Chapter 51: Have You Ever Seen A Horse Fall From The Sky?
Watching Brat’s back disappear at the street corner, Anse had no more scruples.
At this point, the offense and defense had switched.
He had Finn take Greyhawk to delay and obstruct the other two groups of slavers, while he faced the Bearded Man and his group alone.
Crisp horseshoe sounds echoed through the street. The slaver panicked and wiped the blood from his face, picked up the musket, aimed the muzzle forward, as if facing a formidable enemy.
The Bearded Man took a deep breath, his emotions complex, but he had crawled out from piles of corpses, and soon calmed down.
“Don’t be afraid, he doesn’t dare come over. One round of volley fire and he’ll be dead.”
Hearing his words, the crew members’ spirits lifted, finally recovering from the shadow of the gale.
Anse spurred his horse forward, unhurried, mana surging around his body.
“”
“”
「Jump」+「Feather Fall」!
Two streaks of mana spiritual light lit up successively on Nolnos, faint spell shadows enveloping its body and limbs.
It stomped the ground heavily, eager to leap.
The distance closed to within a hundred meters. The Bearded Man raised his right hand but did not order firing; one or two bullets could not threaten a spellcaster with mage armor or shield, so hit rate had to be ensured.
Anse raised his hand and pointed, startling the opponent.
“Don’t panic, he’s bluffing us!” The Bearded Man knew well the drawback of slow musket reloading and resolutely did not fall for it.
But the next moment, his gaze suddenly blurred. A ball of mist rapidly expanded in front of the group, instantly enveloping them completely. Everything ahead was a white blur, nothing visible.
Horseshoe sounds suddenly rose!
The Bearded Man’s scalp went numb. Now it was either run out of the mist area or shoot toward the sound of hooves.
“Don’t run, tight formation, aim at the sound source, on my command—”
He immediately made the decision. The horse was too fast; they might not escape, but they would definitely scatter, giving the opponent chances to pick them off one by one.
Better to stay together, prevent friendly fire, and resist the impact.
The horseshoe sounds grew clearer, as if right beside them.
“Fire—”
“Bang bang bang…”
Dense gunfire rang out, but no sound of bullets hitting flesh, no screams, not even horseshoe sounds.
Something’s wrong!
The Bearded Man’s heart chilled. Before he could figure it out, a gust of wind pressure came from overhead, shocking him: “Above us…”
A huge black shadow descended from the sky. Fortunately, they had shifted several meters and were not smashed.
“Foolish!” Seeing the opponent give up distance and mobility advantage, he was overjoyed.
He then listened for position and charged with sword drawn, but the next second his vision filled with blue light. An exploding cone of lightning breath erupted suddenly, completely engulfing him and the crew members behind.
The thick fog was electrified into numerous thin channels. The slavers’ hair and beards stood on end, bodies stiffly collapsing to the ground, skin covered in branching scorch marks, blue smoke rising, the air filled with a burnt stench.
“Idiots!” Anse sneered.
The opponents had actually clustered together. The lightning breath conducted through the thick fog, greatly increasing range and power, perfectly wiping them all out.
【……Conch First Mate takes 13 lightning damage, current life 18/34】
【……Conch Boatswain takes 11 lightning damage, current life 5/16】
【……Conch Crew Member takes 14 lightning damage……target death, gain 15 combat experience】
“Ah—”
The Bearded Man roared, activating 「Second Wind」 to forcibly shake off paralysis, gripping his sword with both hands and charging at Anse at high speed.
‘Pull away!’ Anse’s face was expressionless, hazy blue light swirling around his chest, abdomen, and throat.
Never underestimate a warrior’s melee ability; their swords can be fast enough to prevent a second shield.
Nolnos immediately started up, but its speed surprisingly could not match the Bearded Man, nearly caught, only gradually shaking him off after dashing dozens of meters.
Anse was secretly alarmed; a warrior’s explosive speed in the first ten meters was actually faster than a fey horse!
“Damn it!” The Bearded Man watched Anse pull farther away, cursed, and turned to flee.
Nolnos wheeled around and charged, horseshoe sounds crisp like dense drumbeats.
The Bearded Man dared not run along the street, instead vaulting over the nearby courtyard wall with a running start, intending to use complex streets to hinder pursuit.
Horseshoe sounds urgent, Nolnos leaped, jumping over three meters high and more than ten meters far. Its massive body traced a graceful arc in the air, like a horse flying through the sky.
The Bearded Man was stunned, wanting to turn back.
In the crossing moment, Anse spat out a cone of lightning breath across several meters, blasting him flying, nowhere to dodge.
The Bearded Man fell straight to the ground, blue smoke rising from his body, struggling several times but unable to get up.
Nolnos landed lightly. Anse raised his staff, mana glow rippling in his eyes.
“”
Scorching Ray!
Three fire rays flashed through the air and struck the Bearded Man almost simultaneously. His clothes and leather armor burst into flames, black smoke billowing, the smell of roasted meat wafting on the wind.
The Bearded Man twitched a few times and stopped moving.
【……Conch First Mate takes 22 fire damage……target death, gain 275 combat experience】
Anse slowly approached, seeing the Bearded Man’s miserable death, feeling utmost satisfaction.
‘Scorching Ray is fast, but the impact points are too hard to control.’
In the courtyard, a man holding a dog buried his head in a pile of firewood. The man trembled, the dog shivered, the firewood wet a patch.
Anse glanced at him, grabbed several silver coins and copper coins from the bag of holding, and tossed them casually on the ground.
‘Go, take the body.’
Nolnos coiled its whip tail around the Bearded Man, smashed open the courtyard gate, dragged him to the street, and threw him beside the pile of corpses.
Twenty or thirty meters away, a surviving professional was staggering in escape.
‘You finish him off.’ Anse wanted Nolnos to accumulate some experience.
Nolnos was unusually excited, trotting into a charge. Facing the professional’s desperate counterattack, it neither dodged nor evaded, using its ramming horn to knock aside the longsword, headbutting the man flying several meters.
The man’s chest caved in, blood spraying from mouth and nose, dead upon landing. 18 strength carrying massive tonnage impact—ordinary professionals couldn’t take it head-on.
【……target death, gain 49 combat experience】
Anse touched its ramming horn; surprisingly, only a single scratch.
Nolnos seemed to perceive something, returned to the battlefield, and prodded each corpse with hooves and whip tail. Unfortunately, only one survivor—better than nothing.
“Screech——”
An eagle cry sounded overhead.
Anse looked up. At the street corner ahead, six people ran out, each holding a musket.
On a nearby rooftop, Finn closely followed them, occasionally firing arrows from afar, forcing them into panicked dodges.
They originally had eight people, caught off guard by the ranger’s sneak attack, down two, unable to hit back, so heading first to rendezvous with the first mate.
But as they turned the corner, they saw the street full of corpses and the mysterious knight standing beside. Their expressions lost control instantly; after a brief daze, all turned and ran.
“Heh, think you can escape?”
Anse waved to Finn from afar, signaling him to come collect the loot, while he spurred his horse to pursue.
