Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Beyond Human (2)
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'No signs of poisoning.'
She opened her senses and scanned the inside of the carriage. She could feel the presence of the child huddled tightly against the seat, holding its breath.
'Stay still!'
She shouted sharply.
The child was different.
Any normal kid would have clung to its mother by the carriage door, begging to stay with her. But her son didn't move recklessly. It wasn't out of fear. Just as she knew what she had to do, so did he.
She circulated her inner energy.
'Miss! It's dangerous! Get back inside the carriage!'
Whoosh!
Two burly warriors drew their straight swords and blocked her path.
They were the escort warriors flanking the carriage. There were four in total. The two at the rear also unsheathed their straight swords and assumed defensive stances.
They were loyal men. Snowflakes had piled white on the shoulders of the warriors who had been guarding the outside the whole time they fled.
'Miss, hurry...!'
Ignoring the urging escorts, she leaped toward the front of the carriage. The two escorts followed behind her with tense, troubled expressions. The blood-soaked coachman's seat filled their vision.
'He's dead.'
She could tell at a glance, without needing a report.
A massive hole gaped in the center of the chest of the warrior who had been driving the carriage.
Hot blood was melting the snowflakes red.
It was an incredible force. It had punched clean through his chest. The arrow was buried so deep in the coachman's seat that even the fletching was invisible.
'Who the hell are you!!'
One of the escorts bellowed in a thunderous voice. In response came a sharp whistling through the air.
Swoosh! Thwip!
The escorts swung their straight swords to deflect the silver-white arrows. Even fully on guard, it was a struggle to block them.
The two escorts each blocked two arrows, four in total.
That was when it happened.
Screee!
This one barely made a sound as it cut through the air.
Thud!
One escort was flung backward. He crashed into the carriage wall with a thump, then staggered to his feet, clutching his shoulder. Thick blood oozed between his fingers.
'Urk! What...!'
She narrowed her delicate brows as she glanced back at him.
'Same arrow! But a completely different level of power!'
It carried entirely different strength from the first two. The silver arrows were threatening enough, but the escorts could still handle them. This one was different. The coachman must have fallen to one just like it. A true master was among them.
'These aren't just bandits, Miss.'
The escort with the pierced shoulder seemed to have forgotten his pain. Bleeding profusely, he returned to her side and blocked the direction the arrows were coming from.
'Fall back.'
'You fall back.'
She raised her black golden straight sword and spoke. The escort who had boldly stood in front of her flinched and looked back.
Watching him, she thought to herself.
My mistake.
I shouldn't have brought them. These escorts hadn't yet risen to the Heaven-Destroying Squad. They'd received proper training, but they'd only been in real combat for a few months. In other words, they were at the highest mortality phase—perfectly primed for death.
'...M-Miss...!'
'What color is this sword?'
'......!'
'It hasn't rusted yet. Stop your bleeding first. Use the carriage as cover and fall back.'
'B-But!'
'Didn't you hear me?'
The escort's face paled.
Miss.
He was still calling her Miss, but she was no young girl. If anything, she was on the cusp between madam and miss in terms of age. Moreover, she was the wielder of that black golden straight sword. No matter how youthful her appearance, that fact remained unchanged. The injured escort finally withdrew behind the carriage. A whistling arrow sliced through the air in pursuit.
Swoosh! Clang! Riiing!
The other escort at her side leaped forward, thrusting his straight sword straight out. The incoming silver arrow struck the blade and ricocheted into the shadows of the trees. He quickly reset his stance, eyes fixed ahead, and said,
'You need to take cover too, Miss!'
'You go too. Don't worry about me!'
They were escorts by name. Even orders were hard to follow blindly.
Swoosh!
A timely whistle caught his ankle. He swung his straight sword once more.
Clang!
The silver arrow buried itself in the snow.
The real one came next. A serpentine whisper pierced her ears.
Screeee!
She mobilized all her senses to read its trajectory. A sharp cry burst from her lips.
'Duck!'
Her hand moved faster than her shout. She grabbed the escort's collar and yanked him downward.
Skkk!
It was razor-close. The arrow grazed the escort's head and embedded itself in the carriage's outer wall behind.
Boom!
The powerful impact shook the black exterior as if it might shatter it.
The carriage had been designed and built by her clan. Its sturdy walls could easily deflect ordinary arrows. But this silver arrow was an exception. It had sunk in at least two inches deep.
'This... is dangerous!'
A truly fearsome strike. She tensed fully and scanned her surroundings.
The number of ambushers.
At least three, plus that last arrow from an unreadable master.
Worst of all was the terrain.
They were fully exposed under the moonlight, while the enemy could be anywhere in the three directions ahead. It was an absolute deathtrap.
'I have to get out of here first...!'
