Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 418: Hunter and Prey (2)

Chapter 418: Hunter and Prey (2)

Malin turned his head again, the explosion sounds coming from the woods made him realize that there were major problems today, and the signal that burst in the sky made Faye recognize it, the girl’s voice resonating in Malin’s mind: "It’s the battle mage’s alarm signal, don’t go there, he’s already dead."

"Is that the ultimate signal that uses the soul as the trigger?" Jessica had heard about this, and her question was affirmed by Faye: "Yes, the ultimate signal, the scarlet signal, a third-ring battle mage. There are many ways that such a mage can be killed, but to be pushed to ignite his own soul... the opponent is not so simple."

Faye’s explanation made Malin resolute in his belief that the farther away from there, the better: "Let’s go, girls."

As they continued through the woods, Fio occasionally whispered in Malin’s ear, the thorns it had planted along the way sometimes felt something pursuing them.

This was bad news, but the good news was that they seemed unable to sniff out the scent, relying only on the tiny traces they left behind to pursue them. This significantly delayed their movements, and they were led astray several times by the false paths Malin had left for them.

"Something is pursuing us." Malin relayed this information to Faye, who pondered for a moment: "There are many things that could be tracking us, I think it might be war dogs." She looked toward the war dogs at the bottom of the slope: "But it’s unlikely, although we’re in the south, wild varieties of war dogs are not uncommon. The enemy probably didn’t think we’d have war dogs, which is why they were led on the wrong path. However, I suggest you’d better keep these war dogs farther from us."

"I’ll have Lorrin take them further away." Malin accepted Faye’s advice, and Lorrin quickly disappeared from Malin’s sight with the dogs, thus, even if their tracks were found, it should be unlikely to think those big dogs and their pursued target were traveling together.

After crossing another hill, Malin saw the campsite—in the clearing, the apprentices had chosen a good spot. Under normal circumstances, choosing a clearing to camp is conducive to defense against possible surprise attacks. After all, in the southern woods, green skins are considered the toughest to deal with, and they mostly live at the border of the Western province and the southern woods, rarely moving southward. Moreover, the apprentices are somewhat skilled, at the very least capable of escaping green skins if not defeating them.

It’s just unfortunate that these skills seemed inadequate against ogres.

"Strange, there’s no investigation team in the camp, did they go back?"

Jessica lay on the ground, looking puzzled at the situation in the camp through her monocular telescope, then handed it to Malin: "I can’t see anyone, but the investigation team’s tents are still there."

"No need to look, there’s definitely a problem." After saying this, Malin patted the backpack on his back, and Milani crawled out of the bag, understood Malin’s intention, climbed a tree, and headed towards the campsite to scout.

"We’ll go around from the west, to the north." Sensing a change in the wind direction, Malin decided to continue hiding downwind—better to have both sides clash if the campsite was uncertain and there were enemies pursuing from behind.

Halfway through their detour, Jessica first smelled something. Under her lead, Malin and the others found a body.

A senior student from the Church of the War God, likely a member of the investigation team, he died near a small river, impaled to the ground with an uncleaned branch that entered his back.

"He must have been nailed there." Jessica pointed to the top of the nearby hill.

"That requires great strength, an ogre?" Faye took a glance at the location, asking somewhat uncertainly.

"No, the tool that trimmed the branch was very sharp, I don’t think ogres have weapons that sharp. According to the intelligence, the apprentices who were killed by ogres were dismembered with stone blades."

Saying this, Malin sighed: "Ogres might not always get full meals in the woods, if they were the killers, they wouldn’t leave such a big piece of meat here." Just as he finished speaking, Malin noticed a warning from Melo up the hill.

Malin immediately stood up, and Faye activated an invisibility sphere. She and Jessica carefully moved behind some rocks, starting to move away from the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Malin pulled up the hood of his camouflage suit and hid next to some rocks and moss, blending perfectly with the terrain.

After a while, an old man with a child walked up to the top of the hill.

"Grandpa, there’s another dead person over there." The child said somewhat proudly, seeming to show off his eyesight and foolishness to his elder.

Indeed, the old man smacked his grandson’s head: "If the person who killed them were here, you and I would already be dead."

Then the old and young descended the slope, checked the body, and crossed the river from a shallow area.

It wasn’t until then that Malin began to move his body. Milani climbed down from the tree, bringing a piece of not-so-fresh news—everyone in the camp was dead.

"Everyone in the camp is dead." After telling the girls, Malin led them across the riverbank too. Once he confirmed the old and young duo had been very careful and left no trace, Malin continued north.

