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"Damn it!"
Casper cursed loudly.
How could he forget?!... How could he forget that the most dangerous person he's walking with is Harold?!!
Harold's life had always been in danger to the point that assassination threats became part of his daily routine, due to people opposing the peace treaty or those who wanted to start a war again, whether they were humans or The Flynns.
After all, Harold's hatred for both races didn't come from nowhere!
Now you're telling me I got involved in an assassination plot just because I'm with Harold, right?!
Damn it… Damn it… Damn it… Should I have just followed those three? I shouldn't have gone after Harold!
Now, he truly understood why his luck had been classified as - G!!
The world was unfair.
"Haha."
He took a deep breath.
He had to calm down! Yes, he needed to calm down in order to think of a plan to escape this situation.
Maybe Harold could survive this incident because he was the last villain in the story, but not him!
The story needed Harold alive for it to continue, but not him! How could a character who wasn't even mentioned and died before the story started possibly survive when the main plot began?!!
Death was chasing him. It whispered that it was time to step aside and let the plot continue as it was, but he couldn't do it. No, he wouldn't let death take him now. He had to live!
To return to his world.
The man looked at them, drawing a smile on his face. He pulled his bow, and as soon as he did, a red mana arrow formed.
The moment Harold and Casper saw the arrow form, they both instinctively took two steps back.
The man laughed as he saw them retreat and spoke.
"Actually, I don't like killing kids… But what can I do? The price was too high to refuse!! So I hope you both understand, okay?"
Shh!
As soon as the man spoke those words, he released his arrow.
The arrow shot out like a hurricane, cutting through everything in its path, heading straight for Harold. It was so fast that Casper found it difficult to follow.
Harold drew his sword instinctively to block the arrow.
The wind exploded around them when Harold's sword met the man's arrow, and a grunt escaped Harold's lips as the arrow's force forced him to retreat a little.
Harold gritted his teeth when he saw Casper staring at him like an idiot and shouted,
"Damn it!!... Don't just stand there like an idiot, move!!"
Casper snapped out of his daze when he heard Harold's angry shouts telling him to move.
He felt panicked.
Move?! What do you mean, move?! One wrong move from me and the man's arrow will strike me and pierce my heart!!
"Damn it, just shoot one of your damn arrows!"
Harold shouted at Casper, while trying to dodge the arrows aimed at him with difficulty.
Using a bow? Yeah, great idea, but he was terrible at archery!! He knew that the moment he drew his bow, his arrow wouldn't reach the killer—it would just attract the killer's attention towards him!!
And he didn't want that! He didn't want to die!!
Damn it, I'm just a college student!
He was just a regular student like the others, studying to get good grades to qualify for a well-paying job!!
So who was the madman who brought an ordinary student into a crazy world where people kill each other?
He was scared. What if his arrow hit the man and killed him? Would that make him a killer too?! He had seen a lot of bloodshed before, but that didn't mean he wanted to kill someone in cold blood!!
He knew it was just stupidity. He had to defend himself because, after all, he wasn't the one who started the attack and wanted to kill the man in the black mask. But what could he do? He was just a foolish human!!
He had to escape.
That was the only idea that came to his mind. But first, he needed to get Harold closer to the killer so that his attention would be distracted and Casper could escape without being followed.
With this idea, Casper shakily grabbed his bow in an attempt to fire an arrow at the killer.
He just needed to distract him so Harold could get closer, not kill him.
Alright!!
Casper bent his back slightly, closed his left eye, aimed his bow at the killer, and drew the string. Then, the arrow flew.
"...."
Silence.
A deep silence enveloped the place.
Casper silently watched the arrow he released, which didn't even travel halfway between him and the killer before falling awkwardly to the ground.
"...."
"...."
"....."
It seemed that his awkward actions didn't go unnoticed by the other two, as an awkward silence filled the air. Both stopped fighting and stared between Casper and the embarrassing arrow he had fired.
The silence was soon broken by the killer's loud laughter.
"Ha!"
"What the hell... you can't even use your weapon?!!"
Harold growled at Casper while giving him a look that said he was the most pitiful person he'd ever seen in his life.
Of course, Casper skillfully avoided his gaze. He felt truly embarrassed!! He knew his archery skills were terrible, but he didn't expect them to be this bad, to the point where his arrow didn't even cover half the distance between him and the killer.
"Tsk."
Harold clicked his tongue before turning his attention back to the killer. The killer had been distracted for a few seconds by Casper's embarrassing arrow, but those few seconds were enough for Harold to change the balance of the fight.
Harold grabbed his sword and charged toward the masked man. The masked man regained his composure when he felt a cold wind rushing toward him. He was surprised when he saw Harold closing the distance quickly, using tree branches as footholds. He had already covered about a quarter of the 50-meter distance between them in a few seconds.
The killer felt real danger this time. After all, he was just an archer, not a close-combat specialist. If Harold got close to him, his chance of survival would be impossible.
So, the masked man drew his bow and fired three red beams resembling arrows toward Harold.
Harold's silver hair fluttered, and his eyes glinted coldly as he watched the red beams shooting toward him. With great skill and agility, he dodged the first two arrows by jumping from tree to tree. Just as he thought he had dodged the third one, he was surprised by another set of four arrows flying toward him.
He gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and tried to dodge as many arrows as he could, using his sword to deflect the ones targeting vital areas. Of course, he couldn't avoid all of them, as some arrows grazed or pierced his body.
His breathing was ragged, and blood flowed from various wounds on his body, but despite all that, he continued to swing his sword and dodge the arrows with agility, making his way toward the killer.
"This is my chance."
Casper muttered as he watched Harold slip closer to the killer.
Although his plan to distract the killer by shooting arrows to get Harold closer had failed—and his arrow hadn't even reached the killer—he had somehow managed to distract the killer's attention long enough for Harold to close in.
This was the perfect opportunity to escape since Harold would be distracting the killer, allowing Casper to slip away unnoticed.
Casper threw his bow and arrows to the ground and prepared to run. After all, the bow was just a burden that would slow him down.
Shh!
As Casper tried to sneak through the trees and escape, he felt something strong strike his stomach, forcing him to stumble backward a few steps and crash into a tree.
"Ugh!"
Warm liquid spilled from his mouth.
He felt intense pain, so much so that he couldn't even scream. Instead, he coughed up some blood.
He felt as if his stomach and all his organs had been crushed when he was struck in the stomach. And when his back hit the tree, the pain intensified, and he felt as if his spine had been shattered!
Ugh, this hurts!!
It was painful as hell. This was the first time he'd experienced such intense pain in his life!
His vision blurred, and he was on the verge of losing consciousness when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
He raised his gaze slightly.
There, standing in front of him, was a man in a black cloak covering his entire body, with a mask on his face.
"You're so pathetic that I feel embarrassed by your actions."
The man spoke with clear disgust in his voice.
Casper smirked bitterly when he realized who was standing in front of him.
Another killer...
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