Want Me Dead? I'll Cut You Down First!

Yu Lin Bloodhawk was about to study the explanations in detail when a guard on duty came in through the door.

The guard reported that a Gryphon Rider who had just returned had happened to spot an adult Ghostclaw Lynx at the foot of Morning Mist Mountain, thirty li southwest of Suncrown Village, on the way back. He had asked them to send someone to capture it.

"Then send someone to catch it. There's no need to report trivial matters like this in the future. Handle them yourselves," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said without looking up.

"But..."

The obvious difficulty in the guard's voice caught Yu Lin Bloodhawk's attention.

He raised his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Reporting, commander. Apart from the soldiers on duty, the only people in camp are you and the four soldiers who returned with you. Everyone else is out hunting and hasn't come back yet," the guard reported, standing at attention.

"Oh..." Only then did Yu Lin Bloodhawk remember what the soldiers had said over breakfast in the mess hall that morning. He smiled sheepishly. "Heh, I'd forgotten about that."

Suncrown Village was not very far from Tranquillien, and it was one of the larger villages in the southern Kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk estimated the distance and travel time and decided they could return before the hunters did. He smiled and said, "Then let's do this. Go fetch those men who aren't busy. I'll lead the capture team."

He put down the documents in his hands and stood up to get his equipment on.

The guard left to carry out the order.

By the time he finished getting ready and went outside, the four soldiers who had eaten breakfast with him that morning were already waiting. They had caught wild lynxes before and had some experience, so they had prepared everything they needed.

There was not much to prepare, really: just anesthetic, ropes, and nets. Everything else was their usual weapons and equipment. The anesthetic was, of course, applied to the arrows, and the ropes were for tying up the lynx. The net was mainly an extra precaution during transport, in case the lynx broke free of its bonds and escaped.

To save time, Yu Lin Bloodhawk took the four soldiers to the quartermaster's office in Tranquillien, borrowed five Hawkstrider mounts, and set out for Suncrown Village.

His plan was to ride to Sungrief Village first and leave their mounts with the village guards. The five of them would then enter the mountains on foot to capture the lynx. Once they had caught it, they would hire villagers to transport it back to the Tranquillien camp by cart.

They rode hard! Traveling light, the five reached Suncrown Village in less than an hour. They left their mounts with the garrison, completed the necessary paperwork, and headed southwest.

After walking for half an hour, they spotted the Gryphon Rider circling in the distant sky. He looked no larger than a sesame seed, yet swooped up and down with effortless agility.

With their hunting experience, they naturally understood that their destination was close. They quickened their pace, and twenty minutes later, the Dragonhawk Rider spotted them too.

Under the Dragonhawk Rider's guidance, they soon saw the Ghostclaw Lynx lying on a distant rock, basking in the sun.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk gave the Dragonhawk Rider overhead a gesture indicating that they could take over. The rider returned a salute, guided his Dragonhawk through a rising circle, and flew toward Tranquillien.

Worried that the lynx might run off and become impossible to find, the Dragonhawk Rider had stayed there for a long time. Even if the rider himself could endure it, his Dragonhawk might not, so he needed to return to Tranquillien as soon as possible to let it rest. Yu Lin Bloodhawk understood. What cavalryman did not cherish his mount?

After the Dragonhawk Rider had flown away, Yu Lin Bloodhawk signaled the four soldiers to spread out.

The soldiers dispersed silently, each finding cover as they cautiously approached the lynx.

Drawing on their hunting experience, they approached from downwind, inching forward without daring to breathe too loudly. They chose every foothold with care, afraid that snapping a dry twig or crunching fallen leaves would make a noise and scare the lynx away. Naturally, these were all things the veteran hunters accompanying their previous lynx-catching expeditions had taught them.

Only after a long while did the five of them finally get just within bow range.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk hid behind a thick clump of bushes and signaled the other elves to stop advancing. At this point, they could communicate only through gestures. Anything that made a sound was forbidden.

The elves stopped behind cover, silently drew their arrows, and coated the arrowheads with anesthetic.

After coating his arrowhead, Yu Lin Bloodhawk still felt uneasy, as though something was wrong. The feeling made him deeply uncomfortable.

He parted a few small branches and secretly observed the Ghostclaw Lynx. Apart from being rather large and well-fed, it seemed perfectly normal. He could only wonder where this feeling had come from.

The unexplained unease made him increasingly cautious. He quietly laid a Freezing Trap in the bushes, then stole another look at the Ghostclaw Lynx.

Nothing seemed wrong with the Ghostclaw Lynx, but his unease only grew stronger. That intense sense of danger kept making him turn to scan his surroundings. Yet he still found nothing unusual.

As a precaution, he quietly signaled the four soldiers concealed around him that he would attack the Ghostclaw Lynx first. Once they acknowledged him, Yu Lin Bloodhawk slowly drew a deep breath, straightened up, nocked his arrow, and drew his bow.