"We can start looking for your brother now, Jessica. Does your family have any secret marks? Keep an eye out for them yourself." Malin didn’t want to act like an all-knowing being, leaving the matter to Jessica to handle. He climbed a small hill, then immediately lay down on the ground.

Jessica grabbed Faye—who was about to follow and climb the hill—by the arm.

"What’s wrong?" Jessica climbed up.

"Ogres, one of them, the other might be obscured by trees." Malin pointed to the distance where an ogre was advancing in their direction, possibly attracted by the child’s earlier voice.

After a short walk, another ogre came out from behind the trees.

Good, it looked like both ogres were there.

"What shall we do?" Jessica asked, looking at the two immense creatures, uncertain of what to do next.

"...kill it." Malin looked at the ogre, his heart bursting with an uncontrollable urge to kill—such monsters couldn’t be allowed to roam the woods; they had to be slain.

With this thought in mind, Malin signaled Jessica and Faye to move to a position fifteen meters to his left.

Then Malin stood up.

He unfolded his pulley bow, pulled an arrow from his quiver, then swapped the arrowhead with a small triggering device from his pouch.

The ogre was drawing near, scanning their surroundings, but it utterly failed to notice Malin—with their vision, they probably wouldn’t see him at all.

So, when they were about thirty meters away, Malin drew his bow.

The pulley’s sound finally caught their attention. They stopped and began to search for the source of the sound, and that’s when Malin released the string.

The arrow plunged into the eye socket of the nearest ogre, and when the triggering device struck the back of the eye and activated, Malin watched the ogre’s head burst open like a watermelon.

Drawing a second arrow, he notched it, and the bolt drilled into the knee of another ogre charging towards him.

The latter roared, losing his balance, and as he fell, the ground he faced had turned into a quagmire, splashing mud all around.

Then Malin’s third arrow bored into its skull.

Electrum armor-piercing arrows, capable of piercing heavy human plate armor, made the ogre’s tough skull no match for the finely crafted steel plate formed by hydraulic presses.

"Let’s go," Malin said, after which he cast an Acceleration Spell on the two girls who had stood up: "Quickly, we’ll cross at the small river."

After saying that, Malin went over to Faye, picked her up, and was the first to leap down the hill.

Jessica jumped down beside him: "Aren’t we going to cut off their ears as proof?"

"No need, their cries will help other hunters locate us; we must leave." After saying that, Malin took Faye’s hand and led the three of them into the river. The water was icy cold, and Malin again cast spells to ward off the chill.

Less than two minutes after they left the area, a hunched undead crossbowman emerged from the air. Its soulless black eye sockets swept the surroundings, then the Soul Fire reignited, and its master appeared beside it.

"Roland is dead... A waste of space. How quickly one forgets that even in hunting rabbits, the lion must give its all," the young man sniffed the scent of blood in the air, stood atop the hill, and looked at the two dead ogres before noticing the small footprints nearby.

Then he descended the slope, saw the footprints by the riverbank, and eventually watched as the tracks disappeared into the water.

"Sly creature..." He extended his hand, and a Bone Bird landed on it: "Tell our master, we’ve found the prey. They are heading south along the small river, seemingly trying to escape back to Carterburg, request interception."

After saying this, he released the Bone Bird.

Then he started to pursue them along the river. On both sides of the small river, more and more white bone crossbowmen appeared.

They seemed not to fear the sunlight, and as their commander, the young man walked in the sunlight, his long shadow cast an ominous translucence.

Like the bones, mightily enduring in this world.

.........

Meanwhile, in Carterburg, at the competition organization.

"Sayer Kay, I really think we shouldn’t put him up there." As a member of the committee, the middle-aged man scratched his head: "Really, he can’t go up, I’ve thought about it for a long time, I think we... shouldn’t let him fight, right?"

"Why not, just because he’s a Lord of the Pale?" The young man was unconvinced: "Didn’t he say he would only fight in real sword battles?"

"But what if he can’t control his thirst for blood, with so many kids on the field?"

"That’s exactly why the Mage Tower will also be present at the time. Don’t worry, my old friend, you have to trust the promises made by mages, especially promises made by two mage organizations that don’t get along."

Their conversation ended there, as someone put a cap on their argument.

An older man walked in: "Lady Anna recommends Sir Sayer Kay for the closing challenge of the exhibition fight."

"See, Lady Anna has recommended him. I told you, the person who understands mages best is always another mage."