Early or Late, I'll Kill You

"All hands, set sail! Make sure the supplies are delivered successfully—"

Bai Ina's roar rang in everyone's ears. The moment he finished speaking, he turned and ran, dodging the pounces of several giant beasts.

"What!"

Mo Mo's pupils shrank. He instinctively started to charge forward, but someone grabbed him.

"Raise the anchor. Prepare to set sail."

"You..." The moment Mo Mo saw who had spoken, his expression turned cold, and the long sword at his waist flashed from its sheath. But before he could say anything, the other man leaped off the warship and headed straight for Bai Ina.

Mo Mo's hand froze mid-motion. He stood there, stunned.

"Of all the uninhabited islands, they had to find one crawling with ferocious beasts..."

Bai Ina looked at the three giant beasts steadily closing in around him and managed a bitter smile. He had already gone all out just to fight one of them. Now, surrounded by three, even he felt despair creeping into his heart.

But even in despair, Bai Ina forced his aching body to keep running.

Just then, one of the beasts let out a furious roar and slammed its clawed paw against the ground. Its speed suddenly surged, and its enormous head hurtled straight toward Bai Ina's back. At that rate, if it hit him, his body would likely be smashed to pieces.

Bai Ina sensed the violent gust of force rushing up behind him. He spun around, pouring all the strength he had left into his hands. Pure-white sword energy and a bone-chilling cold surged forth almost simultaneously.

The two utterly opposite paths of the swordsman and swordswoman converged in Black Blade Dawn. He then unleashed them all at once, blasting them toward the charging beast's head.

Boom! The enormous crash rang out along the shore, kicking up a cloud of dust that swallowed both him and the beast.

Pfft! The tremendous force transmitted through the blade sent Bai Ina flying backward. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Bai Ina was in a sorry state, but with the explosive power of his two sword styles combined, he had blown apart the ferocious beast's head. White brain matter and blood sprayed into the air, and its remaining body spun through the air before slamming heavily into the ground in the distance. Cracks spread beneath it.

His retreating body finally stopped when it struck a boulder. Before Bai Ina could wipe the blood from his lips, a giant beast suddenly appeared in front of him, its massive claw crashing down amid a terrifying gust of wind.

Bai Ina instinctively tried to dodge, but his battered body no longer had the strength to move. He could only watch as the claw came down on him.

Whoosh—

The sound of something cutting through the air rang beside Bai Ina's ear. Before he could turn to look, a sharp pain tore through his waist. He was yanked into the air, and the beast's claw struck the ground just inches away. His sudden disappearance left the beast stunned.

Only when it turned around did it spot a tiny figure using a rope to yank its target away.

Roar!

The giant beast's furious roar sounded behind Sa Kaiyang, making him click his tongue. He hurriedly tugged the rope in his hand, pulling Bai Ina over and holding him up...

But as soon as Bai Ina steadied himself, he started cursing. "Are you fucking trying to kill me?!"

"Huh?" Sa Kaiyang's desperate sprint faltered for a moment. Then, as he kept running, he looked at Bai Ina in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Bai Ina's mouth twitched. He pointed at the iron hook around his waist, the one used to latch onto the other man's ship during close-quarters combat. "You're using that thing to drag people around?"

"Yeah! It's so convenient. You just throw the hook and it catches. If I hadn't used it, that monster would've flattened you into a meat pancake!" Sa Kaiyang said proudly.

"..."

Bai Ina's face darkened, but he had no answer.

It was true: if not for the hook and rope, he would've been flattened. But...

"Do you have any idea how... sharp this thing is?" Bai Ina said, pointing at his clothes, already soaked through with blood. His expression was furious.

At his words, Sa Kaiyang looked toward Bai Ina's waist and finally noticed that the hook had sunk all the way into it. Blood streamed along the rope.

"..."

Sa Kaiyang's weathered face reddened. Then he simply turned away as if he hadn't seen a thing and kept running.

Bai Ina's mouth twitched again, but he knew this wasn't the time to argue. Staying alive was already a blessing...

Just as Sa Kaiyang was about to reach the shore, the two giant beasts caught up with them and pounced straight at the pair!

"Fuck!" Sa Kaiyang cursed as their shadows swallowed them both. He shouted toward the warship, which had already raised its anchor, "Set sail, damn it! Hurry up and set sail—"

With that, Sa Kaiyang abruptly lowered his head to look at Bai Ina in his arms, his expression strange...

"What... are you doing...?"

Bai Ina felt a chill run through him. His mouth twitched as he asked.

"Ha, sorry about this—" Sa Kaiyang's cryptic words left Bai Ina momentarily confused. But what he did next nearly made Bai Ina black out and pass out on the spot.

Sa Kaiyang hoisted Bai Ina over his shoulder, then reached up with his right hand and hooked his fingers around the end of the iron hook. With a Pfft, he yanked the hook embedded in Bai Ina's waist straight out!

"Aaaaaah!"

The agony struck without warning, and Bai Ina couldn't help screaming.

Sa Kaiyang paid no attention to his cries. He tossed the hook in his hand, catching it on the railing of the warship, which had already begun moving.

Seeing this, the people in the warship's cockpit turned the inner turbine up to full power. The ship shot forward like a wild horse breaking free. A tremendous force dragged Sa Kaiyang and Bai Ina through the air and straight into the sea, towing them behind the ship.

The two pursuing beasts stopped at the shore, staring at the sea with fear in their eyes.

"Hahaha! So these monsters are afraid of water!"

At the sight, Sa Kaiyang let out an excited shout. His face was smug as he waved Bai Ina—whom he held over his head—and taunted the two giant beasts. "Come on! Come catch me, damn it! Come hit me! Hahahahaha!"

The two beasts grew furious and pounded their chests with both fists.

"You two little beasts can pound your chests until you break them for all I care. What can you do to me?" Sa Kaiyang laughed even harder, waving Bai Ina around and taunting the enraged beasts.

Roar—

The furious roar echoed along the shore. One of the beasts suddenly spotted a boulder nearby. It walked over and lifted the several-meter-high rock.

"Huh?"

Sa Kaiyang's waving froze. His face darkened, and he stammered, "What... is it doing?"

A cunning look, much like a human's, appeared on the beast's face. Even the corner of its mouth curled into a mocking grin. It hurled the boulder. The sound of it tearing through the air rang out, and in almost an instant, the rock was over Sa Kaiyang's head.

"Fuck—"

Whoosh!

A pitch-black slash shot into the sky, cleaving the boulder cleanly in two. The pieces fell away.

"Damn, that was close!"

Sa Kaiyang let out a sigh of relief. After all, he was holding the rope with one hand and Bai Ina with the other. If that boulder had hit him, he would've had no way to dodge.

"Nice slash..." He looked up, about to compliment Bai Ina's strike, but what met his eyes was Bai Ina's bloodshot gaze, filled with murderous intent...

"Sa Kaiyang... one of these days, I'm going to kill you..."

P.S. If that piece-of-shit book-promotion ad shows up in the comments again, brothers, report it for me... It's so damn annoying, isn't it...

P.S. 2. Mm... I guess adding a comic-relief teammate really is better... I'll get back to writing the next chapter. I overslept tonight and only managed to finish one chapter, but I should still be able to write another.