Chapter 71: Desperate Battle
It wasn’t that Ion didn’t want to cut the opponent down with a single strike, but rather that just as the enemy retreated, another arrow was loosed at him, interrupting his pursuit. That was why he had no choice but to kick the opponent away instead of slaying him with a sword.
As he watched the opponent get sent flying, Ion’s expression still held a trace of regret.
It would’ve been great if the opponent had just opened his mouth back then.
“Click!”
“Ding—Ding—”
Ion clicked his tongue in displeasure, his longsword flicking away two feathered arrows in quick succession.
But his expression did not relax in the slightest; on the contrary, his brows furrowed deeper.
He had already figured out the attack pattern of the female archer.
When there was only one feathered arrow, its power was tremendous, something he had to face cautiously to parry; but when there was more than one, the power slightly diminished, though the speed of the arrows increased significantly.
These differing attack modes made it clear to Ion that it was impossible to ignore the female archer and slay the male Bloodline Knight.
The archer would undoubtedly interfere, and if he made even the slightest misstep, his openings might be exploited, possibly resulting in his own death.
But if he shifted his full attention to the archer and tried to kill her first, Ion also didn’t dare do so.
Because the speed of that male Bloodline Knight far exceeded his expectations!
A distance of thirteen meters, he could cross it in a single breath.
Ion didn’t dare turn his back to him at all.
He stole a quick glance around with the corner of his eye.
The veteran soldiers he brought had already dragged the villagers out and were charging toward the archers’ formation.
However, the enemy’s ambush wasn’t limited to just one archer unit, there were over a hundred more soldiers concealed in the area.
Soon, both sides were entangled in close combat.
During this time, the archers still managed to launch two volleys of arrows.
The veteran soldiers had ample combat experience. In the face of the first volley, they minimized their exposed body parts as much as possible.
For the second volley, they closed the distance quickly. Unless the archers were willing to kill their own, they either had to stop shooting or shift targets. As a result, the two volleys had limited lethality against the veterans.
Only three to five casualties were taken.
But for the villagers, the damage was devastating.
The first volley alone brought down over a dozen.
Then, the second rain of arrows felled several more.
In just that brief moment, fewer than half of the soldiers Ion had brought along remained.
Seeing this, Ion made a swift decision in his heart.
He knew that none of them were likely to make it back.
Against a formation of archers and over a hundred fully conditioned enemies, these soldiers, already at their physical and mental limits, could not hold out much longer.
And without the ability to storm the archer formation and eliminate all of them, even if the rest managed to kill the enemies entangled with them, they’d still be shot down by those archers.
As for Ion himself?
His bloodline ability required the burning of his own blood, a power that doomed him to die faster the longer he fought.
And both his opponents’ abilities happened to counter him precisely, the female archer’s attacks kept him from closing in, not to mention the Bloodline Knight clearly skilled in ambush and assassination.
Given his speed, if he truly wanted to flee, Ion wouldn’t be able to catch him.
Thus, the current strategy was already crystal clear.
Without hesitation, Ion charged at the male Bloodline Knight, bringing his longsword down in a fierce slash.
“Whoosh—”
A sharp tearing sound cut through the air.
Only one arrow.
Ion glanced at it.
Confirming that the arrow wouldn’t strike a vital point or kill him outright, he no longer cared about its landing point.
He stayed firm on his sword’s trajectory, even switching to a two-handed grip to ensure it would definitely hit.
In that moment, both the female archer and the male Bloodline Knight, who was struggling to rise from the ground, turned pale.
Because they could both see clearly, Ion intended to trade injury for injury, life for life!
Soon after, the air filled with the vibrating hums of bowstrings.
The female archer this time unleashed six feathered arrows in succession.
The corner of Ion’s eye caught a glimpse, and his gaze sharpened in realization: two arrows were not the enemy’s limit after all.
These six feathered arrows were incredibly fast, almost the moment Ion heard the sound, he saw six cold gleams flash.
The arrows had already surpassed the speed of the initial one, flying straight toward various parts of his body: throat, heart, shoulders, lower abdomen, between the eyebrows, and palms.
If his priority was survival, the best course of action would naturally have been to dodge.
Only by doing so could he have truly avoided the assault of those six arrows plus the final one.
