Head-On Collision

By the time Qin Ran made out the castle guards chasing them, Lawless had spotted them too.

Smack!

"My big mouth!"

"Damn it!"

Lawless slapped himself across the mouth and cursed under his breath.

Then the three of them mounted without hesitation and followed their planned route.

Turn and fight?

If fewer castle guards had been chasing them, Qin Ran might have chosen to do that.

But there were more than a hundred cavalrymen. Even without anything else, a single volley of arrows would send him running for his life.

Besides, the weapons hanging from their saddles weren't ordinary bows. They were crossbows!

Compared with bows, which required both arms to handle, crossbows were more powerful and more accurate.

Even on horseback.

Qin Ran also noticed that these guards' armor differed from the armor worn by the castle guards he had seen before.

The crest on the chest was the same.

But that was the only similarity. Both their gauntlets and greaves had strange protrusions that looked dull in the morning light.

"What are those?"

Qin Ran frowned and turned to study their pursuers.

He didn't believe anyone would add something unnecessary to armor.

No one would tamper carelessly with the armor that kept them alive.

Even the dullest person knew how terrifying death was.

Suddenly, Qin Ran's gaze shifted to their horses.

Every one of them was tall and sturdy, more than a size larger than the horses Qin Ran and the others rode. Their long legs drove them forward with power.

During the chase, they had already closed much of the distance.

What concerned Qin Ran even more was that his group's horses were panting after the sprint, while the pursuers' mounts showed no change at all.

Armor unlike that of ordinary soldiers.

Tall, sturdy horses built for