Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 111 - 106: Three Arrows Set the Universe

Chapter 111: Chapter 106: Three Arrows Set the Universe

"Again!"

Li Hongyun began his trial once more.

The previous battle had proven that throwing spears to kill enemies was viable and also the most successful tactic he had at the moment.

But this move was so startling and unconventional that it easily drew the attention of the bandits.

Thus, he had to adopt a hit-and-run strategy—throw a spear and immediately change location.

"Follow me to slay the thieves!"

The General once more charged into the enemy ranks with a loud shout.

This time, Li Hongyun wised up and didn’t rush forward as before; instead, he shrank back a little and let the other soldiers take the lead.

Then, seizing the opportunity, he threw another spear, killing yet another bandit.

The seasoned bandit indeed noticed Li Hongyun again, but this time, Li Hongyun quickly retracted and hid behind the other soldiers.

The experienced bandit swung his blade and felled two soldiers but couldn’t reach Li Hongyun immediately.

Li Hongyun almost wanted to burst into triumphant laugher.

Confused, huh? We’ve got more people on our side!

As long as I stay behind and keep throwing spears, we’ll win eventually!

However, as Li Hongyun started searching the corpses underfoot for a second spear, the tide of battle turned once again.

The soldiers of the Great Sheng Dynasty began to retreat!

The soldiers at the very front fell by the dozens as soon as they clashed with the bandits, and what little morale they had took a severe hit.

Seeing these Eastern Barbarians charging at them with ferocious viciousness, many soldiers became frightened and turned to flee!

Their running triggered an instant collapse.

Li Hongyun was looking for a spear on the ground when suddenly he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the soil. Looking up, he saw a long spear had been tossed right in front of him.

"Eh, who has such good judgment?

Thanks a lot!"

Li Hongyun wondered if his comrades were being cooperative, knowing his skillful throwing could take out a bandit with each spear, had they intentionally passed their spears to him?

But on closer look, he was so mad he wanted to curse.

Who was "passing their spear to him"? They were clearly discarding their armor and weapons in fear!

He watched as the fleeing soldiers sprinted, all while tossing aside their rattan shields, waist knives, or spears to lighten their load and run faster.

It didn’t matter if they couldn’t outrun the bandits as long as they could outrun the other soldiers behind them!

Originally, Li Hongyun had been towards the rear of the battle formation, but in the blink of an eye, he found himself on the front line against the bandits!

What a damn mess this is!

Li Hongyun felt like impaling each and every one of these trash with a spear, but there was nothing he could do—the bandits were already upon him.

He put up a token resistance before finally falling to the savage blows of the barbarian blades.

Before hitting the ground, he seemed to see the General reaching a high slope on horseback, taking down the Zhenyuan Bow, seemingly about to draw and nock an arrow.

But then, everything went black for Li Hongyun, and he lost consciousness.

...

He died time and again, in various ways.

But Li Hongyun was not discouraged; instead, he became more valiant with each battle.

He knew he was trailblazing and had successfully found a battle strategy that suited him.

Although this method was a bit strange and didn’t quite fit in with the battlefield’s norms.

Earlier, when challenging the trial for scholars, he had read a guide in advance, which meant he knew the answers, but the downside was that it made him impatient.

A setback would easily cause him to doubt himself.

But now, experiencing this trial with a trailblazer’s mindset, he found the process much more enjoyable.

"Again!"

The Trial Illusion sprang into motion once more.

The General was still leading the charge into the fray, and the poorly trained soldiers were still crumbling at the first touch.

But this time, Li Hongyun was much more composed than before.

"Hit!"

He let loose the spear from his hand, striking a bandit.

The Wandering Warrior noticed Li Hongyun again and moved towards him.

But as if anticipating this, Li Hongyun turned and ran!

The Wandering Warrior was stunned, nearly getting ambushed by another soldier. By the time he looked again, Li Hongyun had already gained a considerable distance.

Many soldiers thought Li Hongyun was trying to escape, but he was not.

After running a distance, he conveniently arrived on a path a fleeing soldier had taken.

As the deserter tossed away his spear while running, Li Hongyun picked it up effortlessly.

This path, of course, had been planned during his many previous deaths.

"Hit!"

He posed again and speared another bandit.

The scene at this time was very strange. After engaging with the enemy, the troops of the Great Sheng Dynasty had already retreated. Many of the frontline soldiers had died in battle, and those at the back were in full flight, with the Eastern Barbarian burglars brandishing their sabers or long spears in pursuit.

But Li Hongyun was different.

On the surface, he appeared to be fleeing alongside the routed soldiers, but after every short run, he would stop, conveniently pick up a long spear discarded by someone else, and turn to precisely target one of the leading burglars for a throw.

The gaze of the burglars converged on Li Hongyun.

Clearly, Li Hongyun’s performance was too eye-catching to ignore.

He had actually managed to kill seven or eight burglars with just the throwing of long spears!