The obvious conclusion. Her gaze turned toward the coachman's seat. As if reading her mind, two whistles charged in succession.
Thwip!
She was fast.
As she passed the seat, she swung her golden sword. Clang! Clang! The two silver arrows were deflected.
'You! Grab the reins! The rest, protect the mounts!'
Swift judgment, immediate orders.
The escort right beside her leaped to the coachman's seat. The noble steeds raised by her clan responded instantly to the yanked reins and began to move.
'I'll take the right. You, you! Take the left!'
She pointed at each one in turn, issuing rapid commands. The old demeanor of the black golden sword wielder from the battlefield emerged after so long.
Clop, clop.
Thud thud thud.
'They're coming! Focus!'
Swoosh! Clang!
She deflected two arrows.
Thud thud thud thud!
Speed built quickly. She and the escorts kept pace with the galloping mounts—she on the carriage's right, the escorts on the left.
Clang! Clang!
Two more came flying.
As she deflected them, her expression hardened once again.
Water droplets had splashed on impact again.
This time, she was sure. It wasn't melted snow. Not poison either. Some liquid with a clear purpose, though its nature was unknown. Her instincts screamed it.
Screeee!
This whistle.
No time to think further.
Same arrow, but incomparable danger.
Thud! came the sound.
One escort running along the mounts' left was flung back, tumbling across the ground.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
No time to check on the fallen escort. She gritted her teeth with a regretful glance.
They were racing alongside the carriage, and the arrows pursued relentlessly, refusing to let them go.
Clang! Creeeang!
Thud thud thud.
The hoofbeats grew thunderous. The top speed possible on snow.
Ping! Swoosh! Ping! Swoosh!
The whistles grew dangerously close, as if the ambushers were right beside them.
After deflecting two more arrows, realization dawned. These weren't ordinary bow-fired arrows. Some other launching mechanism.
'The faint metallic ring every time they fly. The overly long intervals between shots...!'
A rare weapon in the jianghu flashed in her mind.
'Crossbow...?!"
Crossbow users were exceedingly rare.
Long reload times, short range. Fine against commoners, but against experts, they'd be neutralized in seconds. Not a jianghu weapon. Required maintenance, and for a standard-issue military tool, it was expensive. Outside of war, even wall guards rarely used them.
'What kind of group...!'
Silver arrows, crossbow wielders.
Distinctive enough—more than enough. Yet she didn't know them.
Though long demoted to non-combat status in her clan, she hadn't lost her eyes and ears. For her not to know meant they were either a brand-new sect or from very far away.
Thud thud thud thud.
She gave up quickly.
No time to puzzle over unknowns.
Swoosh! Clang!
She barely protected the mounts and broke out onto a forest path.
To the left, a ridge impassable by carriage; to the right, scattered frozen marshes.
Snow-laden clouds veiled half the moonlight.
The noble steeds pushed through the deep snow admirably. But she knew—even they couldn't gallop full tilt forever on such terrain. This sprint wouldn't last.
Swoosh! Thwip! Clang clang!
She blocked the crossbow bolts raining down at full speed.
Easy enough for her, but taxing for the escorts. Especially the master shots mixed in.
Screeee! A chilling whistle. Now she knew for sure. Different. This one headed for the coachman's seat—aimed at the escort acting as driver.
Tap!
She kicked off the ground, landed on the coachman's rail, and rose. She even drew on long-unused power. Her golden sword met the charging silver arrow.
Creeeeang!
'Urgh!'
The shock numbed her hands. She hadn't fully blocked it. She was fine, but the deflected arrow struck the neck of a mount below.
Hiiiin! Whinny!
Bad luck, nothing else.
The thrashing mount tilted the entire carriage as if it might overturn.
'Hold on!'
'No problem!'
At least that was fortunate.
The escort's response was dazzlingly sharp. With one hand, he yanked the reins boldly; with the other, he unhooked the falling mount. The carriage screeched as it veered, shedding the hit mount, which tumbled into the snow.
Bump! Bump! Rumble rumble rumble!
Left, right—the escort wrenched the reins with big motions. The carriage, pitching like a small boat on giant waves, steadied in an instant.
'We're out!'
She climbed onto the carriage roof.
Open view. There—they appeared behind. The enemies had finally shown themselves.
A chill climbed her spine.
Five in number.
All wore silver-white breastplates, crimson capes billowing like blood from their backs as they pursued.
Incredibly fast. Their footwork crude, no lightness skill, yet matching the noble steeds' pace.
That confirmed it. They were from that world.
His world.
The one from those old tales she'd once heard with fascination.
'I was wrong.'
She shouldn't have limited her thinking to this land. She should have suspected it first. His words echoed anew in her mind—the plea never to seek him out.