried to escape at full speed.
What sort of skeletons were these, even the monkeys in Whispering Forest weren't this agile, right?!
What's more, he never imagined that his pride in his agility would fail to shake off the pursuer even among the treetops...
What a joke, why did that skeleton seem to know the terrain better than he did?
He was certain he was faster than his pursuer, but it stubbornly clung to him like a plaster...
Daken was fuming. He felt he could no longer keep running like this.
At least, he couldn't keep running so disgracefully.
The camp was just ahead, and if his comrades saw his pathetic state, who knew what they would make of him...
A creepy skeleton, huh? No matter how creepy, it's still just a damn undead!
If it's undead, it deserves to die!
He grew irritated at the thought of the once vibrant forests being infected by a deathly stillness due to the undead.
Daken suddenly dropped down in front of a tree branch, his right hand fiercely grasping the trunk, swinging a full circle.
He swung up high, twisting his body midair, drawing his bowstring taut!
A gentle breeze cradled his body, which for a moment seemed to hang motionless in the air.
He locked his breath firmly onto the moving skeleton ahead.
Abominable creature, die!
Whoosh!
This arrow, which had to be shot, pierced through the air, but Daken just saw the other party raise their right hand and flicked it quickly three times.
What?
He saw nothing clearly when his arrow was split in two from the middle.
At the same time, a streak of purple light kept growing larger in his field of vision...
Too close...
This was his last thought before his consciousness plunged into darkness.
"Are you still going to run?"
Director Sa landed beside Daken's corpse.
The elf had a dark, corroding wound in the center of his forehead, eyes wide open in death.
"You come out shooting others' horses without perfecting your craft, is this how Cui Yeting teaches you, really."
Director Sa grumbled, but his actions were gentle as he removed the other's recurve bow and quiver.
He positioned the elf's body upright, leaning against a tree, crossed the hands over the chest, and closed the eyes for him.
"The wind through the trees will guide your way home."
He didn't care whether he had the skill or not; he just followed the ritual.
A breeze blew by, as if to acknowledge his actions.
The other two finally arrived late.
Teacher Xia: "How did it go... oh, it's already over? Nice job, Director Sa."
"This one's a rookie, around level 7 or 8."
"We won't lose reputation, right? Not sure if there are any spirits of the plants watching here." asked Zhuo Yang.
"No, I performed the rites over him. Plus, we didn't slaughter him, he died in a duel with an archer, he should have been prepared for this."
Zhuo Yang: "You can perform last rites too? How professional...Don't tell me you're also a role-playing gamer?"
"That's not quite it, but brother here did manage to obtain the Sighing Bow, so I'm at least half an elf now, some immersion is there."
Director Sa checked Daken's clothes, then looked in the direction he had run from.
"There's likely an elf outpost nearby, shall we go?"
Teacher Xia: "Let's wait for Heine, have a little sympathy for cloth armor's slow speed. Hurry and put the equipment back, we'll allocate it when he arrives, didn't we agree not to act too smart?"
"What a hassle..."
Despite his complaining, Director Sa quickly did as told.
Contrary to the three people's expectations, Heine arrived quickly.
This was thanks to the experience orb that had headed straight for him giving him the direction.
He first inspected Daken's clothing thoroughly, then looked back the way he had come.
"No supplies, and only a few arrows left, the camp must not be far from here."
He muttered to himself as he took the other's bow and quiver and handed them to Director Sa.
"Nicely done, this stuff is yours now."
Director Sa: "Should I bow to him?"
Zhuo Yang hurriedly said: "You'd better not."
"Haha, just kidding, I'll play the fool for you guys."
Director Sa took the weapons, stuffed the quiver into his own ribcage with a simple-minded look.
Heine was amused on the inside, but sighed and helped him with the equipment and posture on the outside.
"You were a respectable archer in life, too, I suppose, ah well..."
He laughed and shook his head:
"Keep going this direction, be cautious."
The man and his three skeletons slowed their pace and after about ten minutes, they heard a sound.
It was in Elvish.
Heine, who had studied it, could understand.
After discovering he couldn't summon the undead, he learned two additional languages, which now came in handy.
"Cover me, I'm going to talk to them. You come with me, you two stay hidden."
He called for Zhuo Yang, making no effort to hide their movements.
"Who's there!?"
An elf on alert.
In the rudimentary campsite were two females and one male, all seeming quite young, with Jianglu absent among them.
Just as Heine appeared and before he could speak, the three immediately launched an attack.
Two arrows flew out, one to the left and one to the right, the left one was shot down by an arrow, while the right one was knocked down by two throwing knives.
"It's really annoying if we can't communicate..."
Heine swallowed back his intended words.
He released two curses on the fastest charging person.
To his surprise, the charging elf suddenly raised a sword ablaze with fire, sending a crescent of heat waves toward him.
Heine calmly dodged behind Zhuo Yang.
With two thuds, the heat wave shattered against the chopping board.
The wood was unharmed, with only its qi of fresh blood dispersed.
In response came a bone spear and a skeleton with double daggers attacking from an angle.