While the number of burglars was large, the ones Li Hongyun killed were almost all the elite at the forefront, a loss the burglars clearly couldn’t afford.

That hundred-battle Wandering Warrior once again took a leap, crossing past the other soldiers at an incredibly fast pace and directly charged towards Li Hongyun!

Li Hongyun was stunned for a moment, then nearly burst into curses.

Of course, it wasn’t the burglars he wanted to curse at, but these soldiers.

Are you guys really that useless?

He just ran past you, ignoring you all, and you guys didn’t think to launch a sneak attack?

Li Hongyun had thought he was safe in the midst of these retreating troops, but now he realized that the burglars were entering a no man’s land, and his own teammates were a bunch of fools.

This was like playing a game where the enemy assassin completely ignores your frontline and goes straight to the backline, while the frontline remains indifferent; after such a messy fight, the backline players are sure to type some choice words.

Li Hongyun frantically sought for another spear on the ground, but finding none, only a rattan shield.

He hurriedly lifted the rattan shield in a panic, barely blocking a slash, but the next was already upon him!

Just as he braced himself to start over, from afar came the "whoosh" of an arrow.

A feathered arrow struck the Wandering Warrior in the back, piercing through his armor and out his chest!

The blood-soaked arrowhead emerged from his front, clearly visible to Li Hongyun.

The arrow caused the Wandering Warrior’s strike to veer off, but even with such a grave injury, he did not immediately die.

Of course, Li Hongyun didn’t just stand there; he quickly picked up a waist knife that had been dropped and stabbed right through the Wandering Warrior!

The crisis was temporarily averted, and Li Hongyun looked up in the direction the arrow had come from.

He saw that the General had already ridden to higher ground, the Zhenyuan Bow in his hand drawn taut, as another arrow was released!

With the bow curved like a full moon and the arrow speeding like a shooting star, this time the target was a nimble burglar wielding a long spear.

This burglar was short in stature, but his archery skill was excellent, also at the forefront, having killed seven or eight soldiers of the Great Sheng.

At the sound of the bowstring, the burglar seemed to sense the danger and tried to dodge, but the arrow was a step faster.

With a "thud," it struck right between the eyes!

As this spear-wielding burglar wore no helmet, he was killed by the single arrow!

Even Li Hongyun was taken aback by what he saw.

This General was really too fierce!

Even more fierce than me, with my bestowed talent!

Could this be the main character of this instance, Deng Yuanjing, General Deng?

Subduing the Eastern Barbarians was a significant event in the Great Sheng Dynasty’s later periods, and Deng Yuanjing was the most meritorious commander. In fact, many players speculated before the instance began that the main character of it would surely be him.

At first, when entering the instance, Li Hongyun was not sure whether this General was Deng Yuanjing or some other commander from the subjugation campaign. After all, the historical records mentioned over a dozen named commanders involved in subduing the barbarians.

But now, seeing the combat style of this General, it was almost certain.

According to historical records, Deng Yuanjing’s riding, spearmanship, swordsmanship, and archery were all of an absolutely top-notch level, especially his archery, which was probably unmatched in the Great Sheng Dynasty’s later period.

The burglars who had previously fixed their gaze on Li Hongyun now shifted their attention to General Deng on higher ground.

The robust burglar wielding a large naginata, standing about one meter eighty-nine in height, quickly advanced towards General Deng!

Though Eastern Barbarian burglars were generally short in stature, there were exceptions. The historical records mentioned individuals as tall as six-foot-seven (about 1.90 meters), obviously towering like giants among the burglars.

Li Hongyun hurriedly picked up another long spear from the ground.

And at that moment, the burglar wielding the large naginata was already striking at General Deng!

Yet Deng Yuanjing was not panicked; he fired an arrow, hitting the burglar square in the chest.

However, unexpectedly, this tall and sturdy burglar, armor-clad, didn’t die from the arrow.

In the nick of time, a long spear flew through the air, hitting the burglar in the back!

Due to the great distance, and because Li Hongyun was lower down and had spent a lot of energy with his throws, the power of this spear was not very strong—it just managed to pierce through the armor.

But the impact caused the burglar’s stroke to veer off, and he slightly lost his balance.

Deng Yuanjing seized the moment and fired another arrow at point-blank range, hitting the burglar in the throat!

The three burglars with the strongest combat abilities, all dead!

As General Deng drew another arrow to his bow, the burglars were all stunned and began to retreat.

"Follow me in pursuit of the enemy!"

With a loud call from Deng Yuanjing, he sought to lead his soldiers in pursuit.

Li Hongyun was also very excited, picking up two more long spears from the ground and preparing to follow.

But General Deng looked at the soldiers and silently shook his head.

Li Hongyun was puzzled. Why aren’t we pursuing?

Turning his head, he saw that the soldiers were all pale-faced, gasping for breath, timid or weary; they were all sitting on the ground in disarray, obviously incapable of pursuit.

Li Hongyun couldn’t help but lament, "What a bunch of pig teammates!"