The night was cold, the stars were few, the moon was bright, and the clouds were thin. Yun Zhe sat alone outside the barracks, listening to the loud snoring behind him.
Yun Zhe rubbed his face. The late autumn night was already very cold. Yun Zhe sighed deeply, and a wisp of white breath appeared on his face.
Yun Zhe looked up at the distant moon, but his heart was far from the idyllic scene outside. He pondered the day's events. He no longer cared where Belvado's soldiers had come from, but he was completely clueless about how to deal with so many cavalrymen. Thinking about Akdina's sacrifice to protect him, he felt that Akdina's exposure was ultimately his fault. If he hadn't been so reckless as to venture far from the main force to hunt down the enemy captain alone, none of this would have happened.
"If it weren't for Akdina, most of us would probably be dead by now. I certainly wouldn't be dead myself, but none of the people behind me would have made it back." These were the words Yun Zhe didn't say today, nor could he. Akdina saved not only Yun Zhe, but also all the ordinary people in front of him.
Yun Zhe glanced at the crowd behind him, still snoring, quietly got up, closed the door, and went out.
The sudden turn of events in the war and Akdina's forced disappearance left Yun Zhe in a terrible mood. He strolled along the cold, hard cobblestone path of the village, his face scrunched up, his lips pursed, exuding an aura of unapproachability.
After walking back and forth three times, Yun Zhe still had no clue. He kicked a stone at his feet, sending it flying far away before it disappeared into the grass. A scream of agony followed.
Yun Zhe instinctively lunged forward, and then saw more than a dozen crossbow bolts flying toward him.
Yun Zhe suddenly rolled to the side of the road, dodging the volley of arrows.
After a murmur, a voice shouted, "Brothers, we've been exposed! Kill them!"
Yun Zhe quickly advanced from one side of the road, suddenly sensing the complex thoughts of dozens of people. These Belvedere cavalrymen hadn't given up; instead, they had circled around and followed him!
Yun Zhe drew his longsword and pierced the abdomen of a Belvedere soldier with a single strike. Using the corpse as a shield, he blocked five or six arrows before charging into the center of the enemy ranks, disregarding any pretense of human disguise or concealment of his strength. Moving at lightning speed, sword in one hand and crossbow in the other, Yun Zhe used the cover of trees to unleash a bloodbath.
However, more than ten men did not engage Yun Zhe. They slipped out of the woods and ran straight towards the wooden hut with the firelight. Inside the hut were the remaining soldiers.
Yun Zhe couldn't help but regret his overconfidence tonight. In order to leave earlier tomorrow, he had told everyone to rest instead of arranging sentries. At this moment, Yun Zhe could only shout loudly, "Enemy attack!!" But whether the sleeping soldiers could hear him, and whether they could react quickly enough, Yun Zhe couldn't guarantee.
Seeing that there was no movement from the hut and that the enemy was about to reach the door, Yun Zhe had no choice but to jump out of the battle and run straight towards the hut.
Several crossbow bolts shot from behind, and then Yun Zhe suddenly felt a numbness in his left shoulder, staggered, and almost fell over.
Yun Zhe stared incredulously at his left shoulder, which had been struck by an arrow—a wooden arrow. He pulled out his wooden sword, and his left shoulder felt a tingling numbness.
"Damn it!" Yun Zhe pretended to be nonchalant and was about to continue running when he suddenly heard a deadly shout behind him, "This one too! This one's a vampire too!! Change to wooden arrows, change to wooden arrows!"
Yun Zhe chuckled to himself. He had been hit by three arrows, yet his action of pulling out the wooden arrow was clearly too obvious. No wonder the other party made such a judgment.
For a moment, Yun Zhe didn't want the soldiers in the room to wake up.
Standing between the two groups of soldiers, Yun Zhe faced a choice, but he didn't think too much about it. He still lunged at the Belvedo soldiers who were heading towards the wooden house.
Yun Zhe had a "what's the use" mentality at this point. He couldn't think of any way to break out of this damned dead end anyway; Akdina had been exposed, and if that name got back, his own exposure wouldn't be far off; he had already been exposed tonight, and he had completely lost faith in this terrible situation.
Yun Zhe pounced forward, using vampire-like tactics and relying on his speed to kill most of the soldiers with both sword and crossbow. However, the soldiers in the woods rushed out and began shooting with wooden arrows. No matter how fast Yun Zhe was, he could not stop the remaining soldiers from kicking open the gate and starting a massacre.
The method of killing instead of saving, and resolving the dilemma, has clearly failed.
The wooden door suddenly flew out, not from the outside, but from inside the house. The door knocked away the two people in front of it, and then a figure appeared in the center of the door.
Yun Zhe was stunned, while the other Belvaldu soldiers were even more bewildered. Akdina stood at the doorway, holding two crossbows, and swiftly shot two men dead. Then, with ghostly movements, she instantly killed the remaining six or seven men.
Several figures emerged from the room, with Valentin Elke leading the way, having witnessed Akdina's entire action. Yun Zhe, covered in blood, stood frozen in place.
Clearly, the sudden turn of events had completely shattered the fighting spirit of these Belvedere soldiers. They froze for a moment, then looked at each other hesitantly. Just then, Akdina's icy blue eyes flashed red, and her white hair was stained crimson with blood. She lunged at the remaining soldiers, only glancing at Yun Zhe as she passed by.
"Watch out, no!!" Yun Zhe shouted suddenly, but it was too late. Countless crossbow bolts shot towards Akdina. Akdina did not know that they were wooden arrows and stood right in front of them. More than a dozen arrows hit her, and half of them struck her body.
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