Arrival 2

Anglie jogged over quickly. The two guards had not expected him to actually hit prey, and only followed after a brief pause.

"It's a One-Eyed Snake, a Red One-Eyed Snake!" Anglie had asked about Red One-Eyed Snakes beforehand.

The little snake on the trunk was about as thick as a thumb, with only a single blood-red eye on its forehead—the origin of its name, a snake with a red one-eyed. Its skin was exactly the same color as the gray trunk. If the white-feathered arrow had not pinned it firmly in place, the two guards coming up behind him would have almost failed to recognize it.

Anglie drew his iron sword, aimed at the little snake's head, and smashed down hard with the pommel. The One-Eyed Snake was immediately stunned and stopped struggling.

"I heard that eating a One-Eyed Snake's eye is good for the eyes. I want to try it," Anglie said softly.

The two guards looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

They could only watch as Anglie pulled a small hunting knife from behind his waist and picked apart the little snake until it was a bloody mess. Only then did he dig out that red eye. He casually tossed the whole eyeball into his mouth and, with a gulp, swallowed it dry.

Although One-Eyed Snake venom was extremely potent, apart from its venom glands and fangs, the rest of its body was not poisonous. The two men therefore did not dare stop Anglie. After all, he had caught it himself.

After swallowing the snake eye, Anglie furrowed his brow, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

"Continue," he said blandly. He casually tossed the dead snake in his hand to one of the guards, who hurriedly took out a prepared burlap sack and put it away.

The two men's minds were still in complete disarray.

Then they heard another dull thunk.

A faint smile appeared on Young Master Anglie's face as he strode toward a large tree not far away.

Only then did the two notice that another One-Eyed Snake had been nailed to a distant tree trunk.

"Young Master, your archery is incredible!" one guard could not help saying. "We have to get close before we can tell the difference between a One-Eyed Snake and the tree bark, yet you could spot one from so far away. Amazing!"

Anglie merely smiled at this and did not answer.

He walked up to the trunk, pulled out the white-feathered arrow, and returned it to his quiver. The arrow had struck the One-Eyed Snake directly in the head, and its lone eye had been shot through with a bloody hole. Clearly, he had made a mistake.

Though the Chip could correct his aim and lock onto targets, his body's stability still needed constant practice before it could reach the required level. Back on Earth, the shortest distance for archery contests had been over a kilometer. Everyone used mechanical compound bows with extremely long range. It came down to who had steadier hands. After all, everyone had Chip assistance.

"Continue," Anglie said blandly.

The three began searching the woods continuously for prey. Anglie also displayed an accuracy rate where four out of every ten arrows missed, and the two guards gradually grew accustomed to this performance.

After all, this kind of hit rate was normal. In dense forest, it was already quite impressive. Besides, without receiving Seed Inheritance, no matter how good one's archery was, without the strength to draw a high-quality large compound bow, one still posed little threat to powerful warriors. At most, one could be considered a decent archer soldier.

Yet after only half an hour, both guards held bulging gray cloth sacks. They were filled with squirrels, gray rabbits, and One-Eyed Snakes Anglie had shot. Their hands could barely hold any more.

"You two should take these back and put them down before returning," Anglie instructed. "I'll rest here for a while." He casually prepared to toss the dead snake in his hand to a guard, but for some reason, he hesitated. His hunting knife lightly twisted again inside the snake's mouth, digging out a white venom gland. He slipped it into his waist pouch before tossing the dead snake to the guard.

Holding the dead snake, the two guards exchanged a glance.

"I'll have Hank take the things back. I'll stay behind to protect you," one of them said.

"That works." Anglie nodded. He was somewhat tired as well, so he simply leaned against a tree trunk and sat down. Having eaten dozens of One-Eyed Snake eyeballs in succession, he could feel his body growing faintly warm, as though it were becoming lighter and more nimble.

One guard carried the prey back. The other sat cross-legged on the grass beside him.

"Actually, we had heard before that eating One-Eyed Snake eyes might be good for the body. People tried it in the past, but there was no effect," the remaining guard said with a wry smile.

"No effect?" Anglie frowned.

"Yes. Other than diarrhea, those who tried it gained nothing else," the guard replied.

Anglie nodded. He knew that the same thing would not work for everyone. The Chip's analysis had also mentioned compatibility. When eaten raw, One-Eyed Snake eyeballs contained a substance that could improve his agility. But whether it worked for others was unknown. After all, everyone's constitution differed. Moreover, people at different stages of growth could differ enormously.

He was fairly satisfied with today's gains. If not for the need to conceal his abnormality, he could have hit every shot without fail. At a distance of only several dozen meters, it was no challenge at all with Chip assistance.

"That's enough for today. Let's go back and rest." After resting for a while, Anglie rose to his feet.

"Alright."

The two headed back along the same route.

Over the next half month, Anglie went hunting in the nearby woods every day, and word of his excellent archery spread among the people in the castle. No one was surprised anymore by the prey he brought back each day.

