The robe was given to him by Sandru. It was dirty and smelly, originally meant to be thrown away as a body pad, yet he had to use six months of labor as collateral for it.
Asa had thought that Sandru was just talking nonsense and didn't take it seriously. He never cared about what he wore, as long as he wasn't cold. Although the robe was so filthy that its color was unrecognizable, he had kept it on without taking it off.
Fortunately, he hadn't taken it off. He now realized that he had gotten a bargain for just six months of hard labor.
When he fired the fireball at the vines around his waist, he had prepared himself to be injured. However, when the fireball exploded, the robe showed no signs of damage. He immediately understood why he hadn't sustained any injuries when facing that magic outside the forest.
When the dragon unleashed its green flames, he had curled himself into a ball, drawing his limbs into the robe. Just like when he was outside the forest, he felt the destructive magical energy raging around him, yet he remained unharmed—he had merely fallen from the high shoulder of the tree being and was buried under the rising ashes.
Hearing the red-robed man's unpleasant laughter, he slightly lifted his head from the ashes and saw the red-robed man moving toward the spring. He could tell that the three leaves in the spring were precisely what he had been searching for.
Jumping out suddenly to grab the leaves and escape? Absolutely not. Before he could clear this empty, scorched land, a light ball would explode on his back. The only option left was to take the initiative.
The red-robed man had eliminated all the obstructive tree beings and elves; now, he just needed to charge out and take down the red-robed man. Then the fish in this murky water would ultimately be his. Asa could see that the magic just unleashed had taken a significant toll on the red-robed man, making it the best opportunity to strike.
His knife had fallen onto the grass outside the forest, but Asa spotted a unicorn's horn on the ground. The green fire had turned the unicorn's bones to ashes, yet this horn remained completely undamaged. So, he leaped from the ashes, grabbed the horn, and charged at the red-robed man.
When the red-robed man saw Asa springing back to life from the ashes, he was even more shocked than when the cavalry had witnessed a corpse stand up. However, his gaze quickly fell upon Asa's robe, and he immediately understood the situation.
So he shouted, "Wait a moment…"
Asa could not afford to wait. This robe could resist magical flames; it might even withstand other spells, but it was still a soft robe and could not be impervious to blades and spears. He had seen how the light balls the red-robed man produced shattered massive tree beings; such a thing didn't even need to hit him directly—a nearby explosion would be enough to tear him apart. He couldn't wait for the red-robed man to gather magical energy for that.
The red-robed man's movements weren't quick, but he barely avoided Asa's initial attack. The sharp horn grazed his cheek, causing the skin to peel away, revealing the dark teeth and bones underneath, along with some dry muscle that clung to him like withered grass, but no blood flowed.
Asa was starting to panic. He hadn't pierced the red-robed man's head on the first strike. As long as the red-robed man still had magical energy left, he had ample time to gather it. Asa charged at him with all his strength, fueled by a desperate resolve: either the red-robed man dies or he does.
"You need to listen to me…" the red-robed man retreated. Even as he spoke, his lower jaw remained still, and the sound came directly from his throat. He was panicking; the golden light from the spring was growing ever brighter, and the elf maiden standing within looked like a work of art forged from gold. He had to act fast or he'd miss the chance. The red-robed man strained to push his voice out, saying, "I am—"
Before he could finish, the unicorn's horn pierced through his chest, emerging from his back, freezing all his actions and words in that instant.
But Asa's face revealed an incredulous and bizarre expression.
The unicorn's horn had indeed penetrated the red-robed man's body. It should have gone through his chest muscle, piercing between his fourth and fifth ribs, diagonally through the left lung, through the heart, grazing the right lung, and finally emerging from his back muscle. That was undoubtedly a fatal wound. However, he felt nothing he should have felt. There was no sensation of piercing flesh, no feeling of penetrating tissues—rather, it felt as if he had merely stabbed into a cage, devoid of substance, merely brushing against some branches, dry grass, or even sliding through a glass container.
Then, Asa immediately felt the red-robed man's withered hand lightly touch his abdomen, emanating a light that he could see without needing to lower his head.
A loud explosion sent Asa and countless bits of scorched earth soaring into the sky, with the red-robed man also being violently hurled backward. The place they had once stood was now a large crater blasted into the ground.
Blood gushed from Asa's mouth and nose, as if his body were eager to escape this existence that had grown tiresome, leaving a trail of crimson in his wake. Asa could sense that the rushing blood mixed with bits of his own liver, spleen, and intestines.
Even after sustaining such a massive blow, the robe that Sandru had given him showed no signs of damage. Yet he could feel that everything inside his abdomen was a chaotic mess, like a pot of boiled offal, with his abdominal muscles shredded and mingled with the scattered innards.
Asa felt neither pain nor fear; he only felt death.
He traced a feeble arc through the air, showering blood as he fell, and landed directly in the spring where the girl stood, splashing water all around. One of the three floating leaves was sent flying out of the spring by the impact.
The solar eclipse had fully ended, and the sun began to shine down unreservedly. The golden light in the spring had grown dazzlingly bright, as if there were a sun within the water. The elven maiden, who had stood still like a statue, suddenly opened her eyes in panic, looking at Asa, who lay at her feet.
The red-robed man struggled to rise from the ground and spotted the leaf on the ground. Against the charred earth, the leaf was so vibrantly green that it could make all living beings bow down in reverence. He picked it up with his desiccated, lifeless fingers, which trembled as he did so.
He looked up; the golden light in the spring remained bright, yet the harmonious scene had been shattered. Asa's upper body was submerged in the water, while his legs lay awkwardly on the rocks at the water's edge, as if he were leisurely soaking in a bath. The maiden beside him was desperately trying to push Asa away from the water's edge.
A group of elves and tree beings appeared at the edge of the scorched earth, rushing toward them. The red-robed man quickly turned and fled, his posture clumsy and frantic as he clutched the leaf in his hand. Despite his awkwardness, he laughed triumphantly, as if he were a wolf that had finally devoured all one hundred sheep guarded by a shepherd dog.
Even the water couldn't muffle the red-robed man's unpleasant laughter. Submerged in the water, Asa listened, feeling that he had never faced such failure in his life, and it seemed this would be his final defeat. He hadn't caught the fish; instead, he had been caught and killed by others.
I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die…
This once-powerful thought that had provided him with strength and resolve in adversity now echoed in his mind like the delirious murmurs of a dying man, weak and futile. No matter how desperately he yearned, he felt life slipping away from him, bit by bit.
It was as if someone was pushing him hard, but he didn't have the strength to care anymore. His vision was filled with golden light; water rushed into his mouth and nose, as if the brilliance within the water were also flooding into his body. Enveloped in this radiant glow, his consciousness began to fade, feeling as if he were melting into the dazzling light.
Dying in the sun…? This was his final thought.