Dangerous Situation

Anglie took his bow and arrows and headed straight into the depths of the woods. More than half a month had made him extremely familiar with the terrain around here. Aside from venturing too deep a few times and encountering a White-Scaled Boar, there were basically no animals capable of threatening him. His steps were therefore relaxed and nimble.

"Abnormal target detected." A pale blue dot flashed in Anglie's vision.

"Oh? What new prey is it this time?" With a faint smile, Anglie drew out a white-feathered arrow and slowly nocked it. Aiming toward the blue dot, he pulled back the bowstring. His movements were slow yet powerful, exceptionally steady.

The black arrowhead reflected a glint of metallic light amid the scattered fragments of sunlight.

The short bow creaked faintly as it was drawn taut.

Whoosh!!

A white streak suddenly shot out.

Clang!!!

Anglie felt his scalp go numb. A sense of danger unlike anything he had ever known surged into his heart. It was as though some sharp spike was about to pierce between his brows, cold and agonizing.

The Chip instantly transmitted a stream of data into his brain.

With no time to think, Anglie abruptly twisted sideways and threw himself leftward with all his strength, ducking behind a large tree.

Bang!!

The sound of a sharp weapon sinking into wood reached his ears. The tree, thick enough to wrap both arms around, shuddered violently, and fine leaves rained down like falling drizzle.

"Hm?" A middle-aged man's voice drifted over from afar, apparently surprised that Anglie had not been hit.

Anglie's face turned pale. Crouched behind the tree, he gasped in great lungfuls, cold sweat beading across his forehead.

In that instant, if he had not dodged according to the Chip's prompt—or if he had been even a little slower—the only outcome would have been his head smashed to pieces.

Never before, not once, had Anglie felt death so close at hand.

"What do I do? What do I do?" His mind went blank. I don't want to die... I finally got another chance to live... How can I just die again like this?!

Anglie trembled all over, his face deathly pale.

After all, before crossing over, he had merely been an ordinary young man. On Earth, in that peaceful and tranquil environment, even hunting had counted as an extremely dangerous sport to him. Much less a perilous situation like this.

"Run!! Right!! Get back quickly—once I'm back at the castle, I'll be safe!!" Anglie suddenly came to his senses. He carefully listened to the sounds around him. The person behind him seemed to have stopped moving, which made him uneasy.

Yet his desire to return still drove him to begin moving slowly.

Keeping low, Anglie cautiously shifted his feet and edged toward the direction from which he had come.

Suddenly, another sharp chill swept over him. The Chip's data stream instantly entered his mind.

"Right side! Thigh!" Anglie immediately understood where the other party intended to strike. He rolled forward on the spot.

His head struck something on the ground, sending a burst of sharp pain through him. With no time to think, Anglie scrambled up and ran madly toward where he had come from.

Boom!!

Another dull impact sounded from the ground behind him.

"Damn it!" The man's curse drifted faintly over. "Twice!"

Anglie ran frantically. The trees on either side sped backward. His activities here over the past half month had made him exceptionally familiar with the area, and even the dense forest barely slowed him down.

But that cold, sinister feeling surfaced on his back again.

Anglie lunged forward to the left, but the chill at his back remained. He ducked behind another large tree, yet that unnatural coldness was still there.

Anglie grew more and more panicked. Gritting his teeth, he continuously made a series of evasive movements. He ignored the cuts opening all over his body, but that chill still clung to his back like a disease rooted in the bones.

"Optimal response: turn around and block." The Chip sent him its analysis.

But Anglie, his face filled with terror, did not dare turn around and face his attacker. He only ran back in a frenzy. Having hunted too deep into the forest, he was still roughly a hundred meters from the castle's training ground. Yet those hundred meters seemed like an insurmountable chasm.

"Optimal response: turn around and block." The Chip continued prompting him.

Rustle!

Anglie rolled sideways again.

A clatter of metal chains suddenly came from where Anglie had just been. A black chain as thick as an arm had been shot before him. It wound around a tree trunk three times before hooking firmly onto a branch to one side. With a snap, the hook at its end sank into the trunk. The chain had blocked Anglie's path back perfectly.

"Run, then!!" The man's voice came from behind him. "Damn it! What the hell is going on today?!"

Anglie scrambled to his feet, intending to run again. Suddenly, a chill struck his shoulder, and he rolled rightward.

With another clatter, a chain shot past him again and embedded itself in a tree trunk not far away.

Run... I can't run anymore... A thread of despair welled up in Anglie's heart. His entire body was now locked onto by that bone-piercing chill. He did not dare make any major movement.

Am I going to die again? He slowly stood and turned to look behind him.

A black figure silently emerged from the woods.

It was a middle-aged man wrapped head to toe in a black cloak. He wore a black mask, and his eyebrows were an unusually golden color. He held one chain in each hand.

"It's over." The man released one chain and flicked his hand. A streak of black suddenly flew out, far faster than his previous attacks. The black trace ripped a sharp whistle through the air.

Anglie stood there blankly. Violent pain and coldness erupted between his brows.

"I don't want to die..." he murmured.

I don't want to die...

I don't want to die...

I don't want to die...

Echoes resounded through his mind.