At noon in the woods, fragmented sunlight was sliced into patches.

A white-feathered arrow shot out with a hiss.

Thunk!

Another One-Eyed Snake was nailed to a branch more than twenty meters away.

A rush of hurried footsteps came from the grass.

An ordinary-looking youth in a light green hunting outfit emerged from the undergrowth, holding a black shortbow. Two young warriors followed behind him, both grown men clad in gray-brown leather armor.

"Another hit," one man said with a smile.

The youth nodded, walked over, pulled out the white-feathered arrow, and pinched the One-Eyed Snake's head. With practiced ease, he drew a small hunting knife, gouged out the red one-eyed, and tossed it into his mouth, swallowing it directly.

As he swallowed the snake eye, a flush immediately swept over the youth's originally fair face.

A wave of heat surged from within his body in an instant, flowing into his limbs. An unusually light sensation rose in his heart.

"Young Master Anglie, are we stopping here for today?" one guard asked.

Anglie closed his eyes slightly, a trace of a smile appearing on his face.

"You two take these things back and put them away first. I'll hunt a little more. Perhaps I'll run into a Black-Spotted Deer today."

The two guards now understood Anglie's strength quite well. There was nothing in the forest outskirts that could threaten him, so they casually carried their things back.

Only after they had left did Anglie silently issue a command in his mind.

"Examine my current physical attributes."

"Anglie Leo. Strength: 0.8. Agility: 2.4. Constitution: 1.6."

A satisfied curve appeared at the corner of Anglie's mouth.

By now, he had eaten no fewer than several hundred red one-eyes. Raw One-Eyed Snake eyeballs no longer had much effect on him. It seemed he had developed resistance. Still, he was already very satisfied to have raised his agility to this level. Combined with more than half a month of training, his constitution had improved considerably as well.

Even without Seed enhancement, his physical attributes were now very strong. However, it was said that those with Seeds could unleash immense explosive force, multiplying their combat power several times in an instant. In that regard, Anglie could not compare.

"But..."

Anglie smiled faintly and drew the iron sword from his waist with a backhand motion. With a hiss, he slashed forward. An arc silently cut through the air. A wrist-thick branch directly before him suddenly snapped and fell to the ground.

This speed was already somewhat faster than when Arad had demonstrated it.

"And..."

Anglie's gaze fell upon the broken end of the branch. There, an insect resembling a large-headed fly had one transparent wing precisely sliced off. It was fluttering helplessly atop the branch.

"I'm no longer weak." Anglie satisfactorily sheathed his iron sword with a backhand motion.

In the woods a hundred meters away from Anglie.

A gray figure was quietly approaching in the direction of the castle.

The figure's footsteps pressed into the thick grass, their sound drowned out by delicate birdsong and insect chirps, leaving scarcely any trace of movement.

"This is the place?" The figure stopped and crouched before a cluster of shrubs.

As an assassin of Dark Chapter, Dis was exceptionally careful whenever he carried out a mission, gathering every scrap of information concerning his target. Though he possessed powerful Knight Level strength, he could never let his guard down. That was the key reason he had rarely failed.

He reviewed the mission requirements in his mind once more. "Target requirement: kill Baron Leo and take his head as proof of completion. According to the intelligence gathered, Kyle Leo is also at Knight Level. He once killed more than ten heavily armored cavalrymen in succession, though he later fled after exhausting his strength." A disdainful smile curled at Dis's lips.

"More than ten heavily armored cavalrymen? Is that impressive? Only in this remote backwater would anyone think that was powerful." Dis had every right to look down on him. Not long ago, in a direct clash, he had killed twenty heavily armored cavalrymen, including one Knight Level expert.

If not for force of habit, he had the ability to charge directly into the castle, unleash a massacre, and then retreat unscathed.

"But this mission is truly easy. Coming to the countryside to kill a little lord, and only an ordinary Knight Level one at that." He did not care about the other man's so-called achievements. Which of the Knight Level experts he had killed had not possessed similarly formidable records? He had seen plenty of them.

Inside the castle, in the conference hall.

The baron sat in his seat with a gloomy expression, saying nothing.

Audis and Ward sat on either side of him, both wearing grave expressions.

"An assassin from Dark Chapter—who made such a lavish move? They actually managed to hire an expert of this level?" Ward said hoarsely. "Dark Chapter spans several nations. I cannot even imagine how terrifying its members' strength must be."

"The assassination notice was delivered to me in advance," the baron said in a deep voice. "That is their customary practice: they let those marked for death know when they will die beforehand. But what I cannot understand is that hiring Dark Chapter costs at least several thousand gold coins for a single job. My Leo Territory's annual total income is only several hundred gold coins, yet someone is willing to spend several thousand gold coins for my life..."

Audis licked his lips. "What are you afraid of? Even if he comes, the three Knight Level fighters here are not just sitting around for show."

The baron's expression remained gloomy. He turned over a black stiff paper card in his hand. Against its pitch-black background was the pattern of a blood-red Spider, strange and magnificent.