Otherwise, even if Ion could swiftly parry with his sword, he could at most block three to five arrows; one or two would still strike his body. And once injured and weakened, would he still be able to stop that final, ferocious arrow?
The answer was undoubtedly no!
Dodge or die!
That was the choice the female archer was forcing Ion to make.
But at that moment, did Ion still care about any of that?
“Just death, nothing more.”
Ion grinned viciously, his sword’s momentum unwavering as it aimed straight for the opponent’s face.
“Life for life!”
The sword fell.
Blood splattered.
A line of blood clearly appeared on the face of the male Bloodline Knight, falling straight down.
The knight’s sword in Ion’s hand cleaved the enemy cleanly in two.
Then, several spurts of blood sprayed out at the same time.
Ion looked up.
But surprise appeared on his face.
“Lord Ion, are you alright?!”
Roda’s voice rang out in front of Ion.
Roda had an arrow embedded in each of his right shoulder and right hand, two blood spurts had come from those locations.
But the arrows aimed at his brow, throat, heart, and abdomen had all been blocked by a large shield made of thick Solid Ice.
Even the final, immensely powerful arrow was halted just inches into the shield, stopped due to the depletion of its force.
“Charge——”
“Kill!”
Deafening shouts echoed from one side of the battlefield.
Dozens of Private Soldiers of Baron Ster suddenly launched a charge from behind the enemy’s archer formation.
Like a breached flood, they instantly overwhelmed the entire enemy archer formation, then surged forward into the enemy rear, forming a pincer attack alongside the soldiers Ion had brought.
Ion’s face lit up with joy: “Roda! Where is the lord?!”
A terrifying howling of projectiles erupted.
Like a sweeping storm, dozens of sharp ice spikes burst out near the female archer.
As dense as a barrage from hundreds of archers, they instantly riddled the female archer with wounds, tearing her body into pieces, she had struggled, loosing three volleys totaling eighteen feathered arrows, but they were no match for the rampaging ice spikes. She didn’t even get the chance to trade one for one.
All her arrows were smashed aside, shattered, or destroyed by the spikes.
Then the spikes, with undiminished force, pierced through her body!
The Lord of White Mountain Territory, Baron Ster Bole, finally emerged slowly from the nearby woods.
A mass of White Mist followed his steps, rolling and contracting along the ground like a shifting fog.
“Ion!” Baron Ster spoke with visible relief. “Thank goodness we made it in time! I was really worried something had happened to you!”
“My lord, how did you come to be here?”
“We saw the signal fire from Mountain Ridge Village and rushed here immediately. On the way, we captured a few messengers sent by the Baron of Eastern Mountain Territory. After learning the ambush location, we headed straight here,” Roda explained.
“From afar, we heard the sounds of battle. The lord made me this ice shield, and I charged forward with it.”
“Roda, are you alright?” Baron Ster looked at Roda’s injuries with concern.
“I’m fine.” Roda shook his head indifferently, casually tossed the ice shield aside, and pulled out the two arrows embedded in him. “Iron Bones makes sure I don’t have to worry about the effects of these arrows. It just hurts a little, that’s all.”
“You should be glad they didn’t poison the arrows,” Ion shook his head. “I’m truly glad to see you, my lord.”
“As am I,” Baron Ster nodded and embraced Ion. “How’s your condition?”
“I can still hold on,” Ion replied with a bitter smile. “But my soldiers probably can’t.”
“Let’s leave here quickly and find a place to rest first.”
“I know a good hiding spot,” Roda immediately volunteered. “No one knows the area around Mountain Ridge Village better than I do.”
Hearing this, Ion and Baron Ster naturally didn’t object.
Soon, under Baron Ster’s command, the survivors on-site began swiftly cleaning up the battlefield and assisting the lightly wounded.
As for those seriously injured, regretful and tragic as it was, after hearing their final wishes, Baron Ster ordered them to be granted ‘mercy.’
After all, they likely wouldn’t survive the night, and if captured by the enemy, they’d face even more horrific torment.
At this moment, even the villagers of Mountain Ridge Village had completely lost any naive illusions.
After all, the Eastern Mountain Territory had only four Bloodline Knights not from the Abres Family, and all of them had died here.
The foundation of that family’s military power had been completely destroyed!