Daniel leaped away, but an arrow still struck his knee. He pulled the arrow out and yelled at Deborah, "Run!"
Clearly, their worst-case scenario had come true. The vampire hiding in the village was in cahoots with Hamelin.
Daniel now felt some regret. He regretted not listening to his own ideas and instead giving in to his wife's anger, acting rashly. Knowing his character, he would have investigated more thoroughly before taking any action.
Of course, he also harbored a sliver of hope that the vampire here wouldn't get along with the newcomer Hamelin so quickly, unless...
Unless your wife bites one of his villagers to death.
Daniel instantly understood the whole thing; it turned out to be so simple.
Just as Daniel was sorting things out, Deborah was still hesitating whether to take the elf with her when a commotion broke out in the woods and a figure rolled out.
Yun Zhe, wielding a long sword, blocked their path.
Deborah glanced at the sword in Yun Zhe's hand, a look of doubt in her eyes.
That sword looks so familiar, like I've just seen it before.
Daniel also saw the sword, but he looked at it more closely. The hilt was tightly wrapped in white cloth, indicating that the user did not actually want to touch the sword.
"Two swords that look so alike?!" It seems Hamelin was indeed prepared. Thinking of this, Daniel felt a surge of anger. Clearly, he had underestimated Hamelin.
Was he going to fall into Hamelin's trap again? The painful memories of his last defeat flooded Daniel's mind, making him dizzy.
Daniel stopped in his tracks. The shock of the sudden turn of events was nothing compared to the torment he would suffer after defeat.
Behind him, Deborah and Hamelin were already wrestling, and he believed that he still had a sliver of a chance.
He lunged at Akdina and grabbed her by the neck. "Let us go, or I'll break her neck!"
All four people present stopped what they were doing. Daniel looked at Hamelin, trying to avoid eye contact with Yun Zhe. They had already lost too many opportunities today, and he was now extremely cautious.
“You’re surrounded,” Yun Zhe said, looking at Daniel, but Daniel was clearly being cautious and avoided meeting his gaze.
As if to confirm Yun Zhe's words, a crossbow bolt was shot at Daniel from another direction. Daniel hurriedly turned around and used Akdina to block the arrow.
"Ah..." The pain jolted Akdina awake, bringing her to her senses. She slowly opened her eyes, and Yun Zhe came into view. Akdina paused for a moment, finally realizing her true predicament.
Then, as if finally waking from a dream, Akdina finally regained consciousness. She couldn't remember how many years ago it had been since this last happened.
Akdina remembered many things, things that were hazy, as if they happened a long, long time ago, yet also as if they happened just yesterday.
She vaguely remembered being kidnapped by despicable humans while picking fruit in the elven forest. She was then bought at a high price by a woman in black robes, followed by a black cage, the woman's whip, and the woman's ferocious expression as she lunged at her as if to devour her.
Then came long, discontinuous blocks of memory. Before my eyes were always the faces of a woman and a man, talking to me about something, and then long, discontinuous blocks of memory would disappear again.
Akdina's breathing quickened, not from anger, nor from being unable to breathe due to Daniel's restraint, but from the alluring fragrance she had smelled. Akdina looked around and quickly found the source of the fragrance: a squirrel shivering in the treetop.
A strong desire suddenly burst forth from the depths of her heart; she wanted to tear the squirrel apart and drink its blood.
Then came a sharp pain in her leg; a crossbow bolt had struck her thigh. She slid to the ground in agony, then felt her neck loosen, and fell backward onto the ground.
A roar rang in his ears, and then he saw a pair of concerned eyes reflected in his pupils and heard a sentence.
"Take good care of yourself."
The consciousness that had just returned vanished again.
Yun Zhe had anticipated the hostage situation, so he had already given the two hunters several contingency plans for this scenario.
One method is to shoot the hostage in the thigh, rendering them unable to stand and thus preventing the hostage-taker from continuing the hostage-taking, or at least from holding them comfortably.
Upon seeing Yun Zhe's gesture, Jelock shot an arrow at Akdina's thigh, while Livia shot an arrow at Daniel's face.
The two worked together for the first time, and surprisingly, it actually worked. Daniel noticed the girl in his hands suddenly sink, and just as he was wondering what was happening, he narrowly dodged another arrow. He then had no choice but to abandon Akdina and flee in a sorry state with Deborah.
Seeing this, Yun Zhe and Hamelin gave chase. Obviously, the hunters couldn't keep up with the vampires. Jerok and Rivia looked at each other, their gazes lingering on Akdina, who was lying on the ground.
Because they were both women, Jerok, who was closest to them, asked Livia to take care of Akdina, and then he witnessed a scene that he would never forget.
Just as Livia crouched down to check Akdina's injuries, Akdina grabbed her neck and bit her hard.
"No!" Jerok swiftly raised his crossbow and fired a bolt at the vampire's heart. As if sensing the danger, Akdina rolled away, dodging the arrow, but was immediately stabbed in the abdomen by Rivia's wooden sword. The pain made her forget to continue drinking blood. She saw the hunter loading another bolt and lunged at him, only to find she had no strength at all.
The second crossbow bolt came flying, but Akdina blocked it with her arm and, without hesitation, ran wildly into the depths of the forest.
Ignoring Akdina's pursuit, Gerald charged towards Rivia, scooped up the barely alive Rivia, and tried to stop the gushing blood with his hands, but to no avail...
“Live…live…” Livia’s eyes were filled with disbelief and a desperate desire to survive, but even she knew that she had little chance of surviving.
“You said you believed in good vampires, but how could you… how could you…” Gerald sobbed uncontrollably.
As if realizing her fate, Livia reached out and grasped Gerald's hand, forcing a smile, and with her last strength said, "It's not Ellie's fault... help her... help her..."
Livia's hand lost its support and slipped limply from Jerok's grasp.
"No!!!" A painful cry echoed throughout the forest.
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