The black shriek drew closer, closer...

A rapidly approaching black dot was reflected in Anglie's pupils.

"Optimal plan: bend down, draw sword, block head." The Chip's data instantly flooded his brain.

Anglie shuddered violently. His right hand flashed out, drawing his sword like lightning and raising it before his eyes.

Clang!!!

An immensely heavy force surged through the iron sword in his hand. Anglie's face flushed red, and a thin trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

That impact also jolted him fully awake.

Since he could not run, if he did not want to die, then he could only fight!!

Anglie's entire body tightened, his heart pounding as though it would burst from his chest.

"You're lucky, brat!" In the woods, the black figure pulled and tugged with one hand. The two chains strangely loosened from the trees on their own and rattled back into his grasp.

The figure gave Anglie a deep look, then turned and silently vanished into the shadows.

Only after the figure had completely disappeared into the forest did Anglie slowly retreat backward.

He knew full well that if that shadowy figure had not left on his own, he would most likely have died here today. No matter how much the Chip assisted and corrected him, it could not possibly match the other party's reflex-like speed. He had never experienced a real battle before, while the other party was clearly highly practiced. Without the Chip's prompts, he would likely have been killed from the very beginning.

After a long while, he came back to his senses and discovered a black card stuck upside down in the ground at his feet. He bent down and picked it up. Against its black surface was a red spider pattern.

******************

Dis clutched his right arm tightly as he strode through the woods.

It was not that he did not want to finish off that little brat, but unfortunately, that white-feathered arrow had suddenly shot toward him while he was off guard. Though he had blocked it in time, the arrowhead had still grazed his right arm.

That tiny scratch had left him dizzy and weak.

"Damn it!" Dis touched his forehead. It was burning hot. "The arrowhead was poisoned! That damned little bastard!! He actually dared poison his arrowheads! Where did he get so many underhanded tricks?!" He cursed under his breath, hurriedly fished out a pale yellow paper packet from his clothes, opened it, and swallowed the white powder inside in one gulp.

"I nearly fell here. Good thing it was Red One-Eyed Snake venom—I prepared for it beforehand." Yet Dis still felt waves of dizziness. This was clearly because he had moved violently after being poisoned, accelerating his blood flow. It would probably take several hours for him to fully recover.

"Next time, next time I'll deal with you first!" Dis said through gritted teeth. "You made my operation come to nothing just when it was about to succeed. Giving you a card was already letting you off easy."

Suddenly, his foot slipped, and a vine tripped him hard.

Bang!!

Dis crashed to the ground, his head striking a sharp rock.

"I...!!!!" A huge gash split open on his forehead, and blood immediately streamed down his cheek. "Fuck this dogshit, aaahhh!!"

The frustration in Dis's heart reached its limit.

*******************

Inside the bathhouse.

Anglie slammed the door shut and curled up inside the bathtub.

Warm water soaked his entire body, as though all the exhaustion and tension from the day were slowly seeping away.

Only today had he truly understood how dangerous this world was.

With Basic Swordsmanship, the Chip's corrections, and his improved physical condition, he had been confident that his foundation was not far below that of an ordinary Apprentice Knight. But having the foundation was one thing; remaining calm in danger and truly using one's strength to fight was another matter entirely.

Anglie submerged his entire head in the water. He recalled the black card that fellow had fired at him earlier.

"A card given when he left... does that mean he'll come back later?" There had been many such plots on Earth in his previous life.

The more Anglie thought about it, the more nervous he became. The unknown was always filled with mystery and fear. He had to find out what that card meant.

He simply sat up, grabbed the towel beside him, dried himself, and got dressed.

"Young Master, do you need more hot water?" Maggie's voice came through the door.

"No." Anglie shook his hair and pulled open the door.

Leaving the bathhouse specifically used for bathing, Anglie did not pause for even a moment before heading straight out of the servants' quarter.

Night had fallen.

Several small figures could still vaguely be seen practicing in the castle's training ground. The evening breeze blew over him, cool and refreshing.

Anglie crossed the training ground and headed directly for the main tower.

To search for information, he had to go to the main tower's library, since the Baron's collected books were all kept there.

Within the entire castle, aside from the Baron and the three Audiswald men, only Anglie possessed a key to the library. This also represented his identity and status in the castle. In this world, books represented knowledge, and knowledge was incomparably precious wealth. Only nobles could receive it and learn from it. A single book generally sold for at least dozens of gold coins, and even then, demand far exceeded supply.

Two guards stood watch on either side of the main tower. Seeing Anglie approach, both lowered their heads respectfully.

"Young Master Anglie."

"Mm. Is Father here?" Anglie asked with a nod.

"The Baron has not returned yet. However, Lord Audis and Lord Krey just left." Krey was the son of Knight Audis. The main tower did not merely contain the library; it also had an indoor sparring ground, where the two often fought each other to hone their combat skills.

"I understand." Anglie walked straight into the tower hall.

Aside from the elders of his father's generation, everyone left in this castle either had designs on him or did not. Krey belonged to the latter. Possessing the talent of a knight, he showed Anglie only surface-level respect; in truth, there was not the slightest bit of regard in his eyes. This was also the attitude of most of the castle's future knights.