His movements were slow, because even the sound of drawing the bowstring could alert the lynx. He had to draw it gradually, despite the strain.

When his bow reached full draw, the Ghostclaw Lynx seemed to sense something amiss and turned to look at him.

At that very instant.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk released the bowstring and loosed his arrow.

Twang! The faint sound of the bowstring seemed ten times louder than usual to Yu Lin Bloodhawk.

The arrow streaked like a ray of black light. By the time the Ghostclaw Lynx reacted and leaped aside, it was already too late. The arrow mercilessly buried itself in its left hindquarter.

The lynx gave an agonized yowl, leaped off the boulder, and bolted deeper into the forest.

Delighted, Yu Lin Bloodhawk stepped forward to give chase.

Suddenly, another pop! rang out.

It was a faint sound, but to Yu Lin Bloodhawk, it struck like thunder from a clear sky.

That was definitely not a bowstring. It was the sound of a Freezing Trap being triggered!

Yu Lin Bloodhawk halted midstep. His body stiffened, cold sweat pouring off him as he mechanically turned his head to look behind him.

What he saw nearly scared the soul out of him.

Behind him stood a red-eyed Shadowpine Troll with a cruel smile on his face. Dagger in hand, he was frozen in a forward lunge, thrusting toward Yu Lin Bloodhawk's heart. The long dagger's tip gleamed with a cold metallic

light, barely a centimeter away from piercing his body. Yu Lin Bloodhawk could even feel the icy chill emanating from the dagger itself.

He was certain that if the Freezing Trap had not taken effect in time and frozen the Troll solid-even if it had been one second late-that dagger would have plunged straight into his heart from behind.

"A Troll!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk cried involuntarily.

Fortunately, he had placed a Freezing Trap just in case. Fortunately, he had taken two steps forward immediately after releasing his arrow. Otherwise, he would already have been nothing but a cold corpse.

He did not know whether this world had some beautiful goddess waiting for the dead. Even if it did, he had absolutely no desire to meet her, no matter how beautiful she was.

This was not a game. This was a real world.

It was not like a game, where someone could land a critical hit and take half your health, and you could still leap around and return a critical hit of your own, then take several more normal attacks before falling to your knees. Here, a lethal strike really would kill in one blow. There would be no chance to keep leaping around and fight back. He had begun suspecting this while interrogating the Troll captives, and after returning from Westfall, he had understood it completely.

Beads of sweat rolled down his face like raindrops.

After that instant of stunned distraction, he gave a violent shudder, and a vicious, ferocious look suddenly flashed across his face.

Want me dead? I'll cut your head off first!

He decisively drew the saber at his waist and hacked savagely at the Troll's neck. The Freezing Trap's effect would not last long-only twelve seconds. He could not afford to waste any time.

Crack! Crunch! Clang! The shattering of ice, the dull sound of a saber biting into bone, and the sharp clash of metal rang out almost simultaneously.

The Troll Rogue actually possessed something that could break the freezing magic's restraint. Unfortunately, he was a step too slow.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk acted without hesitation. No defense, no flourishes-just a full-force slash that struck the Troll's neck as swiftly as lightning.

The Troll whipped his dagger back to block and did catch Yu Lin Bloodhawk's saber. Unfortunately, he was still too late. With blinding speed and crushing force, the saber had already cut halfway through his neck before his dagger stopped it.

For an instant, it seemed as though even the world had stopped turning. Everything was silent.

Both of them froze in that instant too.

The Troll stared at Yu Lin Bloodhawk in disbelief.

His face twisted with ferocity, Yu Lin Bloodhawk savagely yanked his saber back.

Sshk! Hot blood sprayed from the Troll's neck like a fountain, drenching Yu Lin Bloodhawk.

Clang! The Troll's dagger fell to the ground, and his body slowly toppled backward.

"Pah!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk spat hard, expelling the warm blood that had splashed into his mouth. The heavy stench of blood filled the air.

"The tough fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who don't care if they die. Think I don't know that?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk cursed bitterly. "You were still trying to save your own skin? Think you could block my blade? Speed beats every martial art under heaven. So what if you're an intermediate Rogue? I'll cut you down all the same!"

Yu Lin Bloodhawk understood perfectly well that, with his current strength, he would never have been a match for this intermediate Rogue under normal circumstances. Even three of him would not have been enough.

Unfortunately for the Troll Rogue, he had been far too careless. He had not even noticed the Freezing Trap Yu Lin Bloodhawk had laid. Or perhaps he had noticed it but believed he could kill Yu Lin Bloodhawk in a single strike before the trap took effect. More importantly, he had never expected Yu Lin Bloodhawk's one attack to be an all-out, desperate blow with no regard whatsoever for